‘The Mermaid of Black Conch’ takes us on an enchanted journey
by Rashmee
Posted on February 14, 2021
/ TRAVELS IN MY MIND I was three-fourths of the way through fellow UEA alumna Monique Roffey’s Costa award-winning ‘The Mermaid of Black Conch‘ when I heard Bridget Kendall ask on the radio: “When did mermaid stories first appear?” The question gave me pause. I knew when mermaids first appeared in my imagination. Like many … Continue reading “‘The Mermaid of Black Conch’ takes us on an enchanted journey”
Read MoreWhen it comes to peace, is the EU really a great power?
by Rashmee
Posted on January 21, 2020 / The National
Even before he became the European Union’s new foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, suggested that Europe should speak the “language of power”. And German foreign minister Heiko Maas called for a “strong and sovereign Europe”, which could be a bigger player on the world stage through a proposed European Security Council. It is fitting, then, … Continue reading “When it comes to peace, is the EU really a great power?”
Read MoreTrump’s threat to ruin Iraq financially has a historical parallel
by Rashmee
Posted on January 19, 2020 / The Arab Weekly
It is outrageous to expect Iraq, which has suffered the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives and the destruction of its infrastructure and economy, to pay for its own occupation. When US President Donald Trump threatened to make Iraq pay for the sprawling US base west of Baghdad if it forced American troops to … Continue reading “Trump’s threat to ruin Iraq financially has a historical parallel”
Read MoreThe only real link between Chile, Lebanon, Algeria, Hong Kong is the word ‘protest’
by Rashmee
Posted on November 3, 2019
The editor of Open Democracy, the UK political website, pointed out a crucial point the other day: “Over the past month, the list of countries engulfed by mass protests has grown ever longer – Chile, Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria, Haiti, Hong Kong and Spain, to name a few. There’s a temptation to draw connections. Each … Continue reading “The only real link between Chile, Lebanon, Algeria, Hong Kong is the word ‘protest’”
Read MoreUN winds up its Haiti mission with a pitiful epitaph: It brought cholera to the island
by Rashmee
Posted on October 9, 2017
On Friday (Oct 6) the UN wound up MINUSTAH, its 13-year-old peacekeeping mission in Haiti, having changed it forever but necessarily in the way intended. The last 100 UN troops leave soon and the mission officially ends on October 15. So, what did it accomplish? The unkindest but truest epitaph for MINUSTAH is that … Continue reading “UN winds up its Haiti mission with a pitiful epitaph: It brought cholera to the island”
Read MoreTrump went to Puerto Rico. And brought to life a scene in Graham Greene’s Haiti novel
by Rashmee
Posted on October 5, 2017
When Donald Trump went to Puerto Rico, I remembered Graham Greene’s telling portrait of imperious largesse to the needy in ‘The Comedians’, his 1966 novel on Haiti. The US president threw rolls of paper towel and bags of rice to Puerto Ricans. Not, quite like the way Greene showed us the treatment of the … Continue reading “Trump went to Puerto Rico. And brought to life a scene in Graham Greene’s Haiti novel”
Read MoreSpot the difference: Haitians believe God kills, not germs. For Americans, it’s God not guns
by Rashmee
Posted on October 4, 2017
Before I went to Haiti, my Kreyol instructor gave our class a valuable lesson in Haitian stoicism, immutability, and yes, ill-logic. “Mikwòb pa touye Ayisyen, that’s what many Haitians believe,” he said. “Be prepared.” What he meant was that a certain section of Haitian society was unwilling to believe that the cholera virus could kill and that … Continue reading “Spot the difference: Haitians believe God kills, not germs. For Americans, it’s God not guns”
Read MoreHumanity vs Impunity. Will the UN now compensate Haiti’s cholera victims?
by Rashmee
Posted on August 20, 2016
I was in Haiti in February 2013, when the United Nations took the unusual decision to invoke legal immunity as a way of dealing with claims for compensation from 5,000 victims of the Haiti cholera epidemic. Click here for the story I wrote for The Guardian at the time. It was a straight up-and-down report on the … Continue reading “Humanity vs Impunity. Will the UN now compensate Haiti’s cholera victims?”
Read MoreBrexit: Were Britain’s discontented like Haiti’s ceaseless protestors?
by Rashmee
Posted on July 29, 2016
In the hours after the Brexit result I was reminded most strongly of The Economist piece I wrote from Haiti in December 2013. Here’s a link to the blog, which The Economist titled “The Discontented”. Britain’s Brexiteers, it seemed to me, are being cast like Haiti’s discontented. Do you know who I mean? As The … Continue reading “Brexit: Were Britain’s discontented like Haiti’s ceaseless protestors?”
Read MoreHaiti’s President Martelly told me he was a ‘bad boy’. It seems he was right
by Rashmee
Posted on January 24, 2016
When I interviewed Haiti’s President Michel Martelly for Foreign Policy two-and-a-half years ago, he started by telling me that the people of Haiti had elected him because he was “a bad boy …too many good boys had been president before and not enough things had been done.” Today’s (Sunday, January 24) postponed run-off presidential election, … Continue reading “Haiti’s President Martelly told me he was a ‘bad boy’. It seems he was right”
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Rashmee has lived and worked in several countries in the past decade, including Afghanistan, India, Haiti, Tunisia, the UAE, US and UK