Water for Profit: Neocolonialism as Cannibalism

By Dady Chery Haiti Chery The notion of a colonist as cannibal in Haiti is widespread. This idea, called manje moun, or eating people, could hardly qualify as superstition, given the experience of colonialism. It is daunting to find a … Continue reading →

Other People’s Countries

By Dady Chery Haiti Chery For news of the world, peel away from those who follow the daily offerings of bombings and supposed terror attacks, as bulls in the ring chase a red cape to their ritualistic slaughter. Look instead in … Continue reading →

Prison Aid to Haiti for Captive Slave Labor

By Dady Chery Haiti Chery Haiti’s incarceration rate of roughly 100 prisoners per 100,000 citizens in 2016 was the lowest in the Caribbean. Nevertheless, there is a systematic campaign underway for more prisons. Canada and Norway have each given one … Continue reading →

Cholera in Haiti and Africa: The Peacekeepers’ Footprint

By Dady Chery Haiti Chery Like the plantain weed, Plantago major, which so reliably matched the movements of European settlers through North America that it became known as “the white man’s footprint,” the cholera epidemics of the last 15 years … Continue reading →

Haiti’s Open Vein at Caracol Industrial Park

By Dady Chery Haiti Chery Haitians, who previously sold their kin as outright slaves and sugar-cane cutters, continue to sell them into sweatshops and other horrific work environments at home and abroad. Consider the case of Caracol Industrial Park, in … Continue reading →

United Nations (UNHCR) Census Targeted Dominicans of Haitian Ancestry to Be Denationalized

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Dominican Constitutional Court Ruling TC168 of September 23, 2013 denationalizes over 200,000 Black Dominicans belonging to four generations whose ancestors entered the Dominican Republic between 1929 and 2007.

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Haiti’s Assembly Workers Promised 87 Cents Per Hour

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Haiti’s sweatshop factory owners enjoy unprecedented duty free and quota-free access to the U.S. market, and only prison wages come close to the scandalously low 30 to 50 cents/hour earned by Haiti’s workers.

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Deadly Denim

By Staff, International Labor Rights Forum. Two separate fires in Pakistan killed more than 300 trapped workers: 289 workers in a Karachi apparel factory (sweatshop) and 25 workers in a Lahore shoe factory on Tuesday September 11, 2012. National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan (NTUF) leader Nasir Mansoor called this the “darkest and saddest day in the history of Pakistan’s labor movement.” The fires are considered to be the logical result of the low prices buyers offer the factories and the quick deliveries they demand.

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19 Tons of Poison Delivered to Harare’s Main Waterworks

By Michael Chideme and Daniel Nemukuyu, The Herald Online. An alert truck driver sent to deliver 19 tons of poisonous sodium cyanide — instead of aluminum sulfate — to Harare’s main waterworks averted disaster last Wednesday July 25 when he raised alarm just as he was about to offload the chemical.

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Economic Crimes of Dictatorships: Argentina

By Marcela Valente, IPS | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. More than 600 businesspeople lost their properties to the Argentina dictatorship of 1976 to 1983. “they took everything we had, our seven companies and the company plane. And it’s a miracle they didn’t kill us,” says Alejandro Iaccarino, a prosperous dairy industry businessman during the 1970s who is suing for millions of dollars in reparations.

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Fair Trade Business Is Growing, Part 2 – Surprisingly Robust Spanish Market | Recesión española respeta economía solidaria | Recessão espanhola respeita economia solidária

By Inés Benítez, Tierramerica, IPS, Global Issues. The economic and financial crisis afflicting the European Union (EU) countries has scarcely affected the sales of fair-trade products in Spain, especially foods from Central and South America. (English | Spanish | Portuguese)

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Corruption by ‘Peacekeeping’: The Lure of Foreign Exchange

By Staff, AsiaOne | Editorial comment by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Bangladeshi UN “peacekeepers” have sent home nearly $1.24 billion during the past three years. In 2010 Bangladesh sent its first female MINUSTAH contingent, a group of 110, to Haiti.

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The Rush to Haiti’s North | La ruée vers le Nord

By Roberson Alphonse, Le Nouvelliste | Commentary and translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. According to Dieuseul Anglade, director of Haiti’s Office of Mines and Energy in Haiti, during the negotiations for mineral exploitation, the Haitian State will keep a close watch to ensure that Haitian citizens benefit from the country’s wealth. Meanwhile, the mayors have been dismissed, and land prices have skyrocketed. (English | French)

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Poor Little Rich Haiti to Be Fleeced of Copper-Silver-Gold Via Caracol Deep-Water Port

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Plans are under way for Canadian and US corporations to mine Haiti’s northeast area near Caracol, which has been discovered to contain a wealth of silver and gold, in addition to copper. As in the Dominican Republic’s Pueblo Viejo project, construction of the mines will involve dynamiting of mountains, and the ore will be extracted by an opencast (or open-pit) mining process that contaminates large volumes of water with cyanide. UPDATES: Attempts to issue mining permits to the US’ VCS Mining LLC and Canada’s SOMINE SA, without any environmental impact assessment (EIA) were thwarted by Haiti’s Senate in January 2013. Plans to dredge a deep-sea port in the pristine Bay of Fort Liberte were scrapped in April 2014.

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