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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Pwomès se dèt
A promise is a debt
(Haitian proverb)CHAY LA | Main Story
Election Season
As Americans head to the polls next week, including Haitian Americans, it’s important to recall the long history of anti-Haitianism in the United States. Rooted in colonialism, the racist rhetoric of immigration policies and meddling foreign policy have grave implications for the material conditions of the lives of Haitians in the US and Haiti. Valerie Jean Charles argues in a recent article for Woy Magazine,
“This is why it is comical at best and concerning at worst that some view this moment as an opportunity to whip up Haitian and Haitian-American votes for the Harris-Walz campaign. Anti-Haitianism is a foundational cornerstone of anti-Blackness and American political ideology as we know it. No one who heads an empire built on the economic, environmental, and physical degradation of First Nation peoples and Africans will ever have Haiti’s best interest at heart. At most, Haiti must continue to serve as an example of the torture awaiting Black people who attempt to protect themselves and their communities and revere their ancestors – both those who survived chattel slavery and those whose final resting place is the Atlantic Ocean.”
A strong Haiti clears any and all obstructions to global Black reparations. A strong Haiti weakens capitalism and forces us to contend with how much of the Western world’s wealth remains a direct product of the transatlantic slave trade. A strong Haiti demands that we ask ourselves hard questions about pan-Africanism and how nations like Jamaica, Guyana, the Bahamas, Kenya, and others who have directly benefited from our constant humiliation can properly be held accountable for their actions. (Source: Woy Magazine)
Money is the clearest mirror
Earlier this month, we discussed the messy participation of the Haitian presidential council and the prime minister at the UN General Assembly, where the conflict between the two came into sharp relief. Since then, the two sides have been caught in a battle of egos at the expense of the Haitian people.
A damning investigative report to the justice sector was handed over by the Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC), leveling bribery allegations against three of the Presidential Council members: Louis Gérald Gilles (Accord 21 du Decembre/Ariel Henry, Tet Kale), Smith Augustin (Ede, RED, Compromis Historique), and Emmanuel Vertilaire (Pitit Desalin).
Instead of requiring the suspected CPT members to step down — at least temporarily while the case goes through the courts — these members have only been disqualified from ever serving as head of the council.
According to reporting by Radio Caraibes, the council members insisted on replacing Edgar LeBlanc Fils as the current head of the council based on his weak hand, which they blame for Prime Minister Garry Conille’s unbridled hubris and the lack of promising results. To adequately replace Edgar LeBlanc, who was hoping to stay on following the corruption scandal, the CPT members agreed to keep the accused members on to secure their votes and replace LeBlanc with Leslie Voltaire. Voltaire, fresh from being snubbed by Brazil in New York, has spent the past few weeks demanding that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dominique Dupuy be fired for the UN General Assembly debacle among other changes in the government. Conille has refused. They also don’t agree on who should control the national security commission that would give the country a strategic plan to fight the gangs.
In the meantime, some neighborhoods in the metropolitan area of the capital, notably Solino, and Tabbare 27 have been engulfed by fighting between law enforcement and armed groups. Gangs have also attacked the town of Akayè, spreading thin the resources of the Haitian National Police and army to respond.
“Une jeune fille a été tuée par une balle perdue à son domicile, lors d’une nouvelle attaque armée du gang de Bel Air contre Solino (au centre de la capitale), le jeudi 17 octobre 2024, date marquant le 218e anniversaire, (17 octobre 1806 - 17 octobre 2024), de l’assassinat du principal fondateur de l’indépendance d’Haïti (le 1er janvier 1804), Jean-Jacques Dessalines.” (Source: AlterPresse)
POLITIK/POLEMIK
Protests in Vèrèt
On October 14th, thousands of people took to the streets in the Verrettes commune to protest against the deplorable conditions in the Artibonite; largely resulting in the chronic insecurity plaguing the region over the last 5 years.
Notable figures including Jean Hervé Cadet and farmer Ernst Lajeune were among the main organizers, bringing together schools, farmer’s institutions, and political organizations, among others.
The crowd of demonstrators, stretching for hundreds of meters and carrying tree branches, scarves, and signs, chanted slogans to the rhythm of music, such as "We want to go to Savien" and "Gangs are not a national product." The heated protesters marched through the localities of Chandèl, Pon Koupon, Borèl, Moreau des îles, Carrefour Deschapelles, Doda, Pon Paremon, and Desjardins, eventually reaching the Verrettes police station. (Source: Le Nouvelliste)
KILTIRÈL
October in Pòtoprens is the start of the arts festival season. The 9th edition of the Quinzaine Internationale Handicap et Culture festival took place from October 1st - 15th. This festival which caters to artists with disabilities includes workshops, trainings, plays, and musical performances. The theme this year was Deafness: Access to another sort of listening/attentiveness.
The theater festival, Festival Quatre Chemin, in its 21st edition will also be underway as the holidays roll around this year. Stay on top of the latest announcements on Instagram or Facebook.
En Lisant, the annual theater festival that highlights some of the most prominent writers and artists of the country recently dropped the poster for this year’s edition, with the theme Et Si C'était la Fin? (What if it was the end?). We interviewed En Lisant’s 2022 guest of honor, playwright Andrise Pierre. Check out our conversation with Andrise about writing to fill the void.
