It is clearly stipulated as the first point of the Millennium Development Goals that hunger and extreme poverty should be eradicated. But in stark contrast to that particular goal , Haiti has gone through the fastest liberalisation process ever. So Haiti is the poorest nation in the Americas, but one of the most open economies in the world. How do we explain that to the new generation of Haitians who are engaged in research and keen observation of economic trends? How in the world does this make any sense when we consider that one of the main agricultural products of Haiti is rice. Haiti is a producer of rice, yet some time around 1995, Haiti cut import tax on rice from 35% to nearly 2%. No need to ask for the origin of that decision, we all know that it was the result of international bullying. “Accept it or forget it”. Yet the same super-nations that push such policy in Haiti’s throat are the ones that are constantly talking about the millennium development goals.Rice farmers in Haiti were sent to hell with their productions while cheap imported rice continued to invade the country. The only way the development goals will work in any country is if and if only the poor nations are given the space necessary to build their own economy with adaptable policies along with strategies that take into consideration the voice of the peasant. It is absolutely absurd and unsustainable to pursue development through the lens of international aid which often does not reach the poor, which often has nothing to do with the poverty that reigns in poor countries. We are plagued with cross-conditional agreements that stand on the way to real development. This is why we continue to see small projects after small projects that have nothing to do with development as it is known in the developed world.
Development for poor countries seems to suffer from a lack definition, in the sense that when one considers the extent of the conditions that prevail and the size and types of the projects undertaken one should ask what development are we talking about? What exactly do we seek to achieve? If the development goals are working elsewhere,there is no sign that they are making head-ways in Haiti.
Haiti is a nation essentially agricultural,yet suffers from a current severe food shortage. We cannot engage the nation in development without first acknowledging the need for an ownership of its economy.This means empowerment:help them build their agriculture and allow government to implement policies that can accommodate such goals.
I wish Haiti well with the MDGs and let us pray that the Government of Rene Preval continues to promote stability and regularise the institutions. We know that our institutions have been destroyed by the latest wave of violence with the eviction of president Aristide. Again the MDGs are not possible without strong institutional backing ,so with that I think it might take another decade before Haiti can see real result on the ground.
Louinel JEAN
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Hatian Petrol
Dr. Mathurin and his wife have become very passionate about the prospects of some very significant well of petroleum and other precious metals in the sous-sol of Haiti. Haiti is known as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere due to its lack of production almost at every level. Most researchers know that Haiti is not poor because of a lack of resource but more so due to a lack of appropriation of resources. From human resource to natural raw material resource, we have failed to generate proper strategies to maximise them.It is unacceptable that such a discussion should still be dormant in the Haitian media. They should be calling government officials one by one to tell the people of Haiti what they intend to do with the eventual wells of Haiti. We need to know their perception now and their plan for the future. Petroleum in Haiti would mean deliverance for the Haitian people provided that our leaders do not allow themselves into the corrupted trap in which the wealth of the nations serve for the welfare of big corporations while the nation suffer. If we consider what oil represents in Nigeria: war, tribal tensions, extreme institutionalised corruption, slavery and poverty, then we will need to consider our politics and economic strategy carefully, negotiate wisely and exploite cautiously.
A Haiti with oil should be considered a prosperous Haiti. Not a divided society where the nation continues to sink deeper and deeper in despair,where a small group of privileged people lay hold on all possible chances for Haiti’s development as was the case in the past or even now. We need to engage the the discussion with the government, let them speak to the people ,tell us what they intend to do with the prospects of petrol in the sous-sol of Haiti. We do not accept that they remain silent on a matter of such great importance.
They need to bring more experts on site to give clear indication on whether or not we can count on the future that oil can help us build. This is absolutely not the time for quiet government. They need to talk to the people even with daily briefing on how are they progressing with issues that matter to the people. We are talking here about a nation that has gone through some real deplorable situations ,shame, humiliation, even slavery in modern time. Personally, I can’t wait for the day when I can start to bring back every single Haitian from the bracero of the Dominican Republic. Let the Dominican people taste the flavor of what it means to be a nation of hard workers like Haiti. Let them see their real economy without Haitian slaves.
Oil in Haiti would mean freedom from Dominican slavery and boat-people status. It would mean a Haiti with voice in the OPEC and with a formal space in global economic decision. It would no longer an under nourished dog waiting outdoor for crumbs from the table of the economic giants of our day. I guaranty you even the Caribbean nations who pretend to integrate Haiti in CARICOM will change their attitude towards us. I am not sure that CARICOM is genuine as far as Haiti is concerned. The last time I saw Haitian boat people in Jamaica ,They where pick up from the shaw with a dirty truck like cows, while police beat them to hold in . This remind me of the stories I read about the middle passage. In contrast, when a group of Cuban did arrive as boat people, they where pick up in a clean bus with sits for every passenger. As an observer ,an educator and a politician I will not allow this contrast to fill my heart with hate. I love Jamaica , I love its people, in fact, my wife is Jamaican, my daugter is Jamaican ,I am a JamHaitian.
Oil in Haiti would be our chance to become a global donor in the fight against poverty, not a receiver of the so called international aid which often goes to NGOs that mostly spend it in lavishing luxurious life styles.
I wish to hear the government telling the people what they intend to do with the news of significant oil wells in Haiti.I demand a proper debate on the matter so that we may start looking at more significant ways to sharpen the Haitian dream.
Louinel Jean
A Haiti with oil should be considered a prosperous Haiti. Not a divided society where the nation continues to sink deeper and deeper in despair,where a small group of privileged people lay hold on all possible chances for Haiti’s development as was the case in the past or even now. We need to engage the the discussion with the government, let them speak to the people ,tell us what they intend to do with the prospects of petrol in the sous-sol of Haiti. We do not accept that they remain silent on a matter of such great importance.
They need to bring more experts on site to give clear indication on whether or not we can count on the future that oil can help us build. This is absolutely not the time for quiet government. They need to talk to the people even with daily briefing on how are they progressing with issues that matter to the people. We are talking here about a nation that has gone through some real deplorable situations ,shame, humiliation, even slavery in modern time. Personally, I can’t wait for the day when I can start to bring back every single Haitian from the bracero of the Dominican Republic. Let the Dominican people taste the flavor of what it means to be a nation of hard workers like Haiti. Let them see their real economy without Haitian slaves.
Oil in Haiti would mean freedom from Dominican slavery and boat-people status. It would mean a Haiti with voice in the OPEC and with a formal space in global economic decision. It would no longer an under nourished dog waiting outdoor for crumbs from the table of the economic giants of our day. I guaranty you even the Caribbean nations who pretend to integrate Haiti in CARICOM will change their attitude towards us. I am not sure that CARICOM is genuine as far as Haiti is concerned. The last time I saw Haitian boat people in Jamaica ,They where pick up from the shaw with a dirty truck like cows, while police beat them to hold in . This remind me of the stories I read about the middle passage. In contrast, when a group of Cuban did arrive as boat people, they where pick up in a clean bus with sits for every passenger. As an observer ,an educator and a politician I will not allow this contrast to fill my heart with hate. I love Jamaica , I love its people, in fact, my wife is Jamaican, my daugter is Jamaican ,I am a JamHaitian.
Oil in Haiti would be our chance to become a global donor in the fight against poverty, not a receiver of the so called international aid which often goes to NGOs that mostly spend it in lavishing luxurious life styles.
I wish to hear the government telling the people what they intend to do with the news of significant oil wells in Haiti.I demand a proper debate on the matter so that we may start looking at more significant ways to sharpen the Haitian dream.
Louinel Jean
The Legacy of the Geronts
Decades of poverty, extreme environmental degradation, violence, instability, dictatorship, zero investment in education, zero investment in agriculture, systematic oppression against the poor, tyranny, hatred, classicism, poor health services, ‘boat-peopleism’ and maximum investment in international banks. The result: Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas and one of the poorest in the world.
How could we expect the people not to believe that some how any other land in the world might be better than the land of Haiti? They destroyed every inch of freedom and by all the above means trampled on the country’s real profile which is: the world’s first black –led republic and the first Caribbean state to achieve independence.
It took two religious faces to destroy all the prospects of Haiti’s potential as a tourist hot spot. This is so true that even people in their 50s are not so sure about the existence of white sand beaches in Haiti. They would often ask such questions as: Do you guys have hotels, you have nice beaches? Or even, do you have schools? I forgive their ignorance because the Geronts did not promote the positive; they did their best to make Haiti a casualty of Western Consciousness rather than a force to reckon with.
When I teach young people in the Caribbean I am some times forced to give an account about what has happened to my country. The young children would ask me why is HAITI so poor? When that happen I wish I could call a member of the gerontocratic society to answer, but alas! They are no where to be found. So the new generation is obligated to answer for the legacies of the old. Although they have left us with absolutely no foundation, we must not remain silent. Not at this time or in this era, because the younger generation of leaders in our neighboring nations will continue to ask us questions about our country.
We must rebuild the institutions of Haiti so that other nations don’t decide when to change our government and who should be our government. We must not allow the Geronts to push us to the street to blindly protest on behalf of their politics of mud and dust. We must elevate our thinking, raise our standard and look to the horizon of new dawn for Haiti.
If we are going to change Haiti for good, we must be willing to suffer a little longer, we must sacrifice our cravings within the context of the principle of postponement of our wants in order to cater to our fundamental needs. We need a strong education system, a strong agriculture, a strong justice system and a police force free of corruption that protects and serves the people within the context of a true democratic society where the rights of the people become sacrosanct.
The Geronts have shown that they have no concern for our dignity. This is why we have our people collecting water from unsanitary pipes and carry it on their heads for long distances .We have a great number of our schools, private and public remain unsanitized. We have no electricity, no significant road network etc… and they did not seem to have a proper strategy on how to solve these problems.
My dream is to see the new generation of Haitian leaders defy the legacy of the Geronts by building a road network that will allow one to tour Haiti in one day. Cutting through the mountains of Haiti we will build the railways and bring supersonic trains to the nation. Also, if we have to build toll roads, let it be. It is unacceptable that the hard working people of Haiti have no way to transport their goods for sale after long days of manual, traditional agricultural labor. We must acknowledge that the political culture of the Geronts has left us with no country, no pride, so that we may be able to rise from our psychological deficit and build our land.
Louinel JEAN
How could we expect the people not to believe that some how any other land in the world might be better than the land of Haiti? They destroyed every inch of freedom and by all the above means trampled on the country’s real profile which is: the world’s first black –led republic and the first Caribbean state to achieve independence.
It took two religious faces to destroy all the prospects of Haiti’s potential as a tourist hot spot. This is so true that even people in their 50s are not so sure about the existence of white sand beaches in Haiti. They would often ask such questions as: Do you guys have hotels, you have nice beaches? Or even, do you have schools? I forgive their ignorance because the Geronts did not promote the positive; they did their best to make Haiti a casualty of Western Consciousness rather than a force to reckon with.
When I teach young people in the Caribbean I am some times forced to give an account about what has happened to my country. The young children would ask me why is HAITI so poor? When that happen I wish I could call a member of the gerontocratic society to answer, but alas! They are no where to be found. So the new generation is obligated to answer for the legacies of the old. Although they have left us with absolutely no foundation, we must not remain silent. Not at this time or in this era, because the younger generation of leaders in our neighboring nations will continue to ask us questions about our country.
We must rebuild the institutions of Haiti so that other nations don’t decide when to change our government and who should be our government. We must not allow the Geronts to push us to the street to blindly protest on behalf of their politics of mud and dust. We must elevate our thinking, raise our standard and look to the horizon of new dawn for Haiti.
If we are going to change Haiti for good, we must be willing to suffer a little longer, we must sacrifice our cravings within the context of the principle of postponement of our wants in order to cater to our fundamental needs. We need a strong education system, a strong agriculture, a strong justice system and a police force free of corruption that protects and serves the people within the context of a true democratic society where the rights of the people become sacrosanct.
The Geronts have shown that they have no concern for our dignity. This is why we have our people collecting water from unsanitary pipes and carry it on their heads for long distances .We have a great number of our schools, private and public remain unsanitized. We have no electricity, no significant road network etc… and they did not seem to have a proper strategy on how to solve these problems.
My dream is to see the new generation of Haitian leaders defy the legacy of the Geronts by building a road network that will allow one to tour Haiti in one day. Cutting through the mountains of Haiti we will build the railways and bring supersonic trains to the nation. Also, if we have to build toll roads, let it be. It is unacceptable that the hard working people of Haiti have no way to transport their goods for sale after long days of manual, traditional agricultural labor. We must acknowledge that the political culture of the Geronts has left us with no country, no pride, so that we may be able to rise from our psychological deficit and build our land.
Louinel JEAN
HAITI, EMBRACING RADICAL CHANGE
The Republic of Haiti has gone through all the struggles that the world’s developed nations have known prior to their rise to superpower status. The nation has experienced the rigors of hope and despair, but neither hope nor despair has taken deep root in the heart of its people. In the global media, Haiti keeps on falling in and out of bond with both hope and despair. This gives us a clear picture of the generational confrontation that exists in the society. Yet the nation is in denial.
La Gerontocracy Extreme (Extreme Gerontocracy)The older generation of Haitians has always monopolized the government, the economy, the thinking pattern of the people. They kept the education system as archaic as they could, they managed and promoted poverty as meticulously as they could, they oppressed the people as systematically has they could. Very few of them have left an inheritance for their children. They did everything necessary to ensure that, in the 21st century, the new generation of Haitians cohabits with a multinational force that has little understanding of its history. They have taken the dignity of the people and exposed their wounds. In sum, they have changed Haiti’s original title from “Pearl of the Antilles” to “Casualty of the Western World”. But we know and we understand that Haiti cannot remain there; it cannot continue to make headlines as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. There is an oasis in the middle of Haiti wilderness, there is hope, and there is a new breed of leaders who understand that the vertical port of sustainable development is, unquestionably, the dignity of the people. The new generation must dissociate itself from the mentality of the geronts, we must run with urgency from the mentality of mud and dust and build the sky scrappers of the Haitian people’s dream. It must be understood that this view is by no means a rejection of our ancestral legacy, but the establishment of a line of demarcation from the recent history that we have witnessed for the last 20 years, a history of war and corruption. We want a politic of decency and grace, mutual respect and unity, tolerance and hope, pride and dignity. We want to give our people a rational to regain confidence in the concept of Haiti, which is originally a concept deeply rooted in freedom and exotic beauty. Haiti will be green again when the green generation rise with the seed of redemption to replants our forests, clean our streets, reorganize our agriculture, redefine our educational goals, and regain our space in the global economy. Yes, we will rise as a significant Power in this region because we have the human resource for it. We have the land mass for it. And we have the will for it.The resource I refer to has to do with the vast number of professionals who love Haiti and wish to participate in its development. This includes both Haitians and foreigners, an approach which takes into consideration the need for integration, global participation, and openness. Haiti must become an open field for investment. This is the line of argument that I will continue to promote as I engage in this quest for sustained development for the Republic of Haiti. I am sure you have seen the inclusive nature of my political philosophy and wish that you will feel free to show your interest to engage with me in this journey for radical change.
Louniel Jean
www.myspace.com/louineljeanjproject
La Gerontocracy Extreme (Extreme Gerontocracy)The older generation of Haitians has always monopolized the government, the economy, the thinking pattern of the people. They kept the education system as archaic as they could, they managed and promoted poverty as meticulously as they could, they oppressed the people as systematically has they could. Very few of them have left an inheritance for their children. They did everything necessary to ensure that, in the 21st century, the new generation of Haitians cohabits with a multinational force that has little understanding of its history. They have taken the dignity of the people and exposed their wounds. In sum, they have changed Haiti’s original title from “Pearl of the Antilles” to “Casualty of the Western World”. But we know and we understand that Haiti cannot remain there; it cannot continue to make headlines as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. There is an oasis in the middle of Haiti wilderness, there is hope, and there is a new breed of leaders who understand that the vertical port of sustainable development is, unquestionably, the dignity of the people. The new generation must dissociate itself from the mentality of the geronts, we must run with urgency from the mentality of mud and dust and build the sky scrappers of the Haitian people’s dream. It must be understood that this view is by no means a rejection of our ancestral legacy, but the establishment of a line of demarcation from the recent history that we have witnessed for the last 20 years, a history of war and corruption. We want a politic of decency and grace, mutual respect and unity, tolerance and hope, pride and dignity. We want to give our people a rational to regain confidence in the concept of Haiti, which is originally a concept deeply rooted in freedom and exotic beauty. Haiti will be green again when the green generation rise with the seed of redemption to replants our forests, clean our streets, reorganize our agriculture, redefine our educational goals, and regain our space in the global economy. Yes, we will rise as a significant Power in this region because we have the human resource for it. We have the land mass for it. And we have the will for it.The resource I refer to has to do with the vast number of professionals who love Haiti and wish to participate in its development. This includes both Haitians and foreigners, an approach which takes into consideration the need for integration, global participation, and openness. Haiti must become an open field for investment. This is the line of argument that I will continue to promote as I engage in this quest for sustained development for the Republic of Haiti. I am sure you have seen the inclusive nature of my political philosophy and wish that you will feel free to show your interest to engage with me in this journey for radical change.
Louniel Jean
www.myspace.com/louineljeanjproject
GOLD IN HAITI'S FUTURE?
I heard a little talk tonight about gold in Haiti's future on Radio Ginen. I always knew that there was gold in Haiti's past and there will continue to be gold in its future. The problem is that while the experts are showing excitement over our resources our government remains as if they have nothing to be excited about. They remain very circumspect about the news as if it does not mean anything to Haiti's development. We have a nation that feels as if there is nothing to help them hope and see the future optimistic. Yet we fail to use anything that comes to us positive to help build our national pride and help the people to believe in their land. Perhaps the government may already know that this will mean nothing to the welfare of the people. This is the only reason we should not speak more enthusiastically about resources in Haiti. We are so comfortable with international aid that means almost absolutely nothing for poor rural communities in Haiti we cannot even take pride in our potential for wealth. We will have those communities where gold has been found remaining the same twenty years later while gold is being mined at their gaze. Frankly, I wish to hear some comments on that. Also hear about petrol in HAITI, but government remains quiet about the prospects and what should be done about it. We live in the age when oil is so precious, yet no excitement about the potential discovery of oil in the country. Our people continue to suffer while awaiting international aid. I wish to hear what will be done to inform the people clearly on the initiatives underway about Haiti's potential mines.
Louinel Jean
Louinel Jean
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