By: Nicholas Rossier - HaitiAnalysis.com

Hyppolite Pierre’s premise in "Haiti: Rising Flames from Burning Ashes" can be summarized in this poetic passage he wrote in his conclusion: “Haiti is like the phoenix buried under her own ashes, barely visible and looking vile. But under these ashes hides a dim but brash, unyielding and consuming fire. The trick for that country to rise out of her ashes, to ignite the ground around her, is to allow the wind of her people, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, to blow toward reason, rectitude, and a positive individual and collective sense of themselves”.

In February 2004 Haiti lived its 33rd bloody coup d’etat in 200 years and its second one in less than 15 years. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the constitutionally elected president was overthrown on February 29, 2004 by a band of paramilitary thugs carrying US made M16 and supported by the United Sates, France, Canada and the Haitian opposition. He was replaced by a brutal puppet regime, led by a prime minister nominated by a council of notables. The regime held on until June 2006, during which thousands of Haitians were killed and hundreds opponents were jailed without receiving any judgment.

Haiti is among the poorest and less politically stable countries of the Western Hemisphere, ravaged by extreme unemployment, almost total deforestation and many infectious diseases. On the other hand, Haiti has one of the richest culture in the Americas and its people are among the most hardworking ones I have ever met. Its diaspora is flourishing in the US, Canada and France. This paradox deserves all our attention and Hyppolite Pierre has done a great job in trying to make us understand it in an honest and uncompromising way.

His book is divided in three main chapters. Part I: “Power in Haiti”1804-1915 studies the independence up to the post US occupation period. Part II: “From 1915 On: Occupation and American Supremacy in Haiti” goes up to the period of Jean-Claude Duvalier (Babydoc). Part III: “Reforming the State to benefit the Nation” analyses the post Duvalier era and Haiti ‘s modern political challenges and goes up to the fall of Aristide’s second presidency in February 2004.

The beginning of his book details the struggle for power in the post independence era. As he argues, about two hundred years have passed since the independence, and most Haitians can hardly perceive any sense of peace in the midst of violence and high unemployment. Pierre talks about the historical failure of compromise between political leaders. He explains that the death of Toussaint who tried to compromise with the French” as he says, “was a devastating blow to the spirit of compromise in the heart and soul of the successive leaders after the revolution”. He cites as modern examples, the electoral controversy of eight senate seats in May 2000 and the criminal stubbornness of the opposition which refused twice the power sharing plan agreed by Aristide before the 2004 coup. But in the case of Aristide it should be noted for instance that his government was one of the most inclusive that Haiti had known and the FL senators whose positions were contested quickly stepped down. And for instance, to reach peace with the opposition Aristide accepted in his government former political opponent Marc Bazin as minister of planning, former Duvalier minister Stanley Theard as minister of industry as well as many members of the mulatto elite such as Lilas Desquiron or Leslie Voltaire. He was much criticised for this by part of the intellectual left but with the cut off of government aid by foreign powers, which was a large chunk of his governments budget, he had to act quickly to attempt a compromise.

The ideas and suggestions in Part III are very interesting, especially the part on the executive branch where Pierre defends with conviction the importance of stability in the political process. He argues that “a system that can not allow a president to finish his term will not inspire confidence and that the only way to end a presidence’s term is through the process of impeachment allowed by the constitution”. Political stability is key to stimulate developpement and investment and one can easily argue that the last two years following the coup have been among the worses in all Haiti’s history. Realities in Haiti are often very confusing and people, even well educated on paper, are trapped in trying to look only for quick fixes.

Chapter 24 deals with the diaspora and is one of the more interesting and hopeful for me. Pierre shows with strong evidence how the Haitian diaspora has been neglected and how its resources have not been tapped constructively for the best interest of Haiti. He argues that its members who pay each year an average of twenty to thirty percent of their revenue in remittances (total of one $ billion a year) to their family back in Haiti should be fully included in Haiti’s political life and shows how that could be done.

Although I did not agree with all of his critiques against Aristide’s last government, his attempt to be constructive should be applauded. His book is fascinating and offers glimpses of hope by telling us how the political system could be reformed to promote peace democracy and economic prosperity in Haiti. I believe that the reasons for Haiti’s failures may lie mostly in the lack of historical knowledge of the many politicians, commentators and international leaders who have been involved in Haiti’s decision making process. He helps us understand how Haiti’s struggle for its identity is profoundly rooted in this complicated and troubled past.

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Hyppolite Pierre is an author and he works in the Maryland's Offie of the Secretary of State as an editor, and also teaches Comparative Politics at the Community College of Baltimore County in Essex and Catonsville, Maryland. Pierre is the founder and executive director of the IRSP (http://www.irsp.org).

Nicolas Rossier is a New York based independent filmmaker and is the director of Aristide and the Endless Revolution, an award winning documentary about the events leading to the 2004 coup in Haiti (www.aristidethefilm.com).