Haiti, Rise “Masters of the Dew!” Defiant Force by the “Wretched of the Earth”

What are we? Since that’s your question, I’m going to answer you. We’re this country, and it wouldn’t be a thing without us, nothing at all. Who does the planting? Who does the watering? Who does the harvesting? Coffee, cotton, rice, sugar cane, caco, corn, bananas, vegetables, and all the fruits, who’s going to grow them if we don’t? Yet with all that, we’re poor, that’s true. We’re out of luck, that’s true. We’re miserable, that’s true. But do you know why, brother? Because of our ignorance.

We don’t know yet what a force we are, what a single force – all the peasants, all the Negroes of the plain and hill, all united. Some day, when we get wise to that, we’ll rise up from one end of the country to the other. Then we’ll call a General Assembly of the Masters of the Dew, a great big coumbite of farmers and we’ll clear out poverty and plant a new life. — Jacques Roumain “ Gouverneurs de la Rosée,”, p. 106

Constantly in the eye of hurricanes, Haiti was hit on August 14, 2021 with a major earthquake leaving in its wake over 2,000 dead and hundreds missing with over 12,000 injured.

A stark reminder of the “January 12, 2010 earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince, Leogane, and other cities and settlements in the south of Haiti, leaving 300,000 people dead, another 300,000 injured, and 1.3 million homeless.”  

Louisiana, United States, your dead need to respectfully lie behind a very, very, very, long row Haitians.

No matter the amount of international aide and number of projects proposed by the best think tanks, Haiti’s government and power companies cannot help themselves in adding insult to an already injured people.

Yet, the Gouverneurs de la Rosée will rise and defy corrupt governments and Haiti’s “Snake-Oil Salesmen.” Societe Generale d’Energie SA (Sogener), E-Power and Haytrac.

Haitians not only face nature’s wrath but man-made disasters. Their government failed them. And from all accounts, power companies left them with “blackouts,” adding darkness to a dangerous environment where injustice permeates. People are literally out of power and powerless against a corrupt system.

RAND National Security Research Division (NSRD) 1.1.2010 Report, Building a More Resilient Haitian State reveals that “Haiti’s justice system is deeply flawed: The courts do not carry out their constitutional responsibilities…the criminal code dates from the early 19th century;…corruption is widespread; and relations are poor between the Haitian National Police (HNP).”

So, who do you go to when you cannot trust your government or foreign entities who claim to want to help? Still, the biggest question is:  How did Haiti get into this poor state of affairs? According to RAND:

“Haiti’s fragility cannot be blamed on its geography or its demography, but rather on its history. Treated as a virtual pariah for much of the 19th century by reason of its national origins in a successful slave rebellion…Forced in the 19th century to pay France a massive indemnity for properties lost in that rebellion, Haiti became entrapped in a cycle of poverty and misgovernment from which it has never emerged.”

“Wretched of the Earth”

Two men familiar with France, poverty, and entrapment in the Caribbean Sea are Aimé Césaire and Frantz Fanon. Both are from Martinique, Haiti’s not so distant neighbor.

In 1955, Césaire stated, “at the present time the barbarism of Western Europe has reached an incredibly high level, being only surpassed – far surpassed, it is true – by the barbarism of the United States.”

Césaire did not mince words or hypothesized; he lived these words, embraced them and passionately versed the cries of the “wretched of the earth.”

“Exactly; but if I turn my attention from man to nations, I note that here too there is great danger; that colonial enterprise is to the modern world what Roman imperialism was to the ancient world: the prelude to Disaster and the forerunner of Catastrophe. Come, now! The Indians massacred, the Moslem world drained of itself, the Chinese world defiled and perverted for a good century; the Negro world disqualified; mighty voices stilled forever;…”

Who better to speak of the “wretched of the earth” than Frantz Fanon whose book bears this title. Fanon states “Seen through its eyes [national middle class] its mission has nothing to do with transforming nations….which today put on the mask of neo-colonialism.” I take this to mean that there is a hidden agenda, which capitalizes on a country’s resources while feigning peace and friendship.

Fanon adds, “The national economy, formerly protected, is today literally controlled.” Decades later, what has changed? Transnational Corporations TNCs continue to have a hold on susceptible countries as do paid contractors and mercenaries masking themselves as sponsors, supporters and donors.

Ӫ Haiti and Afghanistan Game Play: “Snake Eyes”

Island and Desert, Why would the West impose their “broken” socioeconomic system on others? BECAUSE IT WORKS and gives governments and corporations control and forced labor.

Interestingly, RAND “conducts research and analysis for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the defense agencies, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Intelligence Community, allied foreign governments, and foundations.”  I imagine Haiti is not their only subject.

In fact, consider that when it comes to security, NSRDs findings of Haiti are remarkably similar to that of the recent Intel findings in the aftermath of Taliban’s re-takeover of Afghanistan:

“The security situation deteriorated as thugs loosely aligned with Haiti’s various political forces played a growing role in politics. Poor and lacking military, effective police, or a functioning criminal-justice system, the Haitian state was ill-prepared to maintain law and order or even defend itself …Political leaders continued to enrich themselves illegally…”

Like in Afghanistan, the International community followed its national security playbook to “train” Haitian forces. “The ultimate aim of the 2006 reform plan was to create a police force of 14,000 well-trained, well-equipped officers by 2011 that would provide basic security for Haiti in line with international standards.” However, “Records on personal data tend to be very poor in Haiti, making it difficult to track police officers’ past and present behavior (or misbehavior).”

So what is Afghanistan’s secret? Simple, like Haiti’s government and private power companies, Taliban was literally and figuratively in control and power. However, in stark contrast to the Middle East where man-made disasters arise from terrorism and invasions, Haiti faces both man made corruption and natural disasters.

Haiti, seemingly at war with colonizers for centuries may find it poetic justice that the West, primarily France and the US, lost their war in Afghanistan after two decades.

Corruption and catastrophes befall Haiti the way spies and espionage are leveraged in crises and war. With nothing to lose, does one finally face the ‘eye of the storm’ and gut the belly of power beasts. Guard, pit is adorned with sneering snakes.

Recall that RAND “conducts research and analysis for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the defense agencies, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Intelligence Community, allied foreign governments, and foundations.”

Did they not read the National Security Research Division report prepared for them in 2010?:

“The prototypical fragile state is inaccessible, often land-locked, surrounded by weak or predatory neighbors, and wracked by tribal, ethnic, religious, or linguistic tensions. Haiti suffers from none of these disabilities. It is surrounded by friendly, comparatively prosperous neighbors…Unlike some fragile states, Haiti has no precious gems, minerals, or other such resources over which parties might fight.”

Being a beautiful and fragile paradise is Haiti’s strength and weakness. Disaster after disaster the people awaken to the light and a consuming pain the Haitian artist and author Frankétienne understands well.

Frankétienne, the artist of the 2011 artwork, Difficile émergence vers la lumière (Difficult emergence into the Light) added to his artwork the words, “Par-delà la fureur des tempêtes saisonnières il y a des voix qui parlent et des tripes que saignent.” Or, “Beyond the rage of seasonal storms there are voices that speak and bleeding guts.”

Two survivors risen from the recent earthquake are quoted by the Miami Herald:

“We are not well,” said Mertilia Zamor, 65, standing in front of her house, which is covered with borrowed sheets of USAID tarps for walls. “We’ve been forgotten. We don’t have anything. We are asking for relief.”

“We survived the earthquake,” Nelsy Pierre-Louis said, picking up clothes hanging off wooden fences and pieces of concrete slabs. “But we’re not living.”

Rise “Masters of the Dew!” You are not forgotten and will live again!