Cultivating Democracy: Community Organizing in Haiti

Upon reflection, I gained a new realization of the role of human rights activism in Haiti, a more complete understanding of what needs to be done. I came to Haiti thinking that human rights work meant counting violations and reporting them internationally. Monitoring human rights abuses does serve a purpose; it helps bring attention and support to the work of indigenous activists and can help expose the illegitimacy of an abusive regime. But as I realized in the weeks following the rally at St. Jean Bosco, these activities are only instrumental to a larger end, that of remaking political life. I understood that the broader goal of human rights work is to help the growth of new, just and democratic organizations for tomorrow\u27s society-something more than simply fomenting today\u27s revolution. Human rights work must not only denounce and decry the abuses of power, but also nurture an alternative to them