*   *   *   HAITI INFO   *   *   *

            News direct from the people and organizations 
             of Haiti's democratic and popular movement

                    9 March 1996, Vol. 4, #9

       ***   HAITI INFO now has photos in every issue   ***

Contents:

Stories:          SMARTH PROGRAM: NO SURPRISES
                    After Blustery Threats, Parliament Votes 
                    Overwhelming Approval
                  CAPITAL UNDER TONS OF GARBAGE
                  GRANDE ANSE TRIES TO STOP TREE-CUTTING
                  POLICE, MISSION CRITICIZED
Close-up:         HAITIAN WOMEN: FACING CHALLENGES


Stories:

                 SMARTH PROGRAM: NO SURPRISES
  After Blustery Threats, Parliament Votes Overwhelming Approval

PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 9 - If some might have thought Rosny
Smarth would present a different program, they were wasting
their time. Without surprise, this week Smarth offered a
politique generale of pure neoliberal inspiration, well-
seated within the "Lavalassien continuity." And, despite the
fact that the parliamentary sessions had shaped up to be
heated confrontations, they ended up sliding by like water
off a duck's back. Both houses approved resoundingly.

Standard Lavalas Program, Cabinet

After several false starts, Smarth finally went before the
Senate on Monday and the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday to
read his program and present his cabinet. He returned five
members of the previous administration and replaced others
with well-known members of the Lavalas camp.

But if there were many familiar faces, one choice caused
considerable controversy: Jacques Edouard Alexis as Minister
of Education. The founder and rector of the private Quisqueya
University, he was also a major supporter of the failed
education symposium [see Haiti Info v.3 #23] and the
"National Education Plan." At a press conference on March 5,
the student committee of the Ecole Normale Superieure (state
teachers' college) called him "the representative of private-
sector teaching."

Smarth's program offered no contradictions with what 
President Rene Preval has been saying: the standard promises 
of stability, human rights, justice, but with a strict 
adherence to "exterior constraints." Smarth claimed these 
could be "transform[ed]... into positive elements." But while
stressing, like Preval, "production" and people's "basic 
needs," Smarth emphasized there will be "no miracles" and 
that Haiti must be "better insert[ed] into the international
market" and play by "the strict rules of the market." 

Chimeric Threat of Disapproval

During lengthy sessions, both Senators and Deputies harshly 
criticized specific points, calling for the resignation of 
Alexis and disapproving of the "recycling" of ministers 
without their being held accountable for their previous 
administrations. Most striking, however, were the 
parliamentarians' repeated and insistent rejections of
Smarth's embrace of neoliberal policies and their apparent
threats to vote against his program. 

Senator Maxime Roumer made a speech about abominable 
conditions for factory workers and declared he would vote 
"against the IMF, against the World Bank" because "we cannot
submit to austerity anymore." 

Senator Samuel Madistin said structural adjustment would 
jeopardize the government's "capacity to respond to popular
demands," and said resolutely: "We in the Lavalas family...
do not think this neoliberal orientation of the economy will
take the country anywhere." 

Prior to the vote, however, the Senators went behind closed 
doors, during which it appears some kind of deal was cut. In 
spite of the strong statements from members of the "Lavalas 
family," not one single Senator voted negatively, and the 
most virulent critic, Roumer, gave his approval. The final 
tally: 15 for and three abstentions (Madistin, Renauld 
Bernadin and Garcon Mehu).

If, behind closed doors, the "critics" were granted a 
compromise or concession, it was not on the essentials. To 
the observer, it was no more than a capitulation. Not one 
single cabinet member was changed and there have been no 
announcements of program changes. Maybe a deal was made, but 
if so, it was at another level. Long live transparency.

The contestation appeared even stronger in the Chamber, where 
almost 50 of the 74 lawmakers present asked to speak. The 
attacks on Smarth's program and also on the Education 
Minister grew so heated that observers felt both the program 
and cabinet would be rejected. The chamber called a 30-minute 
break which stretched to two hours.

Afterwards, the barrage continued and ended with a lengthy 
official statement from the 67-member strong Lavalas block in 
the lower house, read by Deputy Jasmine Joseph. He cited 
articles of the constitution the block wanted respected, some 
of which illustrated the constitution is in contradiction 
with neoliberal policies like privatization.

Joseph said that the two guideposts of the Lavalas deputies 
were the constitution and the interests of the popular 
masses, and that the neoliberal orientation of Smarth's 
program was not compatible with either of them. But when it 
came time to vote, the program and cabinet were resoundingly 
approved: 54 for, 3 against, 16 abstentions.

After the almost comic theater of the Lavalas lawmakers, 
Smarth assumed office this week, clearly acceptable, not only 
to the  parliament but also to the imperialist tutors and the 
bourgeoisie. At least he offers the advantage of being clear, 
devoid of the populist rhetoric that characterized his 
predecessors, and has openly assumed the neoliberal policies 
already being implemented here.

Deteriorating Situation

All this took place against a backdrop of continuing 
deterioration. The gourde is still slipping in value, and in 
the capital garbage clogs the streets and gutters. [See p. 1.]

Insecurity is also mounting. In Cite Soleil on March 6, 
between seven and nine people were killed in a shoot-out 
between National Police and an armed band. Many residents 
fled the neighborhood and are still afraid to go home. Also 
recently, several were injured in a shoot-out between police 
and youth at a state boys home. Many neighborhoods as well as 
provincial cities towns are reporting an increase in attacks, 
armed robberies and rapes. [See also p. 3.]

Ironically, even as insecurity was rising and impunity 
continuing to reign in the four corners of the country, on 
Feb. 26 President Preval feted the end of the first U.N. 
occupation force's mission by decorating its heads - U.N. 
Representative Lakhdar Brahimi, U.S. General Joseph Kinzer 
and Canadian Commissaire Neil Pouillot - as, respectively, an 
"Officer" and "Knights" of "Honor and Merit" in recognition 
of the international community's "reestablishment of security."

                  CAPITAL UNDER TONS OF GARBAGE

PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 4 - The capital has become one big trash 
can. Mounds of garbage, sometimes smouldering, block intersections 
and streets throughout the city. 

Doctors report the number of asthma cases has risen, and 
coinciding with the beginning of rainy season, the stenching piles 
have provided moist breeding grounds for flies and mosquitoes, in 
addition to their usual inhabitants: rats. Another result of the 
build-up is blocked gutters and drains, leading to garbage-laden 
floods of streets and houses whenever it rains. Thirdly, the 
mounds of garbage have made traffic circulation, already terrible, 
much worse. Often, two lanes are reduced to one.

Nobody really knows how much garbage is produced in the capital 
each day. One figure is 5,000 tons. But one thing is sure: it is 
not being collected and the various ministries and government 
offices have spent the past several weeks blaming each other while 
the population gets more and more exasperated.

Who is Responsible?

As part of its effort to "modernize" the state, the public garbage 
collection service, part of the Department of Public Works (TPTC), 
was dismantled soon after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's 1994 
return. Nothing was ever put in its place. During the months that 
followed garbage was collected, much less than satisfactorily, by 
private firms. In mid-February however, the Unite Centrale de 
Gestion (UCG), an autonomous branch of the Prime Minister's office 
which manages large amounts of money from bilateral donors and 
multilateral banks, announced that the contract had expired, and 
that starting two weeks earlier (Feb. 1), the five city halls of 
the capital were responsible.

Trash piled up everywhere, with the garbage from Carnival adding 
to the mess. Then, last week Assistant Port-au-Prince Mayor Johnny 
Charles told Agence Haitienne de Presse that the cities did not 
have the financial or logistical means, and that it was the job of 
the TPTC, which still had the state garbage trucks. At most, Port-
au-Prince's ten small trucks could pick up 250 tons of the 5,000 
tons produced each day, he said. He also criticized the fact that 
the state service had been dismantled and not replaced.

But the TPTC, along with everyone else, dodged the responsibility. 
When Minister of the Environment Yves Andre Wainright said garbage 
was not his concern and also named the TPTC, TPTC Minister Jacques 
Dorcean said he did not have enough money. He promised to lend his 
trucks to the mayors, but then announced there were not enough 
because dozens had been stolen and nothing was ever done to track 
them down.

In the meantime, as garbage piled up, frustration led to 
altercations. On Feb. 27, students at the Lycee Alexandre Petion 
demonstrated and blocked a street to demand the removal of a 
mountain of garbage at the school gate. Police soon arrived, 
firing in the air and causing mayhem. [See p. 3]

On Feb. 22, residents of the Pont Rouge neighborhood, recently 
flooded when garbage-blocked canals overflowed, laid siege to a 
dozen TPTC trucks, demanding the canals be cleaned and a collapsed 
bridge repaired. 

"We don't need money. We don't want 'food-aid' sugar. We want the 
road fixed!" one of the protestors said. On Feb. 27, after 
receiving promises, they returned the keys.

Finally, on Feb. 28, the Senate convoked the mayors, traffic 
police, and concerned ministers to discuss the  problem. Sen. Elie 
Plancher said the meeting was about "security:" not related to 
arms "but to people's very bodies. Port-au-Prince is not livable!"

Afterwards, Plancher promised TPTC would collect the garbage, but 
on March 1, the government signed a contract with four private 
sector companies for March, at the cost of 500 million gourdes 
(US$303,000).


              GRANDE ANSE TRIES TO STOP TREE-CUTTING

JEREMIE, Feb. 29 - Beginning tomorrow, nobody in the 18 communes 
of the Grande Anse department has the right to cut down a tree 
without a triple-authorization, and beginning on March 10, any 
boat or vehicle leaving Grande Anse with wood or charcoal will be 
stopped.

Those two resolutions were the result of an all-day meeting here 
on Feb. 23 which brought together over 120 people from the 12 
communes of western Grande Anse: agronomists from the Ministry of 
Agriculture, Senators, Deputies, Mayors, members of the Communal 
Councils (CASECs), justices of the peace, members of popular 
organizations, priests and people from non-governmental 
organizations. It was organized by the ministry and KOREGA 
(Koodinasyon Rezistans Grandans) of the Lavalas platform.

The meeting was called because of the rapid rate of deforestation 
in the department, home to 600,000 people (1990) and also to Pic 
Macaya, Haiti's highest peak, and the national forest surrounding 
it. Grande Anse is considered to have the last "virgin" forest in 
Haiti, but rapid cutting is laying bare the mountain- and 
hillsides, which in turn effects rainfall, erosion, farming and 
fishing. Because the region is fragile geologically and 
environmentally, participants said very soon it could look like 
the Northwest. 

Charcoal and Grande Anse

In addition to wood used in construction, seventy percent of all 
energy used in Haiti comes from wood and charcoal. A study by 
Projet Regional Education et Developpement (PRED), a non-
governmental organization associated with the Catholic church, 
determined that in 1990, approximately 4,000 sacks of charcoal 
were shipped from the Jeremie wharf to Port-au-Prince each month. 

In 1991, the figure had risen to 10,000 sacks, arriving at 23,000 
sacks one month. After the coup d'etat of Sept. 30, 1991, the 
numbers skyrocketed. During the period 1992-1993, PRED said, 
92,000 sacks were being shipped out by boat each month. (Figures 
do not take into account charcoal shipped from smaller ports or by 
road.) 

A sack, measuring over a meter tall, sold for about 25 gourdes in 
the capital before the coup. During the coup, its price rose 125 
gourdes, and today is between 100 and 125 gourdes (US$6.00 and 
US$7.50). In Grande Anse a sack sells for 25 to 30 gourdes.

Deforestation for Centuries

The rapid deforestation occurring today in Grande Anse and which 
has already effected most of the rest of the country is not a 
recent phenomenon. It is only the final stage of an exploitation 
which has gone on for centuries.

Colonists cut down trees to make way for coffee and cacao trees 
and for other crops like sugar and cotton. But native wood was 
also a big export crop. Before independence, Haiti was already 
exporting mahogany and gaiac, a hardwood. In 1789 alone, 9.6 
million pounds of wood were shipped out.

Exploitation of the forests continued up through this century. At 
the turn of the century, in addition to mahogany, gaiac and cedar, 
the wood and roots of campche, used for dye, was one of the 
country's principal exports. In Le Prix d'une Agriculture Miniere, 
Dr. Sebastien Hilaire estimates that 933 hectares of campche were 
cleared each year between 1840 and 1915: a total of 70,000 
hectares cut in 75 years. 

Forest cover of the country has dropped from some 80 to 90 percent 
in the sixteenth century, to 60 percent by 1923, to 3 percent in 
1985. Today the figure is less than 1.5 percent. According to the 
Inter-American Development Bank (in a 1992 report), 33 percent of 
Haiti's land is severely eroded and 12 of 30 major watersheds "are 
totally deforested, while excessive silting and lack of watershed 
management has resulted in loss of reef productivity, dwindling 
coastal fisheries and a deterioration of irrigation and sewage 
systems."

Deforestation Very Evident

Anyone visiting Grande Anse can see the pace of deforestation has 
picked up, and cannot fail to notice the stacks of wood or sacks 
of charcoal lining both sides of the 100 kilometers of road 
leading out of Jeremie.

A peasant extension worker from Roseaux attending the Feb. 23 
meeting noted that, despite 1986 and the election of Jean-Bertrand 
Aristide in 1990, peasants still live in misery. With the coup, 
things got worse, and have not improved since.

"And during all this time, those in positions of responsibility 
also did not face the situation... they fled from their posts and 
that created disorder and a liberty in the rural milieu, which, 
combined with people's misery, made people cut down trees," he 
said, adding that the resulting erosion effects not only farming 
but also fishing.

"A long time ago there used to be a lobster season, different fish 
seasons," he said. "Now you can't find anything."

A delegate from Pestel estimated that 10,000 sacks of charcoal 
leave from his coastal village a week, and said, "we have never 
had a state that was responsible." 

Will It Work?

The attendees were generally positive about the resolutions, which 
say "the question of cutting wood on all the region of Grande Anse 
is definitely ended" and that in order to lay a machete to a tree, 
one must have permission from the local CASEC, the Mayor and the 
local Agriculture Ministry representative. Everyone vowed to carry 
out a sensitization campaign and to make sure the resolutions are 
distributed to schools, churches, vodou temples and organizations 
throughout the department.

The resolutions also called for "watch brigades" to make sure that 
everyone not complying with the new rules is sanctioned. However, 
although they were reportedly invited to the meeting, the National 
Police did not send representatives, and their participation is 
crucial. Officials also have not yet determined what punishment 
will be rendered to those found violating the rules. 

But there are other, more essential problems. The measures deal 
only with those involved in the charcoal business and not with the 
consumers, those with the 70 percent of energy needs counting on 
charcoal and wood. A lowered supply could create higher prices, 
inspiring people to not only ignore the rules but to exploit more 
intensely.

Also, many of those at the bottom of the charcoal business  - poor 
peasants - have no other alternative: the continuing deforestation 
is a consequence of the general crisis of the country and 
particularly the crisis of the agricultural sector. [See last 
issue.]

Agronomist Beal Joseph, from the ministry, said "all by itself, 
the ministry cannot put an end to the problem... To resolve the 
situation, there would need to be decisions taken at various 
levels... We also have to think of another source of energy" but 
justifed the measure saying "if we wait, there will not be any 
trees left... we have to save what is salvageable." Ministry of 
Agriculture Representative Eunide Alphonse said she hopes "Grande 
Anse can serve as an example for other areas of the country." 

But without firm and swift action from Port-au-Prince to provide 
affordable alternative energy sources and alternatives to 
impoverished peasants in the short term, it is doubtful the 
measure will do much more than raise prices. In any case, nothing 
lasting will come about until the fundamental question of agrarian 
reform is faced.

UPDATE: March 8 - Stacks of wood and mountains of sacks full of 
charcoal still line the highway leading out of Jeremie. So far, no 
fines have been imposed nor arrests made.


                  POLICE, MISSION CRITICIZED

PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 7 - Despite the distractions of Carnival and 
the new government investiture, insecurity and impunity go on, and 
rights groups are fed up.

Outraged over the aggressive behavior of the new National Police, 
last week the Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations 
issued a two-page statement condemning the police for reckless 
action during Carnival in the capital, where, on Feb. 21, two 
people were killed (one, a market lady trampled to death) and many 
dozens were injured, and for its brutal intervention at the Lycee 
Alexandre Petion. [See garbage story.]

At the school, the Platform said, police, provoked the students, 
"shoot[ing] in the air in all directions...  blindly" with Uzis 
and forced their driver "to charge into" the students. The 
Platform condemned the "lightness and irresponsibility of those in 
positions of responsibility" and also noted that, as with the army 
in the past, police are seen circulating in vehicles with no 
license plates.

The Platform called for the revision of the corps to exclude 
abusers and for the reevaluation of it's structure, which it 
called "anarchic," "without hierarchy" and riddled with 
"intestinal and petty rivalries." (Today Pierre Denize became 
director general. The corps had been without a chief since 
January.)

The Gonaives branch of Commission Justice et Paix, associated with 
the Catholic church, has also continued to complain regularly 
about the police. Among other reports, the commission noted that 
on Feb. 21, a policeman in civilian clothing shot in the air "like 
a cowboy" in front of the Alliance Fran
aise, disrupting an event 
there.

Last month, Justice et Paix also presented President Rene Preval 
with a list of complaints, calling for the overhaul of the 
judicial system and police force in the region and for lawyers for 
the victims of the Apr. 22, 1994, Raboteau massacre (at least 24 
people were killed), as the government promised during a showy 
visit 11 months ago.

The commission also announced, on Feb. 23, that it "officially 
suspended relations with the U.N. International Civilian Mission" 
because the mission repeatedly ignored its recommendations and 
requests, such as legal and documentation aid for former 
repression victims, and especially because it never looked into 
reported violations by U.S. troops or the Nov. 13, 1995, shooting 
deaths of three people, where it is suspected that the fatal shots 
were fired by U.N. troops. (The U.N. immediately blamed a 
civilian.)

The three-page letter ended saying that "with the mass of work 
done by the observers... the National Direction... could have done 
more and better for the victims" and that the Mission "is too 
often used as a cover at the service of interests and political 
maneuvers not favoring the Haitian people."


Close-up:         HAITIAN WOMEN: FACING CHALLENGES

It is no secret to anyone that Haitian society is a male-
chauvinist society, one where men dominate women. Whether it is in 
proverbs, the words of popular songs, rara or carnival music, the 
traces are evident in everyday life.

The domination of men over women is one of the most important 
contradictions in a society based on oppression and exploitation, 
but it cannot be analyzed independently of other social 
relationships, especially the relationship between the classes.

Origin of Male-Chauvinism

Long ago, men did not dominate women. To the contrary, women 
headed societies called "matriarchies." Male power appeared along 
with the advent of private property. As recently as the 15th and 
16th century in Africa, many tribes were still matriarchies. But 
when colonists bought slaves in Saint Domingue, their prize picks 
were tall, strong, healthy men, and the men sold for higher 
prices. In fact, until today, in Haiti if one thinks that an item 
has a high price, it costs "tet neg", which means colloquially 
"expensive" but literally "a man's head." Nobody ever says 
something is "tet neges" or "a woman's head." 

Many think that only when the slave trade diminished did colonists 
realize they should increase the quantity of women in order to 
assure continuity of the system. Then, when a female slave 
produced a boy, the master took care of its needs, to make sure 
the little slave would develop into a strong man. Until today, 
many men, especially in the countryside, do not care for their 
wives who have just given birth as well as the slave-owners did. 

Women in Haitian History

It is no accident that in the official history of Haiti, one only 
finds women's names mentioned once in a while. Was it only 
Catherine Flon, Henriette Saint Marc, Claire Heureuse and a few 
others that contributed to the liberation of the country? Why have 
all the others remained anonymous? Simple: men are the ones with 
the privilege of knowing how to read and write, so they wrote "The 
Men's History of Haiti."

Women have been able to make advances over the years. This year is 
the 62nd anniversary of the birth of the Ligue Feminine d'Action 
Sociale, founded by Madeleine Sylvain Bouchereau and a number of 
other women mostly from the privileged groups. They concentrated 
on the fight for political rights. In 1950, after almost 30 years 
of struggle during which they lobbied, marched, organized and 
published newspapers, women won from men the right to vote. During 
this period, a women's lycee was built and women began to have 
access to the university.

During the brutal Duvalier dictatorship, whose tentacles reached 
the four corners of the country, there was no space for the 
women's movement to even exist, much less develop. But the brutal 
macoutism directed against all progressive struggle and all forms 
of organized battle did not prevent the Jean Claude Duvalier 
government from using the women's question for demagogic purposes. 
That is how Michelle Bennet Duvalier, the wife of the little 
dictator, posed as a defender of women's rights and even made the 
state adopt a legal text that freed married Haitian women from 
their status as a minor, where Haitian civil law had always kept 
them. During that period, the Duvalier regime made a great deal of 
propaganda about "the emancipation of Haitian women."

In 1985-1986, the new relation of forces being created enabled the 
mobilization of  democratic and popular forces to provide the 
conditions for a series of progressive battles to pick up strength 
again, especially the women's struggle. On April 3, 1986, an 
organization called Fanm Dayiti, which brought together certain 
bourgeois women with a majority of petite-bourgeois women and some 
from the popular masses, put together a demonstration that brought 
out many thousands of women. It was the first time so many women 
had turned out for a women's march since the marches of the 1950s.

The movement continued to advance with all of the social 
contradictions that existed in society. In 1994, after three years 
of brutality, injustice, repression and rape, the government 
decided to open a ministry to take care of women's affairs. 
Although it inspired hope among a number of women, when seen in 
its context, as part of the demagogy of the Jean-Bertrand Aristide 
government, it could not deliver anything concrete to the women's 
struggle for emancipation, and has remained a mere symbolic 
gesture.

Women in Haitian Society

If, when women in a popular neighborhood assemble to talk about 
women's rights, the discussion is a little bland, it is because 
the everyday struggle of survival overwhelms them. But if someone 
brings up men's exploitation of women, everyone wants to speak to 
tell about what they have been experiencing, from the day they 
were born up through old age. They feel the entire weight of a 
society based on the domination of men over women in the blows 
they receive, the humiliation, and the complicity and 
misunderstanding of society in general.

As mentioned above, a few proverbs suffice to show how Haitian 
society sees women: "There is never enough money for women," 
"Women are pig's food," "When you have a little girl you can't say 
pigs don't eat at your table," "Little girls are little rats," 
"Women are a necessary evil," etc. Few words of explanation are 
needed. There are others which appear to flatter women like "Women 
are mahogany." But, while mahogany is a good wood, it cannot be 
brought into the living room straight away. A carpenter must work 
it to make it acceptable, meaning women are not naturally good. 
They need to be altered and adjusted to become acceptable and the 
woodworker is none other than a man, who will craft it to make it 
acceptable to society.

Marriage is an institution where a woman loses her rights as an 
adult. She cannot decide anything for herself. The husband has to 
agree. Even if it concerns her business, she needs his approval. 
In the home, husbands beat wives as much as they want. Many women 
marry for the security and to preserve their honor in the eyes of 
society, but husbands continue to do what they want, taking care 
of the children only if they want. The law considers that a 
married man is committing adultery only if his wife finds him 
committing it on his bed, while for the woman, no matter where she 
is and no matter what little gesture she makes can be cause for 
the husband to accuse her of adultery. Despite the many laws that 
do not favor married women, women rush into marriage because 
society makes them believe an unmarried women is not social. 

The progressive and popular sector is not free of male-chauvinist 
mentality. Too often, you find the influence of the dominant 
ideology among militants, especially when it comes to the rapport 
between men and women. That puts those militants in contradiction 
with themselves because they are carrying out a battle for the 
liberation of society from all forms of exploitation and 
domination, while at them same time they are oppressing, and 
whether or not they are conscious of it does not make any 
difference to the women who live with them or struggle with them 
in the popular movement. Those types consider women as children 
who need to have a "grown-up" eye on them all the time. And even 
though they accept to work with some specific women, they always 
consider them as exceptions, different from average women. They 
have also been known to exploit women sexually, even using the 
struggle as a justification. Some decide not to make any effort, 
and look for an unconscious woman to live with them. That way they 
can be a reactionary in the house and a big progressive in the 
streets.

The Movement Today

Today, 62 years after the women's movement got started, ten years 
after the opening with the fall of Duvalier, how is the movement 
advancing? Women's groups are blossoming all over the place. Many 
women's non-governmental organizations have extensive projects for 
exploited women, but many groups have become splintered by 
division and competition, as petite-bourgeois women make money on 
the backs of exploited women. In fact, one can say that there are 
contradictions within the women's movement, because if all Haitian 
women are dominated by men in a global sense, not all women are 
subjected to economic domination and exploitation; only women from 
the popular masses. They are subject to two kinds of exploitation: 
as a member of the popular masses, where there is no difference 
between men and women, and also as a woman.

One of the leaders of Kay Fanm, an organization which works with 
women's groups, said: "The women's movement has taken a few steps 
forward, but we should not beat our chests because there is mush 
more work to be done." 

A women from Konbit Fanm SAJ, a group within Solidarite Ant Jen 
(SAJ), said: "The women's movement has advanced on the question of 
gathering people together on the specific question of women, but 
not at the organizational level, because the movement is very 
spread out, with divisions among the existing organizations."

"There is a developmentalist current traversing the organizations, 
with non-governmental projects all over the place that make the 
women's question become another 'development' question" she 
continued. "With the massive misery crushing women, we cannot get 
rid of it, but we must surpass it to enter into a real battle to 
change living conditions, which means... we need to struggle to 
get rid of this state and replace it with one that is ours." 

Both women said they don't feel that the movement has made a big 
impact, because the number of women in the new government is less 
than in the previous one, and anyway, whether it is a man or a 
women, will that change the male-chauvinist system? 

Attention: Danger

If it is true that the Haitian women's struggle against male 
domination has its own specificity, it remains a struggle tied to 
other struggles in society. The total and full liberation of women 
is not possible in a society that generates injustice and 
exploitation. Only the emancipation of society from all forms of 
domination and "peze-souse" ("squeeze-and-suck") will guarantee 
the emancipation of all women. 

And if the Haitian women's struggle has made small advances in 
terms of the conquest of certain democratic rights, there is a 
long road ahead in many domains, especially in the domain of 
ideology where it is necessary to augment the consciousness that 
it is a social system which is the cause of women's humiliation 
and tribulation, and also to increase understanding of the 
dialectical rapport that exists between the women's struggle and 
the struggle of the Haitian popular masses for the liberation of 
the country from all forms of domination.



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