By Alexis Erkert and Beverly Bell

As 2012 begins, a growing movement of displaced people and their allies in Haiti is actively claiming the right to housing, which is recognized by both the Haitian constitution and international treaties to which Haiti is signatory.

Haitians displaced by the earthquake two years...

We put this question to numerous Haitians. Below are some responses.

Konpè Filo has been one of Haiti's most popular journalists since 1974. Arrested, tortured, and exiled by Duvalier in 1980, Konpè lived in numerous countries until he could return home when the dictatorship fell in 1986....

Ronel Thelusmond is the director of the technical division of the National Institute for the Application of Agrarian Reform (INARA), which is part of the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture. Extreme concentration of land, giving little to no access to the 60-80% of the population who are farmers, is one of...

While the eyes of the world are on Haiti's illegitimate elections and the return of the deposed dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, about 1.5 million displaced earthquake survivors continue to live in sub-human conditions. In the absence of large-scale or systemic responses by the government, international community, or aid organizations, progressive...

At the Toussaint Louverture Airport in Port-au-Prince, I spot Ronal's taptap, pick-up-turned-public-bus, painted to resemble an Argentine flag -- a salute to his favored team in last year's World Cup soccer match. Ronal's first report is about his glee over last month's return of Jean-Claude Duvalier. Duvalier's ouster in 1986...

Ronel Thelusmond is the director of the technical division of the National Institute for the Application of Agrarian Reform (INARA), part of the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture. An element of INARA's mission is to manage land conflicts, particularly as they relate to national development. We asked Ronel how the government...

"Everyone expects there to be a new problem daily in Haiti. I can't concentrate on problems each day," said Roseanne Auguste, coordinator of a youth art program in the sprawling, under-resourced Port-au-Prince section of Carrefour-Feuilles. The program is run through the community clinic Association for the Promotion of Family Integrated...

Unlike the earthquake, Haiti's most recent crisis came with ample warning. Most Port-au-Prince residents scurried to their homes mid-afternoon last Tuesday, certain of the violence and chaos which would ensue once the electoral council announced which two presidential candidates would make it to the run-offs. The trouble-makers didn't wait until...

As we file this article, Port-au-Prince is thick with the smoke of burning tires and with gunfire. Towns throughout the country, along with the national airport, are shut down due to demonstrations. Many are angry over the government's announcement on Tuesday night of which two presidential candidates made the run-offs:...

Josette Pérard is director of Fon Lanbi Haiti, the Haitian counterpart of the Lambi Fund. Fon Lanbi trains, builds capacity of, and gets grants to women's and small farmer organizations in rural areas. Josette's perspectives on community development follow.

The idea of development is to provide everyone with the means...

When people ask me, as they do all the time, "Is there any cause for hope in Haiti?" I answer yes.

It's more tempting to think that the situation is so hopeless that it can't any worse, especially right now. Last week, Hurricane Tomas brought three days of heavy storms,...

Reconstructing Haiti is not about buildings, projects, or money. It's about power -- about who gets to control what the future Haiti looks like. Redistributing power, and creating a new society based on different theories and practices of it, are perhaps more important in the aftermath of the January 11...

Haiti is a reminder of a lesson we in New Orleans got after Hurricane Katrina and the broken levees: the capacity of humanity to survive, sustain culture, and create joy -- no matter the external circumstances -- is without limit. That capacity is unsinkable, like trying to keep a cork...

"I came to protest so we can find a solution. Misery is killing me," said Mascarie Sainte-Anne, 70, at the edge of a rally in front of Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive's office on October 12.

Haitians have been taking to the streets with increasing frequency since August...

We asked dozens of Haitians from different social sectors how they felt about the November 28 elections, and what they want or expect from a new government. Here are some of their responses.

Louisiane Nazaire defines herself as a peasant. She is a member of a local peasant farmer...

Rony Charles, a rice grower and member of the Agricultural Producer Cooperative of Verrettes, said, "Instead of foreigners sending us food, they should give us the chance to do our own agriculture so it can survive."

Giving domestic agriculture the chance to survive would address four critical needs:

• Creating...

Haiti is famous around the world primarily for its problems, one being advanced ecological destruction. However, as with its other problems, citizens -- with international friends and the occasional help of the government -- are working to turn this around and create a healthy environment.

Aldrin Calixte tells of...

"There needs to be a new vision for Haiti, and that vision needs to come from the people," says Marc-Arthur Fils-Aimé, director of the Karl Leveque Cultural Institute (commonly known by its Creole acronym ICKL), a grassroots center which supports peasant and other popular organizations to help them develop their...

Jonas Deronzil is a farmer from the village of Mogé in Haiti's fertile Artibonite Valley, and one of about 2,000 members of a production and marketing cooperative. Here he analyzes the problems Haitian small producers face, notably U.S. food imports, and proposes alternatives.

I am a peasant planter, that's all...

If one positive thing has come from the earthquake of January 12, it is the greater inclusion of Haiti in the human family. True, the catastrophe has brought out of the woodwork many scoundrels - individuals, corporations, agencies, and governments - looking to gain wealth and power off of poverty...