Haiti, Antihaitianismo, and the Dominican Republic

[adipocere]

So basically everyone under 84 years of age with black skin living in the Dominican Republic could be stripped of their citizenship...


Haiti, Antihaitianismo, and the Dominican Republic (http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/haiti-antihaitianismo-and-dominican-republic)

By The Public Archive (http://thepublicarchive.com/?author=1) | Published: October 7, 2013


On September 23, 2013, the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic ruled that the children of “irregular” migrants born in the Dominican Republic after June 21st, 1929 would be stripped of their Dominican citizenship. The ruling – which could render 250,000 Dominicans of Haitian descent stateless – came as a result of a challenge by Juliana Deguis Pierre (http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2013/09/27/juliana-deguis-pierre-ldquo-ido-una-sola-vez-haitirdquo) against the Dominican Electoral Board. The Electoral Board refused to issue Pierre an identification card. They argued that although she was born in the “national territory,” because she was the daughter of migrants in transit she did not have the right to Dominican citizenship. They based their ruling on article 11.1 of the Dominican Constitution of November 29, 1966 which held sway when Pierre was born.
While Ms. Pierre was the subject of the Constitutional Court’s ruling, it also targets all Dominicans of Haitian descent. The decision also formalizes a process of exclusion, racism, and harassment that had already construed Dominicans of Haitian descent as second-class citizens in their own country while marginalizing Haitian immigrants. Indeed, even before the ruling, Haitian immigrants had been subject to demeaning raids and dragnets by the Dominican security forces while in the past thirteen months, since August 16, 2012, almost 47,700 undocumented Haitians were expelled from the country (http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130927/dominican-army-deports-47700-haitians-13-months) – more than twice the figure of 20,541 expelled during the previous year.
The actions of the Dominican Constitutional Court also have their origins in the current of antihaitianismo – of anti-Haitianism – dating from the nineteenth century. This antihaitianismo sees the presence of people of Haitian descent – and of people of African descent more generally – as a threat to Dominican identity. It relies on both an identification with Spanish roots and the valorization of an aboriginal or indio (http://archive.org/stream/antihaitianismoi00saga#page/210/mode/2up/search/indio) past through the national cult of Quisqueya. It contrasts the Dominican Republic’s whiteness with Haiti’s Blackness; as one scholar memorably put it, “in the Dominican Republic the cause is the consequence: you are Black because you are Haitian, (http://blackagendareport.com/content/dominican-republic-hates-black-people) you are Haitian because you are Black.”
Yet while Blackness is rejected from Dominican identity, it is necessary for the Dominican economy. The four generations of Dominicans of Haitian descent that would be denationalized by the ruling are the children of Haitian cane-cutters who toiled in Dominican sugar plantations under conditions reminiscent of slavery. Thee importance of the Haitian market to Dominican commerce should also be noted. The trade imbalance (http://www.alterpresse.org/spip.php?article14825#.UlK8Nrb-L_1) between the two countries is stark. In 2012, the Dominican Republic exported more than $1.7 billion worth of goods through formal and informal channels. Haiti sent back just $50 million in goods.
The most notorious result of anti-Haitianism came in the form of the so-called Parsley Massacre in 1937, overseen by Dominican President Rafael Trujillo with the complicity of Haitian president Elie Lescot. Between 2 October 1937 and 8 October 1937, between 14,000 and 40,000 Haitians were slaughtered by Dominican troops. The current ruling by the Dominican Constitutional Courts triggers the potential denationalization and displacement of tens of thousands of Dominicans while providing the ideological grounds for the recurrence of such dehumanizing violence against Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent. The massacre could happen again.
In response to the ruling, there have been protests by enlightened Dominicans in Washington Heights (http://www.eldiariony.com/Repudian-decision-dominicana-contra-hijos-de-haitianos-NYC) and San Juan, Puerto Rico (http://diasporadominicana.com/organizaciones-dominicanas-y-puertorriquenas-protestaran-frente-consulado-rd-puerto-rico/) while Haitian and Dominican civil society organizations (http://www.alterpresse.org/spip.php?article15241#.UlKv9bb-L_0) have issued statements condemning (https://www.facebook.com/ezili.danto/posts/10151908157806343) the decision. One can only hope these protests spread. The late Dominican-Haitian activist Sonia Pierre (http://thepublicarchive.com/?p=3093) once stated, “My community, the community of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent, is the poorest and most vulnerable, subject to the cruelest denial of their rights.” Until the law is repealed, until Dominicans of Haitian descent have a secure and meaningful path to citizenship, and until their human rights are recognized and protected, they will remain the most vulnerable, victimized and preyed upon by a racist Dominican state.
What follows is a brief dossier of articles on Haitian-Dominican relations and the history of antihaitianismo:
Edwidge Danticat interviewed by David Barsamian (http://www.progressive.org/mag_intvdanticat), The Progressive (October 2003)
Alicia Anabel Santos, “Today I’m Embarrassed to Be Dominican (http://www.latina.com/lifestyle/news/commentary-today-im-embarrassed-be-dominican#axzz2gmMd2e85),” Latina (October 4, 2013)
Jemima Pierre, “The Dominican Republic Hates Black People (http://blackagendareport.com/content/dominican-republic-hates-black-people),” Black Agenda Report (December 14, 2011)
Rachelle Charlier Doucet, “Haïti-Rép. Dominicaine : La sentence de la Cour constitutionnelle dominicaine, un devoir de solidarité (http://www.alterpresse.org/spip.php?article15247#.UlKv8Lb-L_0),” AlterPress (October 5, 2013)
Jean Ledan fils, “L’après-1929 avec “AMIGO” (http://lenouvelliste.com/article4.php?newsid=122166), Le Nouvelliste (October 3, 2013)
Amín Pérez, “La (des)illusion de la dominicanidad (http://hoy.com.do/la-desilusion-de-la-dominicanidad/),” Hoy (October 5, 2013)
Ernesto Sagás, A Case of Mistaken Identity: Antihaitianismo in Dominican Culture, (http://www2.webster.edu/%7Ecorbetre/haiti/misctopic/dominican/antihaiti.htm) [Sagás’ full dissertation is here (http://archive.org/stream/antihaitianismoi00saga#page/n0/mode/2up)]
LaToya Tavernier, “The Stigma of Blackness: Anti-Haitianism in the Dominican Republic (http://sdonline.org/48/the-stigma-of-blackness-anti-haitianism-in-the-dominican-republic/),” Socialism and Democracy (May 7, 2011)
Bernardo Vega, “El antihaitianismo como instrument (http://www.cielonaranja.com/bernardovegahaiti.htm),” El Caribe (September 19, 2005)
Frank Moya Pons, “Antihaitianismo histórico y antihaitianismo de Estado (http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2009/12/05/i226089_antihaitianismo-histarico-antihaitianismo-estado.html),” Diario Libre (December 5, 2009)
Humberto García Muñiz and Jorge L. Giovannetti, “Garveysmo y racismo en el Caribe: El caso de la población cocola en la República Dominicana,” Caribbean Studies (2003) [click here for PDF (http://www.cielonaranja.com/hgm-cocolosrd.pdf) via Cielonaranja (http://www.cielonaranja.com/)]
Tribunal Constitucional Republica Dominicana. Sentencia TC/0168/13. Referencia: Expediente núm. TC-05-2012-0077, relativo al recurso de revisión constitucional en materia de amparo incoado por la señora Juliana Dequis (o Deguis) Pierre, contra la Sentencia núm. 473/2012 dictada por la Cámara Civil, Comercial y de Trabajo del Juzgado de Primera Instancia del Distrito Judicial de Monte Plata, en fecha diez (10) de julio de dos mil doce (2012). (http://tribunalconstitucional.gob.do/node/1764)

[Creative Destruction]

What the fuck.

[tachosomoza]

This is ridiculous. There's a major African and Native component in the ancestral makeup of a great majority of Dominicans. The difference is that Haitians have a history of revolting against imperialism (their country was the first independent black nation in the Western Hemisphere, liberated from the slaveowning French by force), and they're proud of it, while many Dominicans are ashamed of their African ancestry and try to cover it up/deny it.

[Red Commissar]

The problem here goes back to the division of Hispaniola into two states when the Dominican Republic declared independence from Haiti. Hispaniola, despite the name, had never been completely controlled by Spain. For a time the entirety was ceded to France, which it then had to abandon following the victory by slaves led by Touissant l'Ouverture. This new Haitian state attempted to assert authority over the whole of the island, and this was opposed by those residing in the east, particularly those of Spanish descent.

When Haiti had to leave the eastern half of the Island because of its economic and political problems, that state became the Dominican Republic. From that point forward there was animosity between the two- Haiti which felt that the Dominican Republic held land it rightfully controlled, and the Dominican Republic which viewed Haiti as an aggressor. The Dominican Republic in particular began to view Haitians living within its borders as a potential fifth column which would aid in another invasion and occupation.

Since that point the two states have always been at odds, culminating in some nasty conflicts and outright massacres like the Parsley Massacre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsley_Massacre) which the article mentions. The Haitians who live in the Dominican Republic (either in the border regions or in the major cities), or those who have Haitian background, are targeted as not being "really" Dominican and a potential fifth column for Haitian intrigue or hostility against the nation.

Being a minority within the nation they're scapegoated for everything over jobs, the economy, crime, what ever. So they get the short end of the stick on many things to put it lightly. The Dominican Republic is more stable, especially relative to Haiti, so this drives immigration across the border. As best I understand it the Dominican Republic has a citizenship policy that granted citizen status to those born on its soil- however by the 90s they began to deny this to the children of those they had categorized as illegal immigrants. This ruling retroactively targets those who were given citizenship before this was instituted by the state. Like the article points out this would extend back to those who were brought in by the plantation owners to work their plots and have lived there since then.

This practice of denying citizenship to particular ethnicities isn't unique to the Dominican Republic- indeed, like the DR many of them have often used the logic of them being "migrants" or border residents and not truly of the mold of the nation-state. You can find many modern examples of this- one that comes to mind are Kurds in Syria. The early Syrian state when it tilted towards nationalist policies essentially denied citizenship to Kurds who were in its borders because of a position that they were nomads who originated from the Turkish end of the border before the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and that this was to prevent "mass illegal immigration". I think at the least 20%-30% of Kurds who lived in Syria then were denied citizenship and had no where to go.

This citizenship void was perpetuated through successive governments and one that was inherited- in effect the only Kurds in Syria who were not affected by this were those who had lived in the cities and were already close to the different governments that had come and gone, or local notables who were granted citizenship (and thus right to own property, hold office, access services, etc.) in exchange for cooperation with the government.

edit: if you want to share this here's a "respectable" news source if someone makes a fuss over it

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/correction-dominican-republic-stripping-citizenship-story/2013/10/09/7a039a14-3109-11e3-ad00-ec4c6b31cbed_story.html

[Venas Abiertas]

This is a common phenomenon among the poor in capitalist economies: the poor hate the rich, but the ones they hate the most are the ones just a little bit more poor than they are. Capitalism is a system of domination which pits one group against another. Divide and conquer. Witness the hatred of poor whites in the US South for African-Americans, or of poor English and Scots for the Irish immigrants to the East Coast in the 1800's. Or hatred of the Puerto Rican immigrants by working class whites and blacks in New York in the 1930's to 60's.

Just go to any YouTube video showing Haitians or dark-skinned Dominicans. If you can read Spanish, you will be exposed to a level of racist invective that would make a KKK Grand Dragon blush.

[Lensky]

I've been to the Dominican Republic, majority of the people live in shacks and there are fantastic building projects in Santo Domingo. The hotel workers were majority Spanish and in general not as friendly as those I've met in Cuba.