a924: Re: On the Political Irrelevance of Carnival in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: "[iso-8859-1] Jean Poincy" <caineve@yahoo.fr>

To be political, ayitians and observers of Ayiti tend
to attribute a political tone to the Ayitian carnival,
biased or not their position might be. This is due to
a thirst for political consciousness which will not be
found among this generation and the ones to come in
the immediate future.

Indeed carnival in Ayiti fails to be a vehicule for a
government's political agenda or a catalyst to the
people's political consciousness. Prior to gaining
freedom of speech, one could be right in saying that
carnival could play a major role in setting the
political tone, because there was one voice, that of a
dictatorship. That was not the case.

Today in the name of freedom of speech, the poltical
tone is yet to be set by the carnival. Because groups
are not persecuted for criticizing the government, it
is reasonable to expect a positive impact on the
poltical life of the nation in terms of seeing the
government moving or the people really stirred
politically. It's just a dream! There has never been
any positive tangible outcome following the period.
Instead the country is always back to its normal state
of complacency for further degradation.

For carnival to be politically effective, it should be
able to help the government in the pursuit of its
objectives or to help the people in forcing the
authorities to act upon their needs. At any point in
time in Ayitian carnival history, post the gain of
freedom, one could identify such.

The amorphous nature of the Ayitian people is at the
roots of the political negativity of the carnival,
despite the political connotations of which it is
often permeated. The intended result is never
materialized. The government needs not to worry about
lyrics in its disfavor nor the people should get
exicted by the government's promotion of its agenda.

Politically, the carnival in Ayiti is null. It ought
to remain a source of joy for the sake of joy and
possibly an income generator, temporary or not. The
government's campaign for literacy or the preparation
of 2004 is just for the show and Sweet Mickey's stance
against the government is just for the dance.

Using the carnival as a political tool makes it
irrelevant. It never touches the nation's political
nerve while destroying its true nature, frantic joy.
Should the country subject itself to such when living
conditions are further deteriorating and rich people
are becoming poorer and poorer every day?

I don't think so. If the carnival can't be used as an
economic spur, it should well be forgotten at least
for the period (maybe 15 to 20 years) the country
need's to boost itself out of misery. Here, I share
Mr. Pharel's idea (though not the ideal)on making the
carnival lucrative for the government by involving
more the private sector.


Ayiti has lived, lives and will live
Mozeb





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