“No empire foresees its tumble into time’s abyss. The Roman Empire didn’t. The British Empire once boasted that ‘the sun will never set on our glorious empire.’ It has set now, hasn’t it? I recently read a remarkable book about the six hundred years of the vast Ottoman Empire. At its apogee it stood as the mightiest empire on Earth; it conquered the eastern home of teh Roman Empire, the Byzantine capital of Constantinople with relative ease, and renamed it as Istanbul. Yet, this empire went out with a whimper, in a burst of familial madness, of men who became deadly to their families, and became, finally, irrelevant.
The lesson of history is inescapable – empires rise; empires fall. No empire lasts forever…”
–Mumia-Abu Jamal
As the mass hysteria over George Clooney teaming up with MTV to host a Haiti Telethon, or a telethon to raise money for the only country of Blacks in the west to overthrow slavery, I am unable to keep certain words off of my tongue. As 53 young orphans from Haiti land in Pittsburg today, and thoughts of many of the insightful bloggers that I follow on twitter begin to sound the alarm, worrying about the popularity that adopting a Haitian child may become, more words are begin to riot at the door of mouth. As 5,000 United States military troops descend on the earthquake ravaged nation by helicopter, I am left hopeless beaten by my own thoughts forming and congealing into audible vibrations.
The legacy of Haiti is that of a 50 year old Slave joining forces with a respect Voodun priest and galvanizing the slaves of that country to overthrow the French. T’ousaint was able to defeat, with the help of Dessalines, Napoleon. That is a major historical feat that doesn’t get much coverage in high school history books. The country would be cut off from any assistance by the United States in an effort to protect the minds of her slaves. The hope of Haiti wouldn’t be so compromised if Haiti received the help from Africa, as all of the west receives from NATO. Now, this once sparkling and shining country must deal with the threat of imperial control. In Haiti, at this moment, while you are reading this, Israel has high tech military tents set up. As mentioned earlier, the people of Haiti are cheering on military men with US flags on there sleeves. Now, I don’t want to offend my black servicemen, but hell, you all know, this situation reeks of a situation that will only end with Haiti becoming a territory of either the US or some other western nation.
Who is going to rebuild Haiti? How long will those troops be there? Who will speak for the Haitian people against those that public state they have donated money, but are only seeking to appear as charitable? Haiti didn’t have much before the earthquake, what makes anyone think that without a certain dependence on those countries now on the scene that Haiti will be able to rebuild? I am not being a pessimist here. I hate that term realist, so I’ll just say I have never seen it. Never. The United States is conquered land. Israel is stolen land. Two countries with great successes as land thieves and robbers have united to help a defenseless land. Right.
I’m thinking about christian missionaries that entered into various civilizations under the guise of “converting the heathens” and leaving…well, never leaving. Now, civilizing has become “democratizing” and “liberating” as we see in Iraq. And possibly will see after the United States stops killing thousands of innocent civilians in Afghanistan.As these christian missionaries built their temples on top of the temples of those they conquered, nations are built on top the ashes of those that were defeated. The Roman Vatican is itself said to have been built on top of the worshippers of Mithra. The work of the christian missionary in some regards is the mission of genocide. I look at the work of many who are now “assisting” Haiti in the same vein as many historians look at the christian missionary.
I pray that I am wrong in my thinking. I pray that my insanity is not due to my awareness of a world that considers the thoughtful crazy. I pray that my analysis of history is skewed in some manner. But ultimately, I’ll be alright, my thoughts are with the children and babies of Haiti tonight.
As always, I am J. Farand, the Owl of the Asylum. I thank you for reading this.
Comments are not only welcome there are expected and needed…
