Blog about The HAITI.2 MOVEMENT & JUSTIMA's 21st century-style New Politics for HAITI

For Renewing the Haitian Political Personnel so Advancers now lead Decliners.

Welcome to the Blog where you can hear from me directly. Make yourself at home.

Bienvenue sur le Blog où je peux tout vous exposer directement. Faîtes comme chez vous.
http://justimaenfrancais.blogspot.com/

Byenvini sou Blog la. Ou Lakay ou. Mete-w Alèz.
http://justimaankreyol.blogspot.com/

Bienvenido. Mi casa es su casa.

About Me

My photo
La Vallée-Jacmel, Plateau Central et Port-au-Prince (Cité Soleil), Haiti
Qui est Justima?: Un homme qui voit le côté positif des choses et qui part en guerre contre l'idée fataliste qu'Haïti qui est sans cesse dans une descente et chute libre mystiques depuis 200 ans ne se resaisira pas dans les 5 prochaines années pour commencer à réussir une ascencion matérielle et mentale qui va étonner le monde. Un homme de croyances profondes et de principes qui part en guerre contre notre instabilité politico-sociale chronique, désordre institutionnel systémique généralisé, dysfonctionnement économique total et qui dit qu'Haïti a besoin d'un pouvoir volontariste fort pour combler le retard et le mal-developpement de plus de 200 ans. Un homme de famille qui croit que si le plus petit noyau d'Haïtiens qui est la famille connaisse un renouveau et re-apprenne à tisser entre ses membres des liens de confiance et de constance solides et durables ceci refairait fractalement la société haïtienne et le tissu social haïtien et augmenterait exponentiellement le capital social sur lequel on doit lever une nouvelle nation. Un homme qui adore chanter, danser, faire à manger, voyager et qui adore aimer. Justima est le second plus jeune ancien Candidat à la Présidence d'Haiti.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Mounting Frustrations in Haiti: From calamity to calamity after the 4 hurricanes 2 schools collapses and disguts from Haitian bloggers



We are publishing this below without much comments in one sense or another. It is not our practice to publish other people's opinions, except if it is an article or some sort of study or information. But in this case, it is warranted. Not because we share necessarily what was expressed as posted in the blog, but because it makes our case. It illustrates what we term the mounting frustration and anger and hunger for another sort of leadership in Haiti, a leadership that is not powerless or helpless in the face of our impending national doom, a leadership of new possibilities:



"Second Haiti School Collapse in 1 Week!




We have just learned that there has been another school collapsed in under one week in Haiti.

This time it is the Grace Divine school in Port-au-Prince Haiti and the Haitian school building came crashing down while school was in session.

This is what happens in a country with NO Laws and no Law Enforcement, No codes and No code enforcement.

People in Haiti build how ever they feel like it, there are no building inspectors and no building inspections.

Most houses and buildings in Haiti are built by a "Kontre Mèt' and Bòs Mason, people with no concept of Physics, and no architectural skills.

How long can we continue to live in such conditions?



This is 2008 people!!!

We need to elect government officials with VISION, leaders who have the "Cohones" to stand up to the Haitian people for their own good...

We DO NOT need the type of WEAK, "Ti Sousou" leaders, who continues to tell the Haitian people to "PRAN KONSYANS" not realizing that they have been hired to LEAD.

So...

LEAD...

Leader!

LEAD...


We have leaders who are so AFRAID of the very people they are leading that they **** in their pants every time some looser lights up a tire in "CITE SOLEY".

ENOUGH!

The role of a government is to govern...

To serve,

To protect,

To lead...


So...

LEAD...

Leader!

LEAD...


ONE school building out of thousands collapse in Haiti our commander in chief, Rene Preval, is talking about "Les Etas Unis et Le Canada" AND he said nothing about what measures he will take to prevent this from ever happening again.

( watch the video: http://www.fouye.com/video.php/9455 )

In 2008, 204 years after calling ourselves a republic, are you telling me that we don't have enough resources to rescue less than 100 people out of a 3 story building in a country of NINE MILLION?

So what the hell will happen next year when Gonaives is flooded again?

My God! Mr. President, what exactly is your job description?

What in God's name are you getting paid for?

Begging foreign nations on behalf of the Haitian People?

We can do that ourselves!

All we really need is a few hungry kids, some flies, and television camera.

How can we be proud of ourselves as Haitians when our leaders, the ones we should look up to, are out there begging for help on our behalf every time there is a problem.

If we really are a nation of beggars, then we don't really need a president at all, what really need is a lobbyist in Washington D.C.

The President of the Republic of Haiti is asking the media to "TELL" the people to move.

He is waiting for help from the United States and Canada.

He is leaving it up to their good conscience to do the right thing.


WOW!

I am so proud to be Haitian right now!

Who needs the police when a Haitian hoodlum can "CHOOSE" not shoot me!

I used to love my country because, in Haiti, I can do whatever I want, "Liberté", we call it.

You know something? I don't think it's a good idea and I apologize for being so selfish because I now realize that, in Haiti, I am not the only one with the "Liberté" to do whatever I want, criminals also have the "Liberté" to shoot me and get away with it, businessmen also have the "Liberté" to build dangerous schools to collapse on my kids and get away with it, and government officials also have the "Liberté" to sit around, speak French, and watch all of us die with our "Liberté".

I cannot see how progress can come out of that.

Democracy is not "Liberté" and "Liberté" is not Democracy.

What we have in Haiti, it is not Democracy.

Why am so upset?

My two boys have been going to school in Haiti for the past TWO years, I feel the pain of these parents, because it could have been my boys in one of those buildings.

My name is Woodring Saint Preux and I said it."

Posted by Woodring Saint Preux on 11/12/08 5:56 PM
FOUYE NETWORKS

http://www.prevalhaiti.com/messages.php/11580

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Justima on Hurricane Hanna and the Disaster in Gonaives, Haiti



Here is a view of what Hanna did to Gonaives, Haiti's fourth largest city. It seems a repeat of what Tropical Storm Jeanne did 4 years ago in killing close to 3000 people in the area. We are trying to help through surrogates on the ground, possibly sending lower priced rice to be sold as a breather to the people.

But the endemic problem of low-lying Gonaives that sits as a "cuvette"' or a tub at the back of a couple of nearby mountains persists. About a month, before the first disaster of Tropical storm Jeanne, in August 2004, JUSTIMA Emmanuel, the Head of Fondation JUSTIMA, went to Gonaives and warned "Gonaivians" of the potential problems.

In a clear and simple language that all could understood, Justima reviewed with the hundreds of people that were assembled to hear him speak what danger exactly he thought the people of Gonaives were facing. Then he stated the obvious comprehensive solutions. He said on top of the urgent re-directing of the three rivers which converge near the city and the deepening of them to at least 30 feet so they are less likely to burst their banks, even in the case of a storm of the century, here is what else needed to be done:

"We prescribe on top of that to re-drain, the "re-drainage" of the entire city or the "re"-construction of sewers and digs and canals with locks to manage any excess water. There must be also man-made lakes or "lacs collinaires" as well as big, deep, 30-feet bassins and/or in-pluviums to collect the water at the source as well as serious deep "curage" or cleaning of Gonaives harbor which is filled with debris and alluvions that is becoming an obstacle course which keeps on pushing any drained water back to the city.

And lastly over an abundance of caution, we ask that guaranteed low-cost loans be made available by the Haitian State for all houses in Goanaives to be retrofitted so they can be from now on on a raised foundation if all else fails. This is the only comprehensive systemic strategy to save thousands of lives we are proned to lose each time we would have a sustained drenching rain here. Do not forget, we have yet to re-forest these nearby mountains which are totally desolate and are without any trees that have been cut. As a consequence no retention of rain water is any longer possible which anyway would only slow down this serious potential for killer and muddy very high flood waters that I see that can plague and deluge this area any time there would be serious stalling storms over Haiti. Gonaives has that problem, Anse a Veau has that problem, Leogane has that problem among many. We must act before to pre-empt any of that."

That was foresight on the part of Justima, a vision of the way forward, a concern for the future since August 2004 and a concern to unstuck in the areas where Haiti has been stuck for years. This job must be done as Justima called it, for the sake of Gonaives and very probable continuing calamities. If not, we will continue to have the United Nations and the international community rushing in endlessly with inflatable boats and helicopters to rescue people from some things from mother nature which can, if not averted all together, be made manageable with absolutely no further loss of life.

And this is the scandal about all this help for Haiti, short of the AIDS issue that the spread seems to have been contained, nothing seems to change in the eyes of many or nothing seems to be seriously or radically being worked on so that one thing can change for good.


Here is the report:
Updated: 9/3/2008 11:32:02 PM

Associated Press

Haiti bears Hanna's wrath

GONAIVES, Haiti (AP) - Entering a flooded city on inflatable boats, U.N. peacekeepers found hundreds of hungry people stranded for two days on rooftops and upper floors Wednesday as the fetid carcasses of drowned farm animals bobbed in soupy floodwaters.

Even as Tropical Storm Hanna edged away to the north, forecasters warned that a fourth storm - Hurricane Ike - could hit the Western hemisphere's poorest country as a major storm next week.

Haiti seems cursed this hurricane season, with its crops ruined and at least 126 people killed by three storms in less than three weeks. An estimated 26 people have died from flooding caused by Hanna.

"If we keep going like this, the whole country is going to crash," moaned Mario Marcelus, who was trying to reach his family in Gonaives but didn't dare cross the floodwaters.

Rescue convoys had been trying to drive into Gonaives, Haiti's fourth-largest city, but kept turning back because lakes formed over every road into town. On Wednesday, Associated Press journalists accompanied the first group of U.N. troops to reach the city aboard Zodiac boats.

Argentine soldiers based in Gonaives plucked residents from rooftops that were the only visible parts of their houses. In a cemetery, only the tops of tombs glimmered beneath the water. The carcasses of dead animals, including a donkey and a cow, floated amid debris as flies swarmed.

About 150 people were crowded into a church. Most retreated to a large balcony above the floodwaters, where they waited in misery for the destruction to recede.

"There is no food, no water, no clothes," said the 37-year-old pastor, Arnaud Dumas. "I want to know what I'm supposed to do. ... We haven't found anything to eat in two, three days. Nothing at all."

The Gonaives area, where about 110,000 people live, accounted for most of the 2,000 victims of Tropical Storm Jeanne in 2004. Some residents said the current flooding was at least as bad, and criticized the government for failing to implement safety measures in the past four years.

"This is worse than Jeanne," said Carol Jerome, who fled from Gonaive on Tuesday.

About two-thirds of Gonaives was covered in mud, although it was difficult to determine the extent of the flooding from the air, U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Matt Moorlag said after planes conducted flyovers. Severe weather prevented the planes from assessing the situation in the surrounding mountains, and there was no way to reach the area.

In the chaos, there was no way of knowing how many people might be dead in the area, or how many had been driven from their homes. People kept a wary eye on water levels, which appeared to be holding steady on Wednesday as Hanna moved farther offshore.


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Thursday, August 7, 2008

JUSTIMA on OBAMA, HAITI, The CARIBBEAN & AFRICA: The Politics of New Possibilities for Haiti & Africa and Vision of the Way Forward

Haiti and Africa and the Caribbean: Justima's Statement of Vision Regarding The Way Forward For Haiti & Africa Specially With A Probable Barack Obama’s USA Presidency

Haiti: The New Platform and Portal for Creating Wealth By Mutual Stimulation Between The Economies of Africa and The Economies of The Americas

As it has been historically for us, Haiti's destiny today is once again unequivocally linked to America, Africa and The Caribbean. Sooner or later, so goes America on a geo-political level and so goes Africa as far as a material ascent or discent for the black world is concerned, so goes Haiti and vice versa. And as America and the rest of the developed world are about to realize it, Africa is the last great continent where they can make a last stand to grow their economies at home in the same range as China which is growing its economy in the 11% plus a year range and this phenomenal double digit growth can happen again for America and the rest of the top developed world just by growing the economies of Africa. Otherwise they will be caught up and even declassed by the roaring economies of the emerging 9: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Turkey, Mexico, Chile, Saudi Arabia.

Haiti can play a role as a platform and a portal for that critical and profitable cross breeding and cross fertilization between the economies of Africa and the economies of The Americas and Haiti can live nicely off the dividends. Indeed, where else would you have hundred of millions of people still in need to consume, in extremely large bulk quantities, what the West is shutting down their national manufacturing doors for, if it is not in Africa? And moreover where else do you still find an abundance of natural resources still to be harnessed and to be made into the new innovative things that the West will consume, other than Africa?

Private equity firms in the US and elsewhere are already realizing that and are treating Africa as a continent like the next China, positioning themselves to find niches there to grow their capital like nowhere else. The trouble is there is no clear distinctive platform to deal with Africa and exploit its boundless opportunities for the countries of The Americas other than operating from Europe as a platform.

Haiti’s Comparative Advantage in the Model of Dubai: The Best Possible Bridge Between The Two Cultures of Africa and of The Americas

This is where Haiti comes into play:

1) inter-continent proximity,

2) enough untamed geographical space to start from a blank sheet and greenfield and build anything in our island, a land which can afford more than any other country a tabula rasa since we have not much to lose and which has very little high-costs retrofits to do,

and 3) a culture that looks and feels like Africa away from Africa.

The Caribbean countries like Trinidad, The Bahamas, Barbados, etc. have the offshore financial investments know-how and the money to help spur something great about Africa that America and the rest of the developed world can leverage when they see it is working. But no Caribbean country has the space within its territories to put up any such huge and sophisticated financial and portuary infrastructures in the scale and scope and in the way in which Haiti can.

Moreover, Haiti is at the heart of The Americas, geographically and almost equi- distant from one point to the other of the American continent, making it more efficient in time to dispatch anything to any country in The Americas out of Haiti. Furthermore, Haiti possesses a natural harbor like no other, the harbor of Port-au-Prince, where jumbo ships could enter the harbor from the southwest tip of the island in the area of Jeremie/Miragoane, unload their huge quantities of goods that are to be dispatched in smaller ships throughout The Americas, make a natural left turn in the area of La Gonave/St Marc and exit Haiti by the Mole St Nicolas area or the most northwest tip of the island.

Lastly, Haitians naturally behave as if they have all been raised in Africa while 99% of Haitians have never set foot in the continent, yet we seem to operate at the same level of comfort zone, adopting innate practices, stories, behaviors that seem similar in nature.

New Deal in The Works To Stabilize Haiti for good so it can play that Pivotal Role Specially if This and Other New Opportunities Will Spring From an Obama’s Presidency in The US

As the former second youngest Presidential Candidate of Haiti in the last general presidential elections of 2006, I, Emmanuel Justima, see Haiti, strategically and culturally, as an outgrowth of Africa in the Americas and I lead a group of several thousands, untainted young Turks from 25 to 55,young brilliantly educated Haitians men and women who are pledging their life, their fortune, their skills to work at positioning their island-nation of Haiti as such, guided by the vision and master plan that some close associates and I have been crafting for the levy of that new Haiti we call Haiti.2, the ambitious project of transformation of Haiti, planted over a span of 25 to 30 years to bloom into a new Haïtianna, one that plays a significant role in the division of labor of the new world that probably will be emerging.

Haiti, which will be led now by successive governments that would be part of this new deal for the new Haiti that our team would have been securing at home and abroad for a 30 year renewable period, would be tightly governed and transformed so as to become the principal interface between the two continents: The Americas and Africa, the new platform from which the two continents meet and do business.

The First Zoning and Re-Design of Haiti To Re-Create it As a Leading Platform and Hub

Such platform would be in the form of the development of 3 principal key critical infrastructures and a financial system in Haiti that can change Haiti and the world:

1) 1 huge air cargo hub and 1 huge sea cargo hub in the Center-West (Grand Centre-Ouest)region of Haiti,

2) the entire North-West (Grand-Nord)region of Haiti dedicated to Agriculture, Production and Processing and dedicated to be Africa's commodities commerce outlet and industrial far outpost where the commodities goods of Africa are traded and transformed in finished goods for the Americas,

3) a sophisticated currency exchange hub and platform in Port-au-Prince new financial district where are raised and managed the Americas's offshore investments into the pan-African economies.

1-About The Building in Haiti Of The Massive Port and Airport as Huge Air and Sea Cargo Hubs

Haiti as a platform would become the principal air and sea cargo hubs and the principal transatlantic direct connection between a massive port of ports in Port-au-Prince (which will be built in the great bay of the Haitian capital and which will stretch north from Port-au-Prince harbor to over 50kms all the way to the city of “Arcahaie”) and a port of ports in Africa, preferably in Accra, Ghana. We see goods coming from Asia through the port of Singapore or the one of Hong-Kong or the one of Mauritius islands, as well as raw materials collected all over Africa, converging to the Port of Accra, Ghana (or to the main port of Senegal) to be shipped directly across the continent in jumbo ships to the maritime hub of the port of Port-au-Prince which would be capable of handling in a sophisticated way the next generation of jumbo containers ships from where they will be unloaded and dispatched in smaller ships throughout the Americas—North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean.

In addition to this innovative port which would be built to achieve quick critical mass in scale and scope, we see Haiti building, right across this bay front and this 50 km long port of ports of Port-au-Prince, a world class, central transcontinental, 3 runway lanes international airport in the Haitian island of “La Gonave” which is situated right in front of the capital.



This island of La Gonave, which itself is located right at the heart of Haiti, is a central strategic position that needed to be exploited and that is where shall be built the 3 runway lanes 24/7 international airport that shall make Haiti the principal air hub and air cargo hub between the two continents, Africa and The Caribbean. It will be a state of the art airport facilities with a design capacity of over 11 millions tons of air cargo a year, coming from even the new generation superjumbo aircrafts, and with a handling capacity of pass 29,000 millions passengers annually.




Both gigantic infrastructures, the massive port and the state of the art airport, would be designed to place Haiti firmly in a “pole position” for regional logistics, tourism, industry and commerce. Haiti, in this way, will be remaking itself and its image and will be quickly known, with the rise of its new generation of leaders, as a global and steady brand of sophistication of services upstream and downstream to almost billions of consumers of the two continents. It is the current world economic order and The Americas geography that make this voluntary vision possible as Haiti finds itself blessed to be at the center, at the heart of The Americas.

And on the other side of the American continent, what makes Ghana a suitable prospect? Ghana right now is positioning itself already as the port of ports for Burkina Faso, Mali, Ivory Coast, Nigeria at times, and as the entry to the greater West African market.The greater West African market, of about 300 millions people, has been working towards a common currency, a common visa, one-roof consistency of practices in terms of common rules and regulations and enforcements of contracts.Evidently, once all or a majority of these West African countries as well as a majority of the rest of the other countries of the continent (led by the continental giant destined to be a world power South Africa) move toward stability of contract, social stability, political stability, and economic stability, we would be able to take advantage of that from Haiti’s geographical and cultural positions.

But only if Haiti also works on establishing firmly throughout its land these same 4 pillars of stability that make you be taken as a serious nation and a reliable, steady and bankable partner — stability of contract, social stability, political stability, and economic stability—and also only if our island nation does so out of a new vision, new values, new attitudes and new tools.That is the kind of leadership our various teams of young Haitians look to a Justima to provide so we can make our marks and our irreversible imprints on Haiti as a new generation and that is what I have been working on, in uniting and inspiring capable credible Haitians, in supplying the new blood and fresh eyes in the Haitian political landscape in order to give the impetus for a definitive fresh start for Haiti which, then, could find itself in that position to play this important role in the division of the world’s labor.

We see Haiti, partnering with the CARICOM countries, as one greater common single market, the like of the greater West African Market and I am even considering pushing CARICOM to go further into becoming a loosely coupled Caribbean Union where beyond the sophistries and the myriads photo-opps, there is really something sizable and tangible to gain for the population of each island, in terms of material wealth, if the Caribbean neighborhood remakes itself into a union so it significantly matter in America's backyard.
And in a show of great hemispheric unity, Haiti the big island and the big kid in the block offers, under our leadership, its territory to become CARICOM single market’s main platform, as the island-nations of the Caribbean through Haiti and with us, would seek to be Africa’s main commercial and industrial far outposts in the Americas, the lands of display and of trade of African commodities goods, services, and know-how. Everything from Africa shall transit through Haiti first as the principal sea and air cargo hubs and then from Haiti will be able to go anywhere in the Caribbean, and in the rest of The Americas.

2-About The Building in Haiti Of The Financial District and The Financial System as Principal Currency Exchange Place and Main Hub of Offshore Investments in The Pan-African Economies

To complete the first 2 critical infrastructures which are the 50 km long massive maritime port and the huge 3 way lanes transcontinental airport, we see Haiti becoming the principal currency exchange hub and Africa’s financial arm in The Americas as well as being the place for The Americas’ main offshore investments in Africa, as Haiti specializes itself at organizing, from its soil, the overseas community of investors in the pan African economy.

The business model for this will be simple: coordinating the sovereign funds from the countries of The Americas and the consortia of private equity firms, so as to lead each to continually raise yearly hundreds of billions of dollars to double and triple, as a rule of thumb, whatever China does in Africa. As an example, a Chinese company has agreed on a $ US 5 billion venture to build a mine, roads and power plants in the
Republic of Congo
, owning 68 percent of the venture while Congolese nationals would hold 32 percent. Congo has the world's largest cobalt deposits and Africa's biggest copper reserves, and is seeking to rebuild an economy shattered by a civil war that ended in 2003 leaving 4 million dead. In return, Congo would transfer 10 to 15 million metric tons of copper and cobalt reserves to the new venture. That is a lot of tons that the Chinese, smartly, would control in such a deal. Imagine if it was The Americas doubling such an investment bet at $ US 10 billion and then would get in return the control of 24 to 30 million metric tons of such copper and cobalt reserves that could be jointly processed both in Africa and in the Americas to create wealth on both sides of the continent.Imagine also it is The Americas, instead of China, controlling 8 to 10 million metric tons of crude oil each quarter of the year from Angola. African oil grades, such as those supplied by Angola, are favored for their relatively low sulfur content and high yields of auto fuels and Angola would deliver, imagine that, more of that oil to The Americas than Saudi Arabia, through the Port of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to increase the continental oil availability sustained by Venezuela, Mexico, Trinidad, the USA, and keep price low for all in The Americas. All that would happen if there is a natural channel to spur such transcontinental developments, if there is just a one-structured funneling mechanism of capital to cause things and people to grow on both sides of the continent. Once that oil supply is secured, both continent could then turn their attention to the development and mass-depolyment of new green energies technologies to re-power the transcontinental African-American economies in a more sustainable way.

3-About Haiti and the vocation of Processing Africa's Raw materials and Goods for The America's consumption
And becoming that funneling mechanism is among the 3 principal natural vocations of Haiti in the world economy. These are what we set ourselves to do in the next 25 to 30 years. As Haitians, this is the only way for us to stop fighting around a shrinking economic and opportunity pie; the only way to enlarge the pie using Africa and letting Africa and the Caribbean and The Americas use us and live, quite nicely, off the generous dividends as some other economies like Singapore have shown the way in parallel circumstances.


We would help reinventing international business in Africa in a way that meaningfully influences Africa's general economic development. Africa has been concentrating too much on export of raw materials instead of on manufactured goods. This is not a good bargain as its natural resources are being depleted but there is no massive advancement of its populations because raw materials are always sold cheaper than manufactured goods.

From Haiti, would spring the effort and the systematic ways and means to emphasize the development of intermediate and capital goods industries in Africa that can be customed finished in The Americas. In turn, that would create an explosion of job, of plenty and bounty that would transform the hundreds of millions of lives in the continent into willing and able consumers of Pan American's goods and certainly would turn millions of new well to do Africans into the new source for and the new wave of tourists that will visit North, Central and South America and The Caribbean, making the journey directly from Africa to the gates of Haiti's new jumbo intercontinental airport of La Gonave because Haiti has great historical significance for Africans as the place where the African Diaspora or people of African descent made their first political and military stand and success out of Africa. Haiti would be a Mecca that every person of African descent would have to visit or would have to go through to come enjoy The Americas’ adult playgrounds: The long chain of Caribbean Islands.

To Prepare Haiti and Africa To Get There From Here

We call this uplifting vision, a vision of re-making Haiti into a new Haitianna, a Haiti.2 that offers itself to help remake the African connection. And re-making the African connection will take, either in Haiti or in Africa, 5 critical indispensable massive mass elements:

- mass access to skills for all,

- mass access to new tools for all,

- mass access to capital and credit for all,

- mass access to opportunity for all and

- mass access to the support system or requisite critical infrastructures that help cause the transformation drive .

These 5 elements are the sine qua non, the musts that must take us away from the politics of smallness and of gradualism for the intended drive to mass wealth creation, mass wealth accumulation, and mass wealth distribution. And mass wealth distribution is the purpose and ultimate goal, the great "dessein" for the massive advancement of our populations we crave for. People can no longer wait for wealth to trickle down the old conventional gradual way and there is no need for that in this day and age, anyway.

The Politics of Hope for Haiti and Africa and of Overcoming Immobilism Specially If The G-8 is led by a US President Obama

Mass advancement strategy such as this one (mass access to skills, mass access to tools, mass access to capital, etc.) needs to be adopted everywhere, 1) if there is a vision for where is it heading and how far is it being taken, 2) if there is a new national entente or a new deal to let it happen and help it happen as one strategy that will lift all boats, 3) if there are institutional systems, structures and infrastructures being built to make that vision and that new deal happen and make them stick for good, and 4) if the adequate capitalization will be there or is there to fuel all that effort. If incrementalism and gradualism were used in Europe after World War II, Europeans would still be crawling as a result of under capitalization. It was rapid massive infusion of money, a Marshall Plan, which got them here. That is what Haiti and Africa would need today, as they have been for so long suffering of such under or inadequate capitalization. We want capitalism to flourish in Africa and in Haiti too, albeit it must be a capitalism of community with an explosion of plenty for a larger purpose instead of a savage capitalism, but there is no capitalism without capital anyway. And thank God this idea is being mulled over, even if timidly, by the G-8 and massive advancement strategy and adequate capitalization could become the way of the G-8, especially if an Obama is President of the United States.

America would be looking for, soon, for another motor for growth, for double digit growth if possible, to keep itself in the lead of nations and to offset its huge private and public comsuptions as high national debt and new jobs and new earnings are not there to help them keep up with the pace even with 2% to 4%growth annually. In the old world order and old model, America was dominating and powerful because it was willing and eager to make powerful other regimes and other countries, that were in its camp militarily and politically, to keep up with the interest of the bloc. And what America made, the bloc mass consumed it.

In the new model and new-world emerging, America will be powerful for China, Russia, Brazil, etc. if it takes countries like Haiti and continents like Africa and Mega countries like India and it acts as the rainmaker for these countries and an entire continent and makes them truly powerful economically over a definite horizon while using the dividends to keeps itself at the head of the class of nations. Britain,The United Kingdom, is the case in point. Pursuing selfish aims, self-serving domination aims, that make its business richer is great for America and was great for Britain until... Above all, Britain, The United Kingdom lost its grip on the world when it became incapable of projecting its power and might to continue to be the rainmakers in the world that were making other people and their countries powerful economically. Surely, the new generation of Americans will refuse that politics of smallness that can lead to America falling in that state of negative entropy.

A lot of our key people have been talking quietly about all this to some key young people loosely connected to the inner circles of a Barak Obama, Democrat, and of John Mccain, Republican, so as to seize the moment as soon as the time is right. But if there is a Democrat in the White House, expectations will rise for an Obama to not just rise from the ranks but to rise with the ranks.

Answering The Chinese Challenge in Africa

For, the Chinese are steadily extending their political and economic influence across Africa, particularly in regions rich in oils and minerals; they are investing billions of dollars securing access to resources for their fast growing economy from Angola oil to Zambia copper mines and Zimbabwe’s platinum, etc.The Americas, under the leadership of the US and of the Caribbean, need to be a player as important as the Chinese are in the future of Africa. And the main platform in the Americas that can make this possible is Haiti, considered to be a natural outgrowth of Africa in the Americas. There must be regional action and hemispheric unity over this and Haiti stands ready as a there is a new Haiti, a Haiti.2 under new management, that is taking shape in the minds of young Haitians and in my mind, as Haiti’s aspiring transformational leader.Let’s hopes that the US and the other countries of the Americas and of the Caribbean see and act on this Haitian/African opportunity as well.

For our part, I, Justima, have started with a round of preliminary policies discussions with world leaders regarding security in Haiti and regarding a plan of pacification and definitive stabilization of Haiti by Haitians themselves; a plan that the international community could support and trust for results. It is a plan that was reviewed by top former Haitian military brass, that declares war to Haiti's perennial chaos and that could subsequently create the proper contexts to establish the new State of Haiti that is outlined above, for an explosion of opportunities for trade and foreign investments in the recalcitrant lands of Haiti and of Africa.The only way to guarantee this future, on both sides of the continent, is to help create it.

JUSTIMA Emmanuel,

Ex-Presidential Candidate of the Senp Sitwayen-Action Democratique political regrouping
Leader of the new Popular Political Platform JWISANS



email: emmanuel_fondationjustima@voila.fr,
justima@live.com
HAITI.2@live.com

other site: http://fondationjustima.blogspot.com/

NOTES:

What is CARICOM?

Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) established - 4 July 1973; effective - 1 August 1973Aim - to promote economic integration and development, especially among the less developed countries.Members - (15) Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and TobagoAssociate members - (5) Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands


An Article ABout China's Interets with Africa

BBC: Trade to top China-Africa summit, November 2006

Top Summit of November 2006 Heads of state and ministers from at least 45 African nations hold a summit with China on expanding trade.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6112360.stm
o/em/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6112360.stm



Trade to top China-Africa summit


More than 40 African heads of state and ministers are in Beijing for a summit with China on trade and investment. "We take great pride in China's strong and warm friendship with Africa," said Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi at the opening of the conference. As its economy booms, China's drive to buy African oil and other commodities has led to a big increase in two-way trade, worth $42bn (£22bn) in 2005.Africa is also a growing market for Chinese goods. But critics say Beijing is stifling African manufacturing. Some analysts have said Africa is the only place left to go, as most of the world's other big oil reserves are already being developed by major Western energy companies.The three-day summit celebrates 50 years of diplomatic relations between China and Africa. It opens with talks between foreign ministers from at least 45 African nations and China. But the discussions will primarily be about the rapidly expanding economic ties between the two sides.Trade between China and Africa has increased tenfold since 1995. Officials have said that up to 2,500 separate business deals could be under discussion during the summit. Many of them are expected to revolve around China's hunger for African mineral resources, particularly oil. One of the countries taking part in the summit is Nigeria - Africa's biggest exporter of crude oil.

'Exploitation'

Some critics have voiced concerns over how Chinese-owned firms are treating African workers. I think many of us African leaders have in fact taken independent positions that may or may not be consistent with China's own policy stance Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Liberian PresidentProtests broke out in Zambia in July about the alleged ill-treatment of workers at a Chinese-owned mine, and there have been reports of pay disputes in Namibia.China's supporters point to the fact that it has invested billions of dollars in aid, cheap loans and helping to upgrade roads, ports, railways, telephone lines, power stations and other key infrastructure across Africa. Often, Chinese money is funding projects that Western investors had deemed too risky. Many economists argue that overall, China's growing economic ties to Africa are benefiting the region.Taiwan displeasedMeanwhile, the international community has criticized China's attitude towards some African countries: notably, its refusal to criticize Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, and its reluctance to force the Sudanese government to accept UN peacekeepers in Darfur.But in an interview with the BBC, Liberia's President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said that accepting China's investment would not mean agreeing with its political standpoint."When it comes to certain continental political positions, I think Africa must look at the positions we take, irrespective of what stance China takes, whether it's on Darfur, whatever else, and I think many of us African leaders have in fact taken independent positions that may or may not be consistent with China's own policy stance," she said. Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf said that her own country was a prime example of an African nation standing up to Chinese policies."In Liberia, we're trying to settle our huge debt problem. China wanted to provide some resources on the basis of sovereign guarantees. We said no, we can't take your money on that basis," she said.


In a separate development, Taiwan has called on the five African countries with whom it has diplomatic relations not to attend the summit. Gambia, Malawi, Burkina Faso, Swaziland and Sao Tome all have links with the island, which China regards as a breakaway renegade province rather than an independent state.China has said that the five countries are welcome to send observers to the Sino-African summit, though they remain ineligible to join in the Sino-African strategic economic partnership as long as they continue to recognize Taiwan.

Story from BBC NEWS

What is African Development Bank (AfDB)?

Its predecessor was Organization of African Unity (OAU)Established - 9 September 1999Aim - to promote economic and social developmentRegional members - (53) Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, ZimbabweNon-regional members - (24) Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, US

What is African Union (AU)?It replaces Organization of African Unity (OAU)Established - 8 July 2001Aim - to achieve greater unity among African States; to defend states' integrity and independence; to accelerate political, social, and economic integration; to encourage international cooperation; to promote democratic principles and institutions.


Members - (53) Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara), Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, ZimbabweWhat is African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States (ACP Group)?Established - 6 June 1975Aim - to manage their preferential economic and aid relationship with the EUMembers - (79) Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cook Islands, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Federated States of Micronesia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Thursday, March 27, 2008

JUSTIMA AND BOOK ON CHILD SLAVERY FROM SIMON & SCHUSTER

MY COMMENTS ON NEW BOOK FROM SIMON & SCHUSTER AND THE PASSAGE ABOUT JUSTIMA AS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AND CHILD SLAVERY IN HAITI

This new book from Simon & Schuster
(A Crime So Monstrous Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery By E. Benjamin Skinner This Edition: Hardcover Publication Date: March 11, 2008)

is out and it talks about Domestic Servitude in Haiti that the author Mr. Skinner calls "Child Slavery".

http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?pid=592022&tab=1&agid=2

The way CHAPTER ONE of this book is written, it is as if the former head of security watch at my presidential campaign's headquarter for the Presidential Elections of February 2006 in Haiti, Bernavil Lerhomme, was engaging around the last trimester of 2005, in an open and systematic trade of children for slavery that he might have ran directly out of my campaign headquarter and that seemingly (at least it can be implied or inferred to) I knew about it, I knew what Lerhomme was up to, while he was "moonlighting" for me as head of security watch for the headquarter, and that I either condoned or never said a word about the whole thing.

I have been asked to contextualize Mr Lerhomme's work for our first presidential campaign attempt aimed at getting our feet wet before we get down to real business for the nation in a future campaign. We are going to show some pictures so no one accepts the impression that seems to be conveyed in Mr Skinner's book that Bernavil Lerhomme was our head security guy. In fact, I emphasize he was the head of simply the detachment unit tasked with watching the headquarter, a very important task, but hardly a central unit of my security apparatus. See for yourself.

I did not seek to pay for the best elite security there are in our country. Although, I do look forward to work with them as well and to blend them seamlessly with what I started doing. Instead, I am about socio-economic promotion and I took average Haitians that are very skilled but out of work and lifted them up with direction and training such as Bernavil Lerhomme that Mr Skinner mentioned as central in his piece on me. This below was one one of my top security details units tasked to protect me and protect any dignitaries I met with. Mr Bernavil Lerhomme is never near such units doing such "protection rapprochée du chef".


The main car that I was driven in was protected at all time, as usual for people around the world doing what I was attempting to do for my country. And Mr Lerhomme again was rarely near such units tasked with such work. In this picture that follows, he is not there.


When I am in the misdt of a crowd talking or even if outside within the walls of the headquarter, other units are tasked to surround me and Mr Lerhomme was rarely around such units such as here.


Any control of the perimeter where we would be was the responsibility of units that Mr Lerhomme was never a part of, such as here.


Mr Bernavil was not also a member of the rapid intervention units in crowd control or in rapid exit strategy such as that one.


When Mr Skinner came to see me,just for an interview as a journalist and he did not tell me he was writing a book, I was receiving delegations after delegations and their committees as attested here. This is where he met me at the terrace level of our hedaquarter. This picture was taken the afternoon of our meeting as you can see me clearly in the middle.


Lastly, when I am making speeches, Mr Bernavil is not among those who stand behind me as attest here. And yes, pay attention to how I am dressed because this will be an issue with Mr Skinner. These are about the same clothes I wore on that day.


Now, it is about time you know why I am so thorough in establishing first what Mr Bernavil was not and what I was, so you can better judge Mr Skinner's piece on me and on my people as he is tackling in his book the critical issue of domestic servitude.

Mr Skinner described me as "smartly dressed", a description that can be interpreted to be more of a subtraction by addition as it is not germane to the subject of child slavery he was describing except if that personally offended him to find a Haitian "smartly dressed". What is implied here, Haitians are not supposed to be "smartly dressed". All of them must still be crawling as half-humans. Either the elite as they are so enshrouded in both their existential “ennui” and their powerlessness. Either the botoom part of our population so enshrouded in their misery. Either the middle class so enshrouded in their negative economic growth and wholesale dysfunctionality of the country that they cannot move up. Because we are that poor, we must alll look like crwaling half-humans. This is such a picture that should have emerged when he met me. Such a picture is more intuitive on what he was expecting to see and more in line with what’s expected of Haitians, for it is this very stereo-type picture that makes us, we Haitians, worthy of pity and of the world’s charity and that justifies the way our motherland is marketed and branded for us and without our consent as the most laggard and backward in the Western Hemisphere, curiously every time the word Haiti is uttered anywhere and we can’t seem to get rid of that tag glued on our back as our country last name.

And thanks to that tag and thanks to that picture, out of pity or out of the goodness of their heart, there is a perpetual rush to our Haiti, in an unending waltz of photo-opps after photo-opps, of people who say they come to our rescue, helpless Haitians that we are, since for them there is no end in sight when finally they can help us make it happen in turning it around, in taking our country and ourselves to make the quantum leap forward that must definitively and irreversibly change our life conditions so that we may begin to live, at last, like real human beings live in the 21st century. We, Haitians of a new generation, have not seen a rush of people interested in that yet and I am sorry I disappointed Mr. Skinner in making that new Haitian (that is fighting to emerge) looks good.

Mr. Skinner stated as he met me, I introduced myself as “one of the smartest Haitians in the world". So much for contextualizing a conversation and for intellectual probity! I trust Mr. Skinner's readers are intelligent readers and they will ask themselves how would you meet someone who is running for the supreme "magistrate" of the State and the first thing he would say to you in introducing himself would be to arrogantly brand himself as” one of the smartest Haitians in the world"? If he is endowed with just one ounce of that level of smartness, this would not be very smart of him.

I don't know what would make me introduce myself specifically as such except that in my response to Mr. Skinner's leading question, I tried to put in context for him that Haiti has now the greatest number of well-educated Haitians in its entire history since 1804 and as one of them I stated to Mr. Skinner as I state often to others_ which is for me naturally staying on message_ ’to whom much has been given much is required and that we, the greatest number of educated Haitians since 1804, can be the second greatest generation of Haitians in History if we answer the social historic generational call to use our education to effectively manipulate the structural and infrastructural conditions and the realities of Haiti to such extent that we transform lives and every day reality for Haitians and do it for Haiti today's needs and its tomorrow's aspirations and demands.’

Also, Mr. Skinner stated I said one of the pledges of my campaign was "greater rights for restavek" (the name given to people doing domestic work in Haiti. Read “Reste Avec” or living in with). We never discussed such. I would have told Mr Skinner “slavery” is slavery whichever way you cut it and that my presidential campaign pledge would not simply be to just give greater rights to children in slavery or in modern day captivity, in the form of domestic servitude, but to liberate them from such conditions and to obtain that they become "domestic workers" rather than "domestic servants" and that they get paid about 7 times less what their employers would earn as total annual income (if their employer makes $ 49,000 a year they would have to pay them $ 7000 a year as a domestic employee up to a cap of $70,000 a year) based on our cardinal belief that in any construction system and for its structural stability and integrity "the floor is linked to the ceiling" as in the constructing of a stable and just and perennial society. Otherwise, those at the top of the socio-economic ladder would tend to run away as they lift themselves up and neglect to reach down and lift also those upon the shoulders they are getting their bounce of.

No, Mr. Skinner did not ask me about child slavery and some of my staff who was there can testify to that. Everybody in Haiti and outside Haiti knows I want to bring a new day in Haiti, I want to break, not tinker with, the traditional, the old cake of custom and bring about 2 key things that have been lacking, innovation and technical change, in every area of Haitian life. My position, as it has been reported extensively, is that you cannot continue to "ameliorate" what is no longer “ameliorable", improving what is no longer improvable. How could my campaign for the presidency of my country amounts to nothing more than just "greater rights" for the "restaveks"? Every Haitian or foreign journalist who has ever approached me knows that I salute at every turn I take the Haitian people for winning their existential struggle by themselves, without much help from a real visionary and transformational leader with a culture of delivering tangible, life-changing, profound results until now and that to pick up from such existential standpoint, my change platform calls not just for a "mieux-etre" or a "better off" for each one of them but for a "plus-etre" a quality of life in elevation; not just helping people that are surviving now to finally live but helping them, with life-changing sensible and significant transformations of the country and of their lives to compensate the fact they have been waiting as a people for so long for that change; since 1804; my platform calls for not just " better surviving and coping" and “living” but for ushering the day of "living well" for each Haitian, finally in a Haiti that finally delivers on the promise of its birth made to the grand-parents of each one of us.

I would be very inconsistent and blatantly hypocritical if suddenly I would simply want just "greater rights" for children in captivity or in slavery and not their total emancipation from slavery or from servitude conditions so each one of these children can be transformed into a licensed domestic worker who earns a real living on a living wage, paid in US Dollars or its equivalent, by those who can afford to hire their service for their households, in an economy that must be “dollarized” or “euro-nized” if it is to be poised for real sizable wealth creation, accumulation and distribution that restores the island to its glory days when it was The Kuwait of its time in size and economic output. Haiti can because Haitians can. I refuse to believe it was simply our masters who could make the land prosper and that we are destined to work eternally for them rather than becoming really the masters of our own domain which is our Haiti. This is why I talk about a 25-30 year vision that can stir the soul of all Haitians and make them want another shot at glory for our country and I leave incremental improvements to others who see us still in that situation for another 200 years.

Children should not work. But If Children must work, let them be bona fide workers protected by a body of laws that make sure not only they "live well" ,proportionately to those who think they cannot take care of all the demands of their household without having at their house such licensed domestic helpers, but that these young licensed domestic workers attains also a comparable status as hotel workers and be protected enough so they amass the financial resources over time and are given the work schedule to go the school of their choosing, in preparing themselves to graduate as early as they can from their domestic worker situation and move up to the next socio-economic status and class which is from working class to middle class. That has been my aim for all those who works hard and plays by the rules in any just society and especially in this new Haitian society I want to bring about and that my fellow Haitians would render me extremely humble if, next time around, they elect me to usher it in. Had Mr. Skinner asked, he would have known these are my long held views.

This is a very serious and important subject and I give Benjamin Skinner credit for tackling it. There was no reason in my view for him to pose as a journalist for one group of us and as a humanitarian for another, to sneak in and trick people in order to get out information which is, to me, critical for an investigation of child slavery in Haiti which is a very legitimate investigation. Later in that same chapter one, Mr. Skinner admits his dishonesty in dealing with my former security aide. He wrote:

"The potential for fraud was enormous. Assuming for a moment that Benavil smelled my
humanitarian bluff, who is to say he would provide me with a girl genuinely poised to enter
slavery? Perhaps he would give me the child of a friend of the family who was poor but not in danger, as a way for a blanc to pay for school".

Therefore he admits that my aide was merely trying to provide chiefly a socio-economic service, albeit one that we all can condemn, of finding children for domestic work that can border often to domestic servitude, and as in the case of recruiters or head-hunters who provide candidates who ultimately the boss may date, that may not have been a chief concern of Mr Lerhomme who was trying to make an honest living. Still, had Mr. Skinner told me that he found out Bernavil Lerhomme, my security aide, was willing to engage into finding children for child sex slavery, I would have acted swiftly. But Mr. Skinner would not have had much of a story to tell, would he? It is a shame how one can profit out of the misfortune of others on the cover of "humanitarian bluff", his words, not mine.

Mr. Skinner wanted a story, he got one. Now, I trust beyond that he is genuinely interested in that complex social problem and wants to report also on all structural and systemic efforts to uproot that socio-economic evil. For, there will continue to be an issue of child sex slavery or of child in domestic servitude or of child in sweat shops or of child labor in any society that does not continually create an explosion of opportunities, of plenty and of abundance for families to be able to stir themselves and their children away from such falsehoods, and from hunger and from lack and graduate their whole family from one socio-economic class to another, in one generation, without the need to get their child engaged in making a living or in helping the family making ends meet. This is a major complicated issue and I cannot fault needy parents who are preoccupied with the here and now to survive and may not discern among people there to help them help themselves and people who pretext aiding or pretext to be genuinely interested in pushing their child while in actuality they seek sexual gratification or to work that child like a horse in a state of apparent perpetual bondage.

It is still not too late for Mr. Skinner to not take this issue as an intellectual exercise and a Manichean moral view of you are right, you are wrong. I invite him to reach back to me and to reach to those who are in the trenches and who are busy like me figuring out how to turn for good, over a span of 25 years, life conditions in Haiti for children, for young adults, for women, for peasants, for the working poor, for the middle class and yes also for the new investors and the new "bourgeoisie" class that is trying to emerge to lead us to a new Haiti. Mr. Skinner will find, while we don't have all the answers, we are working on them and on a platform for their implementations, soon, God willing.

On a sadder note, I invite you to read the following passage of the except of Chapter One:

“The problem of child slavery in Haiti has deep roots in society. And the problem has
spread well beyond aiti's Borders...”

This is the first time (and I read quite a lot) and this is the worst diminutive I have seen somebody using when writing the name of my country. Even in Creole or in indigenous Taino, I know Ayiti, never “aiti” in small cap and minuscule like it does not even matter, referring to the country of about 10 millions proud people living an already difficult life in the island and of about 2 millions living outside the island who still cannot get the country out of their blood even if they were to try hard enough. This is most appalling and I ask for an apology from the author and from the publisher, to Haiti and to Haitians, because its editors should have caught that ultimately disrespect, a young author butchering the name of a country, although poor and down now and not out and which, nonetheless, had made historic contributions to mankind and the universal.

Go at the bottom of Mr. Skinner's Except of Chapter One to read about the comments I am referring to

http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?pid=592022&tab=1&agid=2

Share what you think with me:
JUSTIMA, Emmanuel
emmanuel_fondationjustima@voila.fr
justima@live.com
HAITI.2@live.com

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Haiti is starting to fall in the hands of young men and women

The best hope, at the start of 2008, is the realization that Haiti is increasingly starting to fall in the hands of young men and women.

It started right before 1985 with a new generation in the medias and in music, and now it is reaching the pinnacle of political power with the national Chief of Police, among others. And with the presidential elections of 2006, which has seen the emergence of a few young presidential candidates and leaders, the hope is now the country might fall all the way, in the hands of young men and women up to the highest sphere of politics and socio-economics. This can only be great news, the glad tidings that Haiti was waiting for, to renew our political personnel and have now a new modern class of political leaders that supply a new energy and a new lift to the nation to inspire it to finally push for its modern transformation that is needed in every area.


Friends, this is news that's worths sharing with others, Haiti is starting to fall in the hands of young men and women. And that means for Haiti and for the world:

(La Rencontre du jeu et de l’esprit, du plaisir et du patriotisme, de la creativite et du devoir, des racines et de la modernite, de la passion et d’une vision, de l’innovation a l’Haitienne, et de la fierte retrouvee et du faire pour laisser a la posterite.)

The rare blends of fun and knowledge, of pleasure and patriotism, of creativity and responsibility, of roots and modernity, of passion and vision, of innovation Haitian style and new country pride, all of which to build a new legacy as a generation to leave for posterity.

The terrible free fall mess and fatalist-defeatist mentality we have found, we are not responsible for them but we have a responsibility to stop them.

As one young Haitian woman frames it well in her myspace page, the road to success, going to the rescue of our nation, will not be straight but instead will be an obstacle course.

Ahead, there is a curve called Failure, a loop called Confusion, speed bumps called Friends, red lights called Enemies, caution lights called Family. We as young leaders will have flats called Jobs. But, if we have a spare called Determination, an engine called Perseverance, insurance called Faith, a driver called Divine Inspiration, we will make it with Haiti to that place called Success, we will make it, all of us, and that will mean both personal and national successes, individual successes and collective triumphs. Let's reach for one another and lean on each other.

We must prevail, so we can keep our head high, wherever we are, as members of a generation which has answered the call for the greatest duty of them all for the sake of the survival and the perennity of the Haitian nation and the Haitian people.

HAITI.2@live.com

Justima in Official Visits/ Justima en Visites Officielles

Justima in Official Visits/ Justima en Visites Officielles
With Representatives of the European Union/Avec des Représentants de l'Union Européenne

Justima in Pictures/Justima en Photos

Justima in Pictures/Justima en Photos

Quote of the day