What the World Owes Haiti

John Maxwell

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Some of us grow up thinking that being free means that we are at liberty to do whatever we want -- as long as we don't hurt anyone else; that simply by being born, we are entitled to inherit the riches and beauty of nature and to do whatever we think will make us wealthy, healthy and happy.

Most of us grow up in very different circumstances, walking barefoot, wearing cast-off clothing and knowing that we are mostly free to do what we can get away with and knowing that we will probably always have to worry about the next meal.

In places like Jamaica, however, rich and poor tend to believe that there are some basic freedoms we all share: the right to life, to liberty and to say what we want and associate with whomever we choose.

These freedoms are rights for which the human race has been fighting for a long time, and a few hundred years ago certain people believed that because they had acquired the Chinese invention called gunpowder, they owned superior rights to all those who had not got the secret recipe.

Primitive firearms made it possible for long-distance 'impersonal' murder. Until then, if you wanted to kill someone you had to stab him, or to throw a spear or an arrow not much further than the length of a cricket pitch. Blunderbusses and muskets meant that you could remain out of the range of your enemy's arrows and spears and mow him down with invisible darts accompanied by horrendous noises. Primitive firearms meant that men on horses, armed with guns, could round up dozens of fellow humans in a cost-effective time frame and move them like cattle to enormous holding pens where they were selected for desirable qualities and priced accordingly. Upright European merchants would then select those creatures most likely to bring good prices on the other side of the Atlantic, either for breeding purposes or for hard labour growing sugar or cotton.

The slave trade and the plantation system which it supported provided the motive force of the capitalist system and the foundation of Versailles and the Louvre. The extinction of civilisations on both sides of the Atlantic and their replacement by plantation economies provided the capital on which the European empires and social systems of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were erected. The empires of Spain, and later France and Britain, were built on the bones of the original inhabitants of the so-called West Indian islands.

The Spanish historian, Gonzalo Oviedo, estimated that of the one million Indians on Ayiti (Hispaniola) when the Spaniards arrived, less than 500 remained half a century later. Toribio Motolina, another Spanish priest, said in some parts of Mexico "more than one-half the population died; in others the proportion was a little less; they died in heaps, like bedbugs." A German missionary, writing in 1699, said the so-called Indians "die so easily that the bare look and smell of a Spaniard causes them to give up the ghost." Then began the wholesale destruction of nations and civilisations in Africa -- some disappearing almost without trace, further impoverishing mankind's cultural diversity and robbing Africa of the populations and skills it needed for its own development.

As Sybille Fischer remarks in her book Modernity Disavowed: "Colonialism in the Caribbean had produced societies where brutality combined with licentiousness in ways unknown in Europe. The sugar plantations in the New World were expanding rapidly and had an apparently limitless hunger for slaves." (Quoted in Common Sense - "Christmas in Hell, Dec 30, 2007)

The whole mad-vampire enterprise seemed destined to continue as long as greed endured, notwithstanding bloody uprisings in every colony, the most dangerous being in Haiti and Jamaica. In Jamaica the slaves and their escaped brethren, the Maroons, fought the British to a standstill, a truce and a land concession. One escapee from the islandwide Taki rebellion went to Haiti and there helped light the spark of revolution.

It was the Haitian revolution that destroyed slavery and the slave trade forever.

It was the Haitians alone of all of history's enslaved peoples who defeated the system, destroyed the institutions of slavery and legislated that thenceforth, all men, women and children of whatever colour or station or nationality were, in Ayiti, full and free human beings. It drove the Americans mad.

That declaration anticipated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by 144 years and should be recognised for what it is: the single most important definition of humanity ever implemented. The world owes Haiti an unpayable debt.

At this moment apparatchiks of various ideologies are busy racing around in Washington and similar places, like scarab beetles marking out territory on a fresh deposit of excrement.

It is clear that the peoples of the world are minded to help Haiti recover from the most punishing natural disaster of modern times. The scarab beetles -- with grand names and even grander résumés -- intend to be first in line as was Cheney's Halliburton in Iraq -- to milk the system and suck as much Haitian blood as possible.

People have already stopped speaking to me -- I'm anti-American or I'm anti-Haitian -- because I believe that we need to assemble all those who want to work for Haiti to work for Haiti in exclusion to working for anyone else.

There are two huge problems: On one side are Haitians, jealous of their liberty and suspicious of any and every one who offers to help. They have been had so often that they expect treachery as a given.

People like Clinton and Patterson do not impress them. On the other side, the American/French/Canadian side, while there is knowledge of the grievous harm these countries have wreaked and are wreaking on Haiti, there is no understanding of the need -- the absolutely essential requirement -- that Haiti belongs to the Haitians and it is they alone who must decide what they want. They may ask for help, but the US, France and Canada must have the grace to apologise and atone for the heinous crimes they have committed in Haiti. If the Haitians want Aristide back, simple human decency should inform the Americans, the French and the Canadians that they have a duty to help the Haitians get back their president and a responsibility to protect him and the constitutional integrity of Haiti. The Haitians have the brains, the genius and the skills to manage their own country, if they are only left alone.

Haiti is a charter member of the United Nations and its various organs. Haiti has, however, been cheated, blackmailed, double-crossed and screwed by big powers in the IDB and IMF, for example. Haiti needs to be able to summon the collective wisdom and skills of the General Assembly, to get rid of the so-called UN peacekeepers -- a bunch of bandits and rapists -and to assemble a force to keep the peace and help train a civil guard -- as in Costa Rica -- or whatever mechanism the Haitians prefer.

The United Nations General Assembly is the proper organ for the people-to-people assistance Haiti may require. The Security Council knows nothing about land reform, cooperatives or community development.

Finally, the General Assembly must find some way to organise an endowment fund for Haiti from the enormous sums she is owed by France and the United States. This fund should be for the development of Haiti, not Halliburton or Bechtel. The $24 billion that Haiti paid to France and the United States in a brute-force extortion scheme was the single resource whose absence made Port-au-Prince so vulnerable to the earthquake. Generations of capital investment were lost because they were never installed. Simple justice and human decency require they be returned.

jankunnu@gmail.com

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COMMENTS (20)

Noel Richards
2/25/2010

Howie J,
The abolitionists would be on the side of Mr. Maxwell relative to his sentiments on the savagery of slavery, however, they would not agree with his prescription for a fix and that is the crux of the matter. The US was founded on liberalism, but it is not something that should be worn as a badge of honor since liberals also make mistakes, they don't possess the holy grail of truth. On the other hand Conservatism, as practiced by Republicans in the US, is bankrupt of ideas and is actually the root cause of many of the harmful issues affecting the US and the world presently. I am a liberal minded Libertarian who does not support the party system, who voted for Obama and am now disappointed for a multitude of reasons. I believe in a Non-Partisan, Direct Democracy form of Government which will give the citizen more control of their affairs. When you look at Mr. Maxwell's comments and my knowledge of his history, I believe that he is stuck on an ideology that will do no good for the people of Haiti and definitely not the people of Jamaica. When all the debate is over the problem still remains.
When I said that the Spanish started the slave trade in 1501, I was referring to the importation of Africans to the "New World" (their terminology, not mine), not that they started the practice of slavery or were the first to ever trade people as slaves. There was nothing I wrote that claimed anyone was innocent, least of all the Europeans who started this trade to the Americas.
Mr. Maxwell, in my opinion, is an honest man, but his rendition of history paints an incomplete picture, mostly through omission, that will inflame passions and solve nothing. Your assumption that my idea of hate is based on conservatism is incorrect, it is based on the expression of intense dislike or aversion to someone or something, which Mr. Maxwell expressed quite viscerally on radio shortly after the earthquake hit Haiti. I heard Mr. Maxwell say that having the Americans in Haiti is like letting the pedophile into a child care facility (that is not verbatim). That was said at the same time that private American citizens were busting their asses to help needy Haitians. Quite a few died in the earthquake itself, I believe up to 4000 are unaccounted for, granted the majority are probably Haitian-Americans.
Mr. Maxwell never makes the distinction between the people of the US and the US Government and that is more than unfortunate. He should ask himself whether the Jamaican Government's policies and actions represent his beliefs and if not, does he want to be painted with the same brush by others as they describe present day Jamaica.
What most don't realize is that Americans also have to contend with a corrupt Government, political opportunists who mostly do as they please when in office, a partisan press and more than you realize foreign lobbying. Most Jamaicans live in and congregate in areas of the US such as Miami, Fort Lauderdale, New York, Atlanta.. They are doing the same as many other first generation immigrants to the US and do not yet, and probably never will, understand that they do not know the US. They know the trappings of the US, not the true spirit of the people. When Jamaicans realize that they mostly operate on caricatures of Americans they will begin to see the missed opportunities that have always been there, that is, non ideological people to people contact that excludes Governments.

howie J
2/25/2010

Mr. Noel, I think if “Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, John Locke, whose philosophy drove much of the revolutionary zeal of the 1700's” were alive today, they would agree with Mr. Maxwell. Infact, just like Mr. Maxwell, these men were against the status quo of their day. The abolitionists would also be on the side of Mr. Maxwell. The timing of Mr. Maxwell’ article has nothing to do with the truth.
The reality is that there are two Americas and it is the right-wing extremists influence on the government to which all liberal minded is speaking out against. Those guys of the enlightenment era were progressives and liberals, not conservatives. Voltaire for example was disgusted at the behavior of his country men so much that he said, it would be a good thing, if Europe had real Christianity. He said, Europe didn’t practice the egalitarian form of Christianity which Christ preached and practiced, not because they didn’t know what real Christianity was, but because they never had really had it.
I disagree with your statement which says, “The Spanish began the trade in 1501, purchasing Africans from Africans, transporting them to Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic & Haiti).” This statement is based on emotion and corruption of history, not facts. Follow the ideology of Europeans from the crusade to the inquisitions and you will realize that a corrupt form of religious fervor is responsible for the savagery which took place from AD 900 of the crusades to the 1800s when slavery was abolished. You cannot separate the behavior of Europeans from their destruction of the western roman empire thru’ the dark ages, with their many, many tribal conflicts and then painted them as innocent, harmless choir boys when they sailed into west Africa with tens of thousand of soldiers and riff raffs from the streets of Europe. Street people and vagrants were encouraged to become sailors to improve their social state in European society in those days. Those who went to Africa were far less fortunate than many of the Africans whom they encountered.
European behavior outside of Africa, where African chiefs had no power, is another way of looking at who is responsible for enslaving the Africans. Didn’t the British re-captured and re-enslaved the Africans who took to the hills after they captured Jamaica from the Spaniards? Before the British could start their plunder of Africa they had to first capture many lands already own by other Europe powers. The slaves in these territories where re-enslaved and then Britain head out to Africa to continue with their fight for a piece of the pie. They first in many cases had to fight the Roman Catholic backed Portuguese and Spaniards only then were they able to take every thing within their conquered territory. Like many other Europeans, Russia and Germany, the militarily weak Africans who were chosen to assist the European in their plunder had to cooperate with the man with the bigger gun or suffer the consequences.
Sir, Portugal and Spain rose up against Muslims and Jews in the Iberian Peninsula in the 14th and 15th century and these conflicts later spilled over into Africa and started the European involvement in a trade which Arabs were already involved for more than 800 years.
Mr. Maxwell is an honest man and his criticism of America has nothing to do with hate and anger. In fact Jamaica has a different definition for hate and anger. There is a side of America that seeks to maim and destroy those who believe differently, that is hate for you. These could not be equated with upstanding Jamaicans, but rather with angry ghetto people in Jamaica.
Like you say and I concur, “The world has always been an untidy, cruel, but thankfully, also a beautiful place. For those unable to handle its vicissitudes I would recommend crawling back into the womb, were that possible.”

Ras Barrington
2/24/2010

When the British pirated Jamaica from the Spanish, industrial plantation slavery was not yet established. Cromwell had just ethnically cleansed Ireland by killing all the adults after the war; and sending the children as slaves into the Caribbean. They were given English names, instead of the Irish. Thus were the begining of Plantation Slavery in Jamica. They were eventually absorbed in the African population; as Africa became the source of Free Labour..
Crispus Attucks and Alexander Hamilton are intrinsically Caribbean. Yet are unsung Heroes. The Barbadian Attucks , was the first person to die in the US war for independence. It is his Blood Sacrifice which anoints the nation called the United States of America. Hamilton was born in Nevis. He came to New York to attend York College; which is now Columbia University. He saved the head of the college from a lynch mob; who had acussed the administrator of being a traitor. Hamilton eventually joined the fight against the Crown. General Washington caught sight of Hamilton after suffering a major defeat by the British He was inspired by Hamilton's inteligence, dedication and organisational abilities. Hamilton became Washington's Aide de Camp; and saved the army from mutiny, due to their short supplies of food, boots and uniforms. Washington made him general and commander of the army, during the Adams administrtion. Beside, Haitian troops winning two major Battles in the War for Independence; Hamilton cammaned the last battle at Yorktown.
Assuming a law practice after independence prepaired Hamilton for the next phase of his munumental works. The thiryeen states had no central administration,bills were owed from the war and there was no constitution. He called a constutional convention,got the Federalist Papers drafted and set up a polcy of tariffs , in order to stimulate industry. Hamilton developed a mechanism to pay off the debt, while consolidating the central governmnt.. In so doing, the District of Columbia became the Political Capital , and New York City; the financial capital. Hamilton was the first Secretary of the Treasury and established the United Staes Coast Guard. He founded an Anti Slavery organisation and thought that slavery holds back the human's full potential and genius. He held the view that the country could advance through technological innovation, instead of slavery. He had the Eire Canal built; causing trade goods to be able to move from the Great Lakes to the New York Habour. With New York being the center of trade and finance ; it assumed the name Empire State. Hamilton, also founded the New York Post and the Bank of New York.
He drafted the Haitian constitution and was ready to command an army against the French. He was ostricised as Creole Bastard by President Adams. Hamilton was killed in a duel, due to a dispute over Aron Burr's character fitness to be president of the United States. His mother who was born in St. Kitts was not allowed in the country for his funeral. She simply had too much of the TAR BRUSH in her.. She was a black woman.
When Washington died, Hamilton lost his benefactor and was victimised by his Racist Enemies. He crossed the line when he supported THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION. White Nationalism was already ingrained from the sixteen hundreds, at the time of Bacon's Rebelion. Then came the three fifth's of a man compromise to the Southern Planters. The planters were'nt just mad; they were scared of Haiti's success. Free labour was the source of their wealth. The administration in Wahington, sent what would be fourty billion dollars in today's money; to defeat the Haitians. It is Haitian Slaves who built New Orealns. As a result of the French losses,The French gave up on their quest for empire in the Americas. In this way the U.S. was able to acquire thirteen states west of the Mississippi. Thanks to the Haitian Revolution, the the U.S. was one step closer to Manifest Destiny. It is Ironic that the Civil War should have ben fought over this same area. The planters wanted more teritory to grow cotton. Their greed could'nt be satisfied. African Free Labour enabled the Industrial Revolution to proceed rapidly in the United States; enabling it being the economic power that it is today. This is along with Hamilton's Public Policies.
.

Noel Richards
2/24/2010

John dePass,
I read Mr. Maxwell's column and disagree with his core assumptions that Haiti is owed the world for its history. What I write is cutting to the heart of the matter, personal responsibility and resisting the idea that someone else owes you your future. Try to understand how the outside world really affects Haiti and Jamaica and you will have a better shot at making life better for all. I will avidly embrace "boring" over ignorant, therefore your comment is taken as a compliment, although it was meant as an insult. By the way, it is wiser to say what is nonsense, not just say the word nonsense.

John dePass
2/24/2010

Noel Richards.
Before you pen another piece of rambling, irrelevant nonsense perhaps you should take the time to read John Maxwell's column. Sir you are coming across as a real bore.
John dePass.

Noel Richards
2/23/2010

ONeil Hibbert
I am sorry that you see what I write as showing off, it means that you misunderstand my intent. I am just conversing.
Too often the US is used as the whipping boy for every malady that befalls countries such as Haiti and Jamaica. My intent is to show that Haiti and Jamaica will be better off when citizens take responsibility for their leadership. No one has forced Jamaica to seek assistance from the IMF, for example. Use the funds wisely, along with that from the IDB and the World Bank, and Jamaica could have a chance. However, I don't see this happening because both political parties are flip sides of the same coin.
I use the history of the formation of the US because it was only a colony, as was Haiti, back in the 1700's. The only country that was willing to lend to the newly born US was Switzerland and they did so at extortionist rates. The US has done some bad things to Haiti, but where should they go now. I say it is definitely not in the direction of reliving history, for if that were the most beneficial route the US would be perpetually at odds with Britain and would be closer friends with France and Russia.
The financial meltdown (Great Recession) was the result of greed. Bill Clinton repealed the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, against the wishes of investment banks on Wall Street. Glass-Steagall was enacted in 1933 to separate commercial banks from investment banks as a result of the Great Depression. This led to a flurry of mergers between US investment banks and commercial banks. In 2002 the Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in reaction to Enron. this led to the movement of the trading arms of US banks to London at the request of Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. Their regulations were much less strict than in the US, allowing "Securitized Debt" (packaged sub prime loans) to be bought and sold freely, without concern. Most of these sub prime loans were the result of poor US Government regulations that sought to socially engineer the ownership of real estate by everyone, even if you couldn't afford it. The unfortunate result is that too many have lost, except the banks and the politicians who caused the problem, and the world is feeling the effects. Why do you think China has not been able to pull the world out of recession, the truth is that they are a drag on the world's economy as they attempt to suck up every available job. Who can the goods be sold to when no one is buying as before.
A word of hope though is the sign that one of the many major investments that are going to drive the "New Economy" in the US are about to go public tomorrow with the introduction of a new product called the "Bloom Box". When this new economy, based on renewable energy, electricity driven automobiles, nuclear fusion power generation and information technology takes off, it will make the dot com boom of the late 90's and early 2000's look like nothing. This is all based on intellect and knowing how to make your intellect a tangible reality. That's the road I want to see Jamaica and Haiti taking.
While history can tell you where you came from, if told truthfully, it can also hold you back if you use it unwisely. As for Bob's statement, he is right, but you must first determine who it is you are standing up to and why. Remember also that "Mout mek fi seh".
Look closer to home, it's the Jamaican Government that needs to be brought under control in order for Jamaicans to claim their inherent rights.

ONeil Hibbert
2/23/2010

Noel Richards
First i must tell you it seems like you are using this medium to boast about the economic might of the US and show off your intellect ,especially where economics are concerned.If the us was as economically stable as you try to purpourt why was there a economic fall out a few months ago and still affecting the us?Do you realise that you have strayed a million miles from the topic which is highlighting that the stronger allways prey on the weak and when the perceived weak retalliates they are sidelined and chastised for just plainly standing up for their human rights, to make their own decisions and take control of their destiny.It can be said that we are living in the past ,but i have no other way of judging the future but by the past.I leave you with the words of the great rerggai icon bob marley get up stand up for your rights life is your right.

Noel Richards
2/23/2010

ONeil Hibbert,
Haiti's future does not lie in the realm of historical regurgitation, especially warped history. The following may not seem pertinent to the issue of Haiti, but it is, more than you will ever realize. Jamaica keeps on chasing the wrong goals and does not realize that its future lies with a better understanding of and relationship with the people of the United States, forget the Government.
My assumption is that your "poetic justice coming in no uncertain terms" is China. Well, if that is the case there are a few things you and the rest of Jamaica need to know about China. The first is that China is a paper tiger, that when you refer to China you are in fact referring to its Government. The Government controls all and is wealthy, but the average citizen is poor. China's GDP is US$4.7 TRILLION, US GDP is US$14.2 TRILLION. Should China grow by 12% this year (their figures cannot be independently verified) they will add US$564 Billion to GDP. Should the US grow by 4% this year it will add US$568 Billion to GDP. This means that there is no Chinese gain in GDP on the US. Note carefully that China is also totally reliant on the US market for its exports. At present the Government is attempting to stimulate domestic demand by spending a lot of the surplus it has accumulated from the decades it has used its people as slave labor for US Corporations. This is building a major bubble, called overcapacity, in their system and could literally topple their Government if it does not work when demand in the US, for goods manufactured there, does not pick up. There is also an incorrect assumption that because manufactured goods are stamped with "Made In China", it means they are Chinese goods. There are thousands of American Corporations manufacturing in China because of their cheap labor. They are supported by US Government policy called Most Favored Nation Status (MFN) and tax breaks and rebates courtesy of the US Politician at the expense of the US taxpayer. If MFN is rescinded for China their economy will quickly collapse. MFN allows the importation of goods without additional tariffs into the US market.
Another issue is debt. The US Government issues TBills (US Treasuries/Bonds) to fund its deficit spending. It does not exhibit control over its spending behavior, particularly since Nixon took the US off the Gold Standard in 1971. However, the US Government only owes the Chinese, through their purchase of US Treasuries, approximately US$780 Billion. That is from a total US National debt of US$12.3 TRILLION. The debt is broken down into the following: First is The US Federal Reserve and Intra-Governmental Organizations @ US$7-8 TRILLION+, the second is US Mutual Funds @ US$800 Billion, third is China and fourth is Japan. Americans hold almost US$10 TRILLION of their own National Debt. China buys US bonds because they must, it is a bribe to the profligate US Politician to maintain a policy (MFN) that China needs. China also holds its foreign currency reserves in US dollars, what do you think will happen if the US devalues its currency? China's reserves would fall in line with the devaluation, a disaster for them.
Nixon has created the best example of a Trojan Horse in China. The Chinese are now hooked on the American idea of consumption, the monetary and financial system and have no way of getting off. Should they falter in any way, the people of China will overthrow their totalitarian form of Government. Their expectations have risen with the TRILLIONS of dollars of US Foreign Direct Investment into their country over the decades.
It's also important to note that the US owns more than one third of all the gold held by Governments around the world, amounting to more than US$300 Billion at today's rate.
Smaller countries like Jamaica and Haiti never seem to get the picture that Government is not the answer, that the answer is people to people understanding and contact. Americans are not their Government and actually thrive in spite of their Government. It is easy to fall into ideology and warped story telling about history while accomplishing nothing constructive. You are entitled to your opinion about China, but I bet that it is based on the idea that China is going to thrash the US, but I will advise you to stop riding that horse because it is going to throw you.

John dePass
2/23/2010

Keep on writing John Maxwell, keep on writing. Speak the truth even when it hurts, as this particular truth obviously does.
Whenever our story is told to us, by us, from our perspective, they line up in droves to condemn and deny. Yet, they are vowed to silence when the Eurocentric perspective, by omission, deception and at times, blatant lies, poison our minds. To this day, it is still a common held view that Columbus "discovered" the Americas.
To the apologists and deniers, your predictable protestations reveal much of your state of mind, than it does John Maxwell. It is called self hatred and it is the greatest hatred of all.
John dePass

Ras Barrington
2/23/2010

The late Ivan Van Sertima who was from Guyana, was a prolific researcher in the area of African Science and Technology. One of the most facsinating aspect of his works is on the African presence in the Americas. His work on the Olmec in Mexico proved that Africans were carving rock munuments and building pyramids in the Americas commencinig circa three thousand five hundred years ago. This was a time of African world expansion. Dr. Van Sertima has proven his claim through language, food, plants and monuments. The figurines found in the pyramids of the Olmec are all black and African in features. Some show an ethnic mix between the Africans and the native population. Pyramids are scattered in the Mid-West of the United States, and range from Canada in the North to Peru in the South. If one should look down from above into Central America; the sight beholden would remind one of the Nile Valley. That is exactly what has been replicated in the Americas by Africans. These Pyramids are Astro Theological and are aligned with the various constellations. They are used for telling time, wether it be Solar, Lunar or Stellar. Pyramids can also be found in Nigeria West Africa. The evidence demonstrates that Africans created a World Civilisation thousands of years prior to this time, without any dehumanisation of humanity. The Europeans have established World Civilisation using self righteous Dogmas, based upon Myths; albeit from the same African source .Yet, misunderstood,misconstrued and misinterpreted by them. On the other hand, the Africans have established World Civilisation based on the earth being a Space Craft on a Galactic Journey. This has allowed Africans to manage resources without major depletion, economic crashes, dehumanisation and wars for centuries. Africans who did not experience the Ice Age were fortunate to have the environmental oppertunity to build Civilisation in a most logical and methodical manner. It should be noted that Columbus wrote in his log that ships were coming and going from the Guinea coast to the Caribbean. The Mali empire;,which was bigger than all of Europe; sent two convoy of ships into the Western Atlantic, during the thirteen hundreds.
The aforementioned is the African foundation on which the Caribbean stands. The European foundation is a false and criminal construct based on the crime of Industrial Plantation Slavery and Colonialism, with their allied methodologies of Racism,Ethnic Cleansing and outright Genocide. And last but not in the least, torture. We have now imposed the torture on ourselves and children; especially dealing with our hair and other fake European beauty standards of vanity. this torture was first instutionalised by the Catholic Church. It was called the INQUISITION. Haiti is a prime example of this Genocide that have stalked us over the past five hundred years.

Noel Richards
2/23/2010

ONeil Hibbert,

Be very careful that the bad you appear to wish on others doesn't come back to bite you instead.

Ras Barrington
2/22/2010

Honourable learned elder, given the past five hundred years of Africa's obfuscation from the foundation of World Civilisation; I must point out that gunpowder was used in Africa for thousands of years. It was used in relegious ceromonies by the Egyptians and in the Shango rituals by the Yoruba of West Africa. It was introduced to Europe during the time of the Empire of Two Shores, by the Moors; who were at that time the rulers of Spain. The Fire Stick as it was then called; was a rudimentary form or a prototype of the Gun. The Moors were the standard bearers and carriers of civilisation in Europe for eight hundred years. They ruled a territory streaching from Sene-Gambia in West Africa to the Basque Country in Southern France. Cities such as Toledo, Salamanca, Cordoba had street light, town house with libraries occupied by female professionals who were doctors and dentists. They had air conditioning and baths due to indoor plumbing. Upon the defeat of the Moors in in fourteen ninety two; the Roman Catholic Church banned bathing. An edict was proclaimed that they had to leave Portugal and Spain or convert to Catholicism or get sold into slavery. The Moors were Judeo-Islamic. They had converted to Islam, after the defeat of the warrior Queen Kahina. Some crossed the Mediterranean into Africa, while others converted. Then there were those who were prisoners that came to the Caribbean on the Pinto, Nina, and Santa Maria. The Pinto family is still living in Jamaica.
Simoultaneously, such civil development existed in the Swahili city states of East Africa. There was Mombasa, Melindi, Sofolo and Zansibar. Prior to, and continuing through the same time period of the aforementioned events; there were the nation states of Axum,Dongola, Nobidia and Merkuria. These Christian states had upto that time, survived the Islamic Advance. These four nations were but a remnant of ancient Ethiopia. All these nations had a well organised grid layout of their tree lined towns and cities. I highlight these facts to clearly show that what our Ancestors did in Spain is not unique to the rest of the African Continent. When the Moors entered Europe, there were three universities. There were seventeen when they left. They had built thirteen universities.
It is said that Haiti is the first Black Republic. I beg to disagree. Such an honour is reserved for Carthage. Carthage was founded by Dido, a pheonician woman. The Pheonicians are supposedly the grand children of Ham. The accoplishments of Carthage, dispels all the propaganda curse of HAM'S CHILDREN. Besides being a republic, Carthage was also a democracy; spreading writing all along the coast of Europe. Spain and Sicily were provinces of Carthage. Albion(Briton) and Bar Isis(Paris) were no strangers to Carthage. They circumnavigated Africa and were the standard bearer of Western and European Civilisation for seven hundred years. Given the aforestated brief observations, we can safely conclude that Africa has been the standard bearer of Western and European Civilisation for fifteen hundred out of the past three thousand years.
N.B. There is more coming. Thanka

ONeil Hibbert
2/22/2010

MR.Maxwell well said, the truth hurts but it is the truth.
Noel Richards it doesnt matter the good that was done the bad far out weighs it.Take a look around the world some poetic justice is coming in no uncertain terms.

Dalvey Steward
2/22/2010

Can we concentrate on moving forward John? This has kept us back for too long.

Richie L
2/22/2010

Noel RIchards, well said.
Sometimes I wonder what kind of person John Maxwell is in person. I imagine a sad, difficult person always nursing some kind of grudge or another. His writing is never positive, always highlighting some historical grievance.
I admire his advocacy for Haiti, but sometimes I think he does them a disservice by his continued reference to what the US and France have done. A young person reading his writing can get a very flawed notion of what went on or is reallly going on and that is the sad part.
There is no doubt that the US and France and others have done some harm to Haiti, but look at what is going on now in Haiti. His writings would make one think the Americans want to make Haiti the 51st state and that there is some sinister plan to make Haiti a branch plant with cheap labor for America corporations.
Mr Maxwell, name me a civil engineering concern in Haiti that can rebuilt it. And also name me one that will do so without consideration for profit. Let's bring in the Chinese who will send in their own citizens to do the work.
Do better John Maxwell, I know you have it in you. But you have to give us the facts and please cut the vitriole. It is tiresome after a while.
Richie

Noel Richards
2/22/2010

While I believe you mean well for Haiti, I also believe that your reasoning will not bring good to Haitians. Look closely at the Federalist Papers that lay out much of the reasoning for the US Constitution. Tell your readers about the "Age of Enlightenment" in which reason was advocated as the primary source and legitimacy for authority. Tell them about Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, John Locke, whose philosophy drove much of the revolutionary zeal of the 1700's. Tell them about the French Revolution of 1789-1799 that began before the Haitian Revolution and which actually encouraged Haitians to rebel. Tell them about the French "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen" of 1789.
Tell them that the USNS (US Naval Ship) Comfort is more capable than every hospital in Jamaica of properly caring for seriously injured people and is doing so in Haiti as we speak. That it has beds for 1000 patients. That the US Aircraft Carrier that is anchored off the shore of Haiti is not there for plunder, it can make an enormous amount of potable water that is then flown onshore by the helicopters that use it as their base. That thousands of Haitians have been transported by private US citizens and the US Government to public and private hospitals in the US for medical care, on America's dime. While the US itself is doing this it is also funding much of the UN's relief operations in Haiti. It hasn't sent soldiers with limited capability to the island, only to turn around and ask others to pay for it, as Jamaica did. When have you ever criticized Cuba for their treatment of their own, for their leaderships racist behavior. What about China, that unsullied nation. Not everyone reading your column is driven by ideology, particularly yours. I read your column for your knowledge of Jamaica's environment. Unfortunately, your writings on foreign issues is driven by a rigid ideology that I cannot agree with, but keep on writing.

Trevor Charlton
2/22/2010

Again another piece of bile by John Maxwell, if one was to act on his writings we would all be takind revenge or something of the sort base on his distortion of past events. Looking back is not the answer, yes, it can teach us wisdom but we need to go forward with hope and and a desire to improve our standard of living. There is no country that have not have regrets about past events, but they have not dwell on those period, they put it behind them and go forward. I wonder how much if any contribution was made by John Maxwell to the rebuilding of Haiti following the devastation by the earthquake.

Noel Richards
2/22/2010

Mr. Maxwell, I will further add that the Haitian Revolution should be dated (1791-1803). Your statement, "It was the Haitians alone of all of history's enslaved peoples who defeated the system, destroyed the institutions of slavery and legislated that thenceforth, all men, women and children of whatever colour or station or nationality were, in Ayiti, full and free human beings. It drove the Americans mad" couldn't be further from the truth. The US Declaration of Independence 1775 and the Constitution did not immediately free the slaves of the 13 colonies for reasons too complicated to include here, but it did so through great pain and sacrifice by 1865. Why on earth would it drive Americans, who sought an end to slavery, mad? Which other country in the Caribbean followed the lead of the Haitians? Why do you not mention the fact that it was the destruction that Britain experienced from both WWI and WWII that led to their dependence on the US Marshall Plan, that saw them having to relinquish their colonies to partake of this plan? The US insisted on it and Jamaica was one of those colonies. You are oversimplifying reality to fit your story.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) was championed by Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the former US President. The Declaration was a part of the United Nations that is an American creation, the follow up to the failed League of Nations of President Woodrow Wilson after WWI. This Declaration is a reality that has some teeth, even in this world of human beings who continually see things one way, their way, and that includes you. When you call for the UN General Assembly to handle Haiti's case do you really think that the General Assembly will force the particularly "evil" countries you have listed to do as you wish. You should really take a close look at the structure of the UN before placing faith in it, the UN is not a nation state, it is a talking shop for nation states, funded by nation states. The largest single contributor is the US, both in the General Fund and the Peacekeeping Fund, not to mention in many other areas.
For all the bad that the US Government has ever done, it should be noted that no people are more critical of their Government's behavior than Americans, you actually get most of your information about the US from Americans who do not seek to hide the warts. Too much of the "intellect" in Jamaica is focused on victimization, freedom from the victim mentality will free Jamaicans, and Haitians, to move the world in constructive ways.

Noel Richards
2/21/2010

Mr. Maxwell, your comments are laden with hatred and animosity, primarily for Americans. Your rendition of history is warped as it seeks to paint a picture of Haitians as faultless and only victimized throughout their history. Their history to you is in a vacuum that only includes their actions that are admirable, but nothing of the bad that every human being exhibits. To you Americans are evil, although you will never tell anyone, assuming you know, that the first ever abolitionist society in the world was formed in 1775 by a French born man named Benezet, in Philadelphia. Benjamin Franklin became President of this organization in 1787. The 13 seaboard colonies that became the US after the American War of Independence 1775-1783 were crafted on the slavery trade that was not "American", it was European. The Spanish began the trade in 1501, purchasing Africans from Africans, transporting them to Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic & Haiti). The Englishman John Hawkins started the English involvement in this despicable trade in 1562, hauling Africans to Hispaniola as well.
It always amazes me that you never mention that Thomas Jefferson attempted to pass a bill that was narrowly defeated in the fledgeling US Congress of 1784, to ban all slavery in the New Territories. A newly formed country that had just finished fighting the British to claim its right to self determination, that did not believe in slavery but was weaned on slavery. That although the US Congress officially banned the slave trade in 1808 it still had to contend with the hostility of the British in the War of 1812 and that it was Eli Whitney's invention of the Cotton Gin in 1794 that made cotton a major cash crop in the Souther States, leading to the need for more labor which was purchased in the form of slaves from the English smugglers. The US later fought a Civil War 1861-1865 over slavery, in which 623,000 lives were lost from a population of just over 20 million.
The point I am trying to make with the previous is that history does not occur in a vacuum. The US was contending with the very hostile England after it claimed its independence in 1775 and made compacts with the French, in particular. This led to its involvement in Haiti. Americans owe Haiti nothing, but they do wish to assist them in their time of need and your consistent vitriol will make nothing better. Stop seeing the Haitians as victims and maybe they will not continue to see themselves as victims and will find a way to take responsibility for their future. The world has always been an untidy, cruel, but thankfully, also a beautiful place. For those unable to handle its vicissitudes I would recommend crawling back into the womb, were that possible.

howie J
2/21/2010

This is an excellent piece Mr. Maxwell.
It is estimated that the Americas had roughly 10 million Indians before the European came and this number was reduced to less than a million in just a few years. Inspite of this, most Jamaicans do not focus on this area of European expansionism. Most of us lack the capacity to see the link between the savagery that rapidly reduced and in many places decimated the population of Indians and what would later took place on the continent of Africa. Africans are blamed for the evil of Europe and many Jamaicans to this day believe the lie. Nobody who knows anything about the complex and interwoven history of Africa can say that Africans enslaved themselves, yet the mentally enslaved minds believe this. But in a way, I understand. Jamaicans have a long history of love for gangsters and for this reason the Europeans and local gangsters are placed on pedestals while the victims are blamed and the real crooks enjoy a place of superiority.
The Haitians had acted on the words of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties. For him who renounces everything no indemnity is possible. Such a renunciation is incompatible with man's nature; to remove all liberty from his will is to remove all morality from his acts. Finally, it is an empty and contradictory convention that sets up, on the one side, absolute authority, and, on the other, unlimited obedience.”
Human beings are created in the image of God and none is superiority to the other. History has shown that violence and lies are the weapons of superiority.

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