Amy Goodman, renowned journalist and host of Democracy Now!, has been reporting live from Haiti for several days now. Following the request of Eve Ensler, creator of The Vagina Monologues, Goodman embarked upon a search for the whereabouts of Myriam Merlet, the Chief of Staff of Haiti’s Ministry of Women. Yesterday, she reported the tragic news of Merlet’s death in the earthquake. Myriam, Amy Goodman explained, was not just a friend to Eve Ensler, but to so many women in Haiti. One of the great feminists of the country, she brought significant social change and drew much attention to the problems women face there.
Myriam Merlet had left Haiti in the seventies, but returned soon after to stand up for gender as well as racial freedoms and equality. She later joined the Haitian Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Women’s Rights to work alongside Former Minister Marie-Laurence Josselyne-Lassegue, another feminist leader. Merlet often joked that it was rather surprising that two “radical feminists” were actually in positions of power in Haiti. In her time at the ministry, as a fearless, outspoken individual, Myriam helped draw international attention to the practice of rape as a political weapon. In 2001, she brought The Vagina Monologues to Haiti and established a strong, long-lasting partnership between her women’s movement and V-Day. Just a little over a year ago, Eve Ensler joined Merlet for a grand performance of The Vagina Monologues in Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien which brought together large numbers of women. Shortly after this visit, Myriam and Marie-Laurence successfully completed a joint project with V-Day, and opened the very first Haiti Sorority Safe House called the V-Day Safe House. In a visit to New Orleans for the celebration of V-Day’s tenth anniversary, Merlet harkened back to a time when non-governmental women’s organizations in Haiti were never able to open a shelter for abused women. “And now,” she exclaimed, “we are really proud to be able to say that we are going to have our first safe house in Port-Au-Prince Haiti.”
Merlet’s passing is tragic, and a true loss for Haiti’s women’s movement. But in remembering her, we are also reminded of all Haitian women: the significant toll this natural disaster will take on them and their children, but also the importance of including them in the process of recovery. Eve Ensler’s comment on Democracy Now! is a very important one, and incredibly relevant to the days, months, and even years that follow the devastating disaster that took place: “There are so many extraordinary women in Haiti, forces of nature and resilience who know full well what to do with the country’s future…how this recovery happens will create the path for what comes after. And we must – must – put women at the center of everything that happens. Their voices must be heard…this is an opportunity for us to the support the Haitians to take back their country, to have a vision of the future…and to put women in the center of that envisioning.”
You can find more information on Myriam Merlet, and watch or read the segment of yesterday’s Democracy Now! episode at the following website: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/19/haitian_feminist_leader_myriam_merlet_1953
