Global Voices

English

The world is talking, are you listening?

kiskeácity links to a letter which “echoes many of the issues Haitians face with the White Savior Industrial Complex…and its army of 3,000 NGOs, 12,000 UN troops, innumerable speakers for Haiti, appropriators of Haiti's ancestral religion, culture and music and other so-called ‘allies’ who silence Haitians for a profit while assuming their voice.”

Haiti does not need more prisons, it needs better prisons and fewer prisoners.

Haiti Chery provides some interesting statistics which support his view.

Appalled by the “legal immunity” that the United Nations appears to have in the country's cholera epidemic, Kevin Edmonds says that it's high time Caribbean leaders speak up for Haiti.

Can I get an A-MEN?

When it comes to an analysis of the country's aid management failures, kiskeácity admits she couldn't have said it better than Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck.

I find Easter has taken on a ‘carnivalish’ vibe.

From St. Vincent, Abeni muses about “the changing face of Easter”, while Theater of Life looks at the Haitian tradition of kite-flying at Easter time.

Tande blogs about “the relationship between cultural identity and belonging” and recommends a Haitian musician whose work goes beyond the identity politics and “offers a compelling example of how some of these tensions play out.”

Kevin Edmonds blogs about Duvalier’s impunity in Haiti and what can be done to end it.

Haiti Grassroots Watch examines the pros and cons of the Phoenix Project – a “massive public-private business deal [involving] a factory that would transform garbage from the capitol into electricity, a resource so rare in Haiti, only 30 percent of the population has access.”

Was there a simultaneous sabotage of Haiti's municipal water systems while the country was grappling with cholera? kiskeácity links to the details.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has announced its first contest for bloggers, which will focus on issues related to child development.
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Haiti Chery laments the fact that the poor always seem to suffer the most when it comes to natural disasters.

Hurricane Sandy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti by IOM Haiti CC license BY-NC-SA 2.0

Haiti Libre reported that the the General Hospital in Les Cayes was flooded when Hurricane Sandy hit Haiti on october 23. Haiti Libre added that a woman drowned trying to cross a river in Camp-Perrin.

Moms, students, working professionals and women from all walks of life are the driving force behind a gender revolution that has made huge contributions to our region’s prosperity.

In Americas Quarterly, João Pedro Azevedo and Louise J. Cord write about how Latin American women are driving the region's prosperity.

The Fanm Kanson Network posts the first video from its “Dear Ayiti” project, which asks a simple question: If Haiti were a person, what would you say to her? Two Haitian Americans, one Haitian and a Grendadian share their thoughts.

What do people watch on TV around the world? Alessandra Stanley, the chief television critic of The New York Times is traveling to many different countries and through videos, she is letting us know what people make and watch on TV. So far, she has covered Haiti and Russia.

Fanm Kanson Network highlights the work of two photographers, one of whom has done work in Cuba and the other who has filmed extensively in Haiti.

Haitians all over the world recently celebrated the 209th Haitian Flag Day along with the country's educational system. Martinican blogger at Bel Balawou publishes a stream of pictures [Fr], taken during the event in Haiti, while Haitian Alterpresse explains and comments [Fr] on the main speeches of the day.

The award-winning Haitian movie director and once Haitian Minister of Culture, Raoul Peck [Fr], has been chosen to be a member of the jury of the world-famous Cannes International Film Festival, according to hpnhaiti [Fr].

“In early 2011, a dozen people died after drinking ‘clairin’ – a traditional Haitian alcohol drink – made with methanol in the Fond Baptiste region, north of the capital. Another 20 or so were blinded or paralyzed”: Haiti Grassroots Watch learns that “judicial, health and commerce authorities have not investigated who was responsible for the tragedy” and that “the production and sale of clairin – and ‘fake clairin’ – continues with no regulation”, saying: “The tragedy could occur again at any moment, on an even larger scale.”

Haiti Chery comments on the amended Haitian Constitution, which “Martelly’s own commission has declared…to be a “fake.””

The Haitian Blogger calls the cholera outbreak in Haiti “criminal negligence” by the United Nations and goes on to say that the “UN occupation of Haiti is illegal, criminal and based on lies.”

“The draw-down of hundreds of non-governmental organizations which have been in Haiti since the disastrous 2010 earthquake was inevitable. But with their departure, so, too goes their purse and the millions earmarked for cleaning latrines”: Haiti Grassroots Watch examines “what…that mean[s] for the half a million displaced still living in camps.”

In honour of International Women's Day, chookooloonks shares the Top 10 things she wants her daughter – and all youngsters – to know, while the Livesay [Haiti] weblog‘s key message for the day is that “No woman should die giving birth.”

“The renewed investigation against Aristide also occurs at a time when one of Haiti's most brutal dictators, Jean-Claude Duvalier, is being let off the hook”: Wadner Pierre suggests that “the U.S. government needs to focus more on what is happening in its backyard.”

Dying in Haiti blogs about a street demonstration in Cité Soleil, making a connection between how “violence and fear closes things down and people…can die easier from stupid deaths.”

Mackendie Toupuissant writes [fr]: “The news went almost unnoticed. Until now,  Haiti was a mere “observer” in the African Union.  Since early February, the first black republic in history became  a” full associate member “of the African Union (AU).  This decision, the first of its kind for a country of the African Diaspora will be formalized at the next AU summit scheduled for June-July in Lilongwe, Malawi's capital city.”

“Back in May 2011, undistracted by Haiti’s 4.5-million dollar presidential inauguration, I sounded the alarm about a brewing legislative coup d’etat“: Haiti Chery explains.

The Millikan Daily meets a “beach head for incoming Methodists to Haiti” and is less than impressed with her “mission”, saying: “I for one, am touched that there are people so kind and devout in their servitude to God that they would drink his blood all night on Ash Wednesday to better help His poor children of Haiti.”

Haiti Grassroots Watch explores the issues surrounding the non-reconstruction of the state university in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake.

The Creole language in the Caribbean and the cooperation between islands were recently discussed during the Creole-speaking Regions Days, as explained in this post on Tous Créoles [Fr Cr/Fr]. One of the most debated issues was a visa waiving program between the French Caribbean islands and the rest of the West Indies.