Don’t Cry for Me Haiti

I am sick and tired of shedding crocodile tears for Haiti, for Afghanistan, for Palestine, and for the Climate. Haven’t we realized that WE are creating the inhumanities and disasters that are happening around us??Imagine that it took the world climate report – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report of 2021 - to finally confirm that we Humans are the main culprits!

Take the case of Haiti – a country that is also close to my heart. Consider these?10 points and the 5 actions that we can take:

1. Haiti became the first Free Black country in the Western Hemisphere in 1804. No Slavery. No Colonialism.

2. It appears that Haiti is still paying the price today for its success at beating Slavery and Colonialism over 200 years ago.

3. Haiti’s black Napoleon, Toussaint L‘ Overture, led his black Haitian army to beat their colonial masters, France (1791-1804).

4. Haiti was crippled before it could walk.?In 1825, Haiti was forced by France to pay 150 million Francs, later reduced to 90 million Francs in 1838, the equivalent of US$30 billion in 2021 dollars, to compensate for the loss of slaves – a debt that took Haiti more than 100 years (until 1947) to pay off.?

5. Fearing that the ‘winds of Freedom’ would spread from Haiti to other countries and the USA, Haiti was invaded, isolated, sanctioned, and occupied by the USA.?Sounds Familiar? It is no different from Cuba, where the fear of the ‘winds of Socialism’ blowing to other parts of the Western Hemisphere’ keeps Cuba in check through economic sanctions and isolation.

6. The USA supported Haiti’s Puppet President Duvalier and his son (1957-1971) that would keep blacks in their place and support rich and American interests. Imagine that not even Haiti's first Black President could enter one of the white-only clubs in a Free Black Country!

7. Meanwhile, the rich kept getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Haiti, like most other developing economies in Latin America and the Caribbean, has a small but very rich class of citizens.?In Haiti, the richest 20% owns 64% of its total wealth, while the poorest 20% barely owns 1%.

8. American AID subsidised Haiti’s Poverty - US provides AID to Haiti by subsidising US rice farmers ($434m) paid annually to supply rice to Haiti at prices that make local production impossible and totally unprofitable.??

9. Add to this political turmoil ending in the assassination of its President Moisie in 2021 and a host of natural disasters -?Haiti was hit by 4 consecutive storms – Fay, Gustav, Hanna, and Ike in 2008. That year, Haiti lost 98% of its forest foliage;?an earthquake of epic magnitude shook Haiti’s foundations in 2010, leaving the country in a state of desperation and 250,000 dead; a cholera outbreak wreaked havoc on the nation taking the lives of 500,000 more people. Haiti’s dead count exceeded the combined populations of Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines. And now in 2021, after the assassination of its President, Haiti was hit by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake, taking the lives of some 1,500 persons and injuring over 6,000.

10. So when we feel sorry, remember that our own actions, inactions, and ignorance are fuelling the events that we look on at and feel 'happily' hopeless.

What is to be done?

1. AID may be necessary, but is not sufficient.?The announcement by Osaka to donate her prize money to Haiti is welcomed. But this prise money should be used to purchase the best that Haiti has to offer - to purchase Haiti’s works of art and even to set up in the Dominican Republic (which receives visitors to the islands) an effective avenue for selling and distributing Haitian works of art. In other words, AID Plus Trade.?

2. Own up! – Countries need to be encouraged?to own up to the problems that they have historically created. France and the USA have played major roles in the current state of dysfunctionality of Haiti. And just as Germany has had to ATONE for the destruction, damage and decimation of the Jews, it is critical that other countries ‘own up’ and play a more critical role in Haiti’s recovery, reconstruction and resilience.

3. Open Your Eyes – The 10% of Haitians that are doing well and doing very, very well. How can they sleep at night when the rest of Haiti is hurting? Haiti will not do well until everyone does well. True development needs to take place, starting from the local business and professional sectors.

4. Don’t Let History Repeat Itself – Is Afghanistan another Haiti in the making? What is happening to Haiti is no different from what continues to transpire the world over, where international powers colonise countries or invade them ‘to put them straight’ and then leave them ‘high and dry’. Will Haiti’s fate await Afghanistan?

5. The Colossal Costs of Our Patrimony. In appreciating Haiti’s critical art and artists and the legacy that they have left the world (black slaves bold-faced enough to fight for their freedom against France, a major colonial power, AND win; in appreciating the French planters that fled to the USA and joined the war effort and to set up plantations and Trinidad; in appreciating the Mardi Gras in New Orleans and the amazing Trinidad Carnival; we should not forget whose backs (Haitians) and the great costs that these were ‘won’.

Some food for thought as it appears that history is continuing to repeat itself.

Read more on Hait's story in this article: Discover The Untold Story Of Haiti