MetaFilter posts tagged with Haiti

Take these chains...

adamvasco — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 07:54:20 -0800

A World Enslaved: There are now more slaves on the planet than at any time in human history.
Restaveks are Haitian child slaves.
To understand more here is a Modern Slavery 101 and a BBC special. Slavery is often hidden as Bonded Labour.
On the positive side in Niger an ex-slave wins a landmark case .
Here is a country by country report.

Haitians are reduced to eating dirt.

Melismata — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:49:29 -0800

Many poor Haitians, driven over the edge by world rising food prices, are now eating cakes of mud, salt and shortening in order to survive. This article in the September issue of National Geographic describes how, thanks to history and other factors such as hurricanes, Haiti has lost its ability to feed itself; more than 90% of the country is deforested. The picture caption in the print version, not seen online, uses the word "clay" instead of "dirt". Bill Quigley wrote about the U.S. role in Haiti's food riots, which claimed six lives last spring.

It's all pepe, all the time

Knappster — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:35:39 -0800

The Afterlife of American Clothes. "From 2003 to 2007 [filmmakers Hanna Rose Shell and Vanessa Bertozzi] visited rag yards in Miami, dug through archives in London and Washington, D.C., and traveled to Haiti to see the international secondhand markets for themselves. The result is the recent documentary Secondhand (Pepe), which explores the global trade in used clothing."

Pretty much everywhere, it's gonna be hot.

ghastlyfop — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 08:25:05 -0800

Then I don't need a jacket! (Videosift link) From start to finish, the most inexplicably joy-inducing 9 seconds the internet has to offer.

The Agronomist

elpapacito — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 15:45:17 -0800

The Agronomist. Is a documentary about bananas and the republics (?) [2][3] where they are grown. Exquisite, tasty ,yellow and refreshing, this fruit was cultivated by some determined people. Get a video sample on agronomism or learn more about juicy melons.

How Deadly Was My Parsley

jonp72 — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 17:13:35 -0800

Holding up sprigs of parsley, Trujillo's men queried their prospective victims: What is this thing called? The terrified victim's fate lay in his pronunciation of the answer. Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo spearheaded an anti-Haitian massacre in which armed thugs killed every Creole speaker who couldn't pronounce the trilled R in the Spanish word for parsley. (Using pronunciation to make ethnic distinctions is called a shibboleth, a tactic often used in wars.) The murders inspired Edwige Danticat's The Farming of Bones and Mario Vargas Llosa's Feast of the Goat, as well as a poem recited for Bill Clinton by poet laureate Rita Dove. Ironically, Trujillo's desire to "whiten" Hispaniola not only led him to order the 1937 massacre, but to lobby in 1938 for the settlement of Jews fleeing Hitler.

Pachakutic on schedule for 2012

airguitar — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 08:57:43 -0800

Latin America Turning Left? From the top: Lula da Silva *, Lopez Obrador, Nestor Kirchner, Hugo Chavez *, Alvaro Uribe, Michelle Bachelet *, Ollanta Humala, Alfredo Palacio, Oscar Berger, Leonel Fernandez, Oscar Arias, Tony Saca, Tabare Vazquez, Martín Torrijos, Evo Morales * Manuel Zelaya, Nicanor Duarte, Daniel Ortega, Rene Preval *.

Lespwa has returned

kalimac — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 06:55:03 -0800

On February 7th, 2006, Haiti had its first (nearly) bloodless, democratic election Two years since Aristide fled to South Africa (with the "help" of the US), and twenty since Baby Doc Duvalier was overthrown, and the bloody reign of the Duvaliers and the Tonton Macoute were ended.[more inside]

CAG spying in Haiti

pucklermuskau — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 17:46:19 -0800

Nefarious deeds in Haiti by the Consultants Advisory Group. Kathryn Cramer exposes n'er do wells acting in Haiti, operating out of Panama. Given the recent goings on in Haiti, one can only speculate as to the extent of their involvement...

Why are we not talking more about Haiti?

j-urb — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 09:48:03 -0800

Why are we not talking about Haiti? "No one has asked questions about the wildly partisan officials in U.S. State Department now running U.S. policy in the Caribbean and Latin America. These include such Blast-from-the-Past supporters of Reagan era highjinks in Central America as Otto Reich, John Negroponte, Elliot Abrams, and (before his ignominious departure last summer) John Poindexter."

Empowering Children Through the Art of Photography

fenriq — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 12:14:10 -0800

Kids with Cameras (warning, embedded QT video in link)
With an Oscar Nominated documentary, Born into Brothels, under her belt, Z ana Briski's spinoff project, Kids with Cameras, teaches children growing up in difficult circumstances the art and skills of photography to empower them to appreciate the beauty and dignity of their own expression.
With projects in Calcutta, Haiti, Jerusalem and Cairo, they send great photographers to lead workshops, the children are given inexpensive 35mm cameras to capture whatever they choose and then the children's pi ct ur es are shown (and sold) around the world through exhibits, books and film.

Aristide Says He Was Kidnapped

ao4047 — Mon, 01 Mar 2004 13:40:56 -0800

Aristide Says He Was Kidnapped From Democracy Now: Aristide says he was "kidnapped" and taken by force to the Central African Republic. Congressmember Maxine Waters said she received a call from Aristide at 9am EST. "He's surrounded by military. It's like he is in jail, he said. He says he was kidnapped," said Waters. "He did not resign.... He was abducted by the United States in the commission of a coup." Robinson says he spoke to Aristide on a cell phone that was smuggled to the Haitian president. Will this revolution be televised? (Accounts in ogg and mp3)

Haiti

Tryptophan-5ht — Fri, 27 Feb 2004 16:52:55 -0800

inside Haiti a photo journalist blogs on the conditions in Haiti. No photos yet.
The place is awash with drug money, probably on both sides - Philippe is the former police chief of a town where i've heard reports of people walking down the streets with suitcases full of money, probably not sourced from shaking down shoe cleaners. The chimeres that searched us on the way down from Saint Marc a few days ago were clearly high on some upper, i'd guess coke, amphetamines or both, or maybe crack.

hired guns?

kaibutsu — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 11:03:48 -0800

"I don't think that there's any question about the fact that the weapons that they have did not come from Haiti," says Kurzban. "They're organized as a military commando strike force that's going from city to city."

Parts of the rebellion's leadership, such as head of military operations Louis Chamberlain, were leaders in the attempted 1994 Hatian coup that resulted in the use of 20,000 U.S. troops. A coup which, according to the U.N. Human Right Commission, was supported and aided by the CIA. In other words, this wouldn't be the first time that the U.S. has played on both sides of a Haitian military uprising.

Meanwhile, Bush refuses to protect President Aristide's life - and perhaps the lives of thousands of Hatians - citing the opposition's refusal of a U.S. peace plan. Silmultaneously, he issued a harsh pronouncement warning refugee Hatians off from American shores.
"It is clear that the right wing in this country does not support that democracy," said Jesse Jackson, today. "(Bush) is, in fact, supporting overthrow of this government in this hemisphere."

Vodou

plep — Fri, 02 Jan 2004 08:05:27 -0800

Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou. 'Vodou is Haiti's mirror. Its arts and rituals reflect the difficult, brilliant history of seven million people, whose ancestors were brought from Africa to the Caribbean in bondage. In 1791 these Africans began the only successful national slave revolt in history. In 1804 they succeeded in creating the world's first Black republic: the only one in this hemisphere where all the citizens were free. Their success inspired admiration, fear and scorn in the wider world. Cut off from Euro-American support, Haitians managed to created their own dynamic "Creole" society-one rooted in Africa but responsive to all that was encountered in their new island home.' History, theology and religious art.
Related :- an essay on the Vodou concept of soul, Voodoos and Obeahs on sacred-texts ('required reading if you want to understand the background of Haitian and Jamaican Vodun, and the profound influence of imperialism, slavery and racism on its development').

Maya Deren

moonbird — Mon, 13 Oct 2003 17:18:36 -0800

Mother of the avant-garde: Maya Deren was a passionate 'visual poet,' student of voudoun, and a revolutionary in experimental film who was fascinated by modern dance and Shaolin martial arts... prodigious work for a Ukrainian immigrant in 1940's America.

Haiti; Land of Extremes

moonbird — Sun, 20 Apr 2003 11:47:24 -0800

I've just returned from Haiti, spending time volunteering in hospitals and orphanages. It's a land of incredible beauty and desperate poverty and economic disparity. For many there is still an air of mystery about the culture and the religion,and despite the many rueful hands history has dealt them, the Haitians are remarkably resilient and hopeful people.

Steven Den Beste — Sat, 23 Sep 2000 03:06:04 -0800

What comes next? Idi Amin asking to return to power in Uganda?

Has Jean-Claude Duvalier gone completely mad?

Ezrael — Mon, 19 Jun 2000 23:33:06 -0800

Election fraud in Haiti? I can't believe it! Imagine that...they don't seem to want the US telling them what to do. How novel. Well, I'm sure our compassionate President will respond by feeling their pain, and of course, causing more of it with our laser-guided bombs and the like. Didn't we put Aristede there in the first place? Man, it ain't like the old days, when the US would stand by its tyrant, now is it? (Sorry, but I must obey my Uncle Joe, and I always thought of sarcasm as linguistic bran anyway.)

rebeccablood — Wed, 26 Apr 2000 12:28:22 -0800

In the late 90's, Sophonie Telcy's mother illegally entered this country from Haiti, looking for a better life for herself and her daughter; last spring she turned the care of the 6-year-old child over to an old friend, returned to Haiti to see a doctor, and died.

Sophonie's father is unknown. She has no legal standing in the US, no residency papers, no health insurance...and, despite a loving family who is willing to care for her, very little chance to stay here. Congressman Alcee Hastings filed House Resolution 4179, "for the relief of Sophonie Telcy," but the bill will almost certainly fail. (read more about it here.)

The bill has been referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims. I'm not sure what to do here to help, but I have listed all the members of this subcommittee on my website if you'd like to write or call.

Any other ideas?

rcb