12205: Morse on World Cup/Social Issues

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: OLOFFSONRAM@aol.com
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The World Cup woke me up this morning when Port-au-Prince erupted in
celebration as the lone goal in the France/Senegal match was scored. When
I
first came to live in Haiti in the mid-eighties you would call someone an
<africain> or <congo> if you wanted to insult them. Now people cheer for
African teams in the World Cup. In 1954, Jean Briere said <...ce qu'on
doit
sauver, ce n'est pas la meringue haitienne.... mais bien le tresor pur et
sacre
de la culture populaire.>. In other words African/Haitian culture.
A couple of days ago (according to the radio), Route National, to the
north,
was closed with barricades as people protested the fact that they didn't
have
electricity and the World Cup was rapidly approaching. Another
demonstration
took place that same day, in front of the palace to protest the closing of
a
cooperative. The members of the cooperative lost their initial investment
and
the 12% monthly interest payments.
People around Port-au-Prince are adjusting their sleeping habits so they
can
watch the World Cup matches which are scheduled for 2am, 4am and 6am,
local PaP
time, which is Central time in the US. I hope the OAS negotiators took
this
into account when they scheduled their June talks.
Me, I'm for Brazil, unless they come up against the USA, of course.

Richard Morse