Tag: Haiti

Haitian women warriors
Humanity

Jean Jacques Dessalines and the Women Warriors who Liberated Haiti

Today’s attempts to malign Haiti stand as only the latest in a long line of hegemony and oppression against this Caribbean island nation. January 1, 1804 is Haitian Independence Day, and Haitian attorney Ezili Dantò honors and remembers Janjak Desalin (Jean Jacques Dessalines), Haiti’s Liberator and founding father, as well as the indigenous army, and women who influenced him. Janjak’s ideals and legacy lives on – Nou la!

Haiti, hurricane matthew, Jeremie
Humanity

On Haiti and Hurricane Matthew – Intervention and Self-Determination

Haiti now faces an unmitigated human disaster from the destruction of Hurricane Matthew. With extreme reports of death tolls, Dady Cherry examines the misinformation common in mainstream media reports of the destruction that reinforce the gringo-savior mentality, backed by western governments and their compromised and ineffectual non-governmental organizations like the Red Cross. The failures from the 2010 earthquake loom large.

Saut d’Eau Waterfalls, Haiti, Vodou, Voodoo
Rituals and Traditions

Haitian Vodou: Summoning the Spirits

Like several West African religions, Vodouisants believe in a supreme being called Bondyè, from bon “good” + dyè “God.” Because Bondyè is unreachable, Vodouisants aim their prayers to lesser entities, the spirits known as Lwa (Loa), contacted and served through possession. In turn, the Lwa confer material blessings, physical well-being, protection, abundance.