Since the Haitian Revolution in 1804, Haiti has been a country in which political power struggles determine the lives of its nearly 11.8 million inhabitants. Following the assassination of President Jovene Moïse in 2021, there is currently no stable state structure, with rival gangs controlling large parts of the country.
The other part of the country is being led on an interim basis by the current Prime Minister, Ariel Henry. The violence and political instability have led to a humanitarian crisis, resulting in famine and refugee movements. The other part of the country is being led on an interim basis by the current Prime Minister Ariel Henry. The violence and political instability have led to a humanitarian crisis, resulting in famine and refugee movements. Due to its internal problems, Haiti is considered a „failed state“.
However, this is what we as students at the University of Kassel have researched. It is difficult to gain a European perspective or overview of the situation and reality on the ground. We tried to shed some light on the question of how such a country deals with freedom of expression and the associated censorship of literature.
We were able to find a total of 13 authors whose texts, books, or entire works were or are banned. In addition to books such as “The Comedians” by Graham Greene and “La Fille d’Haiti” by Marie Vieux-Chauvet, which deal with life as a citizen in Haiti and criticize the government, it is particularly striking that the complete works of many authors have been banned, such as Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, and Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. In other words, progressive works in the humanities.
Haiti’s government insists that there is no censorship. Indeed there is no list recording censored books, but one thing is certain: Censorship does exist. However, we were often during our research unable to determine exactly what was censored, who was responsible for this censorship, and whether the respective censorship was ever lifted.
It should be noted that Haiti lags far behind as a research subject, especially with regard to censorship there. We therefore hope that our work will only be the beginning of further research and that Haiti will soon no longer have any reason to be the target of such research.
Die Kasseler Liste, 5.11.2025
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