Salut Timoun! Welcome to the latest edition of Woy Magazine’s weekly newsletter, providing you with must-know news and commentary on Haiti and our Diaspora.
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New Program Alert
On Thursday, February 18 at 7 PM we will be hosting a #WoyChat with teacher and historian Bayyinah Bello. Our conversation for the evening will center on “Demystifying the Women of the Haitian Revolution” as part of our ongoing series on “Myths, Legends and Lore.”
RSVP on our event page, and don’t forget to tune in the day of on our Facebook page.
Folkloric Roots
As part of their groundbreaking documentary tracing the shared musical roots between Haiti and New Orleans, WXPN - Philadelphia (NPR) published a new article from Nathalie Cerin (Editor of Woy Magazine) examining the Haitian roots of some beloved Louisiana tunes. She writes:
The connection between Haiti and New Orleans might be long forgotten in the consciousness of the people in these respective places, but the shared themes of displacement and life under colonialism in the words of the folk songs, as well as the syncopated dance rhythms of the drums of the Bamboula live to tell the tale. After all, as the classic Haitian song by Septentrional says, tanbou frape Ayisyen kontan–the drum hits, Haiti rejoices. And apparently, so does New Orleans.
Be sure to check out the documentary’s treasure trove of a website, here.
General Strike 2021
Port-au-Prince and other parts of Haiti came to a stand still on Monday and Tuesday as professionals across all sectors observed a general strike to protest the country’s noticeable surge of violence and instability. According to the Daily Brief, “Human rights organisations estimate four people are kidnapped daily for ransom.”
The general strike came just days before many believe President Jovenel Moïse’s presidential term is set to end. Last week, TeleSUR English reported that those within the opposition say Moïse has “ordered security forces to mobilize ahead of protests on February 7, when his mandate expires.”
Reporters with VOA Creole took their cameras to the empty streets of the capital on both days to show the complete observance of the strike with both schools and businesses of all varieties shutting their doors.
What’s In a Constitution?
Despite the uncertainty and anxiety gripping the country and the dyaspora as we inch towards February 7, President Moïse appears to have no plans to step down. In a Monday address, Moïse reiterated his point that there would be “no short pass” in respect to his time in office.
Despite his determination, voices demanding he step down continue to grow with the Federation of Bars of Haiti recently publishing a six-page declaration arguing that Moïse’s term ends on Sunday because, “Martelly was replaced with a provisional president, whom opposition parties and civil society groups say used the first year of Moïse’s term.”
The Miami Herald writes on:
The Federation of Bars of Haiti is backing up the opposition’s claim, noting…that the president himself utilized the same narrow interpretation of the constitution in dismissing two thirds of the Senate last year.
The group’s president, Jacques Letang, said that set a precedent for Moïse’s term to end Sunday. He blamed the country’s leaders for failing to create a constitutional court as the magna carta requires.
“They did all that was possible to never put it in place,” Letang said. “If today there was a constitutional court, there wouldn’t be all of this chaos.”
Furthermore, opponents from all sides continue to argue that Moïse’s actions prove, once more, he has no respect for the rule of law and is undermining democratic efforts in Haiti.
A similar tone was struck during an online discussion on the rule of law between Professor Christoph Schönberger, German professor of Public Law and Constitutional Law and Filmmaker and Human Rights Activist Arnold Antonin.
During the conversation, Professor Schönberger explains how the German society reestablished democracy after the fall of two dictatorships (Nazism and Communism in East Germany). He discusses the challenges of prosecuting the perpetrators of crimes that were committed on behalf of the state and replacing/reorienting the political elite, among others. Mr. Antonin shared his analysis of Haiti's efforts after the fall of Duvalier to establish the rule of law and identified the current threats to democracy that the Moïse administration with the support of the international community presents. The event was a collaboration between the Embassy of Germany in Haiti, FOKAL and the Centre Petion Bolivar. You can watch the full event here.
A United Front
Meanwhile, members of the opposition have joined forces and set a plan in motion for February 7. On Monday, opposition leaders came together for the Ako Final Teras Garden, which lays out a new 14-member commission made up of seven opposition leaders and seven members of civil society organizations. VOA Creole states:
The commission would be tasked with choosing a president to lead the transitional government from members of Haiti's Supreme Court.
The prime minister would be chosen among the opposition politicians, and the heads of government ministries would be selected by the new government.
The opposition is determined to finalize their choices before February 7, they announced Monday.
What’s In a Constitution? Part II
President Moïse has made it no secret that he hopes to carry out a major overhaul of the country’s current constitution. This week, the president’s administration presented a number of proposed constitutional changes to the public before the April 25 constitutional referendum. Here are some of the biggest changes to note:
A glaring omission that a president cannot serve for more than two terms. The current constitution bars presidents from serving two consecutive terms. As the Associated Press reports, “it says nothing about whether they can be served consecutively.”
The draft drops the requirement that in order to be president of Haiti, an individual needs to have lived in the country for five consecutive years before the date of general elections. It only notes that a presidential candidate “must have habitual residence in Haiti.” Experts see this as a way to allow members of the dyaspora to have more power in the political ongoings of the country, as they are currently barred from running for high office in Haiti.
The seat of the Prime Minister would be replaced with a Vice-Presidential role.
The proposal calls for the creation of a unicameral legislature, taking the place of the current Senate and Chamber of Deputies which President Moïse dismissed in early 2020. (He has ruled by decree since then.) Additionally, the members of this legislature would be elected every five years to fall in line with the presidential terms (The AP notes, “…some senators are currently elected every two to six years.”)
A Rogue Agency
Despite President Joe Biden’s signing of a deportation moratorium (which has been temporarily blocked by a Texas federal judge), ICE continues to deport hundreds from the United States. As you may recall, two weeks ago we highlighted the story of Paul Pierrilus, a man whose deportation to Haiti (a country he does not know nor has ever visited) was stopped. This week, ICE went ahead and deported Mr. Pierrilus “despite the fact he had no travel documents.”
According to the Haitian Times, “A flight charted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and filled with 102 Haitians landed in Port-au-Prince Monday.”
Racist Tropes: The Remix
We’re practically a year into the coronavirus pandemic, and we thought we’d seen every racist headline that could be written regarding immigrants, the Global South, Asia and any other marginalized group/Brown-Black nation you can think of. That is, of course, until the Toronto Sun, Le Journal de Montréal and CTV ran the following headlines and phrases in stories printed in January regarding a couple of flights from Haiti to Canada:
"Third flight from Haiti lands with many COVID-infected passengers"
“COVID-infected flights from Haiti under scrutiny”
“Deux vols en provenance d'Haïti bourrés de cas de COVID”
“Many COVID-infected passengers aboard three Haiti-to-Montreal flights, federal data shows."
In a new article examining this rather “interesting” choice of words, Yves Engler argues that this is the latest way Westerners are actively using the latest pandemic to further stigmatize Haitians. He writes:
While it's difficult to parse out legitimate public health concerns from deeply entrenched anti-Haitianism, historically it is clear that Haitians have repeatedly been stigmatized as diseased. Most infamously, Haitians were labelled as the originators of the HIV virus in the U.S. in the early 1980s. As a result, the country's significant tourism industry basically collapsed overnight. Some Haitian exports were even blocked from entering the U.S.
In another example of stigmatizing Haitians over disease, CDC incident manager for the Haiti cholera response Jordan Tappero blamed Haitian cultural norms for the 2010 cholera outbreak in that country. He told Associated Press journalist Jonathan Katz that Haitians don't experience the "shame associated with open defecation." As was then suspected and later confirmed, cholera was introduced to Haiti by a UN base that followed poor sanitation practices, dumping feces from recently arrived Nepalese troops into a stream people drank from.
A Kreyòl Trilogy
This week, we had the fortunate chance of coming across a new Youtube series detailing the history of Haiti’s Kreyòl. Created by History student Matt J. Robertshaw, the video essay series tackles pivotal moments in the lifespan of the language and contextualizes them in certain stages of the country’s history. Check out the videos, below:
Ms. Charles to the Desk
We were so happy to see Melanie Charles on NPR’s Tiny Desk as part of their series celebrating Black History Month. Her three song set includes her take on the classic made famous by Toto Bissainthe, “Damballah Wedo.” Be sure to take a moment to enjoy this gift. We’re wishing everyone, including our friends and family back home a safe weekend. We’ll see you all back here next week. Peace.
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