Of matters far and close: Reflections about Iraq and Haiti
Please consider:
- How many countries in this world possess weapons of mass destruction?
Let's start with the biggest culprit.
- How many countries in this world make and sell weapons of mass destruction?
Let's start with the biggest culprit.
- How many countries in this world stockpile weapons of mass destruction?
Let's start with the biggest culprit.
- How many countries in this world have unleashed weapons of mass destruction?
Let's start with the biggest culprit.
- How many countries in this world have threatened to use their weapons of mass destruction?
Let's start with the most recent culprit.
If Iraq figured as the answer to any of the above questions, then we'd agree with the President of the United States
that Iraq represents A CLEAR AND IMMINENT DANGER to the security of the United States and indeed the entire World, and
should be forcibly disarmed. For the sake of HUMANITY, all weapons of mass destruction should be destroyed.
And it's only rational that the biggest of the culprits, those who possess, make and sell, stockpile, unleash, and
threaten to use weapons of mass destruction atone for their sins. The World needs leaders who show great determination
in attaining peace, not an absolute preoccupation with waging war. In one generation, we have already seen too many
wars. Are those wars leading the world to greater peace, justice and security??? Dare to answer the question for posterity.
Yes, we demand war: War against starvation in Ethiopia and in Haiti, war against AIDS in South Africa and in Haiti,
war against poverty in North America and in Haiti, war against misery in Latin America and in Haiti, war against
hopelessness in Haiti and increasingly in the rest of the world.
If we should unleash war, let it be a war that we can all believe in!
We Americans, and I do speak as a Haitian-American, have every reason to be concerned about a world perception of
the United States as A CLEAR AND IMMINENT DANGER to the security of lesser nation-states. In this 200th anniversary
of the emergence of the Haitian Flag that in 1803 came to symbolize the abolishment of the European institution of
slavery (resulting in the abject dehumanization and limitless exploitation of Africans in America) and the liberation
of nations the world over, I ask that my country of citizenship, the United States of America, finally make peace with
the country whose political independence they deigned to recognize only some 60 years after the fact; that they begin
a progressive foreign policy of assistance, not to be measured in dollars, but in real living terms: health delivery
systems, literacy and education, nutrition, reforestation, agriculture, renewable energy and water safe enough to
drink, waste recycling, and meaningful employment.
The real shame of America today is not in having
allowed Saddam Hussein to stay in power in the early 90's, but in allowing and abetting the persistence of inhumane
conditions in a little black country near their borders. A little black country, yes!, but a country that seemed
larger than life when in 1803 it gave the world the greatest example of leadership in its inexorable pursuit of
freedom; a country where dark-skinned world heroes dared accomplish what no U.S. leader of the fabled American
Revolution had dared think possible: the liberation of black African slaves and their integration into an inclusive
society.
How long after
1776 did an American Leader emerge to consider that the Negroes of America were men equally deserving of their
freedom? How long after 1803 will an American Leader emerge to consider that Haiti deserves its own place in the
sun, that men from a little black country, "the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere," as the world press
never fails to inform us, deserve the opportunity to set themselves straight and take a place of honor in the
family of nations? The question is: should Haiti be eternally punished for its grand gesture of victory over its
oppressors (who happened to be White, Europeans, and descendants of Europeans) or should it be let free to exercise
its rights
to self-determination, with the assistance and real fraternity of the United States of America, its former master
France, its Latin American neighbors, and the friends it selects from the rest of the world? That's the question,
America! The lessons of 1803 can never be erased from the History books. Free men of all nations should celebrate
Haiti this year, for what Haiti gave to the world in 1803. No one should still feel ambivalent about what this proud
nation accomplished 200 years ago.
In 1803, an army of would-be re-enslaved black men defeated Imperial France and showed unmistakable courage to an
American continent which treasured the privileges derived from slavery, and in so doing struck fear in the hearts of
American slave owners who wished that an independent Haiti would go to hell. Are we living their dreams today?
No, they wished us far worse. However, we must slow down our descent into the abyss. Haiti and ALL Haitians
deserve better.
We open our arms to 500 million friends around the world, who would assist us rather than dictate when we may get
our next meal. Haiti for Haitians and for a World free of all forms of terrorism!
Guy S. Antoine
Windows on Haiti
Social Commentary
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