#5275: Re: #5263: The attack on Fonkoze (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Neil Elliott <Neil.Elliott@mindspring.com>

I want to thank Tom Driver for his recent post, not least because
he exonerates us in the Lambi Fund from staging the brutal attack
on Fonkoze and the murder of Amos Jeannot.

I don't know why theologians should arrive most quickly at
adequate explanations of terror (though I expect a partial
explanation is prolonged meditation on a particular terrorist
execution some time back). But surely Tom is right. The goal
of this terrorist act is very precise: to show, clearly and
publicly (as all effective terrorism must), that the hope of the
poor is, indeed, in vain.

"Rival banks"? What competition does Fonkoze have for
lending money to the poorest laborers in Haiti?

An attack on Fonkoze is an attack on the poor. Yes, it
sows instability: if members of this list are left scratching
their heads, wondering where those guys got their crisp
police uniforms, imagine the immediate street impression:
are they really (corrupt) police or impersonators?

Those who gain? Those who prefer the poor to remain
abject and pliable, who know that fear is eventually
profitable. The generalized terror Tom describes is
never completely random or generalized. Even if we
don't know who bought the uniforms or the guns or
the trainer, we know who has the most to lose if
Fonkoze starts to restrict its program--and those people,
Fonkoze clients, can read the message loud and clear.

I'm profoundly grateful for the courage shown by those
who spoke, and those who supported them, at Amos
Jeannot's funeral. It falls to those of us who sit in greater
comfort to carry the burden of speaking out on their
behalf.

Neil Elliott
Development Director,
The Lambi Fund