#3133: Democracy and Haiti : Blanchet comments

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>

In the dawn of the new millennium, the major problem
facing the world community has to do with the end-run
being made around the nation-state  by the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the World Trade
Organization (WTO), the United Nations (UN) in its
present configuration, and certain regional organizations
such as NATO.

This manifests itself in two arenas: economic policy
and security.

In the economic arena, the most minute aspects of
national economic policy are now being dictated by IMF,
the World Bank and WTO to the detriment of the
majorities which, in a democratic system, should have
the final say in such matters.

In security matters, the UN has become emboldened
since the end of the Cold War to intervene in internal
conflicts in a manner that takes it way beyond its own
charter .  Furthermore, regional organizations
such as NATO are also intervening in internal conflicts,
allegedly on behalf of the UN, without the checks and
balances that the UN framework typically provides,
albeit inefficiently and non-democratically.

In the case of the former tendency, the impetus is
coming from a corporate plutocracy answerable only
to directors who hail from the more prosperous regions
of this planet. As for the latter, the whole thing is being
orchestrated by the only superpower left, the United
States of America.

The problem with all of this is simply that democracy
is inconceivable and impractical without a functioning
nation-state in which sovereignty rests ultimately with
the people who  must have the final say in life-and-death
decisions impacting the very fate of the national polity.

The implication for Haiti is that we as a people must
strive to create  a strong nation-state through the active
and  democratic participation of the people. And while
we do that, we must endeavor to join forces with
other peoples and nations that are striving to counter
the pernicious tendencies I have outlined above.

To believe that in the current phase of Haiti's
development, we need to entrust an elite with the nation's
fate would be foolhardy for two reasons:

First, given the weight of our own history, such an
elite -- and it is not at all clear how it would be selected
except through a process of self-selection that brings to
mind the 19th century slogan "le pouvoir aux plus
capables" -- would quickly revert to the predatory
and kleptocratic practices that has brought the country
to its knees in the first place.

Second, even if one assumes that such an elite
would govern efficiently and honestly, it is easy to
imagine that it would quickly become subservient to the
dictates of the new international order I have
described above.