Posted By David Rothkopf
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 - 4:55 PM
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What if the idea of Haiti as a country simply won't work?
They have been trying for two centuries. Even before the horrific tragedy of the earthquake six months ago, Haiti festered. The economy has averaged one percent growth per year for the past four decades (pdf). Haiti's per capita income places it 203rd among all nations. In purchasing power parity terms, it is $1,300 per year, putting it roughly on the same level as Uganda, Burkina Faso and Mali. In nominal terms, the per capita number is only $790, the lowest in the Western Hemisphere by far -- despite Haiti's proximity and ties to the richest economy on earth and aid flows and commitments nearing $10 billion since 1990.
This is not a new phenomenon. The Haitian experiment as a free republic that began with the successful slave rebellion of Toussaint L'Ouverture and Jean Jacques Dessalines in the first years of the 19th century has by many measures been a failure since the beginning. Today, Haiti's per capita GDP is less than a sixth that of the country with which it shares the island of Hispaniola and therefore many characteristics and circumstances, the Dominican Republic.
Haiti has had dictatorships and democracy, external rule and global assistance. Throughout its history, its governments have failed virtually all the most rudimentary tests of administrative or policy competence. It has seen almost three dozen coups, averaging one every six years or so. Haiti ranks 126th in the world on education expenditures. Roughly half the population is illiterate. Something like 8 out of 10 college graduates emigrate. The country has only the most rudimentary telecommunications, power generation or transport infrastructure outside of Port au Prince. The majority of people didn't have access to basic health care even before January's earthquake. The leadership has consistently been viewed as corrupt, and its elites have consistently been viewed as out of touch with its people. The top one percent of the population control almost 50 percent of the country's assets. It is almost alone amongst the nations of the Caribbean to be unable to take advantage of the potential for tourism. Deforestation and ill-considered agricultural practices have decimated agri-business on the island-with a few notable exceptions. Manufacturing has never taken in a meaningful way despite much vaunted efforts to manufacture baseballs or clothing.
The human tragedy of Haiti is unspeakable. The promise of its people remains great.
But what if the concept of Haiti is the problem? Haitians speak French and Creole as a vestige of a colonial era that began its decline over two centuries ago. That the island is divided between French and Spanish speaking halves is yet another consequence of European historical caprice. The country's people are descendants of slaves who were torn from Africa and subjected to inhumane treatment as a consequence of a despicable and fundamentally immoral economic model that was recognized as intolerable and unsustainable also decades before the country's founding.
In other words, the country has been shaped in many important ways by conditions that are virtually irrelevant to the modern world. Which raises the question: When does the statute of limitations run out on the idea behind a country's existence?
That's not to say that a people's right to self-determination ever expires. Rather it is to say that there may well be a time that it is in the interest of the people of a country like Haiti and its neighbors to determine that the experiment has failed. I realize this is an incrediblly inflammatory notion. It is certainly neither offered lightly nor without regard for the Haitian people, for whom I have the greatest respect, admiration and affection.
Rather it is to say, how much longer can the world write checks for billions, undertake initiatives doomed to failure, deal with governments gutted either by circumstance (the earthquake) or incompetence (virtually every other Haitian government)? There is a cost to the Haitian experiment and of course, it is not just measured in the outlays of international institutions or NGOs. Its more painful toll is measured in the costs to the Haitian people -- either during natural disasters (and hurricane season will soon come to a nation which currently has a million people homeless or housed in flimsy tent camps) or as a consequence of the year-in and year-out inability of the government to educate them, raise their standard of living, create new jobs, mine some sort of hope from the despair of the country's shanty-towns and villages that are dirt poor but filled with vibrant, energetic people.
Should nations that can't stand alone consolidate with neighbors? Should they break into different pieces? Should they develop different relationships with large countries with whom they share affinities? Should they be able to enter periods of protected restructuring like companies in bankruptcy? Should they, at the very least, start to question more seriously the underlying concepts that have, after decades or centuries, left them chronically poor, uncompetitive, unstable?
We treat the "right to nation" like it were a theological construct. But countries, like companies, like families, like churches, like all human organizations are just conceptual structures designed to produce a better life for the people within them. If all evidence suggests that the concept is flawed in some key way, we need to ask: When does it become time to reconsider, reinvent and explore new avenues that might better serve those who currently suffer without real hope of change? We can all think of other countries that might benefit themselves and the global community at large from such reconsideration.
Does this mean we should stop trying to help Haiti rebuild or to re-emerge from the current disastrous conditions? Of course not. Indeed, given the amount of dithering around helping Haiti that has occurred over the past six months, decency demands we redouble our efforts ... and then some. It is appalling that the oversight commission has only met once and has yet to appoint an executive director. It is appalling that the government of Haiti -- devastated as it has been -- has been so devoid of leadership. The country can emerge stronger if the world unites to help it as we must.
No, the reason I raise the issue is that after decades of watching Haiti (and many other countries) struggle with resource limitations, cultural obstacles, competitive disadvantages and chronic crises, I just think it is worth asking whether we need to be bolder in our approach to finding solutions and to truly ask ourselves what we would and could do if we sought to truly serve the people of these countries rather than the ideas of long dead founders, the consequences of long-forgotten geopolitical twists and turns or the objectives of elites who benefit from old ideas that no longer benefit anyone other than the few.
David
Thanks for the question . You forgot the debt load the French saddled the country with . Which was paid off in what, ....... 1949 ?
That earthquake changed more than just the poor souls of Haiti. I changed me, and many more like me. I think the web will make the difference this time, I have no illusions about this event, but through the web an old hippie in West Texas was able with the help of many friends to raise enough money to buy nearly 100 Shelter Boxes. That's never happen before.
http://tmfishcamp.blogspot.com/
Dear Mr Rothkopf,
Though interesting I find that your article presupposes an infeasible course of action, total international disengagement is what permits Somali pirates to act with impunity. Sadly I must add misguided to my critique of your article. Specifically the your statement that: "the country has been shaped in many important ways by conditions that are virtually irrelevant to the modern world." I assume based on the preceding paragraph that you are referring to slavery, and decolonization.
The three major challenges to a functioning Haiti which I have observed in my 3 months living here are: slavery, demilitarization, and the influence of "great powers". All three are linked to either slavery or colonialism.
Haiti's history of slavery, and the subsequent post-independence systems of servitude, that were based on it, have left this a deeply divided society. Its divisions no longer correspond to race, rather they are class based. Educated homeowners feel entitled to cheap labor that substitutes for household appliances. Expressed in very generalized terms: The boss feels entitled not to work because he does the thinking, the servant feels entitled not to think because he works. Resulting in a classic Hegelian paradigm, where both feel that they are not fully actualizing themselves. This prevents more complex economies from emerging, as with slavery. The concept and value is denigrated to a feudal level where entrepreneurs from poor backgrounds face a cultural bias against their success that seems insurmountable . This feeds into the related issue of cultural identity, which is a crucial issue in Haiti, it was little more than 10 years ago, under Titid, that Creole was made the national primary language instruction, before this children had to learn French before learning history, social sciences, maths, simply as a prerequisite to education. What profound effects this fact has on Haitian society cannot be underestimated, when a whole people is told that the words in which they communicate, argue and decide are not a "real" language, what humbling experience this must be, and to what degree it inspires a degree of self loathing, and again underlines the distinction between boss and servant cannot be overstated. This denigration of Creole was also an implicit denigration of the African roots of most Haitians. As French plantation owners had a very high "personnel turn-over" they relied on a constant flow of slave labor from Africa. To prevent these slaves from forming effective movements, as many of them were in fact POWs and accordingly had military training, they mixed the nationalities represented and avoided any one plantation having a concentration of any African speaking the same language. None the less Creole survived, and with idiomatic phrases that are identical to original Wolof and Mandinga phrases. It represents what Haitians fought, bled and died for in their War of Independence the nefarious retention of French was a result of a French-educated ruling class that sought to continue to extract cheap labor from the very people who had put them in power.
Haiti was not just a country that shook of the shackles of colonialism, it was the only successful slave revolt. But it was always incomplete, there was always some element which was not fully pacified but merely driven into the hinterlands. Be it the Pike d Sud, the Cacos, the Tonton Macoute (who are still very much a force to be reckoned with) or the Chimeres there was always an internal challenge to power. There was never a post-independence attempt to bring these movements into the political debate, never mind the democratic process. Presently Haiti is reliving this nightmare, as the Famni Lavalas is prevented from participating in elections being organised by a coalition many Haitians only voted as a proxy for the ever popular Titid (Jean Bertrand Aristide). But it was in fact Titid who tried to break out of this cycle of violence by disbanding the military, of course it was also the military that led the first coupe against him. This constant internal power struggle leaves many Haitians looking for a strong man that will provide them with security in exchange for participation key decision making processes. Many Haitians speak longingly of Papa Doc and his son Jean Claude Duvalier, in fact even now on many walls in Potoprins one can see graphitti calling for his return.
Thirdly the influence of great powers, the constant meddling in internal affairs, starting with Boyer's restitution payments to France, which by to my knowledge was also the only time the side that won a war paid the side that lost. But this meddling continued through the US occupation of Hispaniola, when it also took control of the Customs Offices and quietly occupied a small western outlying island as a permanent coaling station. Continuing to a German warship that threatened to bombard Potoprins if a German merchant that was under arrest for beating a Haitian longshoreman wa snot released. The American pressure to remove all protective rice tariffs in the 1990s destroyed a century old industry in the Artibonite, and also leading to there not being decent rice available in Haiti. Only rice that when cooked turns to more of a mush than a series of grains. Site Soley, the largest slum in Potoprins was created when the US embargoed Haitian sugar. Site Soley was originally constructed for people who worked in the ASKO sugar plant, with the embargo what had been a well planned working class neighborhood turned into a slum.
Perhaps rather than ask a question that cannot be pose din good faith we should examine how the western world and its institutions have influenced the politics of poor countries, how we have and do distort them. To do so we must learn to listen, to stop arriving in crisis zones with ridiculous cookie cutter platitudes, and a clear line of command within the international community must be established. International staff deployed in a country must speak the language, and any food aid should be sourced in such a manner to minimize the effects on domestic existing industries.
Thank you for your time, I truly enjoy your column.
While the US should shoulder some of the responsibility, we should not be there for an open-ended commitment. Haiti needs much more help than just the aftermath of the earthquake, but I hope Barack Obama realizes that the US can only do so much. I am not adverse to helping the Haitian people. They need help desperately, but the international community and the UN should be the main leaders.
The debt plus interest was actually paid off to France in 1947.
Ringo Internet Guy
If Haiti is a failed country what should be done about it? French administration? union with the Dominican Republic? Some international oversight?
This is what I dont like about these articles they point out problems and then fail to suggest how to solve them, except as pathetically as this essay does in recommending more of the same (more aid).
I wish people did not write things like this. Criticism without constructive solutions in more harmful than not saying anything at all.
I can agree with you on a certain level, but what he's writing here is at least generating debate. Rothkopf may not have the answers, but he's bringing up an issue which a lot of people aren't willing to address, in the hope that the questions he posits will be answered by someone. It certainly beats ignoring the problem.
The ideas and the effort put into debate is critical towards the progress of mankind. Please reconsider your censorship of ideas whether valid or not.
My question to you is, how can we ever attempt to solve problems without first examining all of the potential problems?
And you forgot to include the attempts by the US to strangle the new country at birth, and support for such despots as Papa Doc Duvalier for their use as 'bulwarks against communism'? Please, spare me.
This is the same problem i have with nearly all Haitians i speak to about this... They simply do not understand the concept of hitting the "Reset Button" and moving forward.
Can we ever get to a place where we simply leave the past, in the past, and work with the present and towards something better in the future?
With all of the generosity of the world community in the past months; do any of you think that Haiti can petition for reparations of all the wrongs done to it.
I am simply "sick and tired" of all the old arguments that I've heard from my parents.
There is a time, and it is now, To simply stop whining about the past and "DO WHAT NEEDS DOING" now!
with respect,
rangle
Please don't let them join with the U.S. Why not give them to Cuba? I guarantee that the Dominican Republic doesn't want them.
Or we could give it an official duty: Make it the place to insert they syringe when someone decides the world needs an enema.
I find this commentary ignorant. It is fine to ask the questions but to offer no solutions, no ideas, no concrete thoughts other than passive-aggressive "I like them but it's time to cut the cord" is inhumane and worthless.
Don't you think that all your questions have been asked during the global discourse of the past 6 months? Don't you think that responsible organizations who are trying to move the people toward sustainability, like Oxfam for example, ask these questions on a regular basis?
Yes, there are an incredible amount of NGO's on that country who are making a living staying there. Doing that long-term, I feel, is unethical and does the people an injustice and betrays the donors. Those NGO's need to be held to a higher standard by the global community.
Yes, there needs to be clearer leadership, probably U.N. assigned and not Haitian to avoid corruption. This has been proposed by many. But to think that simply doing that eliminates the centuries of problems is to ignore the fact that you are dealing with generational corruption and destruction that will take generations to fix.
In working on the film "The Last Days of Toussaint L'Ouverture" (video clip here: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2468184/ ), I learned about the horrid conditions that formed this country. I recommend Tavis Smiley's "America I Am" exhibit as a way for all of us to learn more about slave history and how it affected nations and commerce -- www.americaiam.org.
Maybe colonialism was the best situation for all failed states. Things seem to have gone downhill since returning to local governance.
This post cannot be serious. How can one write a post arguing that the concept of Haiti is a failure, without mentioning the systematic oppression the country has been subject to from outside influence since its founding. No mention of stripping the country of its resources, not mention of US backing for its dictators, no mention of the odious debt burden carried by the countries. Step 1: Read The Uses of Haiti. Step 2: Try again. This is embarrassing.
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OK, but then what about Detroit? Or Chicago?
Can't we do away with some of these places as well?
Anyone who has taken the time to learn Haiti's history knows why they are in the shape they're in. Between the "elite" few families that control the land, the business, and the government, and the U.S. and other foreign "interests" that work with the "elite," the majority of the Haitian people have been kept down. Every time they attempt to stand up for themselves, one foreign power or another (or all of them, by using UN troops) uses military might to ensure they are silenced.
This article is rubbish.
Wow....Someone is having a bad week. Lots of traffic on the way to work today or some other inconvenience?
Haiti just does not work,...a failed state...?
Too many coups?
In 1776 at Valley Forge America was a failed state.
Lets just eliminate the country..or send them back to Africa...or forget their identity and merge them with either Miami or Santo Domingo...
But the people have a great potential?
What is going on here?
Or...
Maybe we are the failed State that would allow the poorest nation in Hemisphere...which we have intervened in several times to just waste away...starve them out...or god forbid put them on the train to a vacation site with lots of work and great barracks...? Its not working...break them up...
If we all lost 10 lbs and donated the sushi money to Haiti..it would look much better than Manhattan does in the Afternoon when the families are out at the Food Bank....
But David has missed that event at least recently between trips to Davos...but he probably saw some idea of this at Columbia in the 1970s..maybe....he missed the train and had to walk through Morningside Park ...at least once...maybe?
Is Egypt a failed state? Or Isreal...we spend a lot to keep them going...
Was Vietnam a failed State...or we heard that before about Bangladesh
but they somehow have managed to retain their dignity....
Is Pakistan next? Or California?
Or if Governments change a la Italy or recently Japan take their flag away and merge them....Italy with Greece...and Japan with China...that would really work out...
Come to think about it...not too long ago ...China was a failed state per David Rothkopf also...we tried to break them up too....
I know that David has playing with the concept of nations and their limits but there is some basic logical reasons to preserve unique culture and the right of people with similiar beliefs to flourish together...it is called basic humanity and human rights and is deserved by all....even those who suffer today..that they might one day....be whole again...This we pray...and hope for ...for in those children who have suffered so much...there is only hope...and Thankfully we have other kind humans working in Haiti today that do care...unlike the bright writers pushing keyboards at FP..ps...how could you publish this one...???
Oh yes...I do hope next week is better and do try the herbal pills that keep your brain bright and bushy....you need them badly today...
The only thing i know throughout world history, it doesn't take 200 years to build a nation......it takes wayyyyy more [only if you came from an already built nation with everything set up to inhabit another territory]....so those people should give us a break with their set up ideas that we cannot keep up! Check european history and all the barbaric times they went through....and USA came from already set up nation, to established their business on someone else territory, of course they had all the advantages to be ahead of the game, they only distroyed the native people and took their land to build businesses. And other caribean countries...they all have been managed by some older nations......so give me a break with Haitians Cannot do It! If so called 'modern world' wasn't so close to us, and we didn't want to be so much like others so quickly we would have maybe be on our own path and find our way more quickly......Our Only Problem is: WE CANNOT FIND OUR TRUE SELF, WITH SO MUCH PRESSURE TO BE LIKE OTHERS WHO HAD ALL THE TIME [and liberty] THAT IT NEEDED TO FIND THEMSELVES!
We are not cattle or sheep... How dare you place us at the bottom... You are the bottom feeders with all the answers to the world problems. How about looking at America and the mess it has on it's hands or should I use the word blood...
Go back home and clean up your own backyard first.
The grass is burnt and needs watering.
Mother nature will not help you now... she is pissed off Big Time~
The well is going to blow!
Evacuate before it is to late!
Charter City / Charter Province
Lots of naysayers here, regrettably. It's pretty easy, but not all that helpful. I agree with Rangle. How about considering the bare possibility of moving forward to something different than the "same old Same Old".
How about taking a look at Paul Romer's idea of "Charter City"? http://www.chartercities.org/ I love Romer's choice of Guantanamo Bay as a starting point, but having a try in Haiti would seem equally attractive. Surely there's space to carve out a niche where new ideas could allowed to prove their worth. (Starting from scratch with construction that conforms to established building codes might be a good draw.)
"Hong Kong of the Caribbean", hmm... Anybody else with an actionable positive plan is welcome to speak up.
... and after a night's rest, the first business _I_ would propose is a company to crank out Kristina Cottages. Code compliant, easy to prefab, what's not to like. Hire a Hatian workforce, give them the first 500 (or pick your own number) houses they are able to build. Henry Ford would understand. Jimmy Carter and Habitat for Humanity would understand.
Yes, I wager that a lot of the materials would have to come from somewhere other than Haiti, which is probably deforested on top of its other woes. But a cottage won't fall on your head in the next quake, and they can withstand hurricane winds. http://www.katrinacottagehousing.org/original.html
Someone please tell me this is already happening.
David Rothkopf is the CEO and Editor-at-Large of Foreign Policy. His new book, "Power, Inc.: The Epic Rivalry Between Big Business and Government and the Reckoning that Lies Ahead" is due out from Farrar, Straus & Giroux on March 1.
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