BAP Rejects Calls for More Foreign Intervention in Haiti & Stands for Respecting Haitian Sovereignty and Self-Determination

“The Black Alliance for Peace Rejects the Calls for Foreign Intervention in Haiti and Demands that International Community Respect Haitian Sovereignty and the Wishes of the Haitian People for National Self-Determination" 

For Immediate Release    

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OCTOBER 7, 2022 — The Haitian people have been protesting for months against ongoing foreign occupation and U.S. support for a corrupt government that was not elected by a popular vote or mandate. In the last weeks, popular protests and uprisings have intensified, but the U.S. and its allies have responded by claiming all the disruption in the country amounts to “gang violence” that needs to be quelled with increased foreign intervention, on top of the ongoing BINUH occupation. In addition to the ongoing UN occupation, nine thousand Dominican soldiers are stationed on the border with Haiti and videos have recently surfaced of Dominican military forces entering Haitian territory. Given the Dominican Republic’s history of anti-Haitian sentiment and violence, this is particularly concerning.

Responding to these circumstances, on September 30, The Black Alliance for Peace delivered an open letter to CARICOM (the Caribbean Community), urging the 11-nation group to support Haitian sovereignty and oppose further calls for foreign intervention. BAP reminded the leaders of CARICOM that the situation in Haiti could not be reduced to a sensationalist assertion that so-called gangs were behind the popular uprisings on the island:

"...the latest demonstrations are a direct result of two factors. First, they are a response to the everyday economic misery caused by rising inflation, especially through the staggering increase in the price of fuel. Second, they are part of a long history of demands for the end of foreign meddling in Haitian affairs, especially via the installation and maintenance of an unelected and illegitimate government by the Core Group, of which the United Nations is a part."

BAP member Netfa Freeman delivering open letter to CARICOM to the Embassy of the Republic of Suriname

BAP member Rebecca Bonhomme delivering open letter to CARICOM to the embassy of Antigua and Barbuda

BAP urges popular mobilization against continued U.S. intervention in Haiti and in support of Haitian sovereignty. This Sunday, October 9 at 4pm EST in Washington, DC, leaders from 87+ Haitian-American, faith, and human rights organizations will convene at Black Lives Matter Plaza and march to the White House “to demand the Biden Administration stop propping up a corrupt regime that has plunged Haiti into chaos, and to let Haitians decide their own future, including creating a legitimate Haitian-led transition back to democracy and security”. We encourage all who can to show up and support the Haitian people to decide their own future.

The Black Alliance for Peace has been consistent. The crisis of Haitian democracy is the result of the colonialist interventions of the U.S. and other Western powers. As we said in our communication with CARICOM: 

"BAP absolutely stands against any foreign armed intervention in Haiti, and continues to demand an end to the unending meddling in Haitian affairs by the United States and Western powers. We call for the dissolution of the imperialist Core Group, an end to Western support for the unelected and unaccountable puppet government of Ariel Henry, and for the respect of Haitian sovereignty."

We say No to Occupation. Yes to Self-Determination.

Banner photo: Canada Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly, U.S. Sec of State Anthony Blinken, and OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro in a meeting regarding Haiti. (courtesy of @Almagro_OEA2015 on Twitter)

Open Letter to Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), on the need to Support Haitian Sovereignty

An Open Letter to Her Excellency, Dr. Carla Natalie Barnett Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), on the need to Support Haitian Sovereignty

Dear Dr. Barnett: 

On September 19, 2022, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) issued a short statement expressing grave concern about worsening conditions in Haiti and pressing for “urgent and immediate attention from the international community.” In light of CARICOM’s more direct engagement in Haitian affairs in recent months, we call on your organization to respect Haitian sovereignty and to support the Haitian masses in their stand against the ongoing occupation of their country by foreign powers. Despite the erroneous representation of the current protests in Haiti as simply “gang violence,” the latest demonstrations are a direct result of two factors. First, they are a response to the everyday economic misery caused by rising inflation, especially through the staggering increase in the price of fuel. Second, they are part of a long history of demands for the end of foreign meddling in Haitian affairs, especially via the installation and maintenance of an unelected and illegitimate government by the Core Group, of which the United Nations is a part. 

We applaud your concern for Haiti. We have also noted the support your member nations have given to Caribbean and Latin American self-determination. For this reason, we would like to remind CARICOM members that the U.S., Canada, France, and other Western countries, along with the Core Group, and UN missions such as MINUSTAH, are directly responsible for the current conditions in Haiti. Attempting to solve the current crisis in Haiti through a dialogue between unelected and illegitimate Haitian “stakeholders” will not be successful. It will only serve the needs of non-Haitians.

We share with you the words of a coalition of Haitian grassroots organizations explaining the main reason for the currency protests: 

“[T]hese popular protests are part of a struggle for a Haiti free from suffocating foreign interference, gangsterization, this extreme manufactured misery and an anti-national, illegitimate, criminal political regime established by the Core Group of which the UN is a member.”

A brief historical contextualization is in order:

The UN Mission to Haiti Is a Foreign Occupation Repressing Haitian Sovereignty

As you surely are aware, the United Nations became an occupying force in Haiti after the U.S.-France-Canada-led 2004 coup d’état against Haiti’s democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. We must note that, in addition to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, only Jamaica’s P.J. Patterson, in his capacity as leader of CARICOM, spoke up against the coup.  

Following the coup, the UN took over from U.S. forces. Under Chapter VII of the UN charter, the UN established the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (or MINUSTAH), for the tasks of military occupation under the guise of establishing peace and security. The Workers Party-led government of Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva then betrayed the Haitian people and undercut Haiti’s sovereignty by agreeing to lead the military wing of the UN mission in Haiti.

The history of the UN in Haiti has been a history of violence. An expensive, multi-billion dollar operation, MINUSTAH had between 6,000 and 12,000 military troops and police stationed in Haiti alongside thousands of civilian personnel. Like the first U.S. occupation (1915-1934), the UN occupation under MINUSTAH was marked by its brutality and racism towards the Haitian people. Civilians were brutally attacked and assassinated. “Peace-keepers” committed sexual crimes. UN soldiers dumped human waste into rivers used for drinking water, unleashing a cholera epidemic that killed between 10,000 and 50,000 people. The UN has still not been held accountable for this needless death.

The Core Group — an international coalition of self-proclaimed “friends” of Haiti — came together during the MINUSTAH occupation. Non-Black, un-elected, and anti-democratic, the goal of the Core Group is to oversee Haiti’s governance. Meanwhile, as with the first occupation, the United States and MINUSTAH trained and militarized Haiti’s police and security forces, often rehabilitating and reintegrating rogue members. The United States, in collusion with MINUSTAH and the Core Group, also over-rode Haitian democracy, installing both neo-Duvalierist Michel Martelly and his Haitian Tèt Kale Party (PHTK), alongside Martelly’s protege and successor, the late Jovenel Moïse.

It is claimed that this occupation officially ended in 2017 with the dissolution of MINUSTAH. But the UN has remained in Haiti under a new acronym: BINUH, the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti. BINUH has had an outsized role in Haitian internal political affairs. For example, soon after Moïse was assassinated, its representative, Helen La Lime, asserted that Claude Joseph would be installed as Haiti’s leader. Later, the “Core Group” switched gears and demanded that Ariel Henry should be president. And this is exactly what happened when a “new” Haitian government was announced on July 20, 2021, with Henry as leader. This, without any say from the Haitian people, without any pretense of a democratic process, without any concern for Haiti’s sovereignty.

UN Occupation Increases Violence and Instability

Haiti currently has an unelected, unpopular, unaccountable, and illegitimate prime minister, propped up by the United States and the western nations. Meanwhile, Haiti’s security situation has deteriorated considerably as groups, armed by the transnational Haitian and Levantine elite, continue their attacks on the Haitian people. We must emphasize that, in the eighteen years that the United Nations mission has participated in the occupation of Haiti, the Haitian people have only experienced violence and political instability. You must recognize the foreign occupation of Haiti has left it in a state of disarray and violence. 

The consequences of Foreign Meddling and Occupation

We must remind you that this is the sixth week of protests of the Haitian people against both the U.S.-backed puppet government of Ariel Henry and the continued occupation and meddling of the Core Group and the UN itself. With all the talk of Haitian “lawlessness,” one would never know that the other main reason for the protests was the illegitimate government’s decision, under IMF austerity dictates, to cut fuel subsidies, amid spiraling inflation and economic insecurity. Hear the people’s words:

“This new decision, taken to the detriment of the interests of the people, has aroused his anger and also intensified a protest movement already initiated, whose objective is the recovery of our sovereignty, the recovery of Haiti's destiny by Haitians, the establishment by Haitians of a legitimate government, capable of defending the interests of the people and meeting the various challenges of the moment.”

No to Occupation. Yes to Self-Determination.

The speed at which contemporary events are moving in Haiti makes it difficult for those outside the Caribbean republic to understand its internal political dynamics. Because of this, it is easy to resort to historical cliches and short-hand analyses in an attempt to neatly package and summarize or flatten what are oftentimes complex, structural, and historical formations whose origins are as much rooted outside than inside the country. Thus to outsiders Haiti is in the middle of a crisis, a never-ending crisis marked by lawlessness and violence, by the failure of government and the collapse of the state, and by a savage populism paired with well-armed, predatory gangs. 

We believe this representation of Haiti is fueled by an ancient racism premised on the notion that Haitian people (and African people more generally) are incapable of self-government, and this notion, in turn, nurtures the rationalization for the strengthening of the current mandate for the continued international occupation of Haiti. 

We ask that you think with all seriousness about the relationships among nations in our region. All nations should be able to chart their own destiny, not just some. You must know the history of the proud Haitian people whose Revolution changed the course of world history and material aid helped the liberation of the Americas from colonial rule and enslavement. Despite the continued affront to its self-determination, the people of Haiti will continue to fight for its liberation.

The Black Alliance for Peace, in alignment with the wishes of the Haitian masses and their supporters, absolutely stands against any foreign armed intervention in Haiti, and continues to demand an end to the unending meddling in Haitian affairs by the United States and Western powers. We call for the dissolution of the imperialist Core Group, an end to Western support for the unelected and unaccountable puppet government of Ariel Henry, and for the respect of Haitian sovereignty. 

Signed,

The Black Alliance for Peace, Haiti/Americas Team

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END

Banner Photo: Protesters demanding the resignation of the President in Port-au-Prince.Credit (Courtesy Reuters by Andres Martinez Casares)

Black Alliance for Peace Condemns Renewal of the UN Mission to Haiti (BINUH)

Black Alliance for Peace Condemns Renewal of the UN Mission to Haiti (BINUH)  

The Ineffective and Unpopular UN Mission to Haiti Must End 

For Immediate Release            

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JULY 18, 2022—On Friday, July 15, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) unanimously adopted the resolution to extend the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) for one year (until July 15, 2023). The vote took place two days after it was postponed by the People’s Republic of China, which wanted additional consultation and significant adjustments to the resolution co-penned by Mexico and the United States.

The Black Alliance for Peace welcomed this delay, as well as several of the objections to BINUH’s renewal raised by China and supported by the Russian Federation. In reviewing the terms of BINUH’s renewal, we continue to condemn the UN Mission to Haiti as a foreign occupation and as a violation of the sovereignty of the Haitian people, as we outlined last week in our press release and open letter to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and in our communications to government representatives of China and Russia. 

Nonetheless, we recognize the adjustments made to the resolution—spearheaded by China and supported by Russia—represent a step forward against the often rubber-stamping of U.S.-led Western hegemony in Haitis. These adjustments included prioritizing the authority of regional institutions (like CARICOM) partnered with Haitian authorities over UN police advisers, as well as calling on states to stop the trafficking of weapons and ammunition to non-state combatants in Haiti. Yet, China’s suggested adjustments fall short because the focus is solely on the current upswing in paramilitary violence, not on the UN occupation itself. 

We ask again: What has the UN mission done in its 18-year militarized presence in Haiti except foment pain and violence on the Haitian people? Why does BINUH—and UN Special Representative in Haiti Helen La Lime—have such an outsized role in Haitian politics? When will the United States, Canada and France take responsibility for their promotion of the 2004 coup d’etat against Haiti’s democratically elected president? Why do the UN Mission and Western rulers of Haiti continue to support the unelected de facto Prime Minister, Dr. Ariel Henry, and his unpopular Pati Ayisyen Tèt Kale (PHTK)—the violent right-wing government installed by the West and the direct cause of the current crisis? Why not listen to the Haitian people who call for an end to foreign meddling and occupation?

We also note, with disappointment, the way the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has repeatedly fallen in line with the imperialist wishes of the United States and has supported the full renewal of the UN Mission. In their upcoming “delegation” to Haiti, we encourage CARICOM to reconsider this position and instead support Black sovereignty, by working to facilitate an end to the UN Mission to Haiti. There cannot be justice and self-determination in Haiti without an end to the UN Mission and re-establishing Haitian control of Haiti’s affairs. 

The Black Alliance for Peace calls on civil society organizations and the regional nation-states of the Americas to monitor the situation, oppose continued foreign occupation, and support sovereignty in Haiti. We want to remind CARICOM and the leaders of the Americas: The Americas cannot be free and sovereign unless all countries are free and sovereign. We say No to Occupation, Yes to Self-Determination. 

Photo credit: Haitians protest in 2010 (Mark Snyder)

Black Alliance for Peace Condemns Extension of United Nations Mandate in Haiti and Calls on Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to Support Haitian Independence and Sovereignty

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Black Alliance for Peace Condemns Extension of United Nations Mandate in Haiti and Calls on Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to Support Haitian Independence and Sovereignty

UN Mission to Haiti Is Foreign Occupation and Denial of Sovereignty 

For Immediate Release

Media Contact
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(202) 643-1136

JULY 12, 2022—On Wednesday, July 13, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) will vote on an extension of the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Office (BINUH) in Haiti. Since beginning a 2-year term on the UNSC, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) of Mexico has supported U.S.-backed initiatives that would extend BINUH’s occupation of Haiti. Mexico and the United States are “co-penholders” for this process, indicating the leadership role of the Mexican government in bringing forth this year’s UNSC resolution on Haiti. 

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) condemns in the strongest possible terms Mexico spearheading the renewal of the United Nations Integrated Office (BINUH)’s mandate in Haiti. The Haitian people view BINUH’s presence as a foreign occupation that undercuts Haiti’s independence and sovereignty. In solidarity, BAP, along with other civil society organizations, delivered an open letter to President López Obrador deploring Mexico’s role in extending the UN occupation. 

In this letter, we ask AMLO to reconsider Mexico’s role as a co-penholder (with the United States) of the UNSC mandate, effectively serving the interests of Western imperialism in Haiti. We argue that not only does the UN occupation deny the sovereignty of the Haitian people, but it has both increased violence and instability in the republic while undermining the goal of national independence and self-determination for all countries in the Americas.

AMLO has emerged as one of the more progressive voices in the hemisphere, ostensibly working towards more equitable relationships between the peoples and nations of the region. BAP was heartened by and commended AMLO’s decision not to attend last month’s Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, as a call for fair representation and recognition of the sovereignty of all nations. In this vein, we have asked AMLO if — for some reason — Haiti does not count among those countries whose sovereignty and independence should be respected.

Like Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2004, who displayed his “leadership” by spearheading military action during the 2004-17 UN occupation of Haiti (MINUSTAH), AMLO’s support of BINUH’s mandate will result in the Haitian people paying the price for others’ political gains. Unfortunately, this is all too common among so-called “progressive” and “leftist” politicians in the Americas, who conform to the U.S.-led imperialistic system that these UN occupations represent.

Instead, we ask AMLO to contribute toward ending the foreign control of Haiti. This would be a positive step toward allowing Haitian people to determine their own fate, reversing regional militarization, and facilitating the realization of the Americas as a Zone of Peace, as the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States has called for.

We say No to Occupation. Yes to Self-Determination.

La Alianza Negra por la Paz Condena la Extensión del Mandato de las Naciones Unidas en Haití y Llama al Presidente Mexicano Andrés Manuel López Obrador a Apoyar la Independencia y Soberanía de Haití

Misión de la ONU a Haití es ocupación extranjera y negación de soberanía

Para publicación inmediata

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11 DE JULIO DE 2022—El miércoles 13 de julio, el Consejo de Seguridad de las Naciones Unidas (CSNU) votará sobre una extensión del mandato de la Oficina Integrada de las Naciones Unidas (BINUH) en Haití. Desde que comenzó un mandato de 2 años en el Consejo de Seguridad de las Naciones Unidas, el presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) de México ha apoyado iniciativas respaldadas por los Estados Unidos que extenderían la ocupación de Haití por parte de la BINUH. México y los Estados Unidos son “coautores” de este proceso, lo que indica el papel de liderazgo del gobierno mexicano en la presentación de la resolución del CSNU de este año sobre Haití.

La Alianza Negra por la Paz (BAP) condena en los términos más enérgicos que México encabece la renovación del mandato de la Oficina Integrada de las Naciones Unidas (BINUH) en Haití. El pueblo haitiano ve la presencia de BINUH como una ocupación extranjera que socava la independencia y soberanía de Haití. En solidaridad, BAP, junto con otras organizaciones de la sociedad civil, entregó una carta abierta al presidente López Obrador deplorando el papel de México en la extensión de la ocupación de la ONU.

En esta carta, le pedimos a AMLO que reconsidere el papel de México como coautor (con Estados Unidos) del mandato del Consejo de Seguridad de las Naciones Unidas, sirviendo efectivamente a los intereses del imperialismo occidental en Haití. Argumentamos que la ocupación de la ONU no solo niega la soberanía del pueblo haitiano, sino que ha aumentado la violencia y la inestabilidad en la república al tiempo que socava el objetivo de la independencia nacional y la autodeterminación de todos los países de las Américas.

AMLO ha emergido como una de las voces más progresistas del hemisferio, aparentemente trabajando por relaciones más equitativas entre los pueblos y naciones de la región. BAP se sintió alentada y elogió la decisión de AMLO de no asistir a la Cumbre de las Américas del mes pasado en Los Ángeles, como un llamado a la representación justa y el reconocimiento de la soberanía de todas las naciones. En ese sentido, le hemos preguntado a AMLO si, por alguna razón, Haití no cuenta entre esos países cuya soberanía e independencia debe ser respetada.

Al igual que el presidente brasileño Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva en 2004, quien mostró su “liderazgo” al encabezar una acción militar durante la ocupación de Haití (MINUSTAH) por parte de la ONU entre 2004 y 2017, el apoyo de AMLO al mandato de la BINUH hará que el pueblo haitiano pague el precio para ganancias políticas de otros. Desafortunadamente, esto es demasiado común entre los llamados políticos “progresistas” e “izquierdistas” en las Américas, que se conforman con el sistema imperialista liderado por los Estados Unidos que representan estas ocupaciones de la ONU.

En cambio, le pedimos a AMLO que contribuya a terminar con el control extranjero de Haití. Este sería un paso positivo para permitir que el pueblo haitiano determine su propio destino, revirtiendo la militarización regional y facilitando la materialización de las Américas como una Zona de Paz, como lo ha pedido la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños.

Decimos No a la Ocupación. Sí a la Autodeterminación.

Photo credit: In the Jean Marie Vincent camp in Port-au-Prince, soldiers from Brazilian troops from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) are on patrol after deadly demonstrations following elections held in November 2010. (Marcello Casal Jr/ABr - Agência Brasil)

Autor de la foto: En el campamento Jean Marie Vincent en Port-au-Prince, soldados de las tropas brasileñas de la Misión de Estabilización de las Naciones Unidas en Haití (MINUSTAH) patrullan después de manifestaciones mortales tras las elecciones celebradas en noviembre de 2010. (Marcello Casal Jr/ABr - Agência Brasil)

The Resignation of Biden’s Special Envoy to Haiti Once Again Exposes the White Supremacist Foundations of U.S. Foreign Policy, No Matter Which Party Is In Charge

For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
Jemima Pierre
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The Resignation of Biden’s Special Envoy to Haiti Once Again Exposes the White Supremacist Foundations of U.S. Foreign Policy, No Matter Which Party Is In Charge

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021—Dan Foote’s career as a member of the U.S. foreign service and foreign policy community has been problematic. Yet, the blatant racism of Biden’s Haiti policies—in both controlling Haiti’s governance and the illegal and inhuman abuses of Haitian asylum seekers—was too much even for his special envoy to Haiti. In his resignation letter, Foote wrote the U.S. approach to Haiti was "deeply flawed" and that his advice had been "ignored."

Foote’s resignation letter is welcome, as are the statements from the Congressional Black Caucus and other Black formations that have been silent on Biden’s—and other Democratic Party—foreign policies on Haiti and the world, are welcome. But they are too late and too narrow.

As Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Committee Coordinator Jemima Pierre has commented regarding the spectacle of border patrol violence against Haitians at the U.S.-Mexico border:

“This latest racist treatment of Haitian people by the U.S. deserves our absolute condemnation and it is important to acknowledge how immigration impacts Black populations in ways that are distinct from other migrants. But we also have to place this wave of migration to the US-Mexico border within the broader context of U.S. and western imperialism in the region. To not do so is to continue to exceptionalize Haiti and Haitian people in ways that hide their connections to the rest of the western occupied world —and draw attention to the mere representation of Haitians, rather than the structural and historical causes of Haitian migration.”

The Black Alliance for Peace has consistently pointed out the uninterrupted racist and imperial policies of the Biden administration in Haiti and throughout the Americas. The support for Jovenel Moïse in Haiti; the illegal sanctions on Venezuela and recognition of the unelected Juan Guaidó as president; subversion of democracy in Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia; continuation of the ban on remittances from the United States to Cuba; support for the crackdown on demonstrators in Colombia; and the targeting of Nicaragua have reflected the bipartisan nature of imperial policy in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Coming on the heels of the boycott of the United Nations Meeting on Race yesterday by most of the white colonial nations, led by the U.S. and the U.S./U.K./Australia racial pact against China, the underlying white supremacy of Western imperial policy is quite transparent to anyone who chooses to see.

Banner photo: Border Patrol agents on horseback push Haitians back from the U.S. border in September 2021. (Reuters)

Black Alliance for Peace Condemns Biden Administration’s Order to Deport Haitians as Illegal and Racist

UPDATED on September 20, 2021, in the second paragraph

For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
Jemima Pierre
(202) 643-1136

Black Alliance for Peace Condemns Biden Administration’s Order to Deport Haitians as Illegal and Racist

SEPTEMBER 18, 2021—When a white Fox News reporter used a drone to film the thousands of Haitian and other Black asylum seekers camped beneath a bridge spanning the Rio Grande and linking Del Rio, Texas to Ciudad Acuña, in the Coahuila state of Mexico, he immediately (and deliberately) brought a stereotypical image of Black migration: That of the teeming, African hordes, ready to burst the borders and invade the United States. Such images are as cheap as they are racist. And, typically, they erase the larger question: Why are so many Haitians at the U.S. border?

But before that question could be addressed, the Biden administration struck with a decisiveness not seen throughout its 9-month tenure in office in ordering Haitian refugees—many of them with legitimate asylum claims—to be summarily deported to Haiti. As of September 20, more than 300 Haitian asylum seekers have been forced to board deportation flights to Haiti. The Associated Press and other U.S. media outlets have reported the Haitians were flown back to their “homeland.” But few knew where the flights were going, and many would have preferred to return to Brazil and other places they had sojourned. Cold, cynical and cruel, the Biden administration promises more deportations in the coming days.

This rogue state action is both morally indefensible and illegal under international law. The United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention “recognizes the right of persons to seek asylum from persecution in other countries” and stipulates that states have an obligation to provide reasonable measures to allow for individuals to seek asylum.

“Seeking asylum by individuals who may be facing prosecution, imprisonment and even death because of political affiliation or membership in racial, national, sexual or religious groups is a recognized requirement under international law,” says Ajamu Baraka, national organizer for the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP). “That the Biden administration has ordered federal authorities to mass deport thousands of Haitians, which will probably have the effect of driving many of them who will resist deportation back into Mexico and Central and South America, is both unprecedented in its scope and fundamentally racist.”

What makes the Biden policy even more outrageous is U.S. policies have created the economic and political conditions in Haiti that have compelled tens of thousands to flee.

Janvieve Williams of BAP member organization AfroResistance points out, “Racist U.S. policies in Haiti, supported by the Core Group, the UN, and other international organizations, have created the situation in Haiti—and at the border.”

If successive U.S. administrations had not undermined Haitian democracy and national self-determination, there would be no humanitarian crisis in Haiti or on the U.S. border. George W. Bush greenlit the 2004 coup against elected president Jean Bertrand Aristide. The UN sanctioned the coup with a full-scale military occupation. The Obama administration installed Michel Martelly and the Duvalierist PHTK party. And the Biden administration upended democracy in Haiti by supporting Jovenel Moïse despite the end of his term. All of these imperialist interventions have ensured that thousands would have to seek safety and refuge outside of Haiti. The U.S. policy response? Imprisonment and deportation. The United States has created an endless loop of dispossession, depravity and despair.

The Black Alliance for Peace calls on the Congressional Black Caucus and all human-rights and humanitarian groups to demand the Biden administration live up to its responsibility under international law and give Haitians a fair chance to seek asylum. We also call on the Biden administration and the Core Group to stop their interventions into Haitian politics and allow Haitian people to form a government of national reconciliation to restore Haiti’s sovereignty.

Banner photo: Haitian migrants seeking asylum in September 2021 under the Del Rio International Bridge in Texas as a U.S. Border Patrol agent walks by. U.S. policies have created the conditions in Haiti that have compelled tens of thousands to flee. (Veronica G. Cardenas / The New York Times)

Who Rules Haiti? Black Alliance for Peace Condemns Undermining of Haitian National Sovereignty

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Who Rules Haiti?
Black Alliance for Peace Condemns Undermining of Haitian National Sovereignty

JULY 23, 2021—Who rules Haiti? Certainly, neither the Haitian people nor Haitian civil society. Instead, in the two weeks since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated, the absence of Haitian sovereignty and the hollow nature of Haitian independence has been cynically exposed. 

“A rogue’s gallery of international actors—supposed “friends” of Haiti—have intervened in the republic’s internal political affairs, handpicking the face of Haiti’s government, while determining who best can serve Haiti’s imperial masters,” says Jemima Pierre, Haiti/Americas Coordinator for the Black Alliance for Peace.

First, the day following the July 7 assassination, Helen La Lime, head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (or BINUH) declared interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph would lead the Haitian government until elections were scheduled.

Then, a few days later, the Biden administration sent a delegation to Haiti to meet with both Joseph and Ariel Henry, a figure who Moïse had designated as prime minister. The U.S. delegation convinced Joseph and Henry to come to an agreement over Haiti’s governance. The delegation also met with Joseph Lambert, the man chosen to succeed Moïse by the majority of those 10 officials in Haiti who had actually been elected (yes, there are only ten), and convinced him to stand down.

A week later, on July 17, the Core Group, a self-appointed council of foreign ambassadors and special representatives from the UN and the Organization of American States (OAS), issued a statement calling for the formation of a “consensual and inclusive government,” directing “Prime Minister designate Ariel Henry to continue the mission entrusted to him.” 

Two days later, on July 19, Joseph announced he would step aside, allowing Henry to assume the mantle of prime minister. The Office of the Prime Minister then published a list of cabinet appointees and announced Haiti’s new government would be sworn in on July 20. This “new” government and cabinet is composed mostly of Haitian Tèt Kale Party (PHTK) members, the political party of Michel Martelly, and of Moïse. 

The U.S. State Department, the U.S. embassy in Haiti, the Core Group and the OAS then released similar statements applauding the formation of a new  “consensus” Haitian government. “We welcome efforts by Haiti’s political leadership to come together in choosing an interim prime minister and a unity cabinet,” stated U.S. Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken.

Haiti’s civil society organizations, which had been meeting to find a way to resolve Haiti’s political crisis, were entirely left out of the international community’s decision making process. They have rejected the new government formed by foreigners and imposed on Haiti. And they have roundly criticized the actions of the international community as a blatantly colonial move.

It is. And it demonstrates that Haiti, like other colonies in history, is ruled from afar. 

So, who rules Haiti? The US, the UN, the OAS and the Core Group—with the eager support of the supplicant members of some of the Haitian political elite. 

The Black Alliance for Peace stands with the Haitian people against colonial rule. We condemn the Core Group, the UN, the OAS and especially the United States, for continuing to undercut Haitian independence and undermine Haitian sovereignty as part of the ongoing project of foreign intervention in Haiti.

Banner photo: People waiting for days to apply for U.S. visas react after learning that the U.S. Embassy will continue to be closed in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Monday. (Matias Delacroix / AP)

Haiti's White Rulers Have Spoken on Haiti's Political Future

For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
(202) 643-1136
communications@blackallianceforpeace.com

JULY 9, 2021—The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) condemns the arrogance and illegality of United Nations Special Envoy for Haiti Helen La Lime’s July 8 statement that Haitian Prime Minister Claude Joseph will be the new president, just one day after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

The decision was announced to the press after a closed-door UN Security Council meeting had been called on Haiti. But BAP asks: Who gave the United Nations special envoy the power to make that kind of determination for the people of Haiti?

This sounds like a play right out of the old regime-change book. As BAP stated in its July 7 press release, BAP smells a rat.

BAP is concerned the political situation the United States created by supporting a dictatorship in Haiti is quickly replicating the moment when the United States swept in to colonize the predominantly African/Black country after the 1915 assassination of Haiti’s president, Vilbrun Guillaume Sam.

“The Black Alliance for Peace remains steadfast in our call against foreign intervention and occupation of Haiti,” says Jemima Pierre, BAP’s Haiti/Americas Coordinator. “We call on all anti-imperialist and Black internationalist forces to stand with the Haitian people and oppose U.S. and European interventions deployed under the guise of the ‘Responsibility to Protect.’”

What Haiti needs is authentic national sovereignty and self-determination.

“When people say Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, they fail to understand it is the Pan-European colonial powers that have kept Haiti with its hands tied behind its back,” says BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka. “We say time out on white Western powers causing destruction in the global South.”

Shortly after Democrats wrung their hands over the possibility of Donald Trump staying past his term in office, Biden came into office and immediately lent his support to Moïse to stay beyond the February 7 term limit. That decision sent thousands of Haitians protesting in the streets week after week.

“The Haitian people clearly understood that the United States, the United Nations, and the Organization of American States were behind this,” says Chris Bernadel, a member of BAP’s Haiti/Americas Committee. “During these massive protests, they called for all of these Western powers to exit Haiti.”

While Biden expressed support for Black Lives Matter and for democracy during his campaign for president, true support would have meant ending U.S. meddling in Haiti’s affairs. This assassination relieves the Biden-Harris administration of the embarrassment of having to reconcile the contradiction between pretending to respect Black lives and democracy and supporting a dictator who had reigned after his term had ended on February 7.

That is why for BAP, it doesn’t matter who pulled the trigger to kill Moïse because the Pan-European colonial-capitalist powers are responsible for the suffering of the Haitian people.

BAP vigorously opposes any and all foreign institutions and structures intervening in Haiti. The Haitian people must be allowed to exercise self-determination and address their internal political situation without interference, as BAP noted in its July 6 press release.

Banner photo: Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse and first lady Martine Moïse sit during his swearing-in ceremony in Port-au-Prince on February 7, 2017. (Dieu Nalio Chery/AP)

On Assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse: Black Alliance for Peace Smells a Rat

For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
(202) 643-1136
communications@blackallianceforpeace.com

JULY 7, 2021—Unknown assailants overnight assassinating Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was a horrific act that should be condemned in no uncertain terms. Unfortunately, such violence is unsurprising. As the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) noted in its July 6 press release, Moïse’s actions since usurping power have brought Haiti to a boiling point, with heavily armed gangs being unleashed, both supported by and enabled by the Haitian elite and those international “friends” of Haiti, including the United States, the United Nations, the Core Group and the Organization of American States.

What happens now is the question. Will the Biden administration and other political players use this moment as the pretext for military intervention, as was done in 1915? Will interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph attempt to consolidate power under the pretext of the current state of siege? Will the Core Group find a new willing puppet, more pliable than Moïse, to bring “stability”?

Whatever happens, the Black Alliance for Peace remains steadfast in our call against foreign intervention and occupation of Haiti. And we call on all anti-imperialist and Black internationalist forces to stand with the Haitian people and oppose U.S. and European interventions deployed under the guise of the “Responsibility to Protect."

Banner photo: Haiti's President Jovenel Moise (center) left the National Pantheon museum during a ceremony in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 2018. (Dieu Nalio Chery/AP)

Black Alliance for Peace Condemns Increasing Human Rights Violence in Haiti and the Continued U.S./OAS/UN Support for Unconstitutional Actions by Haiti’s Illegitimate Government

For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
(202) 643-1136
communications@blackallianceforpeace.com

JULY 6, 2021—Over eight days, from June 25-30, Haiti had been subjected to increasing state-sponsored, imperial and gang violence. Massacres killed almost 60 people in Port au Prince, including in Cité Soleil, Delmas and Pétionville, as well as on on Rue Magloire Ambroise. Prominent human-rights activist Antoinette (Netty) Duclaire and journalist Diego Charles were two of the victims.

In light of this violence, the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) once again affirms its support for the Haitian people and condemns the continued US/UN/OAS backing for the illegitimate Jovenel Moïse administration. Not only do we repudiate the continued violations of human rights in Haiti, we denounce the attempts by the Moïse government and its handlers—especially the Organization of American States (OAS) and the U.S. State Department—to force legislative and presidential elections and an illegal constitutional referendum under an undemocratic voting structure.

Moïse, who has been ruling Haiti by decree since January 2020, has been attempting to pass a referendum to re-write Haiti’s 1987 constitution.

“We support the Haitian people, who have maintained that there is no chance for credible elections to be held while Jovenel Moïse is in power,” says BAP member and Haitian Chris Bernadel. “We stand in solidarity with the Haitian people against the corrupt and illegitimate regime of Jovenel Moïse, which has been enabled through the support of the U.S., OAS and the United Nations.”

Illegal, according to Haitian law, the proposed referendum has been rejected by every sector of civil society, and opposed by the majority of Haitians.

Yet, a recent OAS report on Haiti not only supports the constitutional referendum, the organization also is pushing for Moïse to single handedly appoint a new prime minister, cabinet, and Provisional Electoral Council in order to move forward with both the referendum and presidential, municipal, and local elections.

These elections will be neither credible, nor legal. The current government is illegitimate. And currently, no clear path exists for free, fair and transparent elections under these conditions.

Yet, the white overseers of Haiti—the United States, the United Nations and the OAS—continue to push for this illegal referendum and elections. The United States has continued its material, logistical and political support of Moïse’s administration. It has spent at least $12.6 million since Moïse was elected in support of dubious elections and bogus political processes. Although the United States acknowledges that thus far, preparations for the referendum “have not been sufficiently transparent or inclusive,” Joe Biden’s administration has not come out against the referendum. Instead, the Biden-Harris administration has focused on the primacy of holding elections in the fall. At the same time, the UN and the OAS also have provided support for Moïse. The OAS has helped by revising the text of the proposed constitution, apparently to remove some of the more controversial aspects from the first draft. The UN also is advising the national police on an electoral security strategy.

Since February 7, when Moïse’s mandate as president had expired, BAP has been calling for the U.S. government and the rest of the so-called “international community” to respect Haitian sovereignty and the will of the Haitian people. We have consistently condemned Western imperialist meddling in Haiti, and BAP members have rallied in Chicago, Washington, D.C. and New York to demand the Biden-Harris administration and Western entities—such as the Core Group and the OAS—end decades of interventions that have violated the right of the Haitian people to transparent democratic processes.

We continue to support the Haitian masses, and express solidarity with the Haitian peoples in their quest for sovereignty and freedom. We condemn the continued imperial violence in Haiti that has been dismissed as merely gang violence.

Banner photo: Demonstrators marched in Port-au-Prince on February 14, 2021, to protest against the government of President Jovenel Moïse. (AFP)

Black Alliance for Peace’s Haiti/Americas Committee Statement on African Liberation Day

In recognition of African Liberation Day, May 25, 2021, the Black Alliance for Peace’s Haiti/Americas Committee salutes the historic and ongoing struggles for emancipation, independence and autonomy of African people world-wide. 

On this African Liberation Day, we give thanks to those past generations of Africans who battled against slavery, colonialism and white supremacy. We recognize the current generation of toilers, strugglers, insurgents, and revolutionaries who continue the fight against neocolonialism and neoliberalism, and against the Black misleadership classes who have betrayed the revolutionary struggles of the African people. 

We recognize the origins of African Liberation Day in the First Conference of Independent African States—convened by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in 1958 in Accra, Ghana—and with the formation of the Organization of African Unity in 1963. We acknowledge the first efforts of organizing African Liberation Day in North America in 1972, and its message of solidarity with the armed struggle against settler colonialism and its corporate backers in southern Africa. We also support the longstanding work of the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party to continue the radical tradition of African Liberation Day.

Today, we extend that message of Pan-African solidarity to Africa and to Africans in the Americas. In particular, we salute the people of Haiti. As a liberated African territory, Haiti nurtured the struggles against slavery, imperialism and white supremacy thoughout the Americas; the Haitian people have continued to pay the price for doing so. We acknowledge the mocambos, palenques, quilombos, and the cimarrón, mawon, and maroon communities throughout the Americas that have been necessary for Black survival. And we salute the African peoples of Brazil, Colombia, the United States, and elsewhere who suffer from economic austerity and deprivation, who are victims of legalized discrimination and targeted incarceration, and who are assailed by relentless police and militarized violence. 

On this African Liberation Day, we stand in struggle with all African peoples against capitalism, imperialism, neocolonialism and white supremacy. Our time will come.

No compromise! No retreat!

Banner photo: African Liberation Day event in 1977 in Handsworth Park, Birmingham, U.K. (Vanley Burke)

Black Alliance for Peace Statement of Solidarity with Haitian Workers on International Workers’ Day

On May 1, 2021, on International Workers’ Day, the Black Alliance for Peace salutes the Haitian worker and applauds their long history of struggles for Black freedom and the universal rights of workers.

Haiti is often derided as the “poorest country in the American hemisphere.” Yet, we know it was the enslaved labor of Africans in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now the Republic of Haiti) that contributed to the wealth of the European world, fueling the emergence of capitalism.

The resistance of those Africans against slavery and capitalism also provided a beacon of hope for the enslaved, peasants, and workers—both Black and non-Black—throughout the world. From small acts of subversion to slow-downs, Africans resisted slavery from the moment they arrived in the New World. In the 17th and 18th centuries, escaped Africans—maroons, or mawons in Haitian Creole—formed insurgent communities in remote, mountainous areas. Among the most famous mawon was François Mackandal, an African who in 1757 devised a plot to poison the white planters and burn down the plantations. He was captured and publicly executed as a warning to other Africans.

In 1791, a plot against slavery led by Boukman Dutty and Cecile Fatiman was launched at the famous Bois-Caiman ceremony. In the short term, their plot would fail, but it lit a fire that could not be extinguished. It sparked 13 years of revolt and counter-revolt that we now know as the Haitian Revolution. The Revolution’s heroes—Toussaint Louverture, Jean Jacques Dessalines and others are well known—but its success depended on the struggle of the Haitian masses. Tens of thousands of unknown enslaved Africans defeated Napoleon’s forces, ended slavery and established the Republic of Haiti: the first Black Republic in the Hemisphere, a place where all enslaved Africans would be granted freedom, and a potent symbol of pan-Africanism.

Yet, Haiti’s resistance did not end in 1804. With the establishment of the Republic, Haiti’s Black elites became the primary obstacle for freedom, dignity, democracy and economic sovereignty for Haiti’s African peasant classes. Peasant insurgencies occurred in 1807 and 1811. In 1844, a “suffering army” of peasants in southern Haiti were at the forefront of the Piquet Rebellion’s demand for social equality, radical democracy and the rights of small landholders.

In the 20th century, Haitian peasants initiated the armed resistance against the U.S. military occupation (1915-1930). A brief insurgency led by peasant insurrectionists, known as cacos, lasted from July to November 1915 before it was crushed by the Marines. Despite U.S. Marine efforts to arrest or assassinate suspected cacos, their insurgency was renewed under the leadership of Charlemagne Péralte and later Benoît Batraville. Péralte was assassinated on November 1, 1919—and, like Makandal, his corpse was used as a deterrent to future rebellion. Batraville was assassinated on May 20, 1920, his death effectively marking the end of the caco insurgencies. Rebellion against the occupation would be taken up by Haitian students whose protests in 1929 led to a general strike combining both workers in Port-au-Prince and other cities and peasants throughout the country. These new protests led to the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 1934.

In 1934, the Haitian Communist Party was formed by writer Jacques Roumain (author of the magnificent, fictional homage to Haitian labor, The Masters of the Dew) and others. Inspired in part by Roumain, Haiti Marxists, including Jacques Stephen Alexis, René Depestre and Gérald Bloncourt were behind the “Revolution of 1946” that saw the overthrow of the tyrannical regime of Élie Lescot, after student protests and nationwide strikes. During this period the Parti Communiste Haïtien was revived and the Parti Socialiste Populaire was organized, as was the Mouvement Ouvrier et Paysan, the largest labor organization in Haiti’s history led by the charismatic Daniel Fignolé.

While the United States and Haiti’s military forces remained powerful influences in Haiti’s political life, this movement of workers and peasants led to a brief, progressive period in Haiti’s politics before the emergence of the dictatorship of Francois and Jean-Claude Duvalier (1957-1986). In 1961, communist Jacques Stephen Alexis led a coup against Duvalier that ultimately failed. Alexis was brutally tortured and murdered for his efforts. The Duvalier regime would not fall for another two decades, after riots against poverty and student protests in the early 1980s led to a 1986 grassroots uprising. This unseated the Duvalier regime and eventually led to the coming to power of Famni Lavalas and Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

In the decades since, Haitian workers and peasants have continued a ceaseless fight against both the Haitian aristocracy and the imperial powers for sovereignty, dignity and freedom. Today, Haiti’s laboring masses continue this tradition of protest in their attempts to unseat Jovenel Moïse and to destroy the imperialism of the United States, the Core Group, the OAS and others.

To mark International Workers’ Day, the Black Alliance for Peace expresses its solidarity with the modern-day struggle of the Haitian worker—and our gratitude for Haiti’s history of resistance.

Banner photo: Illustration depicting combat between French and Haitian troops during the Haitian Revolution. (Histoire de Napoléon, by M. De Norvins, 1839)

May 1: Making International Workers' Day a Day of Action Against Imperialism

May 1: Making International Workers’ Day a Day of Action Against Imperialism

End the War in Afghanistan, Shut Down AFRICOM, Resist the Militarized Occupation of Black and Brown Working-Class and Colonized Communities

War, repression, and imperialism characterize the objective plight of billions of humans still gripped by the vicious colonial-capitalist world system. May 1 is the day laboring classes claim for themselves as International Workers' Day to reaffirm the struggle against the dehumanization and degradation of the global capitalist order kept in place by state violence and war. May 1 also is the deadline the United States agreed to last year to pull out of Afghanistan to end the suffering of that nation of workers and peasants. It also is the day the workers and poor of Haiti have chosen to revolt against the puppet government imposed on them by the Biden-Harris administration, a duo that has proven in its first 100 days its commitment to Black life does not extend beyond domestic public-relations stunts.

Over a million Black working-class and poor people rot in the gulags of the United States as a surplus population, unneeded by capital except as an income generator for prison custodians and slave labor. And for the rest of the Black and Brown working class and poor, the domestic army referred to as the police are tasked with the responsibility to protect and serve the capitalist extraction of surplus value from labor through coercion and, when needed, terror.

This is the domestic expression of a global system that produces billions of people living in abject poverty in nations ruled by a contemptible neocolonial ruling class, usually supported by the United States or one of the other European colonial powers. These neocolonial puppets have no hesitation in using unimaginable violence to keep the people in line.

But the people are in resistance.

In Haiti, the people have fought for their collective dignity against a U.S. stooge for over a year. Having taken to the streets in the thousands, they have sustained the resistance to the point that the state has turned to increasingly desperate, escalating violence in its goal to contain the people.

In the United States, hundreds of wildcat strikes have occurred, demonstrating that even in the midst of a pandemic, the spirit of working-class resistance finds expression.

And in Venezuela, the Bolivarian process is still holding firm against all measures of U.S. provocations and cruel sanctions meant to punish the people, who refuse the indignity of surrender to Yankee imperialism.

The inability of capitalist states to protect the fundamental human rights of its citizens, revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic, has resulted in a new consciousness among workers and laboring classes globally. It now is clear the interests of the global capitalists are different from the interests of the rest of collective humanity. And because of that understanding, the warmongers are finding it a little more difficult to mobilize the public to protect imperialist interests.

On May 1, the Black Alliance for Peace stands in solidarity with the workers of the world and pledges our commitment to do our part to confront the capitalist dictatorship.

We say without hesitation or concern for retaliation on this International Workers' Day that we will intensify the opposition to imperialism. From the streets of Atlanta, Detroit and Baltimore, to Cuba, Haiti, Libya, and Venezuela, we will “turn imperialist wars into wars against imperialism.”

Banner photo: A sea of Cubans march under the slogan, "Preserve and Perfect Socialism," in Havana on May 1, 2012, to mark Labor Day. (Adalberto Roque)

We Say Quite Clearly: 'U.S. Out of Haiti!' - A Statement from BAP Haiti Committee

To clarify on any confusion, the Black Alliance for Peace Haiti Committee briefly called itself the BAP Haiti Action Committee. We will continue as the BAP Haiti Committee.

On Wednesday, March 25th, the United States Embassy in Haiti tweeted, in Haitian Kreyol, the statement:

“Mwen ka di sa byen klè: pa vini.”
Prezidan, Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

The tweet, accompanied by a photo of the U.S. president, was followed with an English translation of Biden’s words: “I can say quite clearly: Don’t come over.”

"I can say quite clearly, don't come over." - @POTUS pic.twitter.com/awzbolMzU6

— U.S. Embassy Haiti (@USEmbassyHaiti) March 24, 2021

Without having to reprise the vulgar pronouncements by his predecessor about Haiti as a “shit-hole country,” Biden’s policy on Haiti is clear: Haitians are not welcome in the U.S. and they should not, under any circumstances, attempt to immigrate to the U.S.

Yet the intended audience of the tweet was not only Haitians. Biden’s public admonishment of Haitians also sends a message to U.S. citizens that he will be tough on immigration, doing whatever he can to prevent Black migrants from entering the country. Already, he has come through on this count. In his short time in office, Biden has broken records for the scope, speed, and scale of the deportation of Haitian immigrants currently detained in the U.S.

But there’s more to Biden’s message. The tweet, while utterly paternalistic, also fuels a long-standing and deeply racist U.S. vision of Haiti: A vision of Haiti’s dark and restless masses ready to burst the country’s borders, traverse the Caribbean Sea, and invade the peaceable sanctuary of the white Republic.

Remember: Biden’s statement comes at a moment of increased protest against the corrupt, dictatorial, and U.S. supported regime of Haiti’s Jovenel Moïse, and a growing Haiti solidarity movement in the U.S. Instead of acceding to the demands of the Haitian people, the U.S.—through the Core Group, the UN, and the OAS—have doubled-down on their support of Moïse. It is a sign of the effectiveness of protests inside and out of the country against Moïse that the U.S. State Department would, somewhat pathetically, take to social media to try to change the emerging public discourse surrounding US imperialism in Haiti.

Moreover, we cannot forget that while Biden is telling Haitians “Don’t come over,” Haiti and its allies have been saying “U.S. Out of Haiti.” If the U.S. had not consistently meddled in Haiti’s affairs, undermining Haitian democracy and undercutting the Haitian economy, there would be no need for Haitian immigration to the U.S.

Back in 1994, Biden stated, “If Haiti—a godawful thing to say—if Haiti just quietly sank into the Caribbean or rose up 300 feet, it wouldn’t matter a lot to our interests.” To suggest that the first Black Republic in the world is expendable is profoundly racist, but Biden also shows his profound ignorance of the history of U.S.-Haitian relations.

Much of Philadelphia’s early wealth came from the profits of plantations in Saint-Domingue. The Louisiana Purchase would not have happened without the Haitian Revolution and Napoleon’s defeat by the Haitian people. Haiti was a beacon of emancipation for enslaved Africans in the U.S., and throughout the Americas – becoming a constant cause of fear for white planters. The U.S. refused to grant diplomatic recognition to Haiti because of this fact, even as white American profiteers and carpet-baggers used Haiti as a personal source of profit.

In a strategic but cynical move by Abraham Lincoln, recognition was granted Haiti in 1862. For many U.S. politicians it was hoped that Haiti could become a solution to the “Negro Problem” in the U.S. and home to its population of newly-emancipated Africans. Near the end of the nineteenth century, the U.S. sent Frederick Douglass to Haiti on a failed (and for Douglass, humiliating) mission to secure a concession for a military base at Mole St. Nicolas for U.S. strategic purposes.

The U.S. military occupation of Haiti (1915-1934) occurred because of the needs of Wall Street interests in Haiti, as well as the strategic location of Haiti vis-à-vis the Caribbean and the Panama Canal. The U.S. used the Duvalier regime as a bulwark against the spread of Communism in the Caribbean during the Cold War. And the recent United Nations occupations of Haiti have been both to choke the development of progressive forces in the country and to protect U.S. and other foreign interests.

In short, Prezidan Biden, Haiti does matter to U.S. interests. It matters a lot. But now, the Haitian people are determined to center Haitian interests.

You can tell Haitians that they will be denied their internationally protected right to asylum because they are Black. You can continue to deport Haitians from the U.S. in record numbers. But you will not be able to reverse the historical momentum sparked by the spirit of the Haitian revolution. Haiti will prevail again.

In solidarity with the Haitian people, the Black Alliance for Peace, says quite clearly: U.S. out of Haiti!

Banner photo: A Haitian man kneels on the tarmac at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in late June. He, along with several other deportees on this flight, knelt on the ground in protest of their deportation from the U.S. (Dieu Nalio Chery/AP)

Black Activists Call Out Biden-Harris Administration's White Supremacy with Rallies Demanding U.S. and Western Organizations End Support for Dictatorship in Haiti

For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
Dr. Jemima Pierre
(202) 643-1136, info@blackallianceforpeace.com

Members of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) in Chicago and Washington, D.C., will rally in the coming days to demand the Biden-Harris administration and Western entities—such as the Core Group and the Organization of American States (OAS)—end decades of interventions that have violated the right of the Haitian people to transparent democratic processes and sovereignty.

These rallies come as news reports state U.S. President Joe Biden has—in his first two months in office—deported more Haitians than Donald Trump did in his whole term. Biden also made a racist call to the Haitian people, as the U.S. Embassy in Haiti tweeted Wednesday: "I can say quite clearly: Don't come over."

The latest phase of the crisis in Haiti was ignited when Haitian dictator Jovenel Moïse, whom the Biden administration supports, refused to step down on February 7, the final day of his term. That sparked weeks of protests against the U.S./UN/OAS interventionism that put Moïse into power. In response, Moïse deployed security forces to violently quell these protests.

"As Black radicals, we are compelled to call out the white supremacy and double standards of this administration," says BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka. "The Biden administration can not have it both ways. It can not pretend that Black lives matter and Black participation in democracy is important in the United States, while denying the value of Black life and democracy in Haiti."

While the Chicago rally will take place Sunday, March 28, in front of the Haitian consulate at 11 E. Adams Street, the Washington rally will convene Monday, March 29, at the U.S. State Department, at the corner of 21st Street NW and Virginia Avenue. The State Department is instrumental in spreading misinformation and manipulating Haitian elections in order to keep right-wing regimes in office in Haiti and throughout the so-called “Americas.” The upcoming rallies will build on the March 1 rally that took place in front of the Haitian embassy in Washington, D.C., as well as the dual March 15 rallies that took place at the Haitian consulate in Chicago and in front of the Organization of American States in Washington.

“The United States has backed Moïse to rule by decree and inflict terror on the Haitian working class by deploying U.S.-trained Haitian police and foreign military entities,” said Dr. Jemima Pierre, a Haitian-born BAP member and an associate professor of Black Studies at the University of California Los Angeles. “The Haitian people's right to national sovereignty must be respected.”

BAP is in solidarity with the Haitian masses. We understand uprisings are not new for Haiti, the first Black republic that has fought for decades against the white-supremacist dominance of the United States and its Western partners.

BAP will be joined by allied organizations and individuals from across the country.

Banner photo: On Valentine’s Day, thousands of Haitians gathered in Port-au-Prince to protest the government of President Jovenel Moïse. (Orlando Barría / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock)

BAP-Chicago Statement in Solidarity with Haiti

“We stand with the Haitian people because it is our responsibility as believers in self-determination and people-centered human rights, to do so.”

“We will never retreat, even when they attempt to confuse us with intersectional imperialism and identity reductionism.”

The following remarks were delivered at a Black Alliance for Peace protest in front the Haitian consulate in Chicago, on March 15, by BAP member Charisse Burden Stelly, a Visiting Scholar in the Race and Capitalism Project at the University of Chicago and Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and Political Science at Carleton College.

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) seeks to recapture and redevelop the historic anti-war, anti-imperialist, and pro-peace positions of the radical black movement. We fundamentally oppose militarized domestic state repression; the policies of de-stabilization and subversion abroad; and the permanent war agenda of the U.S. state globally. 

The reason we’re here today in front of the Haiti Consulate-General is simple: we stand in solidarity with the Haitian people against the corrupt and illegitimate regime of Jovenel Moïse, which is propped up by the Joseph R. Biden administration, the United Nations, and the Organization of American States. We understand the connections between the imperial occupation of Haiti and the police occupation supported right here in Chicago by Lori Lightfoot and her anti-people, anti-poor politics, and throughout the United States more broadly. Just like we can’t breathe here in the United States because militarized police forces continue to brutalize, suffocate, and murder us with impunity, neither can the people of Haiti breath as their sovereignty, self-determination, and livelihoods are snuffed out by Pan-European forces like the Core Group, the United Nations, and the International Monetary fund. 

“We understand the connections between the imperial occupation of Haiti and the police occupation supported right here in Chicago.”

The Haitian people have taken to the streets because they demand rule by the people and for the people; they have organized a general strike because they demand economic and material conditions that support their needs and livelihoods and not the profits and enrichment of the global elite. Their struggle is connected to the labor struggles right here in the U.S., like the one that’s currently underway in Bessemer, Alabama, for an Amazon Union.

BAP is here today, despite the snow and wind and cold because we see the protests of our Haitian brothers, sisters, and siblings against the Moïse regime as intimately linked to the End SARS struggle in Nigeria, to the Uganda people’s demand for an end to the Museveni dictatorship—the Uganda PEOPLE, that is, and not so-called opposition leaders who are in cahoots with the US State department—to getting Africa Command (AFRICOM) off of the Continent and especially out of the Horn of Africa, and to the demand for an end to brutal sanctions against Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Iran, and other racialized nations that reject U.S. imperialism. 

“The Haitian people demand economic and material conditions that support their needs and livelihoods and not the profits and enrichment of the global elite.”

BAP is also here today because we understand that the U.S. funding and training of the Haitian police to undermine the people’s protests is linked to the U.S. 1033 program that militarizes local police departments so they can defend property and the interests of the ruling elite against poor, working, oppressed, and marginalized peoples. We know that this process is linked to the prison industrial complex that tortures and confines political prisoners like Mumia Abu Jamal, Mutulu Shakur, Sundiata Akoli, Imam Jamil Al-Amin, Rev. Joy Powell, and Russell Maroon Shoatz. We say free ‘em all! And this also means freeing all Africans from the yoke of U.S. imperialism.

At Black Alliance for Peace we say NO COMPROMISE, NO RETREAT because unlike the petit bourgeois Negroes who take every opportunity to compromise with the ruling elite to oppress and repress us, we will NEVER compromise with imperialism, colonialism, neocolonialism, warmongering, and capitalist exploitation. And unlike the liberals who think that just because the troglodyte Donald Trump is out of office that we no longer have anything to struggle against, we will NEVER retreat from holding any administration accountable for their crimes against humanity even when they attempt to confuse us with intersectional imperialism and identity reductionism. 

“We will never compromise with imperialism, colonialism, neocolonialism, warmongering, and capitalist exploitation.”

In the spirit of chairman Fred Hampton, who said “peace if you’re willing to fight for it,” in the spirit of the freedom fighter Amilcar Cabral who said “tell no lies and claim no easy victories,” in the spirit of mama Ella baker who said  “Remember, we are not fighting for the freedom of the Negro alone, but for the freedom of the human spirit--a larger freedom that encompasses all mankind,” we protest, in the belly of the beast, in the heart of empire, the tentacles of U.S. imperialism, funded by our tax-payer dollars, that brutalize African, oppressed, and poor people throughout the world and here at home. Today we stand with the Haitian people not because they need us to free them—because the Haitian people, since at least 1791, have proven that they are more than capable of liberating themselves—but because it is our responsibility as African people, as anti-imperialists, as anti-war activists, and as believers in self-determination and people-centered human rights, to do so.

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) seeks to recapture and redevelop the historic anti-war, anti-imperialist, and pro-peace positions of the radical black movement. Through educational activities, organizing and movement support, organizations and individuals in the Alliance will work to oppose both militarized domestic state repression, and the policies of de-stabilization, subversion and the permanent war agenda of the U.S. state globally.  

Banner photo: Black Alliance for Peace: We Fight for Haiti Because We Are Haiti. People rally in front of the Haitian consulate in Chicago demanding the U.S./UN/OAS end its interference in Haiti at an action in solidarity with Haiti organized by BAP-Chicago.

Black Alliance for Peace Activists in Chicago Call on Biden Administration to Stop Supporting Repression in Haiti

For Immediate Release                                                                   

Contact: Vichina Austin, (773) 676-4535

MARCH 15, 2021—Members of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) in Chicago will rally today at the Haitian consulate at 11 E. Adams Street to demand the Biden administration end decades of interventions that have violated the right of the Haitian people to transparent democratic processes and sovereignty.

Haitian dictator Jovenel Moïse, whom the Biden administration supports, refused to step down on February 7, the final day of his term. That sparked weeks of new protests against the U.S./UN/OAS interventionism that put Moïse into power. Moïse has attempted to violently quell these protests. Despite tens of thousands of people pouring into the streets of Haiti, the Western mainstream media has refused to cover the crisis.

“Moïse has ruled by decree and inflicted terror on the Haitian working class with the full support of the Trump and now apparently the Biden administration,” said Vichina Austin, a Chicago-based BAP member. “The Haitian people demand their right to national sovereignty be respected and the Biden administration that pretends that all Black life matters should respect that demand.”

BAP is in solidarity with the Haitian masses. We understand uprisings are not new for Haiti, the first Black republic that has fought for decades against the white-supremacist dominance of the United States and its Western partners. 

BAP will be joined by allied organizations, including the Black Alliance for Peace Solidarity Network, made up of non-African organizations and individuals who support BAP’s mission.

Banner photo: Opponents of Haitian President Jovenel Moise demonstrate in Port-au-Prince on Jan. 15. (Valerie Baeriswyl/AFP/Getty Images)

Black Alliance for Peace Organizes Rallies in United States to Demand Biden Administration and Western Organizations End Meddling in Haiti

For Immediate Release

Media Contact: info@blackallianceforpeace.com, (202) 643-1136

Members of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) in Chicago and Washington, D.C., will rally today to demand the Biden administration and Western entities, such as the Organization of American States (OAS), end decades of interventions that have violated the right of the Haitian people to transparent democratic processes and sovereignty.

While the Chicago rally will take place in front of the Haitian consulate at 11 E. Adams Street, the Washington rally will convene at the Organization of American States (OAS), 200 17th Street NW, because the OAS has played a key role in manipulating Haitian elections in order to keep right-wing neocolonial regimes in office in Haiti and throughout the so-called “Americas.” These rallies build on the March 1 rally that took place in front of the Haitian embassy in Washington, D.C. BAP plans to build momentum for the March 28 international day of action organizations in Haiti have called non-Haitian organizations to participate in.

“The OAS was created by the United States as a way to enforce the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine, a policy of white-supremacist U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere to ensure corporate profits and geopolitical advantage,” said BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka. “Therefore, the OAS is not an independent entity, but an extension of U.S. power, and it has no place in the affairs of the global working class.”

Haitian dictator Jovenel Moïse, whom the Biden administration supports, refused to step down on February 7, the final day of his term. That sparked weeks of new protests against the U.S./UN/OAS interventionism that put Moïse into power. Moïse has attempted to violently quell these protests. Despite tens of thousands of people pouring into the streets of Haiti, the Western mainstream media has refused to cover the crisis.

“Moïse has ruled by decree and inflicted terror on the Haitian working class by deploying U.S.-trained Haitian police and foreign military entities,” said Dr. Jemima Pierre, a BAP member and an associate professor of Black Studies at the University of California Los Angeles. “The Haitian people demand their right to national sovereignty be respected.”

BAP is in solidarity with the Haitian masses. We understand uprisings are not new for Haiti, the first Black republic that has fought for decades against the white-supremacist dominance of the United States and its Western partners.

BAP will be joined by allied organizations, including the Black Alliance for Peace Solidarity Network, made up of non-African organizations and individuals who support BAP’s mission.

Banner photo: twitter.com/DannyShawCUNY

Black Alliance for Peace Supports African/Black Workers from Alabama to Haiti

WORKING-CLASS FOUNDATION: BAP identifies the Black working class as the main social force of any reconstituted Black Liberation project.

SOUTHERN ROOTS: The South is the base of U.S. military infrastructure. It is also where 55 percent of Black people happen to live. BAP identifies this region as a priority for collective learning, organizing, and mobilizing the power and influence of Black workers and the poor to oppose militarism, war, and imperialism. —BAP’s Principles of Unity

Led predominantly by Black workers, the struggle for worker dignity and power is at a critical stage in Bessemer, Alabama. That is where Amazon workers are voting to determine if they will be represented by the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Workers Union (RWDSU) against the behemoth transnational corporation.

Understanding the power of organization, these courageous workers formed the BAmazon Union over the last few months to fight back against the failure of the company to protect the elementary human rights of workers to a safe work environment and to be free of inhumane working conditions and treatment.

In the spirit of the militant Black working class, this fight promises to be a historic turning point in the efforts to organize the U.S. South.

As we stand in support of Black workers in Haiti fighting against U.S. imperialism, we must make the connections. We are in a life-or-death fight against the ravages of a vicious global colonial/capitalist system that will use whatever means it has at its disposal to maintain the ability to extract value from the land and labor of African/Black people and all who are forced to sell their labor just to put food on their tables. 

BAmazon workers and the Haitian people currently protesting U.S.-backed Haitian dictator Jovenel Moïse share in common their African ancestry and their struggles against colonial-capitalism. We are in solidarity with the BAmazon Union and Haiti's poor and working class.

For more information, please check out the Southern Workers Assembly Home and Black Workers for Justice (BWFJ), a BAP member organization represented on BAP’s National Coordinating Committee.

In the fight for People(s)-Centered Human Rights, self-determination, and social justice there will be No Compromise, No Retreat!

Photo: Demonstrators shout slogans and hold placards during a protest at the Amazon fulfillment center in Shakopee, Minnesota, Dec. 14, 2018. (Kerem Yucel/AFP/Getty Images)