Hope Initiatives International

The Amity Africa Great Green Wall Project is a joint initiative of

the National Center for Race Amity and Hope Initiatives International

Hope Initiatives International

Hope Initiatives International (HII) is the brand name under which Don Mullan has chosen to develop a series of projects over the next decade. The name was chosen because it evokes the transformative power of hope in achieving lasting and empowering change.

The Christmas Truce and Flanders Peace Field Project

“The Christmas Truce and Flanders Peace Field Project is a gift of the Island of Ireland Peace Process to the European Project and World Peace.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu Inspired by the spontaneous Christmas truces during WWI, Don Mullan’s Christmas Truce and Flanders Peace Fi

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To create a UNESCO World Heritage Site in French and Belgian Flanders, in memory of the 1914 Christmas Truce

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To create, with the support of senior academics from the universities of Galway, Penn State, Aberdeen and Harvard, a Centre for the teaching of Human Empathy

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To create a major visitors center, likely around St. Nicholas Church, Messines, Belgium, that explores the religious, cultural and trans-national elements of the 1914 Christmas Truce and its relevance for today

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A UNESCO and UNOSDP backed Flanders Peace Field in an area to be agreed in consultation with communities representing French and Belgian Flanders, aimed at drawing the youth of the world to explore and experience the role of sport in building a better world.

Toussaint Louverture and Hope for Haiti Project

Toussaint Louverture

Haiti’s history is inspiring, yet it is the poorest nation in the Western World. Why? Haiti is yet to be properly acknowledged for its seminal role in ending slavery worldwide through the astute and courageous leadership of one of the great unsung heroes of humanity, Toussaint Louverture. Haiti also changed the course of USA history by forcing Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte to relinquish interest in the Louisiana Territories, following his defeat by the Haitian people. Haitian slaves defeated the soldiers of Napoleon.

Haiti’s poverty was a punishment, imposed and compounded in the immediate aftermath of the Haitian Revolution which saw it become the first black Republic in 1803. Haiti’s victory was viewed as a threat by four superpowers in the region whose economies were being fueled by the slave trade: France, Spain, Great Britain and the United States of America. All four conspired to lock Haiti down and prevent it from opening trading agreements with its neighbors, effectively depriving the Haitian economy of oxygen.
In 1825, threatening war and recolonization, French warships return to Haiti.

Twenty-two years later, with Haiti severely weakened, France returned and under threat of war, forced Haiti to pay a Reparation Tax of 150 million gold francs, to former French slave owners. There was little mercy shown, and the Haitian people had to endure, for more than a century, externally imposed austerity, stretching across several generations, from 1825 to 1947. Therein lies the Hope Initiatives International, in collaboration with international academics and activists, will launch the following two major projects aimed at highlighting Haiti’s contribution to the ending of slavery and encouraging a review by France of the historic injustice of the Reparation Tax:

  • An international symposium on the historic contribution made by Toussaint Louverture to the ending of slavery, with the aim of establishing an international commission of inquiry to:1. An international symposium on the historic contribution made by Toussaint Louverture to the ending of slavery, with the aim of establishing an international commission of inquiry to:
    • Establish a chain of custody of the person and remains of Toussaint Louverture from the moment of his abduction in the Fall of 1802 until his death and burial at Fort de Joux on 7 April 1803;
    • Seek accountability from France concerning the whereabouts of the mortal remains of Toussaint Louverture today;
    • Support the Haitian people in their historic request for the repatriation of the remains of Toussaint Louverture to the Haitian Pantheon.
  • To build an international coalition aimed at encouraging France to repay (from 2025 – 2147) the modern equivalent of the 150 million gold francs (later reduced to 90 million gold francs) it imposed on the people of Haiti between 1825-1947, as reparation to former French slave owners. It is estimated that in today’s currency, Haiti was forced to pay approximately US$22 billion to France over a period of 122 years.

Two Men Meet Project

Dr. Wiilam H. Smith and the National Center for Race Amity invited Mullan and Hope Initiatives International to partner in an ambitious project with the working title: ‘Two Men Meet Project’. It is a multi-disciplined race amity project inspired also by the unique relationship between Frederick Douglass and Daniel O’Connell. The Two Men Meet Project aims, in four key areas, to build on the transformative hope with which a young Frederick Douglass left Ireland in 1846, greatly inspired by Daniel O’Connell. The Project aims to:

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Renew the fight for Civil and Human Rights at a time of growing neo-nationalism

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Emphasize our common humanity through stories of race amity and ‘The Other Tradition’, especially through the story of the O’Connell and Douglass encounter in Ireland

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To gather the elements of the project around a major piece of public art, entitled ‘Two Men Meet’, depicting the encounter of Frederick Douglass with Daniel O’Connell in Dublin in 1845, for the cities of Boston and Dublin. When accomplished, the monument will, simultaneously, be the first monument depicting Frederick Douglass in Europe, and Daniel O’Connell in the Americas.

Click here to learn more about Hope Initiatives International.