“Rice is a key staple for the Haitian people and about 90 per cent of the rice consumed in the country is grown in the United States,” according to a USA Rice Federation bulletin of January 20, 2010. I am hardly surprised that the Americans now shamelessly boast that having destroyed the once self-sufficient Haitian rice industry, the US now supplies Haiti with almost all of its rice needs.
This is a fine working example of capitalist exploitation. Until 30 years ago, Haiti produced enough rice to feed itself, but the imposition of some of the most oppressive, austere trade liberalization policies anywhere in the world ensured the death of the Haitian rice industry and other sectors, agricultural as well as industrial, and the emergence of Haiti as the third largest buyer of US rice.
Within the Caricom area, Guyana is also waging a not infrequent battle against the dumping of rice and the removal of waivers and tariffs on subsidized US rice imports in the region.
The US has found willing partners in the governmental and business establishments in Jamaica and other countries in the region to launch an attack on the region’s rice market on which Guyana depends heavily. Recently, there seems to have been a lull in these attacks but Guyana cannot afford to be complacent. Guyana’s continued vigilance has resulted in a partial preservation of our markets in the region. How long this will last is another matter.
Big US interests have made rice investments in the region and are understandably loyal to US grown paddy and rice.
Supermarkets around the Caribbean still carry dutiable packaged rice imported from the US and elsewhere and the Common External Tariff (CET) may not have been paid on these imports.
Caricom has faced a steady challenge to ensure the continuity of the grouping in the face of bilateral and multilateral trade liberalization policies being pursued between and among Caricom member states and powerful countries and extra-regional business groups. Sometimes, the importance of this grouping is disregarded when big multinational corporations want their way in the Caricom consumers’ market.
The ruination of Haiti’s agriculture and industry typically demonstrates the deadly downside of capitalist policies, and in that country’s case such policies were forced on its people by those who now pretend to care for them.
That includes successive governments in Haiti. As recently as 1994, Haiti was forced to accede to punitive trade liberalization measures dictated by the US in order for deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest, to return to power. In 2004, Aristide was controversially removed from power by the very US which restored him 10 years earlier. Aristide, today, lives in relative comfort in South Africa where he was granted asylum.
Now, in the aftermath of this terrible earthquake, the presence of troops and aid workers from the powerful countries of the world is more conspicuous in Haiti than the René Préval government which is ‘operating’ from the country’s lone international airport, the Toussaint L’Ouverture.
It would appear as though the US is not only in control of the airport but rather the entire country. US forces manning the airport and airspace in Haiti denied entry to at least two Caricom fact-finding missions which requested entry into that country. This has since been resolved.
On the ground, the US has said it is consulting with the Haitian government all the way. But has the Haitian government any say? Will the Haitian government now not be expected to again yield to US and other international pressures to do whatever it is asked?
Are the US and other powerful countries presently helping out Haiti considering further menus of measures involving other trade liberalization policies as a form of payback for their short-term investments in that beleaguered country? Can Haiti ever, ever enjoy limited progress without foreign intervention? Can Haiti ever walk the path of peace and prosperity again? Ever?
Seemingly, the Préval government has been pilloried and there is nothing it can do. It is in the interest of powerful countries such as the US that Haiti is not allowed to prosper. Rather, bits and pieces of aid and grants from time to time to ensure its survival will be proferred.
Haiti gained independence 206 years ago in 1804, but are the Haitians truly free and independent in this, the 21st century? Many in the international community have taken turns to ensure the continued exploitation of Haiti so that this historic country remains poor and subservient to those whose job, it seems, is to ensure Haitians continue to live in squalor and abject poverty.
The French bourgeois class led the plundering of an island once known as the ‘Crown Jewel of the Caribbean.’
The natural resources of the country were exploited and ferreted out of the country by the French in colonial times, and today many parts of Haiti resemble a moonscape with no vegetation. The only ‘jungle’ remaining today in Haiti is close to the border with the Dominican Republic.
As of now, the US and other sections of the world would want to make sure that Haiti is rebuilt and put back to life so that the exploitation and wealth gained by these powers continue. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking at the Haiti aid and rebuilding conference in Montreal Canada on January 25, 2010, said the US must not be seen as a patron but rather as a partner in assisting Haiti in its quest for “peace and prosperity.” This is very good talk coming from someone as powerful as Ms Clinton. But will the walk be as good or better than the talk?
The Duvalier family’s fortune, safely tucked away in France, is estimated at almost US$1B.
This is money which belongs to the peasants and other Haitians, but no one seems to care. Haiti is in dire straits and the fortune being held by the Duvalier clan should be expropriated and remitted back to Haiti.
As the days wear on, we will start seeing high-priced international consultants, engineers and contractors arriving in Haiti to decide on the rebuilding process which, according to the Haitian Prime Minister, can take as long as 20 years.
The international community will squabble over who will fund what and what amount will be spent and where. The Préval government will continue to have limited say.
Haiti may then be pushed down on the international list of priority projects and this devastated country may no longer be the centre of attraction and help. The country may never be rebuilt.
In 1982, the population of Port-au-Prince was estimated at around 750,000 but when the earthquake struck last week 2.5 million people were said to be living there. In modern societies, there is always a pull of rural dwellers to urban centres for various reasons. In Haiti, the push to Port-au-Prince was because of the ruination of the agricultural sector in the rural areas such as the vast Artibonite Valley where fields once bloomed and animals roamed. These people who fled the rural areas such as the Artibonite Valley when the agricultural sector collapsed are being encouraged to return there and are expected to somehow sustain themselves. They have now become refugees in their own country.
The millions of dollars being pledged to help rebuild Haiti is a small fraction of the total pillaged from Haiti and from which the bourgeois class in France, the US and elsewhere is benefiting. But, not all pledges will be honoured and the actual cash that will eventually be received will be much smaller than the pledges. When the dust is settled, the debris cleared, the foreign aid workers gone, Haiti will be on its own again. This time though, worse than before with millions of orphans, amputees and refugees.
Yours faithfully,
Mahadeo Panchu
