The Impacts of Globalization in Haiti

THE NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF GLOBALIZATION IN HAITI

by

SHANNA PARKER

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It’s thought to be true that in 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue, landing himself in the Caribbean islands of the western hemisphere. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research (p. 23-50) “Some world historians attach globalization big bang’ significance to 1492…”, while others believe that it dates back to an even earlier time. Either way, globalization has brought some serious damage to the more under developed countries. One of which we have come to know as The Republic of Haiti. Whether global integration in Haiti started with Mr. Christopher Columbus or not, the point to be made is that Haiti has been very hurt by it. To be more precise, Haiti’s economic, political, and cultural systems today are extremely impaired, giving a copious amount of thanks to globalization.

Between the years of 1734 and 1788, at least half of the worlds coffee was being produced on the tops of Haiti’s mountains. With the coffee and sugar commodities being in such high demand in Europe, France had definitely found its cash crop. To keep up with these agricultural productions, the encouragement of slave trade had become more established between Africa and the Caribbean islands. The French had imported over 800,000 slaves into Haiti. At an average rate of 40,000 slaves imported a year, Haiti had accounted for one-third of the Atlantic slave trade. In little time, as you could imagine, Haiti was exporting sixty percent of Europe’s coffee, and forty percent of their sugar. Within the control of the French though, Haiti’s land wasn’t managed well at all. Deforestation and the process of soil erosion had most likely begun around this time, making the land more vulnerable to the severe suffering from natural disasters for years to come.

January 1, 1804 is quite a day to celebrate for Haiti, as this is the day they finally declared their independence. After twelve long years of what is known as the “Largest and most successful slave revolutions in the history of the western hemisphere” (“Haitian Revolution 1791-1804”), Haiti had finally broken free from the control of the French. The revolution came to be very complex though because it actually consisted of multiple revolutions all happening concurrently. “These revolutions were influenced by the French revolution of 1789, which would come to represent a new concept of human rights, universal citizenship, and participation in government” (“Haitian Revolution 1791-1804”). Although the revolution had come to an end, this was only the beginning for Haiti, the beginning of a very long and burdensome road. France ultimately wanted Haiti to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in reparations, dollars that Haiti certainly didn’t have. Loans were taken out of American, German, and private French banks, at extremely high interest rates, over half of Haitians schools were forced to close, the agriculture had to be put on hold, and the money for infrastructure no longer existed. Haiti nearly spent eighty percent of their national budget to pay their loans back.

Haiti had become isolated from international affairs and no country in the world would recognize their independence. Many countries even started boycotting trade with Haiti fearing that the revolution would inspire their slaves to rebel as well. By 1806, the United States had placed an embargo on trade with Haiti, threatening to re-enslave Haitians if they failed to pay France back for their losses, especially in slave labor. Although the embargo was enforced, trade still occurred between the United States and Haiti on an unofficial basis, but with the U.S. dictating all of the terms. For example, the U.S. could call at Haitian ports, but Haitian ships could not dock in the U.S.

By 1915, the U.S. had come to dictate more than just Haitian trade, they also intervened with Haiti’s political issues as well. This lead them to occupy Haitian land for nearly 20 years. President Woodrow Wilson, of the United States, wanted to re-write the Haitian constitution which banned foreign ownership of land and alter it to guarantee financial control. As a way to avoid speculation or criticism, president Wilson claimed that it was instead a mission to “re-establish peace and order”. Within a few months of the United States occupying Haiti, the U.S. senate ratified the Haitian-American Convention, a treaty that gave the U.S. security and economic oversight over Haiti for a ten-year period. During that time though, there was more damage done to Haiti than to just its policies. According to Herbert J. Seligman, a NAACP field secretary that was sent to investigate the conditions in Haiti, “Military camps have been built throughout the island. The property of natives has been taken for military use. Haitians carrying a gun were for a time shot on sight. Machine guns have been turned on crowds of unarmed natives, and the United States marines have, by accounts which several of them gave me in casual conversation, not troubled to investigate how many were killed or wounded”.