From Revolution to Chaos in Haiti (1804-2019): Urban Problems and Redevelopment Strategies

By Rhodner J Orisma

Haiti is a failing state. The country is still unable to provide basic needs such as employment, food, housing, healthcare and education to a majority of its inhabitants in over two centuries after its revolution and Independence of 1804. Relatively incompetent, both the nation’s government and its opposition ignore moral politics, and instead, focus on corruption and fighting each other. Though free from French rule, the country remains tied to its slave past and violent history. It seems like a socioeconomic and urban consensus cannot be achieved in order to carry out sustainable solutions for the people. This book, From Revolution to Chaos in Haiti, 1804-2019: Urban Problems and Redevelopment Straregies, is an attempt to analyze this situation from a historical perspective. First, the Haitian Revolution of 1804 is displayed to show the violent and bloody struggles of outstanding leaders and warriors against colonial powers for the making of a great political and independent nation. Second, Haiti’s decline is analyzed starting from the assassination of its first leader, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, in 1806 to the country’s bottom rank in the global stratification during the 2010’s along with the impact of the catastrophic 2010 earthquake. The main factors noted within this decline are linguistic, agricultural, urban and (HIV, AIDS, TB) healthcare issues and undercapitalization along with ideological confusions (capitalism, neoliberalism, socialism, social democracy) and political instability.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781984551009

Rhodner J Orisma

Rhodner J. Orisma is the head of the Department of Philosophy and Political Science at IERAH-ISERSS, Université d’Etat d’Haiti (UEH). There, he also teaches sociology and methodology at the undergraduate level. Since October 2018, he has served as an adjunct professor in the University’s master’s program, Urbanisation et Aménagement du Territoire (URBATER-FDS), provided by UEH and both Universities of Mons and Liège, Belgium. His undergraduate and graduate work were in African Studies at UEH, Sociology and Anthropology at Université Nationale du Bénin and Florida International University, and Human Services at Capella University. Rhodner also served as site coordinator for a Tuberculosis research program carried out by the University of South Florida. He has participated in various panel discussions and research programs regarding urbanization and development through the academic, public and private sectors in Haiti. He published his first book, Haiti through Revolution, Chaos and Reconstruction Perspectives in 2009 and has gone on to publish several articles related to urbanization and development in the Haitian daily newspaper, Le Nouvelliste, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti since the January 2010 earthquake.

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Contents

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1 The Slavery System and Causes of the Haitian Revolution in Saint Domingue

Chapter 2 Ties between the French Revolution and the Onset of the Social Transformations in Saint Domingue

Chapter 3 Social Transformations: The Slave Movement and the Primary Revolts in Saint Domingue

Chapter 4 Social Transformations: The Abolition of Slavery and its Aftermath

Chapter 5 Social Transformations: Toussaint’s Deportation and the Struggle for National Independence

Chapter 6 Possible Outcomes of the Haitian Revolution

Chapter 7 Language Choice, Education and the Revolutionary Outcomes

Chapter 8 Paths to Urban Planning Failure: Lack of Social Visions, Political Instability and Undercapitalization after the 1820s

Chapter 9 Understanding both Agricultural and Urban Issues within Haiti’s Development

Chapter 10 Construction ideas and Urban programs before the January 12, 2010 Earthquake

Chapter 11 Urban Incompetence, Ideological Confusion and Reconstruction Strategies after the 2010 Earthquake

Chapter 12 Haitian Urban and Public Health Issues: A Focus on TB, HIV-related TB, and AIDS

Chapter 13 Working Toward Political Stability and Commitments for Socioeconomic Change

Conclusion

Appendix: The Black code (Code Noir) was put in effect by the French King Louis XIV in 1685

Bibliography

Illustrations

Figures

0.1        Map picturing the West Department of Haiti and its Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. Design: Wisly Dieujuste and Rhodner J. Orisma (August 2019).

0.2        Map of Haiti. Courtesy Worldmaponline.

Source: https://www.worldmapsonline.com/images/academia/countries/academia_haiti_political_lg.jpg (accessed April 12, 2019).

2.1        The Taking of the Bastille, July 14, 1789. Painting by Jean-Pierre Houël (1735-1813).

3.1        The memorial place of Marron Inconnu or Nègre Marron (Unknown Slave or Negroe) in the national palace area, Port-au-Prince. Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (April 15, 2019).

3.2        The Revolt of the Slaves, August 14-15, 1791: A fresco wall painting (by Francisco Silva, Darius Mckenley, Raynald Beaufort, Jose Midi) on the Bois Caiman site. Credit: Raynald Beaufort (August 2018)

Source: Rosny Ladouceur, Une grande fresque sur Bois Caïman réalisée par des étudiants d’ENARTS, 16 Aug. 2018, 2018, http://www.loophaiti.com/content/une-grande-fresque-sur-bois-caiman-realisee-par-des-etudiants-denarts (accessed April 18, 2019).

3.3        Léger Félicité Sonthonax, 1763-1818.

4.1        Toussaint Louverture (1843-1803) by Gragnon Lacoste.

5.1        The memorial place Héros de Vertières in Cap Haitien. Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (May 2017).

6.1        Jean Jacques Dessalines, 1758-1806

6.2        Haitian postal stamp from 1980, depicting the Citadelle la Ferrière (Milot, North Haiti).

6.3        Henry Christophe, 1767-1820

6.4        Alexandre Pétion, 1770-1818

7.1        The Bois Caiman main Kiosque. Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (May 2017).

7.2        An Asotò (the biggest drum in a Vodun Temple or Humfor) during a Hou (the god of the sea) Vodun ceremony in Dagbo Hounon’s House, Ouidah, Benin. Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (September 1994).

8.1        A destroyed area after the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Credit: Roberto Stephenson/HPN (January 25, 2010).

Source: Esther Versière, Haïti-Seisme 2010: 8 ans après, des victimes souffrent toujours, 10 Jan. 2018, http://hpnhaiti.com/nouvelles/index.php/societe/3294-haiti-seisme-2010-8-ans-deja-et-les-victimes-souffrent-toujours (accessed November 30, 2018).

8.2        A slum profile in Haiti. Credit: Heritage Konpa Magazine (June 2007).

8.3        The GDP growth rate from 2010 to 2017.

Source: MEF and Groupe Croissance.

8.4        Community Plan published by Florida Lennar housing Corporation (www.lennar.com), 2005. Credit: Florida Lennar Corporation.

8.5        An armed militant in a Port-au-Prince neighborhood. Unknown photographer.

Source: WhatsApp IMG-20180709-WA0001 (accessed July 9, 2018).

8.6        The new Haitian Army and its 150 troops. Credit: HPN (November 2017).

Source: Alix Laroche, Haïti-Forces armées: Jovenel Moïse remobilise l’armée le 18 novembre! 14 Nov. 2017, https://www.hpnhaiti.com/nouvelles/index.php/societe/99-securite/3174 (accessed December 22, 2018).

8.7        Cité Soleil: View of uncontrolled constructions. Credit: Harvest Time (August 2004).

8.8        Cité Soleil: Houses along the shore. Credit: CyberAnth (July 2002).

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7332663 (accessed April 19, 2019).

9.1        Satellite views show Port-au-Prince before and after the January 12, 2010 earthquake catastrophe. Credit: GeoEye (Sep. 29, 2009/Jan. 13, 2010).

Source: SERVIR/CARTHALAC, Earthquake in Haiti, 14 Jan. 2010, https://servirglobal.net/Global/Articles/Article/978/earthquake-in-haiti-jan-2010S (accessed April 22, 2019).

9.2        Pétion-Ville: A neighborhood lacking health care and other resources like running water, food, and electricity. Photo: URBATER-FDS, UEH (December 2018).

9.3        Haiti Map of the January 12, 2010 earthquake.

Source: Wikipedia Foundation, Séisme de 2010 en Haïti. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/2010_Haiti_earthquake_USAID_intensity_map_2.svg, (accessed March 4, 2019).

9.4        The Cathédrale Notre Dame d’Haiti (South side) of Port-au-Prince destroyed by the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (April 2019).

9.5        The face of the chaos, symbolizes the National Palace destroyed by the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Credit: Logan Abassi/MINUSTAH (January 13, 2010).

Source: Frantz Alcéma, Haïti-Séisme-Diaspora: la reconstruction toujours au point mort ! 08 Aug.2012, http://www.hpnhaiti.com/site/images/stories/2012pics/reconstruction_%20palais.jpg (accessed August 5, 2018).

9.6        A January 2010 earthquake destruction scene and international relief workers. Credit: David de la Paz (January 2010).

9.7        2010 Haiti earthquake relief efforts by the US Army. Via Wikimedia Commons. Credit: U.S. Navy (January 15, 2010).

Source: Lorenzo Albacete, People at work. On the Path toward Charity, 1 Mar. 2010, https://english.clonline.org/stories/us-more/2010/03/01/people-at-work-on-the-path-toward-charity#prettyPhoto/0/ (accessed April 14, 2019).

9.8        A refugee camp in Port-au-Prince after the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Credit: Le Nouvelliste.

Source: Michelson Césaire, Le camp d’hébergement Acra subsiste Sept ans après le séisme, 12 Jan. 2017, https://lenouvelliste.com/article/167251/le-camp-dhebergement-acra-subsiste-sept-ans-apres-le-seisme (accessed September 19, 2018).

9.9        View of the AGRITRANS banana plantation in Trou-du-Nord, North of Haiti. Credit: Le Nouvelliste.

Source: https://images.lenouvelliste.com/articles/2018-03-01/DSC_9354.JPG (accessed October 19, 2018).

9.10      AGRITRANS banana exhibition hall in Trou-du-Nord, North of Haiti. Credit: Le Nouvelliste.

Source: https://images.lenouvelliste.com/articles/2018-03-01/DSC_9354.JPG (accessed October 19, 2018).

9.11      Trends of food production in Haiti (tons), 1961 – 2009

Source: C. M. Jolly, B. Bayard and G. Nguyen, Investigating Food Self-Sufficiency Challenges in Haiti (2011), file:///C:/Users/all/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/IE/E61JSVT3/Investigating%20Food%20Self%20Sufficiency%20Challenges%20in%20Haiti.pdf (accessed September 12, 2018).

9.12      Haitian Food Self-sufficiency (%), 1961 – 2009

Source: C. M. Jolly, B. Bayard and G. Nguyen, Investigating Food Self-Sufficiency Challenges in Haiti (2011), file:///C:/Users/all/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/IE/E61JSVT3/Investigating%20Food%20Self%20Sufficiency%20Challenges%20in%20Haiti.pdf (accessed September 12, 2018).

9.13      Population growth in Haiti, 2009-2018.

Sources: IHSI (2007, 2012) and Groupe Croissance (2018).

9.14      Non-earthquake-resistant construction in Corail, Croix-des-Bouquets, after the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (September 2018).

9.15      Non-earthquake-resistant construction in Lamardelle, Ganthier after the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (April 2017).

9.16    A new pattern of non-earthquake-resistant construction in Port-au-Prince after the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Unknown photographer.

Source: WhatsApp Wall IMG-20160112-WA0008 (accessed January 13, 2016).

9.17    Urban project about the renewal of Cité Soleil designed by the UNASMOH students.

Source: hpps//:www.Facebook.com/100001147125860102655/posts/2106122286/?app=fbl (accessed August 16, 2017).

9.18      Jalousie en Couleur. Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (June 2017).

9.19      Canaan, 3 months after the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Credit: Georgianne Nienaber (May 12, 2010).

Source: Georgianne Nienaber, UN Reports Diphteria Outbreak in Port-au-Prince: IDP Camps Vulnerable, 20 May 2010, https://m.huffpost.com (accessed September 26, 2018).

9.20      Canaan, 7 years and 6 months after the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Credit: Le Nouvelliste, July 14, 2017.

9.21     Housing constructions for low-income residents in Rwanda. Credit: New Times, Rwanda.

Source: https://allafrica.com/stories/201610060147.html (accessed August 12, 2018).

9.22      Housing constructions for low-income residents in Rwanda. Credit: New Times, Rwanda.

Source: https://allafrica.com/stories/201610060147.html (accessed August 12, 2018).

9.23      Standard housing constructions in Rwanda. Credit: New Times, Rwanda.

Source: FB_IMG_15323792321314337 (accessed October 19, 2018).

10.1      Caradeux village built during the years 2000 through 2005. Credit: Rodrigue Orisma (April, 2019).

10.2      Village La Renaissance (Cité Soleil) inaugurated on May 1, 2003 and expanded after the 2010 earthquake through the Martelly social housing program 400/100. Credit: Le Nouvelliste (October 2013).

Source: Valéry Daudier, Bien venue au village La Renaissance, 11 Oct. 2013, https://lenouvelliste.com (accessed September 18, 2018).

10.3      New house design promotion and constructions for sustainable community development in Florida, USA. Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (April 2019).

10.4      New apartment design promotion and constructions for sustainable community development in Florida, USA. Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (April 2019).

10.5      New apartment design promotion and constructions for sustainable community development in Florida, USA. Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (April 2019).

10.6      Elevation A: Community home designs available at Florida Lennar housing Corporation (www.lennar.com) in 2005.

10.7      Elevation B: Community home designs available at Florida Lennar housing Corporation (www.lennar.com) in 2005.

10.8      The author questioning the former Prime Minister Gérard Latortue (University Park Campus, FIU, Miami/Florida, March 2007) on how his government dealt with the land acquisition involving the Sans Souci Project, Ganthier, Haiti. Photo: Frantz Pierre.

10.9    House demolitions in Pèlerin, Pétion-Ville, July 5, 2018. Credit: Le Nouvelliste.

Source: Jean Daniel Sénat, Pèlerin 5, entre colère et désolation, 6 Jul. 2018, https://lenouvelliste.com/article/189791/pelerin-5-entre-colere-et-desolation.11 (accessed July 6, 2018).

10.10    House demolitions in Pèlerin, Pétion-Ville, July 5, 2018. Credit: Le Nouvelliste.

Source: Jean Daniel Sénat, Pèlerin 5, entre colère et désolation, 6 Jul. 2018, https://lenouvelliste.com/article/189791/pelerin-5-entre-colere-et-desolation.11 (accessed July 6, 2018).

10.11    Simple and similar house design (right) to be expected since the early 1990s to avoid demolitions. Credit: Florida Lennar Corporation.

Source: Florida Lennar Corporation [US], https://www.lennar.com/new-homes/florida/miami/miami/via-ventura/single-family (accessed September 19, 2019).

10.12    Simple and similar house design (right) to be expected since the early 1990s to avoid demolitions. Credit: Florida Lennar Corporation.

Source: Florida Lennar Corporation [US], https://www.lennar.com/new-homes/florida/miami/miami/via-ventura/single-family (accessed September 19, 2019).

11.1      A downtown area including the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Port-au-Prince devasted by the January 2010 earthquake. Credit: US Navy/Wikipedia-Commons.

Source: Port-au-Prince capitale d’Haiti, http://reflectim.fr/port-au-prince-capitale-de-haiti/ (accessed April 14, 2019).

11.2      Ile-à-Vache, South of Haiti

Source: www.counterpunch.org (accessed October 19, 2018).

11.3      Aerial view of Lumane Casimir Village, Morne-à-Cabris, Croix-des-Bouquets. Credit: HPN.

Source: www.hpnhaiti.com (accessed September 3, 2018).

11.4      North side of the Lumane Casimir Village, Croix-des-Bouquets. Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (April 2019).

11.5      A street in the Corail/Canaan slum. Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (September 2018).

11.6      A street in Sunrise City, Florida. USA. Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (April 2019).

11.7      New apartment design promotion and constructions for sustainable community development in Florida, USA. Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (April 2019).

11.8      Standard housing constructions in Rwanda. Credit: New Times / Rwanda.

Source: FB_IMG_15323792600485393 (accessed July 23, 2018).

11.9      Standard housing constructions in Rwanda. Credit: New Times / Rwanda,

Source: FB_IMG_15323792321314337 (accessed July 23, 2018).

11.10    A load of garbage by the OMS or WHO main office, Port-au-Prince, although the SMCRS interdiction. Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (June 2018).

11.11    Picturing the absence of the state in constructions and reconstructions of Jalousie, Pétion-Ville. Credit: René Durocher (June 24, 2016).

Source: www.touthaiti.com (accessed September 9, 2018).

11.12    Picturing constructions along the edges or bed of the Ravine Sable, Pétion-Ville. Credit: URBATER-FDS, UEH (January 24, 2019).

11.13    Caribbean Market built with less than 7.5 m on the East edge of the Ravine Sable, Pétion-Ville. Credit: URBATER-FDS, UEH (January 24, 2019).

11.14    Giant Market built with less than 7.5 m on the West edge of the Ravine Sable, Pétion-Ville. Credit: URBATER-FDS, UEH (January 24, 2019).

11.15    Death of a Caco Chief, Charlemagne Péralte, in Grande-Rivière du Nord (North of Haiti), November 1st, 1919.

Source: Roger Gaillard, Les Blancs Débarquent, 1918-1919: Charlemagne Péralte, le Caco (Port-au-Prince : Le Natal, 1982), 307.

11.16    Haitian gourde to US dollar exchange rate history, 2010-2017

Source: Groupe Croissance, Haiti.

12.1      Hôpital de l’Université d’Etat d’Haiti (HUEH) or Haiti State University Hospital, July 2007. A poor view from the front.

12.2      Hôpital de l’Université d’Etat d’Haiti (HUEH) or Haiti State University Hospital, July 2007. A view of the entrance or exit.

12.3      State TB Sanatorium in Port-au-Prince, Morne l’Hôpital (the front building and entrance). This building along with the patient room building collapsed in the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (July 2007).

12.4      One of the twin buildings encompassing the patient rooms, State TB Sanatorium in Port-au-Prince (Morne l’Hôpital), July 2007 (Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma). This building collapsed in the January 12, 2010 earthquake. After the quake, the surgery building was repaired (see 12.7) to hospitalize the patients. Below is a view of the repaired building. Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (January 2017).

12.5      A tent situation in Port-au-Prince after the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Credit: RLJ / HPN (Jan 2011).

Source: Roseline Louis-Jeune, Haïti-Séisme: Deux ans après le tremblement de terre les sinistrés des camps crient au désespoir, 11 Jan. 2012, https://www.hpnhaiti.com/site/index.php/politique/5197-haiti-seisme-deux-ans-apres-le-tremblement-de-terre-les-sinistres-des-camps-crient-au-desespoir (accessed April 27, 2019).

12.6      Number of persons diagnosed with tuberculosis, Haiti, 2009–2014

12.7      One of the twin buildings encompassing the patient rooms and the surgery rooms (State TB Sanatorium in Port-au-Prince). Repaired after the January 2010 earthquake, the surgery room building replaces the collapsed patient room building (see 12.4). Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (January 2017).

13.1      Students during their violent evacuation from the UEH building (July 29, 2016) by the CIMO agents (PNH). Credit: Le Nouvelliste.

Source: https://lenouvelliste.com/lenouvelliste/article/161542/La-police-met-fin-a-la-prise-en-otage-des-locaux-de-lUniversite-dEtat (accessed July 31, 2016).

13.2      Aerial view of Jérémie, devastated by Hurricane Matthew on October 4, 2016. Credit: Logan Abassi/MINUSTAH (October 6, 2016).

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/minustah/29550147444 (accessed September 29, 2018)

13.3      Aerial view of Jérémie being devastated by Hurricane Matthew on October 4, 2016. Credit: Louis Joseph Olivier (October 6, 2016).

Source: https://lenouvelliste.com/lenouvelliste/article/164286/473-morts-et-14-million-de-personnes-en-situation-durgence-humanitaire (accessed September 29, 2018).

13.4      The Jalousie slum, Pétion-Ville. Credit: René Durocher (June 24, 2016).

Source: www.touthaiti.com (accessed September 9, 2018).

13.5      Carrefour, from Morne l’Hôpital area to the shore. Credit: Orlando Aurelien (May 2017).

Source: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrefour_(Ha%C3%AFti), (accessed October 4, 2018).

13.6      The Cité Soleil slum close to (or about 2 miles away from) the International Airport area in Port-au-Prince. Credit: RJL/HPN (January 2014).

Source: https://www.hpnhaiti.com/site/images/stories/cite%20soleil%20maisons.jpg (accessed October 4, 2018).

13.7      The Canaan slum built after the January 2010 earthquake. Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (Avril 2019).

13.8      Cohabitation of a political party (top) and a lotto store (bottom). Photo: Rhodner J. Orisma (August 2, 2018).

13.9      The face of the new Haitian Army. Credit: Le Nouvelliste (November 2017).

Source: Jean Daniel Sénat, Jovenel Moïse annonce le déploiement de l’armée le 18 novembre au Cap-Haïtien, 13 Nov. 2017, https://lenouvelliste.com/m/public/index.php/article/178858 (accessed December 22, 2018).

13.10    Looting scenes during the July 6-8, 2018 event in Port-au-Prince. Unknown photographer.

Source: WhatsApp wall, IMG-20180708-WA0015 (accessed July 08, 2018).

13.11    Looting scenes during the July 6-8, 2018 event in Port-au-Prince. Unknown photographer.

Source: WhatsApp wall, IMG-20180708-WA0016 (accessed July 08, 2018).

13.12    Demonstration against corruption and poverty leaving Pétion-Ville for Port-au-Prince on October 17, 2018. Credit: Le Nouvelliste.

Tables

7.1      Showing how some Latin words were differently transformed in various Romance languages and Creole.

7.2      Progressive transformation of Latin words into Modern French.

12.1    2010-2018 Cholera incidence rate (population, suspected cases, institutional death, community death, total death, incidence rates).

12.2    2015 global TB screening by age and sex

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Preface

This book, From Revolution to Chaos in Haiti, 1804-2019: Urban Problems and Redevelopment Strategies, discusses two periods: the revolutionary period from 1791 to 1820, with the country’s independence occurring in 1804 and second, the urbanization and development program in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area from 1821 to April 2019 or to the present. This book’s purpose is to give a basic approach to the Haitian Revolution of 1804 and other difficult periods of time, including political crises and natural disasters, which encompass current-day issues. In this perspective, it briefly reviews the country’s urban development from its independence until the January 12, 2010 earthquake that damaged the social environment, production sectors, and infrastructure totaling an estimated $11.5 billion. Finally, it attempts to present and discuss different urban reconstruction projects in the aftermath of the earthquake to provide some ideas on urban renewal and redevelopment.

The Haitian Revolution is approached via the Theda Skocpol frame of analyzing the causes, transformations, and outcomes of a social revolution. Through this frame, the Revolution’s most crucial details including the slavery system, the general slave revolt, the general slave abolition, the battle of Vertières, the Haitian declaration of independence from France in January 1804, the new regime establishment, the massacre of the French and the land titles verification are looked at through the three concepts - causes, transformations, and outcomes - as well as within the theory presenting social revolutions as rapid, basic transformations of a society’s state and class structures, accompanied and in part carried through by class-based revolts from below.¹

This book is concise for a quick historical understanding and is accessible to students and the Haitian diaspora alike. The idea of this book emerged from a term paper in a comparative social movements class taken in fall 2001 at Florida International University (FIU) and the book was published first before the earthquake with the title: The Middle Choice: Haiti through Revolution, Chaos, and Reconstruction Perspectives.

Updated after the earthquake, the book presents the 1804 revolution as one of the most important revolutions, since it has promoted both a free nation and liberty for all regardless of their race and socioeconomic status. Also, it involves the Haitians’ preoccupation to regenerate time after time the 1804 revolutionary goals to rebuild their present and future, since Haitians, on average, live a very difficult existence, based on the lack of clean water, sanitation, food, shelter, safety, health care and education. Their misery continues to increase upon rhythms that are even more fundamental to their seeking survival, let alone a dignified life. Thus, the Haitian state can be analyzed as a dysfunctional or failed state. This implies why a revolution should still continue and is even being considered after the earthquake as the starting point to motivate the state, political sectors and private entrepreneurs for consensus related to sustainable agricultural and urban development.

The Revolution of 1804 was violent, and at the time, this action was the best way for slaves to overthrow the slavery system and become independent. This time around, however, it has been admitted that the option of violence has to be avoided while generating social and political goals. This is mainly because violence had not effectively changed the critical conditions of Haiti in the last two centuries. In recent years, violence has firmly held the country back, and the pursuit of it will certainly shut the country down. It has caused, in less than one century (1915 - 2004), three foreign interventions: the American Occupation from 1915 to 1934, the 1994 intervention of the United States (US)/United Nations (U.N.) troops to restore democracy, and the 2004 intervention by largely the same actors with the stated goal of stabilization.

Some U.N. soldiers are from nations with no outstanding history and democracy builders to teach the country. While on mission in the country, some soldiers have been involved in sexual and homosexual abuses and scandals by having sex with (in some cases raping) ‘girls as young as thirteen’ and using sexual violence against young men identified as teens, some of them under age. Also, they have enhanced prostitution and corruption by paying as little as one dollar for a sexual act. Their presence there has been seen as humiliation to the sons of the first independent black republic, or to make them feel bad about their blackness and incompetence to govern themselves. However, what seems to be, ironic in this situation is that those who have first denounced these abuses and the foreign interventions in the country have been among the leaders and troublemakers irresponsibly transgressing the economic and sociopolitical orders or local security to create the appalling conditions that call for intervention.

Considered as a moderate choice set, dialogues, compromises, and an outstanding agreement for peace between the Haitian opposing leaders have been expected in order to avoid these unnecessary interventions in the future and would work better than upheavals in quest of organizing the country’s social life. In other words, they would also help the country secure a continuous environment for businesses or private investments, socioeconomic progress and for working above all on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG for 2030), having replaced the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), unattained in 2015.

Haitians have to compromise somehow on the idea that every problem requires a uniquely political end. The intellectual and economic elites must, however, play their integral role in seeking solutions to national problems. An intellectual,² for example, must be in active participation in practical life, as constructor, organiser, ‘permanent persuader’ and not just a simple orator.³ Otherwise, their raison d’être is to mystify people in the country or exploit them.

The country may now want to have the elites deal with its social and economic crises by focusing on equal access to basic needs, housing and landscaping development, financial businesses, and peaceful communication, which are related to the logic of a serious and sustainable development as the MDGs preoccupation puts it. These elites have not realized that as the country’s main landlords or leaders, no one can take their leadership away as long as they have control of the population and provide the basic human rights and needs necessary for a safe, peaceful and productive environment. As they might neglect all of these, they lose their identities as developmental leaders and worsen the socioeconomic inequalities and violence. Since 1986 the country has been so unsecured and troubled by socioeconomic crisis, violent upheavals, kidnapping, and crimes that even the majority of the elites cannot enjoy their inappropriately amassed wealth.

Further, in the view of many, the country should be at the edge of a general mass revolt like the ones that took place August 21-22, 1791, July 6-8, 2018 and February 7-15, 2019. For example, deep in the night of August 21-22, 1791, many slave masters and their wives and children were massacred in their plantation homes. In addition, properties, plantations or cane fields were reduced to ashes.⁴ To control an eventual quasi-similar revolt, a few intellectuals and leaders might look for a middle ground, which expresses the idea to lessen the conflicts by following the postmodern social theory that offers the opportunity to re-stabilize the elite identity in its transformational and developmental leadership around the middle class and the lower class.⁵

In other words, instead of engaging the masses in violent struggles or in a bloody revolution against the economic elite particularly, it is better to take advantage of the postmodern social theory mentioned and rally the social classes hand in hand for the country’s journey through socioeconomic development, including agricultural, urban and housing programs. Those who cannot share this option might be criticized for their pseudo-patriotism, and for creating a fake leadership in order to take advantage of the social division.

This book has two phases. As indicated, chapters 1-5 focus only on the Haitian Revolution from the beginning to 1804. Chapters 6-13 then deal with the short and long-term outcomes, attempting to analyze the early years of the Revolution from 1804 to 1820 referred as the transformative period, and after 1820 to now, which describes the current issues and perspectives like language choice and education, urban complexities including violence, the January 12, 2010 earthquake disaster, housing and public health crisis before and after the earthquake, etc.

I have many professors (University of Toronto and Florida International University) to thank for their influence on me. My special thanks to Dr. Elizabeth Abbott (History) for her academic encouragement. Also, special thanks to professors Barry B. Levine (Social Theory), Lois West (Comparative Social Movements), Anthony Maingot (Sociology of International Development), Peter Machonis (History of Language), and Dennis Wiedman (Medical Anthropology) for their reliable suggestions and comments to term papers while I was taking their classes. I also thank professors Guillermo J. Grenier (Social Theory) and Sarah J. Mahler (Writing Proposal and Research Methods) for their suggestions and comments.

Thanks to, among others, Dr. Tometro Hopkins (FIU Linguistics Department), Dr. Liliana R. Goldin (FIU Sociology and Anthropology Department), Dr. Honorat Aguessy (Institute for Development and Endogenous Exchanges - IDEE, Benin), Michelle Lamarre (FIU Sociology Department office manager), Ann Williams (African-American Research Library, Broward County), Paul Namphy (DINEPA), Tharadjyne Orisma and Zandra Faulks (Broward County Public Schools) for their help. Thanks also to Clemene I. Paul and Dr. Rose-Andrée Solon! I am ever grateful for their encouragement and support.

RJO

Introduction

This is an attempt to explain the 1804 Haitian Revolution and its outcomes (1804-1820), urban problems and recent redevelopment ideas (1821-2019), which also include language choice and education, public health crisis with a focus on tuberculosis (TB), HIV/AIDS, or HIV-related TB. See first the theory of social revolution and the Revolution of 1804 before displaying urban problems and development in the Région Métropolitaine de Port-au-Prince (RMPAP) or Port-au-Prince metropolitan area including Port-au-Prince, Delmas, Carrefour, Gressier, Pétion-Ville, Kenskoff, Tabarre, Cité Soleil, Croix-des-Bouquets and Ganthier in perspective. Then, Theda Skocpol’s definition and frame of analyzing a social revolution developed in the book, States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China, are mainly used to analyze the Haitian Revolution.

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Figure 0.1    Map picturing the West Department of Haiti and its Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.

Design: Wisly Dieujuste and Rhodner J. Orisma (August 2019).

Skocpol⁶ defined social revolutions as rapid, basic transformations of a society’s state and class structures, accompanied and in part carried through by class-based revolts from below.⁷ She utilized the Marxist theory of revolution to develop her definition: Marx [then] understood revolutions … as class-based movements growing out of objective structural contradictions within historically developing and inherently conflict-ridden societies.⁸

With respect to this, Skocpol’s explanation about social revolutions [is centered] on state social structures, international competitive pressures and international demonstration effects, and class relations, drawing on the Marxist (class struggle) and structuralist (revolution equals response to destabilization of social system) schools, and favouring the latter. ⁹

Further, Skocpol emphasizes how international events and relations between states (like threats of invasion, defeats in war, political dependency and economic inequalities) can impact the outcomes of domestic events (like revolutions).¹⁰ Then, the prevailing situation is to lead to increased destabilization and political crises (a state financial emergency, severe elite divisions, a power vacuum, and a potential and propensity for popular groups to mobilize) which in turn create an opportunity for the revolutionary forces to act.¹¹ Finally, she underlines that while elites play an important role, the masses—ordinary citizens—are also vital, and most successful revolutions were aided by urban and especially peasant rebellions.¹²

As stated earlier, this book analyzes both the 1804 Haitian Revolution and further urban problems and redevelopment across the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area including the cities of Port-au-Prince, Delmas, Carrefour, Gressier, Pétion-Ville, Kenskoff, Tabarre, Cité Soleil, Croix-des-Bouquets and Ganthier in perspective. The preliminary objective is to demonstrate how the Haitian Revolution is, to some extent, related to the theory of social revolution, and how at the end of 1803, the enslaved people of Haiti [or people from the lower class in Saint Domingue] vanquished their French masters [or overthrew the slavery system] after a bloody war which left tens of thousands dead,¹³ and established their own political and socioeconomic system.

This revolution (1789-1804) of Saint Domingue¹⁴ or Haiti (Figure 1)¹⁵ is distinctive. It took place during a time in which the island had three distinct social classes (that are not to be confused with three social movements). The first was the class of masters, planters, or plantation owners. The second was the class of the affranchis. This class was represented by the mulattos, people born from White fathers and Black mothers, as well as from a proportion of free blacks¹⁶ or liberated slaves. The third was the class of slaves. The slaves performed domestic jobs and worked on the plantations. Each social class mentioned had a specific agenda from which three social movements were developed.

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Figure 0.2    Map of Haiti. Courtesy Worldmaponline.

Source: https://www.worldmapsonline.com/images/academia/countries/academia_haiti_political_lg.jpg (accessed April 12, 2019).

The first movement was that of the grands blancs or grands planteurs, large-scale White planters who sought autonomy for Saint Domingue vis-à-vis Metropolitan France and initiated a nationalist movement. The second movement was that of the affranchis—nonwhite, non-slaves, who were of African descent and of mixed race. The goal of this movement was to pursue the equality of sociopolitical rights with White planters and Whites in general, in Saint Domingue. This movement was tagged as a human and civil rights movement, which was also linked to the third movement led by the slaves. The goal of the slaves (through their movement) was the prohibition of slavery and, ultimately, that movement gave birth to the Haitian Revolution of 1804.

Although it is clear that the overthrow of the White planter class by the slave class characterized the Haitian Revolution, analyzing the overall revolution remains complex because this revolution was unique since at once it dealt with three different movements, which claimed divergent interests. Three factors explained this complexity.

First, identifying when the Haitian Revolution began seems to be ambiguous, because of the three movements that shaped the revolution. These revolts were based on a three-century-old slavery system (1503-1803) that had been reinforced after the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 in which the Spaniards granted the Western part of Haiti (Saint Domingue) to France.¹⁷ In turn, France installed a more rigorous slavery regime that paved the road to the slave revolt. Accordingly, certain people admit that the origin of the revolution began with the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick. However, other people consider that the revolution began in 1503, date in which the first Black slaves were imported to the island from the West African Coast.¹⁸

The idea of the Haitian Revolution evolving in the early sixteenth century with this importation is more plausible, and that goes beyond many theorists’ assumptions claiming that a revolution begins only with outbreak of public conflict between rebels and regime.¹⁹ The participants of the conference on The Road of Slaves (inaugurated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO]²⁰ in Ouidah, Benin [formerly Dahomey], in September 1994) have treated both the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity; then they set up their beginning as the starting point of this revolution, and its causes as well.²¹In reference to this trade and slavery as crimes against humanity, Sonthonax,²² a slavery abolitionist, had already declared since the early 1790s to the slaves of Saint Domingue that no one has the right of forcing you to dispose of your time against your will.²³ This implies that whenever or wherever injustice, discrimination, and exploitation exist, the causes for a social movement and a revolution are opportune; and the people could begin to stand up for their rights and freedom.

Second, approaching either the causes or the different factors that characterized the Haitian Revolution remains a problem, since the three social classes that were involved in this revolution were defending three divergent interests. This created a problem in the social transformations or possible outcomes that emerged simultaneously from the actions of the White planter, the affranchi, and the slave movements.

Third, this revolution is considered unique because it was the first time in world history that a black slave population had overthrown a slavery system run by white masters to create an independent nation²⁴ and reorganize its political and socioeconomic system. As a matter of fact, it is admitted that there is no viable theory²⁵ or relative theoretical paradigms available yet to assess clearly the fundamental changes that this revolution facilitated.

It is, however, worth noting that the Haitian Revolution of 1804 displays almost all the characteristics delineated by Skocpol in her book States and Social Revolutions. As stated earlier, Skocpol’s definition and frames of analyzing a social revolution are followed in analyzing the causes, the social transformations, and the outcomes of the Haitian Revolution. In other words, let’s recall, understanding basically a social movement or a revolution, its causes, and the social transformations and results it creates, must be considered.

The causes of a revolution are the contradictions and the unfair conditions under the old or the established regime that provoke the given revolution. Those aspiring to be revolutionaries focus on the contradictions to create their own revolutionary objectives and to arouse or stir up the alienated and oppressed social classes, or people, against the established regime. ²⁶

Compared with the causes, social transformations call for upheavals and conflicts between opposing social groups or classes. These confrontations aim at destabilizing the established regime or at forcing it to negotiate policies in order to develop a progressive change. However, the most important event that occurs during a social transformation is the complete breakdown of the established regime and its replacement by an alternate regime that fits the revolutionary objectives and the needs of the people.²⁷ This is what occurred in Saint Domingue from 1789 to 1804 and in the aftermath.

The outcomes refer to the economic, social, and political changes brought on by a given movement or revolution, and its impact on other movements and revolutions.²⁸ They transform the old regime into a new one that provides what people expect from this movement or revolution.

Before 1789, France, for example, had a monarchic regime called the ancien régime (old regime) that was dominated by the aristocracy and the clergy.²⁹ In this regime, ‘people had little say over their own beliefs, status, or government.’ The Bourgeoisie’s privileges were very limited. Therefore, the bourgeoisie provoked the French Revolution of 1789.

One outcome of this revolution was the establishment of a republican regime with three branches—the legislative, the executive, and the judicial—through which the bourgeoisie’s privileges increased, and ‘people were able to determine their own religions, professions, and social groups, based on personal preference and talent.’ The power of the king (Louis XVI, 1774-1793) became limited to the executive in a constitutional monarchy, and the clergy was excluded from the state. Now, elections were organized for all administrative functions, and everyone had the same chance to be elected. The educational system was reformed and allowed every nation’s child to have access to education.³⁰

Since most of the aforementioned criteria are met in the Haitian Revolution, then this revolution is said to be well-thought-out; this, and also because it was carried out by the very slaves who belonged to the most humiliated, uneducated, and miserable social class in Saint Domingue at the time. To succeed in their revolution, the slaves formed cross-class or cross-movement coalitions, which meant the slaves got involved in the White planter and affranchi movements in order to divert the whites to their own causes and defeat them during the War of Independence in November 1803. Subsequently, they installed (at the beginning of 1804) a brand-new socio-political and economic regime, but not really at the sociocultural level since officially the victors of 1803-1804 maintained the French language, culture, and education to minimize some more important aspects of indigenous and African cultural values.

Accordingly, chapter 1 discusses shortly the causes of the