In the face of adversity, we stand tall,
United, resilient, we shall never fall.
Through hurricanes and quakes, our land may tremble,
But our spirits remain strong, never to dissemble.
From the ashes, we build anew,
Cultivating hope amidst the skies so blue.
With each sunrise, we greet a brighter day,
For within our veins, resilience will forever stay.
Debouya (Resilience). From the Haitian oral tradition.
The Haitian Revolution was the only successful uprising of enslaved people recorded in history, Haiti has, unfortunately never actually been free of white colonialism. Be it the USA or European countries, geopolitical interference has always played a role of hindering any and every movement toward true liberation, i.e., a socialist revolution. Instead, capitalism offered a conditional "freedom": If you are a man, white, cis, able-bodied, wealthy, from the global north, you have every option freedom capitalism can offer you. But if you’re not… You know, because most of us are not that kind of person.
In recent years, Haiti has been in an intense political crisis. Gangs have taken over the country, bringing fear and uncertainty for thousands of workers/families who want nothing more than to just live in dignity. But there is still resistance.
In every corner of the earth, within all societies, in any culture, and from the beginning of the class society there is resistance against injustice, violence, and suffering. Capitalist ideology often asserts that individualism is the default of humanity. That we are, by design, selfish creatures, and that we will always think of our own survival first.
Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, anthropology has shown us that human beings are collective people. By nature, we are drawn to each other, to create bonds, to love, to give and receive affection. To help others, to be happy when other people thrive, to be happy for other people’s happiness, to live together, to grow older together. Thus, what ruins us, what is, in fact, against nature, is capitalism - the ideology of the few hoarding the resources of the many.
And amidst Haiti’s deep gang violence crisis, there is indeed resistance. A group - actually a movement - called “Bwa Kale" has risen from the communities of ordinary people to fight against violence. If the state cannot provide safety, the community is to organize and protect itself - after all, to regain control of their neighborhoods and cities, people need organization. Bwa Kale means “peeled wood”, which is a metaphor for an act of swift justice. With this movement, the people are taking matters into their own hands and have established self-defence organisations to protect their neighbourhoods from the gangs.
More than 600 people were killed in a wave of gang violence that erupted in April 2023. The gangs have unleashed a reign of terror in what amounts to a very much one-sided war against the people. But this has changed with Bwa Kale. A spontaneous event in the Canapé Vert neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince seems to have sparked off a broader movement of resistance to the gangs across the country.
Calls went out for ‘Operasyon File Manchet’ (Operation Sharpen Machete) on social media. Apparently, even some churches got involved in spreading the message. The Bwa Kale movement was born as people in neighbourhoods across the capital and the rest of the country started to take action against the gangs.
In the following days, many neighbourhoods of Port-au-Prince moved onto a ‘war footing’. When gangs entered a neighbourhood, people would bang on pots and pans to alert residents. The people, not very heavily armed compared to the gangs, would throw rocks or use other rudimentary weapons to confront gang members, and have been able to repel incursions by the gangs.
The Bwa Kale movement has since spread across the country and has already had an immediate impact on the levels of gang violence. According to some recent reports, an estimated 100 gang members have been killed and only one case of kidnapping has been recorded since Bwa Kale started.
Yes, in an ideal world we wouldn't have to take matters into our own hands. We definitely wouldn't need to kill other people to protect ourselves. But when the police, the justice system, the state are designed to cater to the will of the billionaire class, what other options do we have except organize and, if necessary, partake in violence? Remember: flowers will not defeat armed gangs. No amount of peace discourses can stop tanks and bombs from decimating entire countries.
As an old German beardy man said a long time ago: workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose except your chains.
This edition was a little bit heavier than the last one. I know. But sometimes we have to harden our hearts to be able to fight against those who want us dead. We cannot - and will not - be sitting ducks waiting for fascism. We must organize. Now.
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