The haunting lyrics of calypsonian David Rudder’s Haiti sent a shudder down my spine when I first heard it in 1988:

‘Toussaint was a mighty man, and to make matters worse, he was black; back in the days when black men knew their place was in the back; but this rebel, he walked through Napoleon who thought it wasn’t very nice; and so today, my brothers in Haiti; they still pay the price…Haiti, I’m sorry; we misunderstood you…’

Then I read The Black Jacobins by CLR James and was struck by the proud history of this nation- the only successful slave revolt in history, Haiti’s history has influenced, and reshaped post colonial thinking,  moving Africans and their descendants from being mere objects, to passionate heroes, taking action for themselves.

And it is against this backdrop that Haiti’s suffering is even more acutely felt.

The country is today usually described as the poorest in the Western Hemisphere; a failed state; and so on.

But let us not forget that Haiti was made to compensate France and its slaveholders for losing ‘their slaves’ to the tune of 150 million francs.

From its outset, Haiti has been on the backfoot.

Economic desperation drives corruption. Add blacklisting by Western powers, and you can see that Haiti was never really given a chance to succeed. Even Haiti’s english speaking neighbours in the Caribbean have been divided on how to accept the state.

Discrimination against Haitians in the Caribbean is rife- many being forced to live and work illegally in the other islands.

Added to all of this is the impact of natural disasters- so frequent recently.

The devastating earthquake on Tuesday has left hundreds dead and missing. There are a number of organisations trying to help:

http://www.yele.org/

http://www.msf.org.uk/Articledetail.aspx?fId=haiti_earthquake_20100113&gclid=CPLL6O28oZ8CFUQA4wodx0iCIA

http://www.christianaid.org.uk/emergencies/current/haiti-earthquake-appeal/index.aspx?gclid=CKSv6YG9oZ8CFY8A4wodjDsmJw

Please do your bit to help .