9635: 9633: Re: 9631: 18 November 2003 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: "Dennis R. Hidalgo" <dhidalgo@sbc.edu>

I don't agree with the notion that after the revolution Haiti's destiny has 
been in its own hands. To think this way is to ignore the strenght of the 
international forces; it is to ignore that colonialism continues in a different 
form, yet still very influential; it is to ignore that there has been a purpose 
in keeping Haiti down and prove that blacks could not govern themselves. To 
think in this way is to ignore the vast evidence that indicate that powerful 
countries like France, Spain, Britain, the US, and Holland attempted every form 
to avoid the creation of a prosperous state in Haiti because it would have 
meant a direct threat to their own sense of superiority (among many other 
things). To think this way is to ignore that many other less powerful nations 
collaborated actively with this project by leaving Haiti in the air without the 
common commercial, social, and cultural support normally given to other 
nations. This is true despite seemingly compassionate moves by countries like 
United States that gave arms and trade with Haiti. Countries in ocassions 
perceived that dealing with Haiti in certain ways could benefit them, but they 
were not thinking about benefitting Haiti itself. We can go on and explore the 
cultural and social consequences of being the world pariah and how that has 
affected the behavior of Haitian politics. We can also go on and analize how 
the fact that Haiti started and continued being pushed aside as no other nation 
in the world has to do with the fact that Haiti apparently still cannot find a 
firm hold. But we are running out of time and space. 

To believe that Haiti is completedly responsible for its condition is to think 
exactly how the people in charged with international policy in countries like 
the United States wants us to think. The propaganda is powerful. The whole 
mentality of this new "World Order" even leads us to believe that way. But if 
we take a serious look at the evidence and see it critically, we will quickly 
look at it otherwise. 

This, of course, is not to excuse Hatian responsibility, but to bring the point 
that small nations like Haiti are more influenced by the powerful hegemony of 
countries like the United States than by internal-domestic problems.

Cheers,

Dennis R. Hidalgo