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
Jul 1, 2024
This article is translated from the monthly La Voix des Travailleurs, issue #315, published in Haiti by the Organization of Revolutionary Workers (OTR-UCI). It was published before the arrival of the first contingent of 400 Kenyan police officers on Tuesday, June 25.
Like hordes of barbarians, gangs have shattered the traditional ties that bind them to the dominant classes. Over-armed and exploiting the poverty of young people in the slums, which provides them with numerous adherents, they unleash violence in the capital and in certain provincial cities. Desperate, the wealthy classes are calling for help.
It is the popular classes who bear the heaviest burden of the rise in gang power. They suffer the brunt of massacres, heinous crimes, rapes, gang wars, roadblocks on national highways, territorial conquests by gangs, arson in popular neighborhoods, skyrocketing prices of essential goods, arson in private and public hospitals, destruction of public markets, and more. But the wealthy classes suffer too.
On Tuesday, June 4, 2024, an attempt to hijack two large gasoline tankers turned into a catastrophe. Having missed their target, the bandits did not hesitate to shoot at one of the trucks, which caught fire in the middle of a crowded market.
A week earlier, a couple from a wealthy American family was murdered in a suburb of the capital. Their bodies were extracted after tough negotiations with a gang leader for whose capture the American government has offered a bounty for over two years.
Upon the announcement of the deployment of foreign soldiers, gangs destroyed several police stations with bulldozers over several days. Freight trucks are constantly hijacked on the roads. Showrooms and warehouses are set on fire. Boats are intercepted at sea. The Toussaint Louverture Airport in Port-au-Prince, closed for three months, only resumed operations after the intervention of the American army.
Isolated from the rest of the world and unable to rely on the police, many of whose members are under the control of gangs, the bourgeoisie has turned to its international allies for help. The Multinational Security Support Mission (MSSM) is a reinforcement for the bourgeois state and its failing police force.
For the popular masses, the problems will remain unresolved. Their security in neighborhoods and on the roads, the issues of unemployment, high cost of living, wages, housing, and healthcare will persist as long as this system of exploitation remains in place. Only their struggles will allow them to mitigate these issues.