Free Republic

Thanks marcusmaximus.

Thanks UMCRevMom@aol.com.

The rest of the "obsidian trade" and "Colin Renfrew" keywords, sorted:

That’s the real reason I pinged it twice. [blush]

Transcript
0:01	·	this neighborhood is known as little
0:03	·	haiti
0:04	·	it lies in santo domingo the capital of
0:06	·	the dominican republic
0:07	·	on the eastern half of the island of
0:09	·	hispaniola about half a million people
0:11	·	from haiti on the western side live here
0:14	·	but since the pandemic they have fewer
0:16	·	jobs especially in construction and
0:18	·	farming
0:19	·	many lack residency permits or access to
0:21	·	employment services and health care
0:23	·	and now the dominican government says it
0:25	·	will build a border wall to keep
0:26	·	migrants from haiti out
0:30	·	in just two years we want to put an end
0:31	·	to the serious problems of illegal
0:33	·	immigration
0:34	·	drug trafficking and the movement of
0:36	·	stolen vehicles and achieve the
0:37	·	protection of our territorial integrity
0:40	·	while some people from haiti who've lost
0:42	·	their jobs now sell whatever they can
0:44	·	on the street tens of thousands have
0:46	·	returned home
0:47	·	the dominican republic is one of the
0:49	·	fastest growing economies in latin
0:50	·	america
0:51	·	while its neighbor is the poorest nation
0:53	·	in the western hemisphere
0:54	·	much of the dominican public supports
0:56	·	the move to increase security along the
0:58	·	border
1:01	·	i think it would be important because it
1:03	·	would control migration from one country
1:05	·	to another
1:06	·	there wouldn't be as many problems as
1:08	·	there could be if the wall is built
1:10	·	and if it's correctly demarcated it's
1:12	·	beneficial for both countries
1:15	·	when border gates opened in dahabon this
1:16	·	past friday hundreds of people from
1:18	·	haiti were able to cross
1:20	·	and sell and exchange goods at a border
1:21	·	market it's one of four
1:23	·	official crossings where many people's
1:25	·	livelihoods depend on informal market
1:27	·	trade
1:28	·	but there are dozens of unofficial
1:29	·	crossings along the 380 kilometer border
1:32	·	critics say the wall won't solve
1:34	·	underlying problems
1:38	·	measures such as increased border
1:39	·	control should ideally be complemented
1:41	·	by measures to promote regular and
1:43	·	orderly migration
1:45	·	the international organization for
1:46	·	migration or iom and other rights groups
1:49	·	are calling for a humanitarian corridor
1:51	·	for those from haiti who are in need
1:53	·	during economic and political crises
1:58	·	there is permanent persecution we really
2:00	·	regret that a government that claims to
2:02	·	be a government of change
2:03	·	is not respecting the dignity and rights
2:05	·	of immigrants in the dominican republic
2:08	·	many in haiti say that despite the
2:10	·	shared ancestry and history on the
2:12	·	island
2:13	·	they've long suffered persecution and
2:15	·	they are concerned the wall will only
2:16	·	create
2:17	·	further division andrew chappelle al
2:19	·	jazeera

Transcript
0:01	·	Let's pause here.
0:03	·	I'm driving on the road that separates Haiti from the Dominican Republic.
0:07	·	Right here.
0:08	·	It's the border that divides two very different countries.
0:17	·	If you're born in Haiti, you're 2.5 times more likely to die
0:19	·	as a baby than if you're born in the DR.
0:22	·	You'll be almost ten times poorer and
0:24	·	you can expect to have a much shorter life.
0:30	·	I came here to find out how the two
0:32	·	countries that share this one island can be so different, with a politically
0:36	·	volatile and impoverished Haiti on one side and the stable and relatively rich
0:41	·	Dominican Republic on the other.
0:49	·	How did this line produce two totally different worlds?
1:04	·	My journey starts here, at this beach village in southern Haiti, where Haitian
1:09	·	merchants, most of them women, are preparing for a nighttime boat ride.
1:17	·	The women boarding this boat have one goal: to make it to the border where they will
1:21	·	be let into a Dominican market, to buy and sell goods before returning to their villages.
1:26	·	It's international trade at its most informal. We're taking these boats
1:30	·	because the next door mountain range makes the land journey almost impossible.
1:35	·	These worn-out wooden boats have been making this exact journey twice per week
1:39	·	for decades and yet the process remains chaotic and unorganized as if it's
1:44	·	happening for the first time.
1:52	·	All of this energy, time, and effort all to transport
1:55	·	a handful of goods that, in most countries, would be shipped in bulk
1:58	·	inside one of these.
2:09	·	We make this seven-hour journey to the border town arriving around, 4 am.
2:17	·	The sun rises and we walk to the border market. This market was established right on the border
2:22	·	as a partnership between the two nations, to give vendors from both sides
2:26	·	a place to buy and sell on equal footing.
2:28	·	As we approach the border I quickly realize that's not what's happening here.
2:33	·	So I'm looking across the border right now,
2:35	·	into the market and you can see that Dominicans are already setting up.
2:38	·	This is one of the big complaints of the Haitians: they're stuck on this side
2:42	·	waiting to cross the border and the border guards are just delaying it and
2:47	·	meanwhile the Dominicans are able to set up and get the best spots.
2:56	·	These Haitians come from miles away on this grueling boat journey, that I know now firsthand
3:01	·	is very grueling, and they get to the border and the guards stop them for no reason.
3:07	·	They're supposed to open it up for everyone at the same time.
3:13	·	The guards keep the Haitian women from crossing, not letting anyone know how
3:17	·	long it will be. The tension grows and then finally, hours after the Dominicans
3:22	·	were allowed to enter, the guards open up the bridge.
3:40	·	They buy and sell for the day, before returning to the boats to make the journey home.
3:46	·	The grueling boat journey, the senseless discrimination, it embodies
3:50	·	the asymmetry that exists on this island. Watching it happen, it's impossible not
3:55	·	to ask how it got like this.
3:58	·	There are a few key things that explain how this
4:00	·	island produced two very different countries, but if you want to get at the
4:03	·	very root of it you have to go back to when this island was owned by two
4:08	·	European powers: France and Spain. This island is actually the first place that
4:13	·	Christopher Columbus set up a colony in the new world on his first voyage back
4:17	·	in like 1490. France wanted a piece of this island because it was rich in
4:22	·	resources like sugar and coffee, so they fought a war with the Spanish and they
4:25	·	ended up splitting the island in two: one side would be the Spanish colony of
4:29	·	Santo Domingo and the other side would be the French colony, with the same name,
4:33	·	Saint-Domingue, just in French. And that is the most important part of understanding
4:37	·	this whole thing, is how these imperial powers treated their colonial posessions.
4:42	·	The French exploited the land. They brought in tons of slaves and
4:46	·	they were interested in making Saint-Domingue solely an economic producer.
4:51	·	They destroyed the soil from aggressively harvesting the same crop year after
4:55	·	year, and they created a group of very resentful, overworked, and abused slaves
5:01	·	that eventually rebelled.
5:05	·	The Spanish had a different approach. After establishing
5:07	·	domination on this island by massacring the indigenous population, they didn't
5:12	·	exploit it like the French did.
5:13	·	Instead they went to places like Mexico and Peru, to look for gold.
5:17	·	So they didn't bring nearly as many slaves onto this island,
5:20	·	and as a result they weren't nearly as profitable a colony.
5:22	·	Instead, the Spanish integrated with the remaining indigenous population,
5:26	·	by recognizing the native leader's authority and intermarrying with the locals.
5:31	·	The result was a smaller and more racially mixed population,
5:34	·	with a sustainable economy and a political system,
5:37	·	something totally absent from France's colony.
5:41	·	This becomes really important in the early 1800s, when independence comes around.
5:46	·	Haiti declares independence, fights off the French, and basically
5:49	·	declares itself the first black, former slave republic in the world.
5:54	·	They do so with very little framework for a society and for a government and they also do so
6:00	·	with land that has been exploited, year after year, with the same crop which
6:05	·	basically destroys the fertility of the land.
6:08	·	And to add to all of that, because
6:10	·	they were this first black Republic, the world essentially isolated them.
6:14	·	The United States didn't want to recognize the independence of a black nation.
6:19	·	They thought it might become a slave empire and seek revenge.
6:22	·	The French showed up on Haitian shores soon after independence, and said you owe
6:26	·	us a debt for all of the assets that you stole from us when you became independent,
6:31	·	all these economic assets, you owe us that debt and you have to pay
6:34	·	it over the next thirty years. This crippling debt Haiti did pay back over
6:38	·	years, but it really hampered their development.
6:40	·	This history doesn't exonerate the dictators and corrupt politicians that have plagued Haiti's
6:45	·	development since its independence, but it helps explain them.
6:49	·	Suffocating embargoes and the independence debt, as well as the lack of any tradition or
6:54	·	investment in governmental institutions, guaranteed Haiti's failure from the
6:58	·	moment it was born, and a racist world made sure of it.
7:02	·	That racism isn't just
7:03	·	embedded into Haiti's history, it is in fact very alive today.
7:12	·	As I drive up the border, by coincidence my driver is also a Dominican border patrol official.
7:17	·	We have hours in the car, where he slowly and cautiously tells me about how
7:21	·	immigration policy has changed in the Dominican Republic in recent years.
7:54	·	"Regularization Program".
7:56	·	That's a euphemism. He's talking about a
7:58	·	policy of targeting anyone of Haitian descent, even citizens, rounding them up
8:03	·	and deporting them. There's always been anti-Haitian
8:05	·	sentiment in the Dominican Republic, usually resulting in racist violence,
8:16	·	but since 2010, that sentiment has been seeping into legislation. The Dominican
8:20	·	Constitution that was drafted in 1929, says that anyone born in the country is
8:24	·	automatically a citizen, even if your parents were undocumented immigrants.
8:28	·	This is the same in places like the United States, but the DR rewrote its
8:32	·	constitution in 2010, to only give citizenship to those born on DR soil, to legal residents.
8:38	·	Then, in 2013 the high court in the DR ruled that this new
8:42	·	definition would be applied retroactively. All the way back to
8:46	·	1929, meaning any citizen who had been born in the DR to undocumented parents
8:50	·	would have their citizenship revoked.
8:53	·	More than 200,000 Dominican citizens,
8:57	·	were suddenly stateless.
9:03	·	It is clearly an illegal act, it is an immoral act, it is a racist act by the
9:09	·	Dominican government. And it's happening because these people are black.
9:25	·	Dominican law said that if these stateless people wanted to stay in the
9:28	·	DR, they would have to go to a government office and put their name on this
9:32	·	foreigner registry. The government gave these people one year to either get
9:37	·	their name on the registry or face deportation.
9:40	·	Over 55,000 have been officially deported since the June 2015 deadline.
9:45	·	The UN estimates that 128,000 people have voluntarily fled to Haiti,
9:49	·	a country many of them have never lived in. Some came here to this camp on the
9:54	·	border, where they've been living in limbo for years.
10:48	·	The moment I cross into the DR, I start to see what this crackdown looks like.
10:53	·	On a 75km bus ride, we pass eight security checkpoints in which security
10:57	·	personnel board the bus, to eye who was on it, and in some cases check papers.
11:02	·	But each time we stop, they seem to only check the papers of the same few passengers.
11:18	·	That's my translator, Pascale.
11:20	·	He's an American citizen, but everywhere we go in the DR,
11:23	·	security forces keep asking him for his passport.
11:27	·	Halfway through the journey, we pull off the road
11:29	·	into a facility where a few young military guys
11:32	·	are sitting around. And our driver brings this woman and her two children over to
11:36	·	the military guys. She's speaking in perfect Dominican Spanish to them,
11:39	·	claiming that her children are Dominican and that the driver brought us to this
11:43	·	checkpoint to turn her in because she's black.
11:46	·	None of this seems to matter,
11:48	·	she doesn't have her papers and her skin color seems to be all the guards need to see.
11:57	·	Haiti's land and people were abused when it was a colony of slaves.
12:01	·	The world then shunned it, with embargoes and independence debts when it was a new
12:05	·	nation, and today Haitians in the DR experience racism that is overt enough
12:10	·	to be enshrined in law.
12:17	·	As we drive up this very curvy road, I have the DR to my right and Haiti to my left.
12:23	·	Back when the French were here, this was the richest colony on earth,
12:26	·	but that came at a price.
12:28	·	Not only to abused slaves, but also to the
12:30	·	land that they worked. Clear cutting and single crop planting continued after the
12:35	·	French left, but instead of being used to make fancy French furniture, the trees
12:40	·	were burned to cook food.
12:42	·	This explains what I'm seeing when
12:44	·	on my right there's lush jungle.
12:46	·	and on my left there's bare and eroding hillsides.
12:53	·	Zoom out a little bit and it's very clear.
13:00	·	I follow the border road all the way north, until I hit another market town. I wanted
13:04	·	to see if the same discriminatory dynamics played out up here as they did down south.
13:10	·	This market was built with money from the European Union,
13:13	·	and the UN development program,
13:14	·	with the specific intention of creating a space where communities
13:17	·	from both sides could come and buy and sell on equal footing.
13:23	·	Rolling through the market, and once again like we saw in the southern market,
13:28	·	the Dominicans are first setting up.
13:31	·	I walk to the border and find this
13:32	·	huge group of people at this gap in the fence, paying a border guard to get in early.
13:37	·	The dynamic is the same as down south, only with a few more overt bribes
13:41	·	and border guards who seem to have no problem hitting Haitians with a stick.
13:49	·	After hours of waiting for guards to open the gate for everyone,
13:52	·	the Haitians are finally let in.
14:33	·	This is a story about a border that separates two vastly different countries,
14:38	·	but it's moreso a story about policy:
14:41	·	how centuries of racist policies, from
14:43	·	the French, from the U.S., from the world, from the DR, can hold a nation back from progressing.
14:49	·	Haiti, this first black republic, has experienced some of the most
14:52	·	predatory and racist policy from outside forces.
14:56	·	For Haitians this story isn't just their history.
14:59	·	It's their present.
15:00	·	It's the stage on which they live their lives.
15:16	·	So, I want to say a big thank you to lululemon,
15:18	·	who is a sponsor for Borders.
15:19	·	They sent me these ABC pants,
15:21	·	which are these really versatile, flexible pants.
15:24	·	They're super sturdy,
15:26	·	and they're meant to be basically used for hiking and for activewear,
15:29	·	but also around the house when I'm kind of just hanging out,
15:32	·	I've been using them for both as I've been making Borders.
15:35	·	I love them.
15:35	·	Thank you lululemon for sending me these pants,
15:37	·	but more importantly thank you for sponsoring Borders
15:40	·	and making this happen.
15:41	·	If you want to try out some lululemon ABC pants,
15:44	·	You could get a pair of your own.
15:45	·	You should definitely check that out.

Sometimes it means firing the guns without projectiles, here it means a friendly howdy.

Some, and they've also made identifications of long-unknown victims possible, bringing some closure to families of the missing.

Stephen was hawking radiation when that wasn't cool.

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That's espionage, sabotage, insurrection -- and any Demagogic Party supporter is a co-conspirator.

I thought astroturf was bad for the environment?

ND.

He's a lying snake.