Haiti’s bloody history is repeating itself once again as its streets erupt in gang violence, the spectre of starvation stalks society and the healthcare system has collapsed. The question of what, or who, could bring stability to this fragile Caribbean nation is asked with despairing regularity by outside observers as they see images of Port-au-Prince in flames and the brutality of the latest gang leader fighting his way to international attention.
It is not a question of pinpointing where Haiti went wrong but rather, as Observer columnist Kenan Malik explains, why the nation – born in 1804 out of a revolution in which the enslaved people of Saint-Domingue overthrew their French colonial masters – never had a chance to thrive. A burden of reparation payments, US occupation in the early 20th century and then support of a vicious anti-communist dictator set a course that hobbled the development of robust political institutions.
