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Most Middle Easterners and of that origin in Haiti are Syrians, though there is a Lebanese presence as they literally went everywhere when Lebanon was part of the Ottoman Empire. In neighboring DR the Lebanese are the majority of the Middle Easterners, I say 85% to 90%. Those of Syrian origin for the most part were or are Haitians and they form almost all of the Syrian origin people in the DR. As you said, there was a time when anti-Syrian sentiment was strong in Haiti, particularly from its government, and much of them were forced to leave Haiti. A good chunk simply went next door and settled in the DR , others went to other countries, missed Haiti too much, but since they couldn't go back to Haiti they decided to settle in the DR. To this day Dominicans of Syrian descent are able to understand and even speak Haitian Kreyol and/or French in addition to Spanish and many English as well, at least some of Arabic too. Lebanese and Palestinian, who make up the bulk of the Middle Easterners in the DR don't speak and/or understand the languages native to Haiti. As for why, well history explains it everything. I think if Haiti was in a better social and economic position (because the snti-Syrian sentiment has died down a lot for a long time), a good chunk of them would move back to Haiti. Just meet one and you will see what I mean, especially if the topic of discussion is Haiti. That place is truly their country despite everything.
Most importantly, despite the Middle Eastern presence in Haiti has been reduced mostly by belligerent actions from the Haitian government, there still is a small Middle Eastern presence left. If you spend enough time you'll bump into many of them in places like Petionville (in stores, supermarket, restaurants, etc). In many markets you will see a very light skin person just standing there next to the merchandise basically standing out from everybody else due to looks, usually those people are of Middle Eastern descent and they are either the owners or managers of that small business.
But like I said in another post, Haiti is very far from Africa and this thread is about the Lebanese in Africa.
Most Middle Easterners and of that origin in Haiti are Syrians, though there is a Lebanese presence as they literally went everywhere when Lebanon was part of the Ottoman Empire. In neighboring DR the Lebanese are the majority of the Middle Easterners, I say 85% to 90%. Those of Syrian origin for the most part were or are Haitians and they form almost all of the Syrian origin people in the DR. As you said, there was a time when anti-Syrian sentiment was strong in Haiti, particularly from its government, and much of them were forced to leave Haiti. A good chunk simply went next door and settled in the DR , others went to other countries, missed Haiti too much, but since they couldn't go back to Haiti they decided to settle in the DR. To this day Dominicans of Syrian descent are able to understand and even speak Haitian Kreyol and/or French in addition to Spanish and many English as well, at least some of Arabic too. Lebanese and Palestinian, who make up the bulk of the Middle Easterners in the DR don't speak and/or understand the languages native to Haiti. As for why, well history explains it everything. I think if Haiti was in a better social and economic position (because the snti-Syrian sentiment has died down a lot for a long time), a good chunk of them would move back to Haiti. Just meet one and you will see what I mean, especially if the topic of discussion is Haiti. That place is truly their country despite everything.
Most importantly, despite the Middle Eastern presence in Haiti has been reduced mostly by belligerent actions from the Haitian government, there still is a small Middle Eastern presence left. If you spend enough time you'll bump into many of them in places like Petionville (in stores, supermarket, restaurants, etc). In many markets you will see a very light skin person just standing there next to the merchandise basically standing out from everybody else due to looks, usually those people are of Middle Eastern descent and they are either the owners or managers of that small business.
But like I said in another post, Haiti is very far from Africa and this thread is about the Lebanese in Africa.
Good info thanks. Is the Prez of DR of Lebanese ancestry?
The current one is the first of partial Lebanese descent voted as president. The lineage comes from his father who immigrated to the DR from Lebanon. In the town his father was from in Lebanon they made a big desl when he was elected as president. lol
His mother lineage is from Santiago, DR (Gurabo area) dating back to at least the early 1600's based on the paper trail. One of his daughters came up as a distant cousin in my 23andme profile, which in a way was a shocker but then, not really. lol The genetic connection has to be from her grandmother's/the president's mother side. Anyone from some of the earliest or old families from Santiago including the surrounding rural there is a strong probability we are related some how, by now most distant cousins. It has happen so much, that I have come to thst conclusion. lol
I have been in Senegal for put on running a machine that the company i have worked has exported to there.
The owner there is senegalese born of french mother and lebanese father but he doesn’t feel it self being african but a french/lebanese double citizen. It is a very strange mindset for someone born in the Americas (Brazil) like me.
He is very racist and treats his employees badly. For example, not even the bathroom at the factory is available for employees who have to defecate in the bush. It was my only experience.
I think why many foreigners make money and run business in Africa is because they have the capital, saved cash to starts the business, money that the average africans don't have. Also the prior business knowloge they brought from their countries.
This is typical for most of the world outside of the Americas. You are either born a specific ethnicity or you are not and it is based on who your parents are. Acquiring citizenship doesn't change who your parents and grandparents are.
Would Africa be better off if people of Lebanese origin were expelled? I don’t recall Uganda becoming prosperous after Idi Amin expelled the Indians.
Would Africa be better off if people of Lebanese origin were expelled? I don’t recall Uganda becoming prosperous after Idi Amin expelled the Indians.
Well the chances of that are very low. Besides African countries have no problems bringing in Chinese companies and with it Chinese people and getting Chinese money.
Expelling any type of people, especially if its a group involved heavily in commerce/business ownership/certain professions is never good for business. This has been proven time and again around the world.
Look what happen in Zimbabwe when the government lead by Mugabe expelled much of the white farmers. As much as the racial policies during colonial times and then as Rhodesia suck big time, getting rid of them caused Zimbabwe more pain than joy. In the end Zimbabwe is inviting back the white farmers and the reason issimple: the agricultural sector which was mostly in the hands of the white saw its production be desimated by the departure of the whites and the takeover by people who had zilch trsining, study and experience running a successful agricultural business. To further add to injury, Zimbabwe has always been a developing country. The government could easily put policies that would encourage the development of other economic sectors with a focus on black Zimbabwean learning and becoming experts in those fields and gain experience managing those sectors so they would be sectors headed mostly by blacks with leaving the agricultural sector alone in the hands of the whites. In a few decades Zimbabwe would have a more developed economy with a business upper class composed mostly by Zimbabwean blacks. There was no need to get violent and expelling the white Zimbabwean farmers. Such an undeveloped country has almost everything to be developed. If you tell me Zimbabwe was one of the world's most developed countries and most sectors are managed and/or owned by whites, then though still a bad policy it would be more understanding why the Zimbabwe government turn against the whites. But in reality Zimbabwe is virgin territory in just about everything. Wrong and unnecessary.
Expelling any type of people, especially if its a group involved heavily in commerce/business ownership/certain professions is never good for business. This has been proven time and again around the world.
Look what happen in Zimbabwe when the government lead by Mugabe expelled much of the white farmers. As much as the racial policies during colonial times and then as Rhodesia suck big time, getting rid of them caused Zimbabwe more pain than joy. In the end Zimbabwe is inviting back the white farmers and the reason issimple: the agricultural sector which was mostly in the hands of the white saw its production be desimated by the departure of the whites and the takeover by people who had zilch trsining, study and experience running a successful agricultural business. To further add to injury, Zimbabwe has always been a developing country. The government could easily put policies that would encourage the development of other economic sectors with a focus on black Zimbabwean learning and becoming experts in those fields and gain experience managing those sectors so they would be sectors headed mostly by blacks with leaving the agricultural sector alone in the hands of the whites. In a few decades Zimbabwe would have a more developed economy with a business upper class composed mostly by Zimbabwean blacks. There was no need to get violent and expelling the white Zimbabwean farmers. Such an undeveloped country has almost everything to be developed. If you tell me Zimbabwe was one of the world's most developed countries and most sectors are managed and/or owned by whites, then though still a bad policy it would be more understanding why the Zimbabwe government turn against the whites. But in reality Zimbabwe is virgin territory in just about everything. Wrong and unnecessary.
I have counted some Zimbabweans here in Australia in the surroundings of where I live. They fled due to Mugabe policies. They sound a bit like South Africans with their accent. Even so not all of them were White. I did even encounter a highly skilled and educated black Zimbabwean guy here in Australia and was against Mugabe just as much as the White Zimbabweans. Yet in Zimbabwe the Blacks and Whites lived sperate lives just like South Africa. Perhaps like the Lebanese people in Africa are like that too and live separate lives compared to the Blacks.
However in Australia it is not unusual seeing mixed race black white couples, which is very rare in Zimbabwe from what Zimbaweans have told me. With the Lebanese it is common for especially Christian Lebanese to intermarry outside the community. I doubt it is like that in Africa with Lebanese community.
Zimbabwe has changed and has invited the Chinese from China to develop the country. They have very much invested in the Mines there and currently the biggest foreign investor there.
It's never a good situation in any country for a small minority group to control most of the wealth. At the end of the day humans are self-interested and highly tribal, making what occurred in Zimbabwe and Uganda predicable. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doubtful the wealth of Zimbabwe was spread out. Doesn't take long for a charismatic leader seeking power to exploit the situation, often to the harm of the very people they profess to help. Therefore, I'm an advocate of spreading the wealth via social programs. It's not from some altruistic perspective, but merely a means of keeping the peace.
The most developed sector of the Zimbabwe economy was agriculture in part because it was government policy (colonial government and then as an independent country) to focus most or a good chunk of the investments into that sector. There is always the risk of government officials being guided by greed and that could lead to what happened, after all the government expropriated farms from the whites and gave them not to blacks at random, rather close friends of Mugabe and his political party.
I still think in reality is no big deal if the agricultural sector was developed and largely owned im this case by the whites. In most developed countries agriculture is a small part of the GDP not because of absolute size, but rather other sectors grew to be an even bigger aspect of the economy. What Zimbabwe should’ve done was encourage the development of other sectors with government programs favoring Zimbabwe blacks (offer scholarships for the brightest Zimbabwe students to specialize in a profession or trade by going to top universities in Europe, North America, etc and then returning to Zimbabwe upon graduation and putting their newly acquired knowledge towards creating firms in particular sectors; government loans and even forcing the private banking sector to offer a percentage of all their loans at preferential interest rates to black Zimbabwean with newly acquired knowledge in some of the world’s best universities, etc).
The role of a government is to put in effect the rules of the game and to tilt some preferences for a limited time in this case meant to create a black upper class. Once that is done, the new black upper class would feed on its initial success into other sectors to be developed. At all times with the government keeping control of what these sectors are, because what merchants and investors do is put their money where it’s the most profitable. Sometimes the government has to intervene in some sectors that need to be developed, but aren’t profitable enough to attract enough national investors. In that case its the government’s job to make it profitable with subsidies, protection, etc for a limited time. Basically, that’s a way to ensure that investors put their money in sectors that have the most impact in job and national wealth creation.
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