International Marxist Tendency

We have received the following declaration, in both English and Creole, from student groups in Haiti on last month’s elections. The declaration details the difficulties the masses faced in voting and the alliance of the Haitian ruling class with imperialism.

The international bourgeoisie, allied to the small wealthy Haitian bourgeoisie, reacted quickly to prevent the student mobilization from shaking the foundations of this society based on exploitation. They pulled on every proverbial string to push aside the claims from students whose roots, whose umbilical chords are intertwined with the people, the people the bourgeois have impoverished, while making sure that the Grennnabounda Movement (GNBs) did not survive beyond February 29^th, 2004 (the day of the coup against Aristide – editor).

The military invasion of our national soil, on February 29^th, 2004 is proof that the international bourgeoisie reacted to prevent the progressive students from uniting with the popular masses and to prevent them from consciously defining common objectives to change their living conditions. From that point on, the people with the means, - the owners of all the tools that allow them ideological domination - have launched a series of smear campaigns to denigrate the people in the poor neighbourhoods, pinning on their backs a number of ugly labels, like “Chimeres”, “ratpakaka” (rats are not shit), “hot neighborhoods”, “outlaw zones”, etc.

Meanwhile, the fat-cat state and government functionaries did absolutely nothing to try and address or resolve the many problems that define the reality of life in popular neighborhoods: no security, unemployment, abject poverty, starvation, no schools, no health care etc., just to name a few.

Since the intervention of February 29^th, 2004 the international bourgeoisie, allied with the local puppet bourgeoisie, have managed to plunder the resources of the country.
They also took the opportunity to grant themselves fiscal exemptions that will allow them to pay no taxes whatsoever; they've grabbed all the institutions and wealth of the country; and instituted a free trade zone. Their plan is to privatize all public institutions established to give the people good quality service at an affordable price.

For the last two years, the international and local looters have set up a sham electoral machine to disenfranchise the people and to make sure that they would not have the opportunity to choose who should be their new chief of state. It was clear to everyone fighting for real change that these people wanted to organize elections in the name of the Haitian people, yet they spared no effort to make sure that the Haitian people would not participate. To be convinced, it suffices only to examine how they named the members of the electoral council, how they registered the voters and distributed the electoral cards, how finally, in the heavily populated areas they delayed the registration process and set up very few registration centers. In upscale Petion-Ville, at Saint-Pierre Square alone, there were five voting centers for 80 voting booths. But, in Cite Soleil, there were no voting booths at all. What more does one need to know in order to understand the strategy that was deployed to keep the popular masses outside of these elections?

Despite the heavy crosses they were forced to bear to so many stations, despite the many trials and tribulations they were nailed to in the process, the people in the poor and populated areas managed to avoid all the pitfalls thrown onto their path by the exploiters and the raiders to prevent them from expressing their will.

When the popular masses got up at 2 am, 3 am, and 4 am in the morning to walk many kilometers (miles) through plains, mountains, and cities and formed orderly queues in front of the voting centers;

When the popular masses stood in long lines under the sun to wait for the voting stations to open, at 8 am, 10 am or even 12 noon, without complaining;

When the popular masses in Cité Soleil, Carrefour, Lascahobas, Gros-Morne took to the streets on the day of the vote to demand that the CEP provide them with stations where they could vote; this behavior alone foiled the Machiavellian plans that would have reinforced the division of society into a rich camp and a poor camp. It also translates as the will of the people to take their destiny into their own two hands. It expresses their gritty determination to choose for themselves who should lead the country.

We students, young women and young men who have our roots, our umbilical chords entwined with the people that have been reduced to poverty, when we take note of the behavior and determination demonstrated by the Haitian people on Tuesday, February 7th, we solemnly raise our voices to demand that the CEP respects the vote cast by the multitude of people on that day.

We use this opportunity to blow the whistle at all tricks aimed at delaying counting the vote of the popular masses. It must be clear to the Haitian people that this maneuver is the work of a coterie of the traditional bourgeois and politicians who, not satisfied with having put the country under military occupation, prefer to lead it to full protectorate status rather than accept the simple idea that only the masses can, through their votes, decide who will lead the country.

The elections of February 7^th, 2006 should allow the people and all progressive folk struggling in the popular sector, to see the naked truth: while the politicians and bourgeois of this country constantly pay lip service to "democracy", their real plan is to keep the country in the shameful and misery-stricken condition it has been in since they set it there in 1806.

These elections offer all progressive Haitians an opportunity to question whether or not the masses have the right to choose whomever they want to lead their country. They should not miss this occasion to ask how long the bourgeois and politicians here will be allowed to ignore the basic “one man one vote” principle of a democracy they clamor about - saying they want to establish in the country.

Lots of people have the courage to take to the streets to request that the Provisional Electoral Council respects the February 7th vote. We take off our hats to congratulate these people. On that occasion, we also sounded a warning cry for the people and militants in the struggle for the popular masses to stay vigilant. The authority that will evolve from the February 7th election will not be a popular power (even though the people have elected it).

It is necessary, even urgent for the people to organize, for the militants in the popular sector to strengthen their will to make the elected authorities understand that the vote it received was not a mandate to repress the people’s university, to further implement the cynical neo-liberal plan designed to overtake every publicly owned asset and give them to the private sector freeloaders.

This ballot was not cast for the elected authorities to open the flood gates and let the imperialist bourgeoisie come and pick what’s left of the fertile land currently in the hands of peasants and give them to capitalists leeches through free trade zones that will continue to suck a debilitated people’s blood.

The February 7th ballot is not a license for criminals to continue rejoicing in the streets without concern. It is not a free hand for jailed delinquents to be released without trials.

The February 7th ballot is not permission granted to the new authorities to continue with the occupation of the country. It is not a license to let them close their eyes to the misery of the popular masses in their neighborhoods, or to go shoot indiscriminately at them in order to please some bourgeois, or again to exploit their misery and turn them into political instruments as used to be done in past years.

We take advantage of this opportunity to ask all organizations on the people’s side to remain vigilant of all true demands of the masses.

This meaning that they must reinforce their organizational structures and force the authorities installed by the people to satisfy the following demands:

1. The right to find a job free from abuse
   

2. The right to free health care

1. The right to good and free education for their children

1. The right to be safe

1. The right to have fun without being subjected to violence

1. For the country to take back its self-determination.

The political experience provided by this ballot should lead the popular masses to the right path for a struggle to change the conditions affecting their lives.

The Organizations and their spokespersons who signed this note:

for Latin American Scene
Julien Sainvil

for Gramchi Reading Circle
Jules Armand Joseph

for Berthold Brecht Theater Workshop
Jean Léon Amboise, Jean Louis Louis

for Mouvman Etidyan Granmoun Ayisyen (MEGA)
Jean Wilson Junior

for La Lutte
Franck Séguy
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

for Atelier d’écriture en art dramatique Les GOLOS
Ernst Alcéus

for Delege etidyan Fakilte Syanzimèn yo nan Rektora Inivèsite Leta a Wilson Jean Baptiste

Port-au-Prince, February 13, 2006

Pòtoprens, 13 fevriye 2006

• Haiti: Préval declared winner by Rob Lyon (February 17, 2006)
  
• Haiti elections – the outcome will be decided on the streets by Rob Lyon (February 14, 2006)
  
• The Slave Revolution – Saint-Domingue 1791-1803 by Greg Oxley (December 15, 2004)
• Haiti: Growing struggle against UN occupation by Rob Lyon (November 10, 2004)
• Haiti: The Reaction bares its Teeth by Rob Lyon (April 6, 2004)
• The Nature of the Coup in Haiti by Rob Lyon (March 2, 2004)
• Haiti: There can be no solution under capitalism by Rob Lyon (February 23, 2004)
• Haiti: Which Way Forward Against Imperialism? by Rob Lyon (January 6, 2004)