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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
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How to Handle the Haiti Crisis
 This article isn't for investors. They have nothing to do in Haiti, at least not right now. It's about survival of some 7 million human beings, who had the bad luck to be born there. For me the "survival" is the right word for the crisis that takes over this country, one of the oldest modern nations and the oldest black republic in the world. Recently a popular TV humorist said that if the Canadian government treated the wild animals the same way as the Haitian government its own people, the politicians in Ottawa would have been sent to jail. There was a laugh while everyone visualized in his mind the Canadian prime minister sitting down in his jail cell. The laughing is better psychologically than crying, but in this case I find crying more appropriate. Look at the media reports about Haiti; it's nothing short than a fight for biological survival than many observers find on the ground. The country is ravaged by incurable diseases like HIV, by generations of mismanagement and mistreatment; by tortures, corruption and criminal activity of any kind. What is the difference between now and 10 years ago? Then at least the people had hope that democratically elected figures could make a new beginning for Haiti. Now all these hopes have vanished. Now every man, woman and child have one thing to think about: how to escape and how to survive until escape. What the world should do to handle this crisis?
Out of sight, out of mindThe strategy the developed world is exercising now is to do nothing and wait until everything settles down like in a magic show. Or preventing the media from reporting other stories like those of crowded boats trying to reach the US coast. If the Haitian nation is dying, it should do this in silence, these strategists say. In fact, could the Holocaust have been possible if the crew from CNN was present at Auschwitz? Could the Armenian massacres have been possible if there was some instant media coverage? So the strategy is clear, not only to do nothing but to descent media curtain around this country.
Good Guys Versus Bad GuysIf this strategy of total ignorance doesn't work; the migration reaches biblical proportions and the media curtain is broken, then the West will try another well-known cure, i.e. putting the blame for all that happens on some bad guys in the country. There are already some sketches in that direction and the public opinion is ready to meet its new nemesis named Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He will be forced to abandon the power and will be replaced by some good guy. We still don't know his name but it doesn't matter too much. This good fellow will receive some big checks from the donors and other financial institutions, big for his country but just daily allowances for the rich nations. There will be even some international police presence for a limited time. The situation will improve until the new good guy becomes in turn a bad guy.
Is there a real cure?Thus the Western strategies include doing nothing and doing something that ultimately won't change the situation. Are there any other options? Is the option for this nation only between dying quickly and dying slowly? If the international community cherishes the Haiti sovereignty there are no other options: you could either try to ignore what's going on or try to help by pouring money and providing some security assistance. I stress on the word "assistance", which is different from creating a security dominion dependant on foreign powers like in Kosovo. The West may opt for importing some of the problems Haiti faces by importing some of its population. Knowing well the public opinion in many western societies I find this option very unlikely. To allow millions of immigrants from a country ravaged by HIV will be considered as suicide by any western government.Thus the only option remaining is to put the country under international protection, protection not from a foreign power but from its own government. This option sounds false for every human being with some democratic background. It means that the world has taken any credit out from any public figure in Haiti, elected or not. It means that in the name of national salvation this nation should replace its elected government with foreign neo-colonial rule. I know what the readers are thinking about this idea, that in the name of freedom it's better to make sacrifices, that the freedom is better than the life itself. "Better dead than red", I read somewhere these words studying American history. OK, that's fine but why do you think right now Haiti enjoys the freedom? Is it a freedom to be prosecuted by your own government, to be treated like animal, to be killed by mobsters with no police around to help? Is this the freedom to die for? I agree that putting Haiti and some other countries like it under new colonial rule will be the last measure, but please agree with me that just ignoring this crisis or trying to heal it with more conventional therapy will bring no lasting solution.
Haiti profile: --------------------
See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Haiti.
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