Haitian people protesting against the political and economic conditions they are subjected to.
Once again Haiti is the victim of imperialist intrigues, with no other nation willing or able to act on its behalf. The United Nations vote to authorize an occupation of Haiti, the tenth such occurrence in the last 30 years, was given tacit approval by Russia and China, who chose to abstain rather than use their Security Council veto power to stop this latest aggression. Thirteen other Security Council members voted to approve what is called a security mission that will quell gang violence. The mission is paid for by the U.S. Department of Defense, while Kenya is taking the lead by providing a force on the ground.
The U.S. was very shrewd in choosing an African country to oversee the mission, which gave cover to the continued domination of Haiti after the installation of an unelected puppet prime minister, Ariel Henry. Kenya has chosen the role of Black face imperialism, acting on U.S. instructions to control the Haitian people and once again prevent them from winning true independence and sovereignty.
The United States has plenty of partners acting as accessories in committing this latest crime. The United Nations itself is one of the perpetrators with the Core Group of the U.S., France, and Canada. They chose a prime minister who may be implicated in the assassination of the previous head of state, a president whose term would have ended if Haiti’s constitution had been respected.
Yet again the game is rigged against Haiti. The corporate media dutifully repeat what the State Department and the United Nations claim, that the people of Haiti requested yet another invasion that would end everything from sexual assaults to kidnapping. They don’t mention that previous occupations victimized the people and created far more harm for them.
China and Russia could have acted as guarantors of Haiti’s sovereignty but they took the easy way out. The two countries had previously opposed efforts to get United Nations approval for an occupation of Haiti. Now China claims to have acted based on appeals from the international community, but apparently appeals from the Haitian people to be able to act in their own interests didn’t sway them very much. An abstention is as good as a yes vote, and Russia and China apparently succumbed to the narrative that Black people are incapable of acting on their own accord. Both countries should have voted no.
The illegitimate Henry government can’t claim to make requests on anyone’s behalf. As for Kenya stepping forward to help, Haiti and Kenya only established diplomatic relations one week before the vote, and did so with obvious involvement from the U.S., which sent Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to join the Black face in a high place charade. Kenya’s president William Ruto is perhaps the most shameless of all, claiming to promote Pan-African policies when he is just the latest stooge for the U.S. and its friends.
Haiti reminds us that prominent Black men and women are given their positions in order to give legitimacy to wrongdoing at critical moments. In the case of Haiti that means maintaining the dominant relationship that has plagued that country for so long. The media join in and suddenly give great praise to the president of Kenya. The U.S. project for Haiti needs Lloyd Austin and Kamala Harris and UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield to act as the front men and women who can make dirty deeds look clean.
Haiti has always been of special concern to Black people in the United States. The Congress Black Caucus (CBC) spoke up quite publicly when the George W. Bush administration connived with France to kidnap president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and force him at gunpoint to go to the Central African Republic. Congresswoman Maxine Waters was especially tenacious, forming a delegation which included the late Randall Robinson to visit Aristide and to assist his family. Now the group once known as the “conscience of the congress” have neutered themselves, and its leadership says nothing on Haiti’s behalf.
Black people in this country can still be Haiti’s voice and should know that “gang violence” is the result of Haiti’s domination by its criminal oligarch class and by the U.S., which invaded Haiti in 1915, put puppets in place for the next 100 years, and kidnapped a president. The administration of the first Black president of the U.S. even forced Haiti to change an election outcome when the winner was not to their liking.
Let us remain steadfast in advocating for the Haitian people, and in condemning the Biden administration, the United Nations, and the Core Group for their abysmal treatment of their country. China and Russia should also be called to account when they fail to use their power to do the right thing. Left forces are too often silent or offer only meek words of support. The radical tradition was once the mainstream position for Black people, who needed no prompting to be Haiti’s defenders. We must still speak up for Haiti.
Margaret Kimberley's is the author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents. Her work can also be found at Patreon and on X @freedomrideblog. Ms. Kimberley can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.
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