the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Sep 2, 2024
This article is taken from the monthly La Voix des Travailleurs, issue # 317, August 10, 2024, published in Haiti by the Organization of Revolutionary Workers (OTR-UCI).
In what almost felt like a moment of liberation, the first Kenyan soldiers of the Multinational Mission to Support Security (MMSS) arrived in Port-au-Prince at the end of June. However, despite their presence to participate in the dismantling of criminal gangs as stipulated by a U.N. resolution, these gangs have continued to advance, arm themselves, and attack the population ever since.
While the Kenyan soldiers have prudently stayed within their barracks since their arrival, the bandits, on the other hand, are on a war footing. Their vigor is bolstered by the government’s bluster, the denials, and the lies of the imperialist powers who are provoking the tiger without the will to kill it.
Throughout the month of July, the gangs marched over the population of the Gressier neighborhood while consolidating their presence in the Mariani neighborhood. Their target along this route, National Highway 2, which connects the capital to the four departments of the Grand South, is the town of Léogane.
In Croix-des-Bouquets, the bandits set fire to the Ganthier neighborhood’s police station and torched a customs office. In the Artibonite, the gang “Koko rat san ras” commits massacres, and in the Northwest department, gangs emerge and perpetrate atrocities against the population.
In the territories they occupy, the gangs further entrench their domination over the people. Preparing for police attacks, they block roads to halt the progress of armored vehicles, set up barricades elsewhere, and construct tunnels for protection. On social media, they portray themselves as nationalists, as saviors who will protect the population of the slums from the bullets of police armored vehicles. The irony could not be more profound.
In their own ways, both sides are perpetuating the suffering of the masses with massacres, displacements, killings, the high cost of living, unemployment, etc. The populace should trust neither side. The only viable solution is for the exploited masses to take matters into their own hands. Indeed, they can defeat the gangs by fostering awareness and the means to incapacitate the gangs. The sooner people decide to do this, the sooner they will end their ordeal.