7510: Re: 7466: Justice: Wilentz replies

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Amy Wilentz <amywile@panix.com>

I think -- and these are only my perceptions, and could be wrong -- but
I think that Aristide believes fervently that he is a democrat and I
think he believes that the opposition, au contraire, does not care about
democracy as it is expresssed by the vote (even though his May juggling
act would seem to indicate that HE is the one who doesn't respect the
vote... I'm sure he doesn't see it that way).

Also, I think he fears that what he believes is properly his by the
ballot (the presidency), will somehow be taken from him through the
machinations of the traditional opposition and the international
community. This makes him very unhappy about the parallel government, I
would guess.

The opposition, on the other hand, believes that it represents the rule
of law and therefore Democracy, in spite of the fact that it has very
slim electoral legitimacy and very marginal popular appeal.

Rule of law does not seem to enter into the Lavalas mentality (although
they often try to give it at least lip service), nor rule of the vote
into the Opposition's. Aristide did a lot to confuse these essential
truths by futzing (that's Yiddish, and possibly too gentle) with the
vote in May, giving his enemies the chance to accuse him, not
incorrectly in this case, of disrespecting the ballot. The Opposition
did a lot to undermine public faith in the Opposition's rule of law by
insisting that Aristide give up those three years way back when,
providing Lavalas with a chance to feel ripped off by an unnecessarily
nice interpretation of Law.

Now both sides are damned.

Amy Wilentz