By Danny Shaw – Feb 22, 2021
COHA’s Senior Research Fellow, professor Danny Shaw, opens a window to the mass movement in Haiti which is demanding President Jovenel Moïse step down and cease rule by decree.
Demonstrators are also calling for the release of political prisoners, the restoration of the Supreme Court justices, Police Inspector General and other opposition figures who have been fired, and an end to U.S., United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS) intervention on behalf of foreign interests in their country.
A broad convergence of opposition parties and social movements maintain that Moïse’s term in office ended on February 7, 2021, while Moïse argues his mandate continues for another year and seeks to hold a referendum on a new constitution this April. It is doubtful, however, that such a referendum can garner democratic legitimacy given the prevailing corruption of constituted power in Haiti.
RELATED CONTENT: Protests Continue in Haiti Against the Dictatorship and Imperialism
There has been scarce mainstream media coverage of the protests that have brought thousands of Haitians to the streets day after day, week after week, despite the mounting human rights abuses perpetrated by Haitian police and their allied gangs. Danny Shaw, brings critical light to the ongoing struggle for democracy in Haiti.
Photo-Gallery: a Country that Demands Democracy and Non-Intervention
[Credit Photos: Danny Shaw]
Video Analysis by Professor Danny Shaw, from Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Featured image: File Phto.
(The Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA))
Danny Shaw
Danny Shaw teaches Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Race, Ethnicity, Class and Gender at the City University of New York. He holds a Masters in International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He is fluent in Spanish, Haitian Kreyol, Portuguese, Cape Verdean Kreolu and has a fair command of French. He has worked and organized in over forty different countries, opening his spirit to countless testimonies about the inhumanity of the international economic system. A Golden Gloves boxer, he fought twice in Madison Square Garden for the NYC heavyweight championship. He teaches boxing, yoga and nutrition. Shaw works in the national leadership of the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) and the Party for Socialism and Liberation and is the managing editor of LiberationSchool.org.
