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a148: Duvergé/Lindor in Petit-Goâve: Pina responds to Chamberlain (fwd)
From: kevin pina <kpinbox@hotmail.com>
Chamberlain writes:
>I'm sure you're right that it wasn't mentioned every time in Reuter and AP.
>
>Maybe you think a guy (Duvergé) getting beaten up,
>seriously hurt etc. has the same "news value" as a guy
>(Lindor) actually having his head chopped off (which is
>what I understand happened, apart from "just" getting killed).
For me that is another false dicotomy. Durverge could have just as easily
died from the first attack. There is a vast difference between claiming
justification for an event and exploring the provocations behind it. The way
Mr. Lindor was killed is horrible but the truth of the matter is that
Convergence supporters provoked the attack by attempting to kill Mr. Duverge
first. Instead the event was portrayed as an unprovoked rampage by Lavalas
supporters.
>
>After all, Lindor was "suspected" of not being "on-side."
>Just as you might, as a white man with an American
>passport and money enough for an air ticket out,
>be suspected of being "CIA" at some difficult street
>moment in PauP and be disposed of without more ado
>as you yelled in vain: "But I love the president!" but were
>not heard, understood or believed. Good luck!
I am not sure what to make of your recent remarks regarding "white men" that
seem to pepper much of your commments these days. For myself the issue of
security is well founded but I can do without others projecting their
personal fears or frustrations onto me.
I have a far greater fear of military putchists and their supporters than I
do of the lumpen poor majority. I cannot justify the actions of the poor
majority but I do my best to keep it in historical perspective. I understand
their anger and determination after feeling cheated by the OAS, the US, and
the "international community". They are forced to suffer the far greater
violence of daily poverty and feel as though they are being punished for
their democratic choices in the last elections. Concession after concession
has been made by their elected representatives as the powers that be seem
hell bent on nothing less than putting in place an unpopular government made
up of the Convergence. As for their reaction to the recent coup attempt, can
you guarantee anyone that the Convergence would not be used to immediately
legitimize and garner recognition for a successful military takeover? The
opinion among the lumpen poor majority is that this is exactly what is
planned for the future which might help you to better understand their
reactions.
I think there are basically two types of observers with regard to the
situation in Haiti, the first holds a deep fear and resentment of the poor
and that's as far as it goes. They will never understand, nor seek to
understand, the real causes of violence because it would take them out of
the comfort of their intellectual constructs. The second type realizes the
same fear but seeks to understand the historical roots of the anger and
determination that is spilling into the streets.
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