| Ezili's
counter-colonial narrative on Vodun
by Ezili Dantò for HLLN's Haitian
Perspective,
Dec. 6, 2008
"Vodun is lifting up sacred energies. It's all night ceremonies to detox, connect with source - the Ancestors and divine within... It's herbal cures, bad vibe make-overs, touching guardian angels, reaching for Gwo Bon Anj, Ti Bon Anj. It's respect for the unconscious, prescient dreams, excavating the unconscious to get to the better angels of our nature, unending community interactions, unchanging relationships and unending familial identity, are a given out there where my parents are from"--(c) 2000 Ezili Dantò, Excerpted from "Sorry I am Late" from Red, Black & Moonlight (Vodun Jazzoetry performance series): Between Falling and Hitting the Ground by Ezili Dantò
HLLN ignored this
AP article - "Voodoo priests blast foreign aid, troops
in Haiti" - on the December 5th march in Haiti where Vodun adherents
gathered near the Haitian National Palace to denounce the foreign occupation,
foreign aid and the Christian NGOs so-called "benevolence"
because it is incorrect in its declaration about Vodun. And because
its disgusting misogynistic title ignored all of Haiti's priestesses
- tout Manbo yo!. We who are and have always been the most revered of
all in Vodun as the leaders, healers, creators and keepers of the sacred
Vodun ways.
But on second thought, for the Ezili HLLN Network, I'll take this moment
as a teaching moment and give a brief counter-colonial narrative on
Vodun. (See, also, Vodun photo essay: The Light and Beauty of Haiti and Bwa
Kayiman, 2008: Reclaiming the Haitian People's Vodun Narrative at Bwa
Kayiman).
Number One:
The Haitian way of life is called Vodun, not Hollywood Lalaland's "Voodoo."
"Vodou" is also an acceptable spelling of the Haitian spiritual
and life system of being. At HLLN we use "Vodun". It is the
oldest and most correct phonetic translation from the Fon language word
“Vodun” which means Sacred Energies. It has NOTHING to do
with Hollywood's Voodoo which is a racist/Eurocentric artistic invention
that brings to mind sorcery, bad spells and zonbies and tries to sell
it as the way of life of Haitians.
Second:
Vodun IS NOT, as the Associated Press article
declares, a mixture of Christianity and West African religions. NO,
no, no and NO.
Vodun is the oldest spiritual tradition in the world and its mythologies
have risen in all of the religions to be domesticated around the planet.
But, it is not Christian. It came before Christianity and doesn't adopt
or regurgitate ANY of the major Christian tenets. There is no "Jesus"
spirit or Lwa (irreducible spirit of a divine being) in Vodun. Vodun
is the union - the "linyon
fè la fòs" coalition - that's
NEVER, ever wavered in Haiti. Extending the values of Vodun, including
those that establishes the African's inalienable right to self defense,
self determination is the reason Haiti became free from European chattel
slavery and direct colonialism. (See, Haiti's
Linyon Fè la Fòs; Boukmann's
Righteous Prayer – Lapriyè Boukman; and Chèn
Sa Pap Janm Kase! - The three powers lifted up at Bwa Kayiman: Fòs,
Pouvwa, Linyon, and Bourgeoisie
Freedom).
Haitian Vodun is NOT a syncretistic blend of African religions and Europe/Christianity.
Vodun originated all religions and contains none of the major tenets
of Christianity. In the Vodun of my African/Haitian grandmothers, there
is no original sin, Jesus Lwa, hell, heaven, tyrannical but benevolent
God (we have a distant but Good God (Bondye) and living deities, not
dead Saints), living energies, living deities with the frailties of
human beings who inhabit us and with whom we may argue with, or energies
we may shape with our own goodness in the task of elevating sacred energies,
natures bounty, TOGETHER...
I know Maya Deren's book "Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods
of Haiti" says Vodun is a blend of Christianity and West African
religions and that the trance where the divinity possesses a worshiper
may be described as "White Darkness" and that "Petwo"
the Haitian nation of divine energy that inhabited the African warriors
and enabled them to win is not African but Taino, but all that is WRONG.
It's a well-intentioned but Eurocentric perspectives of what Maya Deren
could explain to her own constituents in language and by points of references
that would make them be more understanding of Vodun. But it is WRONG.
I know that this book is revered by the Haitian "bourgie scholars"
abroad and their sycophants and students who are writing ABOUT Vodun,
but there is NO SUCH THING as "White Darkness!!!" in Vodun.
That is VERY insulting to a Ginen.
The 1791 Bwa
Kayiman, Prophecy and Call that began the great Haitian revolution
we extend today, was: "E, e, Mbomba, e, e! Kanga Bafyòti.
Kanga Mundele. Kanga Ndòki. Kanga yo!"
Ezili's English translation:
The Supreme Creator (E, e, Mbomba, e, e!), Master of Breath shall foil
the black collaborators/traitors (kanga bafyòti). Kill the tyrannical
white settlers/blan strangers (kanga mundele). Bind all evil forces/sorcerers
(kanga Ndòki). Stop them! (Listen to the Welfare Poets's song
Sak Pase and their reciting (2:05)
of the Bwa
Kayiman invocation: E, e, Mbomba! Kanga Bafyòti. Kanga Mundele.
Kanga Ndòki. Kanga li! )
But I digress. The conversation on the co-option of Vodun to better
enable points of references amenable to a Eurocentric/White Supremacist/Christian
mind is for another time.
If any of you want to understand what happens or more particularly what
is REMEMBERED when the small consciousness is replaced with a Haitian
Lwa (a Vodun sacred energy) and what is experienced read, Ezili Dantò
description of this, in the performance piece,
Anba Dlo, Lan Ginen, or for excavating the textures of this
unconscious experience, read also I
Just Lost My Way ; the *Meaning
of Anba Dlo and Haitian Epistemology: Lasous O M Pwale - Going back to Root translated and analyzed by Ezili Dantò).
There's no textures
of movement, form, blinding light, color or "white" anything
about this spiritual journey of the human African's mind, soul and body.
(Anba
Dlo, Lan Ginen;
Intro to Anba Dlo, Lan Ginen, I
Just Lost My Way, and Video
excerpt of Anba Dlo, Lan Ginen).
Petwo of Ezili Dantò came straight out the CONGO. Vodun is an
amalgamation of African spiritual beliefs carried in the heads, soul
and spirits of the enslaved Africans from Africa. Not just West Africa,
but also the Congo.
The main point to come
away from this is that, once again to those writing about my country:
Vodun is not “Voodoo” and it is not a blend of Christianity.
We know that is what is traditionally repeated. But IT IS NOT.
There is no Jesus prophet in Vodun, no Jesus Lwa, no original sin, no
hell, no heaven, sex is not BAD, there's no Holy Spirit, no God that
is domesticated and may be prayed to, only the Ancestors - WE ARE PART
and PARCEL of all that IS. All THAT LIVES and all is energy. The Ancestors
are our emissaries whose irreducible essences are unborn and cannot
be destroyed for they are pure spirits as descendants of the Master
of Breath that cannot be personalized. So, none of the major tenets
of Christianity are in Vodun. Though the enslaved in Haiti did USE the
Christian iconography of the Catholic saints to represent but not PARALLEL
their African Ancestors so as not to be lynched or be abused for practicing
an African way of life that venerates what is found in nature and was
quantified in Africa as Vodun. Roman Catholic saints are DEAD PEOPLE.
Haitian deities are more complex.
Haitian deities are LIVING entities, living energies in nature that
may be externalized by invading the BODY, which is most NECESSARY in
Vodun. The body is CRITICAL in Vodun. It is not just a commodity for
the use of liquidating capital through work, for rape or commercialized sex. NO. It's a sacred vessel. A temple for the divine. The only portal to source and for communication with source, with the Ancestors. And, if the BODY is
critical in this philosophy, in this art and Way to the Divine, then
so are AFRICA's
WOMEN revered, notwithstanding the incursions of patriarchy.
Females are the most powerful people in Vodun, the most powerful LEADERS
and priestesses. This must be because in Vodun, the African woman’s
womb and its capacity, not the schooled mind is ESSENTIAL. The African
body can be the sacred transmitter, medium for bringing forth the divine.
For, within the body lies the DIVINE energies from the beginning of
time that must be nurtured, balanced, protected and EXTENDED. (The
Divine Mother: Ezili/Aset/
Isis (photos) and Vodun photo essay: The Light and Beauty of Haiti, and Lasou O M Pwale.)
To use a point of reference easily understood by the Western Christian
mind, “within lies the KINGDOM (QUEENDOM) OF GOD.”
In Vodun, all African/Haitians are DIRECT descendants of the SACRED.
ALL. Cosmologically, they are said to be the descendants of Lè
Marasa, lè Mò e lè Mistè.
And as such descendants of Gods, they may tap into all that which came
before them, lift up divinity into their human lives by tapping
into or using certain sacred sounds of the Vodun drums, sacred chants, vibrations
and Lapriyè Ginen songs, by focussing on a specific vèvè like the Legba vèvè, by Vodun dance/movement, through trance, prescient dreams, the use of healing herbs, moonlight and star patterns - these are part of the meditations by any adept Vodouist. The energies
in Vodun are not perfect like the Catholic Saints. NO. They mirror the
imperfect world (contraction/release) and are found ALWAYS in the universe and may be molded, elevated
or not. One does not have to adopt trans-migrated powers or the derogatory
mass consciousness that vies for the soul of Black folks. No. There
is a choice. When you look in the Cosmic Mirror, what is looking back
at you is YOUR OWN face! You are the God, Goddess you've been looking
for. You have free will to choose to extend your sacredness or not....In
Vodun, there are no middlemen between you and what is good, sacred and
divine. Your highest self is in you... or you may allow the mass consciousness
to take you over...
In Vodun, knowledge of
self, deep wisdom about life, understanding your purpose, et al...cannot
be learned from another or, from books. A manbo or hougan, priest or
priestess may guide, point out the right direction. But, if all you
"know" comes from a book, a source separate from yourself,
from other people, then no matter how correct the book or teaching is
in expressing absolute or universal truth, it's still not your recognition
of who and what you are through your own realization or through your
own inner revelation. Part of the purpose, process, potency and practicality
of Vodun is that its about stepping into self, facing self, understanding
self, extending self. It is not about living parasitically off another's
realization of truth - a priest, guru, or any sort of a middlemen's
teachings. When what you transmit comes from your own being, your own
free soul; when what you know is not derivative knowledge -
it carries a spirit that's hard to explain but can clearly be seen,
felt and experienced by all onlookers. Moreover, a natural Vodouist
may walk into any room or situation without preparation and instinctually
know from the energy being transmitted if friend or foe is present or
better put, be aware of the level of consciousness present, simply because
said Vodun adept is securely connected to his/her self, source.
It is not possible for said Vodun-adept to expand ignorance or the lower
level of consciousness because the sun can only witness to the sun.
Also, Vodun is not, in the strict sense of the word even a RELIGION
- it has no doctrine. There are rituals and regleman, yes. But above
all, it is a way for the community to govern itself and elevate its sacred
values for one and all to participate in at THEIR capacity level. It's
an African tradition, a way of life, a psychology, philosophy, art,
mythology for taping into and understanding and controlling human nature;
it's the use of herbs, prescient dreams, a healing way of being, of
excavating the unconscious and bringing forth the SACRED ENERGIES that
we all essential are part of. Vodun means the lifting up of sacred energies....
There are cults and secret societies that surround Vodun, but their function is different
than that of Vodun, which is the CENTRAL spiritual and communal system
of Afro-Haitians. But Vodun has no central practice methods though -
other than the 21 nations and from Rada to Petwo. Rada is at the base
of Petwo and vice versa - the Yang at the base of the Yin or vice versa;
the pull and the push, the contradiction at the base of all inhale and
exhale, creating all LIFE. (For more on Vodun, go to: Vodun
Links and Vodun:
The Light and Beauty of Haiti and the Haiti Epistemology links.)
And while I am at this, let's just get one more misconception out of
the way for the clueless AP, Miami Herald and Reuters folks, who make
their living by reporting on Haiti. Listen folks, Haitians have a Ginen
culture and Kreyòl language, not "Creole" language.
Please try and be correct in your Haiti reporting. Ignorance is not
professional.
Ginen Fran. Ginen poze and I remain,
Ezili Dantò of HLLN
Zèb Ginen. Ginen depi lan Ginen
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (HLLN) and the Free Haiti Movement
December 6, 2008
**************************************
For
more on Vodun and Haitian culture, go to:
Vodun
Links
Vodun:
The Light and Beauty of Haiti
Ezili Dantò Biography, 1791<
Haitian Epistemology: Lasous O M Pwale - Going back to Root translated and analyzed by Ezili Dantò.
Youtube video: Ezili Dantò live in Miami with Sanba Yatande, TiRouj & Manno Ezili Dantò performs Red, Black & Moonlight: Memoir of a Poet
**************************************
*Anba
Dlo literally means "beneath the ocean, the waters". It is
that primordial, cosmic space where all potentiality lives. It's the
mythological "Haitian Heaven" (to use a non-African point
of reference). It's where all that ever lived, will live and is living
will end up. It is, to the African warriors who founded Haiti, the road
back to Manman "Africa" - Nan Guinen, that cosmic space where
the world began with "Lè Marasa, lè Mòr e
lè Mistè."
Anba Dlo to the Haitian is where the great African Ancestors', where
our sacred energies, our strengths and force - the "Lwa yo,"
- those sacred irreducible essences of the Haitian/African/Black soul
- reside.
Anba Dlo is the sacred stillness, cosmic place, where life sources issue
from and return to.
****************************************
Voodoo priests blast foreign
aid, troops in Haiti, Dec. 5, 2008, Miami
Herald
Voodoo priests say foreign aid and the presence of 9,000 U.N. peacekeepers
in Haiti are holding back the chronically impoverished country.
Voodoo supreme chief Max Beauvoir says Haitians cannot live comfortably
among heavily armed U.N. troops and that aid groups accomplish little
while preventing locals from helping themselves.
About 300 adherents wearing patron spirits' colors marched Friday near
the presidential palace. They poured alcohol before a statue honoring
Haiti's rebel slave founders.
Marchers also denounced the Dec. 5 anniversary of Christopher Columbus's
1492 arrival in what is now northern Haiti.
Voodoo is an official religion in Haiti. It mixes Christianity with
West African religions.
*****************
|
|
****************************************
Recommended HLLN Links:
Starvation slams Haiti
Kids dying after 4 storms ravage crops, livestock
Haiti:
storm victims starve, Nov. 4, 2008
Haiti
aid effort unravels by Mike Thomson, BBC News, Oct. 24, 2008
US
lawmaker calls for action against Haiti hunger ,
Nov. 26, 2008
Congresswoman
Waters Calls on USAID to Save the lives of Children Starving in Haiti
(HLLN on
oversight needed on USAID )
*********************************
Food
Donations Rot in storage in New York as children in Haiti die of starvation
: Governor Patterson's Timeline for projected delivery of donated food
and goods for Haiti storm victims
For the New York Community concerned
about the approximately 77 Tons of goods donated in September, 2008
for the Gonaives/Haiti storm victims, that have, as of three months
later, still not been sent to Haiti by New York officials, we can make
the following statements:
1. According to Governor Dave
Patterson's office, the first package of donated storm goods - approx.
8 tons, left New York via Airline Ambassador by boat and is scheduled
to arrive in Haiti 2-weeks from the date of departure or December 23rd.
2. Fed. Express has donated one plane,
scheduled to leave this week (by Dec. 13) with approximately 4 tons
of food and the contracted recipient for distribution is Catholic Relief
Services;
3. The items that are duly packaged
and currently ready to be shipped are in storage at Stuart Airforce
base.
4. The Federal government DECLINED
the Govenor's request for transport. So the remaining bulk of the items
donated for Haiti storm victims, an approximate 65 tons of food collected
from mostly Haitians living in the Tri-State New York area remains to
be shipped once arrangements for transport are made. The bulk of the
September Haiti donations - 65 tons - have no transport arrangements,
no shipping date.
5. This morning, Dec. 8, 2008, a community hearing was held at the Gov.
Manhattan offices on the matter. Reporters where present. But since
no press release will be issued on this, HLLN offers the community this
brief. Several politicians spoke at the meeting, also attended by the
Haitian media we are told, including Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke;
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz; NY councilman Matthew Eugene,
as well as, Governor Patterson.
The contact person on this matter for
Governor David Patterson's office is, Khari Edwards, the Brooklyn regional
representatives of the Governor.
Ezili Danto/Marguerite Laurent
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network
December 8, 2008
See also: December 11, 2008 HLLN
Update: Governor Paterson's Timeline for delivery of donated goods for
Haiti storm victims
*****************
**********************************
Haitian Hurricane Relief
Donations ready to be shipped three months after devastating hurricanes
by Matthew Schuerman,
WNYC
NEW YORK, NY December 08, 2008 —Governor Paterson says there's
a new timetable to deliver long-delayed donations to hurricane victims
in Haiti three months after four heavy storms hit the Caribbean nation.
He says 40 tons of water, food and medical supplies that have been stored
in a Brooklyn Armory will be put on planes and cargo ships this month.
But Deputy Secretary for Public Safety Michael Balboni says authorities
will wait until next year to figure out what to do with 38 tons of donated
clothing.
BALBONI: The community was so generous, they gave some things that you
don't need in a tropical environment and sorting through that is kind
of a laborious process.
REPORTER: Balboni says some clothing may be distributed in New York
City instead of Haiti.
The governor says he wasn't expecting such an enormous response when
he asked New Yorkers to help out.
**********************************
Gov. Paterson apologizes for
delayed relief to Haiti
Gov. Paterson apologizes for delayed
relief to storm-torn Haiti
The Associated Press
Thursday, December 4th 2008, Daily
News
ALBANY, N.Y. — More than two months after New York officials in
a Brooklyn armory promised to rush relief to storm-torn Haiti, Gov.
David Paterson is expediting the goods along with an apology.
"The fault lies with me," Paterson said during a Manhattan
news conference Wednesday.
"It was messed up and it's going to get cleaned up."
Not to be outdone in mea culpas, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz
said: "Listen, we all messed up."
"I salute the governor, a standup guy who took responsibility even
though this was obviously something he delegated and thought was being
done," Markowitz said.
"That ability to confront the situation head-on shows what kind
of guy he is. The governor is confident that the promise made will be
enthusiastically kept."
Paterson said he will revamp a system that failed to pick up thousands
of pounds of relief supplies collected for victims of a series of hurricanes
and tropical storms that lashed the island nation this fall.
The delay was caused by difficulty getting government clearances and
coordinating with a contact in Haiti to receive the donations and make
sure they got to victims, said Paterson spokeswoman Erin Duggan.
**********************
Blame me for Haiti relief goof, David
Paterson says
By Glenn Blain
DAILY
NEWS ALBANY BUREAU
Wednesday, December 3rd 2008, 10:32 PM
ALBANY - Gov. Paterson took the blame Wednesday for a botched effort
to deliver supplies to Hurricane ravaged Haiti.
"This situation has been messed up, the fault lies with me,"
Paterson told reporters. "It's my responsibility to have gotten
those supplies there."
Paterson launched the relief effort in late September, asking New Yorkers
to donate nonperishable food, clothing and other items. Most of the
material - nearly 300 pallets - has remained at the Bedford-Atlantic
Armory in Brooklyn.
Erin Duggan, a Paterson spokeswoman, said the delay stemmed from problems
finding an organization to work with in Haiti. Those problems have been
solved, and the state plans to start shipping the materials soon, she
added.
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who had criticized the state's
effort to deliver the supplies, credited Paterson for taking responsibility
for the matter. "Listen, we all messed up," Markowitz said
in a statement. "We all knew there would be hurdles, but we assumed
this would be further along by now."
**********************
US lawmaker calls for action
against Haiti hunger
By JONATHAN M. KATZ – Nov. 26,
2008
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)
— A prominent U.S. congresswoman called on Wednesday for a better-funded,
systemic approach to fighting hunger in Haiti following an Associated
Press report that child malnutrition is worsening.
California Democrat Maxine Waters, a
veteran member of the Congressional Black Caucus, urged the U.S. Agency
for International Development to locate Haitian children in danger of
starvation, citing a Nov. 21 AP report that malnutrition had contributed
to the deaths of at least 26 children in the southeastern area of Baie
d'Orange.
USAID needs to make sure malnourished
children are receiving appropriate therapy and evacuate them to hospitals
or cities if necessary, she said.
"The idea that children are dying of starvation right here in this
hemisphere" is unacceptable, Waters said by phone.
The U.S. Congress already pledged about
$100 million in relief from the August and September tropical storms
and hurricanes that hit Haiti, killing at least 793 people and causing
$1 billion in damage. But Waters said not enough is being done."We
are going to follow up with a combination of our ambassador and (President
Rene) Preval and see if we can help to orchestrate something that's
a little more extensive," she said.
Aid workers discovered the pocket of
malnutrition after nearly all of the children had died, and officials
are still investigating to determine the exact causes of death.
At least 65 more severely undernourished children were evacuated to
hospitals or treated in tent clinics on site.
USAID is taking the matter seriously and had already stepped-up ongoing
programs to deliver food and health aid to the region, said Mari Tolliver,
a U.S. embassy spokeswoman in Port-au-Prince.
**********************
PRESS RELEASE
November 25, 2008
For Immediate Release
Contact: Michael Levin
(202) 225-2201
CONGRESSWOMAN WATERS CALLS ON USAID
TO SAVE THE LIVES OF CHILDREN STARVING IN HAITI Washington, D.C. –
|
|
  |
| Venecia
Lonis, 4, who suffers from malnutrition, is weighed at the Doctors
Without Borders hospital in Port-au-Prince, Wednesday, Nov. 19,
2008. Aid workers fear hunger is worsening in rural Haiti after
at least 26 children died of conditions exacerbated by a lack of
nutrition, raising concerns that a grave food crisis may be brewing
following four devastating tropical storms. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) |
Today, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) called
for a redoubling of efforts by the U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID) to treat hunger and malnutrition in Haiti. Her comments follow
a report from the Associated Press that at least 26 severely malnourished
children have died in the last four weeks in a remote region of Haiti.
Aid workers fear the death toll could rise much higher.
“I am appalled that children are starving to death in a country
so close to America’s borders. I call on USAID to take immediate
action to locate all Haitian children who are in danger of starvation
and ensure they are receiving appropriate nutrition therapy. Starving
children and their families in remote areas should be evacuated if necessary
in order to access medical treatment,” said Congresswoman Waters.
Haiti is the poorest country in the
Western
Hemisphere. Haiti’s unemployment rate is nearly 80%, and an estimated
78% of the population lives on less than $2 per day. During the months
of August and September, Haiti was devastated by four deadly hurricanes
in rapid succession. According to USAID, these storms killed 793
people and destroyed 14.6% of the country’s gross domestic product
(GDP). More than 150,000 families were displaced from their homes, and
more than 845,000 people (9% of the population) were directly affected.
Haiti has also been impacted severely by the international food crisis.
Prior to the hurricanes, the prices for staple foods had increased over
40% since the beginning of the year. Food prices have risen further
in the aftermath of these storms, which washed crops away and caused
almost $200 million in damage to the agricultural sector.
“Congress is deeply concerned about poverty in Haiti, and we have
provided USAID ample resources to address the needs of the Haitian people.
Following the hurricanes, I initiated a request to congressional leaders
for disaster assistance for Haiti, and Congress appropriated $100 million.
It is
now up to USAID to use these resources effectively to save lives,”
said the
Congresswoman.
###
********************************************
Ezili Dantò Note:
HLLN Note: US Congress must
provide more oversight guidelines on USAID
https://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/ezilidanto/2008-11/msg00032.html
Since the first foreign-supported coup d'etat in 1806 -the assassination
of Haiti's founding father, Jean Jacques Dessalines, who wanted the
assets of the new country to be equitably divided amongst all of Africa's
children- Haiti has been over-exploited, bullied and terrorized by the
Western corporatocracy and their white settlers and adventurers from
all the classes, the African-Ayisyen masses excluded from the affairs
of their own nation, the countries resources pillaged and plundered
by the colonial countries, beginning with the Independence
Debt.
Haitians are in need of justice, restitution, reparation, human rights
not charity. Fair trade not free trade. Haiti needs to have its indigenous
culture and domestic economic development respected. It does not need
the failed unholy Western enslavement trinities of political, socio-economic
and educational/religious institutions keeping the Blacks in physical
and mental chains. Nor does Haiti require further colonial paternalism,
false benevolence and to be burden
with dependency through World Bank/IMF/IFI's debts and such other modern
tools of domination, economic enslavement and financial colonialism.
In particular, respect means foreign aid, if it is to be given to Haiti,
should go directly to the Haitian government and not through USAID because
USAID projects undermine Haitian sovereignty, does not promote sustainable
development and the funds allocated to USAID for Haiti generally do
not reach the people most in need. (Relevant 2011 Update - False
Benevolence in Haiti: The United States makes sure that 80
cents in every aid dollar is returned to the home country.” It’s
called "Tied
Aid". In fact, 93
percent of USAID aid funds to Haiti go straight back to the U.S. to
purchase US goods and services.)
The uses of U.S. foreign aid, as administered
through USAID in Haiti, basically serves to fuel conflicts and covertly
promote U.S. corporate interests to the detriment of democracy and Haitian
health, liberty, sovereignty, social justice and political freedoms.
USAID projects have been at the frontlines of orchestrating undemocratic
behavior, bringing underdevelopment, coup d'etat, impunity of the Haitian
Oligarchy, indefinite incarceration of dissenters, and destroying
Haiti's food sovereignty, essentially promoting famine. Recall,
for instance, USAID project such as the slaughter of the Kreyòl
pigs that greatly impoverished the peasants, the Peligre dam that made
landless peasants, the Miami rice that destroyed Haiti's domestic rice,
the trade laws that brought sweatshops enticing rural Haitians to the
capital and created the slum of Site Soley when the US companies closed
shop and went elsewhere. (See, The
slavery in Haiti the media won't expose; Death
Watch in Haiti's Jails; Matters
to be investigated; Pointing
Guns at Starving Haitians: Violent Haiti is a myth and, What
UN Special Envoy Bill Clinton May Do to Help Haiti.)
USAID was at the frontlines of the irregular warfare creating Coup D'etat,
chaos, anarchy and destabilization in Haiti culminating in the 2004
ouster of President Aristide and UN/US occupation.
"The objective of irregular warfare is control over the civilian
population and the neutralization of the state, and its principal tactic
is counterinsurgency, which is the use of indirect and asymmetric techniques
like subversion, infiltration, psychological operations, cultural penetration
and military deception." (Cuba:
USAID making ever-higher investments in subversion.)
International Foundation for Election Systems ("IFES") in
Haiti was one of the USAID projects for destabalizing the Aristide government.
According to a National Lawyers Guild report, IFES workers take complete
credit for ousting Aristide, the duly elected president of Haiti. "...IFES
went out and formulated groups that never existed or united pre-existing
groups, gave them sensitization seminars, paid for people to attend,
paid for entertainment and catering, and basically built group after
group, and then they realized that in order to be successful they had
to reach out from beyond the lawyers and judges. They reached out to
student groups and business groups to get a bigger economic behind them.
They also reached out to human rights groups – which they actually
paid off to report human rights atrocities to make Aristide look bad.
It just sort of snowballed. They bought journalists, and the IFES associations
grew into the Group of 184 that became a solidified opposition against
Aristide. What is probably most interesting is that Gerard Latortue,
the prime minister, was an IFES member for a couple of years before
of the ouster of Aristide last year. The myth that he had been plucked
from pool-side on March 1st, the day after the coup, to become prime
minister was pretty much debunked – he was in the planning for
a couple of years. Bernard Gousse, the justice minister who is in charge
of the prisons and the police, was in it for many years. He was a sensitization
speaker coming to talk in the US on behalf of IFES." (For more,
go to SourceWatch - International
Foundation for Election Systems.)
In HLLN's Haiti
Policy Statement for the Obama Team, we made seven-points
towards a more equitable US-Haiti partnership and asked the US to stop
supporting death, dependency and dictatorship in Haiti, through USAID
and support inclusion, social justice, democracy, and sustainable development.
Before the $100 million was hastily approved and while Congress was
considering appropriating this $100 million to Haiti, after the four
2008 back-to-back storms/hurricanes, HLLN recommended new foreign aid
guidelines and oversight of USAID in Haiti and that USAID not be given
a blank check for Haiti's welfare. We pointed out the need to ensure
foreign aid administered by USAID actually reaches the people in need,
doesn't stay in Washington and is not primarily used for USAID's political
benefactors, NGOs and non-profit's administrative, salary or shipping/transportation
fees.
It is essential that Haiti becomes less dependent on foreign aid and
the foreign NGOs and more economically self-sufficient. This cannot
manifest if USAID is allowed to empower foreign NGOs in Haiti, deliberately
by-passing and marginalizing the duly elected Haitian government and
the Ministries charged to protect the welfare, health, safety and national
interests of the people of Haiti. A new US-Haiti relationship is required
that does not promote foreign aid policies, procedures and reform programs
with NGO rules and unfair trade laws that promote famine, instability
and eviscerates Haitian dignity, self-respect and sovereignty.
We also made the suggestions, detailed
below, be place in the appropriation legislation. Perhaps, if that had
been heeded, some of the lives lost would have been saved from starvation
and this press
release from Congresswoman Waters would not now be necessary.
We urge the next Congress to consider some of HLLN recommendation made
below and set new oversight guidelines on USAID for funds earmarked
for "aid" to Haiti. To wit:
"...The US Congress must demand greater fiscal accountability,
transparency and quantifiable evidence of sustainable development achievements
from reform projects designed, supervised and financed through USAID
and their subcontractors, corporate consultants and charity workers
using federal funds in Haiti.
Any bill for aid to Haiti must include
specificity in terms of what percentage of the money will be used for:
1. Crisis food aid and medicines, and then for
2. Flood barriers in the coastal cities, particularly Gonaives;
3. To repair the six major bridges (Mirebalais bridge, Montrouis bridge,
Site
Soley to Croix-des-Bouquets bridge at Route 9, Grand-Goave, Cayes-Jacmel
temporary bridge, Miragoane Bridge at Berquin) broken due to the last
four
storms;
4. To repair the major road arteries;
5. To assist Haiti in irrigation, fertilizer and necessary farming equipment
to increase domestic food production in the Artibonite valley and Plaine
du Sud farming areas;
6. For ethically and responsibly creating a uniquely Haitian organic
food-for-trade market from Haiti's own traditional fruits and crop staples
(Pitimi, ble, pwa Kongo, nwa, yellow rice, avocado, mangoes, white Haitian
yam, plantains, St. Marc rice, St. Marc corn, millet, pigeon peas, Vetiver
oil,
cashew, et al...).
7. For planting fruit trees to assist the small rural farmers towards
self-sufficiency;
8. For creating indigenous Haiti manufacturing and eco-friendly green
jobs with an emphasis in helping meet the needs of women and children
in Haiti.
9. To support Haitian-led grassroots capacity building organizations;
10. For child health care, medicines, permanent clean water facilities
(long lasting bio-sand water filter units instead of just water purification
tablets... et al); and,
11. Educational initiatives that don't deny Haiti's unique indigenous
culture.
12. Also, it is essential that Congress add in every such bill for aid
to Haiti a requirement that every 6-months and until all the funds have
been completely disbursed, a report is filed detailing the specific
sustainable development goals that were met - that is, a full report
indicating the flood barriers, roads, fruit planting, Gwo Medsiyen biofuel
plants constructed, the crisis food aid and medicines that actually
reached the intended poor beneficiaries not the open market, and the
manufacturing jobs and capital building that were attained..."
For complete statement, go to -
What
Haitian Americans Ask of the New US Congress and President
********************************************
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HLLN
currently campaigns and is mobilizing legislative and international
support for Haitian-American foreign policy concerns:
Haitian Americans ask the new US Congress and President to....end
the UN occupation; stop unequal immigration treatment of Haitian refugees
and asylum seekers; cancel, without condition, Haiti's debt to international
financial institutions; void unfair trade laws, start reciprocal trade,
restrict free trade so not to dump food and other imports into Haiti
that eviscerate Haiti's domestic growth and by also calibrating Haiti's
domestic needs for agricultural expansion, public works, job creation,
health care, schools, sanitation, infrastructure, and by adding enforceable
human rights, labor, environmental rights provisions in US trade laws;
permanently stop all deportations to Haiti, grant TPS; stop trading
for Haiti with USAID, demand new foreign aid guidelines and oversight
of USAID in Haiti. Investigate the role of US in the 2004 coup d'etat
where US Special forces forcibly exiled President Jean Bertrand Aristide
via an unmarked plane used for renditions.
- U.S. good governance and democratic enhancement policies administered
by USAID should result in maximizing, not depleting or obliterating
the Haitian Diaspora's $2Billion annual remittances and investments
in Haiti; the next US Congress and President should implement new US
foreign assistance regulations, guidelines and oversight to ensure foreign
aid administered by USAID actually reaches the people in need, doesn't
stay in Washington and is not primarily used for USAID's political benefactors,
NGOs and non-profit's administrative, salary or shipping/transportation
fees. (For complete details, go to: What
Haitian Americans Ask of the New US Congress and President)
********************************************
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Children dying in Haiti, victims
of food crisis
By JONATHAN
M. KATZ
Associated
Press Writer, November 20, 2008
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - The 5-year-old teetered on broomstick legs
_ he weighed less than 20 pounds, even after days of drinking enriched
milk. Nearby, a 4-year-old girl hung from a strap attached to a scale,
her wide eyes lifeless, her emaciated arms dangling weakly.
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Venecia
Lonis, 4, who suffers from malnutrition, is weighed at the Doctors
Without Borders hospital in Port-au-Prince, Wednesday, Nov. 19,
2008. Aid workers fear hunger is worsening in rural Haiti after
at least 26 children died of conditions exacerbated by a lack of
nutrition, raising concerns that a grave food crisis may be brewing
following four devastating tropical storms. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) |
In pockets of Haiti accessible only
by donkey or foot, children are dying of malnutrition _ their already
meager food supply cut by a series of devastating storms that destroyed
crops, wiped out livestock and sent food prices spiraling.
At least 26 severely malnourished children have died in the past four
weeks in the remote region of Baie d'Orange in Haiti's southeast, aid
workers said Thursday, and there are fears the toll will rise much higher
if help does not come quickly to the impoverished Caribbean nation.
Another 65 severely malnourished children are being treated in makeshift
tent clinics in the mountainous
area, or at hospitals where they were evacuated in Port-au-Prince and
elsewhere, said Max Cosci, who heads the Belgian contingent of Doctors
Without Borders in Haiti.
One evacuee, a 7-year-old girl, died while being treated, Cosci said,
adding: "The situation is extremely, extremely fragile and dangerous."
At a makeshift malnutrition ward at a Doctors Without Borders hospital
in the capital, 10 emaciated children were under emergency care Thursday,
their stomachs swollen and hair faded by pigmentation loss caused by
malnutrition. Several had the puffy faces typical of kwashiorkor, a
protein-deficiency disorder.
Five-year-old Mackenson Duclair, his ribs protruding and his legs little
more than skin stretched over bones, weighed in at 19.8 pounds, even
after days of drinking milk enriched with potassium and salt. Doctors
said he needed to gain another five pounds before he could go home.
Dangling from a scale mounted from the ceiling, 4-year-old Venecia Lonis
looked as limp as a rag doll as doctors weighed her, her huge brown
eyes expressionless, her hair tied with bright yellow bows.
Mackenson's grandmother, who has raised him since his mother died, said
she barely has a can of corn grits to feed herself, the boy and her
8-year-old granddaughter each day.
"These things did not happen when I was growing up," 72-year-old
Ticouloute Fortune said.
Rural families already struggling with soaring food prices in Haiti,
the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, lost their safety nets when
fields were destroyed and livestock wiped out by the storms, which killed
nearly 800 people and caused $1 billion worth of damage in August and
September.
U.N. World Food Program country director Myrta Kaulard said she fears
more deaths from malnutrition in other isolated parts of Haiti, and
search and medical teams were fanning out in the northwest and along
the southwestern peninsula to check.
The World Food Program has sent more than 30 tons of food aid _ enough
to feed 5,800 people for two weeks _ into the remote southeastern region
since September, and other groups funded by the U.S. Agency for International
Development have sent food as well, she said.
But the steep, narrow paths and poor visibility make it difficult to
deliver the food to the mountain communities where hunger is worsening.
In one case, a WFP truck flipped over while struggling up a hill and
slid into a ravine, killing an aid worker.
"There is always a bottleneck. The same situation that the people
are facing is the same situation we're also facing," Kaulard told
The Associated Press Thursday.
Haiti in general and the mountain villages in particular have long suffered
from chronic hunger. Child malnutrition rates have been high for years
_ the WFP reported in 2007 that nearly a quarter of children were chronically
malnourished.
Remote rural areas in particular grow only enough staples to feed themselves
less than seven months out of the year, Kaulard said.
But throughout the year, aid workers and officials have been seeing
hunger get more severe, and now people who live in the mountains and
aid groups who are working there say the situation is worse than it
has been in the past.
This year, for instance, Haiti's agriculture ministry estimates 60 percent
of the harvest was lost in the storms nationwide. Land quality is already
poor and farmers lost seeds for next year when the storms hit, Kaulard
said.
Effects of the storms vary widely from village to village and even family
to family. In some places, food supplies seem intact. In others, Doctors
Without Borders has found rates of severe malnutrition as high as 5
percent.
Aid shortages may soon compound the problem. Donor countries have funded
only a third of the U.N.'s $105 million aid appeal for Haiti following
the storms, and resources could run out in January, Kaulard said.
At the hospital Thursday, Enock Augustin sat beside the bed where his
5-year-old daughter Bertha was sleeping. The fragile-looking child was
evacuated by helicopter Nov. 8 with vomiting and diarrhea. When she
arrived, nearly a quarter of her body weight was due to fluid retention,
a sign of severe protein deficiency.
The swelling gradually receded as she was fed nutrient-enriched milk
and treated with antibiotics and anti-worm medicine; she shrank to just
21 pounds.
She has since gained about two pounds but can't go home until she reaches
26 pounds, doctors said.
For months, the Augustin family had gotten by despite the soaring prices
of corn grits and imported rice because they grew potatoes, which they
could eat or barter for plantains, yams and breadfruit that did not
fluctuate with the world market.
But then, in August, Tropical Storm Fay hit, followed by Hurricane Gustav,
Tropical Storm Hanna and Hurricane Ike.
"Every time a hurricane came through, it killed our animals and
plants," said Augustin, a father of six. The road was washed out,
markets became unreachable and "the price of everything went sky
high."
The entire family subsisted on two cups of corn grits, and Bertha began
shrinking _ and then swelling _ before his eyes.
"She was really bad. We put her in the helicopter and they brought
her here," Augustin said. "I hope the government will hear
about us and bring more support."
(Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Children dying in Haiti, victims
of food crisis
Life
gets worse for Haiti's hungry children
U.N.:
High food prices creating more hunger
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Little
Girl 
