Demonizing Democr acy - COAT

3November 2008 (Issue # 63) Press for Conversion!

By Richard Sanders, editor,Press for Conversion!

When it comes to poli-tics in Haiti, religionis often the unspo-

ken elephant in the room.Understanding the

pivotal role—for both “good”and “evil”—played by reli-gious institutions in the strug-gle for political power in Haiti,can help to explain much aboutthe slavery, dictatorships,propaganda and betrayals thathave all-too-often character-ised this country’s tormentedhistory.

Revolution!To begin with, Vodoun is cred-ited or blamed—depending onone’s religious and politicalworldviews—for playing a ma-jor part in the overthrow ofFrance’s colonial regime inHaiti. In 1791, when slavesgathered to organize anotheruprising, they performed aVodoun ritual and

“sealed a sacred pact,swearing to die rather thanlive under the misery of theslave system. ... [A] weeklater, a slave rebellion began,quickly spreading acrossthe whole colony. The rebellion be-came a revolution, and, over thecourse of twelve years,...half a mil-lion black slaves fought and defeatedthe armies of France, Spain and Brit-ain. Slavery was abolished, and, in1804, Haiti became the world’s firstblack republic.”1

This proud Haitian history isseen rather differently by some Chris-tians, like Reverend Tom Barrett, theAmerican editor and publisher of Con-servative Truth. Within two weeks ofthe 2004 coup that violently and ille-gally deposed President Jean-BertrandAristide on the bicentennial of Haiti’sfounding, Barrett used his fundamen-talism to desecrate Haiti’s heritage,demonize its most widespread and be-

Origins of the ConflictBarrett’s bigoted ethnocentrism is noth-ing new. It belies a religious conflictwith deep roots that are gnarled to-gether through the five centuries sinceEuropean crusaders brought genocide,slavery and Christianity to the NewWorld. Their first point of contact withAmerica was Hispanola, the island onwhich Haiti is now the western portion.

Sponsored by the Catholicmonarchs of Spain, ChristopherColumbus and his conquistadores “dis-covered” Haiti in 1492. The island wassoon a source of gold and slaves forEurope and as his journal notes:

“From here one might send, in thename of the Holy Trinity, as manyslaves as could be sold.... [I]t ap-pears that we could sell four thou-sand slaves, who might be worthtwenty million and more.”3

Because Catholic law forbadethe enslavement of Christians,Columbus would not allow the baptismof native people.4 Three decades later,with the brutal annihilation of the is-land’s entire aboriginal population, its

Demonizing Democracy:Christianity vs. Vodoun, and the Politics of Religion in Haiti

This replica ofa sword fromthe 1492 fleetof ChristopherColumbus isemblazoned

with aChristian cross.

loved religion, and to sanctify thevicious regime change that had justrobbed Haitians of their duly-elected government:

“[T]he nation of Haiti was dedi-cated to Satan 200 years ago. OnAugust 14, 1791, a group ofhoungans [Vodoun priests]...made a pact with the Devil....They sacrificed a black pig in avoodoo ritual [and]....asked Sa-tan for his help in liberating Haitifrom the French. In exchange, thevoodoo priests offered to givethe country to Satan for 200years and swore to serve him. OnJanuary 1, 1804, the nation ofHaiti was born and thus began anew demonic tyranny.”2

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“Until Haiti struck for freedom,the conscience of the Christianworld slept profoundly overslavery. It was scarcely troubledeven by a dream of this crimeagainst justice and liberty.”Frederick Douglass, 1893.(Abolitionist and statesman)

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4 Press for Conversion! (Issue # 63) November 2008

“P“P“P“P“Papa Doc” and “Babapa Doc” and “Babapa Doc” and “Babapa Doc” and “Babapa Doc” and “Baby Doc”y Doc”y Doc”y Doc”y Doc”“God and the people are the source of my power. I have twicebeen given the power. I have taken it, and damn it, I will keep it.”DictDictDictDictDictatatatatator For For For For Frrrrrançois “Pançois “Pançois “Pançois “Pançois “Papa Doc” Duvapa Doc” Duvapa Doc” Duvapa Doc” Duvapa Doc” Duvalier (1957-197alier (1957-197alier (1957-197alier (1957-197alier (1957-1971)1)1)1)1)

“Papa Doc” pretended to be a Vodoun spirit and was supportedby the Catholic hierarchy in Haiti and Rome. His son, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc,” was “President for Life” (1971-1986).

Christian conquerors began importingshipments of African slaves to Haiti.Thus began the horror-filled history ofthe infamous transatlantic slave trade.

French settlers started occupy-ing the island in 1625 and Spain waseventually forced to cede Haiti to Francein 1697. Because French colonists knewthat Vodoun was a “focus of resistanceto and a rejection of Christian, whitesupremacy,” they “tried, without suc-cess, to stamp it out.”5 France enforcedits Code Noire laws stipulating that “Allslaves in our Islands will be baptizedand instructed in the Catholic, Apos-tolic and Roman religion” and that

“We forbid any public exercise of anyreligion other than the Catholic, Ap-ostolic and Roman; we wish that theoffenders be punished as rebels anddisobedient to our orders.”6

The RevolutionBetrays Vodoun

After Haiti’s revolution, the colony’sall-white Catholic clergy—who had al-ways been sent from Europe—wenthome and the Vatican cut all relationswith the new republic.7 During “theSchism,” the U.S., Britain, France andother world powers placed an economicembargo on Haiti. And, Vodoun facedrepression from Haiti’s elite which treat-ed it as a pariah religion. It wasn’t longbefore the laws of independent Haitiexpressly banned Vodoun practice.This was the case from 1835 until 1987.8

After its slave-led revolution,Haiti’s more prosperous classes still

“sided with French culture. From thecolonial period on the Haitian mu-latto and black bourgeoisie haveembraced the Catholic religion, Eu-ropean culture, French language andWestern ways.”9

But, while Haiti’s elite still“looked to France and to Catholicismfor its cultural and religious identity,...the majority of the population, liv-ing as peasant farmers..., developeda way of life and a system of beliefsdrawing on African traditions.”10

In 1860, the Vatican restored re-lations with the Haitian state and Ca-tholicism was decreed as Haiti’s offi-cial state religion. With the signing ofthis concordat, “the Church began along on-again, off-again campaignagainst Voodoo.”11

Anti-Vodoun PogromsThese periodic campaigns to uprootand “cleanse” Haitian society of itsAfrican religious heritage were geno-cidal cultural pogroms, involving hor-rible acts of cruelty perpetuated againstVodoun practitioners. One particularlyvicious period occurred during the di-rect military occupation of Haiti by theU.S. Marines (1915-1934). At that time,the Americans, “with the support of theFrench Catholic clergy,” attempted “toeradicate the practice of Vodou.”12

Eventually, this history of per-

secution “culminating in an all out war”called the “anti-superstition cam-paign.”’13 This drive against Vodounreached a frenzied peak between 1939and 1942.14 Colluding with Haitian au-thorities, the Catholic Church targetedVodoun priests as “the principal slaveof Satan.”15 One French missionarywho “enthusiastically welcomed” thiseffort was Roger Riou, whose autobi-ography describes how he led groupsof vigilantes who demolished sacredVodoun symbols and places of worship.Riou was among those who also igno-

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rantly blamed Vodoun for “Haitian pov-erty and underdevelopment.”16

This Catholic crusade was to“‘cleanse’ the country of ‘abomina-tions’ and ‘superstitions,’... destroyvodou temples; burn cult icons,drums and sacred objects; and im-prison recalcitrant Vodou priests andpriestesses... [E]very Catholic wasenjoined to take an ‘oath of rejec-tion’ and to publically repudiatevodou practices as satanic.”17

In the process of waging this“all out physical, holy war,” Vodounleaders were jailed, beaten, “some saykilled,”18 and

“[t]housands of pre-Columbian arti-facts kept in the hounfò [Vodoun tem-ples] were either destroyed orshipped to [museums in] France.”19

Christ’s “Chosen One”plays the Devil

It was not long before Dr. François“Papa Doc” Duvalier entered the scene,declaring himself “President for Life.”Adept in the use of religious symbol-ism, he even “instigated a graffiti cam-paign which baldly claimed that ‘Du-valier is a god.’”20

During his brutal dictatorship(1957-1971), “Papa Doc” cunningly ma-nipulated popular Vodoun beliefs totighten his grip on power. Tapping intodeeply-seated Haitian fears by “exploit-ing his knowledge of Vodou,” he “de-liberately emulated Bawon Samdi,”21

the Vodoun Spirit of the Dead:22

“With his black clothes, top hat andother-worldly aura, he aped the styleof Baron Samedi, a particularly ma-levolent voodoo deity.... Image be-came reality, as the fact that PapaDoc resembled this spirit edged intothe conviction that he was actuallya god in human form.”23

Besides employing Vodounsymbols to create a climate of fear,24

Duvalier used gestapo-like deathsquads to terrorize his opponents.Soaked in Vodoun imagery, these Ton-tons Macoutes were named after a Hai-tian bogey man that punished children.

But Duvalier also cleverly drewheavily upon Christian traditions aswell. For instance, the regime’s

“most famous propaganda imageshows a standing Jesus Christ withhis right hand on a seated Papa

Doc’s shoulder with the caption ‘Ihave chosen him.’”25

Despite his open pretence at be-ing a Vodoun spirit, most of Haiti’sCatholic elite avidly supported Duval-ier’s reign of terror. As Aristide wrote:

“In the 29 years of the Duvalier fam-ily dictatorship,...bishops and Ma-coutes walked arm in arm, defend-ing the same causes, but using a dif-ferent vocabulary to mask their col-lusion for the benefit of the oligar-chy.”26

Not mincing his words, Aristideidentified Duvalierists within theChurch hierarchy, like ArchbishopFrancois-Wolff Ligonde, who he called“a zealous servant of Macoutism.”27 Forexample, in 1980, Ligonde happily pre-

sided at the opulent Catholic weddingof Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier.28

In 1986, Duvalier Jr. was finallydriven out of Haiti with the help ofVodoun adherents and progressiveCatholics alike. Although in the follow-ing year a new Haitian constitutionstripped away much of Catholicism’sstatus as the country’s official faith, theChurch retained “its traditional primacyamong the country’s religions.”29

New Threats:Communism, Liberation

Theology and DemocracyAmong the Catholics who helped ridHaiti of the Duvaliers, was FatherAristide from the “Popular Church”known as Ti -légliz.30 This widespreadgrassroots movement, inspired by LatinAmerican liberation theology, melded“the teachings of Christ with inspiringthe poor to organize and resist their

oppression.”31 This “Little Church”movement was equally threatening towealthy, foreign-backed political eliteand the Catholic establishment thatwent on to promote Duvalierism with-out Duvalier. On the day after “BabyDoc” finally fled, Haiti’s BishopFrançois Gayot warned in a mass that“From now on, the danger we have towatch out for is communism.’”32

Many in Haiti’s elite sawAristide as a communist threat and hewas also denounced with that label bythe U.S. government.33 Undeterred,Aristide continued to point the fingerat “the major centers of power in Haitiincluding the President, military, judici-ary, elites and Church hierarchy, andbeyond, to the United States.”34

This behaviourwas far too radicalfor the Catholic hi-erarchy and in1988, Aristide re-ceived a “writtenwarning not totake part in poli-tics” from “theVatican, the Sale-sian Order, the Pa-pal Nuncio [thePope’s representa-tive in Haiti]..., andthe CHB [Confer-ence of HaitianBishops].”35 Aris-

tide’s Salesian order soon clampeddown with a decree accusing him of “in-citement to hatred and violence, and aglorifying of class struggle.”36

Despite this, Haitians empow-ered Aristide in the undisputed land-slide victory of 1990 when he becameHaiti’s first fairly-elected president. Thisled the Duvalierist Archbishop Ligondéto warn from the pulpit of Port-au-Prince’s cathedral that Haiti could soonbecome “an authoritarian police re-gime.” He asked: “Is a Socialist Bolshe-vism going to triumph?”37 The right-wing American Heritage Foundationwas also outraged, saying Aristide“may be steering Haiti toward a com-munist dictatorship.”38

With liberation theology thus“elevated to public policy,” Aristidefaced an array of “powerful forces inHaiti, including the Catholic hierarchy,the military and the elites.”39 Political

“Baron Samedi, in his top hat and tails, whohaunts the cemeteries smoking a cigar andwearing dark glasses, spends his days, so

some believe, in the Presidential Palace, and hisother name is Dr. Duvalier.’’ Graham Greene

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powers in Washington and the CIA’scovert forces based in Langley, Virginia,were also in league with these rabidlyantiAristide forces:

“When asked why the CIA mighthave sought to oppose Aristide, asenior official with the Senate Intel-ligence Committee stated that ‘Lib-eration theology proponents are nottoo popular at the agency. Maybesecond only to the Vatican for notliking liberation theology are the peo-ple at Langley.’”40

Exorcising Haiti, Twice:Two Anti-Aristide Coups

Not surprisingly, Haiti’s fledgling de-mocracy did not last. Within months,Aristide was overthrown in a CIA-backed coup that killed thousands.Haiti’s junta was so vicious and so bla-tantly undemocratic that only one statein the whole global community gave itdiplomatic support. It was not the U.S.,but the Vatican that “became the onlystate to recognize the military regime.”41

And, Church authorities in Rome

“never spoke out against the dictator-ship nor called for the return of Presi-dent Aristide.”42 In fact, when a wide-spread international movement de-manded the rightful president’s returnto power, the idea was opposed out-right by Haiti’s eleven bishops. Theyopenly stated that any U.S. interven-tion to restore Aristide would be “scan-dalous and immoral” and “makes ustremble with indignation.” So, not onlyhad the Catholic “hierarchy...tried toprevent Father Aristide from running

By Richard Sanders

When summarizing the reli-gious beliefs of Haiti, manyarticles, books and ency-

clopedic references begin with blanketstatements that 80% of the populationis Catholic, though how this statisticwas derived is unexplained. Then, weare told that the remaining 20% arelargely Protestants. Finally, as an after-thought, a caveat is sometimes thrownin to say that many Haitians still be-lieve in “Voodoo.”

A prime example of this por-trayal of Haiti as Catholic is the U.S.State Department’s Report on Interna-tional Religious Freedom. It explainsthat “approximately 80 percent of [Hai-ti’s] citizens are Roman Catholic. Mostof the remainder belong to a variety ofProtestant denominations.”1 Then, af-ter listing “Methodists, Episcopalians,Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mor-mons), Adventists and Orthodox,”which together form a tiny minority ofHaiti’s population, the document refersto an even smaller fractions, namely“nondenominational Christian congre-gations” and “non-Christian groups...including Jews, Muslims, Rastafariansand Baha’is.” Only then does this U.S.government report on religious discrimi-nation finally get around to mention-ing “Voodoo.” This, it says, “ispracticed alongside Christianity by alarge segment of the population.”2

It would however be far moreaccurate to turn this whole orthodoxyon its head and to say that “Vodoun isthe popular system of belief and thereligious practice of the overwhelmingmajority of the population of Haiti.”3

Vodoun melds vari-ous spiritual beliefs broughtto Haiti by enslaved Africanancestors. Their monotheis-tic religion was suppressedand made illegal by Haiti’sSpanish and French colonialregimes. The Christian slavemasters who formed Haiti’selite did their best to deni-grate and destroy Vodoun.Faced with intense culturalrepression, Vodoun practi-tioners were forced to protect their be-lief system by disguising it behind afacade of Catholic symbols. While ap-pearing on the surface to be Christians,Vodoun believers kept themselves andtheir faith alive by learning “to concealtheir practice... behind the veil of Ca-tholicism.”4

Falsely equated with savage su-perstitions, “black magic,” Satanism,zombis and human sacrifice, Vodoun isone of the world’s least understood andmost maligned religious traditions. Theterm “voodoo” is even used as an ad-jective for “highly improbable suppo-sitions,”5 as exemplified by the “de-rogatory term[s]” “voodoo economics”and “voodoo science.”6

In reality, Vodoun has been apowerful unifying force in Haitian his-tory, particularly in the hard-foughtstruggle for freedom from slavery andindependence from European colonialdomination. That struggle continues tothis day. Vodoun is still seen as a threatto the status quo in which Haiti’s im-poverished majority are held captive bydictates from the World Bank, theIntenational Monetary Fund and out-right foreign military occupation.

So powerful are the negative

stereotypes of Vodoun, that some maybe surprised to learn of its progressivestands on religious tolerance, feminism,the key role of women as religious lead-ers, the right to use contraceptives, andequality for gays and lesbians.

Vodoun believers are also majorproponents of the extremely radical ideathat once a popular government is em-powered in landslide elections by acountry’s impoverished masses, itshould not be overthrown in coups leadby wealthy domestic or foreign elites.

References1. International Religious Freedom Report

2003. Bureau of Democracy, HumanRights & Labor, U.S. State Department.www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2003/24496.htm

2. Ibid.3. What is Vodou?

www.vodou.org/whatis.htm4. Leslie Desmangles, The Faces of the

Gods: Vodou and Roman Catholicismin Haiti, 1992. Cited by Dar Shvueli,“The Integration of Roman Catholicisminto Vodou in Haiti,” May 2000.saxakali.com/caribbean/Dar%20Shvueli.h tm

5. Voodoo, Merriam -Webster Dictionarywww.merriam-webster.com

6. Voodoo, Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo

What is Vodoun?

Vodoun Vèvè (symbol) for Bawon Samdi


for office,” and then “condemned hispresidency before he was even swornin,” they also “supported the militaryleaders who overthrew him and op-posed American efforts to restore himto power.”43

Despite opposition from Haiti’sCatholic bishops, President Bill Clintondid empower U.S. Marines to return thediminutive priest to power in 1994. How-ever, this was only after Aristide hadagreed to implement some of the busi-ness-friendly dictates of the WorldBank and the International MonetaryFund. While in Haiti, the U.S. militarydid not even try to disarm the elite-backed death squads. However, theydid seize 160,000 secret documents fromoffices of the death squad and militaryrulers that were the American govern-ment’s close allies in Haiti. By stealingand withholding these records detail-ing decades of state-sponsored vio-lence in Haiti, the U.S. thwarted effortsby Aristide’s government to bring theseAmerican-backed terrorists to justice.44

Over the following years, beforethe next coup against them in 2004,Aristide and his Lavalas party govern-ment managed to champion manycauses on behalf of Haiti’s impover-ished majority. One of the actions thatparticularly upset Haiti’s Catholic elite,was Aristide’s willingness to invokethe obvious truth that Vodoun is an“ancestral religion” and “an essentialpart of national identity.”45 But his gov-ernment’s offence was thought to havegone even farther when it gave officialrecognition to Vodoun as a legitimatereligion. The Catholic hierarchy “re-acted with alarm” that Vodoun practi-tioners would be legally allowed to per-form baptisms and marriages.46 Thebishop of Port-au-Prince, Msgr. JosephLafontant condemned the policy as“excessive,” calling it “an obvious mis-take.”47 Other Christians have been farless diplomatic.

Demonizing theDiminutive Priest

Rev. Doug Anderson, an Americanraised by a missionary family in Haiti—who was himself a missionary thereuntil 1990—responded that “Haiti is theonly country in the entire world thathas dedicated its government to Satan.”And, Rev. Tom Barrett proclaimed that

Haiti’s leaders “make no attempt to hidetheir allegiance to Satan,” it is “a gov-ernment of the devil, by the devil, andfor the devil.”48

Christian efforts to literallydemonize the Haitian masses, theiruniquely syncretized African religionand their choice of government are ofcourse patently ridiculous. However,these slurs are potent linguistic weap-ons in the arsenal against Haitian de-mocracy and Vodoun. And, such at-tacks are not restricted to religious fa-natics in the U.S., they have also beenwielded by their Haitian allies.

Just before the coup in 2004,when U.S.-backed former military, po-lice and death squad members were ter-

rorising the country,“rebel leader Guy Philippe accusedAristide of sacrificing children in avoodoo ceremony—a fabricationpresented as fact on some privateradio stations.”49

Playing to the farcical prejudicesthat permeate the Haitian elite’s viewof both Vodoun and Aristide,

“Philippe told a mob of his support-ers he had discovered small coffinswhich contained dead babies. Hesaid President Aristide had sacrificedthe babies in a ‘black voodoo cer-emony.’ Haitian radio [owned by thecounty’s corporate elite] reportedthe story as a fact.”50

This “slum”—home to some 600,000 of the western hemisphere’s poorest people—is overwhelming pro-Aristide. So, whenthe G184 arrived in their convoy of cars and buses to rally for Aristide’s immediate demise, some of the residents who“welcomed” them threw stones. This predictable climax to the G184’s deliberately provocative protest stunt was hosted by

(For more on this provocative G184 event, see pp. X-Y.)

Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide (“Titid”), a priest who was twiceelected as Haiti’s President, was forced out in two coups

supported by the Catholic hierarchy in Haiti and Rome. He isportrayed here as Damballah, the chief of Vodoun spirits—

a primordial serpent deity who created the world and the gods.

“Damballah Titid”“Damballah Titid”“Damballah Titid”“Damballah Titid”“Damballah Titid”

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Witch hunt by theEnemies of Democracy

When Aristide and thousands in Hai-ti’s popular government were then ille-gally removed from power, the elite’soutrageous propaganda was actuallytaken seriously by the coup-empow-ered regime. The de facto government’sCIDA-funded “Department of Justice”even used these outrageous rumoursto arrest and illegally imprison promi-nent supporters of Aristide’s Lavalasgovernment. In mid-2004, a U.S. humanrights delegation to Haiti reported that:

“Members of Fanmi Lavalas havebeen using the word witch-huntto describe the ongoing repres-sion of Lavalas.... We wereshocked to find that this termcan be taken literally. While wewere in Haiti, a wild story wasbeing circulated by the mediaand Haitian authorities. Itclaimed that a baby was sacri-ficed during a ceremony at-tended by many members ofLavalas in the year 2000. Whilewe initially took this to be atthe level of tabloid sensation-alism, it became clear that thisludicrous charge is being pur-sued by the current de facto au-thorities.

“On three occasions indi-viduals have gone on NationalTelevision, reportedly at the be-hest of the Minister of Justice,to describe their participationat this so-called ceremony. De-spite the fact that the storiestold by these individuals are noteven consistent,... Haitian au-thorities are using these out ofcourt, unverified statements asthe basis for issuing arrest war-rants for Lavalas officials.These charges are also the jus-tification for continuing to hold[prominent Lavalas activist and com-munity leader] Annette Auguste.”51

Two particularly virulent en-emies of Haitian democracy who havepushed these absurd, religious smearcampaigns are Yves A.Isidor, a profes-sor of Economics at the University ofMassachusetts-Dartmouth, and Ray-mond Joseph a former Wall Street Jour-nal financial reporter who became the2004 coup-regime’s ambassador in

Washington. Isidor, who accused Ms.Auguste of being Aristide’s “voodoomedium,” said she bathed him in hu-man blood to place a curse GeorgeW.Bush and to ensure the election ofAl Gore in 2000. Isidor’s grotesquestory was later embellished by Josephwho said that as part of their Vodounritual, a newborn baby was crushedwith a heavy pestle in a giant mortar.52

The most well-connected figurewho aided and abetted this particularpsychological warfare campaign isStanley Lucas, director of the right-wing Washington Democracy Project’s

program on Latin America and the Car-ibbean. In 2007, this long-time Haitianrepresentative of the U.S. government-funded International Republican Insti-tute, disseminated extravagantly de-tailed slander regarding the allegedVodoun infanticide that was suppos-edly engaged in by President Aristideand his closest political allies.53

To establish his credentials andlend credibility to these outrageouslies, Lucas’ website displayed dozens

of photographs of himself posing withbusiness executives, Premier JeanCharest, U.S.-backed heads of state,Afghan “tribal leaders,” U.S. senators,congressmen, ambassadors, threeformer U.S. Secretaries of State, a formerNational Security Advisor, a former CIAdirector, and other such so-called“friends” of Haiti.54

184 Ways toDestabilize Haiti

The source relied upon by Lucas forhis fable, called “Aristide and theBaby,” was a lengthy 2004 interview on

Vision 2000, one of Haiti’s right-wing radio stations. Vision 2000 isowned by Reginald Boulos—president of Haiti’s Chamber ofCommerce and Industry, is a mul-timillionaire of middle eastern her-itage who helped lead Haiti’s mostpowerful anti-Aristide alliance—the Group of 184 (G184). TheG184’s efforts to destabilizeAristide’s government took manyforms but their biggest and mostwidely-publicised protest cam-paign was the so-called “Caravanof Hope.” This marathon anti-Aristide drive to promote theirCIDA-funded “social contract,”culminated in a highly provocativeincident staged at the CatholicChurch’s meeting centre in CitéSoleil, one of the poorest areas ofPort-au-Prince.55

Many of Haiti’s Catholic bish-ops publicly called for Aristide’sresignation after the so-called“Black Friday” incident in late2003, when Aristide supporterswere falsely blamed for initiating aviolent confrontation at the uni-versity. (See pp.21-23.)

The CIA’s World Factbook pro-vided a list of Haiti’s main “Politi-

cal pressure groups.” This CIA list ofmajor groups that had opposedAristide’s widely-popular government,predictably included the G184, the “Ro-man Catholic Church” and the “Protes-tant Federation of Haiti.”56

During the lead up to the 2004coup, the G184 included numerousmember organizations with obviousChristian affiliations, including:� Christian Foundation for the Social

Development of Destitute Haitians

This 1944 horror film, aka “VirginBrides of Voodoo,” was a pseudo-

documentary about witchcraft,satanism and human sacrifice in Haiti.

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� Christian Youth Action for Rural De-velopment� Christ-King Youth Association� Development Association of God’s

Chosen� Ecumenical Human Rights Center�Mother Theresa Foundation for De-

mocracy� Organization of Young Haitian Chris-

tians� Peace and Justice Commission of the

Catholic Church� Village of God Women’s Association� Youth Association of the Philadelphia

Church of God at the Airport.57

One of these—the EcumenicalHuman Rights Center—is run by Jean-Claude Bajeux, a founder and leader ofthe anti-Aristide, Konakom politicalparty who coined the phrase “Opera-tion Baghdad.” This label was used togreat effect in a major propaganda ef-fort by pro-coup forces to blameLavalas activists for crimes that theydid not commit. (See pp.23-30).

Just before President Aristidewas kidnapped and exiled in February2004, foreign military forces occupiedHaiti. Then—in collusion with the coun-try’s religious, corporate and politicalelite—these foreign powers started anunconstitutional regime change proc-ess. The principal step in this illegaltransition was to create a hand-pickedclique called the “Council of Sages.”This seven-member council was ap-pointed to select a new Prime Ministerto replace the Lavalas Party’s YvonNeptune—who was soon illegally ar-rested (see pp.44-46). The council’sundemocratically appointed Prime Min-ister then chose his Cabinet whichquickly began to dismantle Aristide’sentire legitimate government. Officiallyrepresented on the coup regime’s so-called “Council of Sages,” which un-ravelled Haiti’s democracy, were offi-cial representatives of the RomanCatholic and Anglican Churches.58

Vodoun: Haiti’s Whipping BoyUnlike Haiti’s Catholic and Protestantchurches, the Vodoun religion was notparty to the illegal regime change of2004. Quite the opposite. As the reli-gion of the vast majority of destitutevoters who had legally empoweredAristide through landslide electoralvictories, Vodoun was obviously not

supportive of the unconstitutional coupthat deposed his government.

This contrast exemplifies thedistinct roles that these religions havelong played in Haiti’s agonizing history.As Max-G. Beauvoir, the founder of thePéristyle de Mariani, Vodoun Temple inHaiti, has put it:

“Roman Catholic priests and Prot-estant pastors of the many Christiandenominations have set up the so-cial climate in which the Vodounpopulations of that country had tolive.”59

Beauvoir goes on to explain thatalthough Vodoun is Haiti’s primary reli-gion, it has always been forced into asubservient role “by the imperialist andthe neo-colonialist Nations of the West-ern hemisphere and their financial in-stitutions.”60 This, he says:

“explains more than sufficiently thereason why an atmosphere of intol-erance, of absolutism and of despot-ism has permeated all the politicalstructures resulting in the conditionof endemic underdevelopment whichcharacterizes Haiti today.”61

Vodoun is still widely portrayedas a backwards cult characterised by“black” magic, devil worship and evenhuman sacrifice. As a result of suchsensationalised depictions of Vodounas primitive and evil, this religion’s ad-herents have been subjected to preju-dice not by Haiti’s wealthy elite, but byglobal audiences under the potent spellof Hollywood-inspired mass culture.

What’s more, unjust portrayalsof Haiti’s most prevalent faith have longbeen used not only for religious perse-cution but for political witch hunts aswell. The Vodoun label has thus pro-vided a convenient pretext forscapegoating enemies of the corporateoligarchies that dominate Haiti.

The U.S. government’s StateDepartment report on “religious free-dom” during the 2004 coup period is acase in point. It ignores Haiti’s savageclimate of oppression, and does its bestto whitewash the situation with a heav-ily-cloaked allusion to the intense big-otry and oppression faced by Vodoun’sadherents. It states that “In many waysRoman Catholicism retains a positionof honor” and that “Voodoo continuesto be frowned upon by elite, conserva-tive Catholics and Protestants.”62

Even the most cursory perusalof the role of Christianity in Haiti’s po-litical history amply reveals that thecountry’s elite, and its colonial mastersabroad, have done much more thanmerely “frown upon” Vodoun. The pro-ponents of this African-based religionhave, for centuries, been demonized,enslaved and blamed for a litany ofcrimes. And, Vodoun has been used asan excuse for the political persecutionof those who dare to challenge thestructural violence of Haiti’s status quo.

However, despite being sub-jected to centuries of brutal, near-geno-cidal attacks aimed at eliminating it,Vodoun continues to thrive. It is, with-out doubt, one of the most powerfulunifying forces within Haiti’s rich cul-tural tradition, particularly among thecontinually disenfranchised poor whocompose most of the country’s “civilsociety.”

Ever since Vodoun played a cen-tral role in bringing together Haiti’s en-slaved masses in a successful revolu-tion against colonial oppression, the po-tential has been there for it to restorethe country’s historic role as a leadingglobal force for justice and democracy.This is the key to understanding whyVodoun has long been vilified anddemonized as a dangerous and threat-ening force by the domestic and for-eign elites who hold Haiti’s democracyin such utter contempt.

References1. Charles Arthur, “Reappraising Vodou,”

Haiti Briefing, May 1998.haitisupport.gn.apc.org/28b.html

2. Tom Barrett, “Government of theDevil, by the Devil, and for the Devil,”March 11, 2004.www.americandaily.com/article/95

3. Howard Zinn, Howard Zinn on His-tory, 2001. p.101.b o o k s . g o o g l e . c a / b o o k s ? i d = E 0 h k S

Haiti’s historic role as a lead-ing voice for justice anddemocracy began whenVodoun helped to unify thatcountry’s enslaved masses ina successful revolution againstslavery and colonialism. Sincethen, Vodoun has been de-monized as a dangerous forceby both domestic and foreignelites who hold Haitiandemocracy in utter contempt.


_SYI5AC&pg=PA101&lpg=PA101&dq4. Lisa Abend and Geoff Pingree,

“Christopher Columbus: Man of Mys-tery,” Christian Science Monitor, Oct.17, 2006.w w w. a v e n i r. c o m . m x / a r t i c l e . p h p ?story=20061018082207579

5. Arthur, Op. Cit.6. The Code Noir

www.associatedcontent.com/article/317507/the_code_noir_as_a_french_colony_limited.html

7. Bob Corbett, Selected Voodoo termswww.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/voodoo/terms.htm

8. Kate Ramsey, “Performances of prohi-bition: Law, ‘superstition’ & nationalmodernity in Haiti,” Dissertation Cul-tural Anthropology, Columbia Univ. 2002.digitalcommons.libraries.columbia.edu/dissertations/AAI3048220/

9. Corbett, Op. cit.10. Arthur, Op. cit.11. Corbett, Op. cit.12. History of Haiti

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Haiti13. Corbett, Op. cit.14. Ramsey, Op. cit.15. David Nicholls, From Dessalines to

Duvalier: Race, Colour, and NationalIndependence in Haiti, 1996. p.182.

16. Roger Riou, The Island of My Life: FromPetty Crime to Priestly Mission, 1975,p.145. Cited in Bob Corbett, “The anti-superstition campaign and Roger Riouin Haiti,” October 28, 1996.www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/348.html

17. C.Hurbon, Voodoo - The Search for theSpirit, 1995, p.57. Cited in Brian Mor-ris, Religion and Anthropology: A Criti-cal Introduction, 2006.books.google.ca/books?id=PguGB_uEQh4C&pg=PA193&lpg=PA193&dq=

18. What is Vodou?www.neworleansmistic.com/spells/primer/whatisvodou.htm

19. List of Haitian Presidentswww.opamizik.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=1762&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20

20. David Hawkes, “Voodoo Politics: Tyr-anny and Enlightenment in Haiti andBritain,” Bad Subjects, February 1997.bad.eserver.org/issues/1997/30/hawkes.html

21. Andrew Reding, Democracy and Hu-man Rights in Haiti, 2004www.worldpolicy.org/projects/globalrights/carib/2004-Haiti.pdf

23. Hawkes. Op Cit..24. Reding, Op. cit.25. Ibid.26. Larry Rohter, “Mission to Haiti: Hai-

ti’s Priest-President Faces a HostileCatholic Hierarchy,” New York Times,September 28, 1994.query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E03EED7103AF93BA1575AC0A962958260

27. Ibid.28. Ibid.

29. International Religious Freedom Report2003. Bureau of Democracy, HumanRights & Labor, U.S. State Department.w w w. s t a t e . g o v / g / d r l / r l s / i r f / 2 0 0 3 /24496.htm

30. Ibid.31. William Blum, “Haiti 1986-1994: Who

will rid me of this man?,” Killing Hope,1998.www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/Haiti_KH.html

32. Anne Greene, “Religious Change inHaiti,” LASA Meeting, April 1997.lasa.international.pitt.edu/LASA97/greene.pdf

33. Jean-Bertrand Aristidewww.answers.com/topic/jean-bertrand-aristide

34. Greene, Op. cit.35. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, An Autobiogra-

phy, 1993. p.71. Cited in Greene, Op.cit.

36. Ibid., p.105. Cited in Greene, Op. cit.

37. Rohter, Op.cit.38. Michael Wilson, “Is Haiti Turning Into

Another Cuba?,” Backgrounder Up-date, February 11, 1991.w w w. h e r i t a g e . o rg / R e s e a r c h / L a t i nAmerica/bu155.cfm

39. Greene, Op. cit.40. Blum, Op. cit.41. Greene, Op. cit.42. Ibid.43. Rohter, Op.cit.44. U.S. Government Must Return Seized

Haitian Documents, Human RightsWatch, September 16, 1999.hrw.o rg / eng l i sh /docs /1999 /09 /16 /haiti1641.htm

45. Michael Norton, “Haiti Officially Sanc-tions Voodoo Cult,” St. PetersburgTimes, April 11, 2003.www.sp t imes . ru / index .php?ac t ion_id=2&story_id=9827

46. Origins of Voodoo

www.swagga.com/voodoo.htm47. Carol J.Williams, “Haiti’s blessing for

voodoo,” LA Times, August 4, 2003.www.wwrn.org/article.php?idd=9521&sec=39&con=3

48. Barrett, Op. Cit.49. Carlos Lauría and Jean-Roland Chery,

Taking Sideswww.cpj.org/Briefings/2004/haiti_7_04/haiti_7_04.html

50. Justin Felux, “Debunking the Media’sLies about President Aristide,” March14, 2004.www.oplpeople.com/message/2139.html

51. Laura Flynn, Robert Roth and LeslieFleming, Report of the Haiti Accompa-niment Project, June 29-July 9, 2004.w w w. h a i t i a c t i o n . n e t / N e w s / h a p 6 _29_4.html

52. Haitians Seized, Abused by U.S. Ma-rines, Haiti Information Project report,May 13 2004.www.blackcommentator.com/90/90_

cover_haiti.html53. Haiti: Aristide and the Baby

solu t i o n s h a i t i . b l o g s p o t . c o m /2007_08_22_archive.html

54. Ibid.55. “Dominican General Calls Haiti, with

Destablization Growing, a ‘Threat’”,Häiti Progrès, July 16, 2003.www.haitiprogres.com/2003/sm030716/eng07-16.html

57. Field Listing - Political pressure groupsand leaders, The World Factbook, CIAw w w. u m s l . e d u / s e r v i c e s / g o v d o c s /wofact2005/fields/2115.html

58. “Context Haiti,” Catalyst, Mar. 25, 2004.www.catalyzerjournal.com/cnews/newsid/EplpkukFVlcgnHZCqO.php

59. What is the Temple of Yehwe?www.vodou.org/whatis.htm

60. Ibid.61. Ibid.62. International Religious Freedom Re-

port, Op cit.

“Today, a powerful coali-tion of the world’s poorestnations—lead by Haiti—

launched ‘OperationDisarm the Rogue Beast.’

Saying the U.S. has fortoo long suffered from adeficit in democracy,

Haiti began to deploy anonviolent peacekeeping

force to pacify theworld’s superpariah.”

And now for the nightly news you’ll never hear...


CIDA’s Affinity with Elite and Blindspot for VodounBy Richard Sanders, editor, Press for Conversion!

Among the CIDA-funded Canadian organizationslisted by the government as its “partners” in Haiti,about 70 have websites. Within these sites, there

are hundreds of positive references to the efforts of Chris-tian churches and related religious groups in Haiti. About20 of these Canadian government sponsored “partners” arethemselves explicitly Christian in origin or orientation.

However, no reference whatsoever could be foundon any of these websites that even hints at the controversialrole played by Christian institutions in promoting either slav-ery or the dictatorships that have dominated Haitian history.Christianity is consistently portrayed as having only had apositive influence in helping Haiti’s impoverished masses.

In striking contrast, among the websites of the 70CIDA-funded “NGOs” work-ing in Haiti, only one madeeven passing reference toVodoun. International ChildCare—a “Christian health de-velopment organization”founded in the U.S.—statesthat 80% of Haiti’s populationis Roman Catholic. Second onits list is “Protestant denomi-nations” and then, under that,is a statement saying “Rough-ly one-half of the populationpractices Voodoo.”1

Elsewhere, ICC says:“Catholicism is the primaryreligion for Haitians andDominicans, although peo-ple on both sides of theborder have incorporatedaspects of spirit faiths, likevoodoo and santeria, intotheir Catholic practices.”2

In both of these fleeting ref-erences to Vodoun, the ICCdownplays the importance of Vodoun as Haiti’s primary andmost prevalent religion. However, in describing it as a “spiritfaith” that has in part been “incorporated” into Catholicism,the ICC is at least mentioning Vodoun’s existence! This ismore than can be said for all the other CIDA-funded “NGOs.”The ICC’s brief remarks on Vodoun are the only referencesto Haiti’s African-based religion within any of the 70 websitescreated by Canadian government-financed “NGOs.”

Another CIDA partner working in Haiti is the Prov-ince of Quebec’s Ministry of International Relations (MRI).3

The MRI website states that Catholicism is Haiti’s “domi-nant religion,” while “traditional African rites and Voodooare practised by about half of the population.”4 Like the ICCreference to Vodoun as a “spirit faith” that is merely part ofCatholicism, the MRI’s statement seems to relegate Vodounto a status somewhat less than a real religion.

Haiti’s “Two Solitudes”By examining the websites of CIDA’s Canadian partnersactive in Haiti, it quickly becomes apparent that the Cana-dian government is funding “NGOs” that closely identifywith Haiti’s elite society. Haiti is described by the CaribbeanGroup for Cooperation in Economic Development (CGCED)as a “dual system” that is “in perennial conflict.”5 It notesthat these “two parts of society” are not merely a matter of“social class” but are, in fact, two “parallel” social systems:

“On one side, the peasants, including the largest part ofthe rural immigration towards the capital, with Creole asexclusive language, the voodoo as religion, a tradition ofproperty rights founded on feudal practices, and a socialstructure based on self-sufficiency and enlarged family. “On the other side, the urban citizen, with a more hierar-chical social structure, regulated by the Napoleonic law,

Catholicism as his official religion,and French as his official language.“This bi-polarity has been rarely rec-ognized, especially by the latter half,which considers itself as representingprogress and modernization.... The fol-lowing figures demonstrate this dual-ity: “In 1999 the World Bank esti-mated that 80% of the 2/3 of the popu-lation who live in the countryside arepoor, with 2/3 of this portion being inextreme poverty. Furthermore, 4% ofthe population owns 66% of the totalresources of the country, whereas the70 percent on the other extreme of thescale only dispose of 20% of the in-come.”6 (Emphasis added.) While CIDA and the Canadian

“NGOs” that it mentors, have proventime and again their close affinity withHaiti’s French-speaking, Christian elite—which helped organize and lead opposi-tion to Aristide’s elected government andthen supported the coup-installed dicta-torship—they have equally demon-

strated their blindspot for the popular, grassroots “civil so-ciety” that is Creole-speaking, Vodoun, extremely poor andoverwhelmingly supportive of Aristide.

References1. Haiti. www.intlchildcare.org/haiti.php2. A Short History of the Island of Hispaniola

www.intlchildcare.org/history_short.php3. Canada-Haiti Cooperation, Interim Cooperation Framework,

Result Summary, Annex, List of Canadian Partners active in Haitiwww.acdi-cida.gc.ca/CIDAWEB/acdicida.nsf/En/NIC-6199425-J3U

4. Haiti www.mri.gouv.qc.ca/en/relations_quebec/ameriques/amerique_du _sud/haiti/introduction.asp

5. Challenges of Capacity Development: Towards Sustainable Re-forms of Caribbean Justice Sectorswww.acdi-cida.gc.ca/inet/images.nsf/vLUImages/CapacityDevelopment2/$file/ChallengesCDVolII.pdf

6. Ibid.

CIDA-funded Canadian “NGOs”identify with Haiti’s French-speaking,

Catholic social sector but have ablindspot for the popular, grassroots“civil society” that is Creole-speaking,

Vodoun, extremely poor and over-whelmingly supportive of Aristide.

Neg Mawon,a sculpture byAlbert Mangonesin front of Haiti’sNational Palace,shows an escapedslave signalling tocompatriots withconch shell.


By Richard Sanders, editor, Press forConversion!

Before, during and after Haiti's2004 coup period, severalprominent CIDA-funded agen-

cies in Canada repeatedly cited andpraised one of Haiti's most notoriousanti-Aristide groups, the so-called Na-tional Coalition for Haitian Rights-Haiti (NCHR).

By early 2005, NCHR-Hai-ti's propaganda had become so bla-tantly partisan that it was forcedto change its name and become theNational Network for the Defenseof Human Rights (RNDDH).1 Theydid this after their U.S.-based, par-ent organization became so embar-rassed that it issued a media re-lease to disassociate itself fromNCHR-Haiti.2

BackgroundNumerous independent humanrights organizations also criticisedNCHR-Haiti for being patently biased,untrustworthy and extremely partisan.3

NCHR-Haiti had not only helpeddestabilize Aristide’s legitimatelyelected government by exaggeratingand fabricating stories about supposedhuman rights abuses, it continued itsanti-Aristide efforts throughout the il-legal two-year rule of the coup-empow-ered regime.

Early on during the coup regime,authorities came to an arrangement withNCHR-Haiti to illegally arrest pro-Aristide/pro-Lavalas Party activistsbased solely on accusations levelledby this supposed human rights organi-zation. The imprisonment of Aristide’sPrime Minister Yvon Neptune andLavalas Party activist “Sò Anne”Auguste are cases in point. (See pp.44-46 and pp.47-49, respectively.)

In an April-2004 media release,NCHR-Haiti described a “courtesyvisit” they received from the new coupregime’s “prosecutor,” Daniel Audain.In describing this cordial meeting,NCHR-Haiti said they were “extremelyencouraged” by his “determination... torestore strength in the law.” Most tell-ingly, they noted his commitment to:

“Taking public action against all

those denounced by human rightsorganizations for their implication inacts of human rights violations.”4

Haiti’s CIDA-funded “Ministryof Justice,” during the vicious coup re-gime, relied exclusively on NCHR-Haitito monitor and evaluate “human rights”conditions. NCHR-Haiti commandedthis important position because its anti-

Aristide credentials exactly matchedthe illegally-empowered government’srequirements. CIDA employee PhilippeVixamar, who the Canadian governmentliterally installed and bankrolled as Hai-ti’s Deputy Minister of Justice, workedvery closely with NCHR-Haiti. For in-stance, he admitted to using this small,thoroughly discredited “human rights”group to screen hundreds of formermilitary troops for “human rights”abuses before recruiting them into thetop ranks of the coup-regime’s policeforce throughout Haiti.5

The Canadian government’sgenerous funding of NCHR-Haiti6 andthe group’s very cozy relationship withthe unconstitutional regime that re-placed Haiti’s democratic government,created an obvious conflict of interestthat should have disqualified it as a re-liable, unbiased source. However, theorganization is, even today, still widelyregarded—especially in government-funded circles—as Haiti’s most authori-tative source on human rights.

NCHR-Haiti’s executive direc-tor, Pierre Espérance, said he was

“a primary source of information forinternational human rights organiza-tions such as Amnesty International

and the Inter-American Commissionon Human Rights.”

He also bragged of being “invited toaddress the U.S. State Department.”7

As Canadian author and activ-ist Anthony Fenton has said:

“Sadly, though not surprisingly, theNCHR is treated as though it is alegitimate human rights organizationby the occupying forces, HumanRights Watch, the OAS [Organiza-tion of American States], CARICOM[the Caribbean Community], and Re-porters without Borders, among oth-ers. In reality, Espérance should bebehind bars.”8

CIDA-funded Cheerleadersfor NCHR-Haiti

Several CIDA-funded agencies inCanada have uncritically cited NCHR-Haiti/RNDDH as if it were a reliablesource of information on human rightsin Haiti. These include:§ Alternatives§ Development and Peace (D&P)§ Entraide Missionaire (EMI)§ Mennonite Central Cttee. (MCC)§ Rights and Democracy (R&D)

Two of the above organizations,namely D&P and EMI, are members ofConcertation pour Haiti (CPH)—Cana-da’s most vociferous anti-Aristide coa-lition.9 (And, CPH has issued joint me-dia releases with R&D, a government-created and -funded agency that stillcounts RNDDH among its partners.10

On at least seventeen separate webpages within its website, R&D makesuncritical references to NCHR-Haiti/RNDDH and uses its disinformation.)

Although it is not knownwhether CPH has received CIDA funds,most of its 15 members have certainlybeen on the Canadian government’spayroll. And, CPH media releases havemade use of bogus NCHR reports.11

The quasi-governmental Cana-dian agencies listed above have oftenquoted from NCHR’s biased publica-tions, published whole NCHR articlesand reports online, linked to its docu-ments and website, and generallyhelped to promote the notion thatNCHR-Haiti/RNDDH is a reputablesource of information.

None of these Canadian govern-

NCHR-Haiti: A Prime Source of Canadian-funded Lies

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ment-funded agencies sent delegationsto Haiti during the coup period to pre-pare reports on the grave human rightsviolations there. Instead, they simplyrelied on their CIDA-funded colleaguesin that country, such as NCHR-Haiti.

Besides helping to spreadNCHR-Haiti’s rabidly anti-Aristidepropaganda, three of these Canadianorganizations have also been linked asofficial “partners” to NCHR-Haiti,namely D&P,12 MCC13 and R&D.14

(And, MCC is not only “partnered withNCHR-Haiti,” it has had “a member‘seconded’ to it since June 1998.”15 )

Independent NGOs vs.Government Agents

In contrast, several independent U.S.human rights organizations sent del-egations to Haiti during the 2004-2006coup-regime period. Upon their return,they each issued comprehensive re-ports detailing the systematic repres-sion of Aristide supporters and LavalasParty leaders and activists. These non-government funded agencies include:§ Center for the Study of Human

Rights, Univ. of Miami, Law School§ Ecumenical Program on Central

America and the Caribbean§ Haiti Accompaniment Project§ Institute for Justice and Democracy

in Haiti§ National Lawyers Guild§ Quixote Center

Significantly, each of these or-ganizations unequivocally denouncedNCHR-Haiti for its role in spreadingpropaganda as well as for aiding andabetting the coup regime’s persecutionof prodemocracy advocates.16

Although CIDA-funded groupsin Canada made numerous referencesto the extremely biased articles and re-ports issued by NCHR-Haiti, none oftheir websites contain a single referenceto the work of the above listed U.S. or-ganizations in Haiti, let alone to theircomprehensively documented reportson flagrant human rights abuses dur-ing the Canadian-backed coup regime.

Increasingly, as CIDA and othergovernment departments and agenciesuse their financial clout to contract“NGOs” in progressive movements athome and abroad, Canadians will haveto learn to expect the kind of extremelyprejudiced research, reporting and ac-tivism that occurred in support of Hai-ti’s 2004 coup d’état.

References1. NCHR-Haiti newsrelease, “Name

Change: NCHR-Haiti becomesRNDDH,” May 9, 2005.www.rnddh.org/article.php3?id_article =222

2. NCHR newsrelease, “NCHR-HaitiDoes Not Speak for the NCHR,” March11, 2005.www.nchr.org/hrp/neptune%202005311.htm

3. Richard Sanders, “How CIDA’s

NCHR-Haiti Cleverly Promoted andthen Covered up Atrocities,” Press forConversion! September 2007. pp.3-19.coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/61/3-19.pdf

4. NCHR-Haiti newsrelease, “Courtesyvisit of the new State Prosecutor of Port-au-Prince to NCHR,” April 13, 2004.www.rnddh.org/article.php3?id_article=181

5. Richard Sanders, “CIDA Bankrolledcoup’s Deputy Minister of ‘Justice’:Shills and Scam Artists in the DeadlyCon Game of Haiti’s 2004 Coup,” Pressfor Conversion!, Sept. 2007, pp.29-31.coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/61/29-31.pdf

6. Ibid.7. Cited by Joe Emersberger in “Amnesty

International’s Track Record in Haitisince 2004,” World Upside Down, Feb-ruary 6, 2007.upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/618/51

8. Anthony Fenton, “Human Rights Hor-rors in Haiti,” July 27, 2004.www.dissidentvoice.org/July2004/Fenton0727.htm

9. Kevin Skerrett, “A ‘Fiercely Partisan’Network,” Press for Conversion! May2008. p.48.coat .ncf .ca/our_magazine/ l inks/62/62_48-49.pdf

10. An open letter concerning the climateof insecurity in Haiti and the mandateof MINUSTAH, January 27, 2006.www.dd-rd.ca/site/what_we_do/index.php?id=1619&subsection=where_we_work&subsubsection=country_documents

11. (a) “Pourquoi Aristide Doit-il Partir?Recommendations de la CPH au gouv-ernement canadien,” February 16, 2004. www.medialternatif.org/alterpresse/spip.php?article1166

(b) “Haiti: Des ONGs canadiens craignent‘le pire,’” June 28, 2005.medialternatif.org/alterpresse/spip.php?article2732

12. Background Paper on Haiti Addressingthe Issue of the Departure of FormerPresident Jean-Bertrand Aristide,March 2006.www.devp.org/devpme/documents/eng/pdf/Haiti-March-2006_ENG.pdf

13. Edwin Dening, “Haiti and MCC: A BriefHistory,” Peace Office Newsletter, Janu-ary-March 2005, pp.1-3.mcc.org/peace/pon/PON_2005-01.pdf

14. Our Partnerswww.dd-rd.ca/site/what_we_do/index.php?id=1887&subsection=where_we_work&subsubsection=country_documents

15. Dening, “Haiti and MCC: A Brief His-tory,” Op. cit., pp.1-3.mcc.org/peace/pon/PON_2005-01.pdf

16. Sanders, “How CIDA’s NCHR-Haiti...”Op. cit.


“The most dangerous problem is theHaitian elite, whose hatred and disre-spect for the ‘slum priest’ Aristide andhis barefoot followers knows nobounds. Any leader of the poor is agangster or ‘chimère’ in their words.”1

John Maxwell (veteran Jamaican jour-nalist who has been reporting on Car-ibbean affairs for more than 40 years.)

“Chime is a pejorative name given bythe bourgeoisie to the poor in society.”2

Privat Precil (former Director General forAristide’s Ministry of Justice)

“The people speaking against Aristidedidn’t want the poor people to speak,and he was our voice. The criticisms ofAristide come from very racist people.They call us Big Toes, Kinky Hair, DirtyFeet, Chime.”3

Anonymous Member, Sept. 30 Foun-dation (Haitian human rights group)

“In Haiti, the word is used generically,in much the same way the word ‘terror-ist’ now is used in the U.S.”4

Rev. Angela Boatright (Episcopal priestand representative of the Fellowship ofReconciliation.)

“Chimèr“Chimèr“Chimèr“Chimèr“Chimère”:e”:e”:e”:e”:

By Richard Sanders, editor, Press forConversion!

Every war ever fought has hadits own peculiar linguistic arse-nals. Like poisonous barbs, an

aggressors’ epithets are powerful weap-ons designed to vilify and dehumanizethe enemy.

During the Vietnam war, U.S.soldiers used racist slurs like “gooks”and “slants” to attack not only theirViet Cong enemies but all those whomight be harbouring them.

When psychologically prepar-ing soldiers for the “killing fields,” suchterms of abuse are useful in framing in-nocent people as subhuman demonsto be annihilated. This facilitates theguilt-free, mechanical murder of fellowhumans as if they were merely mythicalbeings in a video game between gal-lant heroes and evildoers who deserveto be targeted and punished.

Such verbal abuse is also valu-able in preparing the general public forthe cognitive dissonance that will arisewith the growing awareness of their fis-cal and electoral complicity in the crimesof war. By quashing the home pop-ulations’ psychological resistance towar, malicious invectives are useful inconducting internal “mopping-up” op-erations to wash away empatheticthoughts. In short, by tagging innocentvictims as if they were the aggressors,one can rationalize violent actions andassuage associated feelings of guilt.

Hate Crime Spreads AbroadIn the war to oust Aristide’s electedgovernment, the aspersion of choicewas “chimère.” After having lost twolandslide elections to Aristide’s Lavalasmovement, the Haitian elite was strug-gling to regain political power. Onemeans at their disposal was the media.Using their control of radio, magazines,newspapers and TV, Haiti’s elite beganwielding the swear word “chimère” totarget all of Aristide’s supporters. Al-though this term had traditionally re-ferred to a violent monster, ghoul orghost, it was soon used in diatribesthat demonized the vast majority of Hai-ti’s voting citizens—those who wouldbe disenfranchised by the 2004 coup.

The virulent term spread like adisease in Haiti, cropping up frequentlyin statements by Haiti’s former military,the armed rebels, police, judges, busi-nessmen, journalists, foreign-funded“NGOs” and all other anti-Aristide pro-ponents of regime change.

But it didn’t stop there. Suchepidemics do not respect internationalborders. The “chimère” virus spread

to foreign media, government and NGOcommunities abroad. It was dispersedthrough the following contacts:(1) Elite-owned Haitian media and theirforeign counterparts;(2) Haiti’s corporate-backed politiciansand their Canadian and U.S. mentors;(3) AntiAristide “NGOs” in Haiti andtheir government-funded partnersabroad.

However, many groups and in-dividuals remained financially and ideo-logically independent of the U.S. andCanadian governments. Uninfected bythe term “chimère,” they always de-nounced its use to tar prodemocracyadvocates. See sidebar: “Chimère:What does this term really mean?”)

In contrast, there are hundredsof examples of how CIDA-funded“NGOs” in Canada unquestioninglyused the swearword “chimère.” Theywere no doubt largely infected by in-teractions with their elitist CIDA-funded Haitian partners (like NCHR/RNDDH, CONAP, EnfoFanm, PAPDA,etc.) who frequently hurl this oppro-brium at their political enemies.

Many of CIDA’s Canadian“NGOs” also refer positively to two ofthe most virulently antiAristide sources

Epithets without Bordersof information: AlterPresse and Report-ers sans Frontieres. The former hassome 65 webpages within its site con-taminated with the slur “chimère,”while the latter has 50 such webpages.Because the term is often used numer-ous times within any one article, newsrelease or statement, “chimère” actu-ally appears hundreds of times withinthese websites. This use of the abu-sive label is indicative of the fact thatthese “NGOs” took lead roles in thepropaganda war leading to Aristide’soverthrow.

These CIDA-funded agencieshave not apologized for using the term“chimère,” or for spreading the mis-and disinformation that helpeddestabilize Haiti’s elected government.To do so would be tantamount to theiradmitting culpability in the campaignthat set the stage for the 2004 coup.And, it would be an admission of theirguilt as apologists for the human rightsdisaster and coverup that followed.

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Demonizing Democr acy - COAT

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