Haiti can awaken from the dark night of the boar

'The Haitian patriots walk with lights and colors in their hands, in bloom like the earth, showered by light rains and by songs. But they have fought alone, compañera, alone.’ Alí Primera, La Noche del Jabalí

As I watch the solidarity concert, 'Hope for Haiti Now’, I can’t stop thinking that someone or 'many someones’ are emptying out their bank accounts, dialing with pain; and that probably won’t be the artists, it won’t be the sponsors, not them.

I am absolutely certain that the enormous majority of those who sing there, or the thousands who call in to donate, do so with a sentiment of solidarity. It’s not bad when during a tragedy they remember or turn their eyes toward the misery in which many others live. Today we 'forgive’ them, if in some way this serves to bring something of the history of these suffering people to the eyes of those who, by commission or by omission, never cast their eyes on the 'third world’ because they got lost losing the 'second’ one.

Although this story will never be completely told, dear friends, between the marketing of pain and the beautiful stage, they forgot to mention the empires’ gigantic responsibility for the poverty and hunger that has been imposed on Haiti, a small detail omitted by the big disinformation television chains.

Now that that’s cleared up, what we cannot forgive is that above the red blood of the Haitian people, the boot of disgrace and darkness that tries to submit the heroic Haitian people to 'the night of the boar’ continues marching. History speaks to us through the eyes of the Haitian people, so many times photographed and distributed throughout the world during this tragedy. The current events bring with them the following news reports of history.

The long political instability that came out of Haiti’s independence from the French empire in 1804 was the soup which the United States cooked, invading and exercising dominion until at least 1934. In 1957, when he was elected as president of Haiti, François Duvalier governed dictatorially with the military and financial aid of the United States. He was succeeded by his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier.

In 1986, Duvalier Jr was toppled by a popular uprising, which saw the continuance of the dictatorship for two more years until, in 1988, Leslie Manigat was elected to the presidency of the republic. It was a noble government that was toppled by General Henri Namphy who was, in turn, replaced that same September by General Prosper Avril. Avril, in power until 1990, had to contend with new revolts. His resignation opened the path for elections under international control and an apparent normalisation of political life.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a Catholic priest who had advocated for the poor, obtained a brilliant victory in December 1990. Coups d’état, forced exile and a return to power were all part of the first Aristide term. Aristide returned to power democratically, and in 2004 a coup d’état organised and covered by the US obligated him to resign and be succeeded by René Preval.

In this brief summary of the history of Haiti I omitted 'small details’ like the economic embargos, assassinations, persecutions and so on. Since 2004, the Haitian people have lived, anew, under old and new military occupations at the hands of the US, a country that to this day remains in military control with the collaboration (by omission or commission) of the UN and allied countries.

This same North American occupation force, which today controls the airport, is impeding and delaying the arrival of aid to Haiti, as has been denounced by the government of France and an infinity of journalists and reporters in Port-au-Prince.

Before the earthquake, 75 per cent of the Haitian population did not have access to portable water, 56 per cent lived in absolute poverty, life expectancy was 58 years, 49 per cent of the children did not go to school and illiteracy was at 39 per cent. These are statistics reported by the UN and UNESCO.

A scene like this, with the greatest natural disaster of the last 200 years in Haiti, could become the perfect excuse to deepen the footprint of the military boot, or the spark that awakens the conscience of sister nations, so that we may go all together for the redemption of the country that showed us the light of freedom.

History shows us the renewing cycles of the hegemonic forces. It is, however, the same story that has shown us that the force of man, organised and conscious, can trip the triumphs of life’s greatest enemies.

'We will construct among us the morning’, sang Alí Primera, 'that forever ends the night of the boar.’

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Amanda Huerta, a Narco News 2010 School of Authentic Journalism scholar, is a Venezuelan journalist in Paraguay.
* This article was first published in the Narco News Bulletin on 23 January 2010.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.