Haiti is under international dictatorship, says author
Justin Podur, author of 'Haiti's New Dictatorship', issues a powerful challenge and wake-up call to the international NGO and development community
Press release, Between the Lines Books
TORONTO, Oct. 29, 2012 – Haiti is again living under a dictatorship, says author Justin Podur. Podur, author of Haiti’s New Dictatorship: The Coup, the Earthquake and the UN Occupation, explains that Haitians have no effective say over their economic and political affairs; their right to assemble and organize politically is sharply limited; and human rights violations are routine and go unpunished.
Podur says, “Last week conclusive evidence came out that the cholera outbreak that killed 7,500 people in Haiti came from the UN, with an accompanying note that there is no one to blame for it. In a way, this is true: the international regime that rules Haiti today diffuses responsibility so that thousands of people can die and there is no one to blame. Democracy and sovereignty could save lives in Haiti.”
Haiti’s New Dictatorship tells the history of the past seven years, from the 2004 coup against Aristide to the devastating 2010 earthquake, revealing a shocking story of abuse and neglect by international forces.
Justin Podur is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at York University. He is a writer on political conflicts and social movements, and has reported from numerous countries including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, Haiti, and Israel/Palestine. He is a contributor to Empire’s Ally: Canadian Foreign Policy and the War in Afghanistan (2012).
Justin Podur is available for interview. He is speaking across Canada in the month of November. For his speaking schedule and contact information, go here: http://www.killingtrain.com/books. Listen here to an Oct 25, 2012 interview with the author.
PRAISE FOR Haiti's New Dictatorship
"The centuries-long torture of Haiti, and the courageous resistance of its people, is one of the most dramatic and compelling stories of modern history. It is vividly brought to life in this highly illuminating study, which also provides valuable lessons about western power and ideology." —Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor and Professor of Linguistics (Emeritus), Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"The UN occupation of Haiti promised to bring stability and democracy. Instead it has delivered cholera, rape and repression. Justin Podur expertly exposes the abuses that ‘the international community’ has inflicted on one of the world’s poorest countries - from the brutal imposition of structural adjustment and the driving out of a democratically elected president to the politicization of earthquake relief." —Greg Grandin, Professor of History, New York University
"A systematic analysis. ... Podur offers a timely overview of the whole period of post- Aristide Haiti, right up to the present day." —Peter Hallward, Professor of Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University and author of Damming the Flood: Haiti, Aristide, and the Politics of Containment
"Podur’s book explains how a country that is nominally democratic suffers under the yoke of a ‘New Dictatorship’ in which international actors and their Haitian elite partners leave the majority of Haitians with little effective influence over their own economic and political affairs." —Brian Concannon, Director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti