Haiti needs to develop its own form of democracy

Context

Over the past few months I have found myself engaging in many discussions, debates and arguments with friends over Haiti’s current political crisis especially as it relates to the elections.  More than 10 years since the intervention of the United Nations through MINUSTAH and almost $9 billion dollars spent, Haiti is still unable to hold free and fair elections.  

Indeed, four years after President Martelly’s election under conditions, which the former Executive Director and now President of the Provisional Electoral Council claim were fraudulent, we are back to where we have always been.  In fact, Haiti has not been able to hold the constitutionally mandated elections for any of the vacant electoral posts in the past five years.  And the current elections face the same challenges as every other ones we’ve tried.  Yet, despite these lackluster results, no one has stopped to question why we have not been able to hold free and fair elections despite being under UN protectorate.  

Given this history, it is more than evident that the country is simply not ready – for elections or the democratic model that is being imposed.  Indeed, we have more pressing issues to resolve but nonetheless the entire International Community (IC) working through the “Core Group” has made elections its primary policy objective in its engagement in Haiti.   In truth, the IC’s fixation with elections has nothing to do with Haiti or the needs of Haitians but instead is a way to cover its own policy and political failures – a more cynic analysis might conclude these perceived failures as the successful implementation  of a plan to maintain domination over one of the first black republic.

The postponement of the current elections offers Haitians an opportunity to reflect on what’s been achieved and what remains to be done.  I believe that this time we Haitians should be given the opportunity to identify and tackle our problems on our own.  Indeed, it is an opportunity to “reset the clock” and engage the public in a dialogue on the main challenges, which are essentially about modernizing the economy, strengthening our system of governance and agreeing to abide by the rule of law.   We need a more focused approach to target our own resources – human and financial capital – on an ambitious agenda of inclusion of the invisible majority, which include the marginalized urban and rural poor. 

As I reflect on our discussions, I have noticed that my friends and I are in fact arguing about very different things.  For me, while the elections provide a particular opening for the discussions, they are insignificant relative to the larger debate we need to have as a nation.  For the other side, the argument in support of the elections tend focus on two points:  (1) the elections are an essential part of the democratic process resulting in a stronger democratic state; and (2) in the current context they –the elections-- are necessary as a way to regain or maintain social, political order and economic stability.  As a result, we spend all of our energy trying to find potential solutions to salvage these deeply flawed elections in the hope that once they are over, we will have legitimate leaders who would hopefully work to resolve the challenges facing our nation.  And while it is easy to find some solace in this “solution,” such a focus is intellectually lazy and even parochial to the real needs of our people.  As Georges Anglade put it more than 20 years ago in a Fordham International Law Journal’s article titled “Rules, Risks, and Rifts in the Transition to Democracy in Haiti”: 

Although the middle class in Haiti and around the world talk incessantly of Haiti's problems, they go to great lengths to avoid confronting the real issues.

The premise that we must have elections under any conditions is erroneous and cynical.  The truth is that it shuts down any debate about the fundamental problems and limits our ability to imagine a society of our own making and in our own image.  In sum, this premise robs us of the opportunity to experiment and develop our own form of democracy, which is adapted to our culture.  Moreover, it leaves the opportunity for the international community to impose its own model and disregarding all that could be viewed be as imaginative and endogenous.  This seemingly arbitrary focus stops us from identifying and tackling the root causes of our problems.  Instead, by applying an exogenous model, we work to legitimize the international community’s continued stranglehold on all aspect of our lives.  To be clear, the IC is not the reason we are in this place but its engagement surely helps to keep us there.

Socio-economic challenges

After 215 years of independence, Haiti is still at a critical formative developmental stage.  Today, all the key indicators are flashing red: the economy which needs to grow by double digits to keep up is growing at a slow pace of 2.7 percent; GDP growth is at 1.7 percent from an all-time high of 5.5 percent in 2011; the government’s debt is at all time high of 26.70 percent of GDP; our currency is officially exchanging at 58 Gourdes to 1 US dollar in 2015 and as high as 60 to 1 unofficially from a low of 41 Gourde to 1 US dollar in 2012; inflation is currently at 12 percent (Dec. 2015) from a low of zero (0) percent during the same period in 2009 ; unemployment is over 40 percent and if we add underemployment it is closer to 70 percent.  At the same time, our population grew from 4.7 million in 1970 to 7.8 million in 1995 to 10.4 million today.  Additionally, the Petrocaribe funds, which were used to finance most of the government’s post-earthquake reconstruction and development programs, have essentially dried up.  The international community which funds over 50 percent of our budget is expected to reduce its donation.  Lastly, the remittance sent by Haitians in the diaspora is the country’s primary source of revenue and foreign exchange, equaling nearly 20% of GDP.   However, as the 80’s generation of diaspora members begin to retire, it is not clear that their children who have integrated their parents’ adopted countries will have the same attachment to Haiti and continue to send remittances at the same levels. The expected reduction in remittances will put the final nail in the coffin of the Haitian economy.

A recent report which was prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin

America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) noted that “real per capita income has fallen by 50% since the early 1980s; the degradation of the country’s natural resources has continued unabated (deforestation, soil erosion, water pollution, urban contamination); the capacity of the State to fulfill its functions in the provision of social services, security, the rule of law and the development of infrastructure has been seriously eroded; and most social indicators show a further decline.”

These indicators show the urgency to act and more than anything they make the case for the necessity to make a radical break from the past 215 years.  As summarized by one important international observer in the ECLAC report, “dysfunctional institutions, poor and corrupt governance, lack of transparency and pervasive crime have exacerbated economic and social instability [in Haiti] for the last decade.”  In other words, the solutions to the very critical short and long-term challenges are not elections.  Instead, they are rooted in real structural challenges that require fundamental changes.  The work must start at the beginning and that is with a new vision of what it means to be Haitian, a common project or set of projects to create the glue and a redefinition of our governance model to create trust among each other and in our institutions.

Nationhood

As I mentioned above, the international community has made the elections the most important milestone in its cooperation strategy.  The argument is that once we have achieved political stability we can begin to focus on the economy.  In fact, I argue that in any context but particularly in the Haitian one, elections are not the best mechanisms to build trust.  Worst, given the competing urgent needs of the country the elections do not offer Haitians the opportunity to have a conversation on the fundamentals issues for the next 50 to 100 years in order to build the nation-state. 

It is important to note that I make a clear delineation between the country of Haiti, which we find in the world map and the state which implies sovereignty.  By every objective measure, we cannot call Haiti a sovereign state.  Using the definition of French historian Ernest Renans, we would be hard pressed to call ourselves a nation.   For Renans:

A nation is a soul, a spiritual principle. Two things, which, in truth, are really one, constitute this soul, this spiritual principle. One is in the past, the other in the present. One is the possession in common of a rich legacy of memories; the other is the present-day consent, the desire to live together, the will to continue to value the undivided heritage one has received.... To have the glory of the past in common, a shared will in the present; to have done great deeds together, and want to do more of them, are the essential conditions for the constitution of a people....One loves the house which one has built and passes on.

From that perspective, it is easy to conclude that Haiti is still struggling with the concept of nationhood.  This struggle becomes even harder to overcome as the so-called economic elite bears no resemblance nor share any common interest nor ideal with the masses.  Further, as borders get erased virtually, young Haitians find and emulate the styles and mores of western cultures, particularly American culture, which is not adapted for our social and economic condition.  The issues we must resolve about about shared values, a common vision around which to rally and a common project for which to sacrifice.  These issues are particularly significant for our economic elites because they hold so much influence over the political class who in turn affect everything and everyone else.  

Transformation

The elections are an imperfect entry point for a debate of such magnitude and significance for our nation because they –elections— are essentially about conflicts and highlighting differences in order to rally one’s tribe.  It is a winner take all endeavor of my side against your side.  That is the way of politics worldwide and more so in Haiti because of the scarcity of resources and the paucity of opportunities.  Indeed, for many of the actors, politic is purely about economic survival.  It is not about the ideals of service and public policy but instead it is about being on the side of power to ensure access and opportunity. 

After reading, analyzing and thinking about the state of our nation, I approach any political discussion with some observable hypotheses.  First, there is no glue or common project or broad vision that binds us together.  Strong societies are built through the active participation of their citizens and today the majority of the population is invisible and excluded.  Beyond the projects, a nation needs to have a sort of spiritual and cultural glue and more importantly, shared values. 

We, Haitians, hold nothing dear or sacred.  There exists no glue or link between the ruled and the rulers. The elite lives glass houses; what's left of the middle class is running from its roots and attempting to maintain what little it has.  The poor is disregarded.  We all walk past each other as strangers in a dark and clouded night where even life holds little value.  Second, the state is weak therefore its governance inevitably leads to systemic corruption, which erodes confidence and further weakens the state’s authority.  The evils of corruption and impunity rob all of us of our humanity and worst, of our dignity.  Third, the Haitian citizen does not know his role (rights and responsibility) nor does he have any structural mean to engage with or keep a check on the power of the state.

These three issues are not the whole of Haiti’s complicated and complex socio-political and economic problems.  However, they are fundamental and must be resolved before Haiti can get on the right path.  The question then is how to tackle these challenges.  In the current context the cancellation of the current charade masked as elections can serve to spark the overdue national dialogue.  Indeed, I believe that Anglade’s words ring truer today than they did 20 more years ago. 

The current crisis of thinking, in which dozens of contributors have participated since the 1970s, is a result of a coalition of local interests which has ferociously opposed recognizing the fact that Haiti is a country of peasants. Their project is to build a country for the five percent capable of participating in the international market. Nothing is said of the other ninety-five percent of Haitians. This policy will immediately lead to instability and waves of migration.

The idea that we could simply have elections and then build on what currently exists without a re-appropriation of what makes us Haitian, is like knowingly building a house on a compromised foundation.  The house will be unstable and inevitably crumble.  Those who argue that the elections must go on may win the day but we will find ourselves in a worst place five years from now.  Instead, I believe firmly that we need a national movement that both captures the ideal of the nation and inform the formal structures of the state.  This process would offer an opportunity for Haitians to tackle the fundamental questions about our identity and exorcise the demons that have been haunting us since our founding.

Under “normal” circumstances, Haitians should have been able to call upon their political and economic elites to play a leadership role in helping to navigate this national conversation.  However, today’s political actors are mostly corrupted by an economic elite that has no real tie to the people and by extension the nation and its future.  Therefore, the task falls on the remaining middle class which includes the small sliver of an intellectual elite as well the small minority of professionals who have nowhere to go and everything to lose.

Conclusion

Our social fabric is in shred and I believe foremost in the need to weave it back together.  Our people have nothing in common except for poverty, which breeds extreme individualism.  There isn’t a shared vision or a common project around which to mobilize our citizens. 

The international community has failed in Haiti but we, Haitians, are paying the price.  We have been forced into a process for which we are not ready.  The current elections are not about democracy as much as they are a validation of an occupation that has cost nearly $9 billion dollars and thousands of Haitian lives lost to the cholera epidemic brought by UN soldiers.

While a lot of energy is being spent and ink spilled on finalizing the elections, I believe that this energy would be better spent building a new foundation for Haitian society.  I believe it is past the time for us to stop, take stock of where we are as a nation and hold a dialogue on who, what and where we want to be as a people.  Given the competitive nature of elections, they are not the ideal vehicle to engage the nation in a dialogue.  However, by cancelling them, we would have an opportunity to engage in deeper reflections on our future. 

I believe that this conversation and reflection has to be a search for a new cultural aesthetic—a new Haitian for a new Haiti.  It is also a struggle against the deviations of the ruling class —Western or local.   To that end, we need to question and rethink the very core of how our society is organized with a reaffirmation of the concept of justice – social, political and economic.  We need to change the perception of the state from one of extraction to service.   The middle class and remaining intellectual elite must take its rightful leadership role in steering the nation in a dialogue that will results in a new vision, a shared project and common purpose.