The Progressive Agenda for Haitians Today

As Lenin said: “Without revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement.” At this turning point in our history, progressive Haitians must refer to Marxist philosophy to interpret and understand this situation’s events and better resist and combat the enemy’s maneuvers.

Faced with the new planned military occupation of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) force, let us unite in making denunciations based on principle and proclaiming the inalienable rights of the Haitian people and the rebirth of the new Haitian man.

I. Denunciations

1. Let us denounce our economy’s semi-feudal and semi-capitalist mode of production and at the same time the large private land ownership of our agricultural land, a source of misery for poor farmers and a retrograde and inhumane production system.
2. Let us denounce the starvation wages paid to Haitian subcontracting workers and the unjust exploitation of human labor by illegitimate and privileged national and foreign interests.
3. Let us denounce illiteracy, the lack of teachers, the lack of free primary and secondary schools, the lack of doctors and hospitals, the lack of social protection for the elderly and the disabled, and the inequality and exploitation of women.
4. Let us denounce the political and economic oligarchies, the repressive police, and this new occupying force’s soldiers and police officers who keep the popular masses in misery and prevent their democratic development and the full exercise of their sovereignty.
5. Let us denounce the transfer of our natural and mineral resources to foreign monopolies through a policy of abandonment and betrayal of the nation’s higher interests.
6. Let us denounce the PHTK regime with this new version of the presidential council which remains deaf to the people’s demands and bows to the imperialist countries’ orders.
7. Let us denounce, in general, the exploitation of man by man and the exploitation of poorly developed countries by imperialist financial capital.

II. Proclamation of Rights

1. Let us proclaim the right of Haitian peasants to land through genuine agrarian reform for the revival of national production and their full economic and social development.
2. Let us proclaim the right of the Haitian worker to the fruit of his work and to a decent minimum wage which allows him to live and reproduce, the right of disadvantaged children to education, the right of young people to work, the right of sick people to serious medical assistance and hospitalization, the right of students to free, experimental and scientific education, the right of women to civil, social and political equality, the right of the elderly to a secure old age, the right of intellectuals, artists and scientists to fight in their work for a better Haiti, the right of the Haitian state to nationalize the monopolies of the private sector and foreign companies, thus recovering wealth and national resources for equitable redistribution, our country’s right to free trade with all the world’s peoples, the Haitian people’s right to full sovereignty and self-determination.
3. Let us proclaim the Haitian State’s right to arm workers, peasants, progressive intellectuals, women, young people, the elderly, all the oppressed and exploited, in order to defend their rights and future.

III. Proclamation of the Civic Duties of the New Haitian Man

1. Let us proclaim the duty of workers, peasants, students, women, young people, and the elderly to fight for their economic, political and social demands.
2. Let us proclaim the duty of oppressed and exploited nations to fight for their liberation, the duty of each people to be in solidarity with all oppressed, colonized, exploited or aggressed, no matter where in the world or the geographical distance that separates them; all the peoples of the world are brothers and sisters.
3. Let us reaffirm our conviction that the Haitian people will soon set out, united and victorious, freed from the links which transform their economy into wealth delivered to imperialist countries and which prevent them from making their true voice heard in international bodies or officials servants and serviles form a chorus with the despot master.
4. Let us decide to work towards this common destiny with the planet’s other exploited peoples, a destiny which will allow our countries to build true solidarity based on the free will of each of them and on common aspirations.

Before all the other brother peoples of the whole world, let us proclaim that Haiti will not fail; this is our historic commitment with our eternal motto: “FREEDOM OR DEATH.”