Revolutionary Organization of Labor – USA
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. It is currently occupied by UN troops and controlled by a puppet government installed after the U.S. military kidnapped democratically elected President Aristide in
2004. It now faces the tragedy of a catastrophic earthquake destroying its main population center, Port-au-Prince. The death toll will likely surpass 200,000 people with widespread deadly diseases to follow.
Haiti's infrastructure became collapsing tombs for hundreds of thousands of fathers, mothers, sons and daughters. Similar to the victims of Hurricane Katrina abandoned by the U.S. government, when "humanitarian aid" virtually never arrived, the Haitian people desperately wait for food, water and medicine from their U.S. imperialist puppet government. This is in stark contrast to its Caribbean neighbor Cuba, whose people have some real power over their government and society and therefore can plan for and take care of the people in the face of natural disasters.
Anger is growing on the Haitian streets about their government's and the United Nations' slow response to saving the lives of those buried under rubble and to provide basic necessities to the survivors.
The U.S. government has pledged "humanitarian aid". The main "aid" is 10,000 U.S. troops to "provide security" to the country to make sure the Haitian people do not overthrow their puppet government. News footage has already showed the arrival of machine gun-toting U.S. troops in full riot gear.
The U.S. Empire's unity of purpose is reflected in President Obama's appointment of former Presidents Bush and Clinton to coordinate the "humanitarian" relief efforts in Haiti. This is the same George W. Bush that brutalized the mostly Afro-American victims of Hurricane Katrina and is the criminal murderer of more than a million people through the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. And former President Clinton is the criminal murderer of some 500,000 Iraqi children with the ten year long economic blockade against Iraq. Calls for humanitarian assistance are coming from all quarters. Certainly we support people of good will responding to such a human tragedy and through labor unions, community and faith-based organizations we encourage such international solidarity. However, all humanitarian relief, money, volunteers, medicine, food and water should be channeled to genuine Haitian peoples' organizations, militant trade unions such as the Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers, and the community organizations struggling for the return of the democratically elected Aristide government. It is the people of Haiti who should decide what is best for their country and how to best rebuild Haiti and recover from such catastrophic human suffering.
The people of Haiti have a deep history of struggle, becoming the first country to win independence from a European colonial power through a slave uprising in 1804. Yet, following the establishment of the first Black Republic in the Western Hemisphere, the colonialists and imperialists ultimately proved successful in plundering the land, resources and labor of Haiti for most of the last two centuries. In the mid-1980's the Haitian people rose up and drove out the U.S. backed brutal Duvalier dictatorship. President Aristide was first elected in 1991 on the tide of a popular peoples' movement.
The growing anger and righteous indignation of the Haitian people is fully justified.
Self-determination – for the people of Haiti to take matters into their own hands, for the peasants to cooperatively own the land to feed the country and for a worker-peasant alliance to take the reins of government to rebuild their land, houses and lives in freedom – is the path through which a new world can be built from the ashes of the old!
All U.S. Troops Out of Haiti!
No to the Continuation of U.N. Occupation!
Relief Aid in the Hands of Haitian People's Organizations!
Self-Determination for Haiti!
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