14759: Allouard: Re: 14745: Dorce: Re: 14685: Burnham replies to Edouard re: naming names (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Philippe Allouard <allouard@libertysurf.fr>

    Madam,

    Just a hint to your words:

"So many of the well to do and the "wannabe French so bad"
should be ashamed of themselves"

    I don't know if you live in Haiti, but those words let one think you
never visited the country in the last years, or just in those "missions"
like journalists, experts and consultants who often come 12 to 72 hours and
think they know a country...  for those days, a few people are left who
speak French in Haiti. From my small experience, (from 1999 to now)

    ~ many of the people commonly called "boujwa" speak English or creole
between themselves, and mainly English with the foreigners, for foreigners
in Haiti are mainly americans, or English speaking people... And it is so
true that they do so even when speaking with me, a French. English or Creole
are mainly used.
    ~ English is the language people use (or attempt to use) to address to
you in the streets, not only in Petion-Ville, but on Delmas, in
Carrefour-Feuilles, La Saline, Cite-Soleil... This because a white personn,
("wouj") is a priori an American: Blan, give me one dollar ? Blan, what do
you wants ? Blan, What/a/you lookin/fo? is more likely to be heard if you
are red skin (because, did you noticed, here, a White is actually a Red...).
At least in Port-au-Prince and generaly in the metropolitan area, from
Croix-des-Bouquets to Gressier. As I have no private car and go on foot and
by tap-tap, I can assure you this is a very overwelming daily experience.
    ~ English is used  as a primary language by the Diaspora that came back
to establish some business and constitutes a new elite, and main part of
Haitian I know that studied or lived in the States or in Canada and came
back here for business, even if able to speak French, prefer to speak
English... Mainly because it's easier for them, and more efficient a
language for business... Some because american English is less strict for
grammar... (at least, speaking with Americans, you less often feel "guilty"
for non speaking perfectly than speaking with French), a few just to show
off.
     ~ the people I know that will obviously prefer to speak french with me,
and sometimes will show offended if I speak creole, what requires an extra
caution attitude for me because Creole comes easier, are not bourgeois,
except for a few, but bank cashier, members of Government, or high admin,
PNH Etat-Major staff, students or pupils that want to practice the french
they still use at school... and obvioulsy the foreigners who don't speak
creole yet, or never learnt it.

    I don't know if you ever had business meetings with haitian bourgeois
recently, but, from my experience again, both with "classical bourgeois" and
with neoBourgeois, conversation switch from creole to English, and often
stabilises itself in English pretty soon...

    The "wannabe French so bad", they are a few, perhaps... but they appear
to be a soon extinct species... But perhaps you speak from WWF's point of
view... in this case I agree. So many of them should perhaps be ashamed of
themselves, but are "so many" of "so few" people so important an issue? The
"wannade American so bad" seems a more important issue, because it concern
people in haiti through the whole social scale... it push people in "kante"
boats every week, and how many of them directly into deep Met Agwe
mansions... It drives thousands of young haitians, chans peyi a, to stop
living to build their lives, to stop living to dream about the future easy
life, "lavi miyo" they will have when they will have reached "lot bo dlo"...
Even in the countryside (I speak about South Artibonite) so many youn dream
every hour day and night about 3 things: having the good numbers for the
"bolet", find some white powder dropped by a plane or brough by the waves,
and/or having an american visa... And still, Haiti is a beautifull country,
and Haitian are hard workers and courageous people... With those qualities,
many would make a decent living or more here if they did not despair about
the country... and I strongly believe that the american dream in one's head
do not help one keeping hope in Haiti.

    May I add that one of the best french-speaking haitian I know (he often
corrects my french now, for I have not his capacity not to melt languages)
always refused to renounce his haitian passport and to have a french
passport he could have had, believe me, and could still have, very easily?

    With my best regards,

                                            Philippe