As US forces withdraw from Afghanistan and the West’s loss of confidence finally results in actual withdrawals (though see the reversal by the French in Mali),

As US forces withdraw from Afghanistan and the West’s loss of confidence finally results in actual withdrawals (though see the reversal by the French in Mali), it’s worth noting that old-style selfish neocolonialism is still alive and kicking e.g. in Haiti. Whether or not it is wise to withdraw Afghanistan-style, it seems sad that this blatant selfishness and incompetence—which does not benefit Western peoples terribly much these days anyway—continues despite a change in the thinking of Western foreign policy élites. > Moïse says he is entitled to another year in office. Legal experts agree that his interpretation of the law requires twisting it beyond recognition, but there’s an old Haitian saying that the constitution is paper and guns are steel, and Moïse has the backing he needs from the OAS and the USA. At a press conference on 5 February, the State Department took Moïse’s side in the end-of-term argument. Perhaps this was mere expediency from the White House – Haiti is a small country and the Biden administration has inherited a myriad messes – but Moïse saw a green light. > American ignorance and blitheness was on full display this month during a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. When one of the Haitian witnesses, Guerline Jozef, urged legislators to examine the root causes of Haiti’s predicament, going back to the indemnity Haiti was forced to pay in 1825 to compensate France for its slaves,Congressman Brian Mast (R-FL) cut her off. He mansplained: > > Haitians individually within Haiti [need to] look in the mirror and say: ‘We can’t rely on America, we can’t rely on France, we can’t rely on others. We’re hopeful for their assistance. But we have to look in the mirror and say, how do we do this?’ And that’s what I hope we can really really get to the root of, is ... what is it that they can look in the mirror and do to correct what is missing there? > A few minutes later, the Haitian activist Emmanuela Douyon tried to set Mast straight. ‘Haiti is not waiting for the US, France or any other country in the international community,’ she said: > > We’ve already decided what we want to do. What we’re asking is for the international community to listen and respect our choice. We have a president whose term ended last February. He has benefited from the support of the OAS [and] the US State Department, despite the fact that most of Haitian civil society acknowledges that his term has ended, according to the constitution ... This is what we’re facing now. And this is a perfect example of how when we don’t listen to Haitians, we can’t blame them later for the outcome. We want to end with all this corruption and impunity, we want to end with the old practices. [But] so many people do not want to give us a chance to decide for ourselves. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2021/march/haitian-democracy https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2021/march/haitian-democracy