14220: Dorce: Re: 14215: Simidor on "Haitian Menace" to Dom. Rep. (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: LAKAT47@aol.com

In a message dated 12/27/02 7:16:21 PM Pacific Standard Time, Daniel Simidor
<karioka9@mail.arczip.com> writes:

<< Of all the things Dominicans should be ashamed of, this is
 certainly the most unexpected.  This guy is ashamed to be "from
 the same land with the Haitian intellectuals."  Strange.  But what
 about the Haitian elite?  I readily concede that they are quite
 shameful, but is the Listin Diario guest columnist, Mr. Abelardo
 Gonzales, not equally ashamed of the Dominican elite's treatment
 of the Haitian braceros?  Does he feel no shame for Trujillo's and
 Balaguer's crimes against the Haitian people?  Does he feel no
 shame about the racist and inhumane treatment of Haitian
 immigrants and of Dominicans of Haitian descent, under a
 democratic Dominican government?  Does he feel no shame about the
 sub-colonization of Haiti by the Dominican ruling class that is
 going on today? >>
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Who cares what he thinks of what Dominicans do to Haitians?  He was
addressing a very interesting issue and it rang so true that it obviously
rankles one who considers himself among the intellectuals targeted.  His
salient point was this quote: "In fact, they represent a danger to the whole
island because they don't like their own."

This is shameful and unfortunately for the most part, true.  Those
intellectuals who feel themselves above their less learned brothers and
sisters ARE a danger to the island.  They, in their intellectual feeding
frenzy, are steering the country towards civil war which will make for lots
of refugees to the other side of the island as well as to the US, Bahamas and
other ports of call.  As they keep calling for Aristide to step down so that
chaos and anarchy make intervention a necessity, they belie their
intelligence which is not, I guess, a synonym for intellectualism.  I love
this Abelardo Gonzales guy.  He is a Dominican who sees Haiti more clearly
than many Haitians do.  Perhaps it takes distance to really see what's going
on there.  I don't know, but I agree with him.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Gonzales says: "No matter what his faults are, he was duly elected."

Simidor responds: "How  does Abelardo Gonzales, sitting pretty in New York's
Washington Heights, know who was DULY elected or not in Haiti?  I
say, there goes a presumptious fellow!"
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
EVERYBODY knows he was duly elected.  His point is well taken.  The man
earned his five years and THIS time he will have them!  It is presumptuous to
assume otherwise.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Gonzales: >But what about those Haitian mulattoes and even the
>intellectuals who hate the Haitian masses and keep creating
terrible conditions thus causing poor Haitians to go working in -I must
admit- infrahuman conditions in my country?

Simidor: "Again, this Dominican obssession with skin color, and Gonzales'
own anti-intellectual bias."
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
He states the truth, Daniel, and your accusations do not challenge that
truth.  Is it that he is Dominican that hurts so much or is it that he is so
right on that it's embarrassing?  Making counter accusations about the
Dominican Republic does not make what he says go away.  It is shameful and
needs to be changed....one child at a time.  The grown ups are too far gone I
fear.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,]
Gonzales:>Most Haitian politicians want to be president, but are too lazy
(or
>too intellectual) to work for it.

Simidor: "Stupidly stereotypical."
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Yet eerily true...
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Simidor: "The reality is slightly more complex."
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
The Haitian intellectual's favorite phrase....

In reality, Daniel, it's quite simple.  No one puts Haiti first.  Aristide is
the first one who holds the hearts of the people in his hand...they still
believe in him.  Haiti first.  It's that simple.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Simidor: "What is the point of writing or propagating this kind of trite,
chauvinistic propaganda, if not to lay the basis for a "failed
state" invasion/occupation of Haiti by the US and its
Dominican "ally."  Shame on you, Abelardo Gonzales!"
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
I do not see this as laying the basis for a failed state invasion at all.
Not like Pezzullo or Manigat's manifestos were.  I see this as showing who
the real obstructionists are in Haiti.  I see this as showing who has the
capability to help but instead does harm to Haiti.  I see this as the child
shouting, "Look!!  The emperor has no clothes!!"  And so  the intellectuals
along with the elites are caught with their pants down.  Embarrassing, but
true.  Bravo, Abelardo Gonzales!

Kathy Dorce~