Haiti: enslaved by its dark history

The Telegraph ^ | 1/14/2008 | Ian Thomson

[bruinbirdman]

For 200 years the Caribbean nation has suffered from natural disasters and violent rulers

By any standards, Haiti represents a very great concentration of misery and dashed hopes. In January 1804 – a key date in the history of a bedevilled country – the African slaves overthrew their French masters and declared the world’s first black republic. Haiti became an emblem of slavery’s longed-for abolition. And the slave leader, Toussaint L’Ouverture, was hailed by William Wordsworth, among other Romantics, as a “morning star” of the Americas.

Since independence, however, emperors, kings and presidents-for-life have misruled the Caribbean nation through violence and theft of public funds. The constitution is made of paper, they say, but the bayonet is made of steel.

In January 2004, I returned to Haiti for the first time in 13 years. Preparations were under way for the independence bicentenary, but no one felt much like celebrating. The capital, Port-au-Prince, looked even more dilapidated and the streets round Toussaint L’Ouverture airport appeared to have degenerated into a slum.

Familiar smells of drainage and burning rubbish hit me as I made my way to the Hotel Oloffson, a gingerbread mansion disguised as the “Hotel Trianon” in Graham Greene’s novel The Comedians. Laughably, a room had been named after me as the author of a book on Haiti, but I was unable to stay in it as the ceiling had warped dangerously.

By some fluke, the Hotel Oloffson survived Tuesday’s earthquake, but the National Palace nearby collapsed. A more graphic image of municipal chaos would be hard to imagine: the heart of Haiti’s national and civic life has been reduced to rubble.

Now more than ever, the motto of the Haitian republic, “L’Union Fait la Force” (Strength Through Union) seems a grim joke. For two centuries since

[ronnie raygun]

Hey hows that Aparthied woring in south Africa?

[Frantzie]

A bit like Detroit or Gary, IN but with more voodoo.

[Tarpon]

A bit like Detroit or Gary, IN but with more voodoo.

LOL -- You left out New Orleans.

[northwinds]

Yep....wherever the Amish become the majority the place goes to hell...LOL at the predictability of things

[Frantzie]

Same level of corruption, incompetence, fraud, misery, waste, etc etc. New Orleans has some of that voodoo.

[scottinoc]

“Dark history”?! Where’s the “That’s Racist” kid?

[The Sons of Liberty]

Funny, no one ever mentions why there are no white people in Haiti.

[Tarpon]

A few years before Katrina I was in New Orleans, looking at a business opportunity ... didn’t stay the night.

It’s sad people let themselves be done that way ... herded onto plantations.

But as the German people found out, silence is what causes it.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Vodou also reflects the rage and ecstasy that threw off the shackles of slavery.

"Doh! They missed some."

I just grabbed off the first MSM report. I did not read the whole report or watch the video report.

One Reporter's Journey Reveals An Epidemic of Child Slavery in Haiti

[aSeattleConservative]

Could Pat Robertson be right?

[Secret Agent Man]

Good reason he left out New Orleans, New Orleans has food.

[Forward the Light Brigade]

Problem is they need a competent dictator or leadership that thinks that a few scraps should be tossed to the people. problem is—the leaders just look at Haiti as a cash cow and rip off as much as they can. Even communism or fascism would be an improvement.

[Radio Free Tuscaloosa]

[Mrs.Z]

Did anybody actually read this?

Here is a UK lib using historical data to back ROBERTSON.

Christian who are familar with caribbean missions KNOW the baggage that Haiti carries.

[Frantzie]

Very sad. New post on how 30 years ago haiti grew enough rice to feed itself. I never knew that.

[goldstategop]

Haiti was founded by African slaves who rebelled against their French overlords. They've had a grim time make a success of being a country.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus

[bruinbirdman]

"Here is a UK lib using historical data to back ROBERTSON."

"Christian who are familar with caribbean missions KNOW the baggage that Haiti carries."

"Did anybody actually read this?"

Yep, 80% Catholic, 100% Vodou.

yitbos

[PowderMonkey]

"Familiar smells of drainage and burning rubbish hit me as I made my way to the Hotel Oloffson, a gingerbread mansion disguised as the “Hotel Trianon” in Graham Greene’s novel The Comedians."

Whoa! That brought back memories. The Oloffson. I can't believe it's stood this long. My father stayed there in the 1940s. I myself spent many an anxious night there in the Jeffrey Holder bungalow, hunkered down the darkness, listening to the staccato of automatic weapons, the screams of the dying, and the pounding of voodoo drums. If memory serves, it began as a U.S. Marine Corps hospital in the 1930s, and was later purchased by this crazy couple from Denmark (the Olaffsons), who bought it and turned it into a hotel. It could have been the setting for a great Alfred Hitchcock or Night of the Living Dead movie.

[himno hero]

Voodeo - Christians?