Ilio's Odyssey
Good Governance or Self-Governance
Four months after the earthquake, many are still asking, where is the Haitian government? At the end of March, with the talk of raising funds for the reconstruction of the country and without much...
3 months ago | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
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Taxation Without Representation
Last week, I wrote a piece suggesting that the Haitian government find a way to institute a tax system on the Haitian diaspora. As much as I am aware that this would not be an easy feat, nor would...
4 months ago | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
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Forbidden Transfers
Francis Crick, the Nobel laureate and one of the discoverers of the structure of Deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA ) used the term forbidden transfers to describe the phenomenon that proteins cannot sel...
4 months ago | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
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Representation without Taxation
We all want to see a different and better Haiti. The Haitian diaspora wants the right to be involved in all internal affairs of the country, including access to run for political offices; however ...
4 months ago | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
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Haiti is an Open Problem
It is getting more complicated by the seconds. The quagmire that was Haiti before January 12th and continue to be afterwards should be classified as one of the Millennium Prize problems. Haiti is ...
5 months ago | 0 0 comments | 4 4 recommendations | email to a friend
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We Must Back up Our Criticism with Deeds
by Ilio Durandis
5 months ago | 0 0 comments | 6 6 recommendations | email to a friend
At times, reading about the current situation in Haiti, one might get the impression that Haitians have given up on the country. Most of the Op-Ed pages of the mainstream media are being written by...
An Alternative to Charity
by Ilio Durandis
5 months ago | 0 0 comments | 7 7 recommendations | email to a friend
The more I read about the current conditions in Haiti, the more I am convinced that we need an alternative response to what is happening. Before the earthquake, Haiti was only functional due to it...
The Many Good Ones
by Ilio Durandis
5 months ago | 0 0 comments | 5 5 recommendations | email to a friend
As a nation, we tend to focus more on the bad than to promote the good. We usually like to agree with people who are different than us than to compromise with our own. We are a proud nation, but ti...
Jobs that Pay
by Ilio Durandis
6 months ago | 0 0 comments | 6 6 recommendations | email to a friend
Any talk of a new Haiti must start with job creation and end with jobs that pay a decent wage. Before the quake Haiti’s unemployment rate was one of the highest in the region, and the few who hel...
A Quick Fix is a Non-Starter
by Ilio Durandis
6 months ago | 0 0 comments | 6 6 recommendations | email to a friend
I am not a big fan of quick fixes and can never get to wrap my mind around temporary solutions. For that many people who know me think that I am lay back or just never feel the need for urgency. ...
Rebuilding Haiti, Not Just Port-au-Prince, Up to Haitians
by Ilio Durandis
7 months ago | 0 0 comments | 12 12 recommendations | email to a friend
Let us not kid ourselves. We must take control of the situation-- and the sooner, the better. Of the many editorials I’ve read in leading news media outlets in the United States lately, many ...
Let Love and Service Guide the Rebuilding
by Ilio Durandis
7 months ago | 0 0 comments | 6 6 recommendations | email to a friend
In less than one minute, everything changed. On my way home from work the evening of Jan. 12, I took a glance at status updates on one of the many social websites and read that an earthquake o...
Looking Toward the New Year
by Ilio Durandis
8 months ago | 2 2 comments | 8 8 recommendations | email to a friend
As we enter a new year and decade, the horizon is full of hope and optimism about the endless possibilities that are awaiting us. While this time usually ushers in new optimism, I have a gut fee...
The Haitian Civil Society
8 months ago | 0 0 comments | 7 7 recommendations | email to a friend
We have the beginning of a functioning civil society, when a community unites and gathers around a common purpose. Occupying the same space without any useful agenda for the greater community can...
Too Small to Fail: Developing Haiti’s Economy
by Ilio Durandis
8 months ago | 1 1 comments | 18 18 recommendations | email to a friend
Haiti is ranked 12th on the list of failed states index for the year 2009. By population size only a few countries on that list are smaller than we are. Our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is as low...