Haiti san Konsyans

Challenge for a Generation

June 3rd, 2008

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I was just wondering. If Hillary Clinton really believes in her heart that she would be a better President than Obama and McCain, wouldn’t she have all the rights to run as independent, if she lost the nommination to Obama. As a matter of fact, she has no chance of winning the democratic nommination as it stands, so is she preparing herself for something that the rest of us just don’t know?

Keep in mind that in 2006, Lieberman lost the democratic primary in Connecticut, then decided to switch to an independent and won. Could Hillary pull it off? Whether she exits the democratic primary now or in June, unless Obama lost to McCain, Hillary has no chance of ever becoming President. So again, Why can’t she just pull a Lieberman on the democratic party? Then, and only then would people realize how bad she really believes that she would make a better president than either Obama or Mccain.

I say, let’s call it all in….Hillary as an independent for President.

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Toussaint: What if!

April 17th, 2008

Toussaint L’Ouverture Remembered: What If ?
By Ilio Durandis
Written for the Haitian Times (http://www.haitiantimes.com)

On April 3, 1803, Toussaint L’Ouverture took his last breath at Fort-de-joux in France. Upon his capture by Napoleon representative in Haiti, Toussiant shouted those words: “In capturing me, you’ve only gotten me out of Haiti because the roots of liberty will grow.”

What Toussaint did not know was that his capturers would have mutated the tree of freedom, and never would it be possible for that tree to give rise to such magnificent fruits. I have long been asking myself, what would Haiti look like today had Toussaint not been capture by Leclerc? What would Toussaint do if he were in Dessalines shoes on January 1, 1804?

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History has always reminded us of Dessalines’s brutal treatment of the French colonists upon Haiti’s independence. There are some scholars who claimed that by killing the former colonists, Dessalines also killed any chance that Haiti had to prosper. The reasons for the policy of “koupe tet, boule Kay” are many, but none is more meaningful than the safeguard of the first black republic sovereignty in the Americas.
Toussaint L’Oouverture was the complete opposite of Dessalines as far as intelligence and charisma are concerned. L’Ouverture was self-educated, and well liked by people around him. He was fierce fighter, and yet believed in diplomacy. It is not clear if he wanted to cut all ties from the mother colony, but it is evident that he wanted to see slavery abolish in Saint-Domingue. Jean Jacques Dessalines, on the other hands, wanted nothing to do with France or any white men for that matter. As great and similar as those two men were, the difference in their philosophy had a greater impact on the outcome of Haitian history more than anything else.

What if Toussaint l’Ouverture was not captured, and was allowed to negotiate with Napoleon on the fate of Haiti? Would we, today, have a Haiti in the form of Guadeloupe or Martinique? Would we have a Haiti in the form of Canada? Would we have a better Haiti, or would it not matter at all?

Most Haitians are proud to call themselves the sons and daughters of Dessalines. We are proud to call Haiti the land of Dessalines. Often Toussaint L’Ouverture is mentioned as an afterthought, instead of the true hero that he is. I believe that Toussaint L’Ouverture wanted us to be a free nation, but at the same time, he probably understood that our prosperity would depend a great deal on how we deal and severe our ties with France. He sort of understood, what we would have to face in a world with no friends. Toussaint was a man ahead of his time. If he were in Dessalines’ shoes in 1804, I am confident that he would not have called for the head of the former colonists. It’s possible that January 1, 1804 would not have come to be, but there is no denying that Haiti would have been in a better position today.

Dessalines was a great soldier, but a poor politician. L’Ouverture was great at both. He understood that being free did not mean being equal. And if he had to choose between equality and freedom, he would opt for equality everyday because he understood only through equality can one become free. L’Ouverture’s ideology was to make the slaves believe that they were equal to the colonists, and once the former accepted that concept, it would be only a matter of time before they become free.

We rushed to gain our freedom without any plan of what to do with that freedom. All throughout Haitian history, the belief that we are inferior to the whites have plagued us. We lack self-motivation, determination, we are afraid of making decisions for ourselves. The lack of confidence in ourselves have led us to be economically, sociologically, educationally, and spiritually dependent on foreigners, which is the very basic idea that L’ouverture wanted us to get away from. L’Overture was not naïve in accepting to meet Napoleon’s representative without his best generals present, but he believed strongly that he was an equal to any general in the French army. Had L’Ouverture been in the place of Dessalines, Haitian pride would not be something of the past, but something strong enough to build a prosperous future on. L’Ouverture was not a martyr, but a true hero for equality and all of humanity.

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The Self Destruction Mentality

April 4th, 2008

By Ilio Durandis
Written for the Haitian Times.

A closer look of the state of Haiti, one would most certainly conclude that most of the country’s lack of development is due to a mentality of self-destruction. When I was growing up in Haiti my mother used to tell me to never lend my books to my classmates because it is believed that sometimes people could put a spell on one’s book, and make them go crazy or deter their intelligence. This kind of myth was not just a crazy idea from my mother, but it turned out that many people in Haiti believed in those kinds of superstitions.

Haiti is one of the few countries to have successfully revolted against slavery. The idea of independence was the only vision that our forefathers had for the new republic. Jean Jacques Dessalines, Haiti’s first head of State, made sure in his declaration of independence that we would rather die than to ever submit to a foreign power. The very meaning of such statement has been dividing, and destroying Haiti for most of its two century of existence.

From the very beginning, We, Haitians did not trust one another. That lack of trust played a major role in the capture of Toussaint L’Ouverture by Leclerc, in the death of Dessalines, in the division of the Republic between Alexandre Petion and Henri Christophe, in the American occupation of 1915, in the rise of the Duvalierists, in the coup d’etat of 1991, and in the toppling of President Jean Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.

It is not a coincidence that most successful Haitians have to find success outside of the Haitian community. There is a Haitian mentality that one cannot grow in its own environment. For example, a child could be living in the slum of Cite-Soleil, and is expected to remain there for the rest of his or her life.
The child of a peasant, who turns out to become a doctor, lawyer, engineer, and so on, instead of being revered as an inspiration for his community, often has to flee his very own community to protect his life. The people, who knew him, when he was a “nobody”, always regarded him as a “nobody”; and if he tried to inspire them to be all they could be, they start calling him a sell-out.

This is what I call the mentality of self-destruction. I have no doubt that to experience progress and development one needs some source of inspiration or role model to emulate. In Haiti, anyone that could be a role model is often harshly criticized. Musicians are usually labeled as low lives, politicians as crooks and athletes fear no better.

Sure, Haiti’s suffocating misery could be traced back to the earliest days of its history. Yes, we could blame foreign powers as much as possible for our lack of progress, but there is no greater danger than to refuse to acknowledge that most of our calamity is the result of our self-destroying mentality.
It is time that we start trusting one another, time to believe in the potential of one another, time to lend a hand to a fellow countryman in need without expecting anything in return. Then, and only then we can start seeing a better Haiti.

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Haiti Communication with the Diaspora

March 21st, 2008

By Ilio Durandis

Not long ago, Haitians living in Haiti had very few options to get in touch with their relatives, friends living overseas. Methods of communication involved sending audiotape, postal letters, or very seldom a phone call either from a neighbor’s house or a trip to Teleco.

I left Haiti in 1994, and I still have some letters and audiotapes that were sent to me by friends, and family members in Haiti. Until recently, I have noticed that people in Haiti don’t use those means of communication to get or stay in touch with their closed ones. I am not sure if the new way is better or not. Now with the rise of internet cafe in Haiti, and the easy accessibility of mobile phones getting in contact with a relative oversea is as easy as me writting this blog. In the process, we are losing something very valuable that no some of technology can replace. We are losing the true feeling of real thoughts by those who miss us the most.

Listening to one of those old audiotape sent by a family member would bring the nostalgia of home very close to one’s heart. Often those tapes would make you cry, reflect on the conditions of those we left back home. In them, you could hear the very real misery those people were going through. At best, those tapes or postal letters had something very genuine about them, which would make you realize that the person sending them to you really needs your help.

As i mentioned earlier, with the advance of technology, we are losing the very meaning of communication. Haiti is still considered amongst the worst country to live. One of the poorest places in the Western Hemisphere, and yet the easy access to technology by most people in Haiti is protraying a different picture in the mind of the Haitian diaspora vis-a-vis those living back home.

Often, I would hear people in the diaspora saying that those in Haiti are better off than they are, and you could argue against it. My mother, who has been living in the US since 1994, doesn’t own a computer, she doesn’t have an email address, and yet all of my close relatives in Haiti are on-board with the new technology. They would call us on VOIP or on their Digicel, Voila mobile phones, email us from an internet cafe, even sending instant messenger. For a reason or another, those new forms of communication makes it seem as if those people are doing ok for themselves. In the process, we lost the human feeling for their misery. If they asked for money, we would only send it when we have it. In the past, people in the diaspora would sacrifice a bill to help their relatives in Haiti. Today, I have a feeling this is no longer the case.

Do not get it wrong, mothers who have children in Haiti, are still doing their best to support them. But the feeling of have to do it, for those who are not from our blood or womb is diminishing. I am sure people are sending more money to Haiti than at any other times in history, but life is also getting more expensive than ever in Haiti.

These new form of communications leave very little to safeguard for the future. People in Haiti feels they have a right to call a “diaspora” at anytime they like. I have received calls from friends and family members on my cell phone at all time that you can think of, 8 am, 12 pm, 6pm, midnight, and so on. Often, the person call you multiple time, if you don’t answer the phone on their first try. Nowadays, people in the diaspora is scared to pick up the phone, when it seems like the call is coming from Haiti. I have heard people say, don’t pick it up, it’s Haiti. The new form of communication is causing a phobia for the Haitian community overseas. It doesn’t allow us time to miss those we left back home. It gets on our way. We could be at work having a bad day, and the phone would ring; looking at the caller ID, we know it’s coming from Haiti. Instead of feeling overjoyed to hear from our cousins, best friends, the phone call only made our day worst. We know by picking up the call, the person in Haiti is only interested in one thing, and one thing only, when will we send them some money.

People don’t talk about the very bad day they had in Haiti. They don’t tell you how so and so is doing anymore. They don’t recount the story of how the people in the countryside are doing, everyone is only worried about themselves. Technology is making the Haitian people in Haiti becoming very selfish, and self-centered. At the other end, it’s making the diaspora wanting to distance itself from those they want to help the most. Some people in the diaspora think that people in Haiti only wants to take advantage of them, therefore some are finding ways to take advantage of those in Haiti.

You have a group of people who would go to Haiti, pretend they have found a true lover, only to use the person. And you also have those in Haiti, who would pretend to love a “diaspora”, only to use him/her. It is getting ridiculous. Whatever happen to true genuine form of communication. If we are going to use new technology, why not use it to perfect our relationship towards one another.

N.B. Now, tell me you never saw a fellow “diaspora” answering the phone, and realize it’s someone from Haiti, then quickly pretend that the cell phone is losing signal..”Allo, sa’w di, mwen pa ka tande’w, jeez, pale pi fo……silent…click”. You could never do that with an old audiotape. Of course, you had the choice to never listen to it, but deep down inside, you would feel guilty.

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Good Friday in Haiti

March 21st, 2008

By Ilio Durandis

Good Friday or Vendredi Saint in Haiti, as a kid, used to be a day I did not like very much. I was raised in a catholic home, so the “Holy” week was something special in our home, and in the home of most Haitians. I did not like Good Friday because it was one of the days that my mom would regularly cooked the kind of food that I did not enjoy. She would cook “Viv”, the likes of plantain, Mangnoc, Sweet Potatoes, Beetles (My worst), and a sauce with no tomatoe paste with cod or fish. The lack of redness in the sauce on that day might be an Haitian tradition or maybe Christian tradition to remind us of Jesus blood. We would not eat any kind of red meat for the whole “Holy” week to remember Jesus body..

One of the other reasons that I did not like Good Friday specifically was due to the fact that my mother would wake up very early in the day to go to Mount Calvery (she never took me with her). She would spend the whole day there. She would leave instruction for me to go to the Cathedral in the afternoon to attend mass. This was one of the most boring mass for me, as a child. People would be repeating the Virgin Mary prayer over and over and over, and most them were adults.

I would be at church, when most of my friends in the neighborhood would have their “cerf-volant” or Kite in the air, and running all over the street, on top of houses, etc. Others would be playing with marbles. In a way, I never got a chance to be involved in those activities. It was thought that only vagabonds do those things.

The one thing I kind of enjoyed on Good Friday was that at noon, the National TV station would show the passion of Christ. Every year it would be the same story, and for a reason or another, I never got tired watching it. Good Friday was one of the saddest days in Haiti. The street of the capital would be empty, and the feeling of death would be all around you. It is said that Haitian people are only devoted to Voodoo, but people who knows Haiti would be quick to tell you that Haiti is a deeply religious country.

Voodooo is a part of our culture, but Christianity has definitely defined the country. In Haiti, the churches are always full, and during the weeks leading to Easter, every Friday people would try to follow the route of the cross that Jesus took. They would start the Fiday after Ash Wednesday until Good Friday.

Every little kid in Haiti could tell you what Good Friday symbolizes, and I am not sure the same can be said for the industrial World. As I grow older, some of those traditions kind of left me, but Good Friday has remained one of the days that I miss Haiti the most. As much as Good Friday is a day of sorrow, and sadness, Easter Sunday is one of the best days in the life of any Haitian. It is one of two days of the year that every family would cook some of the best food. It is said that if an Haitian doesn’t have a good meal on Easter Sunday or January 2nd (The forefathers day), then they would not have a good meal at any other time during the year. On Easter Sunday, we would eat “Pintade” or “Turkey” with white rice, white bean sauce, and some beetles. After mass, the celebration of Christ resurrection could be felt in every household.

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A Plan for the Future of Haiti

March 18th, 2008

By Ilio Durandis

It has been fourteen years since I left Haiti for the shores of these great United States of America. During that time, I have never gone back to my homeland. In part, due to me not having really close relatives there, and various other things that I have been involved in since arriving to America. I left Haiti physically, but Haiti has always be within me.

All throughout my residency in the USA, I try to live my life according to the Haitian roots that were instilled in me. I mainly speak creole at home with my family, and friends. I eat mostly all Haitian cuisine. When I used to attend church, it would always be the Haitian service. Unfortunately, the Haitian media in Boston and in the diaspora in general is quite weak, so I tend to listen mainly to national public radio, and get most of my news about Haiti online. I have kept close relationship with one of my best friends from Haiti, helping him in whatever way that I can. Most of my best friends from my school days in Haiti are in the USA, one is getting a Ph.D at Penn State, and another a law degree in Michigan. Whenever we get a chance to talk, Haiti is always our main course of discussion.

The love that I have for my country is incomparable to any other feeling that I have for anything or anyone. At eighteen, I used to see myself as a nationalist, at 21 as a patriot, and now simply as Haitian. In effect, there’s a huge difference between those three characteristics. I become to believe that only Haitians can help put Haiti on the map of progress and development. For that reason, I am planning a trip to the motherland this spring, and hopefully the next one will not wait another fourteen years.

The purpose of this trip would be to link with some schools in the country, and see in what way I could start helping some underprivileged children attend school. This would be a simple project to start with, but the main goal of this will be to help as many children as possible. I am a strong believer that education is the number one necessity for Haiti. Yes, I know of the lack of infrastructure, insecurity, inflation, hunger, healthcare, and so on, but proper education is the common denominator to all those problems. I will keep you posted on this project, and anyone interested in helping feel free to shoot me an email or simply reply to this post.

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How Democracy Dies in Haiti?

March 4th, 2008

By Ilio Durandis

Four years ago, just a month after commemorating Haiti two hundredth anniversary as a free Republic, the greatest imperial powers in the World decided to give a new meaning to the word democracy. Haiti has gone through plenty, if you asked me, too much pain, humiliation, discrimination in its two centuries of existence, and yet nothing can be compared to the event of February 28-29, 2004.

I am not overstating my thoughts, when I say nothing come close. We have had three kings, two lasting dictatorships, over 30 coup d’etat, multiple ephemeric governments, two US invasions, but yet the event of early 2004 occupied a special place when it comes to determing the fate of the Haitian people.

For years, the powerful wanted Haiti to join the circle of democratization. They have promised a better life for all Haitians, once they fully embrace democracy. A life, where a peasant would not have to sell everything he owns just to get on board of a “kanot” small boat en route to Miami. A life, where a woman would have a judicial system to complain about domestic violence. A life, where all children would be able to attend school. A life, where the ex-patriate “diaspora” would be willing to invest in their own country. And my friend, let me tell you, the event of February 2004 probably killed for good the root of democracy in Haiti forever.

Why would any Haitian ever believe that their vote counts, that the will of people will ever be respected? We are lead to believe that a few bandits, less than five hundred, were able to defeat a standing government, “democratically” elected by the people, for the people. Come on now, as they say in creole “Ban’m van, pou’m al la Gonave”.

Jean Bertrand Aristide probably wasn’t pure, he probably wasn’t there for the people anymore, he probably became one just like all the others, but trust me, if fair elections were held today, and he was able to run, he would crush the next closest oponents. To make it clearer for you, If Aristide were to run against Preval, he would beat him so bad that the imperial powers would think Preval was attacked by a lion. The people of Haiti believes that much in the guy. And they have reasons to.

I do not intend to script the whole Haitian history on this piece, but it is no coincidence that after the kidnapping of J.B. Aristide, neo-colonial powers looked to a pupet “Latortue” to lead the country. Just a quick google search of Latortue would give you an idea of the type of guy that he is.

Under distress, the foreign powers had no alternative, but to accept the results of the much belated elections, which saw Preval crushing Marc Bazin, and all the other power-hungry bourgeois. Preval was the next best alternative for the Haitian people. Fathere jean Juste was incarcerated, along with Aristide’s former prime minister, two people if either were allowed to run would have won the elections.

Democracy, my friend is term for the well-to-do, and not for the people. Haitians no longer believe in it, but for as long as they want to hold open elections, the Haitian people, under-educated, as they are, will always particiapte to prevent the bourgeoisie or the “anti-peuple” leaders from claiming the throne of the republic.

Democracy in Haiti has opened the gate to kidnapping, raping, discrimination, misery, inflation, stagflation, malnutrition, illiteracy, hatred, anger, and above all else, hopelessness. Dessalines once said, {Liberte ou la mort}, rather than serving the white masters, he would choose death a thousand times. I believe, there would come a time when Haitians would realize that the new democracy is a way for them to be obedient to the neo-colonists, and they will rise up just like Dessalines, by shouting “Liberte ou La mort”.

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God and Evolution (Part II)

February 27th, 2008

By Ilio Durandis

A few months ago, I wrote a piece trying to relate God to Energy. It is clear to me that those two are probably the same thing. The Religious activists claimed that God is supreme and is the ruler of all rulers. The scientists would tell you that energy is the backbone of life and everything that makes the univere what it is. Again, both groups are probably referring to the same thing using different language in their definition.

I have been contemplating as to why do we need to justify the presence of God in our lives? The Great Sigmund Freud referred to this as the human illusion. Why is it necessary to have a God? Same question, different interpretation.

Darwin makes it clear to us that life is an evolutionary process, and yet the effect of this evolution can take millenia to be seen. No one alive today has ever witnessed evolution in action, at least the kind of evolution that present-day scientists use to justify the non-existence of God. We have never witnessed the transformation of one creature to another, while the former creature would become extinct at the very formation of the new creature. Once, I told a friend of mine that we witnessed evolution everyday in our life by explaining to her that before a baby is born, he/she was a spern and egg, than an embryo, and on and on throughout the human development cycle before we could get that baby. She was quick to remind me that this is not evolution, since by having a baby from this process does not eliminate th human development cycle in itself.

We often heard about the Earth was once inhabited by large creatures, amongst them the dinosaurs. Also, science wants us to believe that life itself started from very tiny elements (microbe, bacteria, or whatever), which eventually gives rise to the complexity and diverse World that we know today. They claimed that all life can be traced back to a single ancestor, and yet the very existence of tha single ancestor is a mystery.

Are we really in search of God or in search of our origin? The religious or God believers are satisfied with the notion that God is the beginning with no further questions needed to be raised to justify their origin. The scientific World on the other hand, want to find out the true origin of human nature. Either way, the answers are pobably not coming to light anytime soon.

It is clear that once man know his origin, he is more apt to show love, and compassion towards those he believes share the same origin as him. A mother would give up her life to give life to her children. A brother would give up anything to help a brother. Black are more likely to love another black, the same for white, yellow etc…Knowing our origin is proving to be the most important issue facing our specie. Finding out our true origin could help explain why different shade of people act differently towards those who are different than their own.

The complexity in evolution, and the ambiguity in God makes those two theories very different, and yet share a common denominator; that is the quest for the beginning of life. God, and Evolution are in essence one.

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Why us again!

February 26th, 2008

Is it just me, but I’m not feeling the outcry of my coomunity after the death of Ms. Desir. It seems like a bad dream to hear how she dies in mid-air from one of America biggest carriers. I refuse to believe that the AA crews did all they could for her. I wasn’t on board, so I can’t confirm that the oxyen tanks were really empty or not. I’ve heard on the news that the passenger doctor who was on board confirmed that Ms.Desir heart rate was too low to respond to the defibrillator. In any case, something terrible happen and the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

American Airlines had a monopoly or probably still has, when it comes to Haitians from the US flying to Haiti. For years, the price of a ticket to Haiti was twice as much as a ticket to the Dominican Republic from the same departing city. We, the Haitian people absorbed that discrimation mightily. I can’t imagine an American flight from Europe to the US with no working Oxygen tanks. I can’t imagine a flight crew refusing to help a distress European or American passenger on the first request. Something just doesn’t make sense.

I’m sure AA with all their big lawyers will dig deep into the passenger’s past to find any reasons as to why she died on their plane. They will claim that her heart wasn’t in good condition, they will claim that she had so many different illness that there was nothing more they could have done. They will claim that this is an unfortunate incident, and that they regretted it. At the end, they might even settle with the victim’s family, and hope the story will go away.

A few months from now, no one will remember this tragedy, and American Airlines will continue to dominate the Haitian market. We are consumers just like any other consumers. We deserve better, especially when we are overpaying for our seat.

The Haitian community needs to rise up, and let their voice heard. It’s not using Ms.Denise death as an opportunity to make a futile point, but instead it’s time to show the World that we are a loving people, and that we care for each Haitian life. American Airlines will be fine, but the flying Haitian community shouldn’t be subject to multiple discriminations on a flight. Let me hear you, fellow compatriots.

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Challenge for a Generation

Hillary: Follow Lieberman

Toussaint: What if!

The Self Destruction Mentality

Haiti Communication with the Diaspora

Good Friday in Haiti

A Plan for the Future of Haiti

How Democracy Dies in Haiti?

God and Evolution (Part II)

Why us again!

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