Check out this great slideshow of our experience in the DR created by Fatima Jalloh!

https://lillanetwork.wordpress.com/about/

“If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. If you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

These words were used by Lilla, Aboriginal Elder and Activist to set out a challenge for people working towards social justice. Since then these words that have inspired and guided many people pursuing social justice. 

http://queensjournal.ca/story/2015-01-14/opinions/third-world-isnt-your-photo-op/

The State of Consumption Today, published online by the Worldwatch Institute, argues the natural world’s resources are consumed disproportionately, heavily in the favour of developed countries. They estimate there’s 1.9 available hectares of productive land per person – yet the average American uses 9.7 hectares, in comparison to the average Mozambican, who uses 0.47. Attempting to step into the shoes of the less fortunate is an interesting experiment for Westerners with a ticket home in their back pocket. But we shouldn’t forget that another person’s hardship isn’t a ride at an amusement park; it’s something to be respected, not appropriated.

Let’s Not Forget The Point Of The Catcalling Video – http://huff.to/1tNmog3

We landed in Santiago, safely, at 11:30 a.m. and the ISA staff was there waiting for us with big smiles on their faces. We got a brief orientation, went to La Sirens (a super market) to change money and have a some comida dominicana, then checked in at the Hotel Posada Monumental. Most of us are hitting the ground running. Some have already gone out for walks and horse drawn carriage rides (turns out that it was not the sort of experience they were expecting). Our class/debrief session yesterday evening was amazing! It’s awesome to witness how much folks have learned about the DR and themselves in just one day. More to post tomorrow!

It’s travel day! This Saturday morning everyone in our crew made it to the airport by 5:00 ish. Some of us were a little late (but I won’t mention any names). The crew was all here, but desafortunadamente (unfortunately), one of our crew forgot her passport at Rowan 😦 No worries though, while she won’t be flying with us today,  she will be joining us tomorrow. See you soon Fatima!

Can you believe we are ONLY 2 days away from our service trip to the DR? If you are like me and plan to pack tonight, you may be wondering about what sorts of things to pack in terms of documentation, health necessities, clothes, and other things.

I found this very useful article from USA Today that gives some advice around those categories. Check it out!

The stratification of race and class present in colonial Hispaniola remains an important factor in the lives of Haitian and Dominicans until the present day. This stratification was most clear in Haiti as described by C.L. R. James in his seminal text the Black Jacobins when he notes that,

The advantages of being white where so obvious that race prejudice against the Negroes permeated the minds of the Mulattoes who so bitterly resented the same thing from the whites. Black slaves and Mulattoes hated each other. Even while in words and, by their success in life, in many of their actions, Mulattoes demonstrated the falseness of the white claim to inherent superiority, yet, the man of colour who was nearly white despised the man of colour who was only half-white, who in turn despised the man of colour who was only a quarter white, and so on through all the shades. The free blacks, comparatively speaking, were not many, and so despised was the black skin that even a Mulatto slave felt himself superior to the free black man. The Mulatto, rather than be slave to a black, would have killed himself. It all reads like a cross between a nightmare and a bad joke. But these distinctions still exercise their influence in the West Indies today. While whites in Britain dislike the half-caste more than the full-blood Negro, whites in the West Indies favor the half-caste against the blacks (James, 1963, pp. 43).

From this outline one can certainly identify what Beverly Daniel Tatum (2000) calls internalized oppression (Adams et all Ed., 2000, pp. 80). Internalized oppression is the notion that even members of the oppressed group can internalize stereotypical categories about his or her own group to some degree. It can be argued that the French of colonial Haiti and the Spanish in colonial Dominican Republic used racist ideology and its internalization to keep people of color in check and to maintain power and privilege.

In colonial Haiti and the Dominican Republic the colonizers benefited greatly from the racist and classist social and economic system. In the case of Haiti the colonial system brought about real economic advantages to the French. For example, by 1789 Haiti was the most profitable colony the world had ever known (James 1963, pp. 57). As early as 1767 the colony exported 72 million pounds of raw sugar and 51 million pounds of white, a million pounds of indigo and two million pounds of cotton, and quantities of hides, molasses, cocoa and rum. Smuggling, which was winked at by the authorities, raised the official figures by at least 25 per cent (James, 1963, pp. 45). James explains that several cities in France and the world to some extent were made possible by the colony as nearly all of the industries that developed in France during the eighteenth century had their origin in goods or commodities destined for either Africa or the Americas (James, 1963, pp. 48).

By the middle of the eighteenth century, 16 factories refined 10,000 tons of raw sugar from San Domingo every year, using nearly 4, 000 tons of charcoal. Local factories supplied the town with jars, dishes and bottles. The trade was cosmopolitan – Flemings, Germans, Dutchmen, Irishmen and Englishmen came to live in Bordeaux, contributing to the general expansion and amassing riches for themselves (James, 1963, pp. 48).

Strong parallels can be made to the contemporary situation of the DR and Haiti in relation to the United States and other first world nations who benefit greatly from the third world status of these two nations. This is mostly evident if we consider structural adjustment policies implemented in those countries that have greatly benefited multinational corporations and left the economies of the DR and Haiti along with their people with very little to show for those for themselves.

References

Adams, M., et all (Eds.). (2000). Readings for Diversity and Social Justice. New York, NY: Routledge.

James, C.L.R. (1963). The Black Jacobins. New York, NY: Vintage Books.

The hotel Posada Plaza Monumental is located in the center of Santiago de los Caballeros, the second city of the Dominican Republic. Is a few meters from the best attractions, best restaurants, shops. The hotel offers all the comfort of business travelers and tourists. The Plaza Monumental hotel features a cafeteria, a fitness center and a pharmacy. It is only15 minutes from the airport. All rooms have air conditioning and cable TV. – from http://www.hotel-dominican-republic.net/hotel-911-plaza-monumental-santiago.html

Rowan-Hotel-Information-Spring-Break-Santiago-2015