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Here, we find two administrations who behave strikingly similar: they perform the ruse of wanting democracy while working tirelessly to undermine it. 

“I become irritated at the attempt to govern mankind by force and fraud, as if they were knaves and fools.” 

More than two hundred years ago, political theorist and philosopher Thomas Paine wrote these words to express his frustrations when a fellow thinker tried to undermine the importance of revolutions. Now, it may be my Jesuit education or flair for the dramatic, but I find myself relating to his exasperation more and more these days.  

2020 is unlike any year we’ve ever experienced, and this summer alone has illustrated to us how desperately authoritarianism is hoping to cling to power, especially in Haiti and the United States. 

Last week, United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed the delicate matter of legislative elections in Haiti in a hallway with Haitian president Jovenel Moise during the inauguration of Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader.

While some took the locale of the meeting as a “diss,” believing it showed that Haiti was a mere “afterthought” to the U.S. government, I believe we should take it for what it is — a sham of democracy being flouted in the face of Haitian activists who have long critiqued Moise for ruling by decree after failing to renew parliament. It is also rather ironic that Pompeo would be the one to stress how “critical” it is for Haiti to hold these delayed legislative elections when the very administration he represents has published over 40 executive orders this year alone and is actively working to suppress voter turnout for America’s November races. 

Here, we find two administrations who behave strikingly similar: they perform the ruse of wanting democracy while working tirelessly to undermine it. 

From the moment Donald Trump became president, political scientists, scholars and historians have been interested yet fearful of how Trump’s strongman tendencies would inspire other heads of state, especially those in democratizing nations. In fact, a week after Trump’s 2016 win, reporters Jason Burke and Ruth McClean wrote: “Trump’s victory may allow more autocratic African rulers freedom to tweak constitutions to retain power, harass dissidents, shut down media organisations or, in some cases, simply make more money.” 

Truth be told, it’s actually not rare for Black nations to experience this. In a November 2017 op-ed for the Guardian, Chigozie Obioma wrote, “African nations have a total dependency on foreign political philosophies and ideas, and their shifts and movements. It is the feeblest position a state can be in, because it is a position of chronic subservience. It also means that whatever becomes normalised in the west will eventually be adopted, in, say, Uganda or Togo.” 

This sentiment can apply to Haiti and her current government. 

Since their respective appointments to power, both Trump and Moise have ruled in similar fashions, showing a lack of regard for the rule of law, staying mum on insensible acts of violence and exhibiting no desire to practice accountable leadership. Perhaps, Moise — who enjoys the support of the U.S. —  takes his cues from Trump and aims to replicate the American bully’s destructive behaviors within his own borders. 

In May and June, all 50 states in America erupted in protests after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd. Facing economic and racial inequality, Americans from all walks of life poured into the streets demanding change. Trump’s response? A call for law and order which emboldened local and federal officers to attack protestors with wooden and rubber bullets, fists, batons and tear gas. 

A similar scene played out in Haiti during the same time. Growing anger and fear over mounting gang violence, economic insecurity and lack of government transparency pushed several local activists to demand change in front of the Ministry of Justice. Just as in the U.S., police attacked the activists with tear gas and other intimidation tactics.  

And that’s not all. 

Going back to the matter of elections and peaceful transfers of power, both Moise and Trump have let it be known they’d rather cosplay as absolute monarchs than be democratic presidents. In a July 2020 interview with FOX News’ Chris Wallace, Trump refused to comment on whether he’d agree with the results of the upcoming bid for the White House. He even bluntly stated: “No, I’m not going to say yes. I’m not going to say no, and I didn’t last time either.” 

That same week, Moise dropped a warning of his own. At an event billed as a community dialogue, the Haitian president announced that no one could strip power from him and his political party. He took a step further than Trump and proclaimed matter-of-factly that no one in the country holds more authority than him. 

On paper, Haiti should not be sitting in this boat with the United States as a buddy, sailing towards the shores of authoritarianism. As the two oldest republics in the western hemisphere, the two nations have represented two entirely different ideologies: one standing for white supremacy and violent conquest and the other illustrating the possibilities and hopes of Black liberation. But now, they find themselves partners for all the wrong reasons, with leaders appearing determined to flex their muscles, sparing no one in their respective quests to do so. I suppose with a U.S. president so hellbent on protecting and promoting expansion of executive powers, racism, homophobia, citizen militias, etc. it is no surprise that another wannabe strongman in the South would use this moment in history to do the same. 

Living in these unprecedented times, it feels as if the beast that birthed white supremacy, patriarchy, cronyism and a multitude of other sins is taking its last breath, so to speak, attempting to take down every person it can in its last moments. 

Simply put, how we continue to respond to these twin bullies will determine not just our lifetimes but the futures of our nations and which boats they sit in for generations to come. Haitian and American activists are showing the world what it means to believe in the creation of new worlds, just as their forefathers and foremothers did centuries ago. Not only are these activists imagining new worlds, they are pushing to birth them into the present while killing the desire to await change in some unseeable moment in the future. And it is our duty to stand with them, support them, motivate them, join in arms in them and find ways to evangelize to others to swell our numbers.

While I don’t know how all this will play out, Thomas Paine once more rings as the voice of reason with this quote: “Government…[has] no other object than the general happiness. When instead of this, it operates to create and increase wretchedness in any parts of the society, it is on a wrong system, and reformation is necessary.”