PAWÒL APRANTI-SAJ

Ayiti ap leve pou li liminen planèt la lè Ayisyen ap sonje kiyès yo ye.  Lè sa a, n ap vire anndan n pou n al chèche solèy Larenn Kongo nou olye pou nou vire deyò pou n tann lànèj Tonton Nwèl yo...  Ak tout respè pou Tonton Nwèl ak tout sa ki kwè ladan n !

Bèl Sòlstis, bèl Kwanzaa, bèl Anivèsè Lendepandans !

~Djalòki~

I like the Mission Statement and the definition of Wicca.  You'll find them in the link "Church":

http://www.wicca.org/

~Djalòki~

www.djaloki.blog.com

If it harms none, do as you will - Wiccan motto

Some people were afraid we could be too conservative to fit in their campus !!!  They asked us to share our political views on Ayiti.  Here is what I wrote back.

~Djalòki~

Dear Tim, friend of Carla and thus mine/ours too,

Honor and Respect to you and your loved ones !

It is a rare honor and privilege nowadays to be asked to justify one's plain progressive perspective on politics and society.  We are rather used to be forced to "sleep with the enemy" and hide or temper our sincere opinion, usually for strategical choices, sometimes just for security, or even survival.

My name is Djalòki.  I am one of the two Ayitian (Haitian) associates of Carla Bluntschli, in DOA/BN and in the N a Sonje Foundation.  I am hereby offering my own answer to your query.  I ask you to bear the following points in mind when you read and interpret my words:

- As you suggested I will keep this statement short, which implies that I don't pretend to lay down a complete and accurate image of my political vues with all their nuances.  It is rather just a general indication of where I tend to position myself.  As Carla suggested you would need to share our living/sleeping/eating/speaking/laughing/crying/dancing to start to know us better, and if I understand well you will actually be able to do that a little bit, which I am looking forward to with anticipation.

For more information on my views I invite you to read two of my texts, available on the Internet:

The Invisible External Debt of the Western World. (http://www.djaloki.blog.com/77865) - on the 9/11 WTC event.

The Post-Modern Ayiti. (http://djaloki.blog.com/78539)

- I endorse 100% of what Carla wrote, as is usually the case.  I guess I could perhaps be labeled as a bit more "radical" than her, but I am not sure that this term fits me really.

- I will try to put as much of my "modern western self" as possible behind my words to minimize possible misunderstanding due to my cultural distance from the US paradigm; I ask for tolerance and an open mind from the reader who does not necessarily share the same worldview as mine, and forgiveness for any potential offense which I assure would be unintentional.

So here goes:

My worldview is a holistic one, and it is thus almost impossible for me to separate my political views on Ayiti (Haiti) from those on the US, or any other country in the world, especially in our times of instant communication and so-called "globalization".  It is as well almost impossible for me to separate politics from history, culture, economics, biology, psychology, linguistics, spirituality, etc...  Nevertheless, I will successively shift my focus from one perspective to another, through a gradual approach from the global (planetary) one, through the intermediate (imperialistic) one, to the local (Ayitian) one.

Extremely simplisticly put, I believe that Humanity has reached a critical stage of its evolution where we have the possibility to make a quantum leap into a completely new way of living, thinking, doing and interacting with both our external and internal worlds.  This potential new way of being will be respectful for the earth, for ethnic, cultural, social and spiritual diversity, for women, for the elderly, for animals, for all kinds of differences life chooses to express itself.  It will be just, peaceful, balanced and sustainable.  Humanity has the possibility to become a healthy family consciously assuming its role of guardian and caretaker of planet Earth.  I believe that a growing number of people are sharing that vision.  They are creating a growing counter-culture against the materialistic, exploitative, destructive status quo, based on 3 imperialistic powers (economic, military and political).

If this counter-culture grows enough to create a critical mass within the mainstream collective consciousness, we will rapidly shift towards the new paradigm.  The small group of people outrageously benefiting from the old/current paradigm (the imperialistic status quo) are more or less aware of this possibility which represents a threat for them.  They are supported by the natural resistance to change of the whole system, often represented and carried on by innocent unaware people.  This situation causes many of the horrible social and political aberrations we are witnessing currently all over the world, both in so-called "developped" as well as so-called "under-developped" countries.  The main strongholds of this old/current imperialistic paradigm are rooted in or intimately connected with US financial, military and political power centers.  These centers now tend to act as world rulers, making and unmaking at will, whenever and wherever felt profitable, with exclusive financial, military and political self interest and with utmost disdain for life, ethics, people, the environment or even the survival of the human race.  For a number of reasons I won't develop here - some historical, some political, some plainly racial maybe, and others even maybe mystical too - Ayiti and her people have become a traditional focus of interest of the old/current Empire (now seated in the US), a place and a people to either control or to destabilize, a place and a people to either conquer or to destroy, a place and a people to enslave and/or to demonize.  Since 1791, all attempts for control, conquest and enslavement have failed...

So the Empire, with its local acolytes, often unaware of their own conditioning and self-destructive attitude, has chosen to destabilize, destroy and demonize instead, with much better results...  Today, the Ayitian people has already formulated its choice for a leader.  There is no need for elections for that, as usual.  Whether it is a good choice or not is another question, but as a direct reaction to the Ayitian people's choice, the Empire will try to either prevent democratic elections to happen, as usual, kill or incapacitate the chosen leader before or after the elections, remove him or prevent him to work normally and demonize him if he gets elected, as usual.

In honesty and respect, I have expressed my opinion.

In Honor of all our Ancestors and Ancestresses, as well as in Respect for all the great grandchildren of our great grandchildren :

Liberty or Death !

Reverance to you.

~Djalòki~

Jiska prezan, mwen resi kenbe fokis mwen sou enèji "anlè" yo, men se yon gwo batay chak fwa mwen sot deyò nan lari.  Reyalite anbyan an ba, li lou, li negatif, li fitil, li gen laperèz anpil, egal m ap viv nan yon lòt reyalite ki pa matche menm ak vibrasyon pi fò rès moun yo.  Mwen gen entansyon kenbe pwotokòl sa a.  Li pi bon pou mwen, e m kwè li ka pèmèt mwen ede lòt moun tou, men m pa konn ki efè segondè li ka genyen, m pa konn si li posib pou m kenbe konsa pandan m ap eseye fonksyone nòmalman nan Potoprens.  Sa fè m sonje Mèt Yechwa lè li te di "Mwen nan monn sa a, men mwen pa fè pati ladann".  M ap suiv pou m wè...

I have been approached as an "expert" on Vodou, and asked if I have something written on the subject.  Pretending that Vodou is my "expertise" would be very exagerated, but I do have developped an interest and studies on the subject, through readings as well as direct experience and meditation.  I do not have a text exclusively dedicated to Vodou, but I often include Vodou inspired comments in my texts, or references to Vodou values.  If you have some time, you can browse through the archives of my blog (www.djaloki.blog.com); I suggest you type "Vodou", or related concepts in the search tool of the blog.  My essays are categorized under the "Djalòki's writings" label which you will find in the "Categories" title on the right hand-side column of the main screen of the blog.

I have been lecturing on cross-cultural awareness and respect in the US and in Europe.  Three of the lectures I have given, titled "Spiritual Literacy", "Imaginary Friends for Real!" and "Vodou, as Lived by a Post-modern Ayitian", are more specifically about Vodou.  I usually feel comfortable with answering verbal questions.

Some people have asked me to write on Vodou and I have been thinking about it.  I think that Vodou is quite difficult to circumscribe within a static linear rational medium.  There are reasons Vodou has traditionally been transmitted through the oral line.  Once something is written, it is isolated, confined and immovable, which would not do justice to most Vodou values and concepts.  I have been thinking more and more that Virtual Reality will be a much better way to present Vodou, when that technology is more advanced and more accessible to the public, on the Internet for instance.  I will then certainly be honored to participate in a joint work of presenting Vodou, along with other "experts", through a multidimensional medium, with possibilities of depicting the invisible realms and creating unusual emotional and mental states through multisensorial stimulations.

For now, I will keep on thinking about a written text accessible to the non initiate.