The United Nations voted on October 2nd to authorize a military intervention in Haiti, led by the Kenyan government. 

But a long history of foreign intervention and occupation in Haiti has led to disastrous results for the Haitian people, whether at the hands of the United States, France or overseen by the United Nations. This intervention is being opposed by people in Haiti and by internationalists all over the world. As Camille Chalmers, a Haitian economist and coordinator of the ALBA Movimientos Haiti, said in an interview, “We believe that there is a way to end the insecurity generated by gangs by controlling arms trafficking. We know where all these weapons come from. They come from the United States and the border; and it’s not difficult, with the technological means that exist today, to control the flow of arms and ammunition.”

So what’s the real reason for this new intervention? Why is Kenya leading it up? For all that and more we’re joined by Jemima Pierre, the Haiti/Americas Co-Coordinator for the Black Alliance for Peace, editor of the Black Agenda Report newsmagazine, editor of the Black Agenda Review, and a professor in the Department of African American Studies and Department of Anthropology at UCLA.

Support the show