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Photo credit: Pixabay-Jan Baby

 

“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble…” says the Lord Almighty. 

          –Malachi 4:1

 

There is a global reckoning taking place with the so-called powerful false gods, particularly in the United States. The voiceless are finding comfort in watching as these powerful men and women—who have abused their power and used their money to silence their victims for decades—tumble.

From Hollywood executives to the United States Olympic team physician and child molester, to the fall of global world leaders that we learned about from the Panama papers and the Paradise papers, to the Oxfam International humanitarian global sexual abuse scandal, and to the failure of US presidential candidates, all because of past sins. Now we dare to believe that these falls will continue as light penetrates the darkness.

What is driving the light into this darkness?

The short answer is the Internet. The long answer is that the powerful traditional media is dying, and social networks are providing a number of alternatives, where anyone can build a media network based on trust and relationships. A story can go viral regardless of the individual’s background or institution.

Let this post serve as the day that Haitians—or at least one Haitian woman—decide to send a message to the Western empires that have been an enemy of Haiti for more than a century, letting them know that their time is up, and we’re terminating these abusive fake friendships.

Who are these Western empires?

Or shall we say vampires?

And how do they drain the blood out of Haiti?

Well, the story has been tragic since Haiti’s beginning. Gearóid Ó Colmáin, an independent political analyst, asserts, “Since its fake discovery in 1492 by Christopher Columbus, who named the island Hispaniola, Haiti’s history has been one of mass murder perpetrated in the commercial interests of Western foreign powers, endowed with the mission to impose civilization…”

 

 

Photo credit: Pixabay @johnhain

 

Most of the Western world’s native language is death and destruction of those they perceive to be weak.

Their second language is lies. The lies fester in literature, media, education, health, and every which way one can imagine. Western media have mastered the process of keeping most of the world dull and disconnected through marginalization. I wrote an article about how the corporate media marginalizes Haiti; you can read it here.

It’s time we attempt to break the cycle of indifference and ignorance.

Since Haiti’s bold defeat of Western slavery, achieving independence from France, England, and Spain in 1804, it has struggled to keep its own freedom and identity.

And sadly, most of the countries it has inspired have been too cowardly to stand against Haiti’s bullies, with the exception of Cuba and Venezuela.

Over the last two centuries, until today, other wannabes “power”-hungry Western countries, such as Canada, Brazil, and Chile among others, are following in the footstep of France and the United States in bullying Haiti.

The West has made a united effort to persistently punish this courageous island.

Sir Ronald Sanders is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the US. He informs us, “For almost 100 years, Haiti was pushed into poverty by the French demand, upheld by Western European nations and the US. Indeed, the US, which continued to be a slave-owning nation after European nations outlawed it, did not recognize Haiti as a free nation until 1862—the last major power at the time to do so.”

 

 

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Photo credit: Pixabay -Tumisu

 

You’ve probably never heard any non-Haitians write from anything but a paternalistic point of view about the offenses that Haiti has had to endure and is still enduring today. 

This is partly because, in much the same way that US history is written by the “winners,” e.g. the northerners who won the US civil war; Haiti’s history is not necessarily told by truth-tellers. Most of what has been written about Haiti has been written from the perspectives of the dominant and superficial foreign writers.

It’s easy to identify the impostor foreign Haitian “experts,” whether they are bloggers, reporters, or journalists. Most write about Haiti from a third-grade level imagination. The story is always patchy and full of inaccuracies. Haiti is out of their depth, but they try.

The time has come for Haitians to stop abasing themselves to their oppressors and to start behaving like 1804 revolutionaries. Haitians have had enough of the bullying and abuse of Haiti, particularly when you have the President of the United States publicly humiliating Haiti by calling it “trash”—and I am being kind here.

It’s time we stop calling Haiti’s enemies friends.

 

Geralt
Photo credit: Pixabay -Geralt

 

We need to realize that the very people some of us are giving awards to and publicly praising as friends of Haiti are in fact Haiti’s enemies. They have remained silent or stayed on the sidelines while their governments destroy Haiti through bad foreign policies.

How do you define friendship?

Let’s be sure that we are both on the same page when it comes to the definition of the word friend. According to dictionary.com, the term friend means “a person who is not hostile, one who is on good terms with another, a person attached to another by feelings of affection, or personal regard.” These definitions are in sharp contrast to the realities of the relationship between Haiti’s ostensible friends and Haiti.

Further, when it comes to the definition of the word friend, if you know Haiti’s history, you would never allow anyone to use the word friend for Haiti when it comes to the West.

This post will argue that Western governments, particularly France and the United States are no friends of Haiti in spite of repeatedly saying so in public.  In fact, their actions towards that small, beautiful island have been criminal. Criminal because what they preach in public is not what they practice in private. 

Here is an example of what the US State Department website says regarding US relations with Haiti (and keep reading to see the lies). The website states:

“When Haiti is more prosperous, secure, and firmly rooted in democracy, Haitians and Americans benefit. US policy toward this close neighbor is designed to foster the institutions and infrastructure necessary to achieve strong democratic foundations and meaningful poverty reduction through sustainable development…”

Are you rolling your eyes yet?

What is written on the website is completely untrue!

Once you start putting together the puzzle, you’ll realize that this might have been written over 100 years ago—but no, it represents a continuously oppressive friendship until today.

It is as if each US administration just copied and pasted the earlier information with only minor changes. This public policy on the US State Department’s website is not consistent with the facts of what the US has actually done in Haiti, which we’ll discuss.

Likewise, if you go to France’s website, although it is in French, it says something similar in terms of wanting to build a stronger partnership with Haiti. After 200 years, we can say the notion of a healthy and mutual partnership is false.

To say that the United States and France want a strong Haiti that is independent and developed would be the same as the US wanting to create policies for African-Americans to better their lives—we only need to look at the high rate of African-American incarcerations in the United States to see that this is not true.

If France and the United States have refused to integrate their black and brown citizens into their societies with dignity and respect while denying them economic access, why are we naive enough to believe that they will treat Haitians who look like these citizens differently?

Stop being naive!

Both France and the US purport to be Haiti’s friends, but in action, they are Haiti’s enemies.

These foes reveal who they are by practicing Western economic offenses and by creating havoc in Haiti by persistently financing coups to create political instability.

Social stability and economic development are the last things France and the US want for Haiti.

For the last few decades, both countries, along with other European nations, have made certain that Haiti remains poor.

 

Photo credit: Pixabay – Bored

 

And one of the methods France and the United States use is ensuring that a few corrupt Haitian politicians gain access to power. They then threaten and manipulate them, giving France and the United States open access to do as they please in Haiti.

These corrupt politicians’ days are numbered. As the country continues to mature, there will be a shift, and the traditional Haitian politicians are slowly dying. Haiti has lost a number of them already over the last few years.

This does not guarantee that corruption will be completely eliminated, but the United States will have a difficult time hiring these newer generations of politicians.

One hopes that the younger generation is distressed about Haiti being viewed as the laughingstock of the Caribbean and therefore will not be compromised. More and more Haitians are attuned and angry about France’s and the United States’ role in keeping Haiti poor, and they are fighting back.

Other Western countries have been part of the problem, as well, but the US and France have been consistent in leading the way.

Unless you are weak-willed, you would never consider anyone a friend who treats you the way these two nations have treated Haiti.

Those who do evil in the darkness are finding it difficult to keep their deeds hidden.

Western countries often have difficulty differentiating fact from fiction when they tell their tales. This is especially true in how they perceive themselves in history—as heroes, versus how other people experience their evil deeds firsthand as colonizers.

Telling it like it is…

We must denounce the lies and let others know what these so-called friends are doing to the Haitian people.

Let’s be clear, France and the United States are not friends of Haiti, and they have never been friends to Haiti. We want them to know that it is a mockery to call Haiti a friend when they’ve worked for over a century to crush the Haitian people’s dreams and aspirations through political and economic oppression.

We want the West and those who hold power in their governments to stop calling Haiti a friend. You are not a friend if you create systemic government policies to repress Haiti.

We implore France and the United States to stop the lies because it is well documented that both countries collaborated to overthrow Haiti’s only democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in 2004.

Ó Colmáin admits, Haiti had to deal with “UN forces, who occupied their country after the CIA and French intelligence kidnapped their democratically elected president in 2004.”

A friend does not get involved in kidnapping a president. It is an abuse of power, and it’s time we start calling it what it is.

As well, Sanders asserts that Haiti “was punished by every European nation, particularly France, and successive governments of the United States aided and abetted in the process… France demanded huge reparations for the slaves and plantations it lost at the revolt of Toussaint L’Ouverture. In 1825, Haiti’s leaders were forced to agree to pay France the harsh levy of 90 million gold francs, which the country did not finish paying until 1947.”

These are only a fraction of the economic and social setbacks that France and the United States have inflicted on Haiti without much public knowledge, leaving many of their own citizens in the dark while they consistently humiliate Haiti in the media as the “poorest country” in the Caribbean.

But there is more. Take, for instance, the United States’ former President Barack Obama.  He called a press conference after Haiti was flattened by the devastating earthquake, but instead of sending medical personnel first, he sent 20,000 US troops to occupy the country, while standing on national television acting moved by the devastation. The former Haitian president René Préval stood next to him as Obama pretended that he cared about Haitians. More Haitians are aware as to who their enemies are. Ó Colmáin confirms this:

“They [Haitians]  know that their real enemies are MINUSTAH, the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti, which is led by the US and France … By the 30th of November 2009, there was a total of 9,065 UN uniformed personnel, 7,031 troops, and 2,034 police from over 41 different countries throughout the world participating in the UN occupation of Haiti.”

Haiti is a country of fewer than 11 million citizens. Why did Haiti need people from 41 countries to invade it?

Does anyone else see the number of personnel as problematic and how that reinforces a blatant abuse of power when what Haiti’s immediate needs were medical and food help? At the time, France and the US were wasting close to $1 billion annually in funding MINUSTAH to continue the punishment on Haiti.

Haiti’s courage in teaching the West the true meaning of equality is still a sore spot for the West. The idea that Haiti had to remind the West that equality was not only for the white race is still a problem. It took another one of Haiti’s few brave friends in Latin America to stand up to the Obama administration and speak up for Haiti.

One of the reasons Obama eventually shrank the number of troops after the earthquake was because the former President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, confronted him, and the independent press also criticized the move. We know Obama’s speech was just that—a speech—because of what followed after the earthquake.

Dr. Claire Panosian Dunavan, tropical medicine specialist and journalist, writes:

“Just a few days after the immediate trauma of 12 January, it was already clear that the US- and UN-led relief operation would conform to the three main counter-revolutionary strategies that have shaped the more general course of the island’s recent history. (a) It would foreground questions of ‘security’ and ‘stability’, and try to answer them by military or quasi-military means. (b) It would sideline Haiti’s own leaders and government, and ignore both the needs and the abilities of the majority of its people. (c) It would proceed in ways that directly reinforce and widen the immense gap between the privileged few and the impoverished millions they exploit. Even a cursory review of the first six months of reconstruction in 2010 should be enough to show that the ongoing application of these strategies is best described as an intensification of the measures that have undercut the power and autonomy of Haiti’s people over the two preceding decades.”

The Clintons are not friends of Haiti, contrary to popular hearsay.

We also want Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton to stop calling Haiti a good friend when the Clintons—particularly Bill Clinton—have single-handedly destroyed the lives of over 100,000 Haitian farmers by forcing Haiti’s government to lower its tariffs from 35% to its current 3% in order to help US corporations weaken Haiti’s economy. (See Daniel Jean-Louis’ book, From Aid to Trade: How Aid Organizations, Businesses, and Governments Can Work Together: Lessons Learned from Haiti.)

In addition, Melinda Miles and Eugenia Charles, editors of Let Haiti Live: Unjust US Policies Towards Its Oldest Neighbor, inform us: “Privatization and lowered import tariffs were the primary economic policies forced on Haiti as collateral for the return of democracy in 1994. These policies hurt the very people who had fought for the democracy by undermining local food production and workers’ rights… Instead, these economic policies destroyed the livelihood of peasant farmers and created the pool of cheap labor necessary for the advancement of sweatshop factories and free trade zones.” 

It’s difficult to discuss Haiti’s poverty without mentioning Hillary Clinton. Mrs. Clinton is one of the women posing as one of Haiti’s friends while undermining the country.

Just recently, after Mr. Trump’s offensive comment about Haiti, Mrs. Clinton was brazen enough to defend Haiti against Trump’s negative comment.

Mrs. Clinton took to Twitter to share the following: “The anniversary of the devastating earthquake 8 years ago is a day to remember the tragedy, honor the resilient people of Haiti, & affirm America’s commitment to helping our neighbors. Instead, we’re subjected to Trump’s ignorant, racist views of anyone who doesn’t look like him.”

Neighbor?

Really, Mrs. Clinton?

We beg the question, how does Hillary Clinton know that Donald Trump is a racist unless you conclude that it takes one racist to know another? After all, one Google search reveals that the Clintons and Trumps were once good friends.  Was Mrs. Clinton’s fake defense of Haitians a sort of political posturing? Was this Hillary’s private self that came out, or her public self?

It’s difficult to tell.

Just several weeks ago, around the time of this writing, the New York Times reported that Mrs. Clinton shielded a male adviser during her presidential campaign from getting fired after he sexually harassed a young woman.  In the same article, it was also reported that some of her close advisers warned Mrs. Clinton about Mr. Harvey Weinstein, the infamous Hollywood heavyweight who fell from grace because of a plethora of accusations of sexual harassment from women in the industry.

By the same token, Mr. Weinstein was one of Mrs. Clinton’s significant donors during her failed presidential bid—so much for positioning herself as a defender of women and feminist.

In passing, this is the same Mr. Weinstein who is also a heavy supporter of the American actor Sean Penn’s non-profit organization, JP/HRO, in Haiti. Mr. Penn has been very vocal about Trump’s behavior but silent about Weinstein.

A message to Hillary Clinton, the only defense Haitians are interested in hearing from her right now is an account of the Clinton Foundation’s multi-billion-dollar donations to rebuild Haiti—and the Haitian people never saw the money.

If the media insists on calling Haiti “poor,” then they must be responsible to also discuss the Clintons’ role in influencing the debilitating state of Haiti’s poverty, and we need to remind them of their bias.

A friend is not threatened by your independence.

 

Photo credit: Pixabay – Congerdesign

 

The moment someone prevents you from putting food on the table and feeding your family, then there is no other way to view it: that person is your enemy. If you don’t eat, you will eventually die.

And if the United States creates policies whereby their white farmers are more important than Haitian black farmers, it is racism. Miles and Charles, educate us:

The IFIs [International Financial Institutions] knew the consequences their policies would have before they were implemented. “A 1987 report prepared for USAID warned that an export-driven trade and investment policy would relentlessly marginalize the domestic rice farmer unless rice remained protected behind high tariffs, yet the structural adjustment plan specifically called for the reduction of tariffs. As the US began to export rice in greater quantities to Haiti in the mid-1980s, the US Congress passed a protective subsidy bill for American farmers. The 1985 Farm Bill even created a loan program to make it easier for US farmers to export their rice and other produce… So, as the “US government stepped in to support American rice growers and exporters, it was helping—through the World Bank, IMF, and USAID—to enforce policies that would stop the Haitian government from doing the same for its people, while opening the Haitian economy further to US products. Haiti is now the largest market for US rice in the Caribbean and the seventh largest importer of US rice in the world. Through its USAID food aid programs, the US took the destruction of Haitian rice a step further.”

USAID is not a friend of Haiti.

USAID is an organization that is used as a tool to keep Haiti from developing its economy. I mean, you have to ask yourself, why is it that this organization has been in Haiti for over 30 years, and it’s supposed to aid “poorer” countries, yet Haiti has remained poor under their watch?

Have you figured out that it’s there to exploit Haiti? Ask yourself, what national project or measurable aid has USAID provided Haiti in the last 20 years that has transformed the country?  It has no record of achieving any tangible results in Haiti.

Besides, according to Guy Metayer, in his article, “The Influence of Corporate Interests on USAID’s Development Agenda: the Case of Haiti”:

It is a central and strategic agency for US foreign policy. This agency is “a central site within the US state for managing the military, economic, and food aid to developing states…” USAID “directly managed a foreign aid budget of over $4. 5 billion, and was part of the management and administration of a further $7 billion in official assistance in collaboration with other US government agencies” (p. 230). With approximately 100 missions in the world, USAID “plays a central role in shaping the international political and economic contexts of development.

If USAID has that kind of budget to spend “aiding” other countries, and the countries are remaining the same, then why are they allowed to operate in other countries, particularly in Haiti?

It’s time for Haitians to create direct economic conditions where USAID is no longer needed in Haiti. Besides, some countries do not welcome any aid from the US because they know it comes at a heavy price.

The Haitian diaspora needs to start paying attention and start asking questions from their elected officials about US policies undermining Haiti’s sovereignty. As an emerging constituent in the U.S., the Haitian diaspora needs to use their vote in the next US election to effect policies that have an impact, both in the US and in Haiti. Unless a candidate is ready to change the policy and stop the political coups in Haiti while making changes in your host country, do not vote for them.

The economic aid injustice happening in Haiti should be a focus. We can help stem the tide of Haitians dying at sea and leaving the country because of economic desperation. American farmers are getting fed and feeding their children while Haitian farmers are being sacrificed. It is wrong and immoral. 

Why are you not outraged about that? Why are you not holding your US elected officials accountable for holding Haiti hostage economically? Why don’t you include that as part of your demonstrations when you plan a march?

Do not make Donald Trump the only villain in the US’s mistreatment of Haiti.

The mistreatment of Haiti by the United States began way before Trump. And for those of you who are tempted to make Donald Trump a scapegoat for his offenses against Haiti, it shows how much the corporate media is influencing you. Mr. Trump is just the latest in a line of US agents making concerted efforts to cripple Haiti through economic exploitation.

There is no difference in terms of which president is in power. 

They all follow the same playbook. Ó Colmáin insists, “In 1915, Haiti was invaded and occupied by US marines. The National City Bank of New York was closely tied to the United States Department and was the principal US investor in Haiti at the time; the United States and France had crippled the Haitian economy with loans at exorbitant rates. The US plan was to take control of the Haitian central bank and use the customs duties to pay back the US and French banks.  Haiti had borrowed money from the United States in order to pay off its slave debt to France.”

This is what illegal policies look like. If you want to know whether or not someone is your friend, observe how much money they want to keep in your pocket.

And examine how they devalue your worth based on how much they want to pay you, regardless of how talented and capable you are. Sanders notes:

In 1926, a New York business publication described Haiti as ‘a marvellous opportunity for US investment, stating that “the run of the mill Haitian is handy, easily directed, and gives a hard day’s labour for 20 cents, while in Panama the same day’s work cost $3”. US corporations grew from 13 in 1966 to 154 in 1981, enriching themselves, pauperising the Haitian people even more and doing little to add wealth to the economy… And, as with slavery, the excesses of US occupation by US companies were justified by the language of racial superiority. Haitians were described as “coons”, “mongrels”, “unwholesome”, “a horde of naked niggers.” The New York Times reported US representatives as saying that Haiti needed “energetic Anglo-Saxon influence.”

So you see, your obsession with Donald Trump being obscene shows guilelessness.  Mr. Trump is part of the same system. We just didn’t have social media back then to leak what was being said in those private meetings and to leak Hillary Clinton’s personal emails.

This is your wake-up call.

It’s striking, while the United States and European corporate media are killing Haiti in print with the false narrative that Haiti is poor, the US is making millions of dollars off the “poor Haitians.”

As late as 2017, Sanders tells us, “Incidentally, the US has had a balance of trade surpluses with Haiti for many decades. For instance, in 2014, the US trade surplus with Haiti was $356.4 million; in 2015 and 2016 respectively it was $190.5 and $191.9 million. For the 11 months, ending November 30, 2017, the surplus in favor of the US was already $385 million. So, for a ‘sh**hole’ country it has provided annual revenues and employment to the US of some magnitude.”

The method of consistently earning millions in unfair trade balance with Haiti is what many are not considering driving Haiti’s immigrants to find life elsewhere and be humiliated by the United States President and the international community.

This type of vile exploitation is why US and France and the rest of the European Union are fighting hard to ensure that Haiti remains unstable and economically deprived.

Bullying in Haiti’s constitution.

To boot, the US, in particular, has gone as far as forcing Haiti’s government to change its constitution to facilitate land-grabbing. Miles and Charles note:

“In 1917 the US State Department drafted a new Haitian Constitution, and for the first time in its history, land ownership in Haiti was open to foreigners. When the Haitian legislature refused to approve it, the US Marines suspended the legislature, a suspension that lasted twelve years. A “popular plebiscite in which less than 5% of the electorate participated approved the US-endorsed constitution.” This wasn’t the only time that decisions in Haiti were made without voter participation.”

As a result of the US’s illegal revision of Haiti’s Constitution, over 500,000 people’s lives were immediately devastated in a commune called Pitobert in Haiti.  Miles and Charles explain:

Pitobert is a 50,000-hectare section of the Maribaroux Plain, one of the richest plains in the country. A representative from the Committee to Defend Pitobert explained: A study in 1995 said that with irrigation we could feed 500,000 people. It came as a total shock to us that they chose to build a free trade zone on this good soil. … Interesting, but not surprising, was the news that the World Bank’s private sector financing arm had approved a loan for the new free trade zone. This is the first loan from the World Bank to Haiti since 1998—at that time. Even as non-governmental organizations in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and abroad campaigned against passage of the loan, $20 million was approved to finance the project through the Dominican-based Grupo M Corporation. By mid-2003, forty landowners and several hundred farmers had lost their livelihood to the 230,000 square meter plot for the free trade zone on the Maribahoux Plain, the second most fertile stretch of land in Haiti.

To kill the ability of half a million people to make a living for themselves and create a condition where they fall into the depth of despair and poverty is criminal. Imagine if those 500,000 people had built the irrigation? The community would be thriving right now.

These blatantly disrespectful acts towards the Haitian people are not only wrong but are completely out of line.  As Haitians, both in the country and abroad, we must be perceptive that a government imposing these forms of abuse on Haitians is not a friend.

No one knows what happened to Pitobert since then, but for the Haitian diaspora and those who are fighting for Haiti’s land to remain in Haitian hands, this is something that must be revisited.

Just as the NAACP is launching a lawsuit against the United States government on behalf of Haitian TPS migrants, Haitians need to consider launching a legal battle to remove the land from the illegal free trade zone and return it to the Haitian people so it can serve the Haitians in the area.  The US would never go to Canada to rewrite that country’s constitution; why do we accept it for Haiti?

Take a stand!

Stand up and push back on these deplorable policies. And with Trump’s recent hurtful dismissal of Haitians, I have confidence that a new generation of Haitians will emerge to focus on reversing these criminal policies in order for Haiti to reclaim its full sovereignty.

Photo credit: @dbienaime

This Haiti focus on pushing back against these injustices does not have to involve the Haitian government. As Peter Hallward, a Canadian political philosopher asserts:

“In these intolerable circumstances, nothing short of popular remobilisation on a massive scale, more powerful, more disciplined, more united and more resolute than before—nothing, in other words, short of the renewal of genuinely revolutionary pressure—holds out any real prospect of significant change for the majority of Haiti’s people. Of course, this is precisely the prospect that those who have managed the country’s recent political development, and who are  managing its post-earthquake reconstruction to this day, are most determined to avoid…”

But Trump’s view should incite the demand for our self-respect in a good way. His public humiliation of the Haitian people should force us to scrutinize the causes of Haiti’s oppression. Trump’s administration is focusing on making America great again. And we do not fault America for that. We believe it is within America’s right to focus on making America great again.

However, France and the U.S. cannot have it both ways whereby they are engaging in a black and brown ethnic cleansing in their own countries while making life difficult for these same communities attempting to find life in their own terrain. 

We must, we must reject French and US oppressive policies towards Haiti. And as an emerging group in the United States and France, we must think about Haiti and demand policy changes with our votes. And for that, we thank Mr. Trump for inspiring more of us to get into the battle. I hope we can endure.

I must take responsibility for Haiti. You must do so as well. The West cannot keep controlling Haiti through economic and political instability while shutting the doors in Haitian faces when they attempt to find life in the United States.

 

Photo credit: Pixabay – Sam Burriss

 

Rejecting modern-day slavery in Haiti while witnessing the circumstance in Libya.

At the moment there are cries in Libya reaching citizens all the way in North America of Africans being sold into slavery in broad daylight. It is not farfetched to think that something similar could happen in Haiti.

We’ve already had US missionaries attempting to kidnap Haitian children to sell them after the earthquake. Soon, it will be their parents if we don’t act today. We must work to eliminate modern-day slavery. The same thing that is happening in Libya can and will happen in Haiti unless we say enough.

If Haiti cannot be enjoyed by Haitians, then Haitians should ensure that foreigners cannot enjoy the country either, regardless of how many military groups they impose or how many of the mulatto elites the French and US governments use to control Haiti. It’s time for you to say, their time is up!

Pitting Haitians with dark skin against those of light skin to oppress Haiti is vicious.

Haiti’s so-called friends use colorism to oppress the masses. The mulattos in Haiti have played a key role in opposing the dark-skinned masses.  Ó Colmáin agrees, “the French and British, and … now the US empires often used people of lighter skin color as proxy-rulers in their Caribbean and African colonies.”

You might say, well, Haiti’s current president is a dark-skinned man. You’re right. He is, but he is just there for appearance’s sake. He is not in control because it is well known in Haiti that he was placed there by the European Union and the United States.

You have to pay attention to Haiti’s next election to ensure a selected candidate is not placed in power to continue foreigners’ crimes against Haiti. If you’ve been paying attention to how Haiti’s current president has been governing the country so far, it has been in the interests of mostly the foreigners—not Haiti.

For example, after a recent meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Haiti’s president thinks more islands in the Caribbean should adopt and place an emphasis on the French language, including Haiti.

What has France done for Haiti in the country’s entire existence that would merit Haiti or any island prioritizing French in the Caribbean?

I’ll let you answer that question.

Haiti desperately needs a BREAK from its fake Western friends.

We operate in a world where truth is maligned and oppressed and lies are promoted as truth and normal. In essence, we live in a society that is full of cowards. Why else would lies be protected more than truth? When a place of work or relationship is based on lies and bullying, the costs are overwhelming, and everyone involved suffers.

The more we tolerate abusive relationships as normal, the more difficult it becomes to terminate that relationship.

Haiti can no longer afford to co-exist in the fake relationships and bullying between the West. These relationships must change or get terminated. 

We have established that France and the United States governments and Haiti’s farce friendship need a radical shift.

A change must come… 

It’s time to discuss where Haiti should focus on building allies and strengthening its global relationships.

 

Photo credit: Pixabay -Geoff Greenwood

China and Africa

Let me be clear about something. Some of you reading this post might say that I am anti-French and anti-American. Far from it. I identify as a Haitian-American. However, I am not blind to the severe injustices that France and the United States have imposed and continue to impose on Haiti and many parts of the world.

I carry both lenses as a citizen, so I can assess the challenges that a non-Haitian with limited knowledge beyond Google’s search engine when it comes to Haiti.

When I propose that Haiti fires the Western world, I am not advocating firing all their citizens. Even some of their own citizens understand their crimes against humanity. I cannot in good conscience paint everyone as indecent. But their governments’ systemic bad policies across the world have to be uprooted.

Let me be clear about something else too.

I’m by no means advocating China and Africa as saviors, but I want Haiti to start giving them a chance since France and the United States have failed badly in every single aspect on the meaning of friend and neighbor.

For one thing, China and Africa do not have an oppressive domineering history with Haiti.

China and Africa are two regions of the world that have emerged on the global economic stage without spending billions of dollars to destabilize and destroy other countries’ governments at the sacrifice of turning many of their own citizens into third-world status because of the increase of poverty in the United States and France.

The US has spent the last few decades on inventing wars and destructions, while China and Africa have been building their infrastructure and investing in their citizens.

I admit, this is not happening in all 54 sovereign nations in Africa, but it is happening in a number of places in the region. This is by no means to say China is Utopia, but there is no history of world dominance in a ruthless and inhumane way—not in the last 50 years.  Instead, China believes in building infrastructure, while the US feels threatened by any country that wants to build their own economy and create aspirations for their own citizens.

It’s one reason why the US feels threatened by China’s approach to the world’s development.  For example, in the Reuters article, “China’s Development Push in Poor Countries Worries Non-Profits,” the author states, “…unlike Western-backed lenders, where development financing often comes with social and environmental strings and strengthens the voice of nonprofits, China-backed lenders are taking a more hands-off approach, according to interviews with NGO executives and a lender at the World Economic Forum.”

Whenever the US provides aid to any country, it comes at the cost of destabilizing the country by supporting coups and by constantly threatening foreign governments with embargos and other threats that make some of the countries feel helpless and needy.

In another instance, when a Chinese official was asked about China’s approach to investing in other countries in the same Reuters article, the response was, “The Chinese government has always asked companies that are going out to carry out operations in their host countries under a legal framework in accordance with the law and rules, and to positively fulfil their responsibility to society.” This is a far cry from the United States going as far as forcing Haiti to change its constitution.

China is currently leading the Asia region.

Haiti should make more of an effort to build more strategic relationships with China. These relationships do not have to be with just China’s government, they can also be with Chinese entrepreneurs.

Some would argue that Haiti has nothing to offer so this is a pipe dream. I beg to differ. There is a reason why China is coming after the Caribbean, and it’s not because the Caribbean is useless. And Haiti is part of the Caribbean. The West needs a challenge in Haiti. And China and Africa are the perfect challenges.

Africa can be a great potential ally too…

 

Photo credit: Pixabay -1343024

 

With the size of its population and a number of countries in the region making economic waves, Haiti can learn what these nations are doing in order to start leading in the Caribbean.

Further, there are a number of African nations that Haiti can emulate in terms of their economic success. For example, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Kenya, and a few others.  These countries in Africa are striving in spite of US’ and France’s years of neglect and using isolation as bullying.

Subsequently, China does not see development as a threat to its supremacy. It sees development as a deposit for future trade. China has over one billion people it needs to feed, provide jobs for, and educate. The more people who are out of poverty, the better it is for China.

This is not to say that China wants to get involved in altruism. My observation is that China has been cognizant of how the Western model is slowly becoming outdated, and it has made the decision to work and take the leadership role from the West. It’s already working because both the United States and a few European countries owe China a lot of money. When you owe people, you become a slave to them until you pay back the money. I say partner with China where it makes sense and remove yourself where it does not.

Some will still be in self-denial. 

It’s a given, that in spite of the information here, some readers will still justify the bullies of Haiti. And that’s your responsibility to deal with. But here’s another truth: My life and your life are impacted by the oppressive tactics of the United States and France, and for that matter, the Western empires around the world. The globe is getting smaller, and our lives are interconnected.

You need to know the harm your government is doing and use your vote to get those who are not serving the needs of their constituents out of office.

Many Americans who are reading this probably have no idea of what the United States has done in Haiti—others just don’t care to know—and that’s fine. But those who need to know and want to engage will use the truth to leverage their votes.

American and French citizens must be exposed to these truths because our lives are increasingly becoming unsafe where we live in the Western world. For example, look at the increase in the number of domestic of terror attacks facing the US and Europe. As more and more people gain knowledge and understand what the Western empires are doing, the less safe the Western citizens will feel in their own countries.

It’s ironic that the more instability that the West creates around the world, the less secure their own citizens feel. We are becoming innocent bystanders in the chess matches of our governments’ injustices.

Why tolerate the intolerable? It does not have to be this way. I mean, whenever we go to a baseball game, a Broadway show, or shopping mall, we should not worry that a car will careen into the crowd, a bomb will go off, or the next school shooting will take place. We need to start paying attention and take action today.

To close, I will leave you with this quote by Lao Tzu: “The wise man’s policy, accordingly, will be to empty people’s hearts and minds, to fill their bellies, weaken their ambition, give them sturdy frames and always so, to keep them uninformed, without desire, and knowing one’s not venturing to act. Be still while you work and keep full control overall.”

Your turn: Do you agree that Haiti should fire its Western oppressors? Tell me why in the comment section below.

About the author: Daniella Bien-Aime is the lead content creator for Bien-Aime Post and a social media curator. Bien-Aime Post is a digital media platform that focuses on business, leadership, education, and social media within the context of Haiti and its global diaspora. Like Bien-Aime Post? You can subscribe here. Or, follow her on Twitter @dbienaime.

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