NEWARK, NJ, February 3 — Today, over 20 students, teachers and local workers protested the U.S. occupation of Haiti. Signs such as “Haiti: this is what capitalism looks like” and “200,000 deaths is not natural, It’s Capitalism!” attracted many commuters walking by. Some joined the demonstration, while drivers honked in support. A high school student group called the rally.
Within three days after the earthquake, the group immediately raised $1,500 for aid relief. Then, when one of their teachers read CHALLENGE and other international newspapers with the students, they realized the problem was much bigger than lack of aid to Haiti.
The newspapers reported the U.S. was barring aid because of its military build-up there. However, only CHALLENGE helped the students to understand the real reason for the build-up: the U.S. needed to put on this “humanitarian face” to mask the establishment of bases for future imperialist wars.
We also noted how the racist media portrayed Haiti’s working class as “looters.” One student said, “That’s f#*@d up; this is the same thing they did to New Orleans.” Students’ anger rose when reading CHALLENGE’s timeline detailing imperialist interventions since the 1791 slave revolt against the French.
Then the conversation turned to solutions to these problems. Some student CHALLENGE readers jumped in, saying, “It’s obviously capitalism, so we need a revolution.” Another added, “A communist revolution.” Others, however, still think capitalism can be reformed, that only through participating in the government, challenging the politicians and bosses who don’t care about workers, can we establish a fair society. While one said “communism will just be worse,” everyone agreed that imperialism is bad, and that led to discussing an action.
The teacher reviewed past protests with former students against the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. One student yelled, “We need to have a protest to let people know what’s going on. I didn’t realize this was happening in Haiti until I read these articles.” Others quickly agreed and began distributing flyers to students in other schools.
Later that week, at a NYC event with over 15 other NJ and NY schools, the students excitedly distributed flyers promoting the protest. On that day five students marched down the neighborhood’s main street carrying posters, chanting loudly and winning other students to join them. By the time they reached their destination a dozen more had joined.
At the protest, some local workers spoke to us about the situation in Haiti. Many were unclear about what we were protesting but soon they seemed to agree that what’s happening in Haiti was wrong.
One black worker said, “Say what you want, but I don’t vote. I don’t think voting will ever get us what we need. There should be jobs, good education and good health care for everyone. We don’t have that now and it doesn’t look like Obama’s going to give it to us anytime soon.”
Another college student walked by, saying, “I was wondering why there’s so much military there. I’m glad all these high school students are out here. My college friends and I have been discussing protesting too.” She then gave us her contact info and told us to call her when something else is happening.
Then a teacher explained how the conditions created by capitalism and imperialism led to over 200,000 deaths in Haiti. Another worker declared how capitalism will never end imperialist wars, although we’ve been told that World War 1 was “the war to end all wars.” A young black student said the way the media portrayed many of Haiti’s workers was to justify a U.S. military build-up, saying we needed to organize other students and expose the racism created under capitalism.
The next day after school we discussed what we’d done. Students were mainly positive about the event, saying it felt good to stand up for something. Some were disappointed that other high school students and anti-war organizations hadn’t participated. We realized there are many liberal groups that believe the U.S. can use the military for “ humanitarian” purposes, like in Haiti, and that it should only be opposed when used for imperialist purposes like in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Finally, we need to be persistent in our organizing. Even though many people may not agree with us now, as the situation in Haiti unfolds, just like with Katrina, people will increasingly see that capitalism is the main cause of the problems. The students agreed, adding that a year ago they didn’t even know what capitalism was. Now they’re
organizing to get rid of it! J