The recent earthquake in Haiti which devastated the capital Port-au-Prince has sent shockwaves across the globe. In an era of instant communication, the horrific pictures of the carnage afflicted on Haiti has been emotional for many who have witnessed it. Some say hundreds of people are dead or injured, others say hundreds of thousands. Only time will tell the extent of the injuries and damage to humans and property. The devastation has been enough to force many to ask, why Haiti. This is a country which has had to endure perennial suffering whether manmade or acts of God.
BU is heartened by the global response to the cry for help by Haiti. In the past similar humanitarian relief efforts have been hampered by corruption in the distribution efforts of aid. We hope that those responsible in administering the relief efforts in Haiti will do what is right.
Now is an opportunity for the Caricom region to respond as a region to what is required to effectively help Haiti. It is good we have a few regional Prime Ministers flying into Haiti to see and hear for themselves what is required to support the humanitarian effort. Is this a PR exercise done to satisfy our obligations to a regional member? Time will tell!
Already the catastrophe in Haiti has revealed how religion can expose the ignorance of some people. It has been reported that Pat Robertson who is an American Christian televangelist has blamed Haiti’s pact with Satan as the cause for its suffering. We are flabbergasted that a man of such influence and suggested intellect would be driven to spout such bovine excrement.
On behalf of the BU household we hope and pray that those behind the relief effort will be able to mobilize quickly and to do what is required to relieve the suffering to those who are alive and to bring dignity to those who have died so tragically.
Haiti I am Sorry – David Rudder
618 responses to “Haiti We Are Sorry”
Bushman
Dese BU women know how tah titillate de senses, my God… J you rivallin’ ac man… I need a napkin..!
If it wasn’t past Bush Tea’s bedtime I would respond to CH, but the bushman sometimes get a bit snappy when he sleepy….
….But just because you do not understand something Mr. CH – DOES NOT automatically deem it impossible.
…. clearly your problem with BBE extends to other simple matters as well…
I Bushman HAVE NO IDEA if this thing was done as Chevez speculates or not….. BUT it does not take a lot to see that – given modern technologies and (basic physics)- frightening possibilities exists out there…. and there are some ‘real real’ scientists who actually knows more that CH… (impossible as THAT may sound)
…in fact, if wanna mek me vex I would go out in my workshop right now and mek one yuh….
…So BAFBFP, you give up wid ac or wuh?!!! You like you just as bad as ROK – can’t handle the peppa…
@BAFBFP: “The problem with collecting data is that often times the collectors can be overwhelmed…!
All of them?
Even those against those who are being blamed by you and yours?
That is rather hard to believe to anyone who can think.
Why are you so convinced that this was an evil act by humans with *no* evidence to support your claim?
Chris
Look what Freewilly dig up
http://www.infowars.com/a-haiti-disaster-relief-scenario-was-envisaged-by-the-us-military-one-day-before-the-earthquake/
Try here for John
http://bajan.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/haiti-we-are-sorry/#comment-135194
@Bush Tea: “BUT it does not take a lot to see that – given modern technologies and (basic physics)- frightening possibilities exists out there…
Care to explain how an electromagnetic wave-front can induce a significant kinetic impulse?
Or do you just want to believe this possibility without understanding why it cannot occur because it is in alignment with your paranoia?
“induce a significant kinetic impulse?”
In this case merely means enough to trigger a much muach larger event. Whether they HAARP modified in some way or some audio frequency thingy, if you dug deep enough, something will surface. As I said on another thread, when dealing with the US (and extension the West) just seek Motive and Oppurtunity and the Means will find its way into the works sure enough..!
@BAFBFP…
You’re actually bringing Mr. Alex Jones (read: infowars.com) forward as an authority?
You *are* kidding.
Right?
log on to http://www.seisomology.com/link sesmic monitor.
There is an seismic monitor showing past and present seismic activity .Very interesting.
@BAFBFP
There goes Chavez theory.
@BAFBFP: “Whether they HAARP modified in some way or some audio frequency thingy, if you dug deep enough, something will surface…
“Some … thingy”?
Thingy?
This isn’t Star Trek.
This is physics.
Unless you can suggest a possible methodology used in the alleged crime — something which can actually be done — you cannot blame others for using the non-existent technique.
If you were a prosecuting lawyer in a court of law (rather than in a court of public opinion) you would lose your case with prejudice.
@Chris
When you asked the exceptionally stupid question back in your school days about two ‘unstoppable’ objects colliding, I would have thought that you would have learnt something from your teachers response….
..Obviously you are beyond help… certainly mine.
Bye.
By the way, If you follow Freewilly’s links you will find that it was then US Defense Secretary William Cohen who raised the issue about such possibilities way back in 1997. Poor fool, he should have consulted with you first….
log on to http://www.seisomology.com/link sesmic monitor.
There is an seismic monitor showing past and present seismic activity .Very interesting.
@BAFBFP
There goes Chavez theory.
correction on the link ie IRIS seismic monitor
@J , and who could have topped King David of our very own KJV of the bible when it come to the love of ‘pokey’?. With 300 wives and 700 concubines , that was a full time job hopping between the sheets.Not to mention the guy he horned and send him off to war to add his wife to his collection.
You have the wrong King Sir. It was Solomon who had 300 wives and 700 concubines
@Bush Tea: “…By the way, If you follow Freewilly’s links you will find that it was then US Defense Secretary William Cohen who raised the issue about such possibilities way back in 1997. Poor fool, he should have consulted with you first….
On the other hand, Mr. Cohen might have learnt from his grade-school physics teacher, rather than from his political science teacher…
Having drilled down on this, the only references to this subject are religious sites who say things like “We have a scalar electromagnetics or electrogravitation [weapons] gap.
Electrogravitation?
What part of the Higgs Boson hasn’t been discovered yet?
OMG…OMG…It looks like deja vu all ova again..OMG!
ITS THE BIG O, [say it ain’t so].
I am about to go to bed so let me know of these watch dog associations that would be in a position to tell the world with hundred percent surety that this Geologic event was purely an act of God. You Chriss Hallsall is one hundred percent certain that it is not possible to trigger an event that really was building potential for hundreds of years with the use of minimum effort (no bombs, just some focussed agitation device) and of course the second part of the question is that it could be done without being detected by a watch dog authority and of course the third part is that the watch dog authority(ies) are compelled to make public their findings should there be any anomalies. What is the penalty if such authorities remain silent…? Is it not possible that there in fact could be a penalty if they came to the public? Now what beef do you have with Alex Jones, padre?
ac sweet dreams, tomorrow we make up…!
Onlookers:
The above is of course still saddening — and revealing on our general want of seriousness — on the real challenge to be faced: how do we HELP Haiti.
It seems some basic tutorials are in order . . .
1] Earthquakes and buildings 101, from Gujarat India:
Anyway, today’s nugget, from the folks who give us the Auram Compressed Stabilised Earth Brick/Block [CSEB]construction system that I am saying we need to look at really closely for the villages of Haiti.
And for the tinfoil hat brigade, the source is INDIAN. (They have some very instructive pics on events in Gujarat 2001. they go on to give some primers on quake resistant CSEB construction techniques here.)
Money quotes from the 101 page:
2] Engineering and weaponising quakes?
CH and I are on the same page: no coupling mechanism and inadequate energy to feed into the mechanism, and you can have no engineered, weaponised quakes.
In simple terms, consider an old fashioned rug with some heavy furniture on it. Now take a feather and brush it on the edge of the carpet to try to pull it to you. Just won’t work: neither enough power nor enough coupling to generate adequate forces.
EM waves in the ionosphere — a zone where there are layers of gases ionised mostly by the sun in daylight hours, and routinely used for over the horizon shortwave radio skywave propagation [I used to set MUF etc calcs for t’comms students based on ionisation density etc. . . ] are like that: enough for telecomms [and to interfere with other people’s telecomms] but not enough power or coupling force to move plates of the earth’s crust or their fault zones.
I am aware there is some argument that there are detectable shifts in magnetism and EM-waves adn ground electrical properties as fault zones move to a biggie, but that is a matter of a minor effect of a much bigger underlying process, that may be used to observe what is going on.
3] Energy in waves . . .
Much of he elastic strain energy released by a slippage goes into moving the plates and some propagates off as strain further down the line (as is being feared for DR and maybe Ja). But since the slipped “point” has elastically rebounded, it tends to vibrate with transient oscillations, i.e. can trigger waves to propagate through the rock and earth.
Summarising, using the useful relevant Wiki arts [this is not a political issue . . . yet]:
Similarly, with a nuke blast, the quantum that becomes seismic energy is relatively low also.
Here is a nice summary on moving from ripples on an ink trace on a seismometer to magnitude.
The reason why we see quakes as big events is because our human scale of reckoning is so relatively small that the small fraction of energy coupled into seismic waves looms large for us and our buildings.
And, of course, that is a matter of the Mercali intensity scale and its kin. Distance and local effects such as soil conditions have impact on this.
Okay for now
D
PS: Now, onlookers, try to understand the degree of hostility that looks on at what is an obvious beyond- human- magnitude- or- control natural effect, and then tries to pass on conspiracy theories that assign blame to a specific political entity that has neither motive [why would the US want to destroy Port-au-Prince, incurring US$ Bns in likely onward rebuilding costs?] nor means nor opportunity [note there is no credible mechanism and no credible action that could have engineered the quake]. then, understand just how badly we need basic education in critical thinking and basic desk research on scientific topics in the Internet age in our region. No to mention, just how badly we need to look into our own attitudes, when we see but cannot accept the plain evidence that points the finger to poor construction as the primary cause of the scale of material and human losses on a predicted — in general terms [they knew the fault zone was likely to fire off a biggie with about a 6 ft slippage — not where or exactly when; were right to within 4 inches on slip] — natural event. We have some serious soul searching to do.
PPS: A basic summary on the event, courtesy Wiki.
PPPS: Observe the background quake pattern:
P4S; Did a check. Estimate indicates my memory was defective: 10% or less radiated as seismic energy seems the best rule of thumb. Wiki’s summary:
The lead role taken by the US has tossed up a challenge i.e. the language barrier. Perhaps this is why France should have been allowed to take a bigger role. What would it have taken for the US to coordinate with France for translators etc? French is the native language of France isn’t it?
Wasn’t it interesting to see a CNN doctor reporter travel to the Haiti airport to ask for antibiotics which he received, the irony is just a mile from the airport Haitians are dying because of out of drug situation, amputations are happening without anaesthetics.
P5S: I should note as well that for any given building, we are dealing with the energy in a small portion of the wavefronts. At 10 km range, 100 m is 0.16% of the (presumed circular) wavefront. At 100 km, that will fall to 0.016; and so on.
David:
The effective native language of Haiti is Creole, not French as such: related, but not the same. And a good fraction of educated Haitians will speak some English.
As to relative role of France etc, remember the operation is effectively UN, not US; though of course US will loom large because of proximity and scale of resources available; e.g. sailing in an aircraft carrier [Vinson, IIRC?] to provide a base of operations and a hospital.
And yes, in a medical environment, staff will have much easier access to drugs than potential patients; whether or not here is scarcity.
Further to this, cf on triage to understand the way resources are overwhelmed in times of mass casualty events, and what that means fro how patients will be treated, in what ways and in what order. [And consider on the implications of ~ 100 k+ deaths, given that serious injuries are probably x 3 – 4 on that.]
Then, thank God you don’t have to make such decisions!
D
Nothing beats nature (in this case wind) when it comes to taking out a bridge.
… design was flawed and Nature found it out.
Google Tacoma Bridge.
@ David
You do have a point but Haiti’s language isn’t French its Creole Dictionary is correct!
David
What would it have taken for the US to coordinate with France for translators etc?
*************************************
You seem to have a fixation on France’s role Vis a Vis the role of other countries in Haiti viz. the USA, why should France have a major role? Why not Canada? There are more Haitians living in Canada than living in France. The Governor General of Canada was born in Haiti (look up Michaelle Jean). As far as I am concerned France is still a colonial power, Guadeloupe and Martinique are considered “Overseas Departments” of France and their residents vote in France’s General elections. Did France have a role in Haiti prior to the earthquake? Were French citizens part of the UN forces stationed there? Was France involved in training the police and security forces like other countries? Was France or French citizens involved in the various international charities that were helping to support the underclass in Haiti?
France has never willingly allowed any of its “territories” to achieve Independence (see Algerian War of Independence) and it has left a legacy of destruction in the African countries which it formerly controlled, and France is not above stirring up trouble in other countries. When Canada was trying to placate its separatists DeGaulle visited Quebec and made a speech that so inflamed passions that he was politely asked to leave. The French never acknowledged the debt they owed to Britain after the Germans overran the country when their vaunted “Maginot Line” collapsed like a deck of cards.
I hold France partly responsible for the nuclear arms race today; back when only the USA and Russia had nuclear weapons France continually violated the nuclear test ban treaty by testing its weapons. India then followed and Pakistan was not far behind.
If France wants to help Haiti it should send some of the reparations money back
Cutting and pasting Wiki items demonstrates to me “just how badly we need basic education in critical thinking “…! Friend the most major events can require a very very small trigger… eg the start of the First Great war in Europe in the last Century. Some Frndinand guy is assinated and events snowballed. “where there is sufficient stored elastic strain energy ” just has to be released and that surely can be done with human intervention… dead serious…! Busy today, stick around I’ll deal with you later!
And by the way Dicky, billions of dollars in deployment of troops in nothing for the US whose troops would have been sitting around going through one exercise after another and another billion dollars in reconstruction is gravy for a country that just prints money whenever it is needed…!
@Dic….”Estimate indicates my memory was defective” …Defective memory means defective brain.
@All…
With regards to this ridiculous suggestion that the Haiti earthquake was triggered intentionally by an evil entity…
Let me please present a thought experiment which will hopefully provide some clarity.
1. Let there exist a circular room with a firm but not inelastic floor. Much like a gymnasium.
2. Let there exist within this room a hundred or so humans — some of whom don’t like each other — who aren’t allowed to move from where they find themselves.
3. Let there exist many dominoes laying on the floor; small rectangular blocks.
3.1. Some of these are laying at the lowest potential energy. I.E. one of the two largest faces is down.
3.2. Some of these are laying at a mid-point of instability. I.E. one of the medium sized faces is down.
3.3. Some of these are laying at a high-point of instability. I.E. one of the smallest sized faces is down.
3.4. Some of these are in an extremely unstable configuration. For example, two or more dominoes stacked with the smallest face down — possibly off-balance.
4. There are no lights. I.E. the humans don’t actually know the state of each domino with certainty.
4.1. Let us assume, however, for this thought experiment, that each human knows the approximate location of each domino.
4.2. Let us assume further, that each human is listening *very* carefully to try to determine what all the other humans are doing (and, as a side effect, are able to tell when a particular domino topples).
5. Nothing is moving. I.E. the situation is static.
OK. We’ve just defined our “system”.
Now, how could one or more of the humans cause a particular domino to topple?
1. They could jump up and down, injecting impulses into the floor (radiating away in a circle) which *might* topple the domino they wish to topple.
1.1. However, this also risks toppling all other dominoes.
1.2. Every other human would be able to hear this activity.
2. They could bring advanced “directed audio” technology to the effort, directing the sound saves towards the particular domino they wish to topple. This would increase the chance of toppling the particular domino, but would require a massive amount of energy.
2.1. Every other human would *still* be able to hear this activity because energy which is not absorbed continues to propagate.
3. Could they bring electromagnetic energy to bear?
3.1. No. Because EM pulses do nothing but create heat when they are absorbed, and it would require far more energy (and far more equipment to generate and focus the energy) than is available to any of the humans in the room.
Thus, none of the humans could intentionally cause a particular domino to topple without:
1. Risking toppling other dominoes, most likely those closer to themselves than the “target”.
2. *Unquestionably* being “heard” by every other human in the room.
Reductio ad absurdum.
It is indeed very interesting that in 2001 little less than a year into the presidency of that despot the retarded George W Bush that this world witnessed the 9/11 and the so-called destruction that event caused.I consider it more than strange that almost 1 year exact into the presidency of that mutant,the wimp and fraud Barrack Obama presidency that this world is now witnessing this massive “earthquake” in Haiti.I consider it more than a coincidence.I view it as a conspiracy.
Why did this massive “earthquake” struck in heart of Port-Au-Prince and not in the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico?
I have a strong belief and my intuition is telling me that there is more to this so-called “earthquake”than it being a natural disaster.I believe North America under bombs triggered that “earthquake”Wicked white Americans are capable of anything.After all those beasts destroyed their own twin towers so as to provoke a war with the late great Saddam Hussein & Iraq.
Haitians you have been made the sacrificial lambs again in this wicked world and the politics of the stinking white Americans and the equally savage killing Europeans.
David Thompson development model for Barbados is Haiti.
In fact his DLP government has now placed a gag order on Barbadians and has decreed that the people of this country should stop bellyaching and be more like the people of Haiti.
Haiti has a population of some 9 million people of which more than 2.2% have Aids. That is more than the population of Barbados.
In 2007, over 120,000 in haiti were said to be living with aids, while some 7, 500 died from the disease.
About 72% of the population is illiterate. About 80% of the population of Haiti is poor. Poverty, Aids and Illiteracy are of major concern.
What is frightening is that a lot of people who are now jumping on the Haiti bandwagon have relatives at the Geriatric Hospital, the Psychiatric Hospital, at Child Care Board homes and other state facility, who they have abandoned.
Even in 2010 some bajan men have children they are not supporting.
Day after day you pass people under the Treasury building. Old men and women eating out of garbage cans.
There are families that have three tins of milk in the same fridge because this person cannot touch what belong to the other.
How could you purport to care about those you have not seen when you have turn your backs on your own? Two words: guilt and hypocrisy.
That is why Daid Thompson’s words are vulgar and empty.
Well said Sir!
How can we love the Haitians whom we do not know; and hate our own folk whom we know?
Mr Halshall:
It seems no evidence or argument is going to correct some who have made up their minds that “theAmericansdunit” — under an Obama Admin, no less.
That is telling us a lot, and none of it good.
So, maybe it is time to ignore and to proceed on discussing proposals and action steps.
Okay, on to reforestation next . . .
D
PS: H, recall, that no one’s memory is 100%. 10% is more or less a reasonable upper limit.
PPS: “This we should have done, and not left other things undone.” (The evidence is that in general, the same sorts of people who will reach out in Haiti, will reach out to — and usually have long been reaching out to — those who suffer at home too. Generosity and compassion are habit-forming attitudes.)
Reforestation:
I claim no real expertise on this one, as forestry has not been my line.
But it does strike me that what J’cans call Khus-Khus grass, with its extraordinarily deep roots, is a first possibility on reforestation and saving land from further wastage of precious topsoil.
Second, fast growing fuelwoods look like something that can help out on fuels, as can biofuels {biogas] efforts. So would new high efficiency wood stoves.
Bamboo — fastest growing “wood” family [I know it is not strictly speaking “wood”] — looks like a good timber source etc etc. (I have asked DfID to track down on that Martinique prefab bamboo house.)
beyond that I think we can support replanting efforts, for instance here are some ideas:
_________________
>>What’s really needed to be done to reforest Haiti?
Emmanuel W. Védrine
(Feb. 2007)
Deforestation has been one of Haiti’s main problems destroying its environment. So, nothing concrete has been done so far to solve that problem, or any long term program in the future. There has been recent talks of cooperation between Brazil and Canada to help Haiti with reforestation, according a Haiti’s local radio broadcasting: “Brazil and Canada announced on Monday (Feb. 5, 2007) their intention to bring technical and financial resources to a reforestation project in Haiti. This announcement was made by the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Celso Amorim, at the conclusion of an interview with the Canadian Chief of Diplomacy, Peter MacKay in the presence of Fritz Longchamp, president Preval’s cabinet chief1.”
Though members from any foreign country can go to Haiti to help somehow, but still one of the Haiti’s biggest problems is the absence of “leadership”. In this term, we see “political will” in which we can see “love to do the maximum for one’s country”. Professor Gerald Murray, an American Anthropologist, who researched in Haiti for ten years (based in Tomazo), presented a paper at the University of Massachusetts-Boston in the early 80’s when I was attending this institution as student. He reports that he participated in a project planting one million trees; among them, many that bore fruits. “But what happened next?”, he asked.
When he went back to Haiti after few years later, he realized that they’ve cut down many of them to make charcoal. Why charcoal? Why do Haitian peasants cut down trees to make charcoal? Charcoal constitutes over 80% of a (burning) source of energy in Haiti, and most of all, since most peasants in Haitian can’t rely on cash crops when they don’t have them either on any Creole pig, so making charcoal appears to be a substitution for the two in order to survive. For those who have read my first novel “Sezon sechrès Ayiti” (Season of drought in Haiti), would have a broader picture of this terrible ecological problem killing the Haitian environment.
With hunger that exists in Haiti from time to time, here we see that it’s important in any reforestation program to include trees that bear fruits. I have a long list in my own research on the subject (see “Kèk plant kreyòl ak non yo an laten”, Some Creole plants and their names in Latin). The deforestation problem in Haiti is not something that started out in the 20th century, but rather back in the 19th century when France threatened to retake Haiti (as its colony) if the young Black Republic would not agree to pay an indemnity for the damages caused against France during the Haitian Revolution (see this article, “Agriculture: the first target for Haiti’s development”). As I’ve indicated in this text, Haiti did not have a choice under president Jean-Pierre Boyer. So, it had to start a huge deforestation campaign in its great forests by cutting down mahogany trees to sell them (abroad) in order to start paying France.
Many of us would say, “hey, it’s important for Haiti to have a ministry of environment”. Well, we would not say some Haitians think wrong if they utter it. Yes, it is important and at the same time, if a minister of environment sits down like a monkey wearing a tie all day long doing nothing, we would have to ask: what on earth is going on? Shouldn’t he have to travel around the country to see its ecological problems, the destruction of the environment, give reports of what he sees, try to invite group of Haitians and foreigners who are trying to do some works (or who have done some works) related to the issue or that would be sensitive to this particular issue?
“In Port-au-Prince, the Minister of Education could make arrangement with the schools once a week where students can go and plant trees. Schools could take turn doing it. A commission would be put up in order to make students become sensitive to the issue, and also to teach them what distance to plant (from one tree to another). I know they would be motivated. Besides all of this, a whole organization would have to take part in this project (such as the police, former forest agents, the Red Cross, etc.”)2.
I even go further in my research and discussions (whether when attending conferences or taking part in on-line discussions) for the public schools in Haiti to take Fridays off in order to do activities with students to make them participate in some projects that would be undertaken by the government (such as: the construction of a school, a clinic, a hospital, visiting construction sites across the country in order to expose them to Haiti’s reality the way it is, and tell the youngsters that they are responsible as young citizen to participate in the country’s reconstruction and let them know that they will be tomorrow’s leaders), and make them participate in reforestation projects by showing them also how to make nurseries (of plants and vegetables), teach them plants that reproduce through their roots and how our peasants use the moon when planting. All of this has to do with the country’s reality, something that has never been taught in school for real.
There are students born right in Port-au-Prince (the capital city) and have never seen a peanut plant, a yucca plant, and many other Creole plants that exist in Haiti. So, these students are, in a way, foreigners in their own land. All of this is part of Haiti’s schools problems, part of leadership problem, problem of those who are at the head of something (in any domain) because if an individual is in a leadership position, we believe that he should try to do something positive to help his community, his country or his surrounding.
We think that the big ecological problem in Haiti should concern all Haitians (whether they think about it or not), and we, who are, in Diaspora who have the means (be it financial or the internet to communicate), can play our own part. But, we must work together. Group of people, in Diaspora, who are concerned should be met at least twice a year (in New York, Miami, Boston or Montreal) for conferences, not only to talk about this crucial problem, but also to look at all possible solutions. Among these solutions, we can raise the following questions: What is such and such group is trying to do in their native region in Haiti? Do they try to organize people in their native region in Haiti? How is their native region? Can they go to Haiti with other groups of people to do some work? For instance, I would pretty much like to participate in a team of people who would like to go to Haiti to plant bamboo trees. There are particular areas in Haiti where bamboo trees need to be planted in order to protect the cream of the land when there is big inundation.
NOTES & REFERENCES
(including of some writings dealing with the subject)
1. RADIO METROPOLE. (an article entitled “Coopération entre le Brésil et le Canada pour la
reforestation d’Haïti”). French – English translation: E. W. Védrine.
2. DALENCOUR, Eveline. (“Haitian Politics”, on-line forum – Feb.2007). French – English translation: E. W. Védrine.
René, Jean Erich. «Kijan yon plant fèt». Boston, MA: VEDCREP.
René, Jean Erich. «Rasin yon plant». Boston, MA: VEDCREP.
Védrine, Emmanuel W. 2007. «Ki lang k ap gen batay la ayiti: kreyòl, fransè ou anglè?» Boston, MA: VEDCREP.
Védrine, Emmanuel W. 2007.Yon koudèy sou pwoblèm lekòl Ayiti (2ème. ed). Boston, MA: VEDCREP.
Védrine, Emmanuel W. 2005. «Estrateji pou rebwaze Ayiti». Boston, MA: VEDCREP.
Védrine, Emmanuel W. 2005. Sezon sechrès Ayiti (roman, 2ème. éd, 2005). Boston, MA: VEDCREP.
Védrine, Emmanuel W. 2004. «Agrikilti ta dwe premye sib nan devlopman Ayiti». Boston, MA: VEDCREP.
Védrine, Emmanuel W. 2004. «Agriculture: the first target for Haiti’s development». Boston, MA: Boston Haitian Reporter.
Védrine, Emmanuel W. 2004. «Dialog on reforestation in Haiti». Boston, MA: VEDCREP.
Védrine, Emmanuel W. 2004. «Dyalòg sou rebwazman an(n) Ayiti. Boston, MA: VEDCREP.
Védrine, Emmanuel W. 2003. An annotated bibliography on Haitian Creole: A review of publications from colonial times to 2000. Coconut Creek, FL: Educa Vision.
Védrine, Emmanuel W. 2003. «Kèk plant kreyòl ak non yo an laten». Boston, MA: VEDCREP.
Védrine, Emmanuel W. 1999. «Ayiti, yon peyi ravaje nou dwe sispann detwi». Boston, MA: VEDCREP.
Védrine, Emmanuel W. 1999. «Haiti and the destruction of nature». Boston, MA: VEDCREP.
Védrine, Emmanuel W. 1994. «Ann pale de bwa ak fri Ayiti!» Boston, MA: VEDCREP.
Védrine, Emmanuel W. Haiti and self destruction Boston, MA: VEDCREP.
Emmanuel W. Védrine
E. W. VEDRINE CREOLE PROJECT, Inc.
P.O.B. 255962
Dorchester, MA 02125-5110 (U.S)
e_vedrine@hotmail.com, e_vedrine@yahoo.com
Kisa k dwe fèt reyèlman pou rebwaze Ayiti?
Emmanuel W. Védrine
(Fev. 2007) >>
_________________
This is a genuine Haitian voice.
What do you all think?
D
Also: this on agriculture.
David: something got mod piled, sorry.
D
A ray of hope.
Another. (J’cas Coffee originally came out of Haiti.)
This came in my mail box today.
How interesting!
Subject: North American Africans as Haitians
The North American African As Haitian
Let us begin with the notion made by Mrs. Amina Baraka that the so-called Negro or North American African is a West Indian or has Caribbean roots since most of the kidnapped Africans were brought to the Caribbean first for the “breaking in,” or brain washing/behavior modification to socialize them for eternal servitude throughout the Americas, including North America. Thus when Caribbean Africans refer to North American Africans as “you people,” (meaning black American in the most derogatory sense)the North American African can shoot back that we are “you people” too.
But the similarities and parallels are even more glaring than our common Caribbean behavior modification. In the case of Haiti, our condition in the United States is not far different. Just as the Haitians are landless and lack an agricultural base, so are we. It is not stretching the imagination to say the North American African doesn’t grow a tomato, a carrot or string bean.
He, like the Haitians, is a basket case, no matter that in terms of GNP he is the 16th richest nation in the world. In truth, he is a consumer who produces nothing, not even his own food, clothes, soap, beauty products or alcohol, of which he is a major consumer.
As a result of his being at the whim of the petrochemical agribusiness industry, he suffers a form of anorexia, starving like the Haitian, for the food he consumes is devoid of nutrients and vitamins, loaded with salt, sugar, and corn starch, leading him directly from the petrochemical (oil based) agribusiness corporations to the pharmaceutical industry/drug stores and medical facilities. In the old Muslim mythology, the so-called Negroes food consumption causes him to fall victim to the doctor, nurse and undertaker. But unlike the Haitian middle class mulattoes, the black middle class fare no better than the poor wretched underclass, for they do not take advantage of the health care they pay for or receive through employment.
This is partly due to the hostile relationship all blacks have with the medical profession–they have a well deserved fear of the doctor since the medical profession is known to misdiagnose North American Africans, subjecting them to unnecessary operations or over medicating them with pills.
Alas, there are more drug stores in the hood than grocery stores, and the grocery stores sell the worse quality food to the hood. A friend of mine recently retired as a truck driver for a grocery chain in southern California. He said what he delivered to grocery stores in the hood, he didn’t consider food when compared to the gourmet food he delivered to white and upscale neighborhoods. And like the Haitian, the North American African owns few grocery stores coast to coast. I doubt he owns as many as Haitians in Haiti, for most stores in the hood are run by Arabs, Chinese, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, et al.
But driving through the hood and seeing the plethora of drug stores, one wonders are we really this sick? Yes, our addiction to white supremacy, especially the hostile environment all blacks work in (and live in), leads to the most severe mental and physical ailments. The health director of Alameda County theorizes that life expectancy is not determined by income but rather where one lives or space and place. If one lives in or near the hood, ones life expectancy is shortened by several years compared with those who live up in the hills as opposed to the flatland here in the Bay Area.
The hostile environment makes all blacks susceptible to stress related diseases, especially high blood pressure, depression, schizophrenia and paranoia. As per the later psychosis, someone is, in fact, after the North American African. He, and more often now, she, is not wanted in high positions challenging the glass ceiling of corporate America. He is not wanted on the streets, in the clubs, anywhere, except incarcerated where he is worth a minium of $50,000 per man per year. There are 2.4 million imprisoned with the majority black and other minority. One of three black men is connected to the criminal justice system, either in jail or prison, on parole or probation. In Washington DC, it is one of two black men.
Like the Haitian, the North American African is educationally challenged, to put it mildly. How can his educational system be any better than the Haitians when 50% to 70% of students in the hood either drop out or are pushed out–pushed out so they will not lower standards and disqualify schools of funding. And even if he received education on the level of whites, it would be mediocre compared with students in China and India who far excel whites, thus the reason for outsourcing of jobs. Why would the capitalist swines pay an American MBA, black or white, $140,000 per year when it can outsource to India and obtain MBAs for $14,000 per year who speak better English than whites or blacks?
With respect to agribusiness, the North American African, as I’ve noted above, fares no better than the Haitian who was hoodwinked into leaving the land and seeking wage slavery in the capital city, thus depriving his nation of food sustenance, making Haiti the worse basket case in the world. The North Amerian African who fled Up South, is similarly disposed. In California he lives in the richest agricultural valley in the world, yet is not involved in agribusiness to any meaningful degree. How many black students in California colleges and universities are majoring in agribusiness?
Even in tourism, seek out the North American African in the tourist cities of San Francisco and Seattle. You will generally only see him as street musician and/or robot at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco and Pike’s Market in Seattle. And how does he fare on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, pre and post Katrina?
Just as in Haiti, decades of underdevelopment has led to the criminal society in the ghettos of North America. In America, the prisons are largely de facto drug recovery and mental health facilities–without recovery programs and mental health treatment.
Between 80% and 90% of all inmates were under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs at the time of arrest. With 30% to 40% of inmates severely mentally ill, the jails and prisons are de facto mental wards of the dual diagnosed, those suffering drug addition and mental illness, to say nothing of the illiteracy level at seventh grade. We know those in the seventh grade read at the thrid grade level.
Just as there is no political structure in Haiti, none of substance exists in North America, despite the so called black president who doesn’t mention the word black, despite the plethora of black elected politicians. Have they gotten any of trillions and billions of stimulas money for the hood?
Have they called for a general amnesty for the 2.4 million imprisoned, mostly for petty, drug related crimes and for making deals without proper legal representation? Oakland has had three black mayors with no change in the political/economic order. Other cities suffer the same, Newark, New Jersey another example. Neo-colonialism is the order of the day from here to Haiti. It’s been a week since the earthquake and we have yet to hear from the neo-colonial rulers in that pitiful island nation. It is now under de facto US military authority.
As in Haiti, the political structure is largely ruled by mulattoes, from Obama down. Poor Jesse Jackson couldn’t be president if he ran a thousand times. Just as Haiti is a caste and class society, North American Africans suffer the same. The brown bag test still exists in politics, education, religion and the arts, especially Hollywood. If you ain’t looking like Halle Berry, don’t even think about Hollywood. Even the Nation of Islam is sugar coated with mulattoes in high places. And don’t tell me I’m perpetuating the Willie Lynch Syndrome. No, Willie Lynch is perpetuating the Willie Lynch Syndrome.
Politics in Haiti is corrupt to the point of no return, as in the elected president exiled by US authorities who view Haiti as their turf, just as the cities are largely the turf of the Democratic party, with the resultant corruption of black officials on the west coast, dirty south and east coast. Take a trip from coast to coast and listen to the stories of corrupt black officials in politics, religion and education, from city halls, churches, mosques, secondary schools, colleges and universities. Corrupt officials under indictment. Find me an honest black man or woman who won’t take a bribe! Find me one in Haiti and/or America.
Perhaps the earthquake shall bring about a new day in Haiti, though we doubt it. It will probably be exploited by capitalist swine developers. Their plans are already in motion. But just as Haiti needs a Marshall plan, so do North American Africans. With all the trillions given out to those who caused the global financial meltdown(they were rewarded for robbery), the filthy capitalist swine, those blood suckers of the poor, i.e., bankers, wall street robber barons, insurance companies, the poor in the hood did not receive an honorable mention. I have never encountered so many broke black people on the streets of Oakland. Think about it, North American Africans have been scammed out of their national wealth (homes) with the sub-prime loan schemes, including those blacks who qualified for prime loans.
The final comparison between Haiti and North American Africans is the fact that Haiti defeated the white slave masters, including the master military strategist of Europe, Napoleon. Haiti has never been forgiven for whipping the white man’s ass. How ironic the white supremacist Rev. Pat Robertson said the Haitians are suffering from making a pact with the devil to defeat the slave masters and become the first free black republic in the Americas, aside from Palmares in Brazil that was independent for a century.
Since the 200,000 North American African troops were decisive in the Civil War, maybe they made a pact with the devil as well. For a surety, the South has never gotten over the fact they lost the Civil War, and they are determined to put the North American African back in his place. They are making a good effort to reinstate slavery by incarcerating them and subjecting them to involuntary servitude under the US constitution, to say nothing of the wage slavery that forces blacks in the South to work two and three minimum wage jobs to survive. God save Haiti, and God save North American Africans!
–Marvin X
1/20/10
http://www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com/
Dear X:
Do you not think Blacks should have their own country in North America somewhere?
How about a trade?
Take 9 million Black Americans and have them trade a mere 90 miles x 90 miles of land in America with 9 million Black Haitians.
How much cash will you give in trade to sweeten the deal of the “Nine Million Man March”?
Try this and see how much liberty and justice an American really has. It will make a great scholarly article for the venerable “Journal of Negro Education”.
gag order on – stop bellyaching
I agree with the Prime Minister. I understood the context in which he was speaking. Although we have met a little rough spot we are still much better off than so many people. Man I could not believe so many could buy Black Berry phones for so much money at Christmas.
We complain about everything under the sun and nobody wants firm corrective measures taken. Let’s say the government passes a law which says all the property belonging to old persons who are abandoned would be confiscated by the government once they are under Government’s care. You would hear the outcry by the hypocrites.
We are some of the biggest hypocrites in the world. You are arguing about Haiti’s AIDs rate, but we here in Barbados are lucky that ours is not higher. We have some of the most immoral living here in this country.
What have you done for the old men under the treasury building?
I saw a lady going around feeding and shaving them. Get on the bandwagon and do something constructive for your fellow man.
You will get a chance again to enjoy some of the sweets that you are now missing from being in government.
Anon
you may not think much of the article that you posted but it resonated with me. That Black North Americans are divorced from the production of the things that they consume is a sobering reality. Here in Barbados we are destroying our agricultural sector and pushing Bajans away from fishing and manufacturing as well. As we promote a service economy nothing less than our independence and our sense of self worth is at risk.
Dicky and Halsall
With the kind of work that I do, I will not be reading your essays as fervently as you like, my eyes are normally very tired at this time of evening and if it is that you really want an audience, you would at least respect the fact that blogging is not the only thing that some or us participate in. I however do not like being insulted by a couple of buffoons who obviously are of the view that the more words you pack into an opinion, the better chance you have of appearing to be an authority.
I and no one else on this blog can state that we know the present state that science and man’s ability to influence the physical world around him has advanced to. None of us have a clue about the numerous projects that the US, European, Chinese and other space and weapons research agencies were involved. When there were frequent space shuttle flights that were considered military and secret, no one bothered to find out the reason. At stage and in this world as it is, no suggestion is too far fetched. The US employs the best minds in the world to work on its military agenda. I know, I worked for many years with Intel and got to meet a couple of the military application designers. They were Pakistani. If there was a way to trigger a quake in an already unstable area in a way that would leave little or no signature do you really believe that that would be common knowledge (or even knowledge that would be available to non-military interested parties like me?)
Negro
Your “intuition” is the best place to start. Seek proof, really, how do you accomplish that?
By the way Hallsall, i am going through some Stanford lectures (Utube) on Quantum Mechanics and as it turns out, to answer the question that you put to Bush Tea, yes you can open a door with a beam of light…!
@BAFBFP
Yes you can open a heart with a beam of
light. mine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Never underestimate the indomitable spirit of humankind.
ac
I running out of napkins ha Ha