A-Infos (en) Ireland, Anarchist Workers Solidarity #117 - A New Beginning for Haiti?

The earthquake that devastated Haiti and shook the world could have heralded a new start 
for the perpetually impoverished Caribbean nation. But the reconstruction plans have made 
it clear that local and global elites wish to continue the policies that lie behind 
Haiti’s history of violence and deprivation. ---- Much of the country’s political powers 
have shifted to the Interim Reconstruction Commission, an unelected and foreign-dominated 
body that will oversee the deployment of relief and reconstruction aid, that grassroots 
organisations fear will become a de facto government. The reconstruction plans focus on 
capitalising on Haiti’s primary ‘comparative advantage’ of abundant cheap labour, i.e. 
high unemployment. Capitalising on this means the expansion of the garment and assembly 
factories in the export zones of Port-au-Prince and Gonaives. This is simply the 
reinvigoration of the standard American policy line for the island’s economy.

The Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE) Acts of 2006 
and 2008 established tariff-free trade between Haiti and the United States. Touted, pre- 
and post-quake, as a continued basis for economic recovery, the preferential agreement 
most benefits major US corporations, such as Levi’s and Disney, which subcontract out 
their assembly work to Haitian factory owners. The profits primarily go back to the United 
States, while the big brands are able to wash their hands of the conditions in their 
factories. It’s standard sweatshop practice.

The labourers are paid ‘starvation wages’, with most earning around three dollars a day. 
Conditions are poor and there are many complaints of sexual abuse of the female workforce. 
In a country with some nominal labour rights, but no government interest in the issue, 
employers are free to dismiss rebellious workers at will. Demonstrations, strikes and an 
act of parliament called for a raise in the national minimum wage last year, but President 
Rene Preval imposed an exception on the garment industry. The comparative advantage prevails.
The HOPE acts are themselves to be born again, with bipartisan legislation in the US 
Congress aiming to extend their terms until 2020. But free trade cuts both ways. The HOPE 
Acts also severely restrict the ability of the Haitian government to restrict or control 
US imports via tariffs, taxation or price control. This is crucial for the continued 
existence of the apparel sector as a ‘maquiladora’, or assembly industry, where the raw 
materials are sourced in the US, brought into Haiti, manufactured into finished items, and 
then returned to America for sale.
It’s also a notable limitation considering the massive outflows of cheap rice from 
subsidised US farmers that continue to undercut Haitian farmers. Cheap labour is not 
naturally occurring; this ‘dumping’ of subsidised American imports devastated local 
production and eventually drove costs up. The food riots of 2008, which resulted in scores 
of people being shot and killed by UN peacekeepers, were a direct result of the 
vulnerability of Haiti to shifts in global food prices.

Migration from rural areas, the overcrowding of urban centers and the pauperisation of the 
population; the devastation caused by the earthquake is in large part a result of the 
destruction of Haitian agriculture. And while Bill Clinton expressed regret for his part 
in the damage done by his policies at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last March, 
there is little sign of any policy rethink.

Pre-quake, there were 25,000 Haitians employed in the garment industry, a quarter of what 
were employed a decade ago. Now, with rising fuel costs driving Chinese export prices 
upwards, returning Haitian garment production to the pre-embargo peak, as outlined in the 
Recovery Plan, will secure continued access to cheap garment production for major North 
American corporations.

Haitians aren’t just victims though. Their history of violence and poverty is also one of 
great struggle and resistance. The country’s reconstruction could follow an alternative 
path; with an increased role for popular organisations and unions. This isn’t the path 
that international or local elites want, and it won’t happen without struggle.

Now that the most immediate emergency is over, those of us outside of Haiti who genuinely 
wish for a new beginning, should support the organisations that can empower the 
impoverished to improve their lives. Organisations such as Batay Ouvriye, which organises 
garment workers in the free trade zones, fighting for a living wage and for dignified 
working conditions.

Source: Newspaper
Topics: Economy
Type: Analysis
Geography: International
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