Patrick Scott
December 2006
Progressio (formerly the Catholic Institute for International Relations) is hosting a photographic exhibition in December of Haitian migrant workers on the sugar cane plantations of the Dominican Republic. The black and white images of Illegal Portraits by photographer The grinding economic poverty suffered by many in the economically underdeveloped countries is the motor force for often illegal economic migration. A situation that if anything has been exacerbated in recent years as many such countries have been force to ‘liberalise’ their economies due to IMF dictats.
Today millions of economic migrants from Latin America live and work illegally in the United States, doing the lowest paid and lowest status work.
The Illegal Portraits photographs are a window into the lives of a community that is not just technically illegal, but is also the most dispossessed and marginalized in Dominican society. In Dominican society sugar cane cutters, or picadors, are the lowest paid and workers of the lowest status in the Dominican Republic workers, a legacy from times when such work was only done by slaves. A ccordingly almost all picadors on the Dominican sugar plantations are Haitian or are of Haitian descent. Many Haitians still migrate across the border to do this work in the forlorn hope of a better future. In doing so they Being encouraged to do so by representatives of the Dominican Republic government operating of the Dominican Republic who has representatives throughout Haiti . But once inside the country however the Haitian workers on the sugar plantations almost invariably receive no official documentation.
As such they are illegal workers and have no rights to claim Dominican citizenship or send their children to Dominican schools . This is , although they are encouraged to migrate in the first place by the Dominican government. This situation has persisted for many years meaning that so there are now many children of technically illegal Haitian workers born on the villages of sugar plantations, or bateyes as they are known. Though born in the Dominican Republic they have no citizenship rights or any other rights enjoyed by their ‘legitimate’ counterparts born in the country. In other words what exists on the Haitian communities of the bateyes is an unofficial form of apartheid, one but one which that exists with the tacit support of the Dominican government. The exhibition is called Illegal Portraits precisely because it consists of photographs of members of a community that is not just illegal (though only technically) but one that is made up of the most dispossessed and marginalised. Through these photographs and through the exhibition these Haitians will hopefully be given a voice so that the rest of the world can hear.
But economic migration, whether both legal or and illegal, can take s place between the developing countries themselves as well as to the west. Divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic the island of Hispaniola almost serves as a microcosm of what is going on in the world today. Haiti taking up the western third of the island is one of the poorest countries in the world. Some 80 per cent of Haiti ’s population live in abject poverty and about 90 per cent of the population is black, descended from African slaves. It speaks volumes about the Haitian economy when a significant proportion of the country’s foreign earnings comes from Haitians working outside the country sending money to their dependants.
Though hardly an advanced capitalist country the situation of the Dominican Republic is nowhere near as dire as that of Haiti. The Dominican economy relies heavily on the one million or so migrant workers from Haiti, some working there legally but many illegally. In contrast to Haiti only about 10 per cent of the Dominican population is black, the majority being of mixed ancestry. Accordingly there has been a long history of racist discrimination and persecution against Haitians in the Dominican Republic. In 1937 Dominican government troops massacred an estimated 20,000 Haitian sugar cane workers. A massacre on that scale could not take place today but there still exists massive discrimination against Haitians.
Though hardly an advanced capitalist country the situation of the Dominican Republic is nowhere near as dire as that of Haiti. The Dominican economy relying to a large extent on the one million or so migrant workers from Haiti, some working there legally but many illegally. In contrast to Haiti only about 10% of the Dominican population is black, the majority being of mixed ancestry. Accordingly there has been a long history of racist discrimination and persecution against Haitians in the Dominican Republic. In 1937 Dominican government troops massacred an estimated 20,000 Haitian sugar cane workers. A massacre on that scale could not take place today but there still exists massive discrimination against Haitians. The grinding economic poverty experienced by many in the economically developing countries is the motor force for often illegal economic migration. A situation that if anything has been exacerbated in recent years as many such countries have been force to ‘liberalise’ their economies due to IMF dictats. Today millions of economic migrants from Latin America live and work illegally in the United States, doing the lowest paid and lowest status work. Similarly West European countries including Britain host often illegal economic migrants form Eastern Europe, Africa, and even as far as China.
Gianni Dal Mas the photographer is an Italian photojournalist and development worker who has worked in the Dominican Republic. He has campaigned and continues to campaign against human rights abuses against Haitians in the country, both on the sugar plantations and elsewhere.
Illegal Portraits - a photo exhibition by Gianni Dal Mas of Haitian communities on the sugar plantations of the Dominican Republic at the Human Rights Action Centre, Amnesty International, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2. Open 11am to 3pm from 5 to 8 December.
Further information about the photo exhibition can be found online at www.progressio.org.uk/haiti.