Haitian Fight Song

Haiti suffers from a culture of ambivalence in the West, and it’s unfortunate.

Ask anyone on the street to name something notable about Haiti and most of the answers will include poverty, corruption and voodoo. That’s because the country is often on the list of the poorest nations in the world, economically speaking. Haiti is also known as the source of manufacture for baseballs [and softballs] used in the United States.

Inspired by the French Revolution, Haiti and the United States have a lot in common: both were former colonies that declared independence. Haiti, the former French Colony, became independent in 1804 after many years in revolution. The United States declared independence from Britain in 1776. Unfortunately, Haiti was overpowered by the US and used as a port for the movement of slaves. It was also exploited for its trees, which ruined the soil and natural landscape. By the 1970s, American companies set up factories in Haiti for the manufacture of baseballs because they could exploit the labour force; the majority of whom were low paid women.
 
Geopolitically speaking, the country is located between the proverbial rock and a hard place. To the East, Dominican Republic, a rich country full of tourists and the U.S. Army. To the West, Cuba: public enemy number one to the United States. Haitians have been squeezed out and worn out over the last 100 years.
  
Politically speaking, Haitian history is loaded with massacres [1937], corrupt leadership [Duvallier et al] and violence in the streets of Port-au-Prince. In 1991 when Aristide was elected, he was undermined by the Americans who sought to “enhance democracy”. Things have not been the same since. To be honest, it's a mess. The literacy rate is just above 50%. The AIDS epidemic is rampant and the weather has played a major role in ruining the land. Hurricanes often wash everything away except the poverty and the national debt.

What’s remarkable about the people of Haiti is their persistent desire for an egalitarian state. Their national motto is Union Makes Strength. [L'Union Fait La Force]

Perhaps we should let them get on with the job.

That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Cheney's Misfire

Last week a joke started to circulate: I’d rather go hunting with Dick Cheney than go driving with Ted Kennedy. It’s funny for all the wrong reasons.

What does it say about our society when all we can talk about is accidental shootings, blue dresses and car accidents, when the real crimes go unnoticed? To think of the broadcast minutes and column inches dedicated to Dick Cheney’s accident with a rifle as compared to his secret activities in the White House bunker on September 11, 2001 is astounding. Why do we neglect the real issues that affect millions of people instead of one unlucky SOB on a quail hunting trip?

It all stems from our inability to understand complex issues. We, as a species, simply can’t handle the notion of high death rates in Africa from AIDS and the declining reserves of fossil fuels. Seventeen years ago these ideas were questioned in a book by Robert Ornstein and Paul Ehrlich, titled: New World New Mind [Doubleday,1989] It tells the story of the human animal from a biological and cultural point of view. It offers readers a chance to understand the consequences of progress while suggesting that our brains are a mismatch for our environment. The human mental system, they say, “is failing to comprehend the modern world.”

Last year Ronald Wright took a similar, anthropological point-of-view in his excellent book, A Short History of Progress [Anansi Press]. In it, he laid out the history of various civilizations from their rise to their fall and eventual extinction. His analysis of the people of Easter Island is particularly stirring because there are very similar trends with our civilization.

So, what are we left with when all we can remember is blue dresses, car crashes and hunting accidents? How do we deal with the rioting over religious cartoons? In the words of Albert Einstein, “only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. “

As long as we can get our coffee in the morning and our next edition of 24 on Monday nights, the rest of the world will simply have to take care of itself.

That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Emerson's Folly

On January 23, 2006, during Canada’s Federal Election, Liberal Party candidate David Emerson won the riding of Vancouver Kingsway by 43% of the vote. He won the same riding in 2004 as the Liberal candidate. Last week, he was named to the Cabinet of the Conservative Government under Stephen Harper. Emerson switched parties two weeks after being elected as the Liberal member for the riding.

Canadian politics has taken a turn for the worse when a man stands for election behind a platform for two months, and suddenly, unexpectedly switches parties and gets a Cabinet job. The people of Vancouver Kingsway must be astonished. The rest of the country should be outraged.

Stepping into politics is never an easy decision. The job requires an attitude and commitment to public service like no other. To win one of 308 seats in the Canadian Parliament takes money, time, effort and a promise to serve the constituency under a political banner. In Emerson’s case: Liberal.

If the people of Vancouver Kingsway wanted to elect a Conservative candidate to the House, they could have. His name was Kanmon Wong and he too, made a commitment to enter public life with money, time, effort and a promise to serve. Yet he was not the people’s choice. Their choice was David Emerson, Liberal Candidate.

Emerson is not fit to sit as a member of the House of Commons. He lied about his ambitions and did not fulfill his ethical responsibility to the Liberal Party, but more importantly he has failed the people of Vancouver Kingsway by switching to the winning side two weeks after the election.

He was reelected which means he already had the confidence of most of the voters in the riding. He was a proven winner in the eyes of the people. Most of the voters said he worked hard and did his best for the riding while in office.

With this dramatic switch to the Conservative Party, Emerson put his own ambitions over those of the people who elected him. He has put a black mark on the principals of truth and shaken the foundation of our democracy.

No wonder people have given up on the system.

That's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Straight Down the Middle

The struggle for democracy has a political and social history that is long. The same could be said of the bloody history of terrorism. The two forces often clash but occasionally, if the timing is right, they come together for better or worse.
 
On the one hand, we have the Palestinian HAMAS whose roots go back to the 1967 Six Day War. On the other, the hard line Likud Party of Israel which was formed ten years later. HAMAS is named on many anti-terrorism lists in other countries, including Canada. We know this because they have used suicide bombers to attack Israel creating a thorn in the side of the PLO and leaving too many innocent people dead. [The only thing that has changed is the body count] But after last week’s election, which was generally reported in the Press as “clean”, HAMAS has entered the democratic world as a legitimate power; soon to form a government for the first time.
 
Meanwhile in Israel, Ariel Sharon remains in hospital; his political days now coming to an end due to illness. With elections in that country coming up in March, it looks like hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud Party, will return as Prime Minister. So now the stage is set for some of the most dramatic political and social developments in the Middle East in years.
 
It will be a clash of the semitic Titans with large amounts of rhetoric and unfortunately, violence. The two parties hate each other with a passion, while the rest of the world shakes its collective head with despair.
 
Will there ever be peace between Israel and Palestine? One look at their long history and the answer is an unqualified “No”.

That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.