Monday, June 4, 2012

X is for Xenophobia


For letter X of my A-Z of the Dominican Republic I am looking at  X for Xenophobia. Xenophobia comes from the Greek xenos meaning stranger or foreigner and phobos meaning fear, so literally it is a fear of foreigners. It is also defined as a deep rooted irrational hatred towards foreigners or people of other races. Why is this in my A-Z of the Dominican Republic? It is because some Dominicans are xenophobic towards Haitians, and various international communities and organisations such as the United Nations are often accusing the country and government of the DR of xenophobia towards Haitians by violating their human rights.


This will be a long post, as to understand why such xenophobia exists and in what forms, it it necessary to go back in time and examine the history between the two countries. And although Hispaniola is one island, we are talking of two countries, two nations, two different cultures, two different languages and two different backgrounds. It is like comparing the Chinese with the Americans, or the Russians with the British. Haiti and the Dominican Republic are much further apart in many ways than say Canada and the USA.
Haiti is the third of the island on the left

When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492, he named the entire island La Isla Española and it wasn’t until 1697 that the Spanish formally ceded the western third of the island to the French, who were already there and developing it at full speed, by means of the Ryswick treaty.

The border crossing
From then on, the two countries began to follow totally different economic paths, which had far reaching effects or their future populations and economic, social and cultural development. What we now know as Haiti concentrated on sugar and became the most productive colony of the northern hemisphere. In order to achieve these massive levels of sugar production, the French imported huge numbers of African slaves. By 1790 there were more than half a million black slaves, and only 30,000 whites, and 27,000 freemen both black and mulatto.


However, in what is now called the Dominican Republic, it was a very different story. The Spanish weren’t interested in sugar, so they didn’t import any large numbers of slaves. The population was much smaller than Haiti and practised subsistence farming along with only a small amount of sugar cultivation. So by 1790 in the DR there were 125,000 white Spanish landowners, 60,000 slaves and 25,000 black and mulatto freemen. The blacks were a minority and as the Spanish were encouraged to marry the freemen and also the slaves, the mulatto population grew. This was the demographic basis for the present population composition of Haiti and the DR. Haiti is genetically African, The Dominican Republic is genetically Spanish with some African and some like to think, Taino Indian bloodlines mixed in.

When the Haitian Revolution broke out in 1791, the white French fled the colony both during and after the revolt to escape the wrath of their slaves. Those few remaining were massacred, leaving Haiti as an almost totally black country with a relatively small number of mulattos.


Following the revolution, in 1804, Haiti became the world’s first sovereign black republic and invaded what is now the Domincan Republic, leading to a twenty two year occupation during which the Haitian president, Jean Pierre Boye, tried to destroy the Hispanic culture by closing the university and tried to stop the influence of the Catholic church. These policies increased anti Haitian feeling in the country which eventually gained independence in 1844. This difference in racial make-up helped amplify and worsen Dominican-Haitian rivalry.

When Trujillo was elected President in the DR he described the Dominican Republic as Hispanic, Catholic and White and Haiti was Afro-French with a voodoo religion. He considered Haiti to be a threat and the antithesis of the DR and his fear of the influence of the Haitian culture led to the Parsley Massacre of 25,000 Haitians in the border area as I described in letter T for Trujillo.

Trujillo

After the 1937 massacre, Trujillo subjected the Dominican population to a constant barrage of anti-Haitian propaganda. Haiti and Haitians went from being good neighbours to becoming the scapegoats of Dominican society. By stimulating nationalism, Trujillo sought to distract the public opinion by focusing on a foreign enemy. No target was more convenient than Haiti, given the long history of animosity between the two countries and a whole generation of Dominicans was raised learning to dislike and distrust Haitians. Furthermore, antihaitianism allowed even the poorest of Dominicans to feel racially and culturally superior to Haitians.

Trujillo’s heir, Joaquim Balaguer continued the policy of xenophobia, instilling fear against Haitian imperialism and deepened the view that to be a Dominican is above all else not to be a Haitian. The Dominican definition of their identity as a people was based upon this. Schools and newspapers spread propaganda with the goal of dismissing the African heritage of the Dominican Republic and to distinguish between Dominicans and Haitians. The Dominican people are described as a white people of Hispanic descent. Trujillo, in the Dominican Republic, celebrated the concept of la Hispanidad (Spanishness). However, when a person’s skin left no doubt as to their black heritage, a concept of "Indianness" was quickly created to explain that away. Thus, a Dominican whose skin color is midway between a mulatto and black is identified as being of Indian origin. Hence this obsession by the Dominicans to define themselves as something as not Haitian and African, stems from the relationship with Haiti, going back to the colonial era.

Dr Joaquin Balaguer

It is however unfair to tar all Dominicans with the same brush. Many are neither racist nor xenophobic, and many went out of their way to hide Haitians to save them from being massacred by Trujillo, including the Dominican politician Jose Francisco Peña Gomez, who is believed to be of Haitian descent and was adopted by a white Dominican family. He became Balaguer’s most feared opponent in the presidential elections, and despite his colour, he was very popular amongst Dominican voters. However, in order to defeat him Balaguer stirred up massive anti Haitian feeling, which was made easier for him as the Haitian President, Jean Betrand Aristide was an outspoken critic of the way Haitians were treated in the DR. Balaguer responded by starting the mass deportation of Haitians and in a three month period about 50,000 Haitians were deported. In May 1994 Balaguer defeated Peña Gomez by playing the nationalist card once again.

Peña Gomez
Today, anti-Haitian bias is most noticeable in the Dominican Republic's deportation policies, aimed not only at both legal and illegal Haitian workers, but also at Dominicans of Haitian descent and children born to Haitian parents. Many are simply seized, then dropped off at the Haitian border; a country which some of them have never even been to. I was working in my colmado once when the police came in and rounded up all the Haitians in there, drinking and playing dominoes. They put them in an open sided cattle truck to take them away. I was appalled by this and so climbed into the truck myself, telling them to arrest me too. This caused great consternation but nevertheless, the truck drove off to the police station, with me in it, and after various frantic phone calls from the Captain in charge, we were all let go just before we got to the police station.


Officially, the Dominican government has publicly condemned the systematic abuse of Haitians whether legal or illegal in the country. They are allowed free medical care in the public hospitals, and I have not known anyone turned away. However this obviously puts a tremendous strain on an already overloaded health service. In addition, Haitian mothers are often denied birth certificates for their newborn children delivered in Dominican hospitals, meaning that their children are effectively stateless. The Constitution does gurantee citizenship to anyone born here, apart from those who are only briefly passing through on their way to somewhere elese. Hence legally the country can deny birth certificates to these Haitian babies by simply saying that the mother is in transit.


No one knows how many Haitians are living legally and illegally in the Dominican Republic with  the figures ranging from one to two million. Most come looking for low-paid, unskilled work, in the sugar plantations, agriculture and construction. Not unlike several countries, the Dominican Republic is dependent on the availability of cheap labour to meet the demands of its growing economy. Haiti, from having been one of the richest countries in the Caribbean is now one of the poorest countries in the world, due to having to pay high reparations to France when they became independent, a series of poor and ineffective governments and massive deforestation as the people cut the trees down to make charcoal for cooking.

The border. DR on the right and Haiti on the left

However, after the earthquake the number of Haitians here increased and it must be said that the Dominican Republic was one of the first and most effective in terms of helping its neighbour after that appalling disaster.


To understanding the xenophobia against Haitians one needs to understand history. Genetically Dominicans are different from Haitians and understanding where they come from may help to understand why Dominicans deny their African heritage, and concentrate on their Spanish heritage more. Dominicans have been taught for generations that Haiti and Haitians are the enemy, whether borne out in fact by invasions, or in political rhetoric by the likes of Trujillo and Balaguer. That is not unique to the DR, as several countries use an opposing power to help win support for themselves, such as Margaret Thatcher and the Falkland Isles, and George Bush and the war on terrorism and Iraq.

Haitian Jean, my fabulous former gardener - a gem of a man 

Not all Dominicans dislike Haitians, and not all are xenophobic. The country could not function effectively without them, but the deep seated mistrust is unlikely to disappear without education, and great political will.

21 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this. What a rich and fascinating history.

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    1. I am glad you enjoyed it Emma. I found it fascinating to write, and it helped me to understand the Dominican point of view much better.

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  2. Thanks for posting. I work in a predominantly Haitian batey in San Pedro de Macorís teaching English as a short term missionary (hopefully becoming long term soon!), but there is a Dominican population there as well. They live side by side with Haitians, and I've never seen or heard any violence/racist activity. We're often told that there is only hatred between the two by people here in the states. I'm happy to say that's not the case, and am so grateful you've touched on that. The two nations haven't had the best relationship but there is hope.

    Love your blog!
    Daniel

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    1. Thanks for commenting Daniel, and so glad you enjoy the blog. Yes I have seen far more companionship and comradeship amongst Haitians and Dominicans than the other way around. I have however seen racist behaviour on the part of the police and military, especially with deportations. You are right, I think there is far more friendship and acceptance than hatred as a whole. Interesting that in the US they tell you there is only hatred.

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  3. have you read this article? the author interviewed a large number of old dominicans and haitians in the mid 1990's in order to get their perspectives on the parsley massacre and the relationship between dominicans and haitians in the border region. it is very insightfull, and the author comes to the conclusion, that the massacre was used by trujillo to construct a dominican identity, which up to the point had been local rather than national: http://www.scribd.com/Chi-isyen/d/10163771-Turits-R-A-World-Destroyed-A-Nation-Imposed-The-1937-Haitian-Massacre-in-the-Dominican-Republic

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    1. Thanks so much for the link. It was fascinating and yes I think I agree with the author's conclusion.

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  4. Lindsay thanks for taking the time to research and provide factual information on this subject. I love your blog and I am an avid reader of your post. However, I was a bit perturbed by one of your past post in regards to Dominicans not seeing color and everyone got along famously in your opinion. You even showed a picture of your staff who were all of different hues and ethnic backgrounds. . I have been going to the Dominican yearly for the past ten years and I have witness acts of racism towards Haitians and Dominicans of darker complexions. My best friend who is Haitian usually travels in my group. He experiences a different attitude from the time he shows his passport and customs realized that he was born in Haiti. He is asked tons more questions and given a more difficult time. We are never questioned in the same way. I think that this post redeem what i felt was a trivialization of this issue. But you did good and this is very factual and informative. Thank you.

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    1. I am glad that you liked this post. Talking about colour is always hard, especially as everyone comes to it from a different perspective, and talking about the Haitian issue is hard in the same way. Hopefully I managed to get a balance here and explain the reasons why I think there is in some areas xenophobia against Haitians. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

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  5. So sad that neighbouring countries aren't on the best terms, but as you say this stems from the politicians. You were so brave to jump on the truck to save the Haitians from being deported! The world needs more people like you Lindsay!!

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    1. It didn't feel brave at the time! The issue was that the people were my customers, in my colmado and most of them had residency permits exactly as I did. So if they were to be arrested and deported even though they had residency then why should I not? That was what annoyed me. Still all ended well thank goodness.

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  6. Thanks for the last sentences of your comment "not all Dominicans dislike Haitians" As Dominican my self I can tell that my family care for them and we also make their funeral with dignity when they die and we don't know their families or which part of Haiti the came from.But is also true what you said its not an easy work to erase all those years of Xenophobia taught to my people.

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    1. I think you and your family should be commended and guess what you and your family have begun the process of changing all those years of Xenophobia. So thank you. I am @ anonymous, June 05, 2012, 1:33AM.

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    2. I know more Dominicans who live side by side with Haitians and to them they are brothers, than those who do not like them. And you are right it will not be easy to erase the years of xenophobia but maybe one day it will happen. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

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  7. That was a fascinating and informative post, thanks Lindsay. And scary - inappropriate leaders can do so much damage.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it Steph and yes it is amazing the power of leaders, especially when the population is not well educated.

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  8. Very interesting to read about the history of this dilemma! Many times have I tried to ask a Dominican and nobody has really been able to give a good answer. I've lived as an exchange student in a Dominican home in San Juan de la Maguana, which is the biggest city of the South-West close to the Haitian border. It's very sad to see each day acts of violence against people with darker skin. My dominican "little-sister" is adopted and has a darker tone to her skin, so many times when someone in the family gets mad at her they call her "maldita haitiana"(f**ing haitian) and treat her with a lot less respect then what her brother, who's exaclty the same age,gets. They also think she's dumber for some reason, even though she really is smarter then most and more interested, something I learnt when I took the time and tried to teach her a bit english..but not having a family that believes in her and supports her is unfortunately leading her in a bad direction.. In my family there they also hired a house-keeper (an about 14year haitian girl) which they soon fired because she was stealing everything she possibly could get her hands on. It really is a sad situation, some haitians are truly there to work hard and earn their living, while others just try to take the easy way out and use the goodwilling people. Thanks for your blogs, they're really interesting, some things are described exactly the way I've experienced them, others are very very different :)

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  9. I am glad you enjoy the blog and it was interesting for me to read about your experiences in San Juan. I have never visited there, but it is on my list of places to go!

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  10. Love your blog ....I am Dominican but I've been in the US for the past 10 years ......I left DR when I was 18...it is very sad how we treat each other sometimes .....I hope it gets better soon .......just want to say that pena Gomez name was Jose Francisco . No Jose Maria ......the greatest leader the DR has ever seen ......( Im not into politics in fact I hate politics....but he could've been the best president ever )

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    1. Thanks for that - I have changed it now. I am glad you enjoy the blog. I don't know much about Peña Gomez but the little I do know people talk very highly of him. It is a shame he died so young.

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  11. Thank you Lindsay, you have helped me learn a little moe about my adopted country.

    Granca (Richard)

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