HAITI ET SA NOUVELLE MELODIE NATIONALE

Haiti and Her New National Melody (NNM)

The New National Melody has already become a force to recon with in the quest for change in Haiti. The group first started in 2010 on face book with a message that resonates well with the diaspora and with local youth. The movement is micromanaged by the recording artist, educator, activist Louinel Jean who resides in Jamaica. Many critics consider Jean‘s patriotic activities as his warming up towards electoral office in Haiti. But he insists that his number one goal is to help in the emergence of a NEW BREED OF LEADERS to help redirect Haiti in the 21st century. The NNM rejects the traditional political class of Haiti completely and seek to promote a radical abandonment of such establishment. The group considers that Haiti’s traditional politicians have failed miserably, that the time has come for a radical turning point in the country’s history.

The Haitian people need significant change in the trends of leadership in the country. It is the attitude of our politicians that has made Haiti what it is today, the casualty of the western world. Jean argues that the traditional political class has made Haiti a zone of no expectation, no accountability, and rampant corruption. They have managed to plunge the country in such a constant crisis of credibility causing the people to be encapsulated in a deeply alarming psychological deficit.

The problem

The Haitian people always go to vote when they are called to do so, but the political class or elite always have a plan to crush their attempt. When the people vote mayors, our cities move from bad to worst, when we vote parliamentarians it is only to see them engaged in other agenda often so remote to the basic needs of the people. When we vote a president we simply provide a paradisaical ticket for his friends and family. To test the authenticity of these facts, one would just need to take a trip to Haiti and try to understand the role of government, and it would immediately be evident that governance is definitely not a word in the dictionary of Haiti’s traditional ruling class.

We could also refer to this consortium of politicians as the political gang or mafia power house of Haiti whose only achievement so far has been violence, corruption, strife, and the proliferation of national crisis often left in the hand of the international community to solve with very limited or no provision for the population. The dilemma is that we have had too many leaders who are satisfied with the personal pleasures of power and, worst of all, blind to the evident sufferings of the poor.

The solution

It was therefore judicious that we got engaged in this electoral process to help elect, among the legion of political interests, President Michel Martelly who is our militant musician for the cause of change. We, the Haitian people know well that Mr. Martelly is not a politician in the conventional definitions of world politics or Haitian politics in general, but he is our choice this time. He represents our clear rejection of the politics of division and poverty, a kind of politics which we classify as the cacophony of the gerontocratic order in Haiti, to embrace a NEW NATIONAL MELODY to start shaping a better future for our next generations.

We are engaged with all our strength to help government find harmony with the aspirations of the people, government by the people, for the people and with the people. We don’t need a president to blame at the end of every five years or during his mandate to plan a coup d’état. We need an active citizenry who understands their role in a true democratic society. We are fully engaged with the diaspora and with Haitians in Haiti to sharpen a true Haitian dream; and with the support of our neighbors and partners of the international community to help salvage Haiti from the deep waters of poverty and despair she is in.

Already the mobilization and initiatives towards change are amazing. The level of celebration which replaced the anticipated violence after the results of the election was a clear message that when leaders do their part transparently and with the proper dose of integrity the people rejoice. But when corruption is the ruler of our events we can expect them to be marred with the full force of popular anger which often worsens our conditions. The last time I checked, both NNM and the Haitian people at large do not need that.

The ardent call

NNM is open to Jamaicans and other CARICOM citizens who wish to support our projects in Haiti. We are one family and now we know that we can find synergy in our dreams and our desires to see a more just and humane Caribbean community. We can create the new high ways of solidarity if we allow the power of love to continue to guide our path.

We cannot stop thanking the citizens of Jamaica as well as the Jamaican government who have done so much to help our people after the earth quake last year. As a resident of Jamaica, I took note of your good hearts and great compassion for the Haitian people. May God continue to bless our nations greatly!

We take it upon ourselves to send this message to the world and to everyone who has gotten a chance to read this article, that Haiti is now ready for business; she is ready to stand in her rightful position as the mother of freedom in our region. She is ready to dance again to the rhythm of true democracy and speak again even in the words of our great brother, Martin Luther King Junior “free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last.”

VIVE LA NOUVELLE MELODIE NATIONALE! VIVE LE PEUPLE HAITIEN!

Louinel Jean (Recording artist, Activist)

President/ Founder of the NEW NATIONAL MELODY OF HAITI (NNM)

Contact

icmnloui@hotmail.com

876-4826584

HAITI, ELECTIONS THEN AND ELECTIONS NOW!?

Elections are a fundamental element of the democratic process. They require transparency,trust, accuracy and clarity. Haiti's political culture has almost left us confused as to the true importance and function of elections. Why do we have so much tension when we need to choose a new leader? Why are so many of our politicians afraid of elections ? why do our elections take place without any form of meaningful debate between candidates? These are the questions we will address in this first 2010 post of Caribbean Focus.

Why do we have so much tension when we need to choose a new leader?
I am a young man I don't wish to speak too much about the remote electoral history of Haiti, but the following recent years of election remain fresh in my mind as I began to get conscious of the situations that befall Haiti from its quest for a stable democracy. In 1988, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2004, 2006 we killed, we fought each other, we demonstrated violently throughout the country just to choose our president. In any democratic society, a leader must make his case to earn the trust of the people. In Haiti our politicians oppress the people, buy their trust under the canopy of extreme poverty, bribe electoral organizers for the top spot, instigate fear to force people to cast vote against their will, arm gangsters to disrupt electoral prospects , so we pervert every good process that would lead us to an established functioning state. As a result,Haiti is a fake democratic state where politicians and even the people pretend to be democratic. Democracy continues to elude us. I hope one day we will realize that all of us cannot be the president at the same time.

Why so many of our politicians are afraid of elections ?
Our politicians are numerous,we have a republic of political leaders. Every news cast is the announcement of a new political platform which has absolutely no base among the population, no political capital at all,but they can easily get the massively unemployed population of Haiti to demonstrate for the entire year as long as they have a truck with a few speaker boxes for the ambiance. To them, this is the test that they are legitimate and that they are ready to brag a presidential term. The problem is when they realize that the Haitian people has already chosen the leader even before any form of electoral campaign, everybody now starts pulling away from elections and they will give a million rationals why elections cannot take place. You know why?The answer is simple:they are afraid of the test of legitimacy.
An election is a test of legitimate positioning among the people,this is my definition, and most of our thousands of candidates never get even 0% of the national vote. This example was clear during the 2006 election. Many of our candidates stand absolutely no chance of becoming president of Haiti, they have no political or leadership mass ,they have no leadership flexibility, no sensitivity, even in times of extreme national disaster they want to keep the momentum of "dechoukage", all they care about is power by any means except good elections.

Why do our elections take place without any form of meaningful debate between candidates?

Let me start by saying that in this particular time in the History of the world, any elections conducted without a proper formal debate is meant to deceive the people. In Haiti our elections are based on high emotions and militancy nothing to do with competence , courage, vision, credibility and the list goes on... We all know that all these elements cannot necessarily be proven in a debate but it can reinforce the resilience of a candidate, it can place the people in a more conscious zone of decision, it can serve as an authentic means of positive differentiation of individual candidates. Furthermore, political debates also can serve as reference for the nations in their quest to be more attune to the concept of electing. A debate is also a great educational moment for the people and the candidates, it provides greater visibility to the future successes we so desperately need and the failures we encountered in the past. We must develop the culture of political debate in Haiti so that people can become familiar with our politicians under the microscope of our national or even the international media. I really don't see how democratic we can be if our elections continue to go as though they were a mere popularity contest or pageantry.

We must insist that in 2010 a strong debating agenda is put forward to the candidates ,we must bring them to the schools ,farming communities, slums ,everywhere not just to engage on a trip of political jargon, but to answer questions from the people, the media, from their fellow candidates and so forth. We cannot allow the meaning of our votes to be depleted by placing people in authority who cannot, by any means, carry out the responsibilities of manning our ship.Haiti is our legitimate ship. We need qualified captains to take us to destination.
We can avoid the extreme risks of crossing the ocean with fake captains that often leave us at the mercy of sharks or some foreign coast-guard.

This attitude has left us with a republic of NGOs, we cannot even fix a gully without the intervention of some foreign agency. This is unacceptable and we must fix it now. We must embrace the democratic principle for what it is and stop faking it. We must embrace integrity in leadership and also in our function as a nation to reject corruption in all its forms so that we may build Haiti as a model in this hemisphere. Haiti is meant to be a model of a free society not an epitome of poverty and despair as portrayed in the world media.

Louinel Jean
May 15th 2010