Haiti: State Against Nation

Haiti: State Against Nation
Author: Michel-Rolph Trouillot
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 283
Release: 1990
Genre: History
ISBN: 0853457565

In the euphoria that followed the departure of Haiti's hated dictator, Jean-Claude Duvalier, most Haitian and foreign analysts treated the regimes of the two Duvaliers, father and son, as a historical nightmare created by the malevolent minds of the leaders and their supporters. Yet the crisis, economic and political, that faces this small Caribbean nation did not begin with the dictatorship, and is far from being solved, despite its departure from the scene. In this fascinating study, Haitian-born Michel-Rolph Trouillot examines the mechanisms through which the Duvaliers ruthlessly won and then held onto power for twenty-nine years. Trouillot's theoretical discussion focuses on the contradictory nature of the peripheral state, analyzing its relative autonomy as a manifestation of the growing disjuncture between state and nation. He discusses in detail two key characteristics of such regimes: the need for a rhetoric of national unity coupled with unbridled violence. At the same time, he traces the current crisis from its roots in the nineteenth-century marginalization of the peasantry through the U.S. occupation from 1915 to 1934 and into the present. He ends with a discussion of the post-Duvalier period, which, far from seeing the restoration of civilian-led democracy, has been a period of increasing violence and economic decline.

Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost
Author: P. Girard
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2005-12-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1403980314

Why has Haiti been plagued by so many woes? Why has the United States felt a need to repeatedly intervene in Haiti's affairs? Why have multiple U.S. efforts to create a stable democracy in Haiti failed so spectacularly? Philippe Girard answers these and other questions in Paradise Lost . He examines how colonialism and slavery have left a legacy of racial tension, both within Haiti and internationally, as Haitians remain deeply suspicious of white foreigners' motives, many of whom doubt Haitians' ability to govern themselves. He also examines how Haiti's current political instability is merely a continuation of two hundred years of political strife that began during the War of Independence (1791-1804). Finally, Girard explores poverty's devastating impact on contemporary Haiti. This book is different from others in the field, arguing that Haitians - particularly home-grown dictators - bear a big share of the responsibility for their nation's troubles. In addressing the current situation in Haiti by looking to the nation's tumultuous past, Paradise Lost is timely and potentially controversial.

Haiti Will Not Perish

Haiti Will Not Perish
Author: Michael Deibert
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 489
Release: 2017-07-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1783607998

The world's first independent black republic, Haiti was forged in the fire of history's only successful slave revolution. Yet more than two hundred years later, the full promise of that revolution – a free country and a free people – remains unfulfilled. Home for more than a decade to one of the world's largest UN peacekeeping forces, Haiti's tumultuous political culture – buffeted by coups and armed political partisans – combined with economic inequality and environmental degradation to create immense difficulties even before the devastating 2010 earthquake killed tens of thousands of people. This grim tale, however, is not the whole story. In this moving and detailed history, Michael Deibert, who has spent two decades reporting on Haiti, chronicles the heroic struggles of Haitians to build their longed-for country in the face of overwhelming odds. Based on hundreds of interviews with Haitian political leaders, international diplomats, peasant advocates and gang leaders, as well as ordinary Haitians, Deibert's book provides a vivid, complex and challenging analysis of Haiti's recent history.

Haiti: The Aftershocks of History

Haiti: The Aftershocks of History
Author: Laurent Dubois
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2012
Genre: Haiti
ISBN: 0805093354

Even before the 2010 earthquake, Haiti was known as a benighted place of poverty and corruption, and has often been blamed for its own wretchedness. But as historian Laurent Dubois makes clear, its difficulties are rooted in its founding revolution, the only successful slave revolt in the history of the world; the hostility that this rebellion generated among the colonial powers; and the intense struggle within Haiti itself to define its newfound freedom and realize its promise. Dubois vividly depicts the isolation and impoverishment that followed the 1804 uprising. He details how the indemnity imposed by the former French rulers initiated a devastating cycle of debt, while frequent interventions by the United States further undermined Haiti's independence. At the same time, Dubois shows, the internal debates about what Haiti should do with its hard-won liberty alienated the nation's leaders from the broader population, setting the stage for enduring political conflict. Yet the Haitian people have never given up on their struggle for true democracy.--From publisher description.

Haiti, a Dysfunctional Nation-State: What do we need to do to restart?

Haiti, a Dysfunctional Nation-State: What do we need to do to restart?
Author: Rev. Dr. Wilguymps Charles
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 155
Release: 2024-04-28
Genre: History
ISBN:

This book written by Rev. Dr. Wilguymps Charles is a citizen effort aiming to raise awareness among fellow Haitians in order to make them realize that the country can no longer continue to sink into this abyss; to recognize the urgency of divorcing ourselves from the irresponsible and selfish practices of the past that prevent us from progressing, and to seek together everything that can contribute to its recovery and emergence towards sustainable socio-economic development. The author is a family man and Pastor of a church for more than thirty years. He has also written on five other religious topics in French and English, including ten books in total. The author firmly believes as a Haitian citizen Christian with heavenly aspiration, but he still has his feet on the ground that he must get involved in the affairs of his country with the aim of making its contribution to the reconstruction of the nation, since he is concerned and affected like every other fellow Haitians by everything that is happening in Haiti. With this in mind, he offers in this book, "Haiti, a dysfunctional nation-state: What do we need to do to restart?", a reliable alternative to relaunch the country towards the path of progress and change. Through the pages of this book, the author calls on every Haitian to collaborate to face this challenge courageously. May the reading of this book allow everyone to realize Haiti’s potential to develop!

The Era of Military Coups D 'Etat

The Era of Military Coups D 'Etat
Author: Rev. Emmanuel Dumay
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2011-03-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1469113163

This book presents a detailed story on each military coup detat that occurred in Haiti from February 1986 to September 1991. In fact, it describes the political spectrum that reigned in Haiti after the departure of President Jean-Claude Duvalier. The epoch that succeeded the fall of the Duvaliers from power was one of the most ambiguous periods in the history of Haiti founded by Generalissimo Jean-Jacques Dessalines the Great, in 1804. Dessalines, as GENERAL-IN-CHIEF of the Haitian Indigenous army, became the first of the nations Heads-of-state to be overthrown by a military coup detat, in October 17, 1806. Since then, most of the nations Chiefs-of-state assumed power through revolutions, or coups detat. Currently, the nation experiences 33 coups detat. From February 1986 to September 1991, seven coups or attempted coups detat had taken place in Haiti. That is that period of social and political instability that is exposed in this book. (In the post opinions, the author speaks briefly about the problematic of the army involvement in coups detat in Haiti, the January 12, 2010 Earthquake as well as the need for a new Haitian Armed Forces.) The book is made available to help Haitians or foreigners in particular those who are curious about Haitis history, including observers,professors, students, politicians, ordinary people, etc. Everybody should be capable of judging for himself or for herself on the countrys situation during and after the fall of the Duvaliers from power in February 1986. By writing this essay, the author encourages all Haitians that live inside the country or abroad to come to unity. That is a powerful tool that can bring Haiti to a dramatic turn toward consistent DEMOCRACY and economic development.

Silencing the Past

Silencing the Past
Author: Michel-Rolph Trouillot
Publisher: Beacon Press
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2015-03-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 0807080535

Now part of the HBO docuseries Exterminate All the Brutes, written and directed by Raoul Peck The 20th anniversary edition of a pioneering classic that explores the contexts in which history is produced—now with a new foreword by renowned scholar Hazel Carby Placing the West’s failure to acknowledge the Haitian Revolution—the most successful slave revolt in history—alongside denials of the Holocaust and the debate over the Alamo, Michel-Rolph Trouillot offers a stunning meditation on how power operates in the making and recording of history. This modern classic resides at the intersection of history, anthropology, Caribbean, African-American, and post-colonial studies, and has become a staple in college classrooms around the country. In a new foreword, Hazel Carby explains the book’s enduring importance to these fields of study and introduces a new generation of readers to Trouillot’s brilliant analysis of power and history’s silences.

An Unbroken Agony

An Unbroken Agony
Author: Randall Robinson
Publisher: Basic Civitas Books
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2008-05-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 0465012892

On February 29, 2004, the first democratically elected president of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was forced to leave his country. The president was kidnapped, along with his Haitian-American wife, by American soldiers and flown to the isolated Central African Republic. In An Unbroken Agony, best-selling author and social justice advocate Randall Robinson chronicles his own cross-Atlantic journey to rescue the Haitian president from captivity in Africa while also connecting the fate of Aristide’s presidency to the Haitian people’s century-long quest for self-determination.

Aid State

Aid State
Author: Jake Johnston
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2024-01-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1250284678

Haiti’s state is near-collapse: armed groups have overrun the country, many government officials have fled after the 2021 assassination of President Moise and not a single elected leader holds office, refugees desperately set out on boats to reach the US and Latin America, and the economy reels from the after-effects of disasters, both man-made and natural, that destroyed much of Haiti’s infrastructure and institutions. How did a nation founded on liberation—a people that successfully revolted against their colonizers and enslavers—come to such a precipice? In Aid State, Jake Johnston, a researcher and writer at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC, reveals how long-standing US and European capitalist goals ensnared and re-enslaved Haiti under the guise of helping it. To the global West, Haiti has always been a place where labor is cheap, politicians are compliant, and profits are to be made. Over the course of nearly 100 years, the US has sought to control Haiti and its people with occupying police, military, and euphemistically-called peacekeeping forces, as well as hand-picked leaders meant to quell uprisings and protect corporate interests. Earthquakes and hurricanes only further devastated a state already decimated by the aid industrial complex. Based on years of on-the-ground reporting in Haiti and interviews with politicians in the US and Haiti, independent aid contractors, UN officials, and Haitians who struggle for their lives, homes, and families, Aid State is a conscience-searing book of witness.