12508: Re: 12504: Durban on Diaspora Database (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Haldor Noss <halnoss@halnoss.com>

At 04:57 PM 7/11/02 -0500, you wrote:
>I can see all kinds of possibilities for mass mailings:

>  Oh, and eventually political candidates could
>even "buy" the lists if they wanted to

>(Obviously this latter would open the doors to potential abuse
>by whatever party happened to be in power, but anyway...).Durban

Haiti is the only place in the world where I have seen honest fear in the
eyes of average people I have taken photographs of.  The rumors say that
under a previous government, people whose faces appeared in the wrong set
of photographs were disappeared.  In the United States your name on the
wrong list usually just floods your mailbox and e-mail box with junk
mail--but in many countries around the world, your name on the wrong list
can get you killed.  Now with the war on terrorism and Haitian boats being
turned around in open seas and Haitians being detained in Florida without
any real explanation, ...I would not recommend that anyone put their name
on any list they don't absolutely have to.  There are other ways to reach
the Diaspora than to track their specific contact information, and the
Diaspora should be treated as an asset that can help, not a "fix" for
failed political and economic programs.  Give the Diaspora a means to
participate and most of them will (most are already doing what they can to
help friends and family back home).  Give the Diaspora a safe country to
move back to and a reasonable chance to make an honest living there, and
most of them will jump at the opportunity to go home to build their
homeland.  With regards to the war on terrorism, Haitian boats being turned
around and detaining Haitians in Florida without reasonable explanations,
the less expensive alternative for everyone is to help Haiti become a
viable free nation instead of manipulating a poor people in order to create
and maintain their dependency.  A child who grows up tormented eventually
looks for a way to strike back.  Instead of shackling the tormented child
in our pre-emptive defense, why don't we stop tormenting the child and
offer him a real opportunity to join us as equals?  There are an awful lot
of kids growing up hungry in Haiti...

real solutions for real people, with Honor and Respect
Hal Noss