The Situation in Haiti and the Caribbean: People Don’t Know Exactly What They Want
Scroll down for Haitian Kreyòl translation of editorial. We invite friends of Clash! to help us improve our translations in the language(s) of their homelands.
One of the principles of Clash! is we are implacable foes of Caribbean governments. There is not one regime in the Caribbean region that governs of, by, and for the people. To be clear, our approach underlines the necessity of direct self-government by everyday people — not professionals, elites, intellectuals, or party bureaucrats above society. Clash! is not a party formation. We do not desire to rule above society. That is what Caribbean governments — and those of CARICOM, especially — offer.
It is now well known that CARICOM has endorsed the invasion of Haiti by African and Caribbean governments fronting for empire. Self-proclaimed activists have sprung out of nowhere to say CARICOM has made “a mistake.”
CARICOM makes a mistake in its encroachment on Barbuda’s communal land tenure, its partnership with ExxonMobil in Guyana, “reparations” sponsored by the multinational private sector, and its eager invasion of Haiti. The list goes on. If an institution makes mistakes as a way of life, then they are not mistakes. What is required is not an appraisal of CARICOM, a balance sheet. What is required is a postmortem — CARICOM is a fraud and functions as it was designed and intended.
It is one thing when ordinary people, whether in Haiti or across the Caribbean, learn about politics for the first time and are not sure exactly what they want in their battles for survival and struggles for happiness. When a majority of voters in Puerto Rico select “none of the above” in a referendum on Commonwealth status, this is not a matter of political immaturity. Rather, the desire for a political model beyond liberal republicanism, bureaucratic-state capitalism, and imperial dependence pervades among the masses of Caribbean people.
The Challenges of Solidarity with Haiti
Expressing genuine solidarity with Haiti is challenging at this time. To whom or what do we extend our fellowship? We also desire “none of the above” but more is required of us. Social conditions in Haiti have worsened under imperial occupation. Haitian people are terrorized by armed gangs. At the same time, there is violent resistance to them. Official society has virtually collapsed. It is difficult to support a political movement that has no clear identity. The masses who oppose the abusive gangs are not permitted to clarify their identity under conditions of imperial and civil warfare. It is difficult to discern from a distance which groups hold the capacity to channel the popular will and mount a principled self-defense of the working class, unemployed, dispossessed peasants, and all the socially disadvantaged who are denied a voice at this time.
It is risky, for instance, to accept Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier’s gang as a freedom movement, even as he makes anti-establishment statements and calls for the arrest of puppet statesmen and corrupt officials. Barbecue says his forces will defend the Haitian people from foreign, occupying forces. But the relationship between Barbecue and the toiling masses in Haiti is not yet clear. As Joseph Edwards, the Jamaican refrigeration mechanic who went by the name of “Fundi,” once said: “Yuh haffi reason di content of it.”
We share Barbecue’s contempt for the political class in Haiti. But we do not subscribe to the doctrine of “mis-leadership” that merely seeks a charismatic popular leader to take the place of the Martellys and the Moïses. We oppose the new class of leaders who seek power in the name of the people, the workers, “Moun Ayisien,” only to tell the people to abandon the streets and “retounen kay ou” (return to your house or yard) — a variation on the Sweet Micky (Martelly) calypso standard.
The Haitian people have demonstrated their capacity to govern themselves when the state disappears and, as anthropologist Greg Beckett relays, “there is no more Haiti.” Yet, Haiti is not a nation-state where power rests in the National Palace. In Haiti, power is in the streets — as it has been since the launch of #KotKòbPetroKaribe in 2019.
The “PetroCaribe Challenge” is a mass confrontation with the Haitian Government after oil resources and capital extended by Venezuela for post-earthquake infrastructure building were scandalously appropriated by politicians and wealthy corporate groups for private gain. That social motion expressed some substantial principles as well. We must facilitate dialogue on the way out of this interregnum. Haiti and the Caribbean are living through the transition between the old world and the new. If the new society is stillborn, it is because too many doubt the strength of ordinary Black people.
Listen to the Conflicting Tendencies Among the Cacophony
We must listen closely to detangle the cacophony of voices and discern which forces gather to bring about the new society independent of the old party politics. Who will encourage the masses to continue the Kye Marn — the Carnival road march — through the streets of Haiti? Who tells them to return home with promises of democracy and popular representation? Among the din of voices, rising loud and blurring together, are opposition to street gangs, rejection of invasion, welcome of invasion, support for this or that party, hunger and desire for basic health infrastructure, and gangs who are vicious with some wishing to portray themselves as social bandits. And something crucial we must not forget: the agony of those who are in pain, have scars, know trauma, and are the caregivers of the common people.
We must be alert to those who oppose revolution in the name of discussing revolution — those who preach that “a rebellion of ordinary people is not a revolution” without the guidance of leaders, intellectuals, and the proper policies for a bureaucracy who in no way wish the self-mobilization of commoners well, except as leverage to secure their own power. Such people will host forums that preach “Revolution” while crowning themselves the anointed proxies for “the people” themselves. No “revolution” can be genuine if it denies the people the opportunity to arrive on their own authority. To this, we say: No Masters! No Mediators of Hierarchy!
The fact is “revolutionary situations” can end in common ruin of all. After all, is this not the lesson of the Haitian Revolution that preserved the plantation economy under Toussaint and Dessalines while banning the instruments of rebellion including the drum and vodun?
We also know that cultural nationalism can also be the justification of fascist repression as it was under the later Duvalier regime. Whatever the instruments of rebellion are, and the potential of revolution embryonic, it is related to the increasing popular self-organization where commoners increasingly take responsibility for economic planning, judicial affairs, foreign relations, food, health, and mutual aid. If we cannot figure this out, we have the empire putting in one government and taking out another to overlord us — and that is what a nation-state is under global capital.
The Age of Trump should have clarified by now to the world that there are politicians or public speakers that can be charismatic and disruptive to the conventional order but deliver no concrete transformation in the lives of working people. We, with no shame, wish for revolutionary struggles and desire to enhance the situations where these might emerge and flourish.
Wisdom is Plentiful Among Ordinary People to Govern
When we say wisdom is plentiful among ordinary people to govern, we mean those who drink and smoke, have little formal education, appear to have peculiar ideas, sing off-key, and stumble — this can be an advantage, in fact!
Many experienced Caribbean activists are traumatized by the chaos of Haiti. It mirrors for many elders declining fortunes across the region. What we see in contemporary Haiti has been seen on different levels in Jamaica, Trinidad, Grenada, and Guyana of the past and present. Still, those who have been interested in social revolution know from study of world history and by practical experience that no aspiring new society ever emerged from conditions other than what we see in Haiti. Listen closely as to what we mean.
There is an authentic impulse, not by people who serve any government, who wish for peace and reconciliation between those who have the power to sustain a nation-state and professional armies and the street gangs. This is with a penetrating Caribbean awareness that street gangs historically are armed extensions of the old party politics. Further, we cannot easily live in the “morning after” of sexual assault, home invasions, kidnaps for ransom, and permanent vendettas tearing the basis of grassroots unity apart.
Ordinary people who do not know exactly what they want, may not be ready to place new values on themselves. Under extreme adversity it is difficult to do. But in environments of disaster and civil war, while much abuse is recorded, self-directed breakthroughs also perennially happen.
Retounen Kay? Pa Janm!
At the same time, every historical revolution has emerged from overlapping conditions of imperialist war, civil war, and the threat of fascism. Out of this comes wars for democracy, self-directed socialism, and desires to seize or abolish state power. Clash! is a journal that gathers voices of Caribbean federation from below — we do not pledge loyalty to, advise, or receive funding from any government above society.
Clash! exists on the firm knowledge that those who identify as “progressives” cannot always be trusted in Caribbean freedom movement politics. This instinct has a historical basis and is rooted in practical experience in local, national, and world politics; it is not a peculiar contradiction of Caribbean people. At the same time, we desire to stir meaningful coalition.
However, behind the word “progressive” is just this masquerade. Those who critique “mis-leadership” very often do this dance. They live on the margins of exploitative regimes that occupy the left bloc of private and state capital. They normatively seek to advise them as they hitch their wagon to “progressive” alternatives to the Core Group or Washington Consensus. In times of crisis, instead of actually organizing people to be independent, they function as these regimes’ bodyguards.
When power is in the streets, the call to retounen kay and hold free and fair elections is a ruse. Where power is in the streets, it must remain there, as it becomes stronger, wiser, and more strategic. We will not be duped by another liberation theology prayer or populist promise. At no moment should the people retreat until, by their own push and self-direction, exactly what they want appears in front of them.
Our platform insists such coalitions cannot constructively include members or advisors to the existing Caribbean governments or party politics. Those who want to “get things done” most often, in the final analysis think protests and mobilizations are useful not to bring the new society closer but to place the power and capital into their own hands.
Every interface with hierarchical government need not be for personal gain. But as we see with those who have been negotiating with “the enemy” for reparations, they are not really carrying out diplomatic relations for an “oppressed nation.” These “anti-imperialists,” this is the stance of their cultural front, just endorsed invading Haiti and are oppressors.
If and when one must negotiate or place demands on hierarchical forces, they should be public so all responsibility of broken agreements can be placed before the proper door. Whoever is delegated to organize this, or facilitate that, must make it clear they are not advising the existing regime as the personification of “the nation” but the toilers, unemployed, peasants, market women, and care-givers.
But also, such facilitators must report to the public, not powers behind the scenes, so everyday people learn to stop sitting by that door to the charismatic Aunties and Uncles offices, and to take their own initiatives without looking over their shoulder for approval. This is part of leaving the old way of life behind.
Hierarchical Governments and their Cultural Apparatus Create False “Movements” — Not Just the Imperialists but the Governments of the Global South Also Invent Them
Many acknowledge CARICOM’s “mistake” only because grassroots social motions in Haiti and the Caribbean are not asleep and push them from behind. These analysts and commentators will say that CARICOM needs to dialogue more efficiently with Haitian “civil society” groups.
“Civil society” is yet another ruse to handpick proxy leaders out of the groundswell in the streets. Civil society, like a republic, defines the political lives of ordinary people as subordinate to states and rulers above society.
We cannot be for sure where the attempt to reconcile the struggle in Haiti with CARICOM governments who endorse its invasion ultimately will lead. But Fundi, who organized Jamaican sugar workers, meatpacking workers, banana farmers, and the unemployed in the 1970s made a crucial warning. The early Afro-Caribbean Liberation Movement of Antigua & Barbuda, in this period, warned of the same thing. Post-colonial nationalism is a tool of the rulers who brutalize us — even those with “progressive” leanings and “socialist” bonafides.
We must realize that the forces of empire are already sponsoring Haitian governments in exile in the name of “development” and “civil society” with members of the U.S. military and government on their boards. This is what this call to “civil society” is actually about.
After all, Aristide enjoyed the Clintons’ State Department backing until he didn’t. CARICOM will work with the imperialists to place the party, personality, or government of choice in office after the invasion to end the Kye Marn and shout, “retounen kay ou!”
Self-Organized Haitians & Caribbean People Independent of the Old Politics, Parties, and Governments
Self-organized Caribbean communities, independent of the old political parties and decadent rulers, need to sponsor and defend popular assemblies of Haitian people to find out exactly what they want. Haitians, like all Caribbean people, should choose their program before they choose a provisional facilitator or form their own government. Nobody affiliated with the US military — and the CARICOM governments and Haitian rulers waiting in the wings — should be informing the public what it is the Haitian people want.
These popular assemblies will only be authentic if they represent the conflicting tendencies among the Haitian masses themselves. We see those in government or one step outside of it prop up each other. Clash! is opposed to Black-led imperial invasion of Haiti. However, if nobody in the popular assemblies can show interest in the invasion, at least discuss it, they are not real democratic assemblies.
We must be comfortable with everyday people thinking, acting, and governing themselves — not as a mere decoration of state power above society. At the same time, as we learned from the global Occupy and Square movements, everything can be discussed and respected until a false independent social identity is asserted in the name of autonomy — sometimes informed by nationalism, sometimes informed by electoral party agendas. The “people’s” perspective only calls for mediocre and decadent rulers above society when it is not based in self-directed liberating activity.
Now some will say: What do you mean? This is our “right!” This is “self-determination!” This is nonsense. Colonialism is the denial of popular self-government. Independence is the rejection of popular self-government? Too many people have gone through blood and wearisome struggles to tolerate this pappyshow any longer.
Everyday Haitians are highly intelligent, not clowns, eediat, or moun fou. Popular assemblies permit ordinary people to govern, not to tell other authorities as subordinates what they wish. What is required for the Haitian people to speak for themselves, not their overseers waiting in wings after the invasion, is for an autonomous network (self-organized not the nationalism of fools) to be created where the real impediments to Haitian popular and self-directed government can be recognized and recorded.
Perhaps, this network will be a coalition distinguished by power-sharing among representatives of Haitian parties that have clashed in the past. We would not recommend this, but we do not dictate to the political arena as we please. But we will continue to assert ourselves as evangelists of the ordinary people, power in the streets, the Kye Marn. We want more than an end to the violence and the return of the police state under new guardians and leaders. But how can we counter that possibility?
The Haitian and Caribbean needs experienced facilitators whose reputation is well-known for having no interest in personal power or power above society to offer guidelines and facilitate — not those who play “Jimmy Carter” and “Colin Powell” style games, where the empire asks the military leader they trained to overthrow a politician to step down, so they can put them back, overthrow them again, and then bring them back to stand on the sidelines of politics.
Guidelines on the Discovery of Popular and Direct Democracy
If we were asked, given our limited knowledge, we might suggest guidelines for organizing these popular assemblies. They could look something like this. Nobody can participate in them who wishes to speak for any party that has held office in Haiti in the last 50 years. How can we say this? The empire has its meat hooks in every politician and party that has functioned above society in Haiti one way or another. Those waiting in the wings proudly note their imperial endorsements — at present they are “civil society.”
Participants in these assemblies have to be a peasant, worker, or unemployed. They cannot live by two or more salaries or live by rent. They cannot own property. Now we can inquire about the conditions the exploited Haitian people face and what will elevate them. We know for sure CARICOM might gather trade union bureaucrats but they will not gather peasants, workers, and the unemployed to instruct them that they, in fact, hold the reins of government.
It may be that it is hard to gather those with experience to share with the assembly their knowledge from toiling at the water works, electric company, hotels or industry, the docks, or phone company without past government or party ties. Let those who have the least wealth and less formal education evaluate the merits of what they have to offer. Let the facilitators and cultivators patiently explain and learn from the most burdened, scarred, but who are not defeated or will accept a sandwich from just anyone. After all peripheral prime ministers and presidents do this already.
Without this type of framework (there can be others with similar and different qualities), the Haitian and Caribbean people will continue to suffer under what Frantz Fanon called “the fraud of a black world” led by CARICOM and its activists for hierarchical government. Many will say where can we find such people to speak with us? Who is without sin? Let us say we all have made mistakes. But let us distinguish ourselves from the shining governments of the damned who know nothing else.
Sitiyasyon an nan Ayiti ak Karayib la: Moun pa konnen egzakteman sa yo vle
Youn nan prensip Clash! èske nou se lenmi enplakab gouvènman Karayib yo. Pa gen yon sèl rejim nan rejyon Karayib la ki gouvène nan, pa, ak pou pèp la. Pou nou klè, apwòch nou an souliye nesesite dirèk oto-gouvènman pa moun chak jou — pa pwofesyonèl, elit, entelektyèl, oswa biwokrasi pati pi wo a sosyete a. Eklatman! se pa yon fòmasyon pati. Nou pa vle dirije pi wo pase sosyete a. Se sa gouvènman Karayib yo — ak sa yo ki nan CARICOM, espesyalman — ofri.
Kounye a li byen konnen ke CARICOM te andose envazyon an Ayiti pa gouvènman Afriken ak Karayib la anvan anpi a. Otoproklame aktivis soti nan okenn kote pou di CARICOM fè “yon erè”.
CARICOM te fè yon erè nan anvayi tè kominal Barbuda a, patenarya li ak ExxonMobil nan Giyàn, “reparasyon” patwone pa miltinasyonal sektè prive a, ak envazyon li anvi Ayiti. Lis la kontinye. Si yon enstitisyon fè erè kòm yon fason pou lavi, Lè sa a, yo pa erè. Sa ki mande se pa yon evalyasyon CARICOM, yon bilan. Sa ki nesesè se yon postmortem — CARICOM se yon fwod epi fonksyone jan sa vle di.
Se yon sèl bagay lè moun òdinè, kit ann Ayiti kit atravè Karayib la, aprann sou politik pou premye fwa epi yo pa sèten egzakteman sa yo vle nan lit yo pou yo siviv ak lite pou kontantman. Lè yon majorite elektè nan Pòtoriko chwazi “okenn nan sa ki anlè a” nan yon referandòm sou estati Commonwealth, sa a se pa yon kesyon de immaturite politik. Olye de sa, dezi pou yon modèl politik pi lwen pase repiblikenis liberal, kapitalis biwokratik-eta, ak depandans enperyal gaye nan mitan mas pèp Karayib la.
Defi Solidarite ak Ayiti
Eksprime solidarite otantik ak Ayiti se yon defi nan moman sa a. Kiyès oswa kisa nou pwolonje fratènite nou an? Nou tou anvi “okenn nan pi wo pase” men plis mande nou. Kondisyon sosyal ann Ayiti vin pi mal anba okipasyon enperyal la. Gang ame teworize pèp ayisyen an. An menm tan, gen rezistans vyolan pou yo. Sosyete ofisyèl te nòmalman tonbe. Li difisil pou sipòte yon mouvman politik ki pa gen idantite klè. Mas ki opoze ak gang abizif yo pa gen dwa klarifye idantite yo nan kondisyon gè enperyal ak sivil. Li difisil pou disène a distans ki gwoup ki gen kapasite pou yo kanalize volonte popilè a epi monte yon defann pwòp tèt ou prensip pou klas travayè a, chomaj, peyizan dezavantaj yo, ak tout moun ki defavorize sosyalman yo ke yo refize yon vwa nan moman sa a.
Li riske, pa egzanp, aksepte gang Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier a kòm yon mouvman pou libète, menm lè li fè deklarasyon anti-establishment ak mande pou yo arete mannken leta ak ofisyèl koripsyon. Barbecue di fòs li yo pral defann pèp ayisyen an kont fòs okipasyon etranje yo. Men, relasyon ki genyen ant Barbecue ak mas k ap travay ann Ayiti poko klè. Kòm Joseph Edwards, mekanisyen refrijerasyon Jamayiken an ki te pase non “Fundi,” te di yon fwa: “Yuh haffi rezon ki fè kontni li.”
Nou pataje mepri Barbecue pou klas politik an Ayiti. Men, nou pa abònman nan doktrin “mis-lidèchip” ki jis chèche yon lidè popilè karismatik pou pran plas Martelly yo ak Moïses yo. Nou opoze ak nouvo klas dirijan kap chèche pouvwa nan non pèp la, travayè yo, “Moun Ayisien”, sèlman pou nou di pèp la abandone lari yo epi “retounen kay ou” kòm estanda calypso chante pa Sweet Micky (Martelly).
Pèp ayisyen demontre kapasite li genyen pou l gouvène tèt li lè Leta a disparèt e, kòm antwopològ Greg Beckett di, “pa gen Ayiti ankò”. Poutan Ayiti pa yon eta nasyon. Ayiti se pouvwa pèp la se nan lari — jan li ye depi lansman #KotKòbPetroKaribe an 2019.
“PetroCaribe Challenge” se yon konfwontasyon an mas ak Gouvènman ayisyen an apre resous petwòl ak kapital Venezyela te pwolonje pou konstriksyon enfrastrikti apre tranbleman tè a te scandalously apropriye pa politisyen ak gwoup rich antrepriz pou pwofi prive. Mosyon sosyal sa a eksprime kèk prensip sibstansyèl tou. Nou dwe fasilite dyalòg sou wout soti nan entèrèg sa a. Ayiti ak Karayib la ap viv tranzisyon ant ansyen mond lan ak nouvo mond lan. Si nouvo sosyete a mouri, se paske twòp moun gen dout sou fòs moun Nwa òdinè yo.
Koute tandans konfli pami kakofoni yo
Nou dwe koute ak anpil atansyon pou debouche kakofoni vwa yo ak disène ki fòs rasanble pou pote nouvo sosyete a endepandan de ansyen politik pati yo. Kiyès ki pral ankouraje mas yo kontinye Kye Marn — mach wout Kanaval — nan lari Ayiti? Ki moun ki di yo retounen kay yo ak pwomès demokrasi ak reprezantasyon popilè? Pami vwa k ap monte byen fò ak flou ansanm, genyen opozisyon ak gang nan lari yo, rejè envazyon, akeyi envazyon, sipò pou pati sa a oswa sa, grangou ak dezi pou enfrastrikti sante debaz yo, ak gang ki mechan ak kèk moun ki vle. montre tèt yo kòm bandi sosyal. Ak yon bagay enpòtan nou pa dwe bliye: agoni a nan moun ki nan doulè, ki gen mak, konnen chòk, epi yo se moun k ap pran swen moun yo.
Nou dwe vijilan ak moun ki opoze revolisyon nan non diskite sou revolisyon — sa yo ki preche ke “yon rebelyon moun òdinè se pa yon revolisyon” san gidans lidè, entelektyèl, ak politik apwopriye pou yon biwokrasi ki nan okenn fason. swete otomobilizasyon moun k’ap viv ansanm byen, eksepte kòm levye pou sekirize pwòp pouvwa yo. Moun sa yo pral òganize fowòm ki preche “Revolisyon” pandan y ap kouwone tèt yo prokurasyon wen yo pou “pèp la” tèt yo. Okenn “revolisyon” pa kapab otantik si li refize pèp la opòtinite pou yo rive sou pwòp otorite yo. Pou sa, nou di: Pa gen mèt! Pa gen medyatè yerachi!
Reyalite a se “sitiyasyon revolisyonè” ka fini nan ruine komen nan tout. Dayè, èske se pa leson Revolisyon ayisyen an ki te prezève ekonomi plantasyon anba Tousen ak Desalin pandan li te entèdi enstriman rebelyon yo enkli tanbou ak vodun?
Nou konnen tou ke nasyonalis kiltirèl kapab jistifikasyon tou represyon fachis jan li te ye anba rejim Divalye pita a. Kèlkeswa enstriman rebelyon yo ye, ak potansyèl revolisyon an anbriyon, li gen rapò ak oto-òganizasyon popilè a ki ogmante kote moun k ap plede pran responsablite de pli zan pli pou planifikasyon ekonomik, zafè jidisyè, relasyon etranje, manje, sante, ak èd mityèl. Si nou pa ka kalkile sa, nou gen anpi a mete nan yon gouvènman ak soti yon lòt pou chèf nou — e se sa yon nasyon-eta se anba kapital mondyal la.
Laj Trump ta dwe klarifye kounye a nan mond lan ke gen politisyen oswa oratè piblik ki ka karismatik ak deranje lòd konvansyonèl la men pa bay okenn transfòmasyon konkrè nan lavi yo nan moun k ap travay. Nou, san wont, nou swete pou batay revolisyonè ak dezi amelyore sitiyasyon kote sa yo ta ka parèt ak fleri.
Sajès anpil nan mitan moun òdinè pou gouvène
Lè nou di sajès anpil nan mitan moun òdinè pou gouvène, nou vle di moun ki bwè ak fimen, ki gen ti edikasyon fòmèl, ki sanble gen lide spesifik, chante san kle, ak bite — -sa a kapab yon avantaj, an reyalite!
Anpil aktivis ki gen eksperyans nan Karayib yo twomatize pa dezòd Ayiti. Li reflete pou anpil ansyen dekline fòtin atravè rejyon an. Sa nou wè nan Ayiti kontanporen te wè nan diferan nivo nan Jamayik, Trinidad, Grenada, ak Giyàn nan tan lontan ak prezan. Poutan, moun ki te enterese nan revolisyon sosyal konnen nan etid istwa lemonn ak eksperyans pratik ke okenn nouvo sosyete aspiran pa janm soti nan lòt kondisyon pase sa nou wè an Ayiti. Koute byen sou sa nou vle di.
Gen yon enpilsyon otantik, pa moun ki sèvi okenn gouvènman, ki vle lapè ak rekonsilyasyon ant moun ki gen pouvwa soutni yon eta nasyon ak lame pwofesyonèl ak gang nan lari yo. Sa a se ak yon konsyantizasyon penetrasyon Karayib ke gang lari istorikman yo se ekstansyon ame nan ansyen politik pati yo. Anplis de sa, nou pa ka viv fasil nan “maten apre” atak seksyèl, envazyon lakay yo, kidnapin pou ranson, ak vanjans pèmanan ki kraze baz inite debaz la.
Moun òdinè ki pa konnen egzakteman sa yo vle, ka pa pare pou mete nouvo valè sou tèt yo. Anba difikilte ekstrèm li difisil pou fè. Men, nan anviwonman dezas ak lagè sivil, pandan ke yo anrejistre anpil abi, pwogrè oto-dirije tou toujou rive.
Retounen Kay? Pa Janm!
An menm tan, chak revolisyon istorik soti nan kondisyon sipèpoze lagè enperyalis, lagè sivil, ak menas fachis la. Soti nan sa a soti lagè pou demokrasi, sosyalis pwòp tèt ou dirije, ak dezi yo pran oswa aboli pouvwa leta. Eklatman! se yon jounal ki rasanble vwa federasyon Karayib ki anba a — nou pa pwomèt lwayote, konseye, oswa resevwa finansman nan men okenn gouvènman anlè sosyete a.
Eklatman! egziste sou konesans fèm ke moun ki idantifye kòm “pwogresis” pa ka toujou fè konfyans nan politik mouvman libète Karayib la. Ensten sa a gen yon baz istorik epi li anrasinen nan eksperyans pratik nan politik lokal, nasyonal ak mondyal; se pa yon kontradiksyon spesifik pèp Karayib la. An menm tan, nou vle brase kowalisyon ki gen sans.
Sepandan, dèyè mo “pwogresis” se jis maskarad sa a. Moun ki kritike “mis-lidèchip” trè souvan fè dans sa a. Yo viv sou maj nan rejim eksplwatasyon ki okipe blòk goch kapital prive ak leta. Yo nòmalman chèche konseye yo pandan y ap atache kabwèt yo nan altènativ “pwogresis” nan Core Group la oswa Washington Consensus. Nan moman kriz, olye pou yo òganize moun pou yo vin endepandan, yo fonksyone kòm gad kò rejim sa yo.
Lè pouvwa a nan lari, apèl pou retounen kay yo epi fè eleksyon lib e jis se yon riz. Kote pouvwa a nan lari, li dwe rete la, kòm li vin pi fò, pi saj, ak plis estratejik. Nou pa pral twonpe pa yon lòt priyè teyoloji liberasyon oswa pwomès popilis. Nan okenn moman pèp la ta dwe fè bak jiskaske, pa pwòp pouse yo ak pwòp tèt ou-direksyon, egzakteman sa yo vle parèt devan yo.
Platfòm nou an ensiste pou kowalisyon sa yo pa ka gen ladann manm oswa konseye nan gouvènman Karayib ki egziste deja oswa politik pati yo. Moun ki vle “fè bagay yo” pi souvan, nan dènye analiz la panse manifestasyon ak mobilizasyon yo itil pa pou pwoche nouvo sosyete a men pou mete pouvwa a ak kapital la nan men yo.
Chak koòdone ak gouvènman yerarchize pa bezwen pou benefis pèsonèl. Men, jan nou wè ak moun ki t ap negosye ak “enmi” pou reparasyon, yo pa vrèman mennen relasyon diplomatik pou yon “nasyon oprime”. “Anti-enperyalis” sa yo, sa a se pozisyon devan kiltirèl yo, jis andose anvayi Ayiti e yo se opresè.
Si ak lè yon moun dwe negosye oswa mete revandikasyon sou fòs yerarchize yo, yo ta dwe piblik pou tout responsablite akò kase yo ka mete devan pòt apwopriye a. Nenpòt moun ki delege pou òganize sa, oswa fasilite sa, dwe fè konnen yo pa konseye rejim ki egziste a kòm pèsonifikasyon “nasyon an” men travayè yo, chomè, peyizan yo, fanm mache, ak moun k ap bay swen.
Men, tou, fasilitatè sa yo dwe rapòte bay piblik la, pa pouvwa dèyè sèn nan, konsa moun chak jou aprann sispann chita bò pòt sa a nan biwo Matant ak Tonton karismatik yo, epi pran pwòp inisyativ yo san yo pa gade sou zepòl yo pou apwobasyon. Sa a se yon pati nan kite ansyen fason nan lavi dèyè.
Gouvènman yerarchik yo ak aparèy kiltirèl yo kreye fo “mouvman” — Pa sèlman enperyalis yo men nan gouvènman sid mondyal yo tou envante yo.
Anpil moun rekonèt “erè” CARICOM te fè sèlman paske mouvman sosyal de baz ann Ayiti ak Karayib la pa domi epi pouse yo tounen. Analis ak kòmantatè sa yo pral di ke CARICOM bezwen dyalòg pi efikas ak gwoup “sosyete sivil” ayisyen.
“Sosyete sivil” se yon lòt riz pou chwazi lidè prokurasyon nan lari yo. Sosyete sivil, tankou yon repiblik, defini lavi politik moun òdinè kòm sibòdone ak eta a ak chèf ki anlè sosyete a.
Nou pa ka sèten ki kote tantativ pou rekonsilye lit ann Ayiti ak gouvènman CARICOM ki te andose envazyon li a pral finalman mennen. Men, Fundi, ki te òganize travayè sik Jamayiken yo, travayè anbalaj vyann yo, kiltivatè bannann yo, ak moun ki pap travay nan ane 1970 yo, te fè yon avètisman enpòtan. Premye Mouvman Liberasyon Afro-Karayib la nan Antigwa & Barbuda, nan peryòd sa a, te avèti sou menm bagay la. Nasyonalis post-kolonyal se yon zouti chèf yo ki brutalize nou — menm moun ki gen tandans “pwogresis” ak bon konfyans “sosyalis”.
Nou dwe reyalize ke fòs anpi yo deja patwone gouvènman ayisyen an ekzil nan non “devlopman” ak “sosyete sivil” ak manm militè yo ak gouvènman ameriken an sou konsèy yo. Sa a se sa sa yo rele “sosyete sivil” sa a aktyèlman sou. Dayè, Aristide te jwenn sipò Depatman Deta Clinton jiskaske li pa t fè sa. CARICOM pral travay ak enperyalis yo pou mete pati, pèsonalite, oswa gouvenman chwa a nan biwo apre envazyon an pou fini Kye Marn epi rele, “retounen kay ou!”
Oto-òganize Ayisyen ak pèp Karayib la Endepandan de ansyen politik, pati, ak gouvènman yo
Kominote Karayib oganize oto-oganize, endepandan de ansyen pati politik yo ak chèf dekadans yo, bezwen patwone ak defann asanble popilè pèp ayisyen an pou chèche konnen egzakteman sa yo vle. Ayisyen, tankou tout pèp Karayib la, ta dwe chwazi pwogram yo anvan yo chwazi yon fasilitatè pwovizwa oswa fòme pwòp gouvènman yo. Nenpòt moun ki afilye ak lame Ameriken an — ak gouvènman CARICOM yo ak lidè ayisyen k ap tann nan zèl yo — ta dwe enfòme piblik la kisa pèp ayisyen an vle.
Asanble popilè sa yo pral otantik sèlman si yo reprezante tandans konfli nan mitan mas ayisyen yo menm. Nou wè moun nan gouvènman an oswa yon sèl etap deyò nan li sipòte youn ak lòt. Eklatman! se opoze ak envazyon an Ayiti ki te dirije Nwa. Sepandan, si pèsonn nan asanble popilè yo pa ka montre enterè nan envazyon an, omwen diskite sou li, yo pa reyèl asanble demokratik.
Nou dwe konfòtab ak moun ki chak jou panse, aji, ak gouvène tèt yo — pa kòm yon dekorasyon sèlman nan pouvwa leta sou sosyete a. An menm tan, jan nou te aprann nan mouvman mondyal Occupy ak Square yo, tout bagay ka diskite ak respekte jiskaske yon fo idantite sosyal endepandan afime nan non otonomi — pafwa enfòme pa nasyonalis, pafwa enfòme pa ajanda pati elektoral. Pèspektif “pèp la” sèlman mande pou chèf medyòk ak dekadans nan tèt sosyete a lè li pa baze sou aktivite liberasyon oto-dirije.
Kounye a, gen kèk moun ki pral di: Kisa ou vle di? Sa a se “dwa!” Sa a se “otodetèminasyon!” Sa a se istwa san sans. Kolonyalis se refi a nan oto-gouvènman popilè. Endepandans se rejeksyon oto-gouvènman popilè? Twòp moun te pase nan san ak batay epwizan pou tolere pappyshow sa a ankò. Ayisyen chak jou yo trè entèlijan, pa makakri, moun sòt, oswa moun sòt. Asanble popilè yo pèmèt moun òdinè gouvène, pa sibòdone lòt otorite jan yo vle. Sa ki nesesè pou pèp ayisyen an pale pou tèt li, se pa siveyan yo ap tann nan zèl apre envazyon an, se pou yon rezo otonòm (oto-òganize pa moun sòt nasyonalis) dwe kreye kote vrè antrav pèp ayisyen an ak tèt-. . pouvwa gouvènman an ka rekonèt ak anrejistre.
Petèt, rezo sa a pral yon kowalisyon ki distenge pa pataje pouvwa pami reprezantan pati ayisyen ki te rankontre nan tan lontan. Nou pa ta rekòmande sa, men nou pa dikte nan tèren politik la jan nou vle. Men, nou pral kontinye afime tèt nou kòm evanjelis nan moun yo òdinè, pouvwa nan lari yo, Kye Marn. Nou vle plis pase yon fen nan vyolans la ak retounen nan eta polis la anba nouvo gadyen ak lidè. Men, ki jan nou ka kontrekare posibilite sa a?
Ayiti ak Karayib la bezwen fasilitatè ki gen eksperyans ak yon repitasyon byen li te ye paske yo pa gen okenn enterè ak pouvwa pèsonèl oswa sosyete a pou bay konsèy ak fasilitasyon — pa “Jimmy Carter” ak “Colin Powell” jwèt-jwè “, kote anpi a mande. lidè yo fòme pou ranvèse yon politisyen demisyone, pou mete yo tounen, ranvèse yo ankò, epi answit fè yo tounen sou bò politik la.
Gid sou Dekouvèt Demokrasi Popilè ak Dirèk
Si yo te mande nou, dapre konesans limite nou an, nou ta ka sijere gid pou òganize asanble popilè sa yo. Yo ta ka sanble yon bagay tankou sa a. Pèsonn pa ka patisipe nan yo ki vle pale pou okenn pati ki te okipe ann Ayiti nan 50 dènye ane yo. Ki jan nou ka di sa? Anpi a gen zen vyann li nan chak politisyen ak pati ki te fonksyone pi wo pase sosyete an Ayiti yon fason oswa yon lòt. Moun k ap tann nan zèl yo note ak fyète andòsman enperyal yo — kounye a yo se “sosyete sivil.”
Patisipan nan asanble sa yo dwe yon peyizan, travayè, oswa chomaj. Yo pa ka viv ak de oswa plis salè oswa viv pa lwaye. Yo pa kapab posede pwopriyete. Koulye a, nou ka mande enfòmasyon sou kondisyon pèp ayisyen eksplwate yo ap fè fas ak kisa ki pral elve yo. Nou konnen byen CARICOM ta ka rasanble biwokrasi sendikal yo men yo p ap rasanble peyizan, ouvriye, chomè yo pou enstwi yo ke yo, an reyalite, kenbe ren gouvènman an.
Li ka difisil pou rasanble moun ki gen eksperyans pou pataje ak asanble a konesans yo nan travay nan travay dlo yo, konpayi elektrik, otèl oswa endistri, waf yo, oswa konpayi telefòn san yo pa lyen sot pase gouvènman oswa pati. Kite moun ki gen pi piti richès ak edikasyon mwens fòmèl evalye merit yo nan sa yo gen pou ofri. Kite fasilitatè yo ak kiltivatè yo avèk pasyans eksplike epi aprann nan men moun ki pi chaje, ki gen sikatris, men ki pa bat oswa ki pral aksepte yon sandwich nan men nenpòt moun. Apre tout premye minis periferik ak prezidan fè sa deja.
San yo pa kalite kad sa a (kapab genyen lòt ki gen kalite ki sanble ak diferan), pèp ayisyen an ak peyi Karayib la ap kontinye soufri anba sa Frantz Fanon rele “la magouy nan yon monn nwa” ki te dirije pa CARICOM ak aktivis li yo pou gouvènman yerachi. Anpil moun pral di ki kote nou ka jwenn moun konsa pou pale ak nou? Ki moun ki san peche? Ann di nou tout te fè erè. Men, ann distenge tèt nou ak gouvènman briyan yo nan kondane yo ki pa konnen anyen ankò.
