Faith, and Community Leadership in Haiti (Part 2)
Community Leadership in a modern Haiti
By Hyppolite Pierre
Many of Haiti’s present and past political leaders have first used their influence on a regional level before reaching national recognition. Starting at the local level and making for oneself the reputation of an effective individual are keys to earning the trust of the local population. This is how many Haitian politicians have achieved their goal of national leadership. The two most famous examples in Haiti’s recent history, for strikingly different reasons, are Duvalier and Aristide.
François Duvalier and the effect of faith on Haitian politics
François Duvalier was a medical doctor who had served as a rural administrator of a United States-funded anti-yaws campaign. He later on became a member of president Estimé’s (1946-1950) cabinet. He was then considered an honest man, a fairly unassuming leader with little ideological motivation.
Duvalier’s political career began during his time as a rural doctor in that anti-yaws program. This task made of him a community leader, as he was directly involved in the poor’s life as someone who had come to help them. This task allowed him to observe aspects of their lives that many politicians at the time were not privy of. He observed rather quickly the importance of Vodou in the people’s lives. He thus came to realize that in no way could a leader in Port-au-Prince effectively control the murky politics of Haiti until and unless such leader not only recognized, but also accepted the validity of Vodou. Years later after he had become president of Haiti and had begun his reign of terror (1957-1971), everyone would realize as he had made it known, that he was himself a practitioner of that faith. He used everything in Vodou that had made it such an unattractive faith to Toussaint Louverture. If Duvalier was a Houngan, a Vodou priest as he claimed that he was, he was also a bókó, a sorcerer. He used efficiently all the negative forces in that faith to terrorize people and control the people of Haiti.
It is now finally understood that without Vodou, Duvalier would have probably not been able to survive politically. Since Vodou is an integral part of the culture of Haiti, especially in rural areas, he associated himself with leaders of that faith like the Houngan in their respective communities, and made many of them his spies and his Tonton Makouts.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the effect of faith on Haitian politics
The influence of faith in Haitian politics did not end with Duvalier. In fact, such an effect would prolong to this very day. If Duvalier was so overt about his affiliation with Vodou, it is also because he had many problems with the Catholic Church and its leadership that was quite opposed to his reign in the early days and years of his administration . Eventually, all dust would settle and the Catholic Church would regain strength in Haitian affairs with now a clergy of mostly Haitians. Before and until Duvalier’s public battle with the Vatican, the Catholic clergy was composed of foreigners mostly from Europe. Afterwards, the Church had many more Haitian clergymen. It is from that Church that another politician would rise in the early 1980’s to become Haiti’s current president.
Aristide had earned the trust of the people not only because he espoused so skillfully the cause of the poor, but also because he was a man of the cloth. People at the time needed someone that they could trust, having been fooled by Duvalier who used their popular culture and faith to obtaining and keeping power for himself and eventually his son Baby Doc. As a priest in charge of the Saint Jean-Bosco parish in Port-au-Prince, Aristide was viewed as the devoted man who cared more about the people than himself. His dynamics comprised an effective and even poetic use of the national language, Haitian (Creole), and his well-documented survival against assassination attempts. People saw him (and many still do) as a messiah, someone sent from the heavens to lead the people to prosperity, justice, and peace.
He, like Duvalier, started his political career as a community leader. He lived among the urban poor and started out a small organization called Lafanmi se lavi (Family is life). It is through his works as a community leader, adding to his religious stature that he began to establish his political leadership throughout the land. In fact, in light of the current difficulties of his government, he is still by most reports loved by the poor because they still believe that he means well. He is not the problem, they say or think. His entourage and the international community are the real enemies of not only himself, but the urban and rural poor of Haiti.
The dynamics of Vodou
Some of the recurring themes in Haitian life comprise not simply Community Leadership but the effect and importance of faith in such leadership. It can also be inferred based on the historical facts that the people’s faith in Vodou played a pivotal and positive role in Haiti’s achieving its independence from France. If Vodou was so important for Haiti to achieve its independence, why then are so many Haitians and leaders so uncomfortable with this faith? Is it really all devilish and therefore can only contribute to Haiti’s demise? Are there any positive aspects of this faith which Haiti can use to positively advance in the modern world?
The first and probably greatest political leader of that land, Toussaint Louverture, eventually stood against the practice of Vodou. He thought that it was not advanced enough of a religion or a faith, to guide the people towards civilization. Catholics stand against that faith even though they have not continuously, or systematically attacked Vodou practitioners. Perhaps this is because most people who practice Vodou will also tell you that they are Catholics. The Protestant Church on the other hand, has mounted merciless campaigns against Vodou. Only a couple of years ago for example, a Haitian Pastor and some American missionaries went to Bois Cayman, the site of Boukman’s Vodou ceremony in 1791, to pray there and attack Vodou as though it is the cause of all of Haiti’s current ills. Many people even argue that Haiti’s ills derive from the influence of Vodou in the country’s earning its freedom and independence from the French. Worse, the extremely influential Hollywood has had a few movies about Haiti, in which Vodou is described negatively. The movie “The Serpent and the Rainbow ” is one of them. What are the parameters of that faith that create so much debate, but yet so little or much confidence or so in it depending one one’s ideology or faith?
Morality and Vodou
In a text written by a Mambo, an American citizen by the name of Kathy Grey , she discusses the issue of morality in Vodou. This is perhaps where one could start to understand the reasons why Vodou has been so vilified over the years by both Haitians and foreigners alike. In this text, Kathy describes an encounter back in the mid 1990’s, after the return of Aristide to power with the UN and the US backing. At a seminar on women’s rights which she attended, she met a Haitian man who explained to her that women are inferior because they believe in the lies that men tell them. To him, this was proof of women’s weak nature and therefore inferiority when compared to men. He explained that “whatever lies you tell them, women, they believe you”. He did not seem to be uncomfortable with telling lies, or ashamed of behaving in such a way because to him, it was all a matter of power. Kathy’s argument is key to not only understanding Vodou, but also the way that Haitians seem to consider power.
With such a mental structure, the important thing is not the morality of the act but rather, simply the desired result. If, she explained, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, the ultimate goal is to do what is morally correct, in the Vodou tradition the ultimate goal is the acquisition of power. If in the Judeo-Christian tradition, the weak or the victim must be protected, in the Vodou tradition, the weak is only so because of his or her weaknesses, or because he or she has not showered the lwa with as many gifts as the powerful. All in all, the ultimate goal in Vodou is power, not the improvement of the self for some higher moral reason.
It is clear that Vodou is a powerful force in Haiti, especially in the rural communities. It is also clear that a Houngan, a Mambo or a Bókó enjoys a special place in such a societal structure. In fact, such a person is a leader in his or her community. Duvalier proved it well by enlisting many such religious leaders into his corps of Tonton Makouts for political control of Haiti’s rural communities. If as community leaders, those who practice the Vodou faith are more interested in power than achieving good, there is no telling as to what harm Haiti can suffer. In fact, Kathy Grey’s argument is so correct that when one looks at Haiti and its leaders over the years, one can see that most of the country’s leaders have not only dealt with, but espoused such a mentality. Granted, politicians tend to lie for instance to get to power. Still in most developed and organized countries and in most cases, when they do get to power, they try to use it to do good things for their people.
Haiti’s history however shows a very different profile of leaders and their understanding of power. That attitude falls right into that Vodou tradition. Power to them is not a tool to achieve good, but rather to acquire wealth for themselves and their acolyte. What Haitians call a “moun de byen” as Kathy Grey explained it, a person of good, is not someone with high moral standard or great character. It is rather someone who has acquired wealth and power by whatever means or subterfuge. Vodou focuses more on the immediacy of life, what is actual, concrete, and the means to get those things quickly and surely. That is why Vodou practitioner will focus first and foremost on calling on the lwas who are intermediaries to God, so they can reply to their calls in the soonest of times. The fact that they must shower those lwas with things like food and dress accordingly while imploring those lwas, suggests that the focus on the tangible and the immediate are evermore present in the Vodou practitioner’s life. God is a distant figure and so detached from us that we must call upon his or her deputies (the lwas) for an answer to our needs. A higher level of morality in this psychological context which implies future (not present) consequences of one’s acts, if not irrelevant, is at least not as primary a societal need. It is really individualism at its worse. How then can one encourage the positive in that faith, and use it to Haiti’s advantage? Although but the facts prove otherwise, many may say this is a hopeless proposition.
Let’s take the example of an established religion. Catholicism as a religion, has evolved from Paganism to what it is today, even though many Catholic theologians try now to dismiss the idea. Paganism as a faith had many of the same elements of good and evil. Eventually, it evolved into what it is today. There are claims that to this day, catholic priests can practice what is known in French as “messe noire” (black mass), a reference to the negative idea behind having such a mass in the first place. If this is true, then just like in the Vodou faith, at least some Catholic priests can use their spiritual power and knowledge to do harm as well as good. However, what the Catholics and all other recognized European-based religions have been able to do is making a clear distinction, between the morally good and the repugnant. They have successfully identified in their religion the positive forces with God, whom they and their followers worship, and the negative forces with Satan. They thus propagated the idea of “good” and “god-like” into society as worthy, and the idea of “bad” as evil and unworthy for people to pursue.
Many also seem to forget in their rush to discredit Vodou as a faith with many positive values, that for a long time in Catholic Europe, the Church promoted the idea that man was inherently bad, consequences of the Adam’s and Eve’s original sins. This sort of mentality had for instance the consequences of keeping the French people from rebelling against their kingdom, until Jean-Jacques Rousseau came about and began writing about such issues. Rousseau indeed explained, contrary to religious belief at the time, that men (as in humans) are good, and that society corrupts them. From that point on, the “original sin” as promoted by the Catholic Church became less relevant, and people began to view themselves not as inherently evil, but capable of mostly doing good. Therefore, they were not poor because they were bad, but because society (i.e. those in power) prevented them from moving ahead and enjoying a better life.
The truth with Vodou is that, it stands like a good lawyer whose only purpose is to win in a courtroom for her or his client. In that “lawyerly” process, some aspects of the Vodou philosophy has caused more harm than good to Haiti. For instance, from Kathy Grey’s explanation of the Haitian point of view of “moun de byen”, it is clear that the social psychology that develops in such context is inherently negative towards the poor. Since attaining power at whatever cost is the ultimate goal, the poor “deserves” a miserable life and thus, should be looked down upon. This kind of mentality amounts to, or is at least conducive to racism and in Haiti’s case, class-ism. Haiti’s class-based system after all may find its justification in the very popular culture that is supposed to fight against it. Worse, the proponents of this class-based system in Haiti are in general, those who virulently are opposed (officially that is) to Vodou as a faith with positive cultural values.
The true test for leaders of that faith and Haitian intellectuals of Rousseau-like philosophy, is to help fight with success against such a negative mentality in an otherwise noble faith. We must all remember that Vodou as a faith had helped the Haitian people earn their independence. Without the belief that they were not only fighting the good fight but also would, rather than perish in a battle, move back to Africa and live in peace among the lwas, so many of them would not have thrown themselves in front of the canons of the well-trained European armies of France, England and Spain. This war tactic was crucial for Haiti to win its war of independence against the well-trained army of France.
Also, Vodou helped the slaves keep their faith in their humanity. After all, they were humans back in Africa and enjoy their lives in their villages. Some of them like Toussaint Louverture for instance, were even from royal background. Vodou helped them believe in the righteousness of their cause.
Vodou is not only a faith with a system of survival. It has also provided positive community leadership in Haiti in terms of individual counseling, medicine, etc. A medsen fèy (or doktè fèy as they are sometimes called) who is of the Vodou faith, is someone who knows the medicinal power of plants, and have in most instances provided positive remedies to the people of rural Haiti. How else could the rural poor find cure to their ills, unless there were such leaders in their communities with the appropriate empirical knowledge? Anyone who has had the opportunity to observe a Houngan or a Mambo can detect the magnetism or rather the aura that such individual project. Such projection of outer strength reinforces the believer’s determination to tell this powerful figure (the Houngan or the Mambo) the whole truth about his or her trials and tribulations. That in return makes it possible for the priest or priestess to serve his or her client well in terms of advice. It works in many instances like a patient visiting a psychologist, a psychoanalyst, or a psychiatrist in the modern world. Despite one’s good deeds towards the lwas or the incantation of the moment, the Houngan or the Mambo cannot start the process of “correcting your wrong” unless he or she knows and understands the client’s current life circumstances. Therefore, the amount of psychology involved in the process and in some Vodou rituals should not be discounted.
Community Leadership in an increasingly modern Haiti
The argument here is not to encourage the creation of a new religion called Vodou. There are enough religions in this world and they all have their share of good or bad committed in their names. It is rather to show the correlation in Haiti between Faith and Community Leadership. As the historical facts propose it, effective and mostly positive leadership in Haiti’s different communities have begun through the vehicle of faith. The first leaders of Haiti’s independence were men and women of faith whose belief system held them on, and convinced subsequent followers to join the path for freedom.
Other community leaders were and still are from the church, with catholic priests playing mostly the role of worthy educators in urban areas of the country after our independence. They live around the people that they lead through faith, and have enormous positive and/or negative impact on their life, depending on their philosophy and actions. The Protestants brought with them their own view of God, Christianity, and the world, and also have enormous impact on their communities, from literacy program to the way they penetrate towns and villages. The Catholic Church had done and is still doing its part, through programs like TKL (Ti Komite Legliz). What then should community leadership be in contemporary Haiti?
If Community Leadership in Haiti was along faith-based in the past, it is increasingly changing and becoming more modern. Nowadays, hundreds of nongovernmental organizations (NGO’s) are in Haiti, working at the community level to help the poor. Some of them are faith-based like the Quixote Center. Others are simply secular, and their work range from encouraging awareness and understanding of economic, social, and economic policies, to working directly with people in their communities on specific programs . This increasing role of community leaders in Haiti is incidentally one more proof that despite all the problems, Haiti is truly becoming more democratic. It would have been impossible during the Duvalier years to have so many nonprofit organizations there, because he or his son would have felt threatened. When a non-governmental organization meets with peasants to discuss issue of conducting potable water to La Gonâve, or the reforestation of Gros Morne, those discussions must be or must continue to be with the people in those respective communities and their leaders. That implies in many if not most instances, the inclusion of traditional healers like medsen fèy, or Houngan and Mambo in these discussions. Vodou indeed does have a role to play in a more modern Haiti.
There are questions for these new and more modern community leaders in Haiti. For example, is their work in these various regions of the country too micro, too macro, or right on target? What are the effects of their work on the country’s future? How is their contribution valuable in the larger picture of Haiti’s development? Can their effort be coordinated so there is no overlap with governmental work?
For community leadership to become fully advantageous to Haiti, projects of nongovernmental agencies have to respond to the real needs of the people by region and necessity. For instance, if the most urgent problems in the Artibonite region are water for agriculture and poor hygiene, government should learn to work with NGO’s that are focused on these kinds of issues by even providing them incentives in case it would be cheaper for such NGO to do the work rather than the government itself. Government that way could use its resources to focus on other priorities in the region or in some other local communities. Better coordination between government and NGOs is therefore necessary to not only avoid waste of much-needed resources, but at times to even use talents from NGOs that are lacking at the same level at the State level. Haiti now suffers from the flight of talents that have emigrated to better places where they are better acknowledged and remunerated. All in all, nongovernmental agencies and governments have to learn to work in closer proximity to one another, so they understand each other’s roles and help each other achieve their goals for a better Haiti.
For too long, Haiti’s traditional community leaders have been wrongly used by individualistic and power-hungry individuals who only cared about themselves rather than the country. As we mentioned it before, François Duvalier used Vodou leaders to terrorize and control the rural population, rather than using their empirical knowledge and science for effective and positive leadership in Haiti. Nowadays, both nongovernmental organization and the State must learn to understand and acknowledge the leadership value of a medsen fèy, a fanm saj , a Mambo, or a Houngan. This is essential since these people have been providing services to their local community for more than a century.
Vodou and its system of dichotomy: the challenge
The case has been successfully made that in many instances, Vodou has caused as much harm as it has fostered good. Yet, all sides must learn to use the positive in that faith, and encourage the rejection of the negative through legislations and other appropriate incentives. Vodou is a faith that considers duality as part of life. It acknowledges and makes use of both the good, Rada, and the bad, Petro. Papa Légba, the gatekeeper between the two words (of human and the spirit), has his opposite known as Kalfu. For virtually every positive figure in Vodou, there is his or her nemesis. The difficulty is in processing the faith so that its positive figures can be acknowledged and used, while the negative ones are socially, morally, and intellectually discarded.
There is in Vodou a wealth of empirical knowledge that has not been positively tapped into, to help achieve development in Haiti. For example we have yet to do, or if done, publish research on and make widespread use of the chemical properties of herbal medicine provided by the rural doctors known as medsen fèy. A Houngan’s role as a spiritual and psychological healer is rarely if ever acknowledged in larger society.
Vodou on the other hand has created a mentality that is both dynamic and fatalistic. Most adept to that faith for instance seem to seem to think that to every problem, there is a quick solution. In fact, despite the oftentimes angry denial, when in trouble, most Haitians of any and every faith refer to a Houngan, a Mambo, or a Bókó. It is not uncommon for instance to hear of a Protestant or a Catholic worshipper who has been to a bókó or a Houngan sometime in his or her life. This is because God at the time was not responding fast enough to that person’s plea.
On the fatalistic side, Vodou suggests as well that everything happens because the lwa want it to be that way. This creates a tendency in the peasant population to resign to their condition. Still, this side of Vodou is found in most other religions. Many Protestant ministers in Haiti inform their congregation that God must be the primary focus, and therefore, wealth and a good life are not that relevant . The Catholic Church in its traditional preaching is not immune from that critic either. In fact, the traditional Roman Catholic priest still to this day focuses almost exclusively on the Deity in his preaching, and rarely if ever refers to the reality of the world.
Community leadership for a prosperous Haiti
Effective policymaking in Haiti requires an acknowledgement of many of the country’s core values that are rooted in both its European and African heritages. Vodou, as reality proves it, is a faith that permeates throughout the rural community, as well as most if not all other corners of Haitian society. If such a faith and the culture that it promotes is so resilient, this means that there are positives in it that we must find, extract, and exploit for a better Haiti. The leadership of that faith, from the Houngan to the bókó, the Mambo, and all others, are effective leaders with empirical knowledge, good and bad. Promoting the good in that faith and discouraging the bad should be a public policy focus of any Haitian government that has for main thrust the modernization of Haiti.
It was one thing for Toussaint Louverture to have tried to move the masses away from Vodou, and encourage them to become Catholics. Still when it was necessary, the same Toussaint Louverture used the power of that faith to promote the cause of the freed slaves. The immense cultural value of Vodou is also something that our Eurocentric selves have rejected. The value of the drum and the different messages that it projects, the artifacts, the music, the dances, the worldview of that faith are all things that we either try to consciously deny, or simply ignore. However contradictory this may seem to some of us, understanding the mechanisms of the leadership in that religion and the reasons for its capacity to sustain over the years and even centuries, are also necessary steps to take if we want Haiti to be integrated in the modern world. Most of us, so faithful to the values of the West, fail to realize that the world is not just that of Christianity or Islam. Japan for instance is a country where 84 percent of the population, practice both Shinto and Buddhism, two non-western religions. Ninety percent of Hong Kong is an eclectic mixture of local religions, with only 10 percent of the population being Christian. A close look at these religions and the systems of value that they promote are important to better understand some mechanisms for development that these countries had applied to get to where they are today.
Haitian culture is in fact both western and non-western. It is western through our education, an essential ingredient in and for the country, if the wish for a rational and developed society is still there. It is non-western because the first act of Haiti’s fight for independence was achieved greatly thanks to the cultural values inherited through Vodou. Achieving the noble goals of development, better policymaking, and integration of the rural population in this increasingly more sophisticated world require policies that acknowledge the positive values of Vodou, and the struggle to rid that faith of the negative that it leaves along its course.
