Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Selective Grief and Haitian Resistance

Largely ignored by international media, Hurricane Matthew has left 877 people dead in Haiti. These deaths are not only a product of the hurricane–they are a product of racism, capitalism and imperialism.

Lourival Aguiar Mahin

October 10, 2016
Facebook Twitter Share

Image from Esquerda Diario

This article was originially written in Portuguese for Esquerda Diario.

We need to talk about the hurricane that devastated Haiti last week. This tragedy, caused by Hurricane Matthew, is tied to racism and imperialism. The almost 900 deaths were not merely costs of a natural disaster. The hundreds of deaths cannot be explained by the fact that Haiti is the poorest country in Central America. This is a capitalist disaster, leaving semi-colonies like Haiti with no infrastructure or safety procedures.

We must begin by remembering the struggles and victories of the people of Haiti, the first Black nation to end slavery and declare itself independent. However, the Haitians were forced to paid a high price for their bold revolution. Slave-holding countries made sure Haiti served as an example for the enslaved and oppressed around the world who dared to follow their footsteps.

Long before the hurricane, France devastated Haiti with the desire for profit and revenge. The colonial power took thousands of francos from the newly-freed country thousands for its independence. For over a century, Haiti has been choked by the United States, which invaded and occupied the island on three occasions since its liberation. Haiti is systemically oppressed because its history is a symbol of resistance for today’s oppressed. This brings us to another question that Hurricane Matthew brings to light.

Hurricane Matthew hit the southwest part of the island with its 145 mph winds, leaving thousands of destroyed houses, flooded cities and almost 900 people dead, totaling half the deaths counted in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and ten times those of Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Despite the high death toll, the mainstream media is more concerned with the possibility of the hurricane encroaching upon Florida than the devastation in Haiti. This selective grief was demonstrated clearly in January 2015. After 12 deaths and 11 injured caused by the attack on Charlie Hebdo in France, there was a strong international solidarity campaign (“Je Suis Charlie Hebdo”). Yet just a few days before, several days of massacre in Nigeria Boko Haram had just come to an end, leaving what Amnesty International estimates to be 2,000 dead. There was little to no international solidarity and very little reporting about it. We cannot ignore this blatant discrepancy. Black Lives Matter, everywhere in the world. Unfortunately, the tragedies that capitalist society grieves over have a color. And that color is not Black.

The human rights organizations, left political parties, labor unions and student groups should organize an active campaign of solidarity for the victims of Hurricane Matthew and denounce the imperialist oppression suffered in that country. Those of us in Brazil loudly declare: Troops out of Haiti! The struggle of our Haitian brothers and sister is also ours!

Translated by Tatiana Cozzarelli

Facebook Twitter Share

Latin America

Black Struggle and Revolution, from Brazil to the U.S.

Letícia Parks from Brazil explains the crucial role of Black struggle in working-class revolution.

Letícia Parks

October 1, 2023
Pro-abortion activists hold up banners reading "Legal abortion" and "Forcing gestation is torture" during a protest against abortion named "For the Life", a week after the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) decriminalized abortion, in Monterrey, Mexico September 12, 2021.

Mexico Moves Closer to Decriminalizing Abortion, but the Fight Isn’t Over

The new ruling is an important step in advancing the decriminalization of abortion in Mexico. But we must fight for fully legal, free, and safe abortion across the country.

Joss Espinosa

September 14, 2023

The 1973 Coup in Chile, 50 Years Later: Lessons of a Revolutionary Process

50 years ago today, a U.S.-backed military coup overthrew the government of Salvador Allende in Chile, installing the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Here, we share a series of articles to think about the lessons from the defeat of one of the most profound revolutionary processes in Latin America.  

Left Voice

September 11, 2023
Argentine presidential candidate of the La Libertad Avanza alliance, Javier Milei, reacts with Ramiro Marra, candidate for head of government of Buenos Aires, and Victoria Villarruel, candidate for vice-president, on stage at his campaign headquarters on the day of Argentina's primary elections, in Buenos Aires, Argentina August 13, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer

What Explains the Rise of the Far Right in Argentina?

The Peronists’ “lesser evil” strategy has failed to stop the rise of Javier Milei, the most reactionary major candidate Argentina has seen in decades.

Robert Belano

August 22, 2023

MOST RECENT

Left Voice Magazine: Special Issue on Our Congress

In July, Left Voice held its first congress. As part of this special issue of our magazine, we are publishing two documents that formed the basis of the discussions, as well as an substantive and rousing greeting from Leticia Parks, a Black revolutionary socialist from Brazil. We also include an appeal for Climate Leninism, a debate with Tempest, and a talk about women’s liberation in revolutionary Russia.

Left Voice

October 1, 2023

Notes on the International Situation

A Convulsive New Phase of the Crisis of Neoliberalism — A Document for the Left Voice Congress

Left Voice

October 1, 2023

A Slow-Moving Crisis of the Empire

Notes on the National Situation – A Document for the Left Voice Congress

Left Voice

October 1, 2023

Debating the Path to the Party

Revolutionaries and Reformist Organizations — A Debate Between Jimena Vergara of Left Voice and Aaron Amaral of Tempest at the Socialism Conference in Chicago.

Jimena Vergara

October 1, 2023