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Plus Ça Change… a Historical Survey of Western Interference in Haiti

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Plus Ça Change… a Historical Survey of Western Interference in Haiti Plus ça change… A Historical Survey of Western Interference in Haiti Major Christopher John Young, CD, MA A Thesis In the Department Of History Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada July 2020 © Christopher John Young CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY School of Graduate Studies This is to certify that the thesis prepared By: Christopher John Young Entitled: Plus ça change… A Historical Survey of Western Interference in Haiti and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standard with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the final Examining Committee _______________________________ Chair Dr. A. Nash _______________________________ External Examiner Dr. P. Bellegarde-Smith _______________________________ External to Program Dr. J. Schofield _______________________________ Examiner Dr. E. Reiter _______________________________ Thesis Co-Supervisor Dr. F. Chalk _______________________________ Thesis Co-Supervisor Dr. C. Fick Approved by ________________________________________________ Dr. A. Zilberstein, Graduate Program Director December 13, 2019 _______________________________________ Dr. M. Penney, Dean of History ABSTRACT Christopher Young Concordia University, 2019 What historical lessons, positive or negative, can be gleaned from past Western interventionist activities within Haiti that have application to the desired future goal of rehabilitating or moving Haiti from fragile state status, to that of a fully functioning and stable member state within the international community of nations? This dissertation aims to determine what historical lessons, positive or negative, can be gleaned from past Western interventionist activities in Haiti that are applicable to the desired future goal of rehabilitating or moving Haiti from fragile state status to functioning and stable state within the international community of nations. At the core of that problem is the need to determine how to restrain the impulses of external nations who obstruct or divert Haiti’s chosen path forward. The findings show that the West has conducted a deliberate campaign against Haiti composed of three destabilizing elements: criminalization of opposition to interventions; economic warfare employing NGOs and SAP policies aimed at maintaining Haiti’s attractiveness as a source of cheap, plentiful labour; and a deliberate failure to exploit opportunities for fundamental, positive change in Haitian development. The analysis of Western interference in Haiti has exposed a number of trends, including the use of force to coerce money from the Haitian government; the deliberate undermining of Haitian sovereignty through constant interference in Haitian elections, despite free and fair elections being considered the bedrock of Western democracy; a preference for stability and the status quo in Haiti over social revolutionary trends; and an historical, targeted funding of Haitian security forces, military and police, despite both being the principal instruments of repression employed against Haitian attempts at social revolutionary change. iii As a metanarrative, the dissertation brings together various micro-narratives which highlight Western impact on specific areas of Haitian culture, including colour and class, militarism, land, and the predatory state. Set within a chronological framework, the dissertation provides historical insight into practices which have had a significant influence on hindering peacebuilding generally. Understanding those practices and identifying lessons from historical analysis will prove useful in future peacebuilding work in Haiti and should help inform the development of other fragile states. iv DEDICATION In memory of my brother, Jeffrey Douglas, who gifted me, so many years ago, Wade Davis’ book The Serpent and The Rainbow and got me started down this long road. And, of course, to friends and family for their help and encouragement on what has proven to be a long journey. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my very great appreciation to Dr. Frank Chalk and Dr. Carolyn Fick, my research supervisors, for their patient guidance, enthusiastic encouragement, and extremely useful critiques of my work. I am also honoured that Professor Emeritus Patrick Bellegarde-Smith agreed to participate as part of my doctoral thesis examination committee. I am also indebted to Dr. Eric Reiter and Dr. Julian Schofield for working with me early on in this lengthy process and providing me with the benefit of their invaluable expertise. And of course, for sitting on my doctoral thesis examination committee. I would also be remiss not to thank Ms. Donna Whittaker who has been on the other end of my emails, patiently sorting out my emergencies when they occurred, which was usually overseas on yet another deployment. Finally, I need to acknowledge the three people who have been instrumental in getting me to the finish line. My mother-in-law, Jenifer: You took my ramblings at a key moment and applied your editing expertise to show me that in fact there was some gold (or at least silver) hidden within. My son, Andrew: You aided me more than you will know. Listening to the old man, reading my scribblings, helping me sort out my muddled thinking …and, most of all, convincing me that this was good enough. Last but not least, SWMBO: Your nagging was probably the only reason I made it this far! That, and that you kept following me around to talk about something else you had read on Haiti that might be useful…and of course, always was! vi TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………..............viii Introduction…………..….………………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter One - Colour and Class in Haiti……….…………….………………………………….13 Chapter Two – Militarism and Haiti………………………………………….………………….34 Chapter Three – Haiti and Land……………………………….……………….………...............44 Chapter Four –Haiti: The State……………………………….………………………………….51 Chapter Five - Eighteen and Nineteenth Century Western Intervention in Haiti…….………….58 Chapter Six - The United States Marine Invasion and Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934………106 Chapter Seven - Post-Occupation to the 1957 election of François Duvalier………………….160 Chapter Eight – The Duvalier Era……………………………………………………...............180 Chapter Nine – Haiti: Life after Duvalier……………………………………………................226 Chapter Ten –Understanding Foreign Dominance………………………………......................283 Chapter Eleven – Lessons from Interventions………………………………….........................327 Conclusion………….….…………………………………………………….…………............359 Afterword – A Brief Foray into the Field of Development Strategy…..………….…................366 Bibliography…….….……………………………………………………….…….…...……….394 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Relationship between Themes, Time, and Lessons………………………………..…11 Figure 2: Rwandan Vision 2020 Development Strategy………………………………………381 viii Introduction Take a bow for the new revolution Smile and grin at the change all around me… Meet the new boss Same as the old boss1 - The Who, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” - When you listen to the lyrics of The Who’s fabled song, “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” you would not be faulted for thinking they had been writing about Haiti. That thinking might have been shaken in December 1990, in what was a brief and shining moment in Haiti’s long and troubled history, when successful democratic elections, judged by the United Nations international observers to have been free and fair, appeared momentarily to signal the dawn of a new era in Haiti.2 The election of Père Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former Salesian priest, to Haiti’s highest office was the result of a popular mass movement, Lavalas, which developed at the grassroots level through local church and community groups, and proved capable of not only pushing Jean-Claude Duvalier (otherwise known as Baby Doc) from power, but also ensured Aristide’s election with over 67 percent of the national vote.3 Despite the initial optimism, that shining moment was regrettably extinguished eight months later. Haiti’s military forced the nation’s first democratically elected president from power and consigned him to exile. Aristide’s return to office would not occur until 1994, and only then because the international community, led by the United States, turned away from a long, erratic and ultimately failed diplomatic strategy, and instead finally embraced recognition 1 Lyrics from “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” The Who, 1971. 2 In response to a request from the then-interim government in Haiti, the United Nations created and deployed the United Nations Observer Group for the Verification of the Elections in Haiti (ONUVEH) which, in conjunction with Organization of American States (OAS) electoral observers and a number of other non-governmental agencies, certified that the 1990 elections were “highly successful.” The material presented is drawn from the United Nations backgrounders, https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/past/unmihbackgr1.html. 3 The Lavalas movement was also largely responsible for the defeat of an attempted coup that took place only days after the presidential election and before Aristide had even been sworn into office. See Peter Hallward, “An Interview with Jean-Bertrand Aristide,” London Review of Books 29 no. 4 (February 2007): 9-13. 1 that the coup regime would only relinquish power and permit Aristide’s return to power
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