Tag Archives: Haitian people

Jul 25 2017

The Next President of Haiti…

The next president of Haiti should be able to see the country from the prism of a technological revolution. 

We have been too far left behind the technical boom for too long, it is time now to play catch-up.

It is our state of mind that keeps us in that economically and socially underdeveloped or deprived state of affairs we are in, not because “God is punishing us,” as some of these “levanjil tèt mare” love to suggest.

We need to revolutionize the way we think, the way we see or perceive ourselves and the world around us.

From my observation, I see there is a total philosophical disconnect between the Haitian at home [and some of us living abroad] and the rest of the world. We need to bridge that gap, and the only best and most logical way to accomplish that is by means of a technological revolution.

We need to bring the internet to the entire population, including those living in the country’s most secluded areas –assuming the electric energy problem the country has been struggling with has been intelligently dealt with in its entirety. 

The mobile technology, coupled with the internet, will change the way we learn, study and communicate. In large, that will change the way we see ourselves in relation to the world.

A technological revolution is what we need to change the collective psyche of our people in the long run, which, in turn, will make possible the economic and social development we have been hoping to see become a reality in the country.

Here is the question: in light of the 2021 presidential election, which prospective candidate do you think has the potential –political vision and leadership acumen –to bring about that aforementioned transformational change?

Dec 9 2013

The Way To Beat Lavalas In The Next Elections

elections-haiti

Lavalas knows very well that “rache manyòk” is not feasible, so their mobilization on the streets is nothing but a part of their campaign strategy to imposingly win the next elections.

They were very dormant for the past two years, so they had got to find a way to wake up their troops and get them on their feet once and for all.

The Tèt Kale camp needs to take this wave of sporadic protests very seriously. They must not play the game of their opponent. Otherwise, they will know an embarrassing defeat.

The Tèt Kale Political Action Committees (PACs) must not let their camp lose the political edge to the Lavalas sector -if they want to outperform them (the Lavalas sector) in the next elections. Be mindful of the fact that the main purpose behind all these protests is to win the political edge.

By definition, a Political Action Committee (PAC) is a type of organization that gathers campaign money from members and donates those funds for the purpose of influencing an election. It may engage in unlimited political spending independently of the campaign to campaign for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation.

How to prevent Lavalas?

Effective political campaigns cannot be possibly run without money. So you need money to effectively campaign against your opponents. The game has long changed.

If the Tèt Kale PACs want to capitalize on the next elections, among many things they need to do, they need to wage an aggressive and brutal media war against Lavalas.

The Tèt Kale PACs, with small 30- to 60-second political spots (audio and video), need to hit the mainstream radio and TV stations in Haiti and the Diaspora and all the social networking sites. The content of these spots is what will determine their effectiveness. So expert advice is highly warranted to put these spots together.

The purpose of these spots is to highlight the reasons (based on historical data) as to why Lavalas is bad for the country in this era of modernization and social and economic development and why their candidates represent what the country needs to keep moving forward.

Also, the Tèt Kale sector needs to select winnable candidates with a clean record to represent them in these elections. That means a vetting committee needs to be instituted to thoroughly examine the records of these potential candidates before they are selected.

Lavalas can be beaten easily. It will depend on the game plan of the Tèt Kale sector. As I often say, when the playing field is leveled for all the players, the team with the best strategy is the one poised to win the contest.

Sep 30 2010

THE FUTURE OF WOMEN IN KONPA DIREK

Saida: former backup singer of Hangout

For those of you who may not know, Konpa Direk is Haiti’s most popular genre of music. It is the legacy of two great Haitian musicians –Weber Sicot and Nemours Jean Baptiste. This is the music the majority of the Haitian people play at social gatherings (parties) and blast in their cars. When these two men created Konpa, however, I am not sure they had women in mind. So the question is, after a little over fifty years since the creation of Konpa Direk, is there a future for women in this music business?

Konpa is yet to be a comfort zone for women. It is a male-dominated world with only a few women struggling, despite all the humiliations they are being victim of, to gain some degree of recognition. From Cleo, Georgie, Mei Mei and Saida of Hangout to Sandra of Zin and Stacey of Tempo, the women have not been given the respect they deserve. For the most part, they are being “sexploited,” sexually harassed and/or treated as second class artists.

I’ve heard many people making the argument that if you dream of having a long-lasting band, keep the women away; the moment they integrate the band, trouble will surface. The men will be competing against each other to see who will be the first to knock her out or sleep with her. And once you have band members competing against each other over matters that have nothing to do with music, unity and esprit de corps, essential elements for the band’s success, will be greatly impacted. That alone will suffice to place the band on the verge of disorganization, chaos and destruction.

If the aforementioned reality really exists inside the Konpa bands, I think management is slacking in its duty. The job of the manager of the band, if I may, is to set the guidelines as to what behaviors are appropriate and what are not. In other words, the job of the manager is to come up with policies that would praise good deeds and punish misconduct. When you have mediocre folks that don’t know what they are doing managing these bands, of course, you can expect the women to be treated like pieces of meat for all the men to prey on.

Is there a future for women in this business? I am very hopeful that things will change for the better for women. But that won’t happen until management can step up to the plate and lead these bands with an impeccable level of professionalism. I am also hopeful that things will get better for these women when they (the women) start realizing that favoritism can only take them this far. Should they integrate these bands, the decision should be made on the basis of talents and merit, not favoritism. If it is based on favoritism or solely on their good looks, they will have to sell their dignity by making hideous concessions only to secure their positions.