Unpublished letter from Selma James, Strike co-ordinator and widow of CLR James, to the Guardian newspaper, Uk, in response to an article on Haiti

Duncan Campbell begins by quoting CLR James’s “magisterial work” The Black Jacobins: “ . . . that the new nation [Haiti] survived at all is for ever to its credit for if the Haitians thought that imperialism was finished with them, they were mistaken" (A country at boiling point, February 21).

Yet nowhere following CLR’s quote does Campbell even mention present-day US-French imperialism which two years ago invaded Haiti yet again, kidnapped elected President Aristide and handed Haiti over to the UN to occupy on its behalf.  Instead, he sanitises his reference to “the US, the UN and the EU” by referring to them as “the international community”.

Campbell describes Haiti as “a country that has been near boiling point” for two years as if it is a national weakness or worse, rather than undiminished resistance.  There is no mention of who perpetrated the coup and, even more disturbing, no reference to the occupation, which becomes a “peacekeeping operation”.  He refers to Haiti as seen by “visitors and investors” as a “hopelessly dangerous place”.  There is no mention that the occupiers have killed thousands of people, clearly dangerous to those who oppose (mainly US) sweatshops, slave wages, destruction of food production, rape and every other form of repression.

From the fifties, Haitians would visit us to tell CLR of resistance by the Kreyol-speaking working class to the domination of the French-speaking elite, and to Papa Doc, Baby Doc and the US marines and money that kept them all in power.  For CLR to be used to gloss over another US invasion is less than respectful of either him or the Haitians who have never ceased to resist imperialism over 200 years, and have not elected Préval to “bring calm” but liberation.

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