Boukan News, 04/16/2025 – For too long, Haiti has been held hostage by silence, negligence, and a hollowed-out state that has abandoned its responsibilities. We are not witnessing the failure of a government—we are witnessing the absence of one. The cries of the people are met with empty chairs, unmanned offices, and leaders who no longer lead. In the face of this void, it is time to say it plainly: Haiti will not be saved by any external force, nor by another political actor seeking power. The only true hope for Haiti lies in the collective awakening of its people.

In Léogâne, community members rebuilt their town after the 2010 earthquake without waiting for international aid to arrive, establishing local construction cooperatives that trained residents in earthquake-resistant building techniques. In Cap-Haïtien, neighborhood associations have created community safety networks that have reduced violence where police presence has disappeared. In rural Artibonite, farmer collectives have developed sustainable agricultural systems that operate outside failing national infrastructure. These are not isolated success stories—they are blueprints for what is possible when Haitians decide to act collectively.

We must move beyond petty divisions, beyond personal ambition, beyond the destructive egoism that keeps us fractured. Our country cannot afford the luxury of self-interest disguised as leadership. Each group, each region, each voice must rise—not in competition, but in unity. We must refuse to speak a language of exclusion, and instead build a movement rooted in human dignity, integrity, and mutual responsibility.

Today, politics in Haiti is no longer about vision or service. It has become theater, opportunism, and manipulation. We’ve seen countless so-called political organizations pop up overnight—unstructured, unrooted, uncommitted—only to vanish as quickly as they came. These are not movements of liberation, they are symptoms of a deeper illness: a nation adrift, where cynicism replaces hope, and paralysis replaces action.

This is not sustainable.

We are not a people destined for suffering. History proves otherwise. Haiti was once a beacon of freedom—the first Black republic, born out of struggle and courage. But the same people who once defied empires now watch helplessly as their dignity is trampled by the weight of corruption, neglect, and despair. It is time to recover that spirit. Not with slogans or superficial reforms, but with a radical recommitment to truth, justice, and national coherence.

Any meaningful path forward must include governance reforms that establish transparency and accountability. We need constitutional revisions that limit the concentration of power and strengthen independent institutions. The diaspora, which sends over $3 billion in remittances annually—more than 30% of our GDP—must be better integrated into our political framework, not merely as economic contributors but as stakeholders with voting rights and representation.

We do not need another messianic figure. We do not need a political magician. We need citizens who are ready to work, organize, and sacrifice for the long road ahead. We need community leaders, teachers, artists, farmers, youth—those who still carry the soul of this nation—to rise and reimagine what Haiti can be.

What does this look like in practice? It begins with neighborhood assemblies where citizens gather weekly to address local concerns—security, sanitation, education—taking responsibility where the state has abdicated it. It means forming issue-based coalitions across traditional dividing lines of class, politics, and region. It requires developing community resource centers where knowledge and skills can be shared, from literacy programs to vocational training. It demands creating accountability mechanisms where local officials must regularly report to constituents, not distant ministries.

True change will not come from above. It will come from below, from within, from us.

The path forward requires embracing our greatest resource: our people. Youth constitute over 60% of our population—a demographic dividend going to waste amid unemployment rates exceeding 70% in some areas. A national service program could mobilize this energy toward infrastructure projects, environmental restoration, and community development while providing training and stipends. Our artists and cultural workers, globally recognized yet locally marginalized, must be central to reimagining our national identity and healing collective trauma.

Let us stop waiting for direction from those who have abandoned us. Let us create new paths. Let us dream again, not as isolated voices, but as one people. And let us remember: no matter how deep the crisis, a nation is never truly defeated as long as its people choose to stand.

The revolution that Haiti needs will not be televised or funded by foreign interests. It will be built day by day, person by person, community by community—through the persistent, unglamorous work of citizens committed to reclaiming their collective destiny. Join us. Not in words, but in action. Not tomorrow, but today.