By Dady Chery, News Junkie Post | Haiti Chery. USAID’s goals were originally to diminish the threat of communism and open new markets for the US; these have expanded to include: developing “countries’ policies and institutions” and even “rebuilding government.”
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery | News Junkie Post. While Hurricane Sandy ravaged the Caribbean and the US eastern seaboard, Typhoon Son-Tinh tore through the Philippines, China and Vietnam. The dead from the mudslides, floods and violent waves were caught by surprise or lacked the wherewithal to move to higher ground. They were overwhelmingly poor.
Haiti’s Opposition Parties Draft a Manifesto
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The Convention of Political Parties, headed by former senator Turneb Delpe, held a national conference of 30 political parties and civilian organizations in Cap Haitien on Monday and Tuesday October 15-16 to formulate solutions to Haiti’s current crises and counter the Martelly-Lamothe regime as a united front. Together the political parties and civilian organizations drafted The manifesto of Cap-Haitien. UPDATE: Full text of manifesto included in French and English.
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. For every embargo against the Dominican Republic (DR), there come a rash of repatriations and other abuses of Haitians. Rights groups call on the Haitian government to speak up for its nationals and denounce the abuses against them in the DR.
Mountains Behind Protests
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Haiti’s most populous cities erupted in protest in early September, and some areas remain more or less in a state of continuous protest against human rights abuses, soaring food prices, 80 per cent unemployment, crashing agriculture, government corruption and racism, and many other severe political and economic ills.
Soaring Food Prices in Haiti (+ Video, Sep 19, 2012)
By Ricardo Pierre Placide, Le Matin | Translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Over the past several months, Haitian households have faced an unprecedented 40% increase on average in the prices of essential commodities such as eggs, rice, sugar, and flour. (English | French).
By Evens Prosper, HPN | Translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The culinary team that represented Haiti in the “Taste of the Caribbean” contest in Miami from June 20 to 24 won 11 medals for Haiti in several gastronomic categories, and Haiti received three consecutive minutes of standing ovation. (English|French)
By Pierre Ricardo Placide, Le Matin. After a 20% drop in Haiti’s agricultural production last year, the agricultural sector is under threat of a more drastic reduction of food supply. This situation could exacerbate food insecurity in the most vulnerable households in the Departments of the North, Northeast, South, Artibonite and Central Plateau. (English | French)
Deseret News Editorial | Rebekah Wilce, PR Watch | Editorial comment by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Farm Bill 2012, currently before the U.S. Congress, has met more public outrage over subsidies than any previous farm bill. A quarter of U.S. farms earn over $100,000 a year, and the net income of all farms is about $91.7 billion, which is the second-highest level ever. Yet the government pays subsidies to some farmers whether or not they plant a crop, and the top 4% of subsidy collectors get 74% of all the funds.
Help Haiti’s Farmers, End Rice Subsidies
By Jacob Kushner, Global Post | U.S. Farm Bill 2012, Develop Trade Law | Environmental Working Group | Editorial comment by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. U.S. Farm Bill 2012 could reverse a decades-long policy of agricultural subsidies that has undercut Haiti’s local rice production. Call for an end to all U.S. rice subsidies.
By Feizal Samath, IPS. By coaxing a bumper 3.2 tonnes of rice out of each acre on his organic farm in the Thrippane, Sri Lanka, district famed for its ancient Buddhist monasteries, Charitha Wijeratne has convincingly proved that using indigenous seeds does not affect productivity.
By Nocles Debreus, Le Matin | Translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Haiti’s agricultural sector creates 50% of the country’s employment overall and 80% in rural areas. Agronomist Phito Blémur and many others believe that policies toward development and poverty reduction must take into account the vital role this sector played immediately after Independence when it accounted for 95% of the GDP (instead of the current 26%). Revival of this sector will require a departure from neoliberalism and the establishment of serious fiscal and monetary policies.
By Ali Farka Toure, You Tube | Discogs | Introduction by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Ali Farka Toure was a fantastic singer-composer-musician from the Timbuktu region of Mali. He was also an exceptionally well-grounded individual who, after touring the U.S. and Europe to great acclaim, returned to his village to work as a fruit and rice farmer. Later he served as the Mayor of the Niafunke region where his projects included malaria eradication and tree planting.
Aid as a Trojan Horse: On the Anniversary of the Haitian Earthquake
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Long before the word sustainable became fashionable, before Henry David Thoreau noted that “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone,” there was Haiti. This article is dedicated to the unknown woman from a tent city who said into a TV camera “Pa bliye mwen” (Don’t forget me).