tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/caribbean-5187/articlesCaribbean – The Conversation2024-03-28T22:47:52Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2265972024-03-28T22:47:52Z2024-03-28T22:47:52ZFour solutions could enable Haiti to emerge from its crisis – but they will take time<p>As <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/airlift-canadians-fleeing-haiti-1.7155916">Canada began airlifting citizens out of Haiti</a> this week, the country is in a complete state of crisis. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/kenyas-parliament-approves-police-deployment-haiti-2023-11-16/">An international mission led by Kenya</a> was due to arrive in early 2024, but <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/kenya-court-decision-haiti-force-1.7095513">suspended</a> because of the disastrous situation in the country. </p>
<p>The last straw was the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/haiti-ariel-henry-resigns-1.7140904">resignation of acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry</a> on March 11, 2024. While his resignation has brought some measure of calm, this could be short-lived unless it is followed up with co-ordinated political solutions.</p>
<p>Many countries are currently supporting the creation of a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/bob-rae-haiti-council-1.7141745#:%7E:text=Canada's%20ambassador%20to%20the%20United%20Nations%20says%20Haiti's%20transitional%20council,temporary%20replacement%20has%20been%20chosen.">Transitional Presidential Council</a> in Haiti. The United States has <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-haiti-us-aid-1.7140771">released $133 million in aid</a>, and the United Nations has announced it will create <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1147521">“an air bridge”</a> between Haiti and the Dominican Republic to help deliver humanitarian aid.</p>
<p>Can these actions by the international community put an end to the political and institutional instability in Haiti? </p>
<p>A former civil servant in the Haitian public administration, where I worked for eight years, I am now a researcher and lecturer at the École nationale d'administration publique. My co-author has taught policy design and implementation in Haiti. The analyses and conclusions we present here are drawn from our professional experience and research work. </p>
<h2>Haiti in chaos</h2>
<p>In July 2018, Haiti was shaken by waves of violence with the population protesting rising fuel prices. These protests served as a precedent for the development of a phenomenon known as <a href="https://haitiantimes.com/2022/09/14/lockdown-protests-one-deadly-spread-in-haiti-after-fuel-hike-announcement-%EF%BF%BC/">“peyi lock”</a>, or lockdown of the country, which has since become recurrent. It brings <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1.6246428">all priority sectors</a>, such as schools and banks, to a standstill. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/haiti-violence-curfew-1.7132831">Prisons</a> have also been taken by storm. </p>
<p>The crisis is a multidimensional one: <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/haiti/overview">political, economic</a>, security and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1.6617820">humanitarian</a>. According to UNICEF, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/04/americas/haiti-ariel-henry-gangs-protests-bsap-intl-latam/index.html#:%7E:text=80%25%20of%20Port%2Dau%2DPrince%20controlled%20by%20gangs&text=In%20an%20impoverished%20country%20with,kidnapping%20business%2C%20per%20UN%20figures.">80 per cent</a> of the capital, Port-au-Prince, is controlled by criminal gangs, headed by the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/10/haiti-gang-boss-kingpin-barbecue-jimmy-cherizier">infamous Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier</a>. </p>
<p>On March 8 and 9, 2024, the crisis came to a head when rival gangs sought to take <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-haiti-gangs-meeting-jamaica-1.7139578">control of key infrastructure</a>, <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/gangs-in-haiti-try-to-seize-control-of-main-airport-in-newest-attack-on-key-government-sites-1.6793277#:%7E:text=Heavily%20armed%20gangs%20tried%20to,the%20country's%20two%20biggest%20prisons.">including the main international airport and port</a>. </p>
<h2>A long-term political crisis</h2>
<p>Former president Jovenel Moïse, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/4/11/haiti-jovenel-moise-confirmed-as-new-president">elected in 2017</a>, did not call elections during his entire five-year term. This weakened both Haiti’s public institutions, which were already shaky, and the stability of the country’s <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/americas_eu-no-funding-or-european-observers-referendum-haiti/6205539.html">security</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/01/us/politics/haiti-assassination-court.html">assassination</a> of Moïse on July 7, 2021 – part of the country’s turbulent political history – only accelerated the growing fiasco in Haiti. The presidency has been vacant ever since. </p>
<p>The current crisis is not new. Its roots go back to Haiti’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Haitian-Revolution">independence in 1804</a>. The country has been through numerous political crises since then.</p>
<p><a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/mission/minustah">MINUSTAH</a>, the United Nations mission, arrived in Haiti in June 2004, following the <a href="https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/93-931.html">overthrow of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide</a> on Feb. 29 of that year. One of its objectives was to help strengthen the Haitian National Police (PNH) to ensure public order in the prevailing climate of crisis and instability.</p>
<p>Five years after the definitive departure of MINUSTAH in 2019, the security climate in Haiti is toxic, even apocalyptic. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/mission/minustah">composition of the workforce</a> of MINUSTAH is one reason for the mission’s failure. It included 8,756 military personnel and 3,555 police officers from more than 63 countries, each with their own way of doing things and operating. Under such conditions, it was difficult, if not impossible, to ensure consistency in the actions of the international mission. Moreover, the majority of MINUSTAH’s military and civilian personnel came from countries where respect for human rights is often flouted. </p>
<p>It should not come as a surprise that NGOs denounced <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/lib-docs/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/session12/HT/JS8-JointSubmission8-eng.pdf">cases of failure to respect human rights during MINUSTAH’s presence</a>. MINUSTAH is one of the most controversial missions in the history of the UN. It has been the subject of several allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse. </p>
<h2>Rethinking the mobilization of the international community in Haiti</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-haiti-ariel-henry-1.7141043">meeting</a> initiated by CARICOM <a href="https://caricom.org">(Caribbean Community)</a> was held on March 11 in Jamaica. The meeting brought together a number of international players to discuss the current crisis in Haiti and to promote the creation of a Transitional Presidential Council whose mandate would include organizing the forthcoming elections. </p>
<p>Haitian civil society has already appointed <a href="https://lenouvelliste.com/en/article/247301/pierre-jean-raymond-andre-and-rene-jean-jumeau-appointed-observers-in-the-presidential-council">its observers</a> to this Transitional Presidential Council. But the resigning Prime Minister, Henry, says he is still <a href="https://lenouvelliste.com/en/article/247304/ariel-henry-attend-de-recevoir-officiellement-les-noms-des-membres-du-conseil-presidentiel-pour-publication-dans-le-moniteur">waiting for the names of the members of this council from CARICOM</a> before making it official. So it seems that resolution of the crisis is, once again, getting bogged down.</p>
<p>We believe that the political, security and humanitarian disaster in Haiti calls for the mobilization of the international community. However, this effort needs to be rethought. </p>
<p>Since the country is institutionally weak, support must be planned for the long term and aim to gradually make institutions autonomous. Over the last few decades, support for Haiti has focused on the <a href="https://occah.uqam.ca/publications/haiti-mieux-comprendre-le-bilan-mitige-de-laction-humanitaire-internationale/">NGO channel</a>. Unfortunately, this choice does not help to strengthen the institutional capacities of public bodies. Once the NGOs leave, it becomes difficult for local players to take over. </p>
<p>Our field knowledge leads us to recommend a non-imposed approach that respects Haiti’s interests and strategic needs. We believe that the country will be able to overcome the crisis if it can benefit from both a strong public administration and a co-ordinated international aid effort led by countries whose institutions respect human rights. </p>
<p>This aid must think outside the box and prioritize a participatory approach that incorporates Haitians’ objectives for their country. In the aftermath of the earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010, the international community carried out unplanned interventions <a href="https://espace.enap.ca/id/eprint/447/">without taking into account the specific local context</a>. So it was hardly surprising that the response failed. </p>
<p>The international community’s support for Haiti must be long-term. The MINUSTAH experience demonstrates that one-off humanitarian or emergency interventions cannot be effective. We believe that the aid to be provided to Haiti must be thought through not in years, but in decades.</p>
<p>A multidimensional approach is needed to solidify, stabilize and perpetuate the state’s public institutions. Simply supporting the national police force is not enough to restore order. All the institutions need to be rebuilt.</p>
<h2>Haitians’ responsibilities</h2>
<p>In Haiti, political and civil society players have a responsibility to be proactive in proposing viable solutions. We believe that the wait-and-see attitude often displayed by Haiti’s intellectual elite must be abandoned. We are therefore arguing that a concerted effort by all the nation’s driving forces, including the diaspora, is essential for the country’s renewal. It is with these vital forces that international aid must operate, in a spirit of support and self-determination, rather than imposition, as the American economist and specialist in development economics, <a href="https://penguinshop.ca/products/9780143038825">William Easterly, shows in this essay</a>.</p>
<p>It seems to us, therefore, that to get Haiti out of its current crisis we need to adopt a four-step approach:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Form an international force whose member countries respect human rights.</p></li>
<li><p>Deploy this force to support the national police and restore order, peace and security in the country, including bringing to justice the criminals who are currently creating mayhem in the country.</p></li>
<li><p>Organize an Estates General to bring together the driving forces of civil society and draw up a plan to rebuild the country’s public institutions and make them sustainable.</p></li>
<li><p>Contribute to the training of public servants and to the development of the structures and processes that will be needed to make public institutions sustainable.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>In our opinion, this plan is achievable, provided that the countries that agree to intervene are willing to stay for a few decades.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226597/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Haiti will be able to emerge from the crisis it is in if it has a strong public administration and co-ordinated international aid from countries that respect human rights.Emmanuel Sael, Docteur en administration publique et chargé d'enseignement, École nationale d'administration publique (ENAP)Jean-François Savard, Professeur agrégé, École nationale d'administration publique (ENAP)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2259412024-03-19T12:31:45Z2024-03-19T12:31:45ZHaiti is in crisis, but foreign intervention comes with an ugly past<p>Haiti is <a href="https://news.miami.edu/stories/2024/03/haiti-is-close-to-becoming-a-failed-state.html">fast becoming a failed state</a>. </p>
<p>Armed gangs <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/16/overthrow-the-system-haiti-gang-leader-cherizier-seeks-revolution#:%7E:text=The%20UN%20has%20estimated%20that,foreign%20troops%20from%20entering%20Haiti.">control most of the capital, Port-au-Prince</a>, and have forced the <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/nation-world/2024/03/16/haitis-airports-are-closed-those-with-money-there-is-still-way-out/">shutdown of the capital’s international airport</a> and gasoline refinery. Most <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/18/world/haiti-crisis-militias-battle-intl-latam/index.html">businesses are closed or are being extorted by the gangs</a>.</p>
<p>Ordinary Haitians fear for their safety without the umbrella of law and order that only the government can provide. But there is not much government left: Elections have not been held <a href="https://www.electionguide.org/elections/id/2985/">since 2016</a>; the last president, Jovenel Moïse, was <a href="https://theconversation.com/haitis-president-assassinated-5-essential-reads-to-give-you-key-history-and-insight-164118">assassinated in 2021</a>; and the current prime minister and acting president, Ariel Henry, is <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/03/06/1236288645/haiti-crisis-prime-minister-henry-puerto-rico">stuck in Puerto Rico</a>, unable to fly back to Haiti.</p>
<p>It is increasingly becoming clear that Haiti has neither the means nor the ability to <a href="https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/whatsinblue/2024/03/haiti-private-meeting-2.php">pull itself out of this quagmire on its own</a>, raising the prospect of – and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/21/haiti-un-international-specialized-support-force">calls for</a> – foreign intervention. So far, to that end, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/01/world/africa/haiti-kenya-police-security.html">Kenya has offered</a> 1,000 armed policemen; other countries may chip in. The United States and Europe have <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-aid-chief-announce-25-million-humanitarian-assistance-haiti-2024-03-15/#:%7E:text=The%20additional%20aid%20comes%20after,the%20U.S.%20since%20October%202022.">pledged millions of dollars</a> in aid. </p>
<p>But can a multinational security mission provide Haiti with a way out of its current crisis? My experience <a href="https://www.libarts.colostate.edu/people/esagas/">studying authoritarianism and democratization in Latin America and the Caribbean</a> tells me that international intervention will only take care of Haiti’s immediate security crisis – but it does not guarantee any long-term solutions to Haiti’s challenges. Moreover, history shows that in the case of Haiti, a multinational security mission may create problems of its own.</p>
<h2>Occupational hazards</h2>
<p>This is not the first time that talk has turned to sending foreign troops to Haiti. Since their hard-fought <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/86417/the-black-jacobins-by-c-l-r-james-with-a-new-introduction-by-david-scott/">independence from France in 1804</a>, the Haitian people have seen their country’s sovereignty disrupted many times.</p>
<p>From 1915 to 1934, <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1914-1920/haiti">U.S. Marines occupied</a> Haiti <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/haiti-history-of-crises-present-unrest/">to impose order in the riot-struck republic</a>, create a professional military force and secure U.S. strategic interests in the process.</p>
<p><iframe id="HZR7k" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/HZR7k/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The lengthy military occupation was a humiliating affair for the <a href="https://www.aaihs.org/the-black-republic-the-meaning-of-haitian-independence-before-the-occupation/">world’s first Black republic</a>, which had to endure being ruled by white foreigners. </p>
<p>In the aftermath of the U.S. occupation, the new Haitian military <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1823">became the main force</a> in the country’s politics, either ruling directly or as the power behind the throne.</p>
<p>In 1994, <a href="https://time.com/5682135/haiti-military-anniversary/">U.S. troops once again landed in Haiti</a>, this time to return to power the democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who had been ousted by the military just seven months into his term.</p>
<p>This second U.S. occupation led to the dissolution of the Haitian military, setting the stage for the current security crisis. Since then, Haiti has lacked a national security force capable of imposing order without being challenged by insurgents, paramilitaries and gangs.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/mission/minustah">United Nations eventually took over</a> and sent several missions to stabilize the country starting in 1994. But the U.N. mission eventually left in 2019 once its mandate expired. U.N. troops were accused of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN1YM27V/">sexually exploiting poor women</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/18/world/americas/united-nations-haiti-cholera.html">being responsible for a major cholera outbreak</a> that killed thousands of Haitians.</p>
<h2>Routes of transition</h2>
<p>This sorry history with foreign intervention means that Haiti faces a conundrum now: The country desperately needs outside help to rein in the gangs and provide order, but at what cost? </p>
<p>With the U.S., U.N. and the Ariel Henry administration seemingly in agreement over the <a href="https://ht.usembassy.gov/secretary-blinkens-call-with-haitian-prime-minister-henry/">need for outside assistance</a>, it seems like foreign intervention is increasingly likely.</p>
<p>Henry has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/haitian-leader-says-he-will-quit-after-transitional-council-formed-gang-violence-2024-03-12/">promised to step down</a> as soon as a transitional administration is set up. Any multinational security mission mandate is likely to be pretty straightforward: provide a modicum of security to assist the transitional administration.</p>
<p>But disarming the gangs is a major challenge. They will likely either resist, leading to a potential bloodbath, or, more likely, hide and wait until foreign troops leave Haiti and then reemerge. </p>
<p>That was one of the major failures of previous security missions in Haiti. U.N. peacekeepers kept the peace, but the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/14/haiti-gang-violence-us-guns-smuggling">flow of arms</a> coming <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/widespread-gang-violence-in-haiti-continues-bolstered-by-weapons-trafficked-from-the-u-s">into the country</a> from the United States continued unabated. Once the peacekeepers left, the violence resumed. Any international mission sent to Haiti will have to tackle this problem head on, or it will ultimately fail. </p>
<p>Gangs hold so much power over <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-63707429">vast swaths of the country</a> that any mediated solution to the Haitian crisis will likely have to include them. Moreover, there is a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/15/opinions/haiti-gangs-violence-pierre-pierre/index.html">working relationship</a> between the Haitian political elites and the gangs, with the former arming the latter and using them to pursue their short-term goals. Ignoring the political power of the gangs is, I believe, engaging in wishful thinking about the nature of the Haitian political system.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tank painted white with UN written on it drives down the street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582600/original/file-20240318-20-o5lry1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582600/original/file-20240318-20-o5lry1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582600/original/file-20240318-20-o5lry1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582600/original/file-20240318-20-o5lry1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582600/original/file-20240318-20-o5lry1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582600/original/file-20240318-20-o5lry1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582600/original/file-20240318-20-o5lry1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Haitians have bitter memories of U.N. troops in their country.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/troops-ride-in-an-armored-personnel-carrier-while-news-photo/1543529746?adppopup=true">Thony Belizaire/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And what about Haiti’s other challenges, such as holding free elections, organizing a functioning, legitimate government and improving the lives of its citizens? </p>
<p>None of these goals can realistically be achieved until peace is restored. Only in the conditions of stability and order can a transitional caretaker government start planning the arduous task of holding free, fair and competitive elections. </p>
<p>It may be years before Haiti can organize such elections or restore trust in democracy among the populace. If this process is rushed, Haiti runs the risk of ending up with an illegitimate administration – <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/04/11/haiti-democracy-relations-united-states-gang-violence/">as Henry’s is seen to be</a> – heightening the chances of the resumption of violence. </p>
<p>This has been the case over the past two decades: Haiti’s elections and authorities have became less legitimate, to the point where the country was unable to hold free elections after 2016. </p>
<h2>The challenge ahead</h2>
<p>If a multinational security mission is in Haiti’s immediate future, then the chances of it having lasting success will hang on whether the international community can provide enough support to the country after foreign troops leave.</p>
<p>A new police force will have to be recruited and trained, institutions such as the judiciary have to be reinforced, and the new administration will need time to earn the trust of the people. This is a difficult task considering <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/haiti-in-2023-political-abyss-and-vicious-gangs/">Haiti’s political polarization</a>.</p>
<p>To overcome these challenges, the international community will have to pump funds into Haiti. While history has shown that this risks exacerbating governmental corruption, I believe it is a small price to pay for the maintenance of peace.</p>
<p>Without sustained funding from the international community, Haiti will again become a <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/immersive/haiti-forgotten-crisis?id=100287588">forgotten crisis</a>. For example, in the aftermath of the devastating 2010 earthquake, US$4.5 billion dollars were promised in aid, but only <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jan/11/haiti-earthquake-promised-aid-not-delivered">a little over half of it was delivered</a>. </p>
<p>The fear is that now an international community distracted by crises elsewhere, such as wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, may soon lose interest in Haiti’s plight.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225941/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ernesto Sagás does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Can a multinational security mission provide Haiti with a stable future? Not without sustained funding for after the troops leave.Ernesto Sagás, Professor of Ethnic Studies, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2255142024-03-12T15:26:35Z2024-03-12T15:26:35ZJimmy ‘Barbecue’ Chérizier: the gangster behind the violence in Haiti who may have political aspirations of his own<p>A violent uprising in the Caribbean nation of Haiti has put the spotlight on the man leading the mayhem – a homicidal gang boss and former policeman called Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier.</p>
<p>Over the past two weeks, Haiti’s powerful gangs have plunged a country already on life support into a coma. More than <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-68462851">3,800 hardened criminals</a> were broken out of Haiti’s two biggest jails, the country’s international airport has been partially taken over, and gangs have <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-68531759">tried to seize</a> the political quarter of its capital, Port-au-Prince.</p>
<p>Following the recent wave of violence, the country’s acting president, Ariel Henry, has <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-68541349">agreed to step down</a> once a transitional council has been created to run the country. Henry has become a pariah in Haitian politics. He is an unelected leader, taking power after Haiti’s president was <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-57762246">assassinated</a> in 2021, and has presided over the country’s <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/10/1129537?utm_term=63bfaeecfacb1506e4d4474705eee640&utm_campaign=FirstEdition&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=firstedition_email">economic freefall</a>.</p>
<p>It is unclear how the current political crisis will be solved. But Chérizier has emerged from the armed insurrection as the most formidable leader in Haiti, and some suspect he may have political aspirations of his own. </p>
<p>He has <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/haitis-notorious-gang-leader-plots-future-amid-rebellion/story?id=107994731">claimed</a> to be fighting a holy war of sorts for the soul of Haiti, delivering “it back into the hands of its chosen people, the everyday Haitian beat down by years of abuse, racism and corruption.” </p>
<p>However, there is one crucial question. Can Chérizier reinvent himself from a feared gangland boss to a legitimate political leader?</p>
<p>Haiti’s history is replete with political leaders with very dubious pasts, and the country’s citizens are used to their violent machinations. François “Papa Doc” Duvalier, a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francois-Duvalier">ruthless dictator</a> who served as president of the country between 1957 and 1971, institutionalised gangs and made them a part of the everyday life of the Haitian people.</p>
<p>His personal militia, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/23/archives/papa-doc-a-ruthless-dictator-kept-the-haitians-in-illiteracy-and.html">Tonton Macoute</a>, were given the license to kidnap, torture and kill thousands of their fellow Haitians during his brutal reign. Despite this, Papa Doc enjoyed an abundance of admiration and affection from those he lorded over with an iron fist. This was, in large part, because of his politics of patronage and unique brand of “grassroots” black nationalism.</p>
<p>Going by that antecedent, Chérizier is not an uncommon outsider. He may be a homicidal criminal, but he also enjoys a cult status in Port-au-Prince. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/10/haiti-gang-boss-kingpin-barbecue-jimmy-cherizier">Murals</a> in the impoverished Haitian slums he rules as his private fiefdom liken him to the Argentine guerrilla leader, Ernesto “Che” Guevara. In a country with a short supply of tall leaders, Chérizier is an outsize figure. </p>
<p>His alias, <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1873542/haiti-gang-leader-barbecue">“Barbecue”</a>, which he has earned due to his penchant for burning his opponents alive, has helped him build a “tough guy” image – an essential character trait for any aspiring leader in this violent country. The last political leader of Haiti of any significance, Papa Doc Duvalier, had this in plenty. </p>
<p>But unlike other contemporary gang leaders in Haiti, Chérizier is a man with a brain. He is articulate, aware and thinks big. Far from your traditional gang boss that exists in the twilight, he actively seeks out the limelight. </p>
<p>He likes giving interviews and goes the extra mile to impress the audience with his revolutionary political zeal. Over the past year, he has welcomed a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyGnxdDOGHo">succession of foreign reporters</a> to the gang-controlled neighbourhoods of Port-au-Prince in attempt to justify the uprising. According to Chérizier, his brand of violent street politics is very much in tune with the need of the hour. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qyGnxdDOGHo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Chérizier speaking to Al Jazeera about the crisis in Haiti.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Political acumen</h2>
<p>The current political instability in Haiti has largely been manufactured by Chérizier and the gangs he leads as a cleverly thought-out survival strategy. But it is also couched in an astute reading of the Haitian national sentiment and popular mood. </p>
<p>In 2023, the UN security council <a href="https://apnews.com/article/haiti-un-kenya-armed-force-resolution-3749ac5db9d6c5903e61dee7b4206e6c">approved</a> the deployment of a Kenyan-led multinational peacekeeping force to Haiti to reign in the gangs and their spiralling violence. The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-66946156">stressed</a> that a “robust use of force” is needed to disarm the gangs and restore order. However, the mission has subsequently stalled. </p>
<p>Such an intervention would in all likelihood severely undermine the power of Haiti’s gangs. So, on the one hand, Chérizier’s decision to stir up a political uprising can be seen as a planned strategy to scare off any external forces seeking to impose order. </p>
<p>But Haitians have traditionally <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/04/1131254613/haiti-sanctions-foreign-intervention-protests-gangs-cholera">opposed</a> any foreign intervention in their domestic affairs, regardless of the state of disarray or chaos. As a fiercely independent people, they proudly stand as the first black republic to emerge following a successful <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Haitian-Revolution#ref343634">slave revolt</a> during the high noon of European colonialism. </p>
<p>Chérizier has used Henry’s unpopularity and controversial decision to deploy foreign police officers in the nation to drum up a nationwide violent fervour for political change. In a video call to <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/haitis-notorious-gang-leader-plots-future-amid-rebellion/story?id=107994731">ABC News</a> on March 11, he said: “The first step is to overthrow Ariel Henry and then we will start the real fight against the current system, the system of corrupt oligarchs and corrupt traditional politicians.” </p>
<p>In the past, Chérizier has floated his own <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/akeyz8/haiti-jimmy-cherizier-government">“peace plan”</a> for the country. He has demanded that gang members be given total amnesty and that the country is governed by a “council of sages”, implying leaders such as him would have a formal political role. </p>
<p>With Henry now out of the political scene, the chance that Haitians will be forced to embrace such an outcome may not be far-fetched after all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225514/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amalendu Misra has received funding from
British Academy /
Nuffield Foundation</span></em></p>Haiti is descending into anarchy, causing the gang leader behind the violence to emerge as the country’s most powerful leader.Amalendu Misra, Professor, Department: Politics, Philosophy and Religion, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2251162024-03-11T09:26:55Z2024-03-11T09:26:55ZHow Haiti became a failed state<p>The US military started <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/10/us-report-airlift-embassy-staff-haiti-gangs-fighting-port-au-prince">airlifting</a> embassy staff out of Haiti overnight as the Caribbean island descends further into chaos. Rival gangs have joined forces to overrun the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, in an attempt to force the resignation of the acting president, Ariel Henry. </p>
<p>The gang leader behind the violence, Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/06/haiti-gangs-prime-minister">warned</a> there will be a “civil war that will lead to genocide” if Henry does not step down.</p>
<hr>
<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/how-haiti-became-a-failed-state-225116&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/audio-narrated-99682">narrated by Noa</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Over the past week, Haiti’s gangs have carried out a series of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-68507837">coordinated attacks</a> on prisons and police stations, breaking more than <a href="https://apnews.com/article/haiti-prison-break-2788f145b0d26efc2aa199e923724e0f">3,800 criminals</a> out of Haiti’s two biggest jails, while also laying siege to the country’s port and airport. </p>
<p>Haiti is already facing a humanitarian crisis. It is among the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/haiti/overview">poorest countries</a> in Latin America and the Caribbean, with <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/135966/file/Haiti-2022-COAR.pdf">90% of the population</a> living below the poverty line. And following the recent wave of violence, around <a href="https://www.rescue.org/eu/press-release/haiti-violence-grows-ensuring-sufficient-funding-available-key-deliver-humanitarian">15,000 people</a> who were already housed in internal displacement camps have been forced to leave again. </p>
<p>Henry came to power in 2021 under a deal agreed with the opposition following the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/07/haiti-president-jovenel-moise-reportedly-assassinated">assassination</a> of Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse. Henry is widely considered illegitimate by the Haitian public and was due to stand down by February 7. But he seems to be <a href="https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/in-haiti-crisis-has-roots-in-history-of-foreign-interference/">extending his stay</a>. </p>
<p>The country last went to the polls in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/29/haiti-presidential-election-result-protest-jovenel-moise">2016</a> and there is no timetable for new elections. Over the past six years, the Haitian parliament has ground to a halt: no major laws have been passed and only one budget was voted on.</p>
<p>The regime is weak and lacks control over the country’s territories, leading to a situation where Haiti finds itself hostage to its criminal gangs. US officials have said they will not pressure Henry to leave, but they are urging him to facilitate the transition to a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/6/us-denies-pressuring-haiti-pm-henry-to-resign-urges-political-transition">democratic government</a>.</p>
<h2>Turbulent history</h2>
<p>Violent gangs are not new to Haiti. Between 1957 and 1986, Haiti was ruled as a dictatorship by the Duvalier family. Following an unsuccessful military coup in 1958, François Duvalier sought to bypass the armed forces by creating a private and personal militia called the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/23/archives/papa-doc-a-ruthless-dictator-kept-the-haitians-in-illiteracy-and.html">“Tonton Macoutes”</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://coha.org/tonton-macoutes/">Macoutes</a> consisted of illiterate fanatics-turned-reckless gunmen acting as a paramiltary force. They were not accountable to any state body or court and were fully empowered to dispose of the paranoid president’s enemies. </p>
<p>The group was dismantled in 1986, but its members continued to terrorise the population. Gangs have been <a href="https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GITOC-Gangs-of-Haiti.pdf">involved</a> in massacres, attacks on labour strikes or peasant uprisings, and politically motivated assassinations ever since. </p>
<p>Haiti took its first step toward a full democratic transition in 1990, electing Jean-Bertrand Aristide as president. But the Aristide government was overthrown by a <a href="https://nacla.org/news/2021/political-anatomy-haiti-armed-gangs">military coup</a> the following year and the Haitian army was subsequently dismantled. The Haitian army was a highly corrupt force, but doing away with it meant the country could no longer fight organised crime. </p>
<p>By that time, Haitian drug traffickers were <a href="https://insightcrime.org/news/extradition-drug-smuggler-underscores-haitis-historical-cocaine-transit-hub-status/">working closely</a> with Colombia’s Medellín Cartel. They were corrupting officials and the police while shifting hundreds of tons of cocaine from Colombia to secluded docks in Haiti and onwards to the US. Drug trafficking became a little known, yet significant source of income for Haiti’s political and business elites who provided protection and logistical support for drug traffickers.</p>
<p>Efforts aimed at disbanding certain armed groups and even the armed forces never fully succeeded. They never disarmed and have converted themselves into far-right vigilantes such as community defence groups and paramilitaries.</p>
<p>Haiti was then struck by an earthquake in 2010. This allowed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/20/haiti-escaped-prisoners-cite-soleil#">thousands of inmates</a> to escape from crumbling jails and take over these self-defence groups. These younger, less politically affiliated and loosely organised gangs are developing into the criminal organisations that are wreaking havoc across Haiti today.</p>
<h2>A state run by gangs</h2>
<p>Gangs have grown rapidly in number over the past few years. An estimated <a href="https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/haiti-gangs-organized-crime/">200 criminal gangs</a> now exist in Haiti, and around 95 in the capital, Port-au-Prince, alone. This has resulted in massive insecurity, kidnappings, and large-scale attacks on the police, politicians, journalists and civilians. </p>
<p>Gangs now tend to be affiliated to two groups. The most prevalent gang structure is that of “G-9 and Family”, a federation of nine gangs led by alias “Barbecue”. Founded in 2020, the G-9 has been <a href="https://insightcrime.org/haiti-organized-crime-news/g9-family-profile/">linked</a> to Moïse and Henry’s Haitian Tèt Kale Party (Parti Haïtien Tèt Kale – PHTK), for whom the federation is alleged to have ensured votes.</p>
<p>The G-9’s focus is mostly on extortion and kidnappings. It has taken taken control of key economic activities, including the main entry and exit points of Port-au-Prince, and critical infrastructure such as ports and oil terminals, charging “protection payments” for any institutions that operate in these areas.</p>
<p>The recent jailbreaks were a joint operation with “G-Pep”, another gang federation that was previously linked to PHTK’s political opponents.</p>
<h2>No end in sight</h2>
<p>To bring this crisis to an end, Haiti needs an elected government. But holding elections in this climate won’t be an easy task, nor will it solve the deep-rooted causes of lawlessness.</p>
<p>The conditions for free and fair elections do not currently exist, and the infrastructure that would make them possible is absent. Equally, any free and fair election should take place in a context where gangs do not intimidate voters to vote in a particular way. </p>
<p>In October 2023, the UN Security Council <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/02/haiti-un-security-force-kenya-gangs">voted</a> to send a Kenyan-led multinational security force to Haiti to reign in the gangs and their spiralling violence. However, the peacekeeping mission has been delayed and no other countries have come forward to provide the resources required to restore peace. </p>
<p>But an election is long overdue, and the status-quo will not solve anything.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225116/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicolas Forsans does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Haiti is facing a wave of chaos as gang violence grips the country.Nicolas Forsans, Professor of Management and Co-director of the Centre for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2229592024-02-13T13:21:38Z2024-02-13T13:21:38ZIn the face of severe challenges, democracy is under stress – but still supported – across Latin America and the Caribbean<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575051/original/file-20240212-22-f6zizy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C179%2C5700%2C3615&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters in El Salvador declare 'Yes to democracy. No to authoritarianism' during a demonstration on Jan. 14, 2024.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/women-walk-holding-up-a-sign-with-the-legend-yes-to-news-photo/1925903965?adppopup=true">PHOTOGRAFIA/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Threats to economic and physical security have become persistent and pervasive across Latin America and the Caribbean – and that is affecting the way people view the state of democracy in the region.</p>
<p>Those are among the findings of the latest <a href="https://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/about-americasbarometer.php">AmericasBarometer</a>, a study of the experiences and attitudes of people across the Western Hemisphere that we conduct every two years along with other members of Vanderbilt University’s <a href="https://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/">LAPOP Lab</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/ab2023/AB2023-Pulse-of-Democracy-final-20231205.pdf">2023 round of AmericasBarometer</a>, which includes nationally representative surveys of 39,074 individuals across 24 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, reveals widespread pessimism and adversity, decreased satisfaction with the status quo, and yet also resilience in popular support for democracy.</p>
<h2>Elevated economic and physical insecurity</h2>
<p>Across the region, just shy of two-thirds of adults (64%) think the national economic situation in their country has worsened. Remarkably, 32% report that they have run out of food in the last three months, an indicator of food insecurity that tracks with <a href="https://www.paho.org/en/news/9-11-2023-new-report-432-million-people-suffer-hunger-latin-america-and-caribbean-and-region">estimates reported by the Pan-American Health Organization</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="BBPDk" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/BBPDk/6/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Two in five people feel unsafe in their neighborhoods, and nearly one-quarter – 22% – report having been the victim of a crime in the past 12 months. Homicide rates in the region <a href="https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/behind-a-rise-in-latin-americas-violent-crime-a-deadly-flow-of-illegal-guns/">have also been rising</a>.</p>
<p>In brief, despite variation among different countries, the average resident of the region has been facing elevated economic and physical security challenges for over a decade, our surveys have found.</p>
<p>The factors generating and sustaining this reality are complex.</p>
<p>In the mid-2010s, a global economic <a href="https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/pres15_e/pr752_e.htm">commodity boom ended</a>, and the region’s economic recovery has been thwarted by <a href="https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/latin-america-economic-growth/">structural issues</a>, including <a href="https://www.undp.org/latin-america/publications/trapped-inequality-and-economic-growth-latin-america-and-caribbean">low productivity and high income inequality</a>. Economic recovery has been further hampered by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/the-corruption-scandal-started-in-brazil-now-its-wreaking-havoc-in-peru/2018/01/23/0f9bc4ca-fad2-11e7-9b5d-bbf0da31214d_story.html">major corruption scandals</a>, <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/REO/WH/Issues/2023/10/13/regional-economic-outlook-western-hemisphere-october-2023">crime and violence</a>, and <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/effects-covid-19-latin-americas-economy">the COVID-19 pandemic</a>.</p>
<p>The implications of a sustained economic slump are stark. In nearly every Latin American and Caribbean country, <a href="https://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/ab2023/AB2023-Pulse-of-Democracy-final-20231205.pdf">food insecurity has increased in the past decade</a>.</p>
<p>The uptick in crime and insecurity is similarly driven by a range of factors, including <a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/crime/GIVAS_Final_Report.pdf">economic crises</a> and the growth of <a href="https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/behind-a-rise-in-latin-americas-violent-crime-a-deadly-flow-of-illegal-guns/">well-armed transnational criminal syndicates</a>. In Ecuador, as one extreme example shows, a shocking <a href="https://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/ab2023/AB2023-Pulse-of-Democracy-final-20231205.pdf">36% of adults report having been the victim</a> of at least one crime in the past year, an 11-percentage-point increase from just two years ago.</p>
<h2>Disillusionment is a challenge to democracy</h2>
<p>These problems could spell trouble for democracy in the region.</p>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/how-can-latin-america-halt-its-democratic-backsliding-and-how-can-the-us-help/">experts have predicted</a> that financial stress and food insecurity could contribute to political unrest in the region in the coming years. The threat of organized crime and gang violence may also <a href="https://www.cfr.org/blog/organized-crime-threat-latin-american-democracies">fuel a desire for authoritarian leadership</a>. </p>
<p>Globally, <a href="https://www.v-dem.net/documents/29/V-dem_democracyreport2023_lowres.pdf">democracy appears to be on the defensive</a>. Within the Latin America and the Caribbean, countries such as Brazil, El Salvador, Haiti and Nicaragua have registered <a href="https://www.v-dem.net/documents/29/V-dem_democracyreport2023_lowres.pdf">recent turns toward authoritarianism</a>.</p>
<p>Our results show that disillusionment with the democratic status quo is strikingly high in the region, <a href="https://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/ab2023/AB2023-Pulse-of-Democracy-final-20231205.pdf">with only 40% thinking democracy is working</a>. This low level of satisfaction has appeared in our surveys for the past 10 years.</p>
<p><iframe id="U89zi" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/U89zi/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Although the root causes are debated, disillusionment with the status quo <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/13/opinion/international-world/democracy-latin-america.html">fuels support for populist leaders</a> with autocratic tendencies. El Salvador stands as an example of how disillusionment can undermine democracy. President Nayib Bukele was reelected on Feb. 4, 2024, with what appears to be over <a href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-nayib-bukele-president-reelection-ef04e20d901908099f4f787b841aca89">80% of the vote</a> while overtly flaunting democratic norms.</p>
<p>During his first term, Bukele tackled high levels of gang violence with policies that <a href="https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/latin-america-erupts-millennial-authoritarianism-in-el-salvador/">undermined checks and balances and civil liberties</a>. He cheekily <a href="https://www.eltiempo.com/mundo/latinoamerica/presidente-bukele-dice-que-es-el-dictador-mas-cool-del-mundo-619795">referred to himself on social media as a “dictator”</a>, while his running mate spoke of their <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/02/world/americas/el-salvador-bukele-election.html">program to eliminate democracy</a>.</p>
<p>There is no denying that Bukele’s strongman approach has delivered results: Our survey finds that 84% of Salvadorans feel secure in their neighborhood, <a href="https://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/raw-data.php">compared with just 54% in 2018</a>, the year before Bukele was elected. Food insecurity remains a challenge, <a href="https://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/ab2023/AB2023-Pulse-of-Democracy-final-20231205.pdf">with 28%</a> reporting they have experienced running out of food; yet that statistic is slightly lower in 2023 than it was in 2012, in contrast to the upward trend in nearly all other countries.</p>
<h2>Democracy retains popular support</h2>
<p>Despite general gloom about how well democracy is performing, there is reason for optimism: Support for democratic governance has largely held steady over the last decade of our survey.</p>
<p>Across the region, on average, <a href="https://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/ab2023/AB2023-Pulse-of-Democracy-final-20231205.pdf">58% say that they believe democracy is the best form of government</a>. This is approximately the same percentage we have recorded since 2016. In all but three countries – Guatemala, Honduras and Suriname – majorities say they prefer democracy.</p>
<p><iframe id="6oWyp" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/6oWyp/5/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Although the <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/how-can-latin-america-halt-its-democratic-backsliding-and-how-can-the-us-help/">possibility of democratic backsliding looms</a>, most countries in the region have yet to undergo significant overhauls to their political or economic systems. And as former U.S. ambassador to Peru, Colombia and Brazil <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/inflection-point-challenges-facing-latin-america-and-us-policy-region">P. Michael McKinley noted</a> in a recent article, a slate of radical proposals by new leaders in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico proved unpopular and were rejected by voters, courts and legislatures. In these cases, democratic institutions are doing their job.</p>
<p>Democratic governance also delivers something that strongman populist governments do not: widespread freedom of speech.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/ab2021/2021_LAPOP_AmericasBarometer_2021_Pulse_of_Democracy.pdf">2021 AmericasBarometer regional report</a> highlighted <a href="https://theconversation.com/support-for-democracy-is-waning-across-the-americas-174992">the value the public places on freedom of speech</a>. Vast majorities say they would not trade away freedom of speech for material well-being.</p>
<p>In 2023, we see that in countries with strongman populist leaders, those who disapprove of the president report strikingly high levels of concern about freedom of speech. In El Salvador, <a href="https://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/ab2023/AB2023-Pulse-of-Democracy-final-20231205.pdf">89% of government critics say they have too little freedom</a> to express their political views without fear, up from 70% in 2016.</p>
<p>In the face of significant challenges, Latin America and the Caribbean is at a crossroads between the allure of strongman populist leadership and a commitment to democratic institutions and processes. For now, at least, an enduring belief in democracy may facilitate <a href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-nayib-bukele-president-reelection-ef04e20d901908099f4f787b841aca89">efforts by leaders in</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/06/us/politics/biden-democracy-threat.html">outside the region</a> to champion and strengthen democratic governance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222959/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Noam Lupu co-directs the AmericasBarometer, which has been supported by grants from USAID, the US National Science Foundation, and the Inter-American Development Bank. The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or any other funding agency.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth J. Zechmeister co-directs the AmericasBarometer, which has been supported by grants from USAID, the US National Science Foundation, and the Inter-American Development Bank. The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or any other funding agency.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke Plutowski is a staff member at LAPOP Lab, the lab responsible for the AmericasBarometer, which has been supported by grants from USAID, the US National Science Foundation, and the Inter-American Development Bank. The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or any other funding agency.</span></em></p>A survey of people across 24 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean found widespread concern over the economy and crime.Noam Lupu, Associate Professor of Political Science and Associate Director of LAPOP Lab, Vanderbilt UniversityElizabeth J. Zechmeister, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Political Science and Director of LAPOP, Vanderbilt UniversityLuke Plutowski, Senior Statistician and Research Lead, Vanderbilt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2179952023-12-15T13:02:46Z2023-12-15T13:02:46ZEntangled Islands exhibition explores the history of Irish people in the Caribbean – an expert review<p>A new exhibition at Epic, Dublin’s Irish emigration museum, explores connections between Ireland and the Caribbean. <a href="https://epicchq.com/entangled-islands/">Entangled Islands</a> aims to tell “the stories of a wide range of Irish people who traversed and settled in the Caribbean”, while also outlining “our intersecting histories of colonisation and resistance”.</p>
<p>The exhibition was partly inspired by growing academic research into connections between Ireland and the Caribbean in the last 20 years. Such research, as the exhibition explains, “complicates understandings of the Irish diaspora as a historically marginalised people”. The <a href="https://epicchq.com/entangled-islands-bibliography/">extent</a> of this scholarship is clear across the exhibition, although the tone is accessible throughout.</p>
<p>One prominent theme is a reevaluation of Ireland’s role in the transatlantic slave trade. The topic has previously been tackled in books such as <a href="https://books.google.ie/books/about/Ireland_Slavery_and_Anti_Slavery_1612_18.html?id=mToWDAAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y">Ireland, Slavery and Anti-Slavery: 1812-1965</a> by Nini Rodgers (2007) and <a href="https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526150998/">Ireland, Slavery and the Caribbean</a> (2023), edited by Finola O’Kane and Ciaran O’Neill. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/n9gGmmuPyE8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for Entangled Islands.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The exhibition focuses mainly on the stories of individual Irish people in the Caribbean, with some limited exploration of the wider context. While there are references to the positions of power many Irish people held under the colonial system, the extent of this fact – or its brutalities – do not occupy a large portion of the exhibition.</p>
<p>For example, an early panel explores Howe Peter Browne, the second marquess of Sligo, who became governor of Jamaica in 1834. This is a significant date given that the <a href="https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/explore-by-time-period/georgians/1833-abolition-of-slavery-act-and-compensation-claims/#:%7E:text=The%201833%20Act%20outlawed%20British,the%20Services%20of%20such%20Slaves'.">Slavery Abolition Act of 1833</a> was coming into effect when he arrived. </p>
<p>The exhibition makes much of the fact that Browne would have to enforce the new laws of the act, which required the “formerly” enslaved over the age of six to work 40.5 hours unpaid per week for four to six years. It notes that, Browne, like other enslavers, received compensation for loss of “property”, while also mentioning that Browne supported abolition. </p>
<p>Images on the panel of enslaved people suffering punishment on a treadmill and Brown’s ancestral home, Westport House in Mayo, are suggestive of the interrelationship between the horrors of enslavement and the Irish upper classes. Though nothing in the accompanying text makes this explicit. </p>
<p>Browne is positioned in a post-emancipation framework and portrayed somewhat positively, far from the way he is <a href="https://www.manchesterhive.com/display/9781526151001/9781526151001.00026.xml">described by</a> Finola O’ Kane as a “less-than-mature” marquess, with “a mixed reputation as an improving landlord”.</p>
<h2>The Irish slave myth</h2>
<p>The exhibition is more explicit is in its discussion of the “Irish slave” myth. This refers to an online misinformation meme that <a href="https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:20525/">falsely claims</a> Irish people were enslaved in the Americas but have managed to succeed, nevertheless. </p>
<p>As one exhibition panel explains, the myth “persists in the face of contrary evidence”. The exhibition declares that: “White nationalists and racists, in particular, have seized on the myth in an attempt to undermine the unique suffering of enslaved Africans.” </p>
<p>The strength of this statement is notable, but perhaps because the meme remains most popular <a href="https://limerick1914.medium.com/all-of-my-work-on-the-irish-slaves-meme-2015-16-4965e445802a">in North American territories</a>, rather than in the UK and Ireland, a sense of distance allows for such unequivocal language.</p>
<p>There is a close attention to language across the exhibition, such as the consistent use of “enslaved”, in place of “slave(s)”. This is welcome and reflects reconsiderations, both in academia and beyond, of the extent to which the transatlantic slave trade was foundational to the making of modern Europe. </p>
<p>The layered meanings of “entangled” in the exhibition’s title are evident in the exploration of a number of connections from journalistic, to literary, as well as enslavement and colonialism. </p>
<p>At the same time, as the exhibition shows, there have been moments of solidarity between Ireland and the Caribbean, regions connected by their colonial pasts. Abolitionists such as Dubliner James Field Stanfield and Belfast man Thomas McCabe feature prominently, the latter ensuing an all-island perspective is included. </p>
<p>The visit in 1791 of Olaudah Equiano, a formerly enslaved man whose <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/34285/the-interesting-narrative-and-other-writings-by-olaudah-equiano-ed--vincent-carrett-intro-and-notes--vincent-carrett/9780142437162">memoir</a> would become a key text for the abolitionist movement in Britain, is also described.</p>
<p>Elsewhere, Entangled Islands has interesting stories to tell about specific people from Ireland in the Caribbean. There’s journalist James O’Kelly and his time in Cuba. And Kay Donnellan and Eleanor Frances Cahill, teachers from Ireland who became involved in the country’s labour movement. There’s also a nod towards Che Guevara’s <a href="https://www.thejournal.ie/che-guevara-irish-roots-3754700-Dec2017/">Irish heritage</a>, via his grandmother.</p>
<p>Towards the end of the exhibition, there is a turn towards literature. Figures such as St Lucian Nobel laureate Derek Walcott and former poet laureate of Jamaica Lorna Goodison are showcased as poets who have drawn inspiration from Irish writers such as <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2022/07/05/james-joyce-in-the-caribbean/">James Joyce</a> and W.B. Yeats.</p>
<p>The exhibition ends with a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9gGmmuPyE8&ab_channel=EPICTheIrishEmigrationMuseum">video</a> of four young mixed heritage Caribbean-Irish people talking about links between the two regions. They discuss both the racism they experience in Ireland and the interesting points of contact they find here with the Caribbean, from language to music. It is both joyous and confronting in equal measures and is an important addition to the story.</p>
<p>On the whole, this is a necessary and worthwhile exhibition that has fascinating stories to tell about the Irish in the Caribbean, which are often not widely known. More pressure could have been placed on the portrayal of Irish enslavers, but nevertheless, visitors are likely to come away with a fresh perspective. Entangled Islands is a well-researched, interesting exhibition that ends by echoing the idea of Irish and Caribbean entanglement into the present day.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217995/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ellen Howley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>One prominent theme is a reevaluation of Ireland’s role in the transatlantic slave trade.Ellen Howley, Assistant Professor in the School of English, DCU, Dublin City UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2179992023-11-28T17:03:43Z2023-11-28T17:03:43ZHow a small Caribbean island is trying to become hurricane-proof<p>When Hurricane Maria struck the eastern Caribbean island of Dominica in 2017, it caused the kind of devastation which is unthinkable to larger countries. The Category 5 hurricane damaged <a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/IB25092017.pdf">98% of building roofs</a> and caused US$1.2 billion (£950 million) in damage. Dominica effectively <a href="https://www.gfdrr.org/en/dominica-hurricane-maria-post-disaster-assessment-and-support-recovery-planning">lost 226% of its GDP</a> overnight.</p>
<p>Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in the Caribbean and for small islands such as Dominica (not to be confused with the much larger Dominican Republic) it is an existential threat. </p>
<p>Unlike larger islands like Cuba or Jamaica, a single storm hitting Dominica can damage the entire country – with its mountainous terrain and steep slopes everywhere, most of the country is prone to either landslides or flooding. The topography and small size of the island imposes hard limits on its ability to adapt. </p>
<p>That’s why Dominica ranked 11th most at risk out of 150 countries in the <a href="https://www.germanwatch.org/en/19777">2021 Global Climate Risk Index</a>, based on an analysis of extreme weather between 2000 and 2019.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561560/original/file-20231124-24-q59k3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Street with damaged buildings and rubble" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561560/original/file-20231124-24-q59k3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561560/original/file-20231124-24-q59k3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561560/original/file-20231124-24-q59k3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561560/original/file-20231124-24-q59k3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561560/original/file-20231124-24-q59k3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561560/original/file-20231124-24-q59k3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561560/original/file-20231124-24-q59k3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maria destroyed much of Dominica’s rainforests, left most of its residents without water, and damaged almost every building on the island.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hurricane-maria-on-island-dominica-force-723858046">Jean-Francois Manuel / shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Reeling from Hurricane Maria, the island’s prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit set the bold ambition of <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2023/09/26/dominica-s-journey-to-become-the-world-s-first-climate-resilient-country#:%7E:text=On%20September%2023%2C%202017%2C%20when,world's%20first%20climate%20resilient%20nation.">becoming the first climate-resilient nation</a>. In Dominica’s case, this means being able to handle more intense hurricanes and more frequent flooding. </p>
<p>There was no “climate blueprint” to pick up and follow – it had to be created from scratch. Dominica developed a clear set of targets and a roadmap, combining everything from building design to nature-based power sources and climate resilient crop systems.</p>
<p>I am a climate resilience researcher with particular expertise in small island developing states. Over the years I have worked with <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-a-chain-of-tiny-pacific-islands-wants-an-international-court-opinion-on-responsibility-for-the-climate-crisis-193595">Pacific islands threatened by rising seas</a> and Caribbean countries devastated by hurricanes. </p>
<p>In 2019, I was brought in to serve as an adviser to Dominica’s newly established <a href="https://www.creadominica.org/">climate resilience agency</a>. I helped draft the country’s <a href="https://dominica.gov.dm/images/documents/CRRP-Final-042020.pdf">climate resilience plan</a> and in early 2023 went back to film a documentary <a href="https://climate-blueprint.info/">Climate Blueprint: Dominica</a>. </p>
<p>In the film, some of the architects of the country’s climate resilience strategy explain how Dominica is building back better and stronger in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. They reveal four critical principles.</p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/852524346" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Buy-in from everyone</h2>
<p>Government must work across silos and no single agency or department can be responsible for building resilience. It is about agriculture, housing, roads and critically – because Dominica has more than 300 rivers – bridges. </p>
<p>It’s thinking about how and where infrastructure is built in relation to slopes, rivers and the sea. It’s also about education and buy in, to ensure island residents can effectively play their part.</p>
<p>The country has 20 targets for resilience by 2030, including an aim for all communities to be self-sufficient for 14 days following a disaster. The aim is for 90% of all housing to be built or retrofitted to comply with resilient building codes.</p>
<h2>Natural resources are key</h2>
<p>About two thirds of Dominica is covered in natural vegetation and forest. These plants, and the coral reefs surrounding the island, provide a critical buffer against winds and waves and so need to be protected. </p>
<p>This is part of the resilience plan, which increases protected forest areas and maintains healthy coral reefs around the island through monitoring, restoration, sustainable fishing and by reducing runoff of pesticides from agriculture into the sea.</p>
<p>Dominica’s natural assets can also fuel its growth – literally. Dominica aims to become carbon neutral through 100% domestic renewable energy production, which includes investment in a geothermal plant that will produce enough energy to export to neighbouring Guadeloupe and Martinique. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561554/original/file-20231124-26-6d4mm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Steamy lake with forest in background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561554/original/file-20231124-26-6d4mm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561554/original/file-20231124-26-6d4mm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561554/original/file-20231124-26-6d4mm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561554/original/file-20231124-26-6d4mm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561554/original/file-20231124-26-6d4mm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561554/original/file-20231124-26-6d4mm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561554/original/file-20231124-26-6d4mm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dominica is a volcanic hotspot and has the world’s second largest hot spring.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/titaniumthedog/2497495311/in/photolist-6AdiJY-qKA2ec-dG2dRk-dG2cht-MFqFY-METNo-4NGjkZ-qb64Zs-4NLyrf-qdnnb6-pgo5g1-7H1LnF-h6Bxt-7H1v3D-7Gfgdp-7Gffiz-7GfeeZ-7Gj92o-4bVbdr-6AdjPS-7Gjg49-7GjcWu-7Gje3N-7GfoXa-7GfaQK-FwQ28j-dHVhgn-dJ1JAW-dHVd38-dJ1ENU-dHVh4Z-dHVff2-tvXdqc-h6DCo-7GjiWA-7GjmXL-7GfbYr-7Gfn1Z-7GjoZ7-7Gjf3m-4bVbdn-7GfmdD-dHVegg-dJ1FHE-dHVdYK-dHVfCT-4bVbdv-dJ1Hhu-Ygycbw-Xjp6FP">Titanium Hedgehog / flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Learn from history and indigenous practices</h2>
<p>The plantation economy imposed on Dominica under British rule – which focused on one crop after another (sugar, cocoa, limes, then bananas) – was not well suited to the country’s difficult <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13753-019-0215-z">terrain and frequency of economic and environmental shocks</a>. Each crop failed, wiped out by hurricanes, disease and global food price rises. </p>
<p>Yet Dominica also has the Caribbean’s largest remaining indigenous community, and the Kalinago people have farming practices that combine crop diversification with planting methods that help stabilise slopes. </p>
<p>Applying <a href="https://unfoundation.org/blog/post/the-caribbeans-last-indigenous-community-is-living-proof-that-sustainability-is-survival/">lessons from history and indigenous practices</a> is key to building resilience in Dominica and a priority for environment minister Cozier Frederick, himself of Kalinago descent.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561556/original/file-20231124-27-ql43t7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Girl in pink dress with hair band" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561556/original/file-20231124-27-ql43t7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561556/original/file-20231124-27-ql43t7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561556/original/file-20231124-27-ql43t7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561556/original/file-20231124-27-ql43t7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561556/original/file-20231124-27-ql43t7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561556/original/file-20231124-27-ql43t7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561556/original/file-20231124-27-ql43t7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kalinago people make up about 3,000 of Dominica’s 74,000 population.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29574156@N04/14252390145/">Bart / flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A collective voice with other islands</h2>
<p>Dominica’s climate blueprint should be seen as an opportunity for donors and development partners to support a vision that already exists. But there is geopolitics at play here as well.</p>
<p>Rich nations have yet to fulfil the goal of US$100 billion in climate finance for poorer nations. Analysis colleagues and I carried out for the <a href="https://odi.org/en/publications/a-fair-share-of-resilience-finance/">think tank ODI</a> found that small island developing nations received four times less finance for climate resilience than least developed countries, as a percentage of GDP. Nations like Dominica have found it a huge challenge to navigate bureaucracies to access this vital finance.</p>
<p>That’s why Caribbean heads of state are increasingly finding their voice on the <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/11/11/cop27-un-climate-barbados-mottley-climate-finance-imf/">wider global financial system</a>, with Barbados prime minister Mia Mottley spearheading the Bridgetown Initiative, a set of financial reforms which would benefit highly indebted and climate-vulnerable Caribbean states and other developing countries.</p>
<p>Barbados’s leadership on finance and Dominica’s resilience story together show how small islands can have an outsized impact by taking leadership on the climate crisis. </p>
<p>As Skerrit, the Dominica prime minister, said in a <a href="https://resilientcaribbean.caricom.org/dominica-prime-minister-roosevelt-skerrit-addresses-the-un-general-assembly/">2017 address to the UN</a>: “We as a country and as a region did not start this war against nature. We did not provoke it. The war has come to us. […] We are in shock, but we will rise, because Dominican people are strong. Because Caribbean people are resilient.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217999/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>ODI receives funding from the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and from UKRI.</span></em></p>After Dominica was devastated by Hurricane Maria, it wanted a climate-resilient future.Emily Wilkinson, Director, Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative at the ODI, and Co-director, Caribbean Resilience and Recovery Knowledge Network, University of the West Indies, Mona CampusLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2123082023-10-17T15:29:28Z2023-10-17T15:29:28ZHow animal traits have shaped the journey of species across the globe<p>The devastating <a href="https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazel/view/hazards/tsunami/event-more-info/5413">tsunami</a> that hit Japan in March 2011 set off a series of events which have long fascinated scientists like me. It was so powerful that it caused 5 million tonnes of debris to <a href="https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/japan-tsunami-marine-debris/monitoring-tsunami-debris-north-american-shorelines">wash</a> into the Pacific – 1.5 million tonnes remained afloat and started drifting with the currents. </p>
<p>One year later, and half a world away, debris began washing ashore on the west coast of North America. More than 280 Japanese coastal species such as mussels, barnacles and even some species of fish, had <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.aao1498?casa_token=YwHfCNElf14AAAAA:zJj4eY3uUm2_m4ZH5YzIO6ecvSWdVa_53yZk0ycnxm1Ga3bPLTl5Z6hCbUhvsmA4d0KSPHFPKz84nQ">hitched a ride</a> on the debris and made an incredible journey across the ocean. These species were still alive and had the potential to establish new populations. </p>
<p>How animals cross major barriers, such as oceans and mountain ranges, to shape Earth’s biodiversity is an intriguing topic. And a new <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02150-5">study</a> by my collaborators and I has shed light on this process, revealing how animal characteristics such as body size and life history can influence their spread across the globe.</p>
<p>We know that such dispersal events occur in terrestrial species as well. For instance, at least 15 green iguanas <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/26886">journeyed</a> more than 200km (124 miles) from Guadeloupe to Anguilla in the Caribbean in 1995. They arrived on a mat of logs and trees (likely uprooted through a hurricane), some of which were more than 9 metres (20 feet) long. </p>
<h2>The role of animal characteristics in dispersal</h2>
<p>When animals move across major barriers it can have a big impact on both the new and old locations. For example, an invasive species can arrive in a new area and compete with native species for resources. However, those consequences can be even greater over longer periods of time.</p>
<p>The movement of monkeys from Africa to South America around 35 million years ago led to the evolution of more than 90 species of <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-anthro-102116-041510?casa_token=CZtEoQ5Z9bMAAAAA%3AX9JrgVyGxxegDXgVTUPNHZboMldBec1egagn5S4pLwx4yudreF4L6Q6zG4jUeB9tMxJEIy4q67iX&journalCode=anthro">New World monkeys</a>, including tamarins, capuchins and spider monkeys. And a few chameleons rafting on vegetation from Africa to Madagascar is why we find half of all living <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2013.0184">chameleon</a> species there today.</p>
<p>These events were long thought to be determined by chance – the coincidence of some chameleons sitting on the right tree at the right time. However, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/24529638.pdf?casa_token=NyxiUsFXod0AAAAA:9aBvrCPO0om98AjWOfs482QWf5eQxRUwKt95p4S3trPy1CQ2CM4K0AJeMBtsNKwKST8ILswcwdjQBRq8ZpdR5-3KL3gOn9uYZHOjzDdPyTm4R3Dom1o">some scientists</a> have suggested there might be more to it. They hypothesised there could be more general patterns in the animals that reach their destination successfully, related to certain characteristics.</p>
<p>Could body size affect how far a species can travel? Animals with more fat reserves may be able to travel longer distances. Or could it be how a species reproduces and survives? For example, animals that lay many eggs or mature early may be more likely to establish a new population in a new place.</p>
<p>But despite a vigorous theoretical debate, the options to test these hypotheses were limited because such dispersal events are rare. Also, the right statistical tools were not available until recently.</p>
<p>Thanks to the recent development of new <a href="https://academic.oup.com/sysbio/article/69/1/61/5490843">biogeographical models</a> and the great availability of data, we can now try to answer questions about how tetrapod species (amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) have moved around the globe over the past 300 million years and whether successful species share any common characteristics.</p>
<p>These models allow us to estimate the movements of species’ ancestors while also considering their characteristics. We used these models to study 7,009 species belonging to 56 groups of tetrapods.</p>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>For 91% of the animal groups we studied, models that included species characteristics were better supported than models that didn’t. This means that body size and life history are closely linked to how successful a species is at moving to and establishing itself in a new location.</p>
<p>Animals with large bodies and fast life histories (breeding early and often, like water voles) generally dispersed more successfully, as expected. However, there were some exceptions to this rule. In some groups, smaller animals or animals with average traits had higher dispersal rates.</p>
<p>For example, small hummingbirds dispersed better than larger ones, and poison dart frogs with intermediate life histories dispersed better than those with very fast or very slow life histories.</p>
<p>We investigated this variation further and found that the relationship between body size and movement depended on the average size and life history of the group. Our results show that the links between characteristics and dispersal success depend on both body size and life history, and that these cannot be considered separately. </p>
<p>Groups in which small size was an advantage were often already made up of small species (making the dispersal-prone species even smaller), and these species also had fast life histories. We found this to be true for the rodent families <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/Muridae"><em>Muridae</em></a> and <a href="https://nhpbs.org/wild/cricetidae.asp"><em>Cricetidae</em></a>. </p>
<p>But groups in which dispersers had intermediate body sizes generally had slow life histories (meaning they had low reproductive output but long lifespans). This means the combination of small body size and slow life history is very unlikely to be an advantage for dispersal across major barriers such as oceans.</p>
<h2>It’s not just chance</h2>
<p>It is amazing to think that rare dispersal events, which can lead to the rise of many new species, are not completely random. Instead, the intrinsic characteristics of species can shape the histories of entire groups of animals, even though chance still may play an important role.</p>
<p>At the same time, two of the most important <a href="https://zenodo.org/record/3553579">environmental challenges</a> of our time are related to movement across major barriers: biological invasions and species’ responses to climate change. On a planet facing rapid changes, understanding how animals move across barriers is therefore crucial.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212308/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>While working on this study, Sarah-Sophie Weil was affiliated with Université Grenoble Alpes (France) and Swansea University (Wales, UK) who supported her through Initiative d’excellence (IDEX) International Strategic Partnership and Swansea University Strategic Partner Research (SUSPR) scholarships.</span></em></p>New research looks at how different species have managed to cross geographic barriers throughout history and whether their individual traits played a crucial role in these journeys.Sarah-Sophie Weil, PhD candidate, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2116242023-08-22T13:20:05Z2023-08-22T13:20:05ZWhy an EU document mentioning the ‘Islas Malvinas/Falkland Islands’ is a big deal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543977/original/file-20230822-28-3vjiqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/7ZYA2fEIXyQ">Vijay Chander/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/20/islas-malvinas-brexit-cited-as-eu-endorses-falklands-argentine-name">recent summit</a> of European leaders and their counterparts from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), the European Union published a <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_23_3924">declaration</a> in which it referred to the “Islas Malvinas/Falkland Islands”.</p>
<p>The summit was aimed at re-energising economic and diplomatic relations between Europe and Celac countries and the joint declaration issued at its conclusion was signed by the 27 EU member states and 32 Celac nations. It is not a binding document but the decision to refer to the islands by their <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-falklands-war-40-years-on-why-las-malvinas-are-still-such-an-emotive-issue-in-argentina-181364">Spanish</a> as well as their British name is deeply significant. It happened despite <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/inside-uk-britains-frantic-bid-to-stop-eu-endorsing-malvinas-name-for-falklands/">reported efforts</a> by UK foreign secretary James Cleverly to have the islands kept out of the summit declaration altogether and has left the UK angry. </p>
<p>The UK and Argentina have disputed ownership of this southerly archipelago since 1833 – a fact promptly underlined by the responses from the respective governments. UK prime minister Rishi Sunak issued a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-66258669">statement</a> bemoaning the EU’s “regrettable choice of words”. Argentina’s foreign minister Santiago Cafiero, meanwhile, <a href="https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/argentina/the-eu-celac-first-joint-motion-on-malvinas-at-a-bi-regional-summit.phtml">reportedly</a> hailed the EU’s willingness to “take note” of his government’s territorial claim as a “triumph of Argentine diplomacy”.</p>
<p>Argentina has long advocated for dialogue and negotiation. Britain, meanwhile, has consistently maintained that the islands are British and <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-argentina-find-a-constructive-way-to-engage-with-the-falkland-islanders-54013">the islanders</a> have voted to endorse that position.</p>
<p>This latest incident highlights the UK’s diminishing influence on EU affairs, post-Brexit. The EU has since clarified that <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/68c0efff-31bc-4dd3-81ae-226f9e970733">its position</a> on the islands remains unchanged, implying that it continues to recognise British sovereignty, but the shift in language is still notable. Use of the islands’ dual moniker suggests that each name carries equal validity and the UK government has <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/08/08/britain-falkland-islands-islas-malvinas-argentina-eu/">pointed out</a> that to use the name Argentina uses is to question British sovereignty. It has also underlined that this <a href="https://batimes.com.ar/news/argentina/the-european-union-used-the-term-malvinas-angered-london-while-cafiero-and-alberto-tweet.phtml">marks a break</a> from the EU’s historical alignment with the UK’s stance. One EU official was quoted as saying: “The UK is not part of the EU. They are upset by the use of the word Malvinas. If they were in the EU perhaps they would have pushed back against it.”</p>
<h2>How the archipelago got its names</h2>
<p><a href="https://research.aber.ac.uk/en/publications/gender-nation-text-exploring-constructs-of-identity">My research shows</a> that the rhetoric of “rightful possession” is at the heart of the territorial dispute. It is embedded in the act of naming. </p>
<p>With the advent of the European age of discovery in the 1500s, territorial naming – or renaming – became central to colonial practices. It was a means, as British writer James Hamilton-Paterson <a href="https://www.europaeditions.com/book/9781933372693/seven-tenths-the-sea-and-its-thresholds">has put it</a>, of taking ideological control of territory. </p>
<p>From the 16th century on, various names for the archipelago – the Sebalds, New Islands, Hawkins Maiden Land –- were used interchangeably, each relating to different European expeditions. Often these involved possible but unconfirmed sightings. Other names –- Falkland Islands; les Îles Malouines –- only later gained traction via their presence on maps, highlighting the strategic importance of cartography. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A historical map of the globe." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543942/original/file-20230822-28-1crsil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543942/original/file-20230822-28-1crsil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=657&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543942/original/file-20230822-28-1crsil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=657&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543942/original/file-20230822-28-1crsil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=657&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543942/original/file-20230822-28-1crsil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=825&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543942/original/file-20230822-28-1crsil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=825&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543942/original/file-20230822-28-1crsil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=825&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Johannes Schöner’s 1520 globe, showing the western hemisphere.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sch%C3%B6ner_globe_1520_western_hemisphere.jpg">Public domain/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>British accounts of the Falklands, from the 19th century onwards, <a href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20140402140947/http://www.pcgn.org.uk/Falkland%20Islands-July2006.pdf">credited</a> the Elizabethan navigator, John Davis, with their discovery, after Davis’s vessel, the Desire, was reportedly driven between the two main islands during a storm on August 14 1592. This has since <a href="https://brill.com/display/title/10787">been disputed</a> by, among others, the legal scholar Roberto C Laver. </p>
<p>The first verifiable sighting and precise plotting dates back to 1600 and is attributed to the Dutch navigator Sebald de Weert. In January 1690, English mariner and captain of the Welfare John Strong made the first undisputed landing. Strong sailed down the sound between the two main islands which he named “Falkland Sound”, after Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount Falkland, then Commissioner of the Admiralty. </p>
<p>By the early 18th century, a shift in British terminology had begun. <a href="https://www.rmg.co.uk/sites/default/files/longitude/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2014/12/Halley-World-chart-1702-G20_0.gif">Maps drawn up</a> by English astronomer Edmund Halley demonstrate how cartographers went from using the name “Seebold de Waerds Isles” to “the Falklands” or “Falkland Islands”. </p>
<p>Eighteenth-century French expeditions, meanwhile, referred first to “les Îles Nouvelles” (the New Islands) and, <a href="https://francearchives.gouv.fr/fr/facomponent/4eaa91317840b9d6d7de86a71d336850c229e139">from 1722</a>, to “les Îles Malouines”, in reference to Saint-Malo, the Brittany port from which French expeditions often departed. It is from the latter that the Spanish name “Islas Malvinas” is <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/espacepolitique/9440#tocto2n6">derived</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A historical maritime map." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543955/original/file-20230822-15-4uylzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543955/original/file-20230822-15-4uylzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543955/original/file-20230822-15-4uylzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543955/original/file-20230822-15-4uylzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543955/original/file-20230822-15-4uylzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543955/original/file-20230822-15-4uylzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543955/original/file-20230822-15-4uylzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1717 map by French explorer Amédée-François Frézier showing the Isles Nouvelles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Planche_XXXII.jpg#/media/File:Planche_XXXII.jpg">Public domain/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Beyond geography</h2>
<p>In his landmark 1993 book, <a href="https://ia601203.us.archive.org/17/items/CultureAndImperialismByEdwardW.Said/Culture%20and%20Imperialism%20by%20Edward%20W.%20Said.pdf">Culture and Imperialism</a>, literary scholar Edward Said writes: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Just as none of us is outside or beyond geography, none of us is completely free from the struggle over geography. That struggle is complex and interesting because it is not only about soldiers and cannons but also about ideas, about forms, about images and imaginings.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Islands have always had a certain chimerical quality. Many imaginary islands have appeared on and disappeared from maps, including <a href="https://www.iflscience.com/hy-brasil-the-phantom-island-that-hasnt-been-seen-since-1872-64607">Hy-Brasil</a>, long purported to be off the <a href="https://brill.com/display/title/31021">coast of Ireland</a>, and <a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Journals/GeogR/8/1/St_Brendans_Explorations_and_Islands*.html">St. Brendan’s</a>, charted somewhere in the North Atlantic but never found. </p>
<p>Cartographical history shows even real places, like <a href="https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/61592/do-maps-dating-back-to-1489-90-show-ascension-and-st-helena-even-though-these-is">Ascension Island</a>, shifting shape and position because the absolute position and boundaries of an island can be difficult to ascertain. As shown by the cases of <a href="https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/mexicos-missing-island">Bermeja Island</a> (dubbed Mexico’s missing island) and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/14/canada-denmark-end-decades-long-dispute-barren-rock-arctic-hans-island">Hans Island</a> in the Arctic, over which Canada and Denmark have held a long-running border dispute, not to mention the numerous <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13748349">territorial disputes in the South China Sea</a>, this remains true today.</p>
<p>Place names (or toponyms) often carry great <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286121765_Place_Naming_and_the_Interpretation_of_Cultural_Landscapes">cultural significance</a>. They identify. They connect people to their heritage. They provide a sense of belonging – or alienation. They are <a href="https://icaci.org/files/documents/ICC_proceedings/ICC2009/html/nonref/12_2.pdf">emotive signifiers</a>. Some are endowed with a greater <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286121765_Place_Naming_and_the_Interpretation_of_Cultural_Landscapes">symbolic capital or resistance</a> than others. </p>
<p>The case of the Falklands/Malvinas makes this clear. Teslyn Barkman, deputy chair of the Falkland Island’s Legislative Assembly, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66258669">has urged</a> the EU to “respect the wishes of the Falkland Islanders and refer to us by our proper name”.</p>
<p>However, the very inclusion of this territorial dispute in the EU declaration shows that, post-Brexit, Brussels <a href="https://batimes.com.ar/news/argentina/the-european-union-used-the-term-malvinas-angered-london-while-cafiero-and-alberto-tweet.phtml">no longer</a> feels the need to show partnership with the UK on this issue of sovereignty. It signals that the bloc is open to further discussion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211624/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Wood does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The mention of the Falklands/Malvinas territorial dispute in an EU document shows that, post-Brexit, Brussels no longer feels beholden to toe the UK’s line on sovereignty.Jennifer Wood, Senior Lecturer in Spanish & Latin American Studies, Aberystwyth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2113252023-08-16T12:27:52Z2023-08-16T12:27:52ZProspect of Kenyan troops in Haiti has sparked concerns – but may also prompt soul-searching across the Americas over lack of action<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542850/original/file-20230815-28-1005l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=58%2C133%2C5501%2C3567&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Haitian authorities are fighting a losing battle against organized gangs.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/graphic-content-a-man-is-under-arrest-by-haitian-police-in-news-photo/1252143752?adppopup=true">Richard Pierrin/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The kidnapping and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66453922">subsequent release of U.S. nurse</a> Alix Dorsainvil and her young daughter in Haiti in early August 2023 drew brief international attention to crime in the impoverished Caribbean nation.</p>
<p>But the truth is that <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-58993730">such kidnappings are commonplace for Haitians</a>, and they rarely receive attention from outside the country itself. Indeed, Haiti has become <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/immersive/haiti-forgotten-crisis?id=100287588">a forgotten crisis</a> to many international bodies and foreign governments. News that Kenya has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/05/kenya-police-haiti-human-rights-concerns">offered to lead an international effort</a> to bring order to the country only underscores the lack of action by other nations closer to Haiti.</p>
<p>As someone who has written a book, “<a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/2012-01-01/fixing-haiti-minustah-and-beyond">Fixing Haiti</a>,” on the last concerted outside intervention – the <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/mission/minustah">United Nations’ stabilizing mission (MINUSTAH)</a> – I fear the lack of action by countries in the Americas could increase the risk of Haiti transitioning from a fragile state to a failed one. MINUSTAH was the first U.N. mission formed by a majority of Latin American troops, with Chile and Brazil taking the lead. The prospect of outsourcing that role now to Kenya may have <a href="https://www.voaafrica.com/a/human-rights-activists-question-kenya-move-to-train-haitian-police/7209859.html">sparked concerns from human rights groups</a>, but it might also lead to soul-searching questions in capitals from Washington to Brasília, as well as at United Nations headquarters in New York.</p>
<h2>At the mercy of gangs</h2>
<p>Haiti has been falling into chaos for the last two years, ever since <a href="https://theconversation.com/slain-haitian-president-faced-calls-for-resignation-sustained-mass-protests-before-killing-164131">the murder of President Jovenel Moïse</a> in July 2021. A <a href="https://www.paho.org/en/haiti-earthquake-august-2021">subsequent earthquake</a> that struck the southern part of the country only further worsened the plight of Haitians. </p>
<p>Today, the country is not only the poorest in the Americas, but is also among the most destitute in the world. Some 87.6% of the population is <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/haiti/overview">estimated to be living in poverty</a>, with 30% in extreme poverty. Life expectancy is <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN?locations=HT">just 63 years</a>, compared with <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN?locations=US">76 in the United States</a> and <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN?locations=ZJ">72 in Latin America and the Caribbean</a> as a whole.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, crime is so pervasive that it makes it almost impossible to move from one city to another due to the risk of being attacked by gangs, which control <a href="https://apnews.com/article/haiti-gangs-democracy-at-risk-7ddcea955fdd364e2b574e28daa71d03">almost two-thirds of the country</a>. Things have gotten so bad that the U.S. State Department has <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/28/politics/us-advisory-non-emergency-departure-haiti/index.html">evacuated all nonessential personnel</a> and recommended that U.S. citizens leave the country as soon as possible.</p>
<h2>Recipe for disaster</h2>
<p>International intervention in Haiti has been long overdue. Yet, until now, the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/21/1177391853/the-un-says-an-outside-force-is-needed-in-haiti-but-countries-are-reluctant-to-i">attitude of the international community</a> has, from my perspective, been <a href="https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/the-world-cant-afford-to-ignore-haiti-crisis/">largely to look away</a>.</p>
<p>From a humanitarian perspective and in terms of regional security, to allow a country in the Americas to drift into the condition of a failed state controlled by a fluid network of criminal gangs is a recipe for disaster. Yet <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/21/1177391853/the-un-says-an-outside-force-is-needed-in-haiti-but-countries-are-reluctant-to-i">governments and transnational bodies in the region are unwilling</a> to step up to confront the crisis directly despite <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/7/haiti-to-request-aid-of-foreign-forces-as-violence-rages-reports">pleas from Haiti</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/21/haiti-un-international-specialized-support-force">the U.N.</a>. </p>
<p>The Organization of American States – which in the past played an important role in Haiti and for which I served as an observer to the country’s <a href="http://archive.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/arc/2137_90.htm">1990 presidential elections</a> – and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States have been <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/oas-members-recommit-helping-haiti-through-gang-violence-2023-02-10/">criticized over their slow response</a> to the Haitian crisis. The Caribbean Community, or CARICOM, has held a number of meetings on the Haitian crisis. But that bloc is <a href="https://www.caribbeannewsglobal.com/caricom-cannot-abandon-haiti-despite-the-presidents-failure-to-respond-to-offers/">bound by a strict noninterference policy</a>. </p>
<p>The United States, in turn, having left Afghanistan in 2021 after a tumultuous <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-us-wont-be-able-to-shirk-moral-responsibility-in-leaving-afghanistan-164474">20-year occupation</a>, appears reluctant to send troops anywhere.</p>
<p>Rather, Washington would prefer that others take up the role of peacekeeper this time. In response to the offer from Kenya, the <a href="https://www.state.gov/kenya-considering-leading-a-multinational-force-in-haiti/#:%7E:text=The%20United%20States%20commends%20the,insecurity%20caused%20by%20gang%20violence.">State Department said</a> it “commends” the African nation for “responding to Haiti’s call.”</p>
<p>Part of this reluctance in the Americas could also be related to the perception – in my view, a misperception – of how past interventions have played out. The United Nations mission from 2004 initially managed to <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/2012-01-01/fixing-haiti-minustah-and-beyond">stabilize Haiti after another rocky period</a>. In fact, the country made significant strides before it was hit by a devastating earthquake in 2010. </p>
<p>There were bad missteps, for sure, after 2010. A <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=211434286">cholera outbreak brought to Haiti by infected troops from Nepal</a> resulted in <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/cholera/haiti/index.html">more than 800,000 infections and 10,000 deaths</a>. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-haiti-women-peacekeepers-idUSKBN1YM27W">Sexual misconduct by some of the U.N.’s blue helmets</a> further tarnished the mission.</p>
<p>But the notion that MINUSTAH was a failure is, in my view, quite wrong. And the end of the mission in 2017 certainly didn’t see improved conditions in Haiti. Indeed, after the mission ended, criminal gangs had the run of the country once again, and proceeded accordingly. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A van with 'UN' on the side is ablaze with dark smoke billowing from it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542854/original/file-20230815-26-3gvalg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542854/original/file-20230815-26-3gvalg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542854/original/file-20230815-26-3gvalg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542854/original/file-20230815-26-3gvalg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542854/original/file-20230815-26-3gvalg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542854/original/file-20230815-26-3gvalg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542854/original/file-20230815-26-3gvalg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A U.N. mission car is burned by demonstrators in Haiti on Dec. 20, 2006.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/port-au-prince-haiti-a-un-mission-car-is-burned-20-december-news-photo/72879260?adppopup=true">Thony Belizaire/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet the perceived failure of the U.N. mission has become the basis of a view held by some Haiti watchers that international interventions are not only unsuccessful or misconceived, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/19/us-backed-foreign-intervention-disaster-haiti-un">but also counterproductive</a>.</p>
<p>Such a view forms the backbone of the <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250284686/aidstate">notion of Haiti as an “aid state</a>” – as opposed to a “failed state.” In this view, international interventions and the inflow of foreign funds have created a condition of dependency in which the country gets used to having foreigners make key decisions. This, the argument goes, fosters a cycle of corruption and mismanagement. </p>
<p>There is no doubt that some previous interventions left much to be desired, and that any new initiative would have to be conducted in close cooperation with Haitian civil society to avoid such pitfalls.</p>
<p>But I believe the notion that Haiti, in its current state, would be able to lift itself up without the help of the international community is wishful thinking. The nation has moved too far down the direction of gang control, and what remains of the Haitian state lacks the capacity to change that trajectory.</p>
<h2>A duty to intervene?</h2>
<p>Moreover, there is an argument to be made that the international community bears responsibility for the Haitian tragedy and is duty-bound to try to fix it.</p>
<p>To use one example from the relatively recent past: Haiti, until the early 1980s, was <a href="https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/report/downloadreportbyfilename?filename=Rice%20Production%20and%20Trade%20Update_Santo%20Domingo_Haiti_11-9-2010.pdf">self-sufficient in the production of rice</a> – a key staple there. Yet, pressured by the United States in the 1990s, the country lowered its agricultural tariffs to the bare minimum and, in so doing, destroyed local rice production. Former <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/clinton-s-apology-to-haiti-significant-experts-says-66347">U.S. President Bill Clinton later apologized</a> for the policy, but its legacy still lasts.</p>
<p>Haiti today has to import most of the rice it consumes, largely from the United States. And there isn’t enough of it to go around for all Haitians – the U.N. estimates that <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/05/1137152">nearly half of Haiti’s population of 11.5 million</a> is food-insecure.</p>
<p>Indeed, from its very beginning as an <a href="https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/haitian-independence/">independent nation in 1804</a>, Haiti has suffered the consequences of its unique place in history: It was simply too much for white colonial powers to see Haiti thrive as the <a href="https://www.aaihs.org/the-black-republic-the-meaning-of-haitian-independence-before-the-occupation/">first Black republic</a> resulting from a successful slave rebellion.</p>
<p>France retaliated to the loss of what was once considered the world’s wealthiest colony by exacting reparations for a century and a half. Payments from Haiti flowed until 1947 — to the tune of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2017/12/06/in-1825-haiti-gained-independence-from-france-for-21-billion-its-time-for-france-to-pay-it-back/">US$21 billion in today’s dollars</a>. The United States took 60 years to recognize Haiti, and <a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/wwi/88275.htm">invaded and occupied the nation from 1915 to 1934</a>. </p>
<p>However, any thoughts of atoning for past actions seem far from the minds of those looking on as the chaos in Haiti spirals. Rather, many appear to have the kind of mindset expressed in 1994 by current U.S. President Joe Biden when, as a senator <a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/sep/24/instagram-posts/video-clips-take-bidens-1994-if-haiti-just-quietly/">discussing the rationale for various interventions</a>, he noted: “If Haiti just quietly sunk into the Caribbean, or rose 300 feet, it wouldn’t matter a whole lot for our interests.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211325/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jorge Heine is a founder and sits on the board of Diplomats Without Borders and is a member of Chile's Party for Democracy, the International Political Science Association, the International Studies Association and of the Foro Permanente de Política Exterior, a Chilean foreign policy think.</span></em></p>The recent kidnapping of a US nurse has put a focus on the plight of Haitians living with organized crime every day. But few governments are willing to intervene.Jorge Heine, Interim Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2109592023-08-04T19:22:47Z2023-08-04T19:22:47ZToronto Caribbean Carnival should bring attention to anti-Black racism affecting communities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541161/original/file-20230804-15-wejf60.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C0%2C7114%2C4743&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A dancer with Tribal Carnival is helped into her costume ahead of the King and Queen Show, part of Toronto Caribbean Carnival, on Aug. 3, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/toronto-caribbean-carnival-should-bring-attention-to-anti-black-racism-affecting-communities" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Every summer Toronto plays host to revellers and spectators, visitors and locals, for one of the biggest events of the season: the <a href="https://www.torontocarnival.ca/">Toronto Caribbean Carnival (TCC)</a>. Last year’s carnival brought almost two million people and <a href="https://www.torontocarnival.ca/_files/ugd/08adeb_c1c4596d9016436d886b6809be94dc14.pdf">just under half a billion dollars to the city</a>, and similar if not greater numbers are expected this year.</p>
<p>Under the theme of “Diversity and Culture Live Here,” the Festival Management Committee that oversees carnival events is encouraging everyone to join in the fun. Many see TCC activities, especially the culminating <a href="https://www.torontocarnival.ca/event-details/the-grand-parade">Grand Parade</a>, as an opportunity to go full throttle with the bacchanal. And carnival is about play and pleasure and partying.</p>
<p>But beyond the fun and sparkly costumes are some real problems around the exploitation of the culture of a community that usually doesn’t receive positive play in the media and elsewhere at other times of the year.</p>
<p>Heavy commercialization of the TCC also results in a significant amount of money coming into the city with not much of it bringing any benefit to Caribbean communities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541162/original/file-20230804-27-22wyvj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A dancer in a large costume on stage during a Caribbean carnival." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541162/original/file-20230804-27-22wyvj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541162/original/file-20230804-27-22wyvj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541162/original/file-20230804-27-22wyvj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541162/original/file-20230804-27-22wyvj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541162/original/file-20230804-27-22wyvj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541162/original/file-20230804-27-22wyvj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541162/original/file-20230804-27-22wyvj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tribal Carnival’s front Princess, Caneisha Edwards, takes part in the King and Queen Show, part of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival, on Aug. 3, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Carnivals and protest</h2>
<p>In the post George Floyd era, it is even more important that these issues are acknowledged and tackled head on. One would hope, for example, that event organizers would consider explicitly framing at least some of the main events through the lens of what the world learned about anti-Black racism from the Black Lives Matter protests.</p>
<p>On the official <a href="https://www.torontocarnival.ca/donate">TCC website</a>, organizers ask for donations so that the “community and festival” can “continue to celebrate, raise awareness and to resist discrimination and oppression through our original music, masquerade performances, culinary experiences, and other expressions of our Caribbean culture.”</p>
<p>This suggests they understand the TCC can amplify and build on conversations and actions initiated during the protests. Perhaps, too, that phrasing on the website could mean an openness to embracing social critique and protest, which are hallmarks of Caribbean carnivals in other locations, such as in Trinidad and Tobago.</p>
<p>Carnival celebrations <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/arts/exhibitionists/mas-protest-how-traditional-carnival-was-born-out-of-resistance-1.4773816">born out of resistance</a> to, and which mark emancipation from, chattel slavery have long been part of the cultural experience of Caribbean peoples. Carnival traditions in the Caribbean have also long found a balance between creating a spectacle and being socially responsive, between being celebratory while also unafraid of challenging the status quo.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541182/original/file-20230804-27-2amatg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in a large multicolored costume on a stage." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541182/original/file-20230804-27-2amatg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541182/original/file-20230804-27-2amatg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541182/original/file-20230804-27-2amatg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541182/original/file-20230804-27-2amatg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541182/original/file-20230804-27-2amatg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541182/original/file-20230804-27-2amatg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541182/original/file-20230804-27-2amatg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A participant parades a costume during the King and Queen Show, part of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival, on Aug. 3, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If the carnival’s organizers used its visibility to bring attention to structural and institutional anti-Black racism affecting communities, it would more fully embrace that Caribbean tradition.</p>
<p>So far, though, there’s not much evidence of such explicit framing. It would be a seriously missed opportunity if the 2023 festivities came to an end without engaging with the ways the community is affected by anti-Black racism.</p>
<h2>Raising awareness</h2>
<p>This 56th year of the TCC is kicking off on the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/BLM-tenth-anniversary?fbclid=IwAR0HJmw252qzvtb-NU6cw3s2xtmu2tNR4T6zr6Yi_IAVLShnFegZWCwTZsI">10th anniversary of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement</a>. This is only the second year, too, that the TCC’s main events overlap with Emancipation Day.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/emancipation-day.html">Emancipation Day</a>, observed on August 1, was made official in Canada in March 2021 in the wake of the BLM protests. The day offers Canadians an occasion to learn about <a href="https://www.vehiculepress.com/q.php?EAN=9781550653274">Canada’s history of enslaving Black and Indigenous Peoples</a> and better understand how racism continues to impact communities today.</p>
<p>TCC dates also coincide with <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/simcoe-day-canada-s-roots-in-slavery-and-the-historic-abolition-1.1303678">Simcoe Day</a>, which is observed in <a href="https://www.heritagetrust.on.ca/pages/programs/provincial-plaque-program/provincial-plaque-background-papers/chloe-cooley">remembrance of the 1793 anti-slavery act</a>.</p>
<p>So, if there was ever a time for the TCC to lean into its social commentary and protest roots, that time is now.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541164/original/file-20230804-23-ygrmno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman at a demonstration carrying a Black Lives Matter flag." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541164/original/file-20230804-23-ygrmno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541164/original/file-20230804-23-ygrmno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541164/original/file-20230804-23-ygrmno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541164/original/file-20230804-23-ygrmno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541164/original/file-20230804-23-ygrmno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541164/original/file-20230804-23-ygrmno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541164/original/file-20230804-23-ygrmno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People attend the #BLM Turns 10 People’s Justice Festival on July 15, 2023 in Los Angeles. The Black Lives Matter movement was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of the man who fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As someone who belongs to the Caribbean diaspora in Toronto, something I would like to see happen with the TCC is more overt critical engagement on the part of organizers, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/the-history-of-mas-notting-hill-carnival/owVRsWygiT1m0g?hl=en">mas bands</a>, masqueraders and performers with anti-Black racism and other types of social injustice and inequity in Canada.</p>
<p>For masqueraders, that could mean choosing to play mas in ways that are more reminiscent of what people in the Caribbean call ‘ole mas.’ Bands could facilitate this socially- and politically-engaged mas by creating appropriate costumes and play scenarios for their band members.</p>
<p>Organizers could program events that promote greater awareness about the history of Caribbean carnivals. These could be public lectures, workshops and exhibits that take advantage of the reach and accessibility of virtual forums. Organizers could encourage greater engagement by artists and content producers with social events and topics, especially ones that concern Black and Caribbean Canadian communities.</p>
<p>They could also be more proactive about how corporate sponsorships and the growing commercialization of TCC events can be harnessed to benefit Caribbean and Black communities in Toronto.</p>
<p>The spotlight this summer on a post-pandemic, post-BLM iteration of the TCC could also help reignite productive public discussion about the policing of Black communities in Toronto. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/frustration-over-police-presence-at-caribbean-carnival-reflects-debate-over-anti-black-racism/article31149670/">TCC’s history with the police has not always been comfortable</a>. Toronto’s police force has repeatedly demonstrated over the years that it makes a problematic association between large gatherings of Black and other people of colour and public acts of violence.</p>
<p>Efforts have been made in recent years to address this, especially at the Grand Parade. <a href="https://thecaribbeancamera.com/toronto-caribbean-carnival-kicks-off-with-a-blazing-hot-launch/">News coverage</a> of the 2023 carnival observed that “In a departure from previous years, the Toronto Police chief was notably absent from the launch event, with only Black auxiliary officers seen near the stage.” But there is still a lot of work to do around changing how police interact with Black communities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541163/original/file-20230804-19-77kck2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A large group of people in costumes at a carnival" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541163/original/file-20230804-19-77kck2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541163/original/file-20230804-19-77kck2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541163/original/file-20230804-19-77kck2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541163/original/file-20230804-19-77kck2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541163/original/file-20230804-19-77kck2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541163/original/file-20230804-19-77kck2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541163/original/file-20230804-19-77kck2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Masqueraders attend the Caribbean Carnival parade in Toronto on July 30, 2022. The 55th annual parade returned after the COVID-19 pandemic postponed it for two years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Helping Black businesses</h2>
<p>The TCC is arguably Toronto’s biggest and most visible Black-owned business. But while various businesses in the city — hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues, cultural attractions and landmarks — benefit financially, that has not been the case for many Black businesses, especially small ones.</p>
<p>The increasing commercialization of the TCC, such as big brand sponsorship of the bands and the trucks that accompany them along the Grand Parade route, is a significant part of this problem.</p>
<p>Current funding structures, and “business as usual” approaches exemplify how Blackness can be co-opted to serve corporate interests while Black communities are shut out of the benefits and profits. It’s Blackness on display — and only when such display is profitable — with little to none of this profit going to Black communities.</p>
<p>The City of Toronto and the TCC could demonstrate commitment to addressing anti-Black racism by rethinking the carnival’s financial participation and profit distribution models to benefit Black-owned businesses and communities.</p>
<p>There are already organizational structures in place for facilitating this. For example, the Festival Management Committee’s <a href="https://www.bbep.ca/about">Building Black Entrepreneurs Program</a> which has received funding from the federal government’s <a href="https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2020/09/09/prime-minister-announces-support-black-entrepreneurs-and-business">Black Entrepreneurship Program</a>. There’s also the City of Toronto’s <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/get-involved/community/confronting-anti-black-racism/">Confronting Anti-Black Racism unit</a>.</p>
<p>The Festival Management Committee, the City, TCC community stakeholders, partners and sponsors as well as the larger public need to have these conversations. Until then, simply focusing on jumping, waving, wining, feting and playing does a disservice to the true spirit of Caribbean carnivals.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210959/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hyacinth Simpson receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>Toronto’s Caribbean Carnival brings festivities and fun to the city every summer. But beyond the dances and parades, carnivals are and should be places to protest and raise awareness of injustices.Hyacinth Simpson, Associate Professor, Department of English and Interim Director, Dimensions Program, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2061332023-06-08T11:44:41Z2023-06-08T11:44:41ZThe Windrush dance revolution that transformed Britain – from Birmingham’s basements to Notting Hill carnival<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530405/original/file-20230606-7937-utigwl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C17%2C1982%2C1467&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reggae, dancehall, and identity: how Jamaican music transformed British society.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Holly Squire/Canva</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Growing up in Birmingham in the early 1960s, I am part of the African Caribbean generation that <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/windrush-52562">migrated to Britain</a> between the 1940s and 1980s. Commonly known as the “<a href="https://digpodcast.org/2022/03/06/windrush-generation/">Windrush generation</a>”, our arrival in the UK marked a significant turning point in the country’s social, artistic and economic landscape.</p>
<p>Back in those days, nights out in Birmingham revolved around paid entry into <a href="https://writersmosaic.org.uk/content/dancing-identity-in-a-strange-land-h-patten/">“blues” or “shubeens”</a> (house parties). They were often held in unconventional venues, from basements and abandoned buildings to church and school halls. These events took place up and down the country – black bodies dancing and expressing themselves through music and “riddim” (rhythm).</p>
<p>These venues became the birthplace of black clubs, stage shows and major international events such as the Notting Hill carnival and the Mobo Awards ceremony. In these spaces, we challenged the <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-history-is-still-largely-ignored-70-years-after-empire-windrush-reached-britain-98431">exclusion that African and Caribbean people</a> faced relating to established white-owned social venues.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>This article is part of our <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/windrush-75-139220?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Windrush75&utm_content=InArticleTop">Windrush 75 series</a>, which marks the 75th anniversary of the HMT Empire Windrush arriving in Britain. The stories in this series explore the history and impact of the hundreds of passengers who disembarked to help rebuild after the second world war.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Reflecting back on my childhood, I vividly remember attending Jamaican dance sessions where black bodies performed seemingly unconscious and spiritually symbolic dance rituals. This represented a form of resistance. But it was also about identity affirmation and survival. </p>
<p>Dance sessions involved setting up massive speakers, amplifiers, turntables and other sonic components that produced the pulsating music of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aASQlbktGkc">sound systems</a>. Operated by talented <a href="https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/22858/1/502410.pdf">deejays (DJs), selectors and MCs</a>, these musical artists transformed ordinary British locations into dynamic dance spaces.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aASQlbktGkc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Through dance, we resisted <a href="https://repository.canterbury.ac.uk/item/8910q/the-spirituality-of-reggae-dancehall-dance-vocabulary-a-spiritual-corporeal-practice-in-jamaican-dance">cultural marginalisation and asserted our presence</a> in the face of oppression. I recall witnessing people performing the ska dance, characterised by energetic arm movements and knee-raising, to the popular song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7lCJg3WoSc">My Boy Lollipop</a> by Millie Small, which topped the UK charts in 1964. </p>
<p>In darkened rooms, bodies would sensuously move together, intertwining their pelvises in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyJwZwkqg8U">figure-eight, half or full circles</a>. Side-stepping, bending and straightening their knees, they performed the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_EybfMcRt4">reggae bounce</a>. </p>
<p>These dance movements were performed to songs like Janet Kay’s 1979 anthem <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCVR5XR04Mo">Silly Games</a>, which propelled the <a href="https://theconversation.com/small-axe-what-steve-mcqueen-got-right-and-wrong-about-lovers-rock-151068">lover’s rock</a> reggae genre beyond its African Caribbean audience base to global markets including China and Japan. </p>
<p>Dance and music were integral to our cultural celebrations marking the major lifecycle milestones, from christenings and weddings to birthdays and funerals.</p>
<h2>Contributing far and wide</h2>
<p>The influence of African Caribbean popular culture extended beyond our communities and made significant contributions to British society as a whole. For instance, Lord Kitchener’s calypso <a href="https://www.facebook.com/museumoflondon/videos/2446657958966637/">London is the Place for Me</a>, played on the decks of the SS Empire Windrush upon its arrival in 1948, expressed the dreams and aspirations of many who migrated to Britain. </p>
<p>Invited by the British government, African Caribbean people settled in the “Mother country”. We became an <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-windrush-generation-how-a-resilient-caribbean-community-made-a-lasting-contribution-to-british-society-204571">indispensable part of the workforce</a>, contributing to various sectors such as the NHS, transportation, business and infrastructural developments.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/notting-hill-carnival-why-partying-is-the-perfect-antidote-to-austerity-43509">The Notting Hill carnival</a>, born out of our resistance to oppression and violence following the murder of <a href="https://www.ourmigrationstory.org.uk/oms/murder-in-notting-hill">Kelso Cochrane</a> in 1959, became one of the greatest African Caribbean cultural contributions to British society.</p>
<p>Cochrane, an innocent black man walking home, was killed at the hands of white youths in Notting Hill. This ignited the UK’s first race riots, which directly influenced Trinidad and Tobago-born journalist and activist <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/history/public-engagement/blackhistory/snapshots/claudiajones/">Claudia Jones</a> to set up the London Caribbean Carnival – a precursor to the Notting Hill carnival that was established in 1966.</p>
<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/54rxFJKXJLmd5DY9aqVhbO?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="352" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p>Today, “Carnival” is not only a vibrant celebration of our heritage but a significant contributor to the <a href="https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/event/9023471-notting-hill-carnival">British economy and tourism industry</a>. Reggae’s sound-system culture was incorporated into this annual event, amplifying its reach beyond calypso, soca (an offshoot of calypso) and steel pan culture to encompass many forms of artistry.</p>
<p>Dance movements within reggae and dancehall music have become powerful expressions of cultural identity and personhood. The signature “whining” or “wining” movement, characterised by circling or rotating the pelvis while rocking it back and forth in a tumbling action, exemplifies Jamaican pride and self-worth.</p>
<p>Similarly, the iconic <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIXdI9mfDas">Bogle dance</a>, created by master dancer Gerald “Bogle” Levy in Jamaica and adopted within British dance spaces in the 1990s, features undulating arms and bodies across the dancehall space to the hit song Bogle, by Buju Banton. </p>
<p>Through reggae and dancehall, black bodies in Britain confidently occupied central positions within popular culture. We challenged gender stereotypes, body stigmatisation and the limitations imposed on African Caribbean bodies due to race.</p>
<h2>Freedom and empowerment</h2>
<p>The freedom and empowerment found in reggae and dancehall culture has also influenced the <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-artists-dont-just-make-hip-hop-why-recognition-of-metal-punk-rock-and-emo-by-mobo-is-long-overdue-195583">growth of other marginalised communities</a> in Britain. It played a crucial role in the development of genres such as hip-hop, punk rock, jungle, garage, drum ‘n’ bass, Afrobeat, reggaeton (South America), kwaito or di gong (South Africa), and hip-life (West Africa). </p>
<p>The wider influence of reggae, dancehall and African Caribbean culture can be seen throughout British culture: in television programmes, radio shows and advertisements that incorporate Jamaican slang, iconic songs and dance moves.</p>
<p>Examples include the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4kOj5MZlg8">Vitalite advert</a>, featuring Desmond Dekker’s The Israelites, Fairy Liquid’s use of Bob Marley’s <a href="https://vimeo.com/489047177">Don’t Worry</a> in their ads, and the BBC’s original Test match cricket theme, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67xXbTaQlKI">Soul Limbo</a>. Alongside the everyday use of Jamaican and African Caribbean slang terms and phrases such as “big up”, “shout out to” (acknowledging individuals), “bouyaka!” (signifying gunshots), “blood” or “fam” (meaning family), are actions including fist pumps, wining and twerking.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M4kOj5MZlg8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Of course, life in the UK has not been without its challenges. The Windrush scandal of 2017 exposed that many from the Windrush generation had been excluded from British society, due to the UK government’s “<a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/hostile-environment-44885">hostile environment</a>” legislation. This intended to cut off undocumented migrants from access to any public services, including healthcare. </p>
<p>But despite such oppression, our cultural and economic contributions remain intertwined with British history. And we continue to shape the UK’s cultural landscape, today and into the future.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=144&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=144&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=144&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=181&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=181&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=181&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>You can <em><a href="https://bit.ly/3DdOERY">download the e-book here</a></em>. Thank you for your interest.</p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206133/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>'H' Patten receives funding from the ISRF. </span></em></p>Nights out dancing! How African and Caribbean music and dance have shaped British culture.'H' Patten, Associate Lecturer in African Caribbean Dance, Goldsmiths, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2064552023-06-02T15:53:37Z2023-06-02T15:53:37ZVoices of Preston’s Windrush generation – when I first arrived, I said: ‘Really? I thought there were no slums in this place!’<p>From the earliest arrivals of what would become Preston’s “<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43782241">Windrush generation</a>”, the status of the Caribbean diaspora was hotly contested in this post-industrial Lancashire town, as elsewhere. Discrimination and prejudice dogged the daily lives of people from the Caribbean who made their home here.</p>
<p>In 1955, the pages of the Lancashire Evening Post hosted intense debates about whether a “colour bar” existed in the town. And segregation still endured two decades later, when the national Race Relations Board <a href="https://vlex.co.uk/vid/race-relations-board-v-792867473">challenged discrimination</a> at Preston Dockers’ Labour Club, where black people were being denied service. Because of its status as a private premises, the club won the case in 1975. <a href="https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1975/feb/03/race-relations-bill-hl">New legislation</a> would be required to overturn such discrimination.</p>
<p>Amid this febrile atmosphere, Preston’s growing Caribbean community organised independently, forming social networks through church congregations, sports teams and, latterly, community institutions.</p>
<p>Yet today, many of these inspiring stories of community strength and individual endeavour remain little acknowledged. As Clinton Smith, chair of the <a href="https://www.prestonblackhistorygroup.org.uk/">Preston Black History Group</a>, put it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A great deal has been written about Windrush – but much of the information was southern-based and related to large conurbations.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Seeking to address this “big city bias” regarding the Windrush story as it approached the <a href="https://www.windrush75.org/">75th anniversary</a>, members of the group – together with the Institute for Black Atlantic Research at the University of Central Lancashire – interviewed and photographed 11 proud black Prestonians in depth about their experiences as migrants arriving and putting down deep roots in this provincial town.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>This article is part of our <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/windrush-75-139220?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Windrush75&utm_content=InArticleTop">Windrush 75 series</a>, which marks the 75th anniversary of the HMT Empire Windrush arriving in Britain. The stories in this series explore the history and impact of the hundreds of passengers who disembarked to help rebuild after the second world war.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Their recollections – collected in the ebook <a href="https://www.prestonblackhistorygroup.org.uk/england-is-my-home-windrush-lives-in-lancashire/">England is My Home: Windrush Lives in Lancashire</a> and extracted here – offer a fascinating insight into the fears and hopes, the triumphs and ongoing challenges that Preston’s Caribbean community has experienced over the past 75 years.</p>
<p>At the heart of these memories are vital communal spaces such as the Jalgos club – founded in a house on London Road in 1962 by Jamaicans unified by a love of cricket – and the Caribbean Club, which opened in Kent Street a decade later and proved particularly popular with the Dominican community. In 1974, Preston’s island communities united to stage the town’s first Caribbean Carnival, a tradition that continues today.</p>
<p>Church, carnival and cricket: the three pillars of this vibrant local community – built in Preston by proud members of its Windrush generation.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Sylius Toussaint</h2>
<p>I remember my paternal grandma had two posters in her house that my cousin had put on the wall. One said: “Belfast, the city without a slum.” Pure government propaganda. And the other was a scene of apprentices working in a factory, and it said: “Britain today is the land of opportunity for youth.” I will never ever forget that. I wish I still had that poster.</p>
<p>My aunt said to me: “Sylius, why don’t you go to England? You could work, study and whatever it is.” So I paid my passage and came – and here I’ve been for the last 60-plus years.</p>
<p>I left Dominica on May 29 and arrived in Barbados the following day. But while we were there, we discovered the boat to England was overbooked. So we were sent on an aircraft from Barbados to Bermuda, Bermuda to Newfoundland, then Newfoundland to Ireland.</p>
<p>My first impression was of cottages and things in rural Ireland, and I said: “This looks poor.” When you are in the Caribbean, you hear of England, you hear of Ireland and Europe, and you think it is affluent and rich. But then when you see this – really? That was the first surprise I had.</p>
<p>And when I finally landed in Preston, with its silly little two-up and two-down houses, I said: “Really? I thought there were no slums in this place! Two-up two-downs, outside toilet in the middle of winter …” And every house was smoking. “What’s this smoke?” </p>
<p>Preston has changed, wow. There were so many slums back then. And I thought winter [in England] was cold but sunny – but when a whole week went by and I never saw the sun, I said: “What have I come to?”</p>
<p>So, why am I happy for coming here? Because I’ve been able to help others. Initially it was my mum and other siblings. I arrived and within almost a year, I sent for [my wife] Bridgette and, before long, her brother and my sister. My sister lives down in London with her children … and some (not all) of them say:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Uncle Sylius, that’s the best thing you’ve done, sent for my mum, because I’m glad I’m here in England and life is so much better than if it was in the Caribbean.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Economically, England is a big boy whereas Dominica is still a child. So most of what I do [to help] is out there. And I say thank God I’ve been able to come here, and that me coming here has been of benefit to so many people.</p>
<p>If you ask me what are the industries in Preston, I don’t know. But the place seems to be getting on quite well. What surprises me is how the university has just expanded. From being an industrial town, we’ve become a university town now. </p>
<p>The two-by-twos have gone, and there aren’t any slums in Preston now. Of course, there are houses that may be neglected, but you watch the news and see the kind of housing that people have to live in in London and so on. We are not bad in Preston.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Joanett Hue</h2>
<p>When I reached Preston, it was night. I had been driving from London and I saw all these houses and said to myself: “These look like a certain part of the ghetto in Jamaica – the area I don’t go in.” Honestly, I couldn’t believe it. Looking at the houses, I said: “My god, it’s no different.”</p>
<p>At that time, we lived in Avenham [in central Preston], the flats. When I went in there, [my husband] Joe said: “This is where I’m living – this is the kitchen, this is the bathroom.”</p>
<p>I couldn’t believe it. The house I was coming from [in Jamaica] was a seven-bedroom house, five bathrooms. Honestly, when my husband said this is where we would be living … I went into the bathroom and I cried, I cried. I said: “Why did I leave my house to come here?”</p>
<p>When I woke up in the morning, there were hailstones, it was raining. I couldn’t take it anymore. But then I just said to myself: “Well, I have my husband and when you come to Rome, you do as the Romans do.”</p>
<hr>
<h2>Vincent Skerritt</h2>
<p>When I came to Preston, I was out of work for about three or four weeks, and I lived in Ribbleton Lane with a friend I got to know when I came here. Then I got a job at Leyland Motors.</p>
<p>Black people couldn’t get certain jobs. They couldn’t join the union and often it was much more physical work, like in the foundry, knocking iron and the engine blocks and the rest of it. I worked there for about ten months. It was purely nights, and I couldn’t handle the night work. Sometimes you would get up and wouldn’t know what day it was.</p>
<p>There used to be Teddy Boys here in Preston when I first arrived. Fortunately, I never experienced or got involved with them.</p>
<p>But there used to be a strategy with us. We would come to the Red Lion pub and drink the ale, but we also used to buy a bottle of Guinness and have a newspaper, and wrap it up nicely in it. So you walk in with a bottle knowing that if you’re attacked, you have something to defend yourself.</p>
<p>Some people used to have a little piece of iron metal, wrapped up nicely in a newspaper and you carry it under your arm. Fortunately, I never had to use it.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Glyne Greenidge</h2>
<p>I got to 17 and had to find work [in Preston]. My mum’s husband wasn’t a very nice man, and my mum suffered all the way. I’m the oldest of seven children, so my stepdad kind of forced me out to work as soon as he could.</p>
<p>It was mainly in the cotton mills – that was the main work going in those days. The money wasn’t good but the work was plentiful. You could walk the streets and see little firms here or there. You could go in and ask them if there were any jobs going.</p>
<p>I worked nights, mainly. And I met one of my best friends, an English lad called Kevin. He’s died now. He became my best friend. We went out to get a drink, and we were similar ages – maybe he was like a year older than me. That’s where I started getting some racist remarks, and it upset me. And my mate Kevin sat me down and said: “Don’t let that worry you. If you let that worry you, you’re going to have a hard life. Ignore it.”</p>
<p>He was my mentor, you could say. Maybe he didn’t realise it. We’d become such good friends that we used to sleep at each other’s houses. He would come to my mum’s house, and we would stay there. We worked nights together and we would have dinner with my mum and whatever. And I would stay sometimes at his mum’s house and sleep. His dad had died so it was just him and his mum.</p>
<p>We built up that relationship, you know? And that was fantastic. Best friend I ever had. They were Irish people, you see. He didn’t look down on anybody. He saw people as people. So he never used any racist remarks. In fact, he would defend me and help me out at times if I felt low and depressed.</p>
<p>Later, I was working with this fellow, he was a fitter. He came from the docks because Aerospace was taking on a lot of people at the time, and a lot came from the docks when they were shedding labour. And me and him got on okay – in fact, we were good friends.</p>
<p>But one day we were having a debate or discussion and this racism came up. I can’t remember now word for word, but I said to Frank: “But you aren’t a racist then, are you?” And he said: “Yes, I am.”</p>
<p>I was a bit taken aback about that. But then again, I never let that spoil our relationship because we were friends, you know.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Gladstone Afflick</h2>
<p>Preston is home – I’ve lived here since 1960. I left Jamaica on the July 28th and arrived in Preston on the 30th – a Sunday. To be honest, I’ve never, never thought of going anywhere else.</p>
<p>To me, Preston has come a heck of a long way since the sixties. Things have changed that much. As I said to one young guy in our Jalgos club only about a fortnight ago; he was shouting his mouth off and I said to him: “Don’t come in here and try to tell us what to do. You should be thinking how you are going to thank us for making it possible for you to walk and enter buildings in Preston [without fear of violence or abuse].”</p>
<p>There was about five pubs along Friargate, before the ring road. All them pubs along there, no black guys could go in them. One was called the Waterloo – that used to be the National Front headquarters. You could get into a fight seven days a week if you wanted, just by walking into town.</p>
<p>I’ve always done what I can for my community since I arrived in this country. For instance, we have the Jalgos Sports & Social Club – I was the person who dragged 11 fellows together to form a cricket team. And I dragged 11 guys together to found a football team, too.</p>
<p>When we started the football team, you’d be running and [opponents] would say: “Give the ball to the monkey because they don’t know what to do with it.” Those were statements made every Saturday. </p>
<p>But then, when they realised we were beating them, they stopped talking. You get the meaning? We were playing while they were talking, and they started trying to play but they couldn’t beat us. So in the long run … what did I call it? To overcome adversity. Yeah. We overcome it that way, by not arguing.</p>
<p>Jalgos is a community-based organisation – I am the chair of the club now. I say to people over and over, Jalgos is not only nationally known – we are internationally known. People in Jamaica know more about Jalgos than people in Preston.</p>
<p>I tried to unify, if that’s the correct word, the community. I said to them, irrespective of where you are from, first and foremost you are a West Indian. You can’t run away from that. You are a West Indian. Which island you come from is secondary. And if we think that way, I think we will achieve together what is desired by all.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Cherry McDonald</h2>
<p>Sometimes I wonder, if I didn’t travel to England, what would my life be in Jamaica? Strangely, I always refer to Jamaica as home. I mean, I’ve been living here all these years but Jamaica is home. I don’t want to be disrespectful, but Jamaica is home.</p>
<p>I’ve got a good life here, though. Whatever I’ve achieved in life, I’ve achieved here in Britain. And I enjoy my life – me and my television. And if there’s something happening at Jalgos and they need my assistance, I come and help.</p>
<p>I’m ticking along nicely. I go for long walks, tend to the pots, go to church on Sunday in Longton, and read my bible at home.</p>
<p>However, I think Jalgos started going down when they banned smoking indoors. If I was a smoker, I would not be going outside to smoke a cigarette – in winter, anyway. The younger ones want to smoke there, and they don’t want anybody saying: “You can’t do that in here.”</p>
<p>It’s a shame really with this club, because we’ve had many, many happy occasions downstairs, before upstairs was made. Down here we used to have a jolly, jolly good time. My parents used to visit here and we’d have a wonderful time. My first daughter was married down here.</p>
<p>It is a shame when I look at this building now. The younger ones are not following in our footsteps. So that’s the beginning and the end of it.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Bridgette Toussaint</h2>
<p>I didn’t want to go anywhere else but Preston. But sometimes, you have to know how to speak to the people here. When I speak nicely to them, they understand that this is a lady, she will respect me.</p>
<p>For example, in one job I did, a woman said to me: “Bridgette, I don’t understand, why did you leave your nice place and come here? Why do you have to come to steal our jobs?”</p>
<p>I said: “Steal your jobs? Because you’re lazy, that’s why they send for we black people to come to help to work. Because you’re lazy!”</p>
<p>Then she said: “Why don’t you go and dance with the monkeys in the zoo?”</p>
<p>And I said: “What? Where I come from, we’ve got cows, horses, donkeys, dogs – and snakes which are bad. So don’t you speak to me like that. If you are a white monkey, then go. There’s white monkeys – you can jump with them.”</p>
<p>Oh boy. Everybody said: “How dare she speak to you like that?” They were all for me and everybody was laughing at her, because she find herself to be stupid. I got up and said: “You can give but you cannot take, can you?”</p>
<p>But then she became my friend. That’s it. All you have to do is just calm down. She ended up being my best friend! Giving me a lot of things. I don’t really need it, but she was nice after.</p>
<p>Preston is not bad now. Not too good, but not bad. Where we are, we are happy. I would not go and retire to Dominica. I’ve got no reason.</p>
<hr>
<h2>David Coke</h2>
<p>I’ve been back to Jamaica 11 times, and I’ve never had a bad experience. But I won’t go back to live there, because I have become so acquainted with the lifestyle I have in England.</p>
<p>I came here at 12 years of age, and got married at 22. But even before I married, I’d always said to my wife that I wouldn’t go back to Jamaica. And I said to my daddy more than once, and I said it to mum too – I thank God they had the vision to take us from Jamaica to here.</p>
<p>I’ve had an excellent experience in Preston. Anywhere I go in the world, I’m always wanting to come back to Preston.</p>
<p>I like the discipline in this country. I like its organisation. And I’ve heard my father say the same thing as well: there’s no better country than England. Yes, America may be more modern and faster, and you can progress in life there much quicker than you can in England. It’s true: I’ve been there and I’ve seen the accomplishment over a short period of time.</p>
<p>But I like the discipline here. I love the organisation. I know if I’ve got an appointment at eight o’clock, it’s eight o’clock – not ten minutes past eight as it is in Jamaica. It’s not perfect here and there’s a lot of terrible things happening in government. But as bad as it is, it’s better than where I come from.</p>
<p>Yes the sunshine in Jamaica is lovely, the food is lovely, you can get up in the night and walk naked in your house and you’re not shivering. It’s comfortable – in fact, too hot. I love that when I go back there.</p>
<p>But for me, Britain, England, is my home. I have enjoyed the 60-odd years that I have been here very much. I have no complaints at all. I’ve been to Australia, I’ve been to Africa, to Canada, and to the United States. No, it’s always back to England and back to Preston for me.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=144&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=144&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=144&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=181&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=181&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=181&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>You can <em><a href="https://bit.ly/3DdOERY">download the e-book here</a></em>. Thank you for your interest.</p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206455/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Rice receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust, the EU and the AHRC, and is co-chair of Lancaster Black History Group. England is My Home: Windrush Lives in Lancashire is available as an illustrated ebook at prestonblackhistorygroup.org.uk</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack Hepworth does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Members of Preston’s Caribbean community describe their experiences as migrants arriving and putting down deep roots in this provincial town.Alan Rice, Professor in English and American Studies, University of Central LancashireJack Hepworth, Canon Murray Fellow in Irish History, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2057402023-05-22T11:34:41Z2023-05-22T11:34:41ZWith Haiti in chaos, Canada buries its head in the sand<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526909/original/file-20230517-23-z98m4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C492%2C6720%2C3973&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Police officers take cover during an anti-gang operation in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in April 2023, a day after a mob in the Haitian capital pulled 13 suspected gang members from police custody at a traffic stop, beat and burned them to death with gasoline-soaked tires. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>“Things are now at a breaking point. This crisis will not pass.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/12/1131572">So said Jean-Martin Bauer</a>, the Haiti director of the United Nations World Food Program, in December 2022.</p>
<p>He was correct. The situation in Haiti has been deteriorating badly over the past few months. <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article275437056.html#storylink=cpy">Hundreds of people have been killed across metropolitan Port-au-Prince</a> <a href="https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/haiti-gangs-organized-crime/">by armed gangs seeking to assert their authority</a>, while half of the Haitian population — approximately 4.7 million people — <a href="https://apnews.com/article/united-nations-port-au-prince-haiti-famine-humanitarian-assistance-191e47637939fb81a8454de5a69ff4ba">faces acute hunger.</a></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of toddlers play and rest on a blue and white mat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526910/original/file-20230517-23266-6wh0i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526910/original/file-20230517-23266-6wh0i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526910/original/file-20230517-23266-6wh0i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526910/original/file-20230517-23266-6wh0i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526910/original/file-20230517-23266-6wh0i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526910/original/file-20230517-23266-6wh0i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526910/original/file-20230517-23266-6wh0i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Malnourished young children rest and play in a malnutrition stabilization centre in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in January 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/haiti">The State Department in the United States has cited</a> “credible reports of unlawful or arbitrary killings; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by government agents…as well as…widespread civilian deaths or harm, enforced disappearances or abductions, torture, and physical abuse.” </p>
<p>Helen La Lime, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Haiti, <a href="https://caribbeannewsservice.com/haiti-police-riot-after-crime-gangs-kill-14-officers/">warned of kidnappings every six hours in 2022.</a> She said that without the deployment of an international specialized force, any progress in Haiti “will remain fragile and vulnerable to being reversed.”</p>
<p>UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently reaffirmed <a href="https://apnews.com/article/haiti-gangs-violence-rights-crisis-force-57f6850d22458eb5b30e2a82e86e9287">“the urgent need for the deployment of an international specialized armed force.”</a> </p>
<p>So where’s Canada?</p>
<h2>Abject poverty</h2>
<p>Haiti, a country of 11 million people, shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, where I spend my winters. From there I continue to have regular contact with Haitians who have fled their country. </p>
<p>Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/haiti/overview">Its estimated annual GDP per capita is US$1,829</a> compared to US$18,626 for the Dominican Republic. </p>
<p>In the mid-20th century, the economies of the two countries were comparable. Since that time, the Haitian economy shrank, partly due to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/08/16/1027990749/haiti-earthquake-why-deadly-explainer">external factors like earthquakes</a> but also ineffectual and corrupt leaders, notably dictators <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/terror-repression-and-diaspora-baby-doc-legacy-haiti/">Papa Doc Duvalier and “Baby Doc.”</a></p>
<p>There are widespread fears in Washington and among Haiti’s <a href="https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20230201/pm-pledges-help-haiti">Caribbean neighbours</a> that without external intervention, the social devastation in Haiti could destabilize the entire region and that its implosion will produce a flood of people seeking to escape repression, violence and unspeakable social misery. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman holding a baby stands in front of a shack made of rusted corrogated metal under bright sunlight." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526912/original/file-20230517-27752-42nqdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526912/original/file-20230517-27752-42nqdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526912/original/file-20230517-27752-42nqdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526912/original/file-20230517-27752-42nqdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526912/original/file-20230517-27752-42nqdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526912/original/file-20230517-27752-42nqdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526912/original/file-20230517-27752-42nqdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman poses for a photo outside her makeshift home built after gangs set her home on fire in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in April 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When it comes to the UN’s call for a specialized support force, <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/peacekeeping">Canada’s reputation as an impartial peacekeeper</a> makes it an obvious candidate. Canada has good relations with the countries in the region that are ready to support such a mission, <a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/gac-amc/publications/evaluation/2015/dev-eval-canada-haiti03.aspx?lang=eng">and its historical record of relations with Haiti</a> is mixed rather than mainly negative, like that of the U.S. and France.</p>
<p>During his visit to Ottawa in March, however, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/haiti-canada-biden-trudeau-1.6788656">U.S. President Joe Biden failed to persuade Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to send Canadian soldiers to Haiti</a>. </p>
<p>Instead, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-haiti-funding-gang-violence-1.6789606">Canada promised another $100 million in new aid and equipment for the Haitian National Police</a>, some of which <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/02/haiti-cops-outgunned-gangs">may end up in the hands of gangs</a>. </p>
<p>In late fall, <a href="https://tridentnewspaper.com/canada-deploys-two-kingston-class-ships-to-haiti/">Canada deployed two navy ships to patrol Haitian waters.</a> Georges Michel, a Haitian historian who helped write the nation’s 1987 constitution, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/21/canada-united-states-haiti-sanctions/">had this response</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“When Canada sent a plane and a boat to fight against the insecurity, the population laughed. We don’t have problems with the birds or the fish.” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Media antipathy</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, the Canadian media is largely ignoring the situation in Haiti. News outlets in Québec, with its large Haitian diaspora, pay a bit more attention, but typically turn to Haitian “experts” <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/opening-of-haiti-fuel-terminal-means-less-pressure-on-canada-to-intervene-experts-say">who rule out any proposed solutions that aren’t coming from Haitians themselves.</a></p>
<p>But any observer of what’s happening on the ground knows that solutions cannot come from within. The fact that interventions failed in the past is no excuse for inaction, but instead offers lessons on avoiding prior mistakes. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young boy wearing a fedora is carried by his father towards two RCMP officers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526914/original/file-20230517-29661-4y9scd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526914/original/file-20230517-29661-4y9scd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526914/original/file-20230517-29661-4y9scd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526914/original/file-20230517-29661-4y9scd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526914/original/file-20230517-29661-4y9scd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526914/original/file-20230517-29661-4y9scd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526914/original/file-20230517-29661-4y9scd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Haitian boy holds onto his father as they approach an irregular border crossing staffed by the RCMP, near Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Québec, in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This attitude reinforces the reluctance to consider taking on a dangerous mission. No one seems opposed <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/nato-canadian-troops-latvia-1.6417411">to more Canadian soldiers being sent to Latvia as the war in Ukraine rages on</a>, but support for taking on armed gangs in Port-au-Prince will have to be won. </p>
<h2>What needs to happen</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/latin-america-caribbean/haiti">A report in December 2022 by the International Crisis Group, a transnational, non-governmental organization</a>, sets out the challenges facing a military intervention in Haiti. It reads:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The collapsing Haitian state and the severity of the humanitarian emergency justify preparations for a mission…Its deployment should hinge on adequate planning to operate in urban areas and support from Haiti’s main political forces, including their firm commitment to work together in creating a legitimate transitional government.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Since the urban gangs are divided, such a force could enable life in gang-controlled areas to return to something closer to normal. But alternate institutions take time to build, meaning the gangs could return once the intervention is over. </p>
<p>There will need to be a simultaneous effort to liberate territory in regions close to the Dominican Republic where the gangs are relatively weak. That’s also where the task of rebuilding functioning political and economic institutions could be undertaken. </p>
<p>Short of an intervention, sooner or later the border situation with the Dominican Republic will explode.</p>
<p>When will Canada act?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205740/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henry Milner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The UN is calling for a specialized support force in Haiti, where urban gangs are terrorizing the population and people are starving. Why won’t Canada step up to help?Henry Milner, Research Fellow, Electoral Studies, Political Science, Université de MontréalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2030072023-04-16T07:19:07Z2023-04-16T07:19:07ZGhana’s fishing industry has a ‘golden seaweed’ problem - how citizen science can help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518702/original/file-20230331-26-htrwcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Western shores of Ghana are struggling with a seaweed influx</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Prosper Amihere</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/sargassum">Sargassum</a> is a genus of brown seaweed. Over <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/sargassum">300 species</a> are distributed across the world in both temperate and tropical climates. The species <em>fluitans</em> and <em>natans</em> are unique because they spend their life cycle floating on the ocean, never attaching to the sea floor. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299450775_The_protection_and_management_of_the_Sargasso_Sea_The_golden_floating_rainforest_of_the_Atlantic_Ocean_Summary_Science_and_Supporting_Evidence_Case">Other</a> seaweed species reproduce and begin life on the ocean floor .</p>
<p>Pelagic (open sea) sargassum has been <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299450775_The_protection_and_management_of_the_Sargasso_Sea_The_golden_floating_rainforest_of_the_Atlantic_Ocean_Summary_Science_and_Supporting_Evidence_Case">described</a> as the “golden rainforest of the ocean” because of the floating ecosystem it supports in the Sargasso Sea, in the western Atlantic Ocean. Pelagic sargassum also occurs naturally in the <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/umrsmas/bullmar/2004/00000074/00000001/art00007">Gulf of Mexico</a> and the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S002209811400121X?via%3Dihub">Caribbean</a>.</p>
<p>Floating sargassum first began arriving en masse on shores across the tropical Atlantic in 2011. Up to<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211926421000072"> 10,000 tonnes</a> arrived daily during a particularly severe peak season. Severe years since then include 2015, 2018 and 2022 – but every year there is a significant influx. In the Caribbean, there has been good progress in understanding the pelagic sargassum seaweed. We now <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10236-022-01511-1">have a better idea</a> of where it’s coming from: likely a new southern area of growth.</p>
<p>In 2009 the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308751900_Preliminary_investigation_into_the_chemical_composition_of_the_invasive_brown_seaweed_Sargassum_along_the_West_Coast_of_Ghana">first reports emerged</a> of pelagic sargassum sightings off the coast of Ghana. Densities have increased annually ever since. In early March 2023, large quantities have again arrived on the shores of the Western Region of the country. </p>
<p>Pelagic sargassum is beneficial in lots of ways. Marine species such as eels, white marlin and dolphin fish depend on it for spawning grounds in the Sargasso Sea. Commercial fish species including tuna depend on it for food.</p>
<p>But problems arise when large quantities are experienced near and on the shorelines of coastal communities. Algal and seaweed blooms are becoming more common in seas and oceans worldwide, both far offshore and nearshore. There is only <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/chapter/technical-summary/">limited evidence</a> of a link between pelagic sargassum blooms and climate change, but warming oceans do seem to be one cause of the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/chapter/summary-for-policymakers/">rise in other harmful algal blooms</a> in coastal areas.</p>
<p>The pelagic sargassum off Ghana’s coast is affecting communities’ ability to fish and use their beaches. </p>
<h2>Importance of fishing in Ghana</h2>
<p>More than <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308597X06000492">60% of Ghana’s citizens</a> live within 200km of the coast and 42% within 100km. The artisanal or small-scale fisheries sector <a href="https://www.fao.org/ghana/news/detail-events/en/c/1401751/">employs an estimated</a> 80% of the country’s fishers. </p>
<p>Around 2.4 million people, about 10% of the population, work in the fisheries sector. Small-scale fisheries contribute about <a href="https://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/gha178892.pdf">4.5% to Ghana’s gross domestic product (GDP)</a>. The coastal regions of the country are particularly dependent on fisheries for their livelihoods. </p>
<p>Marine fisheries are the primary source of income for more than <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23308249.2014.962687">200 coastal villages</a>, including about 200,000 fishers with approximately 2 million dependants .</p>
<h2>Impacts of pelagic sargassum on fishing communities</h2>
<p>In a recent <a href="https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-1861970/v1">study</a> we assessed the impact of pelagic sargassum on the livelihoods of fishers on Ghana’s coast. Through group discussions, surveys, field observations and photographs, we documented the experiences of fishers. Most (70%) of those we spoke to across three sites in the region – Sanzule, Beyin and Newtown – depended on fishing for their sustenance and livelihood. </p>
<p>The seaweed had significantly affected the livelihoods of fishing dependent communities in the western region. Pelagic sargassum had reduced their fish catch by getting tangled in nets. It made up most of the catch instead of fish. </p>
<p>Pelagic sargassum also inhibits fishing by:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>breaking nets and filling nets</p></li>
<li><p>clogging outboard motors on boats </p></li>
<li><p>creating seaweed mats that are impossible to navigate boats through</p></li>
<li><p>causing skin irritations </p></li>
<li><p>causing unbearable discomfort from the smell. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>These initial results highlight the urgency of finding ways to manage pelagic sargassum in western Africa. But to achieve this, we also need more data and an improved understanding of what is happening.</p>
<h2>Solutions</h2>
<p>To identify solutions, it is important to know what types of seaweed are arriving, their origins, uses and how to monitor them. It is possible that the answers are the same for west Africa as in the Caribbean. But this is an assumption. Very little is known about pelagic sargassum in West Africa.</p>
<p>What we do know, as scientists, is that answering some of these questions for places like Ghana might be even trickier than it was for the Caribbean. </p>
<p>Take <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.914501/full">forecasting and early warning</a>, for example. These processes rely on sufficient cloud-free satellite imagery in combination with an understanding of ocean processes and weather systems. That means detecting where the pelagic sargassum is at any given moment, in combination with ocean process models, to forecast where it will be later. </p>
<p>But west African coasts tend to have significant cloud cover. Methods that worked well in the Caribbean may not work in Ghana.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sartrac.org/news/exchanging-sargassum-knowledge-in-the-western-region-of-ghana-january-2023/">Recently</a>, a team from universities in Ghana, the UK and Jamaica came together to explore how ground-based photography might create a useful dataset to better understand the seasonality and volumes of pelagic sargassum arriving in Ghana, using citizen science methods. </p>
<p><a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/citizen-science/">Citizen science</a> recognises the important role that the public can play in research, and invites non-researchers to be part of data collection and analysis.</p>
<p>Citizen science is now applied worldwide for coastal monitoring but focuses almost exclusively on <a href="https://theconversation.com/rising-sea-levels-are-driving-faster-erosion-along-senegals-coast-182571">coastal erosion</a>. Coastal erosion work, such as the <a href="https://www.coastsnap.com/">CoastSnap platform</a>, documents how the physical structure of coastlines changes across days, months and years. The citizen science monitoring is achieved by installing a simple metal pole and some signage requesting that a passersby take a quick photo with their mobile phone and share it online or via an app. </p>
<p>In our <a href="https://www.sartrac.org/news/exchanging-sargassum-knowledge-in-the-western-region-of-ghana-january-2023/">work</a>, we have come together with schools and community members from Beyin, Esiama and Sanzule in the western region of Ghana to apply CoastSnap to study pelagic sargassum. Together, we have installed three of these metal monitoring posts. Teachers and community members are now photographing the impacts that the seaweed has on people’s lives when it arrives. </p>
<p>Gradually, we will learn more about pelagic sargassum impacts and adaptation options in west Africa.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203007/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Sien van der Plank was part of the SARTRAC project that received funding from UKRI ESRC GCRF ES/T002964/1 and the University of Southampton UKRI ESRC IAA.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kwasi Addo Appeaning was part of the SARTRAC project that received funding from UKRI ESRC GCRF ES/T002964/1 and the University of Southampton UKRI ESRC IAA.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip-Neri Jayson-Quashigah was part of the SARTRAC project that received funding from UKRI ESRC GCRF ES/T002964/1 and the University of Southampton UKRI ESRC IAA.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr. Winnie N. A. Sowah was part of the SARTRAC project that received funding from UKRI ESRC GCRF ES/T002964/1 and the University of Southampton UKRI ESRC IAA. </span></em></p>The seaweed invasion of parts of the Ghanaian shoreline is affecting coastal inhabitants.Sien van der Plank, Senior Research Fellow, University of SouthamptonKwasi Addo Appeaning, Lecturer in Marine and Fisheries Sciences, University of GhanaPhilip-Neri Jayson-Quashigah, Research Fellow, University of GhanaWinnie N. A. Sowah, Lecturer, Department of Marine and Fisheries Sciences, University of GhanaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2025702023-04-07T12:20:19Z2023-04-07T12:20:19ZThe Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt is carrying a massive bloom of brown seaweed toward Florida and the Caribbean<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519655/original/file-20230405-18-1qef2c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C4%2C2986%2C1989&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sargassum seaweed started washing up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in mid-March 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/beachgoers-walk-past-seaweed-that-washed-ashore-on-march-16-news-photo/1473976187">Joe Raedle/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>An unwelcome visitor is headed for Florida and the Caribbean: huge floating mats of <a href="https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/sargassum.html">sargassum</a>, or free-floating brown seaweed. Nearly every year since 2011, sargassum has inundated <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/environment/article_d23f12b6-8f21-11eb-9a26-d7b9068fcc1b.html">Caribbean</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/30/how-do-you-deal-with-9m-tonnes-of-suffocating-seaweed-aoe">Gulf of Mexico</a> and <a href="https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/local/indian-river-lagoon/2021/05/28/sargassum-seaweed-florida-beaches-10-things-know-algae-sargasso-sea-gulfweed-sea-holly/7428135002/">Florida</a> coastlines in warm months, peaking in June and July. This brown tide rots on the beach, <a href="https://www.costar.com/article/1897972322">driving away tourists</a>, harming local fishing industries and requiring costly cleanups. </p>
<p>According to scientists who monitor the formation of sargassum in the Atlantic Ocean, 2023 could produce the <a href="https://optics.marine.usf.edu/projects/SaWS/pdf/Sargassum_outlook_2023_bulletin3_USF.pdf?ftag=YHF4eb9d17">largest bloom ever recorded</a>. That’s bad news for destinations like Miami and Fort Lauderdale that will struggle to clean their shorelines. In 2022, Miami-Dade County spent US$6 million to clear sargassum from just <a href="https://www.union-bulletin.com/news/national/seaweed-mass-expands-reaches-record-tonnage-in-florida/article_172d44e9-44ea-58d9-bca9-f8087d92b3a2.html">four popular beaches</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519870/original/file-20230406-26-9shjs0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of the central Atlantic with colored pixels showing concentrations of sargassum." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519870/original/file-20230406-26-9shjs0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519870/original/file-20230406-26-9shjs0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519870/original/file-20230406-26-9shjs0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519870/original/file-20230406-26-9shjs0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519870/original/file-20230406-26-9shjs0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519870/original/file-20230406-26-9shjs0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519870/original/file-20230406-26-9shjs0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Satellite image of sargassum concentrations in the Atlantic during the month of March.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">USF/NOAA</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sargassum isn’t new on South Florida beaches, but its rapid increase over the past decade indicates that some new factor – likely related to human actions – is affecting when and how it forms. </p>
<p>In my work as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=0QZKY20AAAAJ&hl=en">coastal scientist</a>, I’ve watched these invasions become the new normal, choking beaches and turning clear blue waters golden brown. Along with other researchers, I’m trying to understand why sargassum has proliferated into this new sprawling bloom, how to deal with such massive amounts of it, and how affected countries can predict the severity of the next influx. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IrSL4t7uwyI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Sargassum has a valuable ecological role at sea, but on beaches it’s an expensive nuisance that threatens tourism.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A biological hot spot at sea</h2>
<p>Sargassum grows in the calm, clear waters of the <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/sargassosea.html">Sargasso Sea</a> – a 2 million-square-nautical-mile (5.2 million-square-kilometer) haven of biodiversity that lies east of Bermuda in the Atlantic Ocean. Rather than beaches, it’s bounded by <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/gyre.html">rotating ocean currents</a> that form the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519656/original/file-20230405-14-auosqo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of Atlantic Ocean currents forming a large gyre." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519656/original/file-20230405-14-auosqo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519656/original/file-20230405-14-auosqo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519656/original/file-20230405-14-auosqo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519656/original/file-20230405-14-auosqo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519656/original/file-20230405-14-auosqo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519656/original/file-20230405-14-auosqo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519656/original/file-20230405-14-auosqo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic is bounded by the Gulf Stream to the west, the North Atlantic Current to the north, the Canary Current to the east, and the North Equatorial Current to the south.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sargasso_Sea#/media/File:North_Atlantic_Gyre.png">Jack/Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the open ocean, islands of sargassum create a <a href="http://www.sargassoseacommission.org/sargasso-sea/about-the-sargasso-sea">rich ecosystem</a> that ocean explorer Sylvia Earle calls “<a href="https://www.bushcenter.org/catalyst/environment/bridgeland-earle-oceans.html">a golden floating rainforest</a>.” Suspended by round “berries” filled with gas, the seaweed offers food, sanctuary and breeding grounds for crabs, shrimp, whales, migratory birds and some 120 species of fish. Mats of it form the sole spawning grounds for European and American eels and habitat for some <a href="http://www.sargassoseacommission.org/storage/documents/Sargasso.Report.9.12.pdf">43 other threatened or endangered species</a>. </p>
<p>Sargassum also shelters sea turtle hatchlings and juvenile fish during their early life in the open ocean. <a href="http://www.sargassoseacommission.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=106">Ten endemic species</a> live nowhere else on Earth. The Sargasso is a valuable commercial fishery worth about <a href="https://www.sargassoseacommission.org/about-the-sargasso-sea">$100 million per year</a>.</p>
<p>But in recent years, large quantities of sargassum have drifted west, forming what researchers call the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt. As of late March 2023, the sargassum belt was about <a href="https://optics.marine.usf.edu/projects/SaWS.html">5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) long and 300 miles (500 miles) wide</a> </p>
<p>The belt is actually a collection of island-like masses that can stretch for miles. It doesn’t uniformly cover beaches when it washes up: Some areas can be relatively clear or only mildly affected. But the overall mass this year is overwhelming. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1643418018251145216"}"></div></p>
<h2>What’s fertilizing huge blooms?</h2>
<p>What can plausibly explain the sudden increase in this floating seaweed since 2011 – the first time that large aggregations of sargassum were detected from space? While climate change is warming ocean waters, and sargassum grows faster in warmer water, I believe it’s more plausible that the cause is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-amazon-land-grab-how-brazils-government-is-clearing-the-way-for-deforestation-173416">drastic increase in agricultural activity</a> in the Brazilian Amazon. </p>
<p>Scientists have shown that huge brown tides that were observed in the Gulf of Mexico in 2005 and 2011 were linked to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12860">nutrients carried down the Mississippi River</a>. Now, intensive cattle ranching and soybean farming in the Amazon basin are sending <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/environment/amazon-destruction-linked-to-the-largest-belt-of-algae-on-the-planet/article_8f73ac64-8916-11eb-8ca1-2b9612ea17ff.html">rising levels of nitrogen and phosphorus</a> into the Atlantic Ocean via the Amazon and Orinoco rivers. These nutrients are key ingredients in fertilizer, and also are present in animal manure.</p>
<p>Another major source of nutrients is dust clouds from the Sahara, which can stretch for thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean, carried by trade winds. These clouds contain iron, nitrogen and phosphorus from dust storms in Saharan Africa and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23135-7">biomass burning in central and southern Africa</a>. As they blow across the Atlantic, they help fertilize seaweed. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519658/original/file-20230405-22-vmxxs0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of the globe with brown plumes blowing west from northern Africa." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519658/original/file-20230405-22-vmxxs0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519658/original/file-20230405-22-vmxxs0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519658/original/file-20230405-22-vmxxs0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519658/original/file-20230405-22-vmxxs0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519658/original/file-20230405-22-vmxxs0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519658/original/file-20230405-22-vmxxs0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519658/original/file-20230405-22-vmxxs0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This map shows dust from a series of Saharan storms crossing the Atlantic on June 28, 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/92000/92358/dust_geo_2018179_lrg.png">NASA Earth Observatory</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A threat to sea life</h2>
<p>Along with its devastating effects on recreational beaches in the Caribbean and South Florida, sargassum has important but less visible ecological impacts near the coast. Large floating mats of sargassum block sunlight, which is essential for the survival of underwater grasses. These grasses stabilize the seafloor and provide food and shelter for many species of fish and invertebrates and for Florida’s endangered manatees.</p>
<p>Coral reefs also require sunlight and clean water to survive. Reefs in Florida and the Caribbean are under <a href="https://www.epa.gov/coral-reefs/americas-coral-reefs">many other stresses</a>, including ocean warming and coral bleaching, so they are already highly vulnerable.</p>
<p>Thick masses of sargassum on beaches can make it difficult or impossible for <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/sea-turtles">endangered sea turtles</a> to dig nests and lay eggs on beaches. Spring and summer, when sargassum accumulates, are prime sea turtle nesting seasons. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519661/original/file-20230405-24-ch63cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A manatee grazes on underwater grasses." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519661/original/file-20230405-24-ch63cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519661/original/file-20230405-24-ch63cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519661/original/file-20230405-24-ch63cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519661/original/file-20230405-24-ch63cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519661/original/file-20230405-24-ch63cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519661/original/file-20230405-24-ch63cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519661/original/file-20230405-24-ch63cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A manatee feeding on seagrass in Homosassa, Fla. Starvation due to loss of seagrass beds has been a primary cause of manatee deaths in Florida in recent years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/manatee-swims-in-the-homosassa-river-on-october-05-2021-in-news-photo/1345029768">Joe Raedle/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Taming the sargassum monster</h2>
<p>Researchers across the Caribbean are working to find productive uses for these enormous quantities of organic material that float ashore. In South Florida, communities mainly use the seaweed as mulch, but this requires thoroughly washing it to remove the salt, either naturally via rainfall or by spraying it with fresh water. Recycling sargassum into fertilizer for use on crops is problematic because it often contains toxic heavy metals such as arsenic and cadmium.</p>
<p>Sargassum has become a recurring seaweed monster, but humanity is the real villain. Until nations find ways to reduce large-scale nutrient pollution, I expect that huge sargassum blooms will be a recurring presence in Florida and the Caribbean. </p>
<p><em>This is an update of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-driving-the-huge-blooms-of-brown-seaweed-piling-up-on-florida-and-caribbean-beaches-163058">article</a> published Aug. 2, 2021.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202570/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen P. Leatherman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Scientists are predicting a record sargassum bloom in 2023. It’s already starting to wash up on beaches in Florida and the Caribbean and cause a stink.Stephen P. Leatherman, Professor of Coastal Science, Florida International UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2000542023-03-16T20:10:24Z2023-03-16T20:10:24ZUncovering the violent history of the Canadian sugar industry<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514332/original/file-20230308-20-sn5ci6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=130%2C8%2C2784%2C1818&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">By reflecting on sugar's origins, we can trace the pathways that have made this commodity so abundant.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/uncovering-the-violent-history-of-the-canadian-sugar-industry" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Sugar, we are often told, is bad for us. According to <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/the-sweet-danger-of-sugar">recent health advice</a>, adults should restrict their sugar intake to between six and nine teaspoons daily. But what is more upsetting about sugar is its atrocious history. </p>
<p>Western Europe’s <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/322123/sweetness-and-power-by-sidney-w-mintz/">appetite for “sweetness</a>” helped fuel the horrific transatlantic trade of enslaved peoples, in which at least 15 million enslaved people from Africa were forced to work on <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469663685/capitalism-and-slavery-third-edition/">plantations in the Americas</a>. To this day, working conditions in sugar <a href="https://theconversation.com/child-labour-poverty-and-terrible-working-conditions-lie-behind-the-sugar-you-eat-95242">are among the world’s worst</a>.</p>
<p>Given its heinous human rights record, the question becomes: why do we continue to eat sugar? The answer is complicated. Crucial, however, are <a href="https://sugar.ca/international-trade/canadian-sugar-market/value-of-sugar-to-the-canadian-economy">the significant profits that sugar represents</a>, together with the low prices that sugar commands. </p>
<h2>History of sugar</h2>
<p>For nearly five centuries, European planters made dizzying fortunes in sugar, made possible by <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469663685/capitalism-and-slavery-third-edition/">enslaving workers in colonized lands</a>. Sugar became so integral to European profiteering that it started <a href="https://doi.org/10.7312/beck18524-016">being produced on a global scale</a>. Canadian investors, too, have reaped massive sugar profits.</p>
<p>During the 1700s and 1800s, most Europeans, in what is now Canada, were implicated in the transatlantic sugar and slave trades. Not only did many consume the fruits of the enslaved sugar industry — including molasses and rum, in addition to sugar, <a href="https://cha-shc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/The-Enslavement-of-Africans-in-Canada.pdf">as historian Afua Cooper writes</a> — but some also invested in Caribbean trade, itself powered by enslaved sugar work. </p>
<p>Several Canadian banks — including the Imperial Bank of Commerce and the Bank of Nova Scotia (now known as Scotiabank) — have their origins in the West Indies, where their forerunners <a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/07990537-2642737">established themselves early in the 19th century</a>. According to Cooper, the Bank of Nova Scotia exists “in the shadow of West Indian slavery.”</p>
<p>Western Canadians have also profited from unfree sugar labour. The famed western Canadian brand, Rogers Sugar, was established by American Benjamin Tingley Rogers who moved to Canada in 1889. Having grown up in the sugar industry, <a href="http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio.php?id_nbr=7676">Rogers had both sugar connections and expertise</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white photo of old factory bulidings" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514551/original/file-20230309-2232-l3hp15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514551/original/file-20230309-2232-l3hp15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514551/original/file-20230309-2232-l3hp15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514551/original/file-20230309-2232-l3hp15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514551/original/file-20230309-2232-l3hp15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514551/original/file-20230309-2232-l3hp15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514551/original/file-20230309-2232-l3hp15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Original B.C. Sugar refinery buildings in Vancouver in 1892.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(City of Vancouver Archives)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Building <a href="https://blogs.ubc.ca/buildingempire/2021/02/21/rogers-sugar-vancouver-1981/">a refinery in Vancouver</a>, a city newly constructed on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, Rogers created a western Canadian sugar empire — one that sourced raw sugar cane through the Pacific, refined it in British Columbia and sold it throughout the Canadian West. </p>
<p>Railway magnate <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sir-william-cornelius-van-horne">William Cornelius Van Horne</a>, together with noted investors such as <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/richard-bladworth-angus">Richard Bladworth Angus</a>, Edmund Boyd Osler and <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/donald-alexander-smith-1st-baron-strathcona-and-mount-royal">Donald Alexander Smith</a>, were among the ventures’ early shareholders. By the time of his death in 1918, <a href="http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio.php?id_nbr=7676">Rogers had become “quite wealthy</a>.”</p>
<p>Now owned by Lantic Inc., <a href="https://www.lanticrogers.com">Rogers Sugar remains a recognized Canadian brand</a>. Less well known, though, is Rogers Sugar’s violent past.</p>
<h2>Sugar plantations</h2>
<p>To make the refined sugar that is so familiar to Canadians today, B.C. Sugar (the name of the company that owned Rogers Sugar) sourced both beet and cane sugars. Canadian beet sugar has its own atrocious labour history, as <a href="https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/thesescanada/vol2/002/NR33801.PDF?is_thesis=1&oclc_number=530949579">University of Saskatchewan professor Ron Laliberté</a>, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/canadian-journal-of-law-and-society-la-revue-canadienne-droit-et-societe/article/abs/cartographies-of-violence-women-memory-and-the-subjects-of-the-internment/F291FCC6A7EC2F460E89E7C3CE07E610">York University professor Mona Oikawa</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0829320100006360">other experts</a> have demonstrated. </p>
<p>Refined predominantly in Vancouver, Rogers Sugar was made mostly from raw cane sugar. Since sugar cane cannot grow in Canada, <a href="https://worldcat.org/en/title/20094617">B.C. Sugar sourced internationally</a> from places including Mauritius, Java, Peru, Hawaii, Cuba, Fiji and the Dominican Republic. </p>
<p>B.C. Sugar also ventured into sugar cane plantation ownership: in Fiji between 1905 and 1922, and in the Dominican Republic between 1944 and 1955. Notably, it purchased the latter from the Bank of Nova Scotia.</p>
<p>In both cases, workers reported horrendous conditions. The pay was so low and the work was so menial in the Dominican Republic that, as historian Catherine C. Legrand points out, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/00182168-75.4.555">workers left the plantation whenever they could</a>.</p>
<p>In Fiji between 1905 and 1920, B.C. Sugar employed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/001946468502200103">indentured workers from India</a> who migrated to the colony on five-year contracts. As on other Fiji plantations, workers were subject to numerous atrocities and treated in ways similar to how enslaved and indentured people <a href="https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/chalo-jahaji">were treated on plantations globally</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black and white photo of rows of tram cars full of sugar cane. In the distance a factory building can be seen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514535/original/file-20230309-305-61e1pd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514535/original/file-20230309-305-61e1pd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514535/original/file-20230309-305-61e1pd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514535/original/file-20230309-305-61e1pd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514535/original/file-20230309-305-61e1pd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514535/original/file-20230309-305-61e1pd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514535/original/file-20230309-305-61e1pd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sugar cane cars lined up in front of a cane factory in Fiji in the early 20th century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(City of Vancouver Archives)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Forced into hard physical labour with little time for sleep, indentured workers at B.C. Sugar’s Fiji plantation endured sickness, confinement, hunger, abuse, injuries, whippings, beatings and more, all for below subsistence pay and the <a href="http://girmit.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/vnaidu_violence_preface.pdf">eventual chance to move out of indentured work</a>. </p>
<p>Conditions were so dire that some workers <a href="https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p212781/pdf/16.-Death-On-Fiji-Plantations-1900-1909-Nicole-Duncan.pdf">tragically perished in B.C. Sugar’s cane fields</a>. When Fiji de-criminalized the desertion of indenture contracts in 1916, it is little wonder that hundreds of workers left the colony’s sugar plantations. These <a href="https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/132695/1/PRM_05.pdf">included plantations operated by B.C. Sugar</a>.</p>
<h2>Understanding Canadian history</h2>
<p>Refined sugar is now so common it is difficult to imagine life without it. But, by reflecting on its origins, we can trace the pathways that have made this commodity so abundant. Canadian sugar was built upon violence, including upon enslaved and indentured labour. </p>
<p>By building upon <a href="https://teaching.usask.ca/indigenoussk/import/grab-a-hoe_indians.php">existing research</a> into <a href="https://doi.org/10.24908/ss.v7i1.3305">Canadian</a> <a href="https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/llt/1978-v3-llt_3/llt3art05.pdf">sugar</a>, and by continuing to probe <a href="https://worldcat.org/title/281643610">Canadian sugar companies’ local</a> and <a href="https://worldcat.org/en/title/988075349">global</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00223349508572786">histories</a>, we can gain a clearer picture of how sugar became central to the Canadian diet. </p>
<p>And we can also work toward greater recognition for those who have laboured in the local and global Canadian sugar industry.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200054/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donica Belisle currently holds an Insight Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for the project, "Canadian Sugar: A Local and Global History."</span></em></p>By reflecting on the violent origins of the Canadian sugar industry, we can bring wider attention to the exploitation underpinning the history of Canadian cuisine.Donica Belisle, Professor of History, University of ReginaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1996372023-02-10T17:01:52Z2023-02-10T17:01:52ZBahamas songbird is under threat of extinction – but preserving old pine forests will help save it<p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahama_warbler">Bahama warbler</a>, a small songbird found exclusively on Grand Bahama and Abaco, two islands in the north-east <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucayan_Archipelago#/media/File:Map_of_the_Caribbean-Lucayan_Archipelago.png">Bahama archipelago</a> only “became” a species in 2010. But due to its <a href="https://academic.oup.com/auk/article/127/4/932/5148703">limited range</a> and increasingly <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/John-Lloyd-15/publication/228394066_Taxonomy_and_population_size_of_the_Bahama_Nuthatch/links/0912f50d45df51b40d000000/Taxonomy-and-population-size-of-the-Bahama-Nuthatch.pdf">fragmented habitat</a>, the warbler was immediately treated as a species of conservation concern.</p>
<p>In 2016, these islands were devastated by a category five storm called <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL142016_Matthew.pdf">Hurricane Matthew</a>. Storms of this strength pose a serious threat to the Bahamas’s unique <a href="https://theconversation.com/hurricane-dorian-was-also-a-catastrophe-for-the-bahamas-unique-birds-123493">birdlife</a>. So as conservation biologists, we wanted to determine how well the warbler had fared.</p>
<p>In 2018, our University of East Anglia Masters’ students, David Pereira and Matthew Gardner, spent three months <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bird-conservation-international/article/abs/distribution-and-habitat-requirements-of-the-bahama-warbler-setophaga-flavescens-on-grand-bahama-in-2018/2068B09FA0293A394DCF7A80F2F04376">researching</a> birds on Grand Bahama island. They chose Grand Bahama because this island was the sole home of another newly recognised species, the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/William-Hayes-9/publication/238112811_Grand_Bahama's_Brown-headed_Nuthatch_A_Distinct_and_Endangered_Species/links/02e7e52c27788d6b43000000/Grand-Bahamas-Brown-headed-Nuthatch-A-Distinct-and-Endangered-Species.pdf">Bahama nuthatch</a>. Both species are tied closely to the native Caribbean pine forests that cover (or covered) the islands.</p>
<p>Matthew and David played a recording of the nuthatch’s call in order to attract and observe it. They covered all of the island this way and measured habitats everywhere to work out what particular characteristics are preferred by the two species. The fieldwork went well for the warbler, but much less so for the nuthatch. </p>
<h2>Preferred habitat</h2>
<p>The Lucayan estates, an area in the middle of the island where there are the most remaining pine trees, proved to be the best place for both birds. They recorded 233 warblers there and 94 further east. But at the island’s west and east extremities, where the pines were smallest and their condition poor, they found none. They only recorded a nuthatch on six separate occasions.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509424/original/file-20230210-14-kicqoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Grand Bahama's pine forests." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509424/original/file-20230210-14-kicqoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509424/original/file-20230210-14-kicqoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509424/original/file-20230210-14-kicqoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509424/original/file-20230210-14-kicqoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509424/original/file-20230210-14-kicqoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509424/original/file-20230210-14-kicqoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509424/original/file-20230210-14-kicqoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Daniel Pereira carrying out fieldwork in Grand Bahama’s pine forests.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew Gardner</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On analysing their data, Matthew and David found that the warbler was most likely to be encountered in areas of forest where fewer pines had lost their needles. Pine trees losing their needles is a sign of environmental stress and is induced by wind damage and saltwater penetration. The warbler also lived where <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrinax_radiata">thatch palms</a>, a small tree but the largest beneath the forest canopy, were taller.</p>
<p>The warbler forages among pine needles, on thatch palms, and also on tree bark. So naturally, bigger pines and palms will have larger areas in which the species can forage.</p>
<p>Areas that had suffered a degree of burning were also favoured by the Bahama warbler. Pinewoods in the Americas tend to burn every few years. This often occurs when lightning strikes following a period of drought.</p>
<p>Yet these fires are usually “cool”, meaning they affect tree bark and surrounding undergrowth, but rarely the canopy. The larger pine trees and thatch palms survive these fires well.</p>
<p>Bark that has been damaged by fire cracks and lifts. This offers a niche habitat for insects to hide in and breed, meaning there are probably more insects per foraging patch in these areas than elsewhere on the island. This is how David explains the warbler’s use of areas where fires have created such conditions.</p>
<h2>Species under threat</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A satellite image of a large hurricane in the Caribbean Sea" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509410/original/file-20230210-27-rcvo7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509410/original/file-20230210-27-rcvo7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509410/original/file-20230210-27-rcvo7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509410/original/file-20230210-27-rcvo7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509410/original/file-20230210-27-rcvo7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509410/original/file-20230210-27-rcvo7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509410/original/file-20230210-27-rcvo7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hurricane Dorian in the Caribbean Sea on its way to US mainland in August 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hurricane-dorian-carribean-sea-on-way-1492317566">lavizzara/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But a year after the survey, another category five storm completely obliterated Grand Bahama’s forests with winds of up to 185 mph. This storm, called <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL052019_Dorian.pdf">Hurricane Dorian</a>, was one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to make landfall on the Bahama’s and inflicted <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/11/16/damaged-caused-by-hurricane-dorian-totals-3-4b-in-the-bahamas/">US$3.4 (£2.8) billion</a> in damage.</p>
<p>Since the hurricane, there have been no reports of Bahama warblers or nuthatch on Grand Bahama. The <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2215361-hurricane-dorian-may-have-made-a-species-of-bird-go-extinct/">Bahama nuthatch</a> may now be extinct. But birders have more recently reported sightings of the warbler on the neighbouring island of Abaco. We predict that the warbler now only survives there.</p>
<p>Our research may help to conserve the remaining Bahama warbler populations on Abaco. Ensuring habitats include large old pines and tall thatch palms, preferably managed for fire, will be crucial to ensuring the species’ survival.</p>
<p>But climate models show that global warming is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34321-6">increasing</a> hurricane frequency and raising the probability that tropical storms grow into intense, damaging hurricanes in just a few hours. Other <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo779">research</a>, carried out in 2010, indicates that tropical storms may become stronger and 2–11% more intense by 2100.</p>
<p>Abaco’s pine forest habitats could be affected by these more intense hurricanes in the future. Surveying the Abaco population of Bahama Warblers is now a matter of urgency to determine the species’ status on the island.</p>
<p>What this sad episode tells us is that conservationists will have to move warblers to other pine islands to establish reserve populations in case the next hurricane makes landfall on Abaco. This has saved other island bird species in the past.</p>
<p>In 2011, 59 <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David-Wright-60/publication/264309452_Translocation_of_the_Seychelles_warbler_Acrocephalus_sechellensis_to_establish_a_new_population_on_Denis_Island_Seychelles/links/53d7d7da0cf2631430bfc5b6/Translocation-of-the-Seychelles-warbler-Acrocephalus-sechellensis-to-establish-a-new-population-on-Denis-Island-Seychelles.pdf">Seychelles warblers</a> were captured on Cousin Island and released on Frégate Island. By 2013, the population of the Seychelles warbler on Frégate had increased to 80 individuals including 38 of the original birds. However, this method is expensive as it must be determined whether the new region is a suitable host for the new species and would require significant funding and support in the Bahamas.</p>
<p>But time must not be wasted as the threat of extinction to the Bahama Warbler grows with each passing hurricane season. We must now try to secure the most threatened species from extinction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199637/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Bahama warbler favours large pine trees and palms, fieldwork shows.Diana Bell, Professor of Conservation Biology, University of East AngliaNigel Collar, Honorary Professor of Biological Sciences, University of East AngliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1955472022-12-08T13:33:58Z2022-12-08T13:33:58ZChina’s Belt and Road infrastructure projects could help or hurt oceans and coasts worldwide<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499597/original/file-20221207-4529-5h8xps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C0%2C4913%2C3155&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Construction in the Chinese-financed Port City complex in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Oct. 19, 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/general-view-of-a-chinese-funded-project-for-the-port-city-news-photo/1244077947">Pradeep Dambarage/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Ocean-fact-sheet-package.pdf">one-third</a> of all people in the world live in cities, towns and villages on coasts. They rely on healthy oceans for many things, including food, income, a stable climate and ready connections to nature. </p>
<p>But as coastal populations <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118571">continue to grow</a>, governments are under increasing pressure to ramp up development for transportation, power generation and economic growth. Projects like these can have heavy impacts on lands, waters and wildlife.</p>
<p>World leaders are gathering in Montreal this week for the long-awaited <a href="https://www.cbd.int/conferences/2021-2022">Conference of Parties</a> to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, or COP15. This treaty, which was adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, is designed to protect biodiversity – the variety of life on Earth, from genes to entire ecosystems. </p>
<p>At the two-week conference, nations are expected to officially adopt the <a href="https://www.cbd.int/doc/c/abb5/591f/2e46096d3f0330b08ce87a45/wg2020-03-03-en.pdf">Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework</a>, which will guide global conservation efforts over the next decade. China is this year’s COP president and chair, which will spotlight its own impacts on the environment.</p>
<p>We study <a href="https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=tAYhLjUAAAAJ&hl=en">natural resource management</a> and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Rebecca-Ray-2135726495">global development</a>, and have analyzed how China’s support for development around the world is affecting <a href="https://theconversation.com/china-is-financing-infrastructure-projects-around-the-world-many-could-harm-nature-and-indigenous-communities-168060">nature and Indigenous communities</a>. In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2022.11.002">newly published study</a>, we explore the risks that China’s development finance projects pose to coastal and marine ecosystems, and to Indigenous communities that depend on healthy oceans. </p>
<p>We find that the risks are low in some places but high in others, particularly West Africa and the Caribbean. As China presides over global conservation talks, we believe it is important to look at China’s own potential impacts on biodiversity through its lending for global development.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1008726099076046848"}"></div></p>
<h2>Belt and Road brings benefit and harm</h2>
<p>In 2013, China’s president, Xi Jinping, launched the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/ng-interactive/2018/jul/30/what-china-belt-road-initiative-silk-road-explainer">Belt and Road Initiative</a>, China’s ambitious push to coordinate hundreds of billions of dollars in finance, investment and trade to better connect its economic partners. </p>
<p>Today, China is the world’s <a href="https://www.bu.edu/gdp/2021/09/20/geolocated-dataset-of-chinese-overseas-development-finance/">largest bilateral creditor</a>. Since 2008, it has lent nearly half a trillion dollars to finance more than 800 overseas development projects. Its highlights include networks of roads, railways, ports and power plants across Latin America, Africa and Asia. Argentina’s massive <a href="https://chinadialogue.net/en/energy/11117-china-builds-latin-america-s-largest-solar-plant/">Cauchari solar farm</a>, Kenya’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/kenya-standard-gauge-railway-contracts-what-released-documents-say-and-what-they-dont-194354">single-gauge railway</a>, and the Central Asia-China <a href="https://multimedia.scmp.com/news/china/article/One-Belt-One-Road/gasPipeline.html">pipeline</a>, which is designed to carry natural gas from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan into China, are examples. </p>
<p>Belt and Road projects are intended to help emerging economies grow, but they also can have negative impacts – including environmental damage that hurts local communities or livelihoods. In Mauritania, for example, a Chinese-financed port brought a fishing deal with a Chinese fishing fleet. The fleet <a href="https://reuters.screenocean.com/record/609279">out-competed</a> traditional small-scale fishermen, <a href="https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-china-fishing-deal-disaster-in-mauritania">raising alarm</a> amid allegations of <a href="https://www.asso-sherpa.org/mauritania-china-fisheries-agreement-civil-society-appeals-eu-mauritanian-government">unsustainable overfishing</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_JJSImnF03o?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">China has built 11 hydropower dams on Asia’s Mekong River as part of its Belt and Road Initiative. Critics say the dams are altering river flow and reducing fish catches.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Mapping risks to biodiversity and people</h2>
<p>To analyze how the Belt and Road Initiative could affect oceans and coasts, we located 114 development projects across 39 low- and middle-income countries financed by China’s two most active development finance institutions – China Development Bank and Export-Import Bank of China. Collectively, these loans constitute nearly US$65 billion in financing commitments from Chinese development lenders between 2008 and 2019. The projects include many different types of coastal infrastructure, such as ports, roads, bridges, power plants and airports.</p>
<p>Different types of infrastructure projects pose varying risks to marine habitats and species. Ports create the most serious threats, including habitat destruction, pollution and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14634988.2015.1027129">spread of invasive species</a> from ships that pass through.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499605/original/file-20221207-11795-dex00z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two men wearing masks bump elbows on a pier" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499605/original/file-20221207-11795-dex00z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499605/original/file-20221207-11795-dex00z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499605/original/file-20221207-11795-dex00z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499605/original/file-20221207-11795-dex00z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499605/original/file-20221207-11795-dex00z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499605/original/file-20221207-11795-dex00z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499605/original/file-20221207-11795-dex00z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, left, greets China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi during an inspection tour of the New Kipevu Oil Terminal at Mombasa Port on Jan. 6, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/kenyan-president-uhuru-kenyatta-greets-chinas-foreign-news-photo/1237565793">AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bridges, roads, power plants and other facilities also threaten nearby coastal waters. These projects can stress aquatic species and habitats with bright lights, loud noises or vibrations, and discharges of toxic heavy metals from <a href="https://www3.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/nps_urban-facts_final.pdf">urban runoff</a>. These risks are mostly concentrated in small areas around development sites.</p>
<p>In total, we identified 324 <a href="https://www.iucn.org/resources/conservation-tool/iucn-red-list-threatened-species">threatened species</a> of fish, marine mammals, marine reptiles, sea birds and sharks and rays that could be affected by Chinese coastal development projects. The size of the risk depends on exposure levels and different species’ vulnerabilities. For example, power lines present low risk to marine habitats – but if they are accompanied by bright lights, they threaten sea birds, which are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1890/130281">highly sensitive to light pollution</a>. </p>
<p>Overall, we found that Africa and the Caribbean constitute the greatest risk hot spots. Countries with the largest expanses of territorial waters at risk include Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Cameroon, Mozambique and Sri Lanka. </p>
<p>We estimate that risks may encroach upon important seas for at least 55 coastal Indigenous communities around the world, particularly in Western and Central Africa. For example, marine habitats adjacent to several Indigenous communities in Ivory Coast that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0166681">consume more than 1,000 tons of seafood yearly</a> face relatively high risks from nearby development projects.</p>
<h2>Sustainable ‘blue’ development</h2>
<p>Experts widely agree that the Earth is <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/news/spotlight-nature-and-biodiversity">losing species at an alarming rate</a> and that habitat loss and pollution from development are major drivers of this decline. If China is serious about <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-china-ready-to-lead-on-protecting-nature-at-the-upcoming-un-biodiversity-conference-it-will-preside-and-set-the-tone-193681">taking a leadership role in conservation efforts</a>, we believe the Belt and Road Initiative is the place to start.</p>
<p>Sustainable development will define the future of society and the environment, but planning models often struggle to address how development on land <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13331">affects the oceans</a>. The United Nations aims to bridge this gap by changing humans’ relationship with the ocean during what it has designated the <a href="https://www.oceandecade.org/">Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development</a>. And we see reason for hope.</p>
<p>Our study shows that many development risks to coastal and marine ecosystems could be tackled at the local level if communities and governments work to prioritize their own development and investment needs and scrutinize how proposed projects will affect the environment. Even seemingly small changes in the siting of ports, coastal highways and other projects can protect ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499608/original/file-20221207-16-1mfs67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Mangrove trees with roots extending into tropical seawater" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499608/original/file-20221207-16-1mfs67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499608/original/file-20221207-16-1mfs67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499608/original/file-20221207-16-1mfs67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499608/original/file-20221207-16-1mfs67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499608/original/file-20221207-16-1mfs67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499608/original/file-20221207-16-1mfs67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499608/original/file-20221207-16-1mfs67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mangrove forests like this one in the Bahamas provide natural protection against tropical storms and flooding, but they often are destroyed for development projects.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/SZHorA">Sterling College/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>China is starting to address some of these concerns. In 2021, its Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Ecology and Environment <a href="http://en.brigc.net/Media_Center/BRI_Green_Review/2021/202107/P020210729465376906569.pdf">issued joint guidance</a> urging Chinese investors and lenders to take a “whole lifecycle” approach to project management, beginning with early considerations such as where to site a project. </p>
<p>In 2022, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission instructed lenders to <a href="http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2022-06/03/content_5693849.htm">develop complaint mechanisms</a> for addressing local environmental concerns and minimizing environmental risks. An important test will come in the next few years, as the World Trade Organization will begin <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/wto-finally-nets-deal-curbing-fisheries-subsidies-but-tables-key-bits-for-later/">negotiating</a> specific rules to curb overfishing. If China <a href="https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news22_e/fish_23nov22_e.htm">shows leadership</a> on this issue through transparency and knowledge sharing, it can limit environmental and economic damage from the development of future ports in countries like Mauritania. </p>
<p>As COP15 spotlights global biodiversity, we believe it is important to note that even the world’s largest bilateral creditor needs the cooperation of local governments in order to get projects approved and built. In our view, transparency and public participation can help make global investment both green and blue.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195547/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Ray received funding for this work from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Climate and Land Use Alliance, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Blake Alexander Simmons does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>China’s international lending projects have big potential impacts on oceans and coasts. By cooperating more closely with host countries, Beijing can make those projects more sustainable.Blake Alexander Simmons, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State UniversityRebecca Ray, Senior Academic Researcher in Global Development Policy, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1912412022-10-18T16:50:57Z2022-10-18T16:50:57ZUS needs to rebuild Latin American alliances as Russia grows global pro-war power base<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489790/original/file-20221014-26-ard7xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A closer alliance between the US and Latin America could bring political and economic benefits for both.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">SERGIO V S RANGEL/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As Russia builds a <a href="https://theconversation.com/russia-is-building-a-closer-alliance-with-the-worlds-autocracies-the-west-should-beware-190708">closer alliance with China, Iran and North Korea</a>, a new alliance in the western hemisphere seems overdue. The US, however, faces a two-pronged challenge: how to balance first Russia in Europe, and second, China in Latin America and the Caribbean. </p>
<p>The US should be <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/biden-targets-latin-america-reset-summit-marred-by-invite-tension-2022-06-05/">looking at alliances</a> with its near neighbours in Latin America, a region with which it has a long and rocky relationship. </p>
<p>Bolstering its relationships with key nations such as Mexico, Brazil and Argentina would also provide some healthy competition for China and additional regional investment, but because of its history the US needs to tread carefully. US president Joe Biden has indicated he wants to pursue a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/biden-targets-latin-america-reset-summit-marred-by-invite-tension-2022-06-05/">new regional strategy</a>, but so far little action has been taken.</p>
<p>Throughout the 20th century, increasing interactions between the US and Latin America led to a complex interdependence, which exacerbated the power and development gap that divided them. For instance, there were cases of US involvement in regime changes in Latin American such as the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24483554">1973 coup</a> against Chilean socialist president Salvador Allende. </p>
<p>There was also economic involvement that culminated with the “<a href="https://scholar.smu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1381&=&=&=&context=lbra&=&sei-redir=1&referer=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252Furl%253Fsa%253DD%2526q%253Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fscholar.smu.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%25253Farticle%25253D1381%252526amp%25253Bcontext%25253Dlbra%2526ust%253D1665842520000000%2526usg%253DAOvVaw3HebihvnRvHkHEkL1TgdO8%2526hl%253Den%2526source%253Dgmail#search=%22https%3A%2F%2Fscholar.smu.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D1381%26context%3Dlbra%22">Washington consensus</a>” in the late 1980s. This was a series of Washington-prescribed economic reforms such as financial and trade liberalisation, which were adopted by many countries beyond Latin America.</p>
<p>A degree of complacency settled in Washington DC after Latin America’s move towards <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02687137">democratisation</a> in the 1980s and 1990s which led to less focus on the region as a partner. More recently, the US has been preoccupied with Nato’s expansion and the parallel objective of containing Russia.</p>
<h2>Declining relationship</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2022/06/16/latin-americas-vicious-circle-is-a-warning-to-the-west">Observers</a> believe that Latin America, considered a natural ally of the west in general, is at severe risk of democratic decay and that there is a strong probability it could return to dictatorship-dominated regimes, ultimately drifting out of the west’s orbit. </p>
<p>In this context, the US has progressively neglected its own backyard. In fact, some commentators suggest that it has handed Latin America “<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Carol-Wise-5/publication/322141532_Conceptualizing_China-Latin_America_relations_in_the_twenty-first_century_the_boom_the_bust_and_the_aftermath/links/5a57ef580f7e9bbacbdfad57/Conceptualizing-China-Latin-America-relations-in-the-twenty-first-century-the-boom-the-bust-and-the-aftermath.pdf">over to China on a silver platter</a>”.</p>
<p>The results of the US-backed <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/04/1115782">UN general assembly vote</a> on Russia’s suspension from the human rights council earlier this year highlights a waning of its diplomatic weight in its traditional sphere of influence. Out of the 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries present, 13 either abstained or voted against the resolution.</p>
<p>Next, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nicaragua-gives-permission-for-russian-troops-to-enter-country/">Nicaragua</a> expanded its relationship with Russia by authorising Russian troops, planes and ships to deploy in its territory. The decree allows Russian troops to carry out activities related to law enforcement, humanitarian aid and emergency responses. This is a subtle challenge to the <a href="http://maihold.org/mediapool/113/1132142/data/Gilderhus.pdf">Monroe doctrine</a> which opposed European expansion into Latin America.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489785/original/file-20221014-18-j1e8lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A coloured map of Latin America." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489785/original/file-20221014-18-j1e8lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489785/original/file-20221014-18-j1e8lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=698&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489785/original/file-20221014-18-j1e8lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=698&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489785/original/file-20221014-18-j1e8lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=698&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489785/original/file-20221014-18-j1e8lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=877&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489785/original/file-20221014-18-j1e8lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=877&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489785/original/file-20221014-18-j1e8lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=877&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Historically, when another power has challenged the US, Latin America has <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/29849A6D5022DFB9C8B021FED71A420E/S0305741011001469a.pdf/china_united_states_and_hegemonic_challenge_in_latin_america_an_overview_and_some_lessons_from_previous_instances_of_hegemonic_challenge_in_the_region.pdf">mitigated US dominance</a> by engaging with its challenger. China’s case is no different. It has increased its presence in the region by becoming the main trade partner for much of Latin America. </p>
<p>Between 2000-2016, the region’s <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Carol-Wise-5/publication/322141532_Conceptualizing_China-Latin_America_relations_in_the_twenty-first_century_the_boom_the_bust_and_the_aftermath/links/5a57ef580f7e9bbacbdfad57/Conceptualizing-China-Latin-America-relations-in-the-twenty-first-century-the-boom-the-bust-and-the-aftermath.pdf">trade with China increased 20-fold</a>, representing 9% and 16% of the region’s exports and imports, respectively. Studies conclude that the higher the volume and importance of Latin American countries’ trade with China, the more likely it is that their <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1017/s0022381613000066">foreign policies will converge</a> with China’s.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-belt-and-road-initiative-chinas-vision-for-globalisation-beijing-style-77705">The Belt and Road Initiative: China's vision for globalisation, Beijing-style</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A good example of China’s diplomatic muscle in the region is its campaign to halt diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Regional countries including Costa Rica were among the few that established such relations with the island, over which China claims ownership. By increasing investment – mainly through financing infrastructure projects – China gradually persuaded various countries to sever diplomatic relations with Taiwan. </p>
<p>In 2007, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-costarica-idUSPEK14344320070607">Costa Rica</a> cut ties with Taiwan and in 2017 <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-40256499">Panama</a> did likewise. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/21/world/asia/taiwan-el-salvador-diplomatic-ties.html">El Salvador</a> followed in 2018, leaving just 17 countries (globally) maintaining diplomatic ties with Taiwan. By 2021, after <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-10/taiwan-s-last-diplomatic-friends-make-up-0-2-of-global-gdp-map?leadSource=uverify%20wall">Nicaragua</a>’s withdrawal, only 14 countries remained.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.imd.org/centers/world-competitiveness-center/rankings/world-competitiveness/">IMD World Competitiveness Ranking</a>, which measures how well governments encourage and support the prosperity of their people, shows today’s great divide between the US and Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2022, the US ranked 10th out of 63 countries, while Chile – the closest regional country in the sample – ranks 45th. Brazil (59th) and Argentina (62nd) sit at the bottom of the ranking.</p>
<h2>The XY swing</h2>
<p>In recent decades, attempts to resolve their endemic socio-economic and political issues have seen Latin American countries turn to right-wing administrations, then to left-wing and back to right-wing. Within this cycle, some countries have turned to political parties upholding what we call “XY populism”: one that oscillates between inclusiveness (government of the people) and exclusion (protects or excludes the interests of particular groups), purporting itself to be anti-establishment.</p>
<p>XY regimes undertake a balancing act to keep the wealthy and, at least rhetorically, the poor happy. They also create perilous conditions for democracy. XY leaders are democratically elected but, once in office, progressively erode the power of democratic institutions. They show proclivity toward authoritarianism with hints of potential dictatorship.</p>
<p>Central to creating the new hemispheric alliance needed is an intensification of those efforts already under way to solve the root cause of those problems in Latin America (and the Caribbean) that significantly concern the US. For instance, poverty causing an estimated 3.5 million children to be affected <a href="https://www.unicef.org/lac/en/press-releases/latin-america-and-caribbean-about-3.5-million-children-to-be-affected-by-migration-next-year">by migration in 2023</a>.</p>
<p>A new alliance would provide a vital opportunity to strengthen democratic institutions throughout Latin America, to provide economic stimulus for the region, and increase global security while bolstering US and Latin American diplomatic ties.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191241/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With Russia building new partnerships to gain support for its war, the US should re-engage with allies in its backyard, experts say.Jose Caballero, Senior Economist, IMD World Competitiveness Center, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)Arturo Bris, Professor of Finance, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1911412022-09-22T19:22:14Z2022-09-22T19:22:14ZAbout the Queen and the Crown’s crimes (or how to talk about the unmourned) — Podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485973/original/file-20220921-24-oq5uau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C79%2C1871%2C1601&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">After the death of Queen Elizabeth, questions arise about whose life gets mourned and who does not. Here is the Queen with the Guards of Honour in Nigeria, Dec. 3, 2003, for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Ben Curtis)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe height="480px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/fb609e39-d729-4a54-860a-8a411be157ae?dark=false&show=true"></iframe>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-572" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/572/661898416fdc21fc4fdef6a5379efd7cac19d9d5/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>At <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/"><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a>, we’ve been busy planning season 4 of the podcast, which starts to roll out in November. We’re even starting to think about season 5. But we decided to stop production to talk about something we felt we couldn’t ignore.</p>
<p>We’ve watched this incredible spectacle around the Queen’s death and public outpouring of support and love for the British monarchy. </p>
<p>Here in Canada, Queen Elizabeth was the official head of state and her funeral this week was made a federal holiday. In Ontario, the Minister of Education directed schools to conduct a moment of silence “to recognize the profound impact of Queen Elizabeth II’s lifelong and unwavering devotion to public service.”</p>
<p>And yet next week, those same children will be exploring the history of Indian Residential Schools and the immense ongoing damage of that system — started and long supported by the Crown.</p>
<p>In the middle of this outpouring of love and grief for the Queen — and the monarchy she represented — not everyone is feeling it. Not everyone wants to mourn or honour her or what she represents. </p>
<p>And there are a lot of reasons why. </p>
<p>For example, the head of the Assembly of First Nations, RoseAnne Archibald <a href="https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/i-can-t-feel-mournful-indigenous-leaders-reflect-on-colonialism-after-death-of-queen-elizabeth-ii-1.6062822">told CTV News</a> that the Royal Family should apologize for the failures of the Crown …“particularly for the destructiveness of colonization on First Nations people.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485969/original/file-20220921-15413-dd64gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485969/original/file-20220921-15413-dd64gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485969/original/file-20220921-15413-dd64gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485969/original/file-20220921-15413-dd64gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485969/original/file-20220921-15413-dd64gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485969/original/file-20220921-15413-dd64gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485969/original/file-20220921-15413-dd64gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this July 3, 1973 photo, Chief Frank Pelletier sits with Queen Elizabeth II in Thunder Bay, Ontario, as they view a display of Appaloosa horses and dancing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another example came from Uju Anya, professor at Carnegie Mellon University, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/09/world/africa/queen-africa-british-empire.html">who posted a tweet</a> in which she identified the Queen as overseeing a “thieving raping genocidal empire.”</p>
<p>To explore these ideas further, we reached out to two scholars who are regular contributors to <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em>. Both say that the Queen’s death could be a uniting moment of dissent for people from current and former colonies.</p>
<p>Veldon Coburn is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Indigenous Research and Studies at the University of Ottawa where he teaches a class called Colonialism, Territory & Treaties. He is Anishinaabe, Algonquin from Pikwàkanagàn First Nation and the co-editor of <em>Capitalism and Dispossession</em>.</p>
<p>Cheryl Thompson is Assistant Professor of media and culture at the School of Performance and the Director of the Laboratory for Black Creativity at Toronto Metropolitan University. She is the author of <em>Uncle: Race, Nostalgia, and the Politics of Loyalty</em>.</p>
<h2>Listen and Follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9qZFg0Ql9DOA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a> or <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com">wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts</a>. <a href="mailto:theculturedesk@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheConversationCanada">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p>
<h2>In the Conversation</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/queen-elizabeth-ii-the-politics-of-national-mourning-left-no-space-for-dissenting-voices-190591">Queen Elizabeth II: the politics of national mourning left no space for dissenting voices</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/decolonize-the-queens-funeral-why-it-shouldnt-be-a-national-holiday-in-canada-190727">Decolonize the Queen’s funeral: Why it shouldn’t be a national holiday in Canada
</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/colonialism-was-a-disaster-and-the-facts-prove-it-84496">Colonialism was a disaster and the facts prove it
</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/cutting-ties-to-the-monarchy-could-loom-on-the-horizon-in-canada-190894">Cutting ties to the monarchy could loom on the horizon in Canada
</a></p>
<h2>Additional Sources</h2>
<p>“<a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2022/09/14/no-i-do-not-mourn-the-queen.html?rf">No, I do not mourn the Queen,</a>” <em>Toronto Star</em> by Shree Paradkar</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485966/original/file-20220921-26-qbtdiv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485966/original/file-20220921-26-qbtdiv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485966/original/file-20220921-26-qbtdiv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485966/original/file-20220921-26-qbtdiv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485966/original/file-20220921-26-qbtdiv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485966/original/file-20220921-26-qbtdiv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485966/original/file-20220921-26-qbtdiv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Will Prince Charles apologize for the wrongs of the Crown? Here he stands with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, second from right, looking at a display of traditional hunting tools in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, during the Royal Tour of Canada, May 19, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>The series is produced and hosted by me, Vinita Srivastava. Our senior producer is: Lygia Navarro and Jennifer Moroz is consulting producer. Shout out to our newest staff members: Dannielle Piper is a producer. Rukhsar Ali is an assistant producer. Rehmatullah Sheikh is our sound mixer. Ateqah Khaki is helping out with marketing and visual innovation. And Scott White is the CEO of The Conversation Canada.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191141/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
In the middle of the tremendous outpouring of love and grief for the Queen and the monarchy she represented, not everyone wants to take a moment of silence. And there are a lot of reasons why.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1836652022-05-31T10:42:13Z2022-05-31T10:42:13ZIn Jamaica, native trees are being driven further up mountains towards extinction<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464805/original/file-20220523-15124-9dt3ih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2745%2C1827&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">eric laudonien / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Blue Mountains of Jamaica are frequently covered in a dense blanket of cloud, but when it lifts the first thing you notice is the cloak of forest extending up their steep slopes to the top of the highest peaks. As you walk up through these trees you encounter an incredible diversity of habitats from the high canopies of the lower slopes to the elfin forests of the ridge tops (barely taller than head height). </p>
<p>Yet new evidence shows that two effects of global climate change are combining to threaten these mountain forests. Climate change <a href="https://climateanalytics.org/media/extreme_hurricane_seasons_made_twice_as_likely_by_ocean_warming.pdf">increases the intensity</a> of the strongest hurricanes in the region, and it’s also slowly shifting the range of plant and animal species into previously colder zones, towards the north and south poles and up the slopes of mountains to higher altitudes. </p>
<p>Together with an international team of scientists, we have just published <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.06100">new research</a> which shows that, in the Blue Mountains, this species migration was accelerated by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. </p>
<p>Gilbert caused serious damage to the Blue Mountain forests, snapping the branches and trunks of many of the biggest trees. Most resprouted and survived, but the rate of mortality was particularly high for the species that are restricted to the highest altitude forests. The gaps in the canopy opened up by the death of these trees provided the opportunity for new trees to regenerate, but these tended to be species from lower down the mountain slopes. The net result is that the forest is becoming more dominated by lower altitude species, accelerating a process that was already slowly under way due to global warming.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466062/original/file-20220530-20-851xpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Trees viewed from below" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466062/original/file-20220530-20-851xpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466062/original/file-20220530-20-851xpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466062/original/file-20220530-20-851xpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466062/original/file-20220530-20-851xpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466062/original/file-20220530-20-851xpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466062/original/file-20220530-20-851xpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466062/original/file-20220530-20-851xpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trees damaged by Hurricane Gilbert resprout their crowns a few months later.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Healey</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Jamaican Blue Mountains rise to an altitude of 2,256 metres so, at present, there is still forested land further up the slopes for the rare mountain species to migrate to. However, once they become confined to the highest mountain ridges there will be nowhere else to go. The impact of an increase in severe hurricanes like Gilbert will bring that threat of extinction ever closer.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466058/original/file-20220530-14-2t0r5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Leaves and white flowers" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466058/original/file-20220530-14-2t0r5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466058/original/file-20220530-14-2t0r5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466058/original/file-20220530-14-2t0r5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466058/original/file-20220530-14-2t0r5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466058/original/file-20220530-14-2t0r5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466058/original/file-20220530-14-2t0r5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466058/original/file-20220530-14-2t0r5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Brunfelsia jamaicensis:</em> one of the threatened trees found only in Jamaica’s Blue Mountains.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Bellingham</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This has the potential to be a major contributor to the global biodiversity crisis, showing yet again how it is inextricably linked to the climate crisis. Gilbert was one of the most destructive hurricanes to hit Jamaica in the last century, but there is strong <a href="https://climateanalytics.org/media/extreme_hurricane_seasons_made_twice_as_likely_by_ocean_warming.pdf">modelling evidence</a> that we will see an increasing number of such intense storms across the Caribbean as a result of climate change. </p>
<p>The Caribbean islands are recognised as one of 36 global <a href="https://www.cepf.net/our-work/biodiversity-hotspots/caribbean-islands">biodiversity hotspots</a> and their mountain forests that have avoided deforestation (unlike most of the lowlands) are a particularly important habitat for many endangered species. Lots of the species native to the upper slopes of the Blue Mountains exist nowhere else in the world. Some also exist on a few other Caribbean mountains, but there they will be equally threatened by severe storms.</p>
<h2>Australian invaders</h2>
<p>All this is made even more serious by yet another combination of damaging human impacts on the natural world: the threat of an increase in intense hurricanes and invasion of forests by species we have introduced from other parts of the world. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466065/original/file-20220530-26-eym7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Tall thin trees" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466065/original/file-20220530-26-eym7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466065/original/file-20220530-26-eym7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466065/original/file-20220530-26-eym7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466065/original/file-20220530-26-eym7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466065/original/file-20220530-26-eym7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1167&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466065/original/file-20220530-26-eym7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1167&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466065/original/file-20220530-26-eym7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1167&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A degraded area of forest, now dominated by the invasive <em>Pittosporum undulatum</em>.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Healey</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Australian tree <em>Pittosporum undulatum</em> (known locally as “mock orange” because of its brightly coloured fruit) was introduced to a botanic garden in the Blue Mountains more than 130 years ago, yet we now know it has become one of the world’s most invasive species. </p>
<p>In Jamaica, its seeds are dispersed far and wide by native birds and the gaps in the canopy of the natural forests across the Blue Mountains caused by Hurricane Gilbert allowed a huge expansion of its invasion. <em>Pittosporum</em> casts a dense shade and our research has <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320717313964">shown</a> that it outcompetes many native trees, particularly threatening the high-altitude species that exist nowhere else and are the most vulnerable to global warming.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466063/original/file-20220530-12-gw1tmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Seedlings on forest floor" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466063/original/file-20220530-12-gw1tmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466063/original/file-20220530-12-gw1tmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466063/original/file-20220530-12-gw1tmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466063/original/file-20220530-12-gw1tmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466063/original/file-20220530-12-gw1tmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466063/original/file-20220530-12-gw1tmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466063/original/file-20220530-12-gw1tmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Forest floor almost completely covered by seedlings of the invasive species, ruining any chance of regeneration by native trees.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Healey</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Taken together, this evidence is another strong reason to recognise climate change as a threat to global biodiversity. Stopping climate change will clearly be a long and difficult challenge, yet there are some more immediate steps that would reduce the risk of extinction in Caribbean forests. The most important is to much better regulate the movement between countries of species with any potential to become invasive and to control invasive populations where they have already started to threaten biodiverse natural habitats. </p>
<p>Protecting the remaining high-altitude forests from deforestation and degradation will also buy us more time. But unless we can effectively solve this climate-hurricane-invasive species combination of threats, then conservation in these mountains will fail and we will be reduced to trying to preserve species outside their native habitats in botanic gardens or seed banks.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183665/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Healey receives funding from a diversity of research funding organisations. His research in Jamaica was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council, Department for International Development Forestry Research Programme and the Royal Society. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Edmund Tanner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An invasive Australian tree is exploiting ever-stronger hurricanes.John Healey, Professor of Forest Sciences, Bangor UniversityEdmund Tanner, Senior Lecturer (retired), Department of Plant Sciences, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1838072022-05-31T02:16:09Z2022-05-31T02:16:09ZStinky seaweed is clogging Caribbean beaches – but a New Zealand solution could turn it into green power and fertiliser<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465600/original/file-20220526-20-aw4z77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C17%2C5964%2C3979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Rotting seaweed has plagued the Caribbean for more than 10 years – but <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0196890421007810#!">our research</a> shows how we could clean up beaches and emissions at the same time, by turning what’s now rubbish into renewable electricity and fertiliser.</p>
<p>Pelagic sargassum is a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/great-atlantic-sargassum-belt-here-stay/593290/">brown seaweed</a> that floats at the surface of oceans, particularly in the Atlantic. </p>
<p>Over the last decade, unprecedented amounts of this seaweed have washed up on coastlines of the Caribbean region, Gulf of Mexico, United States and West Africa, triggering human health concerns and negatively impacting the environment and economy. </p>
<p>Recent satellite images have spotted more sargassum at sea than in previous years. Experts fear <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-04-30/mexico-caribbean-beaches-may-see-worst-sargassum-since-2018">this year’s influx</a> could be the worst since the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/seaweed-smelling-like-rotten-eggs-is-plaguing-caribbean-coastlines/2018/09/14/ee0199e6-b5e0-11e8-a7b5-adaaa5b2a57f_story.html">catastrophic 2018 season</a>.</p>
<p>Given the noxious hydrogen sulphide gas emitted by the seaweed as it decomposes and the frequency with which these influxes have recurred since 2011, sargassum has devastated Caribbean economies that depend on tourism and fisheries for survival. </p>
<p>But there is something we can do. </p>
<p>Our team of researchers has developed a new approach to turn sargassum into bioenergy and fertiliser – a solution that could help restore beaches, create jobs and produce renewable electricity. </p>
<h2>The problems with sargassum</h2>
<p>Tourism is a major sector in the Caribbean region, accounting for 30-40% of the gross domestic product of some of the small nations. </p>
<p>Rotting seaweed has resulted in <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/environment/article_d23f12b6-8f21-11eb-9a26-d7b9068fcc1b.html">reduced visitor arrivals</a>. </p>
<p>Sargassum has also triggered a <a href="https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/36244/SGWP21.pdf">state of emergency</a> in the fisheries sector of several islands. The seaweed has resulted in reduced visibility, higher occurrences of fishing net entanglement, widespread boat damage and lower fish capture. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-we-turn-sewage-sludge-into-something-valuable-113004">Can we turn sewage 'sludge' into something valuable?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The marine ecosystem is further affected because sargassum accumulation on beaches and along shallow coastlines <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666900521000344#">impairs the nesting of sea turtles</a> and causes fish die-offs due to deoxygenation and toxins in water. </p>
<p>Sargassum also promotes coral bleaching and reef mortality.</p>
<p>Human health and the integrity of infrastructure have also been compromised by the hydrogen sulphide, a corrosive and toxic gas with a rotten-egg smell, emitted as the seaweed decomposes.</p>
<p>Though some small-scale attempts have been made to make sargassum useful, landfilling remains the primary way to manage the influxes. This approach is an expensive practice, with high labour and energy demands.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A trailer half-filled with brown seaweed on the beach." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465602/original/file-20220526-23-x4th05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465602/original/file-20220526-23-x4th05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465602/original/file-20220526-23-x4th05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465602/original/file-20220526-23-x4th05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465602/original/file-20220526-23-x4th05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465602/original/file-20220526-23-x4th05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465602/original/file-20220526-23-x4th05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The current approach to managing sargassum is to manually collect it from the beach and take it to landfills.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/photo/cleaning-up-seaweed-on-the-beach-royalty-free-image/1388082361?adppopup=true">Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Our new solution for stinky seaweed</h2>
<p>Sargassum is promising as component in anaerobic digestion systems – a process through which bacteria break down organic matter without the presence of oxygen, resulting in biogas. </p>
<p>The seaweed is rich in polysaccharides, a good source of energy, and low in lignin and cellulose, which are difficult to digest.</p>
<p>However, sargassum doesn’t readily biodegrade. </p>
<p>To overcome this challenge, our research takes a new approach: for the first time, combining the technologies of super hot water pre-treatment with anaerobic digestion system.</p>
<p>Hydrothermal pre-treatment is a green technology that uses high pressure to make water super hot (140°C), while keeping it in a liquid state. Treating sargassum in this super-hot water for 30 minutes helps break it down. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-driving-the-huge-blooms-of-brown-seaweed-piling-up-on-florida-and-caribbean-beaches-163058">What's driving the huge blooms of brown seaweed piling up on Florida and Caribbean beaches?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This means hydrothermally pre-treated sargassum yields more energy than unprocessed sargassum. </p>
<p>Hydrothermal pre-treatment also reduces the hydrogen sulphide content in the generated biogas from 3% to 1%.</p>
<p>In the second step, hydrothermally pre-treated sargassum is processed with food waste or other organic wastes in the anaerobic digestion system. </p>
<p>Putting different organic wastes together helps balance out the feedstock, meaning more biogas can be produced. </p>
<p>What’s more, the substance that remains after biogas production is nutrient-dense and pathogen-free, making it safe and useful as an organic bio-fertiliser or soil conditioner.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Underwater view of brown seaweed." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465603/original/file-20220526-12-v302fp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465603/original/file-20220526-12-v302fp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465603/original/file-20220526-12-v302fp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465603/original/file-20220526-12-v302fp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465603/original/file-20220526-12-v302fp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465603/original/file-20220526-12-v302fp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465603/original/file-20220526-12-v302fp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Researchers believe climate change is one of the reasons sargassum blooms have been increasing in the Atlantic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/photo/sargassum-seaweed-also-called-gulfweed-a-tropical-royalty-free-image/1293777221?adppopup=true">Massimiliano Finzi/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The potential for a Barbados biorefinery</h2>
<p>Building a sargassum-based biorefinery equipped with hydrothermal pre-treatment and anaerobic digestion technologies would offer a number of socio-economic and environmental advantages to Caribbean countries.</p>
<p>Most obviously, a biorefinery would supply electricity to the national grid and produce a bio-fertiliser for local and international use. </p>
<p>A proposed biorefinery in Barbados could handle an annual feed input of 15,750 tonnes of hydrothermally pre-treated sargassum mixed with raw food waste. This would handle a significant portion of sargassum influx, keeping it out of landfills. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-need-to-stop-thinking-of-the-caribbean-as-a-tourist-paradise-162978">Why we need to stop thinking of the Caribbean as a tourist 'paradise'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This feed input could yield 0.69 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity, 1.04 GWh of heat and 15,000 tonnes of solid-liquid biofertiliser for Barbados. </p>
<p>While sargassum is available only seasonally, a biorefinery could run solely on food or other organic waste when there is no seaweed, making the refinery a sustainable, year-round source of green energy.</p>
<p>Implementing this technology would also help increase the economic sustainability of the tourism and fisheries sectors, assist with waste management and help develop industry and infrastructure in the Caribbean. </p>
<p>However, the cost of development and management of a biorefinery in Barbados has to be carefully managed and will require substantial support from the local community. </p>
<p>According to our analysis, the biorefinery will not break even on power generation alone. Maximum profits could be achieved through selling all of the fertiliser to international markets – but this approach provides zero support to local food security. Our recommended option would be to split the waste 50/50 between local farmers and international markets. </p>
<p>While this solution can’t directly prevent sargassum influxes, the biogas produced would help reduce carbon emissions. </p>
<p>Since climate change appears to be a factor in the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48869100">increased sargassum blooms</a> of the past decade, contributing to global efforts to mitigate climate change may eventually improve the situation.</p>
<p>In the meantime, we could have an effective way to deal with the stinking mess ruining Caribbean beaches.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183807/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This research was part of a PhD project (Student: Dr Terrell Thompson, Supervisor: A/Prof Saeid Baroutian). Terrell Thompson received a PhD Scholarship from the Government of New Zealand.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr. Terrell Thompson works for Export Barbados (formerly the Barbados Investment & Development Corporation), an agency of the Government of Barbados. His PhD research on Sargassum seaweed was conducted at The University of Auckland, New Zealand and funded by the Government of New Zealand through a Manaaki New Zealand Scholarship.</span></em></p>Rotting seaweed has plagued the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, US and West African coasts for a decade. So we’ve developed a new approach to turn what’s now rubbish into green electricity and fertiliser.Saeid Baroutian, Associate Professor, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauTerrell Thompson, Life Sciences Coordinator - Export Barbados, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1783992022-05-20T12:55:16Z2022-05-20T12:55:16ZThe Martinican bèlè dance – a celebration of land, spirit and liberation<p>On May 22 each year, when the eastern Caribbean island of Martinique observes <a href="https://www.martinique.org/22-mai-1848-histoire-culture-et-memoire">Emancipation Day</a>, drums beat from sunrise until the break of dawn the next day.</p>
<p>Participants at open-air, starlit gatherings dance, sing, play drums and feast for ancestors who fought to break the chains of bondage. The uprising that eventually led to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316181669.005">the abolition of slavery</a> on the island in 1848 was sparked by the arrest of Romain, an enslaved man who refused to comply with his master’s ban on beating drums.</p>
<p>Today, drums are still a symbol of rebellion and freedom. The traditional dances that span the island each May 22, at performances called “swaré bèlè,” are filled with an electrifying aura of reverence and honor.</p>
<p>But the bèlè is not only a genre of ancestral Afro-Caribbean drum-dance practices. Rather, it is “an mannyè viv:” a lifestyle and worldview through which many people <a href="https://doi.org/10.2979/meridians.16.2.10">find healing and empowerment</a> for themselves and their communities.</p>
<p>My first encounter with bèlè occurred when I was a graduate student <a href="https://facultydiversity.umbc.edu/camee-maddox-wingfield/">in anthropology</a>, conducting fieldwork in Martinique. As a former dancer, I was drawn to how bèlè drummers, dancers and singers experience spiritual and cultural freedom. Performers tell me their participation feels transformative, sacred and otherworldly.</p>
<h2>Bèlè linò</h2>
<p>Martinique is <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/w/wsfh/0642292.0034.018/--citizenship-and-assimilation-in-postwar-martinique?rgn=main;view=fulltext">an overseas region of France</a> in the Lesser Antilles islands. Most of the 400,000 people living there are descended from Africans brought to the islands by the slave trade, whose traditions have left a deep imprint on Martinican culture.</p>
<p>Centuries of history have given bèlè a complex set of symbols, only understood by those deeply immersed in the practice.</p>
<p>Swaré bèlè gatherings typically begin with a few matches of “ladja/danmyé,” a martial art tradition between two combatants in the center of a circle, which warms up the energy of the space as guests are arriving.</p>
<p>The remainder of the event involves an improvised rotation of performers playing and dancing sets from the “bèlè linò” repertoire. These square dances use <a href="https://doi.org/10.5406/blacmusiresej.30.2.0215">the quadrille configuration</a>, with four pairs of female and male dancers. After the opening sequences, each pair takes turns dancing in a playful exchange in the center of the circle, then dances toward the drummers to salute them.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/j.ctt1xcfh4">Bèlè traditions</a> use the “tanbou,” a goat-skinned conical drum. There is also the “tibwa”: two wooden sticks beaten on the side of the drum with a steady tempo.</p>
<p>The ensemble of dancers, drummers and singers is normally encircled by a crowd of spectators who clap their hands, sway their bodies and join in the song’s refrain. </p>
<p>All dancers master the base repertoire. Yet the order and style of interactions between partners is improvised – making it remarkable that the drummers can match their rhythm to the dancers’ intricate footwork.</p>
<p>In the playful, flirtatious and at times competitive game of certain bèlè styles, the woman is the object of her male partner’s pursuit, and she ultimately decides if she will welcome his affections. This aspect of bèlè performance, whereby women are admired and praised for their sensual dance prowess, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2979/meridians.16.2.10">brings female performers a sense of affirmation</a>.</p>
<h2>Repressed, then embraced</h2>
<p>Martinique has been under French control since 1635. Even during the post-colonial era, many Black Martinican folk traditions <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/can.1997.12.1.3">faced repression</a>, as leaders imposed mainland French culture on the population. For example, bèlè practices were often denigrated as “bagay vyé nèg,” “bagay djab” and “bagay ki ja pasé”: primitive, indecent and outdated, in the Martinican Creole language. To many in the church, traditional drumming and dance symbolized heathenism. In a country where the vast majority of people belong to the church, it was difficult for devout Catholics to support bèlè.</p>
<p>Many practitioners see bèlè as a dance of the earth that reinforces human connections with the land, divine spirits and ideals of freedom. Touted as a fertility ritual for both humans and the land, the dance reflects sensuality between partners. Other symbolism suggests <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478013112-010">sacred connections</a> with the soil, vegetation and water on which Martinicans’ enslaved ancestors labored and survived. Many dance movements represent agricultural labor.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A woman in a bright floral outfit does a traditional dance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464414/original/file-20220520-13-ca8w6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464414/original/file-20220520-13-ca8w6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464414/original/file-20220520-13-ca8w6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464414/original/file-20220520-13-ca8w6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464414/original/file-20220520-13-ca8w6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464414/original/file-20220520-13-ca8w6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464414/original/file-20220520-13-ca8w6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The history of folk dances in Martinique stretches back centuries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/danse-folklorique-martinique-news-photo/945918434?adppopup=true">Sylvain Grandadam/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the 1980s, student activists and youth groups led initiatives to revive traditions that had nearly dissolved as a result of French pressure to assimilate. Today an ever-growing community <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203493052-19/musical-revivals-social-movements-contemporary-martinique-ideology-identity-ambivalence">has embraced bèlè</a> as they challenge the legacy of colonialism and racism in Martinique.</p>
<p>Bèlè performance is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478013112-010">increasingly visible</a> in the Catholic Church. “Bèlè légliz” or “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo80O6pw0CY">church bèlè</a>” fuses the liturgy with references to Martinicans’ African and diasporic heritage.</p>
<p>Some bèlè activists weave in symbols of ancestor reverence and land stewardship, which are also found in Caribbean religious traditions such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-haitian-voodoo-119621">Haitian Vodou</a>, Cuban Santería, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2013/09/16/216890587/brazilian-believers-of-hidden-religion-step-out-of-shadows">Brazilian Candomblé</a> and <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.18574/9780814728253-010/html?lang=en">Quimbois</a>, Martinique’s tradition of folk healing. </p>
<p>An increasing number of practitioners assert that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478013112-010">bèlè is a “secular spirituality</a>,” viewing it as a form of social healing from subjugation. Many of the people I have interviewed speak about bèlè as an “otherworldly” experience with unique energy that helps them cope with their society’s shadows of colonialism and slavery, and the post-colonial transition.</p>
<h2>Solidarity and hope</h2>
<p>The bèlè drum and its associated dances have become the rallying cry around which many bèlè cultural activists organize daily life, such as by <a href="https://www.am4.fr/aprann-danmy%C3%A9-kalennda-b%C3%A8l%C3%A8/">teaching classes</a> and participating in mutual aid projects.</p>
<p>Swaré bèlè gatherings are often associated with community, and have become key opportunities for attendees to express cultural pride, political solidarity and hopes for change. These events often pay homage to historical figures who made contributions to struggles for Black liberation, such as poet and politician <a href="https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/blogs/books/remembering-life-legacy-aime-cesaire">Aimé Césaire</a> and philosopher <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/frantz-fanon/">Frantz Fanon</a>.</p>
<p>Over the last 13 years, my research has probed how traditional dance expresses resistance, emotions, spirituality and even feelings of transcendence. I have also explored how bèlè complicates black-and-white ideas about what is “sacred” versus what is “secular.”</p>
<p>Bèlè dances on the line between the two, reflecting the complex legacy of colonialism that continues to shape life in the Caribbean.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178399/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>For this research, Camee Maddox-Wingfield received funding from the Institute of International Education (Mellon Foundation Graduate Fellowship for International Study), a grant from the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund (a Program of the Reed Foundation), and UMBC's Center for Social Science Scholarship Summer Faculty Fellowship.</span></em></p>After years of marginalization, the bèlè dance has been embraced by a growing community who see it as a form of social and spiritual healing.Camee Maddox-Wingfield, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1734732022-01-12T13:37:11Z2022-01-12T13:37:11ZEthical US consumers struggled to pressure the sugar industry to abandon slavery with less success than their British counterparts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438885/original/file-20211222-17-yrdz02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=102%2C308%2C3900%2C2128&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The enslaved people who produced sugar before the Civil War did dangerous and grueling work.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/slaves-harvesting-sugar-cane-in-louisiana-1833-note-the-news-photo/918908388">The Print Collector/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Twenty-two-year-old Sam Watts saw the Virginia coastline vanish while he was aboard a domestic slave ship in the fall of 1831. Andrew Jackson was president, and <a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/joshua-d-rothman/the-ledger-and-the-chain/9781541616615/">slave traders</a> had <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300192001/business-slavery-and-rise-american-capitalism-1815-1860">bought Watts</a> for US$450 (about <a href="https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1831?amount=450">$14,500</a> in 2022 dollars). They were ripping him from multiple generations of his loved ones for a voyage of no return.</p>
<p>After the ship docked at New Orleans three weeks later, Edmond J. Forstall, a banker and entrepreneur, purchased Watts for $950. His new owner put Watts to work making barrels in the new <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/unsavory-history-sugar-american-craving-180962766/">Louisiana Sugar Refinery</a> – the world’s largest operation of its kind at the time.</p>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/79397052">Watts labored under an overseer’s lash</a>, but he may have felt less unfortunate than Louisiana’s 36,000 enslaved people forced to work on plantations producing the sugar that went into his barrels. Growing, cutting and processing domestic <a href="https://www.whitneyplantation.org/history/slavery-in-louisiana/">sugar cane took an even deadlier toll</a> than producing <a href="https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2014/11/19/slavery-economy-baptist">cotton</a> or <a href="http://slaveryandremembrance.org/articles/article/?id=A0056">tobacco</a>. </p>
<p>Watts’ unpaid work fed a supply chain with tragic human costs. Most Americans today would surely like to think that consumers who knew their sugar was grown and processed by enslaved people living in the United States would refuse to buy it. But the <a href="https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2017/03/10/abolitionists-fought-lost-battle-americas-sweet-tooth/chronicles/who-we-were/">historical record</a> points to a greater opposing force: <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300192001/business-slavery-and-rise-american-capitalism-1815-1860">the rise of American capitalism</a>, which before the Civil War was fueled by unpaid labor.</p>
<h2>Government support for sugar started early on</h2>
<p>Louisiana growers started producing molasses in the 18th century and granulated sugar by 1795. Output increased after the U.S. <a href="https://www.history.com/news/louisiana-purchase-price-french-colonial-slave-rebellion">bought Louisiana from France in 1803</a>. The federal government was already protecting domestic sugar with a <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/tariff-act-1789">tariff on imported sugar</a>.</p>
<p>By the 1830s, strong demand and creative financing from international investors were also bolstering Louisiana’s sugar sector. The same year Sam Watts was bought and sold, <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/private-correspondence-of-henry-clay/oclc/60712913">Sen. Henry Clay wrote</a> that “a repeal of the duty would compel the Louisiana planter to abandon the cultivation of the sugar cane.”</p>
<p>Sugar had by then been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/sugar-slave-trade-slavery.html">transformed from a luxury</a> into a <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-history-of-sugar-the-food-nobody-needs-but-everyone-craves-49823">wildly popular ingredient</a> that was integral to the American diet.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-molasses-1328678">Molasses</a> and cane sugar were as American as <a href="https://food52.com/blog/24688-apple-pie-origin-story">apple pie</a>. They flavored everything from Boston <a href="https://www.paulreverehouse.org/boston-baked-beans-a-case-study-in-culinary-tradition/">baked beans</a> to <a href="https://www.history.com/news/13-colonies-food-drink">syllabub</a> – a dessert of sweetened whipped cream mixed with cider or wine.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the historical record indicates that most Americans who bought a quart of molasses or pound of refined sugar crystals either didn’t know or didn’t care very much about the struggles of Sam Watts and tens of thousands of other African Americans like him. Sugar was <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/refined-tastes">a prestige item</a>, signaling wealth and refinement.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438886/original/file-20211222-23-cyppqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A bowl of gooey brown Boston baked beans" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438886/original/file-20211222-23-cyppqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438886/original/file-20211222-23-cyppqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438886/original/file-20211222-23-cyppqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438886/original/file-20211222-23-cyppqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438886/original/file-20211222-23-cyppqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438886/original/file-20211222-23-cyppqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438886/original/file-20211222-23-cyppqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many Americans consume sugar and perhaps molasses – a byproduct from refining the sweet stuff – when they eat beans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/boston-baked-beans-news-photo/563538625?adppopup=true">Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>British abolitionists offered a model</h2>
<p>Starting in the 1780s, British abolitionists had urged and organized consumer <a href="https://www.bl.uk/restoration-18th-century-literature/articles/abolition-of-the-slave-trade-and-slavery-in-britain">boycotts to end the transatlantic slave trade</a>. <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/322123/sweetness-and-power-by-sidney-w-mintz/">Sugar was its engine</a>, and <a href="https://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/campaignforabolition/abolitionbackground/biogs/greatcampaigners.html">activists</a> like the <a href="https://www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_122690_smxx.pdf">poet Robert Southey condemned</a> those who “sip the blood-sweeten’d beverage” with a clear conscience.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.quakersintheworld.org/quakers-in-action/153/Boycotting-Goods-Produced-by-Slaves">They</a> published pamphlets and circulated petitions urging consumers, particularly women, to stop buying sugar made by enslaved people. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/transactions-of-the-royal-historical-society/article/children-against-slavery-juvenile-agency-and-the-sugar-boycotts-in-britain/10C268B8FB7C2C50A43295C50309BD24">Children got involved</a>, too.</p>
<p>In 1791 in Manchester, England, some <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/adam-hochschild/bury-the-chains/9781447211365">300,000 people promised to boycott sugar</a> sourced from the Caribbean. Sales dropped dramatically. Abolitionists flooded Parliament with petitions to end the transatlantic slave trade.</p>
<p>Britain made its <a href="https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/how-did-slave-trade-end-britain">subjects’ involvement in the trade illegal in 1807</a>. Yet sugar producers in the Caribbean, including in Jamaica and Cuba, continued to force hundreds of thousands of enslaved people to make sugar.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-one-woman-pulled-off-the-first-consumer-boycott-and-helped-inspire-the-british-to-abolish-slavery-140313">Elizabeth Heyrick</a>, a Birmingham philanthropist, led an even more successful English boycott of West Indian sugar in the 1820s.</p>
<p>British boycotts made at least a symbolic difference, because abolitionists got consumers to empathize with enslaved workers at a time when national interests were <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9780807844885/capitalism-and-slavery/">turning away</a> from the sugar industry because of <a href="https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/how-did-slave-trade-end-britain">shifting international alliances</a>.</p>
<h2>The limits of consumer pressure</h2>
<p>Although the U.S. <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/02/congress-votes-to-ban-slave-importation-march-2-1807-430820">banned the landing of foreign captives</a> destined for enslavement in 1808, it let the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-brutal-trade-in-enslaved-people-within-the-us-has-been-largely-whitewashed-out-of-history-165442">domestic slave trade flourish</a> for another five decades.</p>
<p>U.S. growers were competing mainly with the <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/sugar-masters-in-a-new-world-5212993/">Cuban sugar producers</a> who could still import African captives. Newly enslaved people often <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300247336/last-slave-ships">arrived on American-owned vessels</a>.</p>
<p>Free African American and white <a href="https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/quaker-activism/">Quaker abolitionists</a> sought to underscore the connection between unrequited toil and the abundance it produced. Before <a href="https://www.blumeglobal.com/learning/history-of-supply-chain/">supply chain management</a> existed as a systematic process, those who worked to abolish slavery pointed out that the dollars spent on sugar fed the forced labor and degradation of Black people who made and processed sugar and other commodities.</p>
<p>To that end, Quakers formed the <a href="https://www.quakersintheworld.org/quakers-in-action/153/Boycotting-Goods-Produced-by-Slaves">Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania</a> in 1827 to combat slavery in supply chains furnishing consumer goods.</p>
<p>In 1830, African American abolitionists established their own similar organization, the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/30043514">Colored Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania</a>. Its 500 members used their collective power to demand cotton, sugar and tobacco be made by free workers. Judith James and Laetitia Rowley, two Black Philadelphians, co-founded another group, the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/30043514">Colored Female Free Produce Society</a> soon after.</p>
<p>That organization’s members were connected with <a href="https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/mother-bethel-ame-church-congregation-and-community-2/">Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church</a>, Philadelphia’s hub of abolitionist and community organizing. It urged consumers to use their buying power to free enslaved people.</p>
<p>In 1834, Philadelphia’s most successful Black businessperson, William Whipper, opened a free labor store next to Mother Bethel church. In New York, African American abolitionist David Ruggles sold only free sugar and encouraged others to follow suit.</p>
<p>By 1838, the <a href="https://www.quakersintheworld.org/quakers-in-action/153/Boycotting-Goods-Produced-by-Slaves">Free Produce Movement</a>, as it was called, had coalesced as the American Free Produce Society. </p>
<p>But those scattered individual acts of conscience failed to force the sugar industry to stop relying on forced Black labor. U.S. <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300227116/slaves-cause">abolitionists’ efforts to inform the public</a> and organize boycotts also failed to stop growing demand, because <a href="https://www.winton.com/longer-view/the-sweet-and-sour-history-of-sugar-prices">sugar prices fell</a> until the Civil War disrupted the popular commodity’s production. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439246/original/file-20220103-117041-1p6gvxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A teaspoon overflowing with sugar, held above a heap of more sugar" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439246/original/file-20220103-117041-1p6gvxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439246/original/file-20220103-117041-1p6gvxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439246/original/file-20220103-117041-1p6gvxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439246/original/file-20220103-117041-1p6gvxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439246/original/file-20220103-117041-1p6gvxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439246/original/file-20220103-117041-1p6gvxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439246/original/file-20220103-117041-1p6gvxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">So sweet, but at what cost to human rights?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/refined-sugar-royalty-free-image/478187147">Victor De Schwanberg/Science Photo Library via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sugar demand climbed</h2>
<p>Rather than cut back, Americans consumed more and more sugar.</p>
<p>When Watts went to work in the Louisiana Sugar Refinery, the average U.S. resident <a href="https://lsupress.org/books/detail/the-sugar-masters/">ate 13 pounds of it per year</a>. By 1850 the total had surged to 30 pounds.</p>
<p>In many places, emancipation didn’t stop coercive labor practices. The relationship between emancipated workers and the sugar barons and other planters who employed them still <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/coolies-and-cane">approximated slavery</a>.</p>
<p>Sugar workers in Thibodaux, Louisiana, for instance, lived in many of the same quarters as they had before the Civil War. When they unionized and tried to strike for better wages in 1887, <a href="https://www.wdsu.com/article/thibodaux-massacre-descendants-dark-hidden-history/38524593#">white townspeople massacred</a> the farmworkers and their relatives, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/thibodaux-massacre-left-60-african-americans-dead-and-spelled-end-unionized-farm-labor-south-decades-180967289/">killing 60</a>.</p>
<p>In Texas, <a href="https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/sugar-land-slave-convict-labor-history/">sugar plantation owners used convict laborers</a> to grow and process their sugar cane. Many prisoners forced to make sugar were teens convicted of minor offenses, often by Jim Crow courts.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 140,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-140ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>The 2019 discovery of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/27/opinion/sugar-land-texas-graves-slavery.html">95 grave sites</a> of African American sugar workers buried on a prison farm in Texas offered a glimpse of the toll sugar work took on Black workers, many of them children.</p>
<p>The Free Produce Movement may have failed to curb the human rights atrocities occurring in the 19th-century sugar supply chain. But many <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/not-made-by-slaves-ambivalent-origins-of-ethical-consumption/">activists are still drawn</a> to the connection U.S. and British slavery abolitionists made between consumer purchasing power and the possibility of improving labor conditions.</p>
<p></p><hr> <p></p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439239/original/file-20220103-48418-1p7tcpi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439239/original/file-20220103-48418-1p7tcpi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439239/original/file-20220103-48418-1p7tcpi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439239/original/file-20220103-48418-1p7tcpi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439239/original/file-20220103-48418-1p7tcpi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439239/original/file-20220103-48418-1p7tcpi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439239/original/file-20220103-48418-1p7tcpi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>This article is part of a series examining sugar’s effects on human health and culture. <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/sugar-2022-114641">Read the series at theconversation.com</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173473/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Calvin Schermerhorn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Before the Civil War, US activists sought to combat slavery through sugar boycotts. Instead, consumption grew.Calvin Schermerhorn, Professor of History, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.