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Film reveals Haiti's shocking past, present

Failing Haiti, written and narrated by St. Petersburg Times Latin America correspondent David Adams, will be shown at 7:30 tonight at Eckerd College, Miller Auditorium, 4200 54th Ave. S, St. Petersburg. 727 867-1166. Free. It will air at 10 p.m. Feb. 28 on WEDU-Ch. 3. On the Web: www.failinghaiti.com

By BERNARD DIEDERICH
Published February 17, 2006

Failing Haiti, written and narrated by St. Petersburg Times Latin America correspondent David Adams, is not an easy film to watch. But that is only because it is true to life in Haiti today.

It is a terrifying portrait, but not one saddled by bias, exaggeration or sensationalism. It shocks, but Haiti today is shocking. What this film shows is that a rapacious tyranny can be so devastating that the evil that is done lives on long after.

In 1987, after 28 years of dictatorship under the Duvaliers, Haitians faced a historic challenge: the creation of a just society for all, not just for a small rich minority. The opportunity was theirs and the task enormous.

It was not to be. The Duvalier military and the state terrorism apparatus fought to hold the power and literally killed the first free elections in 1987.

Finally a young Roman Catholic priest, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, with no knowledge of politics and only a thirst for power, won the minds and hearts of the poor who sought revenge from their tormentors.

The majority of poor Haitians distrust politicians. Aristide was a prophet, not a politician. But as Failing Haiti amply demonstrates, Aristide lost his halo when he became a politician.

His use of violence was in the style of Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier. It was as if he saw in Duvalier a role model. Aristide was no unifier, and the list of victims during his period in power is a long one, as this film shows.

The damage wrought by the decades of misrule is not easily assessed. Failing Haiti does a fine job weaving the viewer through the sad chronicle of events leading up to Aristide's violent ouster in February 2004.

Besides Aristide's failings, the role of the United States comes under close scrutiny. U.S. self-interest has always propelled its policy toward Haiti. Its military occupation from 1915 to 1934 not only treated Haitians as culturally inferior but denied them the political liberties they needed to build democratic institutions.

Failing Haiti uses black-and-white U.S. propaganda footage from the time to show that some material progress was made. But a military occupation led by an autocratic general did little to enlighten an occupied people.

Those Marines shown in the film remind any student of Haiti that, as Marine Gen. Smedley D. Butler wrote, the Marines had landed in Haiti as bill collectors for the National City Bank of New York.

For most Haitians, these have been lost years, years of neglect that the wretchedly poor majority cannot afford. The gap between rich and poor, educated and uneducated, has grown wider. Erosion of the remaining arable land has gone unchecked and, in fact, accelerated.

Just as devastating is the erosion of human morals that has warped mentalities and sapped Haitians' sense of self-reliance. Failing Haiti points out how, for much of these years, the international community sat on the sidelines or intervened too meekly when it could have made a difference.

Haiti is on the track to self-destruction brought on by a combination of factors, but most pitiful is that the educated are so distant from the people. Rich and poor have no idea how to communicate with each other. They should all be forced to sit down and watch this film.

Bernard Diederich is the author of "Papa Doc and the Tonton Macoutes."

[Last modified February 17, 2006, 02:15:35]