Vol. 79/No. 1      January 19, 2015

Cuba was the country of honor this year. Led by Zuleica Romay Guerra, director of the Cuban Book Institute, a substantial delegation of Cuban writers, editors and filmmakers participated. Their booth featured books on the political and cultural interrelationships between the people of Cuba and Haiti, and a wide range of books about the Cuban Revolution and its place in the world.

Cuban delegation members also featured presenters at a number of public programs and contributed to the musical and cultural presentations at the fair. Reembarque, a film about Haitian agricultural workers in Cuba during the sugar boom of the 1920s and ’30s, was introduced by Cuban filmmaker Gloria Rolando at two showings during the fair.

In Cap Haitien, on the northern tip of the island, a program celebrating the life of José Martí was held. Pedro Pablo Rodríguez, one of the editorial directors of the Center for the Study of José Martí in Cuba, spoke at the event. At one of the Port-au-Prince programs Rodríguez explained that Martí, a central leader of the fight for Cuban independence, had visited Haiti on three occasions. He, along with other revolutionaries in the late 1800s, was among the first to challenge the political and sociological justifications for imperialist domination in Haiti.

The revolutionary government of Cuba has maintained a medical mission here since 1998, following the massive damage caused by Hurricane George. The program has expanded over the past 16 years, involving more than 3,500 medical personnel from Cuba who provide their services free of charge. For many Haitians, the Cuban doctors are the only ones they have ever seen.

“Cuba has added a lot to the success of the book fair this year,” Frantz Carly Jean Michel, director of Haiti’s National Directorate of Books, which sponsored the event, told the Militant. “There was a lot of interest in the Cuban presence and their participation with music, books and films helped to make the fair more informative and enjoyable.”

The guest of honor at the fair was well-known Haitian author Michel Soukar, who has written extensively about the early history of U.S. imperialist domination of the island. As a prelude to the centennial of the first U.S. occupation of Haiti, which lasted from 1915 to 1934, book fair organizers chose Soukar to promote greater understanding of this chapter of Haitian history and its relevance for the current political situation in the country. Today, thousands of United Nations troops under Washington’s direction are stationed in Haiti and act as the military force of the country.

Frantz Carly Jean Michel said the fair was an important step forward in promoting culture and learning in Haiti. A special effort was made to bring students from around Port-au-Prince, who came by bus wearing their school uniforms. Many booths offered literature for young adults and children. “Activities in the provinces was another major strength of this book fair over last year’s event, which was concentrated in Port-au-Prince,” he said.

Revolutionary literature popular

Rodney Casseus, a first-year college student, said he was impressed with the breadth of books being offered at the fair and in particular at the Pathfinder booth. “We don’t have much access to books about history and culture in Haiti and the world,” he said. “There has been a crisis in Haiti for years, and these books make it possible to look at the social and economic problems of the country in a new way.”

Many stopping by the Pathfinder stand spoke about the demonstrations in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere in Haiti in recent weeks calling for the ouster of President Michel Martelly and new elections. Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and several other government ministers resigned Dec. 14, but protests demanding Martelly resign are continuing.

Like many others who stopped by the booth, Rodney Casseus said he is opposed to the policies of the current regime, but sees the opposition forces organizing many of the protests against Martelly as cut from the same cloth as the discredited ruler. “This is an opposition that still favors the interests of the rich, not those of the people.”

Working people in Haiti are still staggering from the effects of the devastating 2010 earthquake that left 100,000 dead and tens of thousands more without housing, clean water, sanitation or health care. There are still tent cities around Port-au-Prince that were set up as temporary housing four years ago. Working people have to spend hours each day traveling to work or getting necessities, since many roads remain damaged and there is a dearth of public transportation.

“In a country where 60 percent of the population depends on farming for their livelihood, the conditions in the countryside are worse in many ways,” Cantave Jean-Baptiste, an agronomist who was part of a powerful peasant movement in the 1980s in the fight against the hated Duvalier family dictatorship, told the Militant. “Haitian farmers are isolated and forced to deal with all of their problems individually,” he said. “There are no cooperative movements or government programs to help farmers.

“Farmers in Haiti today use many of the same tools — oxen and plows — that were used in colonial times, and even those tools are not effective on the mountainous terrain that many are farming,” said Cantave Jean-Baptiste.

He also pointed to the “long history of struggle for the land in Haiti that will develop again in the future.” He bought a number of books at the Pathfinder stand that feature the lessons of the alliance of workers and farmers in struggles around the world.

Books by Thomas Sankara, the leader of the 1983-87 Burkina Faso Revolution, were among the most popular works at the Pathfinder stand and rapidly sold out. Spurred by interest in the recent mass mobilizations in Burkina Faso that toppled the regime of Blaise Compaoré, many visitors asked the socialist workers from the United States and Canada volunteering there to tell them about the Burkina Faso Revolution and the political course of Sankara.

In all 288 books were snapped up at the Pathfinder booth over the three-day fair. Organizers invited Pathfinder to come back next year, and to come and join the many Haitian groups who will be organizing activities next July 15 to mark the 100th anniversary of the first U.S. occupation of Haiti.  
 
 
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