Then and Now: Haitian Journalism as Resistance to US Occupation and US-Led Reconstruction

Abstract

During the US occupation of Haiti from 1915 to 1934, Haiti’s Fourth Estate, the Haitian press, stood in solidarity with ordinary Haitians and became a fixed feature of the resistance in Haiti to foreign occupation for nineteen years. The alliance featured conservative publications like Le Matin , traditional commercial papers like Le Nouvelliste , and radical antioccupation ones like Haïti-Intégrale and La Presse . Despite their differing political persuasions, owners of the dozens of newspapers in Haiti challenged the Haitian state and the United States for the loss of Haitian sovereignty, and many went to jail for it. In 2015, an alliance between Haiti’s leading media organizations, the ANMH and AMIH, has emerged in the face of a new US-led interference, this time in the country’s reconstruction. The threat to the country’s sovereignty by the international aid community has come at a time when political and economic institutions remain weak. Haiti’s press stands out as an institution willing to hold an open debate about Haiti’s recovery and development. This role is significant given the country’s fledgling democracy and persistent socioeconomic crises brought on by two decades of political upheavals and natural disasters culminating with the 2010 earthquake. The narrative in Haitian newsrooms and radio programs on the ground echoes the narratives of 1915. The strategies employed by Haiti’s alliance of media organizations today, both mainstream and alternative, harkens back to the solidarity on display between Haiti’s radical and conservative press when Haiti faced occupation in 1915. The censorship and repression of the Haitian press is evident today, but when faced with an external threat to national self-determination, Haiti’s media continues to act as an advocate for the Haitian people.

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“…In Haiti in particular, the press has historically played a key role in the shaping of the world's fi rst Black republic (Stieber 2020). At the turn of the century, it advocated for the country's sovereignty as foreign powers encroached on Haiti, resulting in the US invasion and occupation from 1915 to 1934 ( Roberts 2016). Radio in Haiti then emerged as a post-occupation vehicle for educating and coordinating the public sphere as Haiti endured several decades of dictatorship, supported and enabled by foreign powers (Wagner 2017).…”