Haiti at the dawn of a new era!

By Jean H Charles

On Saturday, May 14, 2011, Joseph Michel Martelly was sworn in as the 56th president of the nation of Haiti. It has been a transition fought for and earned by the people of the country against all odds, national and international. The first round was mired with irregularities that only popular anger forced corrective measures to put Michel Martelly on the next round of the balloting.

The second round was enmeshed with allegations of corruption by and in favour of the legislators affiliated with Unity, the government sponsored political party. President Martelly has a cry of heart, begging the electoral board not to derail the beginning phase of his lobbying effort to tell the world that Haiti, free of political strife, is once again open for business!

This island nation, well known now all over the world, because of the devastating earthquake that destroyed its capital on January 12, 2010, has been languishing in economic stagnation for the past sixty years because of poor at best, corrupt and criminal governance at worst.

The first one hundred days will indicate the new direction of the Martelly government. The masses deprived of the most rudimentary indices of amenities – water, electricity, decent roads -- have high expectations from the new regime.

The recent earthquake has brought into the country widespread devastation, and it has brought also universal cooperation from the most obscure to the well known international service agency. To the naked eye as well as to the astute observer, it seems as though such massive outpouring of help went into the country as a flood pours into an open field.

Haiti is the best field study of the axiom that “those who can, will not, and those who will, cannot.” The government of Michel Martelly wants to prove that those who will can turn things around very quickly if there is a convergence of the right actors with the right policies. A day before the inauguration of his mandate he energized a million men and above all women to take a broom to clean the streets in a mass movement of voluntarism.

The right policies include turning around the two parts of the head that form the nation to make it look at the same vision of the future for each citizen. This operation demands an affirmative action on behalf of those who are the most deprived of financial incubation to create products with plus value to increase their wealth. It demands also reaching out to those who already have, with tax incentives to build a national economy that will satisfy the expectation of a 10 million strong population with growing purchasing power.

The right policies called for the (re)building of the infrastructure of the nation, starting with the smaller rural counties to the capital. For the past two hundred years in the life of the nation, no rural county, nay no town or city, has received a minimum annual earmarked funding for the building or the upkeep of essential services such roads, sewers and waste disposal, potable water, electricity and internet services.

The Preval government created the CNE (National Center of Equipment) to build and maintain local roads. That instrument was transformed into an electoral machine, turned sometimes into a criminal enterprise at the service of one man instead of the nation.

The Martelly government will need to revamp this institution to supplement and intensify the contribution of the EU – European Community – in infrastructure support to Haiti.

The new government is very friendly to the concept of PPP -- public-private partnerships -- to circle the country with all the modern infrastructural apparatus -- transportation, fiber optics, ferry services, electricity, and communications, etc.

Efficient international trade requires, as said Alan Beattie in False Economy, good communications, cheap and reliable transport, as well as certainty about getting the goods on time to the customer along with the certainty that the exporter will get paid on time. Haiti is too close to the largest market in the world (the United States) not to take advantage of that opportunity.

The institutions in Haiti in the Preval government have been either an instrument of propaganda with minimum service delivery or a private fief of someone close to those in power to distribute favors, exact pay offs and humiliate and frustrate the ordinary citizen. To obtain a passport, pay domestic taxation, or receive a certified copy of one’s birth certificate, you must visit the capital, stay in a long line and sometimes pay a corrupt broker to obtain service that should be in the regular line of business of each county.

The Martelly government will need to institute in its first one hundred days the culture of hospitality in the delivery of services. That culture should be extended also to the coordination of the international organizations so they can become more effective in their mission as well as the mission of the government in becoming a state friendly to its citizens.

Last but not least the Martelly government will need to extend a hand to the Diaspora so it can energize the reconstruction of the country. He has done so at a gala given by the Diaspora in his honor. He told the crowd, at last “the Diaspora has its own government.” The new amended constitution gives the voting power to the Diaspora. With rights comes also responsibility. I have demonstrated in an earlier essay that the Diaspora as a tool for nation building can be organized only from the home country. The Haitian government must be the moving force incubating the regional organizations to make them effective tools of the Haitian recovery.

The input of the Diaspora has been so far as fragmented as the support of the international organizations in Haiti: a flood spreading into an open field. The sustainable effect has been minimal at best. The forthcoming Diaspora sponsored civil society plan to provide each town with an endowment of 3 million dollars per year for infrastructure and institution building should receive the full blessing of the Haitian government.

The energy of the new president, Michel Joseph Martelly, gives the possibility of forecasting the dawn of a new era of Haitian leadership in the Caribbean. The big international issues, such as the smooth insertion and the re-education of the criminal returnees, the free flowing of services and labor throughout the region, the control and the management of the illegal drug business will find a firm hand in securing the Caribbean basin for growth and development.

Last but not least, the last time there was some muscle (for the best or for the worst) engagement from the big brother (the United States) in the financial situation of the Caribbean was during the governance of Ronald Reagan. The Obama government will have to look at its neighbour, the Caribbean area, and provide at least the 3 billion dollars annual aid that Ronald Reagan, thirty five years ago, provided to the region. Haiti will provide the leadership for such engagement!

May 16, 2011

caribbeannewsnow

Wyclef Jean Sees Martelly As Change Leader

From newsamericasnow:



AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Sat. May 15, 2011: Haitian-born, Grammy singer Wyclef Jean, has likened Michel Martelly to Barack Obama.

Jean’s comments came as Martelly, a Kompa singer known for mooning the crowds, was sworn in as the 56th President of the Republic of Haiti, replacing Rene Preval in the post.

Jean, who was among the many gathered for the swearing in on the lawns of the ruined National Palace earlier today, said Martelly’s dynamic promise of change has resonated with the people.

“It means a new start … the people want education not handouts. Now they have a leader who will mobilize then,” Jean told Reuters, comparing Martelly’s election victory with that of U.S. President Barack Obama in November 2008.

Ironically, during Martelly’s swearing in, in the country’s makeshift Parliament, the lights went out.

But the swearing in continues in the dark while Martelly went on to repeat his promises to transform Haiti from a development basket case into a new Caribbean destination for investment and tourism that will provide jobs and better lives for its 10 million people.

“Haiti has been sleeping,” Martelly, 50, said as dozens remained nearby in tent cities close to the former Palace. “Today she will wake up, stand up.”

He pledged to provide free education to the widely uneducated population and swore to bring to justice anyone who brings disorder to the country. Martelly also proposed restoring Haiti’s disbanded army to eventually replace the more than 12,000 U.N. peacekeepers in his country.

Several foreign dignitaries including former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Jamaica PM Bruce Golding and DR President Leonel Fernandez attended the swearing in. Though invited, neither former Presidents Jean Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier or Jean Bertrand Aristide attended.


newsamericasnow

Bahamas Blog International

Developing prosperity consciousness through education

By Oliver Mills:



Many Caribbean countries are currently experiencing difficult economic and social challenges to a degree greater than has previously been the case historically. There are budget cuts in many critical areas, additional taxes on others in order to raise additional revenues, salary cuts and various deductions from incomes, despite the fact that incomes on a personal basis are already low. Deductions are therefore being made to incomes, even though the economies are not really experiencing the kind of growth required to sustain economic livelihoods.

There is also increased crime and violence in many of our societies, high employment, and we do not seem to be able to come up with the kind of economic and social model that would place us on the path to sustainable growth and development. Because of this, those members of our society who still manage to survive despite inroads being made on their ability to accumulate capital for further investment and development, become the victims of forces in Caribbean societies bent on committing anti social acts, often preying on the economically better off, as well as on the little that other deprived social groups have.

However, despite these challenges to our social and economic stability, and image, there is the highly important and critical factor of education being the strategy that could develop and sustain our hidden prosperity consciousness, which has been buried by the many years of doubt, social discontent, assumed helplessness in the face of overwhelming economic odds, and the intrusion of false, even negative values into our discourse, and everyday interactions with each other.

With so many socio-economic issues, we often feel burdened down, and many of us tend to either give up, or escape to other countries where we feel our futures would be better secured. It is not so easy, however, since many of the countries we see as havens, experience the same problems we seek to evade through escaping. Because we experience a sense of hopelessness, our consciousness of our authentic capabilities becomes dulled, which results in a paralysis of the will. It is here that education can be used as the elixir with the necessary potency to lift us up from the falseness and negativity that surround us, and provide the tools that would help to rebuild our consciousness of who we are, and our capabilities, and that would catapult us to transforming our situation through an awakened prosperity consciousness.

But what is education, in relation to developing a prosperity consciousness? Education is about how to create and live the good life. A life of success, enjoyment, caring, and transforming ourselves, others, and everything else we touch and interact with. This is its true meaning. It does this by exposing us to critical thinking, critical self-evaluation, and a logical approach to our experiences, so that we are able to manage them in a healthy and positive way. In this sense, it resurrects our smothered consciousness of who we really are, helps us to realise that nothing is ever lost, or unachievable, and that despite our economic circumstances, and those of our societies, we can think differently by formulating and developing a prosperity consciousness, which, when acted upon, brings about unimaginable blessings, economic well being, and prosperity, despite the contradictions around us.

Through critical self-analysis, we are able to change the way we think about ourselves, and the conditions of our society, and so change our way of living and being, so that we begin to live a far richer life, through developing a consciousness that is prosperity oriented, rather than poverty directed. Neglect-oriented thinking disappears, and we are therefore stimulated to redirect our energies to making our situation better, by engaging in those healthy activities that foster abundance. An abundant and prosperity mind-set enables us to attract these qualities to ourselves, and we then operationalise the activities that manifest them.

Engaging in self-discourse is another educational strategy that promotes the development of a healthy prosperity consciousness through education. Whenever we are faced with any adversity, or interact with others with an unhelpful frame of mind, an inner discourse begins, which alerts us to the fact that a situation which is not good for us, and needs our attention. Through self-discourse, which is integral to education, we deal with the cross currents of ideas that preoccupy us, work them out coherently, eliminate the negative elements, and choose only those discourses that are self-enhancing to us. Education is therefore integral to self-discourse, and is itself self-discourse, in a dynamic way. Through self-discourse as education, we change our perspective to one that involves abundance and successful accomplishment, which are directly related to enabling a healthy prosperity consciousness, which fosters positive results, both psychologically and materially. We are able to strengthen our resolve to act, and so set in motion those energies that enable achievement and success to come about. Like attracts like, so that a prosperity consciousness brings to itself prosperous benefits.

Rational analysis is another element in forging a prosperity consciousness through education. It unburdens us, and results in clarity of thought. It also presents us with various alternatives we could choose from, and enables us, through a process of elimination, to choose the one that brings the greatest prosperity benefits. We are therefore never overwhelmed by events and circumstances, but are able to master and direct them to our own good, and the good of society. Economic and social upheavals become opportunities to use our educational training to benefit and progress further and so become victors in any situation.

With rational analysis, we are never victims or casualties, because we constantly analyse various shifts and turns, and therefore develop possible responses. We are never caught napping, because we are intellectually agile, with a philosophically oriented outlook which is prosperity conscious. We are therefore able to harness those tangible and intangible forces to our benefit, and as a result, live in abundance and success. We always see opportunities, not barriers, and therefore act with a knowing, not suspicion, that what we do will work out in our favour. A prosperity consciousness therefore brings prosperous results, since belief precedes, and brings about what we want to be manifested.

In a wider sense, a prosperity consciousness through education transcends myths, precedence, and everyday experiences. We are not held back, or dissuaded by society’s myths and legends, because we have a more transcendent perception of possibilities. Prosperity consciousness means that everything is possible and achievable, that everything changes, never remains the same, and is always in our favour. Most importantly, we project and live what we would like to see, have, and be. It enables us to become and achieve whatever we can conceive. It is more than just faith, rather it is a deep sense of knowing that whatever the situation or issue, we can transcend it to our advantage, and be successful in what we desire. We are therefore not bothered by what happens in our space, because we know we will prevail and reap abundantly despite the experiences of others. No economic, social, or personal challenges can therefore affect us negatively.

Education then, not only builds a prosperity consciousness, but develops it further. It does this by analysis, the process of elimination, and using the best and most rewarding logical selection from among the alternatives that emerge through the process of dialogue and discourse, which are often internal. Through this process, awareness develops, enlightenment occurs, and consciousness regarding which prudent choice will best serve our ends surfaces. Prosperity consciousness therefore emerges as an educational event brought on and sustained by philosophical deliberation, and educational critique. It is not haphazard, or ad hoc, but systematic. It is about being aware of the best among other options that contributes to our greater well being and enhances our personhood.

Having a prosperity consciousness further results in healthy thinking, a positive approach to life, optimism, and expectancy. We expect that everything will always work out well for us. It fosters sensitivity and tranquility on our part, which contribute to a noble and ethical life style. Events always work to our advantage, we become winners, our longevity increases, and it brings about joy, and a sense of inner peace. Education liberates our prosperity consciousness from being smothered, and covered by the dynamics of everyday life, so that we become conscious choosers, who are constantly favoured, and who always experience abundant success.

May 3, 2011

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly - Haiti's President elect - promises amnesty for former dictator, Jean Claude ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier

Amnesty For Duvalier On His Mind



News Americas, PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Fri. May 13, 2011: The Kompa singer turned President elect of Haiti officially takes the reins tomorrow, but has already promised amnesty for former dictator, Jean Claude ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier.

In an interview with Montreal’s French-language daily La Presse, Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly said that he “could eventually think of that (an amnesty) to the extent that those who were hurt in the past understand the need for reconciliation” and that “I’m leaning toward the side of amnesty and forgiveness.”

But Martelly’s comments on Duvalier are disturbing to many, especially those whose relatives were killed under his brutal dictatorship by his and his father, Papa Doc Duvalier’s Tonton Macouts. The force was created in 1959, only two years after François Duvalier became president, due to the threat posed to the dictator by the regular armed forces. After an attempted coup d’etat against him in 1958, Duvalier disbanded the army and all law enforcement agencies in Haiti, and executed all high-ranking generals. The new militia wore straw hats, blue denim shirts and dark glasses, and were armed with machetes and guns.

Duvalier employed the Tonton Macoutes in a reign of terror against any opponents, including those who proposed progressive social systems. Those who spoke out against Duvalier would disappear at night, or were sometimes attacked in broad daylight. Tonton Macoutes often stoned and burned people alive. Many times the corpses were put on display, often hung in trees for everyone to see. Family members who tried to remove the bodies for proper burial often disappeared themselves, never to be seen again.

They were believed to have been abducted and killed by the MVSN, who were called the “Tonton Macoutes” as a result. Anyone who challenged the MVSN risked assassination. Their unrestrained state terrorism was accompanied by corruption, extortion and personal aggrandizement among the leadership.

Duvalier, 59, returned to Haiti on Jan. 16 after being chased out by a popular uprising 25 years earlier. A large team of Haitian and international lawyers are helping the Haitian government to put together the Duvalier prosecution and process complaints being filed by Duvalier era victims living in Haiti and its Diaspora.

This as Duvalier lives the good life in Haiti, socializing on the jazz circuit while a judge is investigating allegations of crimes committed during his 15-year rule and Duvalier supporters advise Martelly.

newsamericasnow

Bahamas Blog International

The Caribbean in sight, sound, soul and speed

by Bevan Springer
New York Amsterdam News



Recently, I traveled to a beautiful island, the City of Brotherly Love and back to a number of inspiring events in two of New York City's boroughs. It was a seven-day trip which reinforced my belief in the Caribbean and its endless capacity to inspire.

First, it was to the azure waters of the Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda for sailing week activities with some newly found media colleagues from the US and the UK. The non-stop Continental Airlines flight from its New Jersey hub at Newark was a breeze.

I have visited Antigua, which boasts 365 beaches, several times since I was a young lad: on national duty as a tennis player, the past decade to produce a media conference, last December to try out Caribbean Airlines' new nonstop service from JFK Airport, and even to enjoy its alluring summer carnival.

This time, I gained an even greater appreciation for the twin islands' strength as a Caribbean tourism player.

I was particularly impressed with its beautiful, pristine environment and the quality of accommodations on island. And, there are some very attractive properties, including the four-star Blue Waters Antigua and Sandals Grande Antigua Resort & Spa in the north, and the well appointed Sugar Ridge boutique hotel on the southwest coast of the island.

Antigua and Barbuda has so much to offer, at surprisingly affordable rates and truly deserves a more aggressive marketing charge across the globe.

Unfortunately, my Caribbean jaunt was short-lived and before I knew it I was deplaning a jet plane in Newark and driving to Philadelphia for the historic Penn Relays where many an athletic star is born.

The Caribbean spirit was strong at this meet thanks to the thousands of Jamaicans who assembled to cheer on their athletes. Other Caribbean nations such as the Bahamas, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago also took to the track, and plenty of praise must be showered on the Caribbean companies who sponsored their athletes.

That same evening, the Spanish Caribbean was the focus at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center in Jamaica, Queens where Xiomara Laugart, the Afro-Cuban vocalist gave a memorable performance. Patrons enjoyed her sultry tones and the band's pulsating Caribbean rhythms generated welcome warmth on a cool April evening.

Following an inspiring church service in Brooklyn on Sunday morning, I attended an event hosted by Country Team Barbados at the Sheraton in Brooklyn (who knew there was a Sheraton in Brooklyn?) in support of athletes from three Barbadian high schools which participated at the Penn Relays.

Even though the Bajans did not return with any medals, I was heartened to learn that two female athletes from my Barbadian alma mater, the St Michael School, performed so well they were offered athletic scholarships.

From Antigua to Philadelphia to Queens and Brooklyn, the Caribbean has so much to be proud of, and I am thankful to carry on witnessing the beauty and excellence of our region in sight, sound, soul and speed.

May 11, 2011

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

African Guyanese call for power sharing is an affirmation of our human right and birthright

By Dr David Hinds



When I came out in support of Tacuma Ogunseye's call for African Guyanese to take to the streets to demand power sharing, I did so because I sensed that people were playing politics with the issue.

Let me preface today’s offering with a few general observations.

First, I make a distinction between the Indian masses, whose lives are as miserable as Africans, and the Indian government, which is as unaccountable to Indians as it is to the Africans.

Second, I do not blame the Indian people for the plight of Africans; in the same way I don’t blame the African people for the suffering of Indians under the PNC. In both cases I hold the governments responsible for the excesses.

Third, nobody can seriously accuse me of remaining quiet when Indian people are under attack -- my record speaks for itself.

Fourth, I am not advocating violence against Indian people or the Indian government. That is the worst solution; all of us will be consumed. I am instead supporting African defiance and militancy against those who are intent on confining their role in Guyana to something called "opposition."

Fifth, I do not absolve African people from fault for our collective condition. But our problem is not simply that we like to party and spend lavishly as some Indians think. Our problem is that we have not cherished enough who we are -- self-love.

Finally, I am sure the cynics in our midst will say that I do not speak for African Guyanese. That is their business. I speak as an African Guyanese. When I put my life on the line to fight and help bring down an African Guyanese government, I never did so to install an Indian Guyanese government. We in the WPA fought for a government of national unity. So I am not a "just come" to power sharing.

Despite attempts to frame it in violent and racist terms, Tacuma Ogunseye's call has served the purpose of putting the question of race and governance back on sensible footing. From Eusi Kwayana's call in 1961 for joint premiership to the PPP's call for a National Patriotic Front in 1977 to the WPA's 1979 proposal for a Government of National Unity and Reconstruction to the PNC's call for Shared Governance in 2002, the issue of power sharing has been about how to achieve security for all races beginning at the political level.

All of the proposals I referenced above started from the position that intra-racial solidarity is a given in our political culture. Kwayana captured the essence of the problem in 1961 this way: “We have known all along that the Indians would not trust a black leader and that the Africans would not trust an Indian leader.” That reading was correct in 1961 and it is even more correct fifty years later.

Power sharing, therefore, is not simply about a political system -- that's the institutional aspect of it. The advocacy of power sharing is rooted in the very notion of the fundamental human right of each ethnic group to determine how the government of Guyana is operated. As Kwayana put in in 1961: “Equality of rights and power for African and Indian as custodians of the whole. Justice by Law for minorities.”

When we African Guyanese advocate power sharing we are not begging the PPP to share with us. We are instead affirming the right of the descendants of enslaved Africans to joint ownership of a space that is watered with three centuries and more with their sacrifices. If we co-own Guyana then we must co-govern it. If you deny us the right to co-govern then you are saying we do not co-own. And that we will not accept.

I refuse as an African Guyanese to accept a political system whereby African Guyanese children cannot aspire to be the president or be part of the government of Guyana. People sit around and clap-trap about whether power sharing would work or wouldn't work. They can continue to do so. This is not about majoritarian democracy; this is about the honor, dignity, human right and birthright of the African Guyanese people.

These cannot and should not be equated to some simplistic notion of democracy, especially by those who because of the numerical strength of their ethnic group don’t have to worry about being excluded. Do those Indians from ROAR, PPP, AFC, PNC and civil society know that every time they open their mouths to tell us that power sharing won’t work that they are in fact telling African Guyanese to accept their internal colonization?

I am pleading with you my Indian brethren and sisterin to please desist from disrespecting us like that. Democracy for you can mean numbers because your group has the numbers -- majoritarian democracy. Democracy for us cannot mean mere numbers; it means numbers and substance (substantive democracy).

These people lecture us on the need for democracy as the solution to our problems. They tell us that our call for power sharing is undemocratic. But we say power sharing is a higher form of democracy because it prevents one group from dominating the other. Some of you are satisfied with wooing a few Africans to your side and some Africans are satisfied with wooing a few Indians to their side. That, as our experience in Guyana since 1955 has shown, is nothing more than a passport to ethnic domination.

We Africans are democrats. When we fought against and threw of the physical chains of slavery, we struck a blow for democracy. We ensured that those ethnic groups that came after did not come as slaves. When we stood on the frontlines with others to dismantle colonialism we did so for democracy. When our own kind subverted democracy in our name, we took to the streets to stop them. Yes, the streets.

We are democrats. But we do not want a democracy whereby others speak for us and decide for us. We earned the right to sit at the table as genuine co-equals and should and will accept nothing less. Jagdeo can boast about his crowds at Linden. But he does not speak for or represent the interests of African Guyanese. He is our president but not our leader. He cannot tell us we have “blood on our hands” and want to be our leader. We want to speak for ourselves and lead ourselves.

We want the right to self-determination. Mr Ravi Dev can call that a "false dilemma" but as our ancestral wisdom taught us "If you nah live a house, you nah know whey e ah leak."

Mr Dev tells us to consider the PPP's "inclusionary democracy" and ROAR's Federalism. Dev is a serious man. He knows race better than many. But in this instance he is taking black people for granted by asking us to consider the PPP's inclusionary democracy. Mr Dev, for your information, it is the PPP's inclusionary democracy that we are aiming to put an end to. The PPP's inclusionary democracy is best described by another name: inclusionary domination.

African Guyanese are not expelled from Guyana. There is no ethnic cleansing. Their representatives are in parliament and on Boards. But they are systematically marginalized from the decision making councils of government. They are included in the system, but they are dominated by those who hold the power to decide whether they are hired or fired. Some African Guyanese individuals are included in the cabinet but on terms that are dictated by the representatives of Indian Guyanese.

Dev tells us to consider Federalism as an answer, but under Dev’s federal system we would have three East Indian dominated governments -- Essequibo, Berbice and Guyana -- and one African dominated -- Demerara. That’s not equality. We Africans don't want favors and handouts. We want power -- the ability to help determine "who gets what, when and how."

There is a new class of anti-African black people whose blackness is confined to their black skins. They are race-traders who seek to trade the dignity of African Guyanese for handouts. This is what I exposed in Buxton last year -- the grave insult of having their children dance for the chief in exchange for a dance-hall. When we Africans say Massa Day Done, we must mean it. We are saying no to internal colonization whereby we have no voice in our own country.

Mr Dev tells the black party and other activist to try to woo Indian voters. Well if he, a professed Indianist, couldn't woo Indian voters away from the PPP, why does he think we can do it? Mr Sam Hinds, an African, tells Africans to vote PPP in order to be included. He tells us in effect to condemn election rigging before we can enjoy full citizenship in Guyana. It is clear that the logic is that before we Africans sit at the table we must bow down before the almighty PPP and repent.

African Guyanese people have nothing to apologize for or be ashamed of. If the PNC wants to apologize for its past excesses, that's their business. But significant sections of Africans Guyanese fought against the PNC. That is a fact that cannot be washed away by Mr Hinds’ strange condemnation of his race.

Mr Hinds’ friends on the other side do not have to rig national elections because they have the numbers. But he may want to check the 1961 High Court ruling on the election in the Huston constituency. When all the Africans were voted out from the PPP executive in 1959, no less a person than Ms Janet Jagan equated that action with what was happening in apartheid South Africa. As Chalkdust, the calypsonian, said in song “Dey can’t fool me -- I in town too long”

Ravi Dev accuses me and Sherwood Lowe of ignoring Indian fears, of limited context and of being concerned solely about the fears of Africans. That is unkind. Sherwood Lowe has already replied to him. Dev knows only too well that my political activism is located in a broader multi-racial praxis. I deliberately put that in my letter last week because I anticipated this charge, even if I didn't expect it from Ravi Dev.

We are calling for power sharing -- not African domination of the government. Inherent in that is an acknowledgement of Indian fears and their right to participate as equals in the governance of Guyana. Must I remind Dev that, when Africans were using Buxton as their base to attack Indians, Bro Kwayana, Sister Andaiye and myself, in spite of the potential danger to our lives, were forthright in our condemnation of such acts.

When Indians were the victims of ‘kick down the door” violence in the 1980s, it was Eusi Kwayana and the WPA that elevated that phenomenon to national prominence. When basic food items were banned in the 1980s, which many Indians believed was aimed at “starving” them, it was the WPA which spearheaded the “food rebellion in 1983. It was the WPA that called two “days of rest” against the food shortage in 1983 which were opposed and boycotted by the PPP. It was the WPA that organized the Sugar and Bauxite Unity Committee that comprised Indian and African workers who coordinated strikes in the sugar and bauxite industries and held marches to press for a lifting of the ban on basic food items.

And in all of these activities we Africans were on the frontlines opposing a government of our kind. Yes Ravi, Ogunseye and David Hinds were there. For the record, I never saw Sam Hinds, Westford, Webster, Lumumba and company there. This for me is not theory; its practice.

We acknowledge Indian fears, but Indian representatives must not use those fears to justify Indian domination of and African exclusion from the government. When the PNC used African fears to dominate the government and excluded the representatives of Indians, they were wrong. Now the PPP is doing it, they are equally wrong. Mr Dev turns us into bullies or he may think that we are natural bullies. What a revelation! African Guyanese have been bullied into inferiority for the last twenty years yet when we say enough is enough we are called bullies. Is it possible to bully others to give you what is rightfully yours -- your fair share of the political resource of decision making?

Dev comes back to the PPP's song that Africans are not marginalized because we do not provide proof of marginalization. I have said over and over that we can argue over the manifestation of African exclusion, but the essence of the marginalization lie in the institutional framework.

The central question is not how many Africans get scholarships to go to Cuba or are in big positions, but who has the authority to make those decisions. It’s like the slave master pointing to the number of house slaves as evidence that slavery is not really slavery. It’s like beating someone and then asking them to give evidence of their beating.

Dev raises the question of the military. Africans dominate the army and police but those institutions are controlled by the political state. The military in Guyana does not have any autonomy as is for example the case with the military in Latin America. But parity of the armed forces cannot be discussed outside of parity in the economic sector and in the government.

Let's put everything on the table. If we are going down that road let us be honest. You want more Indian soldiers and police, we want more representation for Africans in the economic sector, in particular the private sector. You want more Indian civil servants; we want more investment and jobs in bauxite. But before we get there let us settle the big one -- We want part of the power of decision making to be in the hands of African Guyanese representatives. That is not negotiable.

May 10, 2011

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Port Salut, Haiti in its splendour!

By Jean H Charles


The first Sunday after Easter is the celebration of Quasimodo -- Jesus reminding Thomas in particular, the doubters in general, to have faith in his redemptive mission. It is also, in Haiti, the time for a major religious crusade, bringing people from all over the country and from the Diaspora into a manifestation of prayer and faith in Divine Providence.

It was the 17th Annual Congress, and one of my sisters, Mary-Jo, never fails to attend the religious festival, travelling each time from abroad just for the event. It was my first. I was awestruck by the religious belief and the fervor of more than 10.000 people kneeling, sometimes in the mud, manifesting their faith that mercy is on the way on that special day.

The Monday after Quasimodo, like the Monday after Easter, is the time for picnicking and for outings in the countryside. I took my sister on a long trip (three and a half hours -- 200 km) in the south of Haiti to the town of Port Salut for a two days touristic adventure. I was not disappoinred. Port Salut is Haiti in its splendor. A small town right by the sea, Port Salut is potentially Bali, Indonesia, Acapulco, Mexico and the French Riviera.

We stayed at Dan’s Creek, a quaint, small boutique hotel, where the couple, Katia and Evinx Daniel, holds court with an attentive staff to make the journey an enjoyable and pleasant experience. It starts right at the beginning; the dinner, which is part of the package (breakfast and supper are included in the price of the room: $160 per night for a suite, and $120 for a regular room) was scintillating. My sister has lobster; I had a grilled giant fish. The last time I had such a pleasant fish dining experience was in Istanbul, Turkey.

Evinx is the quintessential nation builder. He was the recipient of the 2010 Digicel competition for the businessman and the entrepreneur of the year in the country. A CPA by profession, who sold out his established insurance agency in Florida to move to the motherland, he has almost singlehandedly transformed the vista of a sleeping fishing village into a resort town with a modern supermarket, several French restaurants, a forthcoming marina and a buzz that Port Salut is the town to own a piece of real estate in.

Yet, he is not a native son. He and his wife, Katia, a nurse by profession, fell in love with the creek that was the focus for a detritus dump. It is now the setting of beautiful hotel.

I took a long walk in the morning throughout the village talking to the natives, inquiring as to which types of activities would enrich each one of them. A young man told me about building a factory. I led his answer towards a fruit and produce cooperative instead.

I got an approving nod when I told him those giant breadfruits that are sold four for one dollar in Port Salut can fetch $28 dollars at retail in the United States. I have seen giant apricots as big as a melon, a specialty fruit not seen or sold yet in the American supermarkets. I bought a full section of baby bananas (25) for $2, they command $0.99 a pound in New York.

Yet, everything is not paradise in Port Salut; I met young men not in school in the morning. My inquiry led me to the information that a group of teachers have been conducting a strike for an unpaid month’s salary.

After the debacle of the elections of November 28, 2010, the people in fury because of the theft of their popular vote burned the tax collector building of Les Cayes, the capital of the south of Haiti. Salary checks issued to public employees were charred and destroyed. The Ministry of Education has not make good of those payments. It follows that kids are idle; an annual examination might be compromised.

On my way back to Port au Prince, the capital of Haiti, I used my personal connections to meet with the Minister of Education and bring about a remedy to the situation. I have been promised a swift resolution. Kids will return to school, the teachers will be paid.

After a long conversation with Evinx in the evening, as Thomas putting his hand into the crucified hands of Jesus, and having set foot in Port Salut, my faith in Haiti was renewed; the candidature of Michel Joseph Martelly took birth right there at Dan’s creek hotel.

Evinx plans to shy away from the political glare and dedicate himself to his business and promoting the idyllic southern coastal area of Haiti.

There are plans in the way for members of the Diaspora to combine their contributions together ($100 per year) to provide each one of the 142 villages of Haiti with $3 million of investment per year for infrastructure, for institution- building and for incubating national entrepreneurship.

Port Salut is just one of the picturesque sites of the chain of towns and villages all along the southern coastal part of Haiti awaiting the influx of the Diaspora and foreign investors to magnify the natural resources for the benefit of all concerned.

The southern coast is also close to Jamaica and one of its most recent touristic ports of call, Portsmouth. The synergy of linking both territories into a travel destination can only benefit both countries and the millions of tourists seeking the latest trend in cultural experience.

The Easter season, as springtime, called for faith in the process of renewal of nature. The forthcoming government, the natural beauty of Port Salut and its environment give me faith in the future of Haiti. It has been and remains as “fabuloso” as Christopher Columbus found it some five hundred years ago!

May 9, 2011

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