Haiti is a country on the verge of collapse: criminal gangs have overrun the country, almost all government officials have fled after the assassination of President Moïse in 2021, desperate refugees are setting out on boats to reach the United States and Latin America, and the economy is suffering from the ripple effects of natural disasters that have destroyed much of Haiti's infrastructure.
How did this happen? How did a nation founded on liberation - a people revolting against its colonizers and enslavers - reach such devastation?In The Aid State, journalist and Haiti expert Jake Johnston reveals how long-standing American and European capitalist goals have ensnared and re-enslaved Haiti under the guise of aid.
To the global West, Haiti was and remains “open for business”: a place where labor is cheap, politicians are obedient, and profits can be made.For nearly a hundred years, the United States has sought to control Haiti and its people through occupying police and military forces, euphemistically so-called peacekeepers, and carefully selected leaders, aimed at suppressing uprisings and protecting corporate interests. Earthquakes and hurricanes only caused more devastation in a country left helpless by the industrial aid system.Based on years of field coverage in Haiti and interviews with American and Haitian politicians, independent aid contractors, UN officials, and Haitians struggling for their lives, homes, and families, Jake Johnston's The Aid State is a poignant and conscientious book of testimony.
