At our small office in downtown Bethesda, Maryland, the World Future Society welcomed the former Haitian ambassador to the United States,
Raymond Joseph. He was accompanied by his son,
Paul Joseph (a futurist and activist who arranged the meeting), and
Emmanuel Henry, a former vice president for Panasonic. The goal of the meeting was to explore ways that the tools of futuring can help rebuild their nation.
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| (From left) Raymond Joseph, Timothy C. Mack, Emmanuel Henry, Cynthia G. Wagner, Paul JosephWorld Future Society photograph by Lisa Mathias |
Raymond Joseph is an ambitious man. Not only does he want to save his own country, but he wants Haiti to become a role model for other countries written off as “failed states” with no futures.
As one of many would-be candidates in the recent presidential election whose eligibility was revoked (allegedly because he had abandoned his duties as ambassador in order to make a bid for the presidency), Joseph conceded that his ambitions are political. The first thing his country needs, he said, is leadership, but one that is based on trust.
The Josephs and their compatriot Henry, who helped manage the
Friends of Raymond Joseph for President campaign in 2010, spoke with Society President
Timothy Mack and myself (FUTURIST magazine editor
Cindy Wagner) on January 13, one day after the first anniversary of the devastating earthquake that brought international attention to Haiti.
Four days later, exiled dictator
Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier returned to Haiti accompanied by heavy security, leaving Joseph’s hopes for the future—his country’s and his own—even more uncertain.
Below are excerpts from our dialogue.
Raymond Joseph: [Speaking of the immediate aftermath of the earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010, at which time he was in Washington, D.C., serving as ambassador.] The leadership was absent, they were not to be seen anywhere, so all of a sudden I became the face of Haiti for the world. And also I had to take the first decisions in the first 48 hours, to get help to the country.
It’s based on that, quite a few of my friends, both Haitian and foreign, came to me and said, “You know what, we need new leadership in Haiti. You should consider the president’s candidacy,” which I did. And for no reason at all, they disqualified me.
Mack: Let me speak frankly to you. I think that they felt they had lots of reasons, because you posed a threat. You were too well known and too popular.
Raymond Joseph: Yes because of that I was a threat. Yesterday I wrote a piece in the
Wall Street Journal, and in there I say what needs to be done if we’re going to get Haiti back on track. And what I said should be done is for the president who’s there now, whose term ends February 7th, to exit on February 7th with his team and not try to hang on as he wants to until May 14th. Because in three more months, he will not be able to accomplish what he could not do in five years.
Now, what I seek in government for Haiti is a large coalition, and that’s what I’m working for, that’s why I stayed in the country after they disqualified me. They thought I was going to go back abroad. I did not do that.
I feel that we need to look at ways of changing Haiti. And to do that, we have to change the leadership. That’s what I’m working on.
But besides changing the leadership of Haiti, people know that I have some ideas for the future. One of the ideas I have is about energy, what are we going to do about energy, and another major idea for us is reforestation, and what we’re going to do about that.
And to get these things moving on, I feel that we have to entice a percentage of Haitian intellectuals and professionals living abroad … and according to the IDB, the Inter-American Development Bank, that’s 83% of our intellectuals and professionals living abroad. I feel we have to entice a percentage of them to come back.
Wagner: To reverse the brain drain.
Raymond Joseph: To reverse the brain drain.
...
Wagner: Part of the enticement, of bringing the intellectuals back into Haiti, has to be from Haiti itself.
Raymond Joseph: Right.
...
Wagner: But what you face is a collection of problems, and the decision has to be made, what do you tackle first?
Mack: And of course the biggest problem you face is leadership.
Raymond Joseph: That’s it, that’s it.
Mack: And how do you get the strong leadership that is necessary to make this change even be considered. ... What are your next steps? What are you hoping to accomplish in the next few weeks?
Raymond Joseph: My next steps. That’s what I’ve been working on. Since I was bumped off the ballot, I have stayed in Haiti and worked with various candidates that even some who were running, and some who were not running, and looking towards having a large coalition for future change. That’s my goal.
...
So, the idea that I have tried to do in the past of building a coalition of ethical leaderships have been successful. Since they have bumped me off the ballot as for the presidency, I’ve come back. Now we have quite a few candidates for presidency. I want to tell them you cannot all be president of Haiti, but you can all work for change.
Mack: Yes. You can all be friends of Haiti.
Raymond Joseph: Exactly. So, let’s work together to do this. Immediately, the next thing I’m doing is to help annul the elections that took place, which was not an election. Now, that’s what I’m working on right now.
Mack: Are you also working on observers for the coming elections too, or is that something that will happen no matter what?
Raymond Joseph: We haven’t gotten there yet. However, the first democratic elections in Haiti, which the press talked about, in 1990, December 16th, I was the one that signed the agreement with the OAS back then. I was the representative of the country to OAS, and the UN took that agreement and expanded on it, and we had 3,000 observers in Haiti the week of the elections. So I’m used to doing that. And I will want to, [in] the elections coming up, after we get through this harrow here, to have the best observer teams. I brought President Carter to Haiti in 1990, and others. I want to get to that point in the next elections coming up. Which will probably be in a year, because this thing here that they’re trying to patch up, they cannot patch it up. They’re trying to patch it up at the level of the presidential elections, however, the fraud was widespread. It was at the legislative [level] also.
Mack: And that may be very self-defeating in the sense that a weak government does not last, especially if that government is clearly founded on fraud.
Raymond Joseph: Exactly. ...
To be frank with you, since the earthquake, Haiti has had too many NGOs, so much so that now they’re calling Haiti “The Republic of NGOs.” They’re saying ten thousand. ... There’s no coordination, ... and you don’t see what they accomplish.
Wagner: There’s duplication and gaps.
Mack: Right, right, the gaps are very important, but also they are there to accomplish what they are built for, which is their own, their own …
Paul Joseph: … agendas.
Mack: Not just agendas, their own pride. You’ve seen that. You know, NGOs are very proud. And they are very moral, but not always in a good way. “Maybe you should change the way you live your life because I say so.” Too much of that in NGOs.
[chuckling in agreement] I think that what we bring is tools for the people of Haiti to use, as opposed to rules for the people of Haiti to follow.
Henry: That’s well said.
Raymond Joseph: Good. That’s well said. I will take that.
[chuckling] I want to take that sentence.
Henry: And when you have ten thousand NGOs, everybody wants to pull you in different directions. “My direction is better, yours is better” and nothing is accomplished, nothing is achieved.
Mack: But we’re very, very pleased that you would come here and talk to us about this, and we want to be as helpful as we can. That’s my answer.
Raymond Joseph: And I’m going to tell you, also, Paul has tried to get me to talk to various people, and you know …
Mack: Some you say Yes, some you say No.
Raymond Joseph: When he talked about you, I said I want to come. Not because I know you’re going to help me solve the problem right away, but that you can help me think about the future.
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Raymond Joseph
World Future Society photograph by C. G. Wagner
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