Welcome to the latest edition of Woy Magazine’s biweekly newsletter, providing you with must-know news and commentary on Haiti and our Diaspora.
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Poul ki bat kò l kraze ze l. An agitated chicken breaks its eggs. (Haitian Proverb)
CHAY LA | BIG STORY
OAS’s Crocodile Tears
The Organization of America States (OAS) released a statement on August 8th that made the rounds this week, calling out the “international community” for its culpability in Haiti's present situation. Will this mean they'll stop meddling? We doubt it.
According to the OAS, “The last 20 years of the international community’s presence in Haiti has amounted to one of the worst and clearest failures implemented and executed within the framework of any international cooperation.” Reiterating the same thing Haitians have been saying for the past 20 years and more doesn’t quite hit like we think they intended. We also can’t help but notice how general this statement is. It is also too little too late.
Haiti’s institutions have been rendered impotent — ravaged by years of underinvestment, neglect, corruption, posturing and poor governance. The economic situation has been spiraling due in large part to the aforementioned, particularly over the past few years; which has driven more and more people into food insecurity and engendered greater levels of poverty. The Gourdes is taking a nose dive while inflation has been increasing. And the state of terror in which gangs, violence and kidnappings reign is a reality that Haitians must face every day, as they are displaced from their homes and demonetized as their loved ones are kidnapped and held for ransom.
So what are we to do with this statement and the proscriptions it proceeds to offer? Perhaps wear it as a bulletproof vest on our way to work or maybe we can hand them out as food rations to the millions of people living in food insecurity? Better yet, maybe the gangs will accept it in lieu of the hundreds of thousands of dollars they are notorious for asking.
Twitter Check:
POLITIK | POLEMIK
Control your guns, Uncle Sam
Political meddling is not the only way the international community affects Haiti. The USA's inability to control its gun problem is a scourge on the entire hemisphere.
Just 2 days ago, U.S. authorities held a news conference reporting an “alarming” spike in weapons smuggling to Haiti and the Caribbean, “promising to boost efforts to combat the trade that is fueling rampant gang violence in Haiti and rising crime in the region.”
The announcement follows several bloody outbreaks of gang violence in Haiti that included gun battles in downtown Port-au-Prince, and comes as countries such as The Bahamas and Jamaica are reporting rising incidence of gun-linked homicides.
"Not only have we seen a marked uptick in the number of weapons, but a serious increase in the caliber and type of firearms being illegally trafficked," said Anthony Salisbury, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations Miami. [...]
Legal export of weapons from the United States typically requires licenses from U.S. authorities. Haiti is still subject to a 1990s arms embargo, which has been amended to allow some exceptions for exports of weapons to Haitian security forces. (Source: Reuters)
Looks like Homeland Security is spending too much time policing migrants at the border.
ON THIS DAY |
August 14th Earthquake
August 14th marked one year since the devastating earthquake that brought the southern peninsula of the country to its knees. Reconstruction has stalled due to several factors, including the omnipresent gang activity, which has hampered both public and non-governmental aid from reaching the southern region from the capital over the last the year. Not to mention the fuel shortages and political turmoil.
« La reconstruction et le relèvement de la péninsule du sud d'Haïti doivent s'accélérer pour permettre à la population d'avoir pleinement accès à des logements permanents et à des services sociaux et revitaliser l'économie locale », a déclaré Mme Richardson, au terme d’une mission de deux jours dans le département du Sud. « Le gouvernement a élaboré un plan quinquennal de reconstruction et de relèvement, PRIPS, en février de cette année. Ce plan doit maintenant être mis en œuvre au niveau local. L'ONU continuera à s'engager avec les partenaires techniques et financiers pour soutenir ces efforts », a-t-il soutenu.
« Ce plan devrait également renforcer la résilience aux prochains chocs et à l'insécurité alimentaire croissante ». Alors que la situation économique continue de se détériorer et de menacer les moyens de subsistance de la population principalement rurale », a fait savoir M. Richardson. (Source: Le Nouvelliste)
Bwa kayiman
On this day, the ceremony at Bwa Kayiman took place and marks one of the pivotal turning points in our ancestral fight for freedom from slavery and French colonization. This secret gathering was led by Boukman, a vodou priest and early leader in the Haitian Revolution, who is said to have delivered a rousing speech prior to the very first battle that would mark the beginning of the Haitian Revolution on August 22, 1791. In November of the same year, he was captured and beheaded by the French, his head put on display in an attempt to quell the revolution.
←Woy Rewind: Visit the wise words of Rachel Beauvoir Dominique on the importance of oral tradition in keeping the story of Bwa Kayiman alive in the Haitian consciousness.
"Memory of the Bois Caiman is vivid amongst the population who remembers the exact points where events took place. Here is a song, for instance, one 84 year-old was able to sing for us; he holds it from his grand-father: “Revni lwa yo, Sanble lwa yo, Nan Bwa Kayiman nou ye, Nou tande fizi tire Apre Bondye, Se nou sa l ki chaf la ye, Apre Bondye, Se nou chaf, Nan Bwa Kayiman a” (Source: Woy Magazine)
Check this out:
The official trailer for The Fight for Haiti was released on August 14th, on the anniversary of the Bwa Kayiman ceremony. As we highlighted last week, The Fight for Haiti is Etant Dupain's next documentary project, following Madan Sara:
“The Fight for Haiti takes a deep dive into why the international community supports the corrupt politicians and business persons who stole the PetroCaribe money and the dreams of millions." (Source: Woy Magazine)
KILTIRÈL
Lanbi ak kasav
According to a report by Ayibopost, the conch is going extinct in Haiti because it is being overfished — leaving it no time to reach maturity and to reproduce. This has even affected commerce where exports of conch from Haiti is closed to the international market.
Thankfully, we will always have kasav which was recently nominated for UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List. Kasav is a Haitian staple made from manyòk, a root vegetable, that is grated, ringed, and then formed into a pancake shaped bread often eaten with handmade peanut butter. According to the Haitien Delegation at UNESCO, we inherited this local bread from the Arawaks/Taïnos, who were basically wiped out after the French got here.
Après la fameuse « Soup joumou », Haïti part à l'offensive pour faire inscrire la cassave sur la liste du patrimoine culturel immatériel de l’Humanité de l'UNESCO. Mais cette fois, les démarches sont collectives et concernent plusieurs pays de la région comme la République dominicaine, Cuba, Honduras et le Venezuela. La cassave est produite et consommée dans tous ces pays.
Dans un communiqué publié le mercredi 17 août, la délégation permanente d’Haïti auprès de l’UNESCO informe qu’elle a lancé, de concert avec plusieurs pays de la région, notamment Cuba, le Honduras, la République dominicaine et le Venezuela, le processus multinational d’inscription des techniques traditionnelles de production et de consommation de la Cassave — à travers les savoirs, savoir-faire et les pratiques qui y sont liés — sur la liste représentative du patrimoine culturel immatériel de l’Humanité dans le cadre de la Convention de 2003 de l’UNESCO. (Source: Le Nouvelliste)
Learn more about one version of this Haitian staple here.
DEGI | RECOMMENDATIONS BEFORE YOU GO
Gangs Advance on the Seat of Haitian Government Power: ‘Haitians Are Hostages’ | New York Times
Four members of U.S. congress ask Biden to name Haiti special envoy | Yahoo News
Weathering the Storm: Climate Gentrification in Miami’s Little Haiti
‘Top Chef’ Darling Gregory Gourdet’s Ode to the Haitian Diaspora, Kann, Is Finally Here
Jean Michel Daudier, le chanteur qui ne pouvait vivre sans soleil | Haiti Inter