Canada's Plot to Overthrow Haiti's Government - 10th Anniv.

[bush_cheney2004]

Last month marked the 10th anniversary of the Canadian led plot to overthrow Haiti's democratically elected president and supplant the ruling government with UN oversight. Known as the “Ottawa Initiative on Haiti”, the coup plot was a year in development as complicity and resources from France and the U.S. were recruited.

...In a September 2004 interview with Haiti Solidarity activist Anthony Fenton, Paradis explained that “there was one thematic that went under the whole meeting [Ottawa Initiative]… the responsibility to protect.” A showpiece of the Liberal Party’s foreign policy, the responsibility to protect doctrine asserts that where gross human rights abuses are occurring, it is the duty of the international community to intervene, over and above considerations of state sovereignty.

....The Ottawa initiative on Haiti helped consolidate the international forces – particularly the US, France and Canada - that planned and carried out the coup. It’s a unique event in the annals of Canadian foreign-policy history and for that reason alone, should be investigated by the media.

http://yvesengler.com/2014/01/24/when-canada-plotted-to-over-haitis-government/

It is interesting to revisit the anniversary of this episode in Canadian foreign policy given current events in Ukraine/Crimea. Was Canada operating according to "international law", and were R2P objectives achieved ?

[Shady]

It's a dark day for us Canadians to remember. It also makes us appropriate and legitimate targets of Haitian terrorism. We will have deserved it.

[tinydancer]

Thank you for that link. Most interesting.

[waldo]

just another flavour of Bush admin 'regime change'

[bush_cheney2004]

Post coup, Prime Minister Paul Martin met with interim President Boniface Alexandre and business representatives. Pro democracy groups were persecuted in the interest of near term stability and security, without which, the promised Canadian aid would not flow to Haiti.

[On Guard for Thee]

Last month marked the 10th anniversary of the Canadian led plot to overthrow Haiti's democratically elected president and supplant the ruling government with UN oversight. Known as the “Ottawa Initiative on Haiti”, the coup plot was a year in development as complicity and resources from France and the U.S. were recruited.

...In a September 2004 interview with Haiti Solidarity activist Anthony Fenton, Paradis explained that “there was one thematic that went under the whole meeting [Ottawa Initiative]… the responsibility to protect.” A showpiece of the Liberal Party’s foreign policy, the responsibility to protect doctrine asserts that where gross human rights abuses are occurring, it is the duty of the international community to intervene, over and above considerations of state sovereignty.

....The Ottawa initiative on Haiti helped consolidate the international forces – particularly the US, France and Canada - that planned and carried out the coup. It’s a unique event in the annals of Canadian foreign-policy history and for that reason alone, should be investigated by the media.

http://yvesengler.com/2014/01/24/when-canada-plotted-to-over-haitis-government/

It is interesting to revisit the anniversary of this episode in Canadian foreign policy given current events in Ukraine/Crimea. Was Canada operating according to "international law", and were R2P objectives achieved ?

No we needed to get into Haiti to crack open that huge;y wealthy Haitian bank and take the proceeds. And of course America was a bit too busy at the time waging an illegal war in Iraq, which our PM at the time said NO to because it was illegal. Maybe clean up your own doorstep before you try messing up others.

[bleeding heart]

The evidence for this is quite overwhelming, as three "partners in democracy" (Canada, France, the U.S.) decided that democracy is little more than an irritant. It is an especially strong exposure of Canadian foreign policy hypocrisy.

I agree with Shady that, by our own standards, it could be reasonably argued that we be subject to attack (had Haiti the means and the will, that is); France and the United States would also be legitimate targets under this formulation.

Food for thought, as they say.

[waldo]

Food for thought, as they say.

yes, it is... it has been. What it also is, as you say, was an eventual collective action taken by, "partners in democracy" (Canada, France, the U.S.), one with a significant years pre-coup planning/investment lead-up of installed/propped up puppet government, one acted out through multiple U.S. administrations. What it wasn't... was the framing intent of this OP to attach/associate lead versus complicity.

[bleeding heart]

Oh, sure, that was transparent, and I consciously chose to ignore the implication. But the larger story is certainly significant, and Canada's role can hardly be downplayed.

[eyeball]

The underlying story is that this thread is trolling for effete Canadians who aren't as proud of the fact that Canada is a scum bag nation with morals that are no better and little different than the trolls, who of course, are as proud as punch of their's.

[guyser]

The underlying story is that this thread is trolling for effete Canadians who aren't as proud of the fact that Canada is a scum bag nation with morals that are no better and little different than the trolls, who of course, are as proud as punch of their's.

Agreed, except for the scum bag part.

[Argus]

I see BC wasn't able to troll enough angry Canadians in the Ukraine topics so has started a separate topic in hopes of pulling in more.

[bush_cheney2004]

If anniversaries of significant domestic or foreign policy events are good enough for the "Evil Satan" here at MLW, then they are good enough for Canada as well. Frankly, I was quite surprised to learn just how much Canada planned and lead this action for Haiti, as well as the post coup police actions with troops that negatively impacted some Haitians. I suppose all of this was conveniently lost in the subsequent earthquake disaster.

[bush_cheney2004]

I see BC wasn't able to troll enough angry Canadians in the Ukraine topics so has started a separate topic in hopes of pulling in more.

Off topic...derail. Please stay on topic here and in the Ukraine thread(s).

[bush_cheney2004]

How did Canada's 2004 coup in Haiti aid or hinder the Liberal Party in elections ? Was it a factor in the serious turfing that occurred in addition to Adscam ? Is R2P still a core value of the Liberal Party of Canada, complete with books from Michael Ignatieff ?

[bleeding heart]

R2P is on the surface a notion with which very few liberals (Western, not just Canadian) feel is disputable. But that's because Western liberals tend to take the myths of benign intervention (and benign imperialism, since Ignatieff was brought up) at face value, having "learned" that nationalistic masturbation is a high virtue Discussed By Very Serious Men.

But when engaged in actually-serious debate and discussion, and without a chorus of talented interventionist fistfighters like Christopher Hitchens to back them up, they tend to get pummelled in debate.

I read with interest a debate between R2P-enthusiast Ian Williams (UK) versus a still-living fistfighter, Noam Chomsky (US) on this subject in Foreign Policy in Focus. At the time, I was quite ready to side with Williams, but I think it's pretty apparent that Chomsky more or less eats him for breakfast.

He comes out somewhat ahead on the question of Kosovo; and absolutely destroys Williams on the discussion about East Timor.

Others might disagree with my assessment, so I leave it for people to decide for themselves:

http://www.chomsky.info/debates/20090803.htm

Edited March 6, 2014 by bleeding heart

[Peter F]

"nationalistic masturbation is a high virtue Discussed By Very Serious Men."

thats a keeper!

[bush_cheney2004]

R2P is on the surface a notion with which very few liberals (Western, not just Canadian) feel is disputable.

No doubt true, but liberal convictions aside, R2P has been co-opted to achieve the very same goals as outright imperialism, as was certainly the case in 2003-2004 Haiti. The darker ambition of R2P was revealed as it was absent in the case of Rwanda, for obvious reason(s).

[bleeding heart]

Oh, I agree, BC, without reservation. It's interesting to watch people tie themselves into knots trying to explain little tiny matters like Haiti away....but more often, they choose simply not to discuss it at all. In my more generous moments, I think those are splendid times for self-reflection, to navigate which cows are Sacred, and which are "sacred."