The Creole Pig: Haiti’s Great Loss—On Ecological Sovereignty and International Aid as a Tool of Empire

• Dudley Alexis, James Noël, and Aïda Roumer

Film screening, followed by a discussion

The Creole Pig: Haiti’s Great Loss

Dir.: Dudley Alexis, WLRN TV, 2024, USA, 60', in English, no subtitles

The film *The Creole Pig: Haiti’s Great Loss* (2024) serves as a starting point for a discussion on food sovereignty and ecological self-determination. Director Dudley Alexis, writer James Noël, and political scientist Aïda Roumer critically examine the history of international aid and foreign development programs as instruments of external dependence, exploitation, and interference in Haiti. In conversation with one another, they discuss how the country’s history—despite the destabilization efforts of colonial and imperialist powers—continues to inspire acts of resistance among the population and strengthen solidarity among them.

*The Creole Pig: Haiti’s Great Loss* tells the story of an animal that has played a central role in the lives of the Haitian people for generations.

Native to Haiti, the Creole pig was an indispensable resource for the country’s agriculture and provided rural communities with an important source of stability and resilience. In the 1980s, however, an outbreak of swine flu led to an intervention by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in collaboration with the government of Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, resulting in the eradication of the entire herd. The documentary examines the impact of this mass culling on Haiti’s economic decline while also shedding light on its political and social consequences. Through interviews with farmers, economists, educators, and analysts, it delves into Haiti’s history to shed light on the lasting effects of this tragic event, while also focusing on the forms of resistance it continues to inspire.

• Part of Bwa Kayiman: Crossing the Mangrove.