#3254: Dominique on racism in Haitian politics (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:Haiti123@aol.com


Doesn't it seem strange to any of you that this one of
thousands of editorials Jean Dominique gave during his
career as a journalist should have appeared in full on
line on the CIP site two hours after Jean' murder?
That this should then, quicker than you can say
labratori ap travay, should then become the basis for
a piece in the LA Times, and that now folks are
rushing to translate the original editorial as "one"
of the sources for the LA Times piece.  It is and Amy
has admitted it herself, the only source for the
thesis of that piece.  (And by the way just a
question, Amy when was the last time you were
physically in Haiti? Cruising the Corbett list doesn't
actually count as a trip to Haiti. )  

We now have an entirely self referential circle which
might lead people living outside of Haiti to actually
come to believe that there is a racially based
campaign against mulattos going on in Haiti.  This
despite the fact that every person in Haiti knows 
this to be absolutely crazy, bizarre and untrue. It is
a neat inversion of reality.   Jean's death is so
terrifying, so chilling and so paralyzing for everyone
in Haiti precisely because he was light skinned, from
the upper class, because that doesn't happen, he was
supposed to be untouchable.  It is Izmery all over
again.    

There were 15,000 people at Jean Dominique's funeral. 
Outside of his family there were almost no light
skinned faces.  Jean Dominique was rejected by the
class he came from because, over and over through out
his life he stood with the poor, he spoke for justice,
he spoke for the peasants, for land reform, against
the United States dominance of Haiti. 

Did he have a run in with Dany Toussaint?  Obviously
he did, it is well documented.  Did he not also
directly challenge in the past few months Olivier
Nadal with his editorial on the anniversary of the
Pillate massacre? Did he not attack Belanger in an
editorial that exposed not only Belanger long shady
history in Haiti but also his current role in the
electoral coup.  Did he not on a daily basis challenge
the electoral council and specifically IFES for its
attempts to disenfranchise the majority of the Haitian
people by making it impossible to get voter cards. 
Did he not earn the ire of a very dangerous group of
people when he and he alone in Haiti revealed the
cause of death of Claude Raymond?    

Why is no one translating, rushing to post, forwarding
and generally fomenting about all of those editorials. 
Perhaps because those who might are still in shock. 
Perhaps because they don't have access to the internet,
they don't have money, they cant pay people to write
for them,  and they did not have advance notice of the
assassinations that was coming.