by Chatoyeh Meet the Blogger...
14. January 2010 15:38
Haiti - The real rape over
The Haitian tragedy isn’t just that they have experienced the most devastating of natural disasters in the last 200 years. As the world sounds its alarm at this latest devastation to hit the island of Haiti, tens of thousands of its citizen’s die.
The truth is this has been the Haitian experience for the past 200 years- the peoples of this nation have been the regions destitute; the results of economic enslavement. This is Haiti’s price for being the first free black nation in the western hemisphere. For their revolutionary spirit and their will to pry themselves from the boot heel of “Masa” and later the “Big Stick” of the USA, Haitians have paid in blood. Today Haiti’s first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is living in exile in South Africa. Aristide, like Toussaint L'ouverture, had the audacity to challenge the imperialist- the US and France. For this he was driven from office first by the Clinton administration, then again by the second Bush administration. Now it seems he must ask the Obama administration for permission to come home to Haiti- how absurd.
Almost unimaginable to most, the citizens of this Caribbean nation have been living on an average $2USD per day. Yes this is shocking and devastating, but Haiti has been, since its revolution, the most impoverished country in the western hemisphere. It isn’t coincidental that Haiti doesn’t have infrastructure to support or lessen the impact of this disaster, this is by design. The undermining of Haiti’s economy by the US (IMF) polices is what exacerbates the impact of this tragedy. It is the French demands for Haiti to pay reparation to the slave owners, which makes them the most destitute nation in the western hemisphere. And as a member nation of CARICOM and the wider Caribbean community, the failures of Caribbean leaders, government and people to come to the aid Haiti is not just inexcusable, it’s willful. We in the Caribbean “tek good food fi feed dawg and pig” while Haiti’s children die of hunger. There is a lot more than can be said here, but my focus is not on chastising anyone for the betrayal of Haiti.
What the world sees today as they turn on their television is the rupture from the years of being battered, robbed and ravished. Please don’t stop looking and caring- Haiti needs us. They have always needed us. Now that she has our attention please don’t lessen your gaze. Stay focused – keep looking, especially in this time of great giving. It’s usually at this time that the generous givers are plotting to take as much as they can get. Let Haiti rise from this knowing that she has allies - brother and sister not only here in the Caribbean, but throughout the world. Let her know that we recognize the injustice. Let everyone know we recognize the injustice
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