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#4796: On Defense of the Ayitian State: Poincy replies to Ulysse
From:caineve@idt.net
Gina Ulysse said:
?Having electricity, drinking water, phone, transportation, sanitation and
medical facilities etc. is not development or even modernization. They are
basic human needs that ought to exist and should have been provided by the
state. As we all know, historically the Haitian state has never had any sense
of responsibility to most of those outside of the capitol. Very early, it
positioned itself against the rest of the nation. I'm of the perspective that
development anywhere is predicated upon having a state that sees itself as the
provider of such necessities. Once those are in place, let's talk about
developing or modernizing what already exists. Again for me at the heart of
these concepts (both in theory and way too often in practice) are biased
standards that have, more often than not, undermined, devalued and exploited
local resources.?
Thinking that the State should provide these basic necessities is a very
paternalistic It relieves the privates from their duties or obligations to
improve their well being. The State involvement is to prevent negative
externalities by regulating the privates? behaviors. This is where monopolies
in these areas draw their beauty at the starting point of community
development. The State is simply a regulator and not a provider.
The State comes into play only to assist those who, due to their inherent
inability to earn a buck, can?t afford providing for themselves such
necessities. Again it does so through subventions or public assistance. We have
to keep in mind that the State is not a producer (strictly speaking). Hence, it
is incapable of generating its own revenue. It gets its revenue from private
activities through taxes and fees which it uses to assist those in dire needs
or initiate public projects, such as transportation for the privates to take on
at a later stage, or enter in a form of partnership with the privates. In the
Ayitian State where private activities are moribund, there is no way these
necessities can be provided. The Ayitian simply does not have a revenue base.
Foreign borrowings just don?t cut it.
To call on the Ayitian State to provide these necessities is quite unfair as it
gives the privates a means to ignore their moral obligations. It is also an
unfair accusation to say that ?very early it (Ayitian State) positioned itself
against the rest of the nation.? We have to dissociate the State from those
running it and no attempt should be made to confuse the two. Yes! Those at the
wheel early on did the exact thing Ulysse?s statement says and we know they
were the mulattos; later on the blacks followed suite. I make this remark to
show that there is nothing to fix with the State itself. The people on the
wheel need to be fixed.
Once we have strong, conscious and well intended leaders to carry on the duties
of the Ayitian State, as an assistant, a regulator, monitor and security guard,
those basics necessities will be provided by the private themselves. They are
the ones in closer contact with their communities and are much more able to
assess their needs than a distant national body could. This is a more viable
option to make concrete any form of community development. That?s the
contractarian perspective which is more hopeful than the paternalistic one. The
latter is from the old school and with communism in full fledge it proved to be
a failure as it was far to resolve the pain of mankind. Today small communities
can flourish in light of the former if the privates take matter in hand and
don?t except the State to provide this and that, other than performing that the
functions it was created for.
Ayiti has lived, lives and will live
Mozeb
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