Eyes Wide Open Film Series, Part III
Aristide and the Endless Revolution
March 15, 2006
As part of the third season of the Eyes Wide Open film series the new documentary Aristide and the Endless Revolution by Nicolas Rossier was screened to a full house on March 15, 2006. The film covers Jean Bertrand Aristide and the 2004 coup d'etat in Haiti. (See the handout distributed at the screening)
The films covers Aristide's history as priest as well as the history of the Lavalas party and his rise in popular support. Aristide won a landslide victory in the November 2000 elections, however his victory was purposefully confused with the May 2000 legislative elections in which 7 Lavalas senators took their seats without winning an absolute majority. Using the issue of "flawed" elections, the U.S. led a successful campaign to cut off all economic aid to Haiti, with France doing the same in Europe. In addition, $650 million in loans from the Interamerican Development Bank were blocked, but Haiti was still forced to pay interest on the loans. The results were devastating.
The film investigates U.S. involvement in the overthrow of Aristide, with both sides giving their versions. For Aristide and his supporters, he was kidnapped and it was clearly a coup; Roger Noriega, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs and the man thought to be the architect of the coup, instead maintained that Aristide had resigned.
During the discussion that followed the film, we were lucky to have input from a Haitian as well as experts who have worked in Haiti in international cooperation projects. The film was received well, though some observed that there were some missing elements, namely Aristide's purported involvement in drug trafficking as well as Canada's role in Haiti's recent past.
Stephanie Westbrook
Special thanks to Linux Club for their hospitality.
