On the 19th May at 5.00 p.m. the Caribbean Pan African Network (CPAN) in collaboration with the Emancipation Support Committee of Trinidad & Tobago (ESCTT) will host a virtual panel discussion on the current crisis in Haiti in order to provide an in depth understanding of what is happening there, what is at stake for all of us in the Caribbean region as well as the added significance for the Pan-African world. We have mobilized a panel of speakers with a commitment to Haiti, our geopolitical region and Africans globally to provide information, insights and recommendations for action, in a situation that morally and practically demands our attention. The panel will feature internationally established Haitian activists:
Èzili Dantò – Human Rights and International Law Attorney and Founder of Free Haiti Movement
Georges Gabrielle Paul– Founder and President of the Fondation Julia et Jade
Luckner Bayas– Haitian Activist
Khafra Kambon– Director of Pan African Affairs, ESCTT & Coordinator, CPAN
Myrtha Désulmé (Moderator) – President of the Haiti-Jamaica Society and Haitian Diaspora Advocate
David Comissiong, Chairman of the Caribbean Pan African Network and Barbados Ambassador to CARICOM will present an update from the CARICOM Group of Experts appointed to investigate the current situation in Haiti
The public is invited to join the conversation via Facebook at: Emancipation Support Committee TT-ESCTT or Caribbean Pan African Network- CPAN
Background to the Discussion
When you leave the airport in Haiti, as you drive along the main streets, one of the prominent signs you see proudly proclaims “Haiti Se Man Man Liberte” (Haiti is the Mother of Freedom). This must be an unforgettable truth for us in the Caribbean, as it must be for Africans all around the world. In fact, given what chattel slavery was, the Haitian Revolution of 1791-1804 was the most decisive single contribution towards human freedom in all of recorded history. It was this revolution by enslaved Africans that hastened the demise of chattel slavery and victories of anti-colonial struggles by the fear it bred in the enslavers, by its inspiration to the enslaved and by the material contributions it provided to many revolutions.
Today our Mother of Freedom is crying out in pain, still paying the price for what she did for all of us, as David Rudder pointed out in his profound calypso “Haiti I am Sorry”. Death pervades the streets and overcrowded slums of Haiti, death from the health consequences of extreme poverty and lack of basic services, death from the beatings and bullets of police and soldiers. The intensity of mayhem rises and falls with political triggers which are invariably tied in with the interests of European and American elites who are determined to ensure that Haiti will never rise, that it will always serve as a warning to all those who dear to challenge their hegemony.
Currently the Haitian people need our understanding and support. The United States and some of its Western Allies have struck another deadly blow against our CARICOM family member which has triggered massive demonstrations in the streets in this time of Covid and vicious responses from “law enforcement” agencies resulting in many deaths and serious injuries. The immediate cause of people taking to the streets was the decision by the current Haitian President, Jovenel Moise, to extend his term in office (which expired in January 2021), initially by one year, during which time he would make amendments to the constitution which would give him even more dictatorial powers than he already has. Shamefully his decision has received the support of the United States.
We need to take a stand with our brothers and sisters in Haiti now, to put an end to this immediate threat of a constitutionally sanctioned dictatorship. It is time for us to show our thanks to Haiti, to help our brothers and sisters free themselves from the tyranny of homegrown puppets supported by US and European power determined to continue punishing the country and its people for freeing itself and freeing us all from chattel slavery. This is a moral imperative. It will also be mutually beneficial to all of us in the region. A free Haiti, with its tremendous human and natural resources for development, will be a major asset to our regional economy.