Prensip Bwa Kayiman #10: ...Pa lage chay nan men manfouben
September 16, 2022-September 30, 2022
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Prensip 10: Toujou sonje: fè koupe fè; dèyè mòn gen mòn; pa fè san inosan koule; pa lage chay nan men manfouben.
Principle #10: Always remember: no matter how tough you are, there is always someone tougher; there are more mountains behind mountains; do not shed the blood of the innocent; do not have careless people bear responsibility.
(12 Principles of Bwa Kayiman - Professor Pierre Michel Chery)
CHAY LA | BIG STORY
Washington and the current Haitian government that it backs have characterized the uprisings in Haiti over the last few weeks as being fueled by 'economic interests'. According to Juan Gonzalez, the US National Security Council’s senior director for the Western Hemisphere and a top aide to President Joe Biden, the recent wave of protests observed across the country went beyond a popular revolt.
In public comments during an appearance at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington D.C., the special assistant to President Joe Biden echoed sentiments expressed by de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry in an address just only last Sunday, attributing these protests not to a popular uprising, but as being fueled by powerful and wealthy individuals. He also said that elections will not likely yield legitimacy where only about 5% of the Haitian electorate may be able to show up to cast their votes.
“They did the same thing with Moïse and they mobilize whenever their economic interests or preferential arrangements with governments are” threatened, Gonzalez said, adding that it’s happening “at a time when people are literally starving to death.”
In response to the unrest and ongoing political paralysis in Haiti, Gonzalez said the U.S. has refrained from putting “its finger on the scale” and instead focuses on promoting a broader dialogue among Haiti’s political actors and the interim government led by Henry. Haiti keeps him up at night, he said, “thinking about just the horrible humanitarian crisis taking place in the country”. (Source: Miami Herald)
In one statement, Mr. Gonzalez dismissed the righteous indignation of the Haitian people, as well as the massive popular uprisings the country saw during Moise’s presidency. According to them, the thousands of young men and women trying to make a living for themselves could not have sparked those protests by themselves.
Let us not forget the conditions that Haitian people have been made to endure. Ordinary Haitians have been feeling the squeeze of COVID, inflation, gang violence, hunger, and economic instability for several years now — pushing basic goods further and further out of the reach of more and more people.
The Haitian government’s decision to double the price of fuel earlier this month, will reverberate throughout the economy, increasing the cost of living even further.
While there is no doubt that there may be paid protestors, this statement ignores these and other pertinent contextual factors from which the uprisings arose.
This week, the country saw a successful general strike for three days. This strike was called on by the public transportation drivers' union in reaction to the announcement regarding the end of fuel subsidies — causing prices to jump from about 250 gourdes ($2) to 570 gourdes ($4.78) for gasoline.
Since this announcement, protests have persisted across Port-au-Prince, Carrefour, Cap Haitian and even beyond Haiti's two foremost major cities into areas like Fort Liberté, Jeremie and others, totaling in thousands of people in the streets over the past few weeks.
Should we dismiss the action of organizers and labor unions, and are we to believe all of these protesters, in all of these cities were paid? Public outcry should be expected, and not be so hastily dismissed.
With the brushing off of this massive popular movement as financially backed came more worrisome calls for U.N. intervention from PHTK and their allies.
#WOYREWIND
Published on woymagazine.com on July 16, 2021
The U.S. occupation which lasted from 1915 – 1934 was a systematic campaign of economic pillage and plunder imposed through violence, resulting in the deaths of fifteen thousand Haitians. US troops came again in 1994 to reinstate Aristide and briefly again after the coup d’etat in 2004. More recently, UN peacekeeping forces have introduced Cholera to Haiti resulting in 10,000 people dead. There were countless credible allegations of rape by the UN soldiers and abandoned children. And this same UN intervention facilitated the propagation of armed gangs in Port-au-Prince and killed many civilians in the raids it waged against gangs, several of them women and children. UN missions don’t just fail in Haiti, this is the case in other countries as well. Often, the solutions implemented are not adapted to the realities on the ground and as the political landscape shifts so does the mission, dragging it out many years. UN missions become increasingly violent and interventionist, no longer only tasked with keeping the peace. […]
The reality is the source of chaos is the international community backed PHTK party. Structurally, the Haitian economy and public institutions are being held hostage by economic and political kingmakers. Under PHTK, Haitian institutions which were already weak have accelerated to a stand still. The Ministry of Social Affairs has not functioned in many months, the courts were shut down due to a strike, the health system was in tatters even before Corona hit. The Cour des Comptes’ power has been gutted. Haitian’s purchasing power has dropped under PHTK and 4 million people are in dire need of food. According to economist Fritz Jean, Haitians lose $45 million from remittances from the diaspora due to the gap between the BRH’s exchange rate and how much people actually receive when they need dollars. (Source: Woy Magazine)
Another gang blockade is crippling activities around the country, impeding access to the Varreux fuel terminal entrance also in protest of the September 11 announcement regarding the fuel subsidies. According to reports, Port-au-Prince based gangs dug trenches and placed shipping containers at several entrances to the terminal.
Hospitals and their patients are yet again at the mercy of these events, since they, like most (if not all) businesses in the country rely on diesel powered generators for electricity. Haiti’s power grid is notoriously unreliable and unable to generate enough energy to sustain operations.
"Some hospitals are unable to admit new patients and are preparing to close," wrote United Nations children's agency UNICEF in a statement on Monday, adding that three quarters of major hospitals were affected by the shortages.
"Providing sterile conditions for medical interventions is becoming more challenging and conserving vaccines due to the disruption to cold-chain facilities has become problematic." (Source: Reuters)
ON THIS DAY (September 16-September 30)
In the aftermath of a cruel hoax by Republican governor Ron DeSantis, where an estimated 50 migrants were flown to Martha’s Vineyard in protest of “inadequate federal efforts” on border security — White House Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, denounced Republicans for using migrants as political pawns, stating that these migrants were fleeing communism.
These unfortunate events and Jean-Pierre's statement come during the week of the 1 year anniversary of the cruel and violent scenes of Haitian migrants attempting to make their way into the USA, at the border in Del Rio, Texas.
Since then, the Biden Administration has deported thousands of Haitians back to a country that American citizens are currently being evacuated from. We would like to remind Karine that her Haitian cousins aren't fleeing communism, but they are fleeing a government that the administration she works for is backing.
KILTIRÈL
Gaelle Biem-Aimé wins the Prix RFI Théâtre
Actor Gaëlle Bien-Aimé wins the « Prix RFI Théâtre » 2022 for their piece Port-au-Prince et sa douce nuit, the second of two consecutive wins for Haitian playwrights. The piece follows the story of two lovers trying to make a future for themselves in the tumultuous and bloody reality of Haiti’s capital. She succeeds, Jean D’Amérique, the 2021 winner who claimed their prize with Opéra Poussière.
L’impossibilité de vivre et l’impératif du départ traversent « Port-au-Prince et sa douce nuit ». Bien que romantique, la pièce évoque la macabre tragédie du réel haïtien. Par exemple, elle revient sur l’assassinat d’un bébé dans les entrailles de sa mère à Martissant en 2021. « Je questionnais ce qui s’est passé, dit Bien-Aimé. Je devais en parler pour la mémoire de ce bébé. Je ne sais pas combien de gens cette route a mangés. » (Source: AyiboPost)
New on woymagazine.com
Do you know the 12 Principles of Bwa Kayiman?
Professor Pierre Michel Chery proposed the 12 Prensip Bwa Kayiman, a set of values associated with Bwa Kayiman. People who study Haiti often make reference to them, particularly the first one – Tout Moun Se Moun: Pa gen Moun pase Moun. We had a chance to talk to Professor Chery to understand where the principles come from. Below is a transcription of our conversation with him with some changes for clarity.
Woy Magazine: Why did you propose the 12 principles of Bwa Kayiman?
Professor Chery: The 12 principles of Bwa Kayiman was an answer that came to me in a sense. It came to me in a very particular context in the country in 2009. At the time, there was a Protestant pastor who was undertaking a kwazad that centered on demonizing Bwa Kayiman and Cecil Fatima as Jezabel. The event was widely broadcasted by the media and he held it in a large open space with large screens outside so that even passersby could tune in.
What shocked me about this week-long kwazad was how the pastor treated someone like Cecil Fatima and Bwa Kayiman. Bwa Kayiman is a part of the founding of Haiti. I was shocked that no intellectual, not one ethnographer, nor anthropologist had responded to such a negative discourse on the very foundation of Haitian society. […]
Woy Magazine: Which principle do you think would be helpful to get the country out of this crisis?
Based on my experience, everyone who reads the principles, likes and integrates them, finds one principle that becomes fundamental to them. There are people who like the principle “Pa Lage Chay Nan Men Manfouben” and live by it. One ethnographer friend of mine told me he does not make any important decisions without consulting this principle. Another says “Chak Moun Gen Fason Pa Li Pou Li Lapriyè” led her to accept her calling as a manbo and now she is one of the most powerful manbos in the country. They speak to people based on their journey. […]
Read the full conversation on WoyMagazine.com!
DEGI | Recommendations before you go
19ème FESTIVAL 4 CHEMINS / PROJECTION : RENAÎTRE | Festival Quatre Chemin
Cap-Haïtien n’est pas la nouvelle capitale d’Haïti ! | Jameson Francisque pour AyiboPost
KANPAY SOS DEPRESYON | KOZRI SIJÈ : MALADI DEPRESYON KAY ATIS AK SELEBRITE
Insécurité à Bel-Air, le calvaire des artistes | Loop by Gilles Justin
Haiti: An island nation whose environmental troubles only begin with water | Conrad Fox