Batay Ouvriye Leaflet #2

Batay Ouvriye Leaflet #2

    The following is text from our sisters and brothers at Batay Ouvriye (Worker’s Fight) in Haiti about the November 2016 elections in Haiti.  Batay Ouvriye is an autonomous mass working class movement which has been organized over many years of intense repression from the bosses. Capitalists in the US have shipped many production and assembly jobs oversees where they can exploit and abuse the workers and laborers around the world a lot easier for a lot less pay, often with the help of mainstream US unions. Workers Struggle stands in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Haiti in their attempts to construct a new Haiti, one where workers have their own autonomous power and control.

    The November 20, 2016 Elections prove to us that elections are not the solution for Haiti. This is not the first time Batay Ouvriye has denounced these types of elections in the country. However, today, we can see clearly the fake November 20, 2016 elections were totally a selection. And that was forseeable ! It’s a competition among politicians, trickters and big-eaters to see who will control the state apparatus, in their own interests first of all, and then in the interests of the ruling classes and imperialism. And even if it wasn’t a selection, the elections would have been, all the same, in the interests of the ruling classes, in particular, the capitalists, the bosses and imperialists.

    The elections, fraudulent or not, is one of many ways bourgeois democracy renews its dictatorship, exploitation and domination on the backs of the people’s camp, on the backs of the workers used as mounting ass (donkey). It is the nature of the democracy and power of the ruling classes. It guarantees capital accumulation in the interests of the ruling classes, in corruption, malfeasance, and all manner of crimes to maintain control of state power in their interests and the imperialists. Those elections allow them to insure continuity of their domination and exploitation, particularly, when we witness the role the CORE GROUP and various United Nations agencies such as PNUD and MINUSTAH play.

    With the bankrupcy of the ruling classes in the country, the state apparatus, which is also bankrupt, provides no services. It has become a source for corruption. Therefore, whether it’s big-eaters, or trickters, when they accupy positions at the head of the state, it’s not only to steal. That’s one reason too but the money can be converted into a source of capitalist accumulation to invest in drug racketeering, contraband, trade, land etc…So, corruption is not only robbery but serves capitalists to accumulate capital. They all serve the imperialists despite the fake nationalism of a few.

    This situation leaves us with the possibility of  a social explosion in a confrontation between the popular masses and the ruling classes. In this way, the crisis will deepen where the explosion may take the form of a civil war. This is the way the masses should understand it, all the genuine progressives must understand it that way too. The general situation is very, very dangerous for us because it can  lead to the escalation of the cocupation. However, it must be clear : the confrontation among the ruling classes is secondary as far as we are concerned in the people’s camp. This is why : we are telling those workers and other toilers who believe in the propaganda of the ruling classes to cast their ballot : THEY ARE FOOT SOLDIERS WHO DON’T KNOW WHOSE SIDE THEY’RE ON.

     

    We, the conscious workers in Batay Ouvriye, it is our responsibility, and together with other conscious toilers to offer OUR AUTONOMOUS ALTERNATIVE.

    Conscious workers must build unity within our class based on our own class vision in the country. We must rally other classes in the masses around our vision.

    The ruling classes and the imperialists have already shown they are capable of destroying the country. It is us workers and the toilers who bear the country on our backs. We are the producers of the wealth the ruling classes keep for themselves. Let’s show them we are foot soldiers who know whose side we’re on. Let’s pave the way for a GREAT HAITI. In our own interests and that of other workers internationally.

    LET’S ORGANIZE FOR OUR OWN FIGHT :

    • Minimum wage of 500 Gourdes ($7.46) a day, at least !
    • Job creation with good working conditions !
    • Respect for our rights to form unions without harassment !
    • Comprehensive Agrarian Reforms to provide land and support to small peasants !
    • Curb the high cost of living by encouraging and supporting national production !
    • Good social welfare : Free Universal Healthcare, Free Universal Public Education, Good Drinking Water, Electricity, Adequate Housing and Good Living Conditions in our neighborhoods !

    Batay Ouvriye January 14, 2017

    Workers Struggle