Haiti needs the world’s support

An unmarked election ballot from the November vote, one of thousands left scattered on the floor of a polling station. Only 23% of voters participated. Photograph: Ramon Espinosa/AP

Noam Chomsky, Tariq Ali, Slavoj Žižek and others call on the US, France and Canada to keep out of Haiti’s democratic process in an open letter to the Guardian.

Over the next few years, much of Haiti will be rebuilt and much of its economy restructured. In response to last year’s earthquake an unprecedented amount of money has been promised for reconstruction. It’s more important than ever before that Haiti be governed by an administration that reflects the true will and interests of its people, rather than the concerns of foreign governments and corporations.

In 2004, the US, France and Canada, in alliance with members of Haiti’s business community and demobilised soldiers of the Haitian army, overthrew the last Haitian government to enjoy genuine popular support: the party that led this government, Fanmi Lavalas, was elected with around 75% of the vote. This past November, these same powers imposed and funded an illegitimate electoral process in Haiti, one that blocked the participation of Fanmi Lavalas. Only 23% of Haitian voters participated, scarcely a third of the proportion who voted in the last presidential election.

In recent weeks, the US and its proxies have brazenly interfered in the interpretation of this election’s first round of results. The flawed November vote was not only inconclusive and unrepresentative, its outcome was also unlawful. If the second round of these elections goes ahead as planned on 20 March, it is now sure to result in the unconstitutional selection of a president with closer ties to the powers that sponsored and manipulated them than to the people meant to participate in them.

At the same time, the powers that dominate Haiti have facilitated the return of the former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier while discouraging the return of the twice-elected president (and Fanmi Lavalas leader) Jean-Bertrand Aristide. These powers, with their allies in the Haitian business community, have made it clear that they seek to delay Aristide’s return until after 20 March. They will only allow Aristide to return after a suitably pliant new government has been installed, to preside over the imminent reconstruction process.

We the undersigned call on the Haitian government to make the security arrangements that will enable Aristide’s immediate return, and we call on the international community to support rather than undermine these efforts. We call on the Haitian government to cancel the second-round vote scheduled for 20 March and to organise a new round of elections, without exclusions or interference, to take place as soon as possible.

Signed:

Marie-Célie Agnant, writer

Tariq Ali, writer

Andaiye, Red Thread, Guyana

Roger Annis, Canada Haiti Action Network

Reginald Antoine, PEVEP

Alain Badiou, Ecole Normale Supérieure (Paris)

Brian Becker, National Co-ordination, Answer Coalition

Emile Wilnes Brumer, Mas Popilè Site Solèy

Jean-Claude Cajou, community activist

Sara Callaway, Women of Colour/Global Women’s Strike, UK

Yves Camille, Haiti Liberté

Noam Chomsky, MIT

Ramsey Clark, former US attorney general

Brian Concannon, Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti

Dan Coughlin, executive director, Manhattan Neighborhood Network

Ezili Dantò, Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network

Mike Davis, UC Riverside

Castro Desroches, SUNY

Rea Dol, SODUPEP

Berthony Dupont, Haiti Liberté

Ben Dupuy, Haiti Progrès & Parti Populaire National

Darren Ell, Montreal-Haiti Solidarity Committee

Joe Emersberger, writer

Yves Engler, writer

Anthony Fenton, journalist

Weiner Kerns Fleurimond, Haiti Liberté

Pierre L Florestal, Fanmi Lavalas – NY

Daniel Florival, Tèt Kole Oganizasyon Popilè yo

Sara Flounders, International Action Center

Laura Flynn, Aristide Foundation for Democracy board

Danny Glover, actor & activist, board chair, TransAfrica Forum

Leah Gordon, photographer and curator

Manu Goswami, NYU

Greg Grandin, NYU

Thomas Griffin, lawyer

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton

Peter Hallward, Kingston University London

Georges Honorat, Haiti Progrès

Kim Ives, Haiti Liberté

Selma James, Global Women’s Strike, UK

Dr G Carlo Jean, retired public school teacher

Marlène Jean-Noel, Fanmi Lavalas Baz NY

Tony Jean-Thénor, Veye Yo

Frantz Jerome, Coalition Against Occupation and Sham Elections

Evelt Jeudi, Fanmi Lavalas Miami

Mario Joseph, Office of International Lawyers (BAI)

Farah Juste, representative of Fanmi Lavalas for Florida & the Bahamas

Michelle Karshan, Aristide Foundation for Democracy

Katharine Kean, film-maker

Ira Kurzban, Counsel for the Republic of Haiti from 1991-2004

Pierre Labossière, Haiti Action Committee

Ray Laforest, International Support Haiti Network

Frantz Latour, Haiti Liberté

Andrew Leak, University College London

Didier Leblanc, Haiti Liberté

Jacques Elie Leblanc, Haiti Liberté

Maude Leblanc, Haiti Progrès

Richard Ledes, film director

Nicole Lee, President, TransAfrica Forum

Nina López, Legal Action for Women, UK

Gardy Lumas, PEVEP

Isabel Macdonald, journalist

Albert Maysles, film-maker

Yves Mésidor, Mas Popilè Site Solèy

Johnny Michel, Mas Popilè Site Solèy

Melinda Miles, Let Haiti Live

Georges Mompremier, Fanmi Lavalas Baz NY

Fednel Monchery, Jeunesse pour la République (JPR)

Joia S. Mukherjee, Chief Medical Officer, Partners In Health

Nick Nesbitt, Princeton University

Harry Numa, community activist

Vanel Louis Paul, Mas Popilè Site Solèy

Gladys Timmer Phillpotts, Fanmi Lavalas Baz St Francis

Fritzner Pierre, radio host of Dyalog Popilè

Wadner Pierre, Haitianalysis.com

Yves Pierre-Louis, Tèt Kole Oganizasyon Popilè yo

Kevin Pina, Haiti Information Project

Margaret Prescod, Women of Colour/Global Women’s Strike, US

Jackson Rateau, Haiti Liberté

Roosevelt René, engineer

Claude Ribbe, author and filmmaker

Corey Robin, Brooklyn College & CUNY

William Robinson, UCSB

Nicolas Rossier, film-maker

Robert Roth, Haiti Action Committee

Jean Saint-Vil, writer

Alina Sixto, Radio Fanmi Lavalas New York

Mark Snyder, International Action Ties

Jeb Sprague, UCSB

Irwin Stotzky, University of Miami Law School

Lucie Tondreau, community activist

Eddy Toussaint “Tontongi”, Revi Tanbou

Harold Valentin, Oganizasyon Jen Salomon (OJESA)

Burt Wides, former counsel to Haiti’s constitutional government; Special Counsel to President Carter for oversight of all US Intelligence agencies

Cécile Winter, Collectif politique sida en Afrique

Slavoj Žižek, University of Ljubljana

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