211 Years in History
It was about 211 years ago, the 1st of January
1804, when the brave men of Haiti cried victory at last from the chains, the
whip, the rapes, and all the brutish savageries of the slave masters. It was
not a victory for Haitians alone. It was a victory for the Negro race in
general that had been subjected to the abasement of human nature through
institutional servitude by other human beings, based on skin pigmentation. Toussaint
Louverture, the architect of the fight for liberty in the face of French
colonialism, envisioned a society in which all men enjoy equal freedom in
accord with the laws of nature and civil society, as introduced by the same
French proclamation of “The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizens (1789).”
Toussaint did not wish to break away from France. At the
time, Haiti, or Saint Domingue, as it was known was considered the most
productive place on earth. The Colons named it, “The Pearl of the Islands” due
to its greenish beauty and its richness. The French Colons made fortunes there
on the backs of the black ancestors. Toussaint and his collaborators wanted
that to change, for the Negroes to have liberty and a share of the productive
life that was there. Based on the Declaration of 1789, he declared the slaves
free under the constitution of the then mother nation, France. However,
Napoleon Bonaparte, the French emperor of the time could not stand to see the
Negro people free. He unleashed the mightiest naval forces of the moment to
subdue Haiti. Jean Jacques Dessalines, the father of the Independence, cried,
“Libery or Death!” After the greatest atrocities, the French militaries
capitulated. The Negro slaves won their liberty and their territory.
Freedom did not bring unity in the new Haiti. It brought
faction instead, as the majority Negro population would have to perpetually
continue to fight the minority Caucasian and Mulatto that would not recognize
the Blacks as equal, to collaborate with them to form an environment of mutual
respect and prosperity for all. Now, it is 211 years after the Independence. Haiti has remained a culture of division and strife
that has produced a “Failed State”, as to the standard of the world of Nation
States and of the general society of globalization.
The Fight Goes On
Today, 211 years later, the fight goes on. The Haitian mass,
the underprivileged, the poor, the illiterate, and those sympathizing with them
are doing battle. The Haitian elites and the misinformed call them “ignorant
and savage, (sot, bet).” But for a contemporary British author, writing about
the American Occupation of the island, he considered the above description as
opposite. MARY ANASTASIA O’GRADY
wrote recently in the opinion section of the illustrious Wall Street Journal. “…everyday life here is, in the words of
Thomas Hobbes, mostly “nasty, brutish and short.” For this we can thank the
politicians.” That’s how objective observers view the independence that was
produced in Haiti by the Freedom fighters. It is sad. Yet, the mass of the
people would never give up their fight for freedom and prosperity.
So far, for 211 years of existence as a country, Haitian
leadership has failed miserably. Today, on the eve of the 211th
anniversary, the most deplorable condition is existed, as described by O’grady;
or as illustrated below - Crisis After Crisis: (1) Elections
are overdue for three years. (2) Soon all elected representatives would be
nulled. (3) The judiciary system is nonexistent or without merit. (4) The Prime
Minister was recently forced out by the president facing popular protest. (5)
The mass of the people requires the resignation of the President. (6) In
summary, Mother Haiti and its poor children are the only losers.
What new generations of Haitians leadership and all those
fighting for freedom must comprehend is the Toussaint Louvertue’s dream. It is
a world of Liberty of Mutual Respect, where people live and collaborating
together for a better society. It is what we call Democracy. Young and new
Haitian leaders must take a new approach away from the pass 211 years, where it
has been a fight for spoils and winners take all. Today, in the world of
globalization, nations are seeking to come together with each other to form
common bonds and share interests so that they could live in peace and harmony.
Haitian Elites Must
Beware
The world out there is no longer an environment of savagery
of hunting and gathering. It is a world of collaboration, of society, of
civilization. Nations are joined together to form better societies among
themselves and others. Are we so bestial that we cannot even collaborate with
our own brothers and sisters? Why can’t we come together and share? Lavalas
comes. They take everything to the left. Now Neo Makout is trying to pull
everything to the right. It is bestial at the uttermost. No wonder that O’Grady
sees life in Haiti as, “nasty,
brutish and short.” And, with that, the fight will always be on. Why? Because
the leadership, the elites, keeps the environment bestial and animalistic. And
what animals do in the wilderness? They chase after each other. They devour
each other.
How Long this Is Going to Continue?
The new generation has to choose. Are we going to continue
on the destructive paths of our parents? Or, are we going to concoct our own
new and better pathways that would lead us in this world of globalization? This
is a recipe for you Nouvel Generation: (1) The
nation state is a civilized environment where various groups of people live in
common accord to better their lives based on societal nature and away from the
wilderness. (2) People
are brothers and sisters in a national environment, responsible for each
other’s safety and well-being, as separated from other nations. (3) The
nation state is a collective society; all the nationals must come together in
mutual respect, collaborate, and work to advance the better cause of the
nation. (4) No
other nation is in the best interest of another. The leadership of each nation must
take the best strategy to bring the nation to parity with the world of nation
states, or it would be a failed state. (5) No one has the right to take full control of
the nation. We have to collaborate and share in mutual respect, and work
together to accomplish a prosperous civil society. (6) The
national representatives must always be ready for dialogue, negotiation,
collaboration, and working together to build the nation for the betterment of
all national members and the society at large.
The new generation must adopt a communal sentiment, of
collaboration. The young people must join together; they must group to vote for
collective and national interests, making sure that leaders understand that
they are not free to come, to create conflicts, fight, and waste the meager national
resources, and not working together to make the nation better.
Join the conversation. Connect with granmoun@hotmail.com, or Join the Facebook group: MKNA – All Haitians Together For A Better Haiti
By E.C. GRANMOUN
