in 1789, Black Haitians inherited the most profitable and vibrant economy in Central/South America, the most modern infrastructure and equipment and the full support of one of the most powerful nations (France). They brought the country to this.

They ruined their nation only to have it rebuilt by foreigners in 1915, 1958 and 1994.

On the very same island (Hispaniola), the Dominican Republic is a relatively prosperous and certainly not subsisting on dirt patties.

Haiti is a prime example of African incompetence and failure.

It's a complex situation. How clever of you to have distilled the exact factor that inevitably led to this tragedy: Africans. Not France, not personalities, not subtle artifacts of history: just race.

Up vote the video, downvote the racist.

Haiti, the first black Republic, however just as bad or worse off than other African nations. Half the island of Hispaniola is eating dirt while the other half lives of the rich soil and tourism.

Can you please tell me which African countries, post-colonial or not, have an enviable state of affairs?

When an entire civilization is victim to "subtle artifacts of history", I think it is safe to say it's a socio-anthropological characteristic of said civilization.

But your logic is flawed. You say "no black civilisation has flourished therefore black civilisations are failures of their own device."

If i knocked down every house of cards built on a SurfaceSmooth™ table top, would that mean that SurfaceSmooth™ table tops are poor surfaces for card-house building?

You have provided nothing to demonstrate that these black civilisations have failed because of their own shortcomings. I'm not getting involved in whether you're racist or not. Your logic doesn't work though.

^Pprt:
Your definition of "state" is a western term not relevant to the thousands of years that Africans lived sustainably in tribal organizations on their native soil before Europeans arrived to colonize the land and kidnap the people for slavery. The Africa that was had no need of such "states."

Almost all of the inhabitants of Haiti are descended from people kidnapped to be sold as slaves or the work of the European. The "liberation" of Haiti from French rule is the only successful slave uprising in history. A revolution against criminals fought by victims.

A successful revolt does not necessarily mean that the newly freed people knew what was required to run a "state," as much of their experience of freedom might have been stories of tribes passed down from their grandparents. Hearing of a thing and knowing a thing are not equivalent.

To ignore the "artifacts of history," as you call them, that the nation of Haiti is, and has been subject to, is to ignore reality. All situations of the present are the legacy of the actions of the past. No civilization exists in a vacuum. The civilization you enjoy is a product of history and will always be subject to that history.

The Code Noir once reverberated loudly in the world. Your comments here show characteristics of its legacy.

I think the onus is on you gentlemen to provide examples of currently successful black civilizations. There's absolutely no relevance that "a thousand years ago they were fine". Two hundred years ago there was nary a spark of man made electricity in Japan, however look at the provenance of the battery in your mobile.

Furthermore, I have touched solely on the fact that on this particular island, the Blacks have demonstrated an incredible amount of ineptitude in comparison to their insular neighbours.

Do I feel Haiti is worse off because it is inherited by Blacks? Absolutely.

If Japanese had inherited the territory I'm sure as hell they wouldn't be eating mudcakes.

As for the inferred argument that Europeans have supposedly "destroyed the African house of cards", it holds the least water especially because, as noted earlier, Haiti has been a "free" Black country for over two centuries and has accomplished nothing.

The simple fact that this video is entitled "Will somebody please feed Haiti?" proves that we deem them incapable of self-sustenance and implies that they are reliant of foreigners for the basic element of existence.

If we were to assume that the world does "feed Haiti", would they be better off for it? What kind of self-reliance or even self-respect can they develop if they do not have the capacity for producing their own food.

I'm sure you don't feel guilty when you cross a beggar in the street in your very own city. Why would you feel guilty for an entire civilization occupying land which has the potential to be extremely sustainable?

If anyone is going to "fix" Haiti it's the Haitians themselves. Stop self-flagellating yourselves.

Though it may exist, I'm not aware of any post-colonial nation founded by the previously enslaved or greatly oppressed that has grown economically powerful. Sure, there are examples where members of the 'master class' succeeded from an empire to found a new nation, but that is a very different situation.

As far as tropical nations go, the Dominican Republic may be far better off than Haiti, but there, it was wealthy land owners that seized the country from the Spanish. In Haiti, inconsistent French policy on the position of slaves in the colonies enabled Haitian slaves to stage a successful revolt. The countries had very different starting points.

Colonialism would be an nonviable practice if it's central purpose was anything other than exploiting the natural wealth of colonized lands and the hard work of colonized people. That, however, doesn't mean that all colonized peoples start from the same place. To ignore history and to argue that many liberated African peoples are suffering today because of their own ineptitude is sheer ignorance.

As much as I dislike the way Pprt is putting his case forward, he isn't particularly wrong (which is sad in it's own way).

Appartheid in Sth Africa was a horrible state of affairs but since it was abolished, the country has descended back in to factional wars between tribal divisions stretching back for centuries.

Zimbabwe/Rhodesia, used to be a source of immense natural wealth and produce and since Mugabe's government was given power, it has descended in to anarchy and violence with one of the most hyperinflated currencies in the world. The farmers who produced this great wealth (mostly white), were murdered or driven off their lands. Their crops and estates were burned and destroyed. Now there is famine.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9503E0D7113BF934A3575BC0A9649C8B63

Watching how much effort goes in to making the dirt cookies, I can't help but feel that the countries leadership could invest in teaching the people how to start up farming to be less reliant on expensive imports. Where is the local leadership to bring these people out of this horrible situation?

Instead we have a country that readily accepts eating dirt to fill their stomachs, and a world that feels the need to butt in to their business because it is becoming increasingly apparent that they are obviously completely incapable of taking care of themselves.

Just as long as we don't say they're completely incapable of taking care of themselves...

Funny how this is the sort of flaw that happens around the world and not, as some would have you believe, only in black cultures. You see a problem, you apply means to alleviate the problem, even temporarily, but you force yourself to ignore the root cause of the problem because it's not politically correct to point it out, rather than working to fix the root problem. Education of Hatian's in methods of food production could start to change things. Political influence on the government to encourage investment in primary and secondary food industries.

But if the people aren't willing to help themselves, how can the rest of the world do anything but shout them a free meal every now and again?

>> ^grinter:
Though it may exist, I'm not aware of any post-colonial nation founded by the previously enslaved or greatly oppressed that has grown economically powerful. Sure, there are examples where members of the 'master class' succeeded from an empire to found a new nation, but that is a very different situation.

Please share an example of the latter.

Colonialism would be an nonviable practice if it's central purpose was anything other than exploiting the natural wealth of colonized lands and the hard work of colonized people. That, however, doesn't mean that all colonized peoples start from the same place. To ignore history and to argue that many liberated African peoples are suffering today because of their own ineptitude is sheer ignorance.

Singapore, Hong Kong, Brazil, Canada, South Africa (before apartheid ended) are all ex-colonies and none can deny their success. I think colonialism certainly leaves an imprint, however it's up to the inheritors to use it to their advantage. In fact, South American natives inhabited Haiti prior to the arrival of any invaders and I'm certain they were quite well fed.

If you're trying to argue with me that Haitians are capable of feeding themselves, perhaps you need to view this video again.

Next time you're peeling a potato, look at the little crevices (the so called "eyes"). These are in fact potato seeds. It would be quite easy, wouldn't it, to plan some potato skin and reap a harvest?

As a matter of fact, I'm quite certain that a five pound sack of potatoes would be enough for you or I to start a little garden. Sure we'd need to roll the field and plow the ground, but after a few years, we might even have enough to feed a few families.

Why am I telling you this? Just to demonstrate how utterly hopeless these people are unless they get their hands dirty and PUT SOME SEEDS IN THE GROUND THEY ARE NOW EATING.

>> ^Asmo:
Zimbabwe/Rhodesia, used to be a source of immense natural wealth and produce and since Mugabe's government was given power, it has descended in to anarchy and violence with one of the most hyperinflated currencies in the world. The farmers who produced this great wealth (mostly white), were murdered or driven off their lands. Their crops and estates were burned and destroyed. Now there is famine.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9503E0D7113BF9
34A3575BC0A9649C8B63

You are confusing tyrannically racially based tactics to retain absolutist power for failure in managing and running an economy. Elections that brought him to power were neither free nor fair.

^Pprt, go back and read my comment until you understand it. There is no point in writing the whole thing again.

You know what would be great? To strip Pprt of all but the clothes on his back, drop him off in the Haitian village shown in the video, and see if he can manage to feed himself.
Even with his 'quality' education, a benefit the hungry kids in the video lack, I'd wager a fair sum that he'd be eating dirt cookies before too long (if he was lucky).

Oh, and potato eyes are not "seeds". They are used for vegetative reproduction.

You didn't reply to a direct question.

And about how simple potatoes are to grow... don't take my word for it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnrkzKFb4qw

3-4 months later

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctHd_cZyWlQ

And you're probably right... drop me in a Haitian village and I'd probably get kidnapped for ransom.

Otherwise... I'd pick some seeds and try to get some land to grow some food. But the plants would probably get destroyed or stolen.

Haiti used to be a big producer of rice and it was a staple food. But the US's subsidization of their rice and pushing it on Haiti destroyed Haitian the rice market. Now it isn't as affordable as staple food.

^ correct

USDA farming subsidies are a ridiculous morass of pork