Profiles of the Popular Currents
Richardson, Laurie & Aristide, Marx V.
Many of Haiti's popular organizations trace their roots back to the Ti Kominote Legliz (TKL), for it was in these ecclesiastical base communities that activists found cover during...
...Founded in the early 1970s and operating in semiclandestinity until 1986, the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) is Haiti's oldest peasant organization...
...Calling for university autonomy and the removal of Duvalierists from the educational system, FENEH's methods of organizing include boycotts, demonstrations and building takeovers...
...UNEH's successor is the National Federation of Haitian Students (FENEH), formed in March, 1987, and based in Port-au-Prince...
...In March, 1987, the MPP formed the National Peasant Movement of the Papay Congress (MPNKP), which reported 100,000 members before the 1991 coup d'etat...
...Committees organize to demand potable water and electricity, to protest the high cost of living, and to defend themselves against crime and extortion...
...One of the more militant organizations within the popular movement, the APN was the first to propose Aristide as a national leader...
...Port-au-Prince's Ti Legliz Coordinating Committee urged the people to "remain mobilized against these elections, whose results-no matter what-will not resolve the fundamental problems of the people...
...While temporarily forcing the movement to retreat, the aborted elections paradoxically advanced the popular movement's long-term struggle by highlighting the limitations of the reformist strategy in confronting the Duvalierists...
...Labor Unions Haiti has a rich tradition of cooperative and union organizing...
...A National Coordinating Com- mittee was established with representatives from diocesan TKLs throughout the country...
...Founded in November, 1986, ZEL has campaigned to demand free basic education for all...
...occupation in 1915, Frangois "Papa Doc" Duvalier dealt a serious blow to the movement by eliminating the leadership of the National Union of Haitian Students (UNEH) in the late 1960s...
...The political opening allowed activists to spin off and build peasant, student, and other popular organizations...
...destabilization campaign, split CATH into various factions...
...Other Not all of Haiti's popular organizations can be easily classified into categories...
...Rache manybk"-literally "pull out your roots"-became the order of the day as the junta was urged to exit the political scene...
...The brigades also served as dynamic networks of information sharing and political organizing...
...The army responded with a "clean-up" of its own, massacring voters as they turned out to cast their ballots...
...One such example is the National Popular Assembly (APN...
...By 1986, gwoupman had become widespread and extremely politicized...
...The use of church-based train- ing programs and the emergence of the church-fund- ed popular radio station Radyo Soley further politicized and fortified the Ti Legliz sector...
...The reformists "need the popular mobilization when they are under fire," said "Fritz," "but once they get the Macoutes off their backs, they make an alliance with the bourgeoisie to Currents oped into a myriad of local and regional peasant organizations...
...After Baby Doc's downfall, the movement sought to formally structure itself...
...4 As election day neared, however, "rache manybk" was modified to encourage the masses to shift their energies from street mobilization to an "electoral cleanup"-voting Duvalierists out of office...
...Student Movement Although Haitian students have been active since the U.S...
...viding a common thread to link catechists, peasants, students and workers...
...Although student participation in the ouster of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier was massive, it was largely unorganized...
...The July massacre in Jean Rabel of over 300 peasants advocating land reform reinforced this mistrust of the electoral process and fueled calls by militants for a total boycott...
...Many of Haiti's popular organizations trace their roots back to the Ti Kominote Legliz (TKL), for it was in these ecclesiastical base communities that activists found cover during the repressive Duvalier era...
...A variety of high school and youth organizations have also emerged, key among them Zafb Elev Lek6l (ZEL...
...However, a series of internal crises, compounded by a stepped-up U.S...
...Relying on tactics such as marches and land takeovers, peasant groups demanded agrarian reform, elimination of the repressive section chiefs, repopulation of Creole pigs eradicated by U.S.AID between 1981 and 1983, tax reform, and promotion of Haitian Creole...
...Neighborhood Committees Primarily organized in poor urban areas, neighborhood committees emerged as marginalized residents sought to improve the lot of their communities...
...Today various neighborhood committees are loosely linked under the umbrella of the Federation of Neighborhood Committees (FEDKKA...
...Many have broad-based constituencies which include workers, peasants, students and others...
...After Duvalier's fall, they devel32NACL4 REPORT ON THE AMERICAS NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 32REPORT ON HAITI CNG to play fair...
...Yet, until Duvalier's downfall, virtually all unions-with the exception of the U.S.-backed Federation of Workers Union (FOS)-operated underground...
...More recently, the organization has been a vocal critic of the reformist sector within the Lavalas camp...
...Founded in March, 1987 as a popular alternative to KONAKOM, the APN is represented throughout the country in the form of local popular assemblies...
...Today, the Central Workers Union (CGT), founded in October, 1986, is the most militant of Haiti's three federations of unions...
...Tet Kole has gwoupman in each of Haiti's nine departments, and is strongest in the northwest town of Jean Rabel...
...The other two-FOS and OGITHboth receive funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and toe a more moderate line...
...Not until late 1986 did the movement begin to restructure itself...
...Other religious- ly based groups cropped up, including Solidarite Ant Jen and Veye Yo...
...Peasant Groups The seeds of Haiti's peasant movement were plant- ed in the late 1960s in the form of farming cooperatives, or gwoupman...
...Springing from the current of liberation theology, the Ti Legliz movement Father Willy Romelus, a leader of the Ti took off in the Leglizmovement, speaks at the funeral mid-1970s, pro- of a victim of military violence...
...The Autonomous Central of Haitian Workers (CATH) emerged out of clandestinity in 1986 to become the most powerful federation of unions in the country...
...Another national movement is Tht Kole Ti Peyizan (Heads Together Little Peasants), which has its roots in meetings held by peasant delegates starting in September, 1986...
...Consisting of ten to 15 members, gwoupman gave peasants a collective base of resis- tance against the rural structures of exploitation and repression...
...Committees often formed "vigilance brigades" which erected barricades, and interrogated and searched suspicious individuals in an effort to provide security to residents...
Vol. 27 • January 1994 • No. 4
