A modern economy is usually based on a few industries or economic pillars that keep the economy afloat, resilient and viable in the long term. The loss of these staple pillars to an economy often results in eventual economic and political decline, and in some cases can lead to fairly rapid economic collapse. No political […]
One of the biggest determinants on how the war in Ukraine will progress is closely tied to the amount of support each side in receiving by way of weapons and ammunition. While Russia is seeking allies to supply it with additional arms while pushing their arms producers to renovate and create more tanks and munitions, […]
Haiti has a long history of natural, political, and human catastrophes. What do Haitians do now? A State Department warning to Americans to avoid travel to Haiti follows the kidnapping of 17 foreign aid workers and family members in a long line of tragic stories from Haiti in 2021. Beginning decades ago but accelerating this […]
Years ago when writing on the plight of the Haitian people, it was evident that the quick global reaction to the 2010 Haiti earthquake may only help Haitians in the immediate term. Other issues like the kidnapping of the Nigerian school girls and the death of Neda at the hands of the Iranian regime received […]
While news about the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Greek debt floods the airwaves, other hotspots simmer just out of view.
It is a volcano jumping between dormant and active stages and last month, it erupted again, spitting a litany of condemning editorials across global opinion pages that set ablaze United Nations’ inexcusable, uncompromising policy in Haiti, where the cholera epidemic, now entering its fourth year, killed more than 8,300 people and sickened another 650,000. […]
“There is no question that it is racism, and it’s absolutely deplorable,” declared Democratic strategist Maria Cardona on NPR’s “Tell Me More,” referring to a Dominican Constitutional Court’s ruling, on Sept. 23, 2013, that denaturalized four generations of Dominican citizens, virtually all of them of Haitian descent. “And I do think that the United States […]
A third victim, 24-year-old Rolcy Ametis, the police shot in the head, neck and hip on Wednesday, July 17, 2013, while protesting the controversial death of Judge Jean Serge Joseph, succumbed to his injuries at State University Hospital late Friday July 19, confirmed officials. Among the seven victims of the forceful intervention of U.N. peacekeepers […]
“Of course, there is a lot of resistance to change, especially when some of the largest recipients of contracts in Haiti are the for-profit development companies that hired a lobbyist to push back on these reforms,” declared Research Associate Jake Johnston, who co-authored “Breaking Open the Black Box: Increasing Aid Transparency and Accountability in Haiti” […]
During a live interview aired on Radio Scoop FM (107.7) 48 hours before Haiti’s carnival festivities, President Michel Martelly dispelled all rumors surrounding band selections for Cap-Haitien’s 2013 Carnival possession. “It was I, who personally decided to exclude bands from the carnival parade,” declared the president. “The decision to exclude bands, such as Brothers Posse […]
“Ki bwa li ye, bwa sa; ki bwa li ye, bwa sa,” sang euphoric young men and women, floating in a sea of people embarked on a lengthy pilgrimage to unity. At the end of the unprecedented grassroots movement in Northern city Ouanaminthe — Kita Nago — a half-ton tree trunk that symbolizes Haiti, would have, on […]
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’ ill health is widely known, but what may be less recognized in my neck of the woods is how the president’s ailments have become front-page news across the Caribbean. This is due to PetroCaribe, the regional oil cooperative Venezuela created in 2005 to provide fuel for neighboring countries. PetroCaribe supplies 18 […]
Transforming Haiti into a consumer nation, ultimately meant that a short-supplied world would force its population into mass starvation, a recurring nightmare Haitians are currently experiencing amid the recent global food crisis, which caused a wave of sporadic protests to erupt throughout the country last month. Rampant inflation sent food prices hovering well beyond the […]
“Violence in Haiti is systemic, that is to say, it’s related to the abandonment of the state, the abandonment of society by public institutions that fail to provide basic services.” “I reject the ontological definition of an inherently violent Haitian,” declared Anthropologist Rachelle Charlier Doucet at Port-au-Prince’s Hotel le Plaza on Friday, June 29, 2012. […]
Following the questions of one Haitian-born, Canadian-raised woman, Adopted ID raises questions of identity, and the politics of international adoption. To a lively soundtrack, which carries the film when the visuals blur, the documentary follows the emotional journey of Judith Craig Morency on her first trip back to Haiti after 27 years raised in a […]