(The following article is from the October 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Damning the flood - Haiti, Aristide, and the politics of containment, by Peter Hallward, published by Verso, 2008, 442 pages, reviewed by Tim Pelzer

The tragic tale of contemporary Haiti is one of the most misunderstood and neglected stories in the mainstream media.  Peter Hallward's Damning the Flood - Haiti, Aristide, and the Politics of Containment provides a concise, sweeping account of recent Haitian history. It reveals how the US, Canada and France undermined two democratically elected governments in that Caribbean nation.

     Haitians elected Jean Betrand Aristide, a priest guided by the principles of liberation theology, as president in 1991. Aristide and his Lavalas ("the flood") party government set out to alleviate the country's grinding poverty. Among other things, it built schools and medical clinics, doubled the minimum wage (one dollar a day at the time), taxed the rich and lowered food prices for the poor. It dismantled the country's repressive police state, set up by the former US-backed Duvalier government.

     Aristide's left wing direction horrified the Clinton administration and local business elite which backed an army coup against the Aristide government eight months later, leading to an avalanche of killings, torture and arrests. Haiti is an important destination for US companies that value the country's supply of cheap labour and minimal taxes. However, the reform measures that Aristide implemented also cemented his popularity among the masses.

     Pressure from the black community forced the US to reluctantly return Aristide to power in 1994 using military force. However, Clinton forced a deal on Aristide designed to tie his hands. Aristide had to agree to reduce tariffs protecting the country's agriculture, privatize state companies, lay off government workers and reduce the wages of remaining public sector workers.

     Once back in power, Aristide did what he could to sabotage the agreement he made with the US. He implemented some of the measures half-heartedly, others not at all. He also abolished the brutal army to protect the country against future coups.

     The US also tried to use its leverage over the country's finances to control Aristide. Seventy percent of the Haitian government's budget depended on foreign aid and loans, and this lifeline could be severed if necessary. Clinton's Deputy of State Strobe Talbot said in 1995, "even after our [military] exit in Feb. 1996 we will remain in charge by means of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the private sector."

     When Aristide's term ended in 1995, former pro-Lavalas Prime Minister Rene Preval succeeded him as president. But US control over the country's finances, and right wing domination of Parliament, ensured that Preval did not disturb the status quo.

     Aristide contested the 2000 elections and won with 90% of the vote. A newly formed Famni Lavalas party won most parliamentary and Senate seats. Right wing parties lost most of their elected positions.

     The US government, now led by George Bush, set out to destroy Aristide. From 2000 to 2003, US government funded groups such as the USAID and International Republican Institute funnelled $68 million per year to opposition media and groups. Canada, France and the European Union also contributed funds. Canada played a key role in coordinating international efforts to replace the Aristide government.

     Secondly, a financial boycott crippled the country economically. "Rather like the Palestinians when they voted for an inappropriate party in 2006, the Haitian people were straight away forced to pay a high price for their failure to elect a suitably moderate and broad based government" writes Hallward.

     Thirdly, the US and Haitian opposition convinced the international media that the 2000 elections were fraudulent and that the opposition was fighting against a dictatorship.

     In this way, the US forced the Aristide government to make concessions to the opposition, which wanted Aristide to resign. While Aristide agreed to include the opposition in his government, he refused to step down.

     Beginning in 2003, former Haitian soldiers, armed with US weapons, began launching raids into Haiti from bases in the Dominican Republic. They burned police stations, killed Lavalas activists and captured towns. Former soldiers would later acknowledge that these acts were sponsored and directed by the US, Canadian and European backed opposition.

     Despite the powerful forces arrayed against it, Aristide's government continued its ambitious development plan, building more schools, medical clinics and housing for the poor. It established the country's first medical school with Cuban help.

     By early 2004 paramilitaries had captured northern Haiti and were threatening to attack the capital, Port-au-Prince. However, Aristide held on.

     Taking advantage of the chaos, US marines seized Aristide on Feb. 29 and flew him to Africa. US, French and Canadian forces invaded the island, installing a new government composed of the un-elected opposition. Unlike the previous Aristide administration that allowed its opposition to operate freely, the new regime ordered the Haitian National Police (HNP) to liquidate Lavalas. The HNP and paramilitaries killed and jailed thousands of Lavalas supporters, members and elected officials. United Nations troops would later back the HNP, conducting its own brutal operations.

     Not mentioned by Hallward, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) deserves blame for the HNP's brutal political cleansing of Lavalas. After the coup against Aristide, the RCMP took charge of the HNP, training and supervising the force.

     In March 2006, the French-US-Canadian hopes of a post-Lavalas future were dashed again. While Lavalas officially boycotted elections because of the political repression directed against it, the movement's supporters and members elected pro-Lavalas candidate Rene Preval as President.

     Damning the Flood is an epic account of the turbulent Aristide years. It is also a reminder that the popular movement that Aristide led is still alive and will never give up its struggle for a better Haiti.