Haiti. Land of tragedy, land of hope

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The numbers alone are stunning: 8 million inhabitants, 70 percent of whom live below the poverty line; a life expectancy of 50 years; a 65 percent illiteracy rate; and a 70 percent unemployment rate. Such is the recent population in Haiti, which ironically had its origins cast in optimism: the Haitians were the first people to abolish slavery in 1797 and establish a black republic. Yet the following years have brought the island a succession of violence, chaotic politics, and the railroading of national sovereignty for the benefit of few. This thought-provoking documentary traces what Jean-Bertrand Aristide calls Haiti's "linear history" back to its discovery by Columbus in the late 15th century and the violent process of colonization to the present.