13981: Sainno: I BEG TO DIFFER: Aristide Is not Crazy (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Fabina Sainno <fabinas@hotmail.com>


I BEG TO DIFFER: Aristide Is not Crazy




By Ray Killick
I am happy not to be among those who see value in studying Mr. Aristide’s
mental state because I am not ready to grant him pardon for his crimes of
high treason against Haiti. Many have applauded Serge Pierre-Louis for his
article “UN PRESIDENT FOU”. Some even saw courage and guts in a voice raised
loud and clear against the highest echelon of political power in a land of
institutionalized lawlessness and terror. Meanwhile, away from the arena, I
stand atop my ivory tower compiling a thousand reasons that show rationality
and coherence in Mr. Aristide’s philosophy of government. Let’s explore a
contrarian view.

The first democratically elected president of Haiti – what an irony -- has
introduced a novelty in governance: Governing as if he still were in the
opposition. Governing in opposition to a sector of society that he fought
from the pulpit of the Catholic Church during Baby Doc’s reign.

The former priest is a complex product of the injustices, prejudices,
inequalities, and atrocities that have plagued Haitian life and culture for
two centuries. Early on, he embraced the theology of liberation and hijacked
the sanctity of the holy chapel of the “Ti Légliz” to mount a decisive
offensive against our demons. In hammering a vibrant message of hope and
denouncing the Duvalierian evil over and over again, he triggered mass
appeal. He played on his evident popularity to attempt to conquer new
grounds for the masses that finally brought him to power so overwhelmingly
on December 16, 1990. He had become the voice of good against evil; the
pulse of an entire nation; or so he thought.

My friends, you can’t fight an opponent – in this case an enemy of the state
– if you don’t understand his social extraction, the nurturing environment
of earlier stages of his life, and the influence of his heroes on his
character and strategies.

Mr. Aristide is not crazy. He is an angry man whose role models are François
Duvalier, Vladimir Illicth Lenine, and the Bolsheviks. You all know Lenine’s
amoral precept that the end justifies the means; “The capitalists will sell
the very rope from which we will hang them.” Mr. Aristide is using deadly
and divisive means to establish his power and coerce the Haitian bourgeoisie
to beg for mercy. He wants their money to destroy them. He’s feverishly
copying Lenine and Duvalier: If you can’t beat me, join me. Contrary to
Lenine, Mr. Aristide’s end is pure revenge in the name of the people. His
purpose is also not similar to Duvalier’s drive at creating a middle class
of Haitian blacks. (Aristide must have read “Les huiles essentielles” of
Papa Doc upside down.)

Mr. Aristide is an angry man; his end is pure revenge.

If Mr. Aristide is crazy, how do you then explain his clever gamble pitting
the Democratic Party of the United States of America and the Black Caucus
against Washington and the Republicans? How do you explain his support among
American liberals of all walks of life: Academia, the New York Times,
Senator Christopher Dodd, the Kennedy’s and Cuomos etc. -- just to name a
few? How do you explain that the head of state of the poorest nation of the
hemisphere is playing an international political chess game to a draw thus
far?

If you’re still not convinced, how do you rationalize the fact that the
leader of the Dominican Republic who holds a modern view of governance goes
to Washington to plead on behalf of Mr. Aristide, an obscurantist and human
rights abuser?

No, Mr. Aristide is not crazy; his end is pure revenge.

If Mr. Aristide were crazy, he would not have hired retired U.S. army
soldiers to protect him and his family. He ensures his security at a hefty
price to the nation to further the divisive and destructive policies that he
is consciously carrying against a specific sector of Haitian society. Mr.
Aristide can deliver deadly blows to opposition leaders and their entourage
in all impunity and under the protection of American top guns. He is
exercising sound judgment in conformity with his plan to divide and conquer.
The maestro of the Haitian apocalypse is playing his symphony of destruction
before 8 million pairs of weary eyes and a seemingly paralyzed international
community.

No, Mr. Aristide is not crazy; his end is pure revenge.

If Mr. Aristide were crazy, would his spokesperson have come out to justify
his earning $800 million as “royalties on two books”? While the most naives
among us were trumpeting the news of his illicit fortune, Mr. Aristide
turned the situation to his advantage by implicitly acknowledging that he is
worth $800 million, albeit by way of a bogus justification. In so doing, he
demonstrated that he indeed knows the modus operandi of Haitian psyche
inside out: “Yes, I have money to spare, when will you join the party? Come
get your piece of the pie!” That was a clear signal to the opportunistic
greed animating a few opponents whose turn at the national palace may be
eternally elusive.

No, Mr. Aristide is not crazy; his end is pure revenge.

If Mr. Aristide is crazy, how do you explain that he kept the Convergence
Démocratique in check in the OAS-led negotiations for such a long time? The
opposition group never realized that it was masterly manipulated as pawn
between the OAS and Aristide. Finally, the OAS understood the strategy and
conceded the pawn to at least stand a chance to win the game.

No, Mr. Aristide is not crazy; his end is pure revenge.

In fact, let’s rewind the tape to December 17, 2001 or the coup masterminded
by Aristide against Aristide to crack down on the opposition. Is that the
act of a crazy man or of someone who holds a clear blueprint of a
well-articulated philosophy of governance?

The butcher of Tabarre is a crusader of the wrong cause, not a crazy man by
any stretch of the most fertile imagination. In fact, many of us will go
nuts long before Mr. Aristide leaves office -- which may be within a year,
as we will prove it soon in “(Part II) BEYOND THE REVOLUTION OF IDEAS”.

My friends, I invite you all to leave your emotions aside when prospecting
Haitian reality. It is complex and requires the sharpest scalpel of
objectivity. In simple truths:

Haiti is a nuisance for the great world powers and especially the Bush
Administration.

Thanks to Mr. Aristide, Haiti is now a pawn between the Democrats and the
Republicans. (The Democratic Party is staunchly pro-Aristide while the
Republicans do not want a flow of boatpeople to catch them off guard in a
possible economic downturn during election-year 2004.That’s why I have asked
you to mobilize against the Democrats and vote massively against them.)

No nation on Earth besides the Dominican Republic has economic interests in
Haiti.

Mr. Aristide knows all that and is capitalizing cleverly and selfishly on
the neglect on the part of a world lacking incentives to act quickly.

Having committed the most heinous crime against the great voice of the
hopeful Sundays of my teenage years, the beacon of hope from Radio Haiti
Inter, the venerable Jean Dominique, Mr. Aristide remains implacable and
resolute against his opponents, machinating plots of all kinds, letting his
cannibals walk in impunity, and developing a global network of support. And
you choose to call that “a crazy man”.

To paraphrase Yves Montand in the movie: Is Mr. Aristide crazy because he’s
killing or is he killing because he’s crazy? Don’t open that can of worms,
for a crazy man is not responsible for his acts. Mr. Aristide has been
devising a rare solo performance with evangelical zeal and deadly precision.
He is a crusader of the wrong cause, a man of the past, a figure from Hell.

(Mr. Aristide shall not be absolved for crimes against humanity. Neither the
Jews nor the world have absolved the Nazis for the genocide of 6 million
innocent Jews. As we build a state of law and order, we shall grant Aristide
an attorney for his defense. No déchoukaj! This will be a marvelous example
of civility, a significant departure from a past that has haunted us for too
long, and an opportunity to show the world that we’re serious about
democracy.)

After this, if you still think that Mr. Aristide is crazy, why don’t you go
ahead and cast the first stone?








_________________________________________________________________
Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online
http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963