16187: Senou: The Haitian Conflict Revisited (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Senou <senou@yahoo.com>

The Haitian Conflict Revisited:
By Joseph Alfred, Educator

Conflict Resolution is an umbrella term. It covers
everything from sitting down and talking things out,
to running away and hiding. So we need to put some
parameters around what makes for “good” conflict
resolution. According Williams J. Kreidler good
conflict resolution has three qualities:
It is nonviolent;
It meets the needs of the people involved;
It improves the relationship of the people involved.

Again, according Kreidler, there are three key
concepts that underlie all conflict resolution
education:
First, conflict is a normal and natural part of life.
It is not going to away, nor would that be desirable.
Without conflict, there is no growth or progress.
Without conflict, there is stagnation.  The goal of
conflict resolution is to use conflict for its
constructive and positive aspects, not its destructive
ones.

Second, conflict is not a contest. In a contest, only
one person is the winner. Everyone else loses. In
conflict resolution, we aim for what is called the
“win-win” resolution, where both parties are winners.

Third, there is no one way that is the right way to
handle all conflict situations. Basically, there are
six ways to handle conflict, and each of them is
appropriate in some situations and inappropriate in
others. These six conflicts styles are:
Directing/Competing: “We’re doing it my way and that’s
that”
Collaborative: “Let’s sit down and work this out”
Compromising: “Let’s both give a little”
Accommodating: “Whatever you want is fine”
Avoiding: “Let’s skip it”
Appealing to a Third Party: “Let’s get some help”


Now what is conflict? Conflict is a dispute or
disagreement between two or more people
What is conflict resolution? Solving the problems
created by conflict situations

We know the current Haitian conflict is not going to
go away; and failing to resolve it, the Haitian
situation will deteriorate.  The current Haitian
conflict has not started in 2000 if we are honest with
ourselves. If it were a simple election dilemma, these
folks could have redone the election in the affected
areas and move on.

The Haitian crisis has started since 1804, indeed
Jean-Jacques Dessalines was an expert in the military,
he was an outstanding strategist but he should not be
chosen as the Emperor of that new country.  Each
person has his/her role in the society; the fact that
you lead a movement does not mean that you have to be
in charge of it.  After our independence, Haiti has
needed a strong team that has knowledge in
administration, foreign policy and military.

In 1986, after the downfall of Mr. Jean-Claude
Duvalier, again the choice of General Henry Namphy to
be in charge of the country was wrong.  The gentleman
has a drinking problem. If it was necessary to have a
General or a Commander in charge, the person who comes
after the General in rank should be in charge. One
cannot allow a drunker to occupy this sensitive post.
The U.S. senate has rejected the nomination of Mr.
Tower despite he was one of their colleagues because
he has a drinking problem. At that time Haiti had
needed a strong team like the one suggested above
leading Haiti after the independence.

In 1990, again the Haitian people had voted in mass a
populist to lead Haiti; before that, the constitution
has excluded a large percentage of the population to
hold a political post in the country. Most of them and
their children had received a formal education, their
expertise were needed to face the reality. But we were
a little too emotional and we were not ready to find a
way to unify the Haitian people.

When shifting from dictatorship to democracy, the
educated people and professional will understand the
new reality and shall perform their duties according
the norms and the regulations.  If we believe in
change and if we know humans being can change, we can
give them an opportunity to make it happen. Yesterday,
you were performing under a dictatorship today you are
working under a democratic regime now you are
accountable to the Haitian people. Let’s move on.

After taking our independence, we have eliminated
physically many high skill professionals who were
living in the country; after the fall of Baby doc we
have put on the sideline various professionals who
could have put their expertise for the well being of
the country. We fought the Duvalier regime with the
intention of putting in place a democratic regime in
Haiti and everyone should have been benefited from it
whether you are a Makout, Komoken, Communist, and so
on.  Our heart was/is so hard, we don’t have any merci
even today and we want people to have pity for us.

Let’s see South Africa of Mr. Nelson Mandela, he used
to be humiliated in jail and the first thing he did
when he got out of jail was to shake hands with the
person who used to mistreat him.  Everybody thought
that there were going to have a bloodbath; he has to
fight with his own people to convince them of that new
era. Apartheid is over my friends, this is history,
now let’s move on. If you are going to use that new
era to take revenge, now you validate what these folks
used to do in the old era. And this makes Mr. Nelson
Mandela a world-class leader.

In a democracy, one must accept and respect all views
from extreme left to extreme right, we need to have
compassion; we must respect the law of the land and
respect each other.  We have tons of examples in front
of us and most of you who are involved in the
negotiation in Haiti have seen how various nations in
the world resolve their disputes. Some took weapons
and some use a pacific mean and dialogue.  After the
2000 congressional election, the Haitian leaders had
called a Third Party to mediate. Why? It would be
fruitless to give a philosophical answer such as Why
Not. For the sake of a good and open discussion, let’s
give another philosophical answer: because of the
existence of a conflict. And now what is conflict?
Conflict is a dispute or disagreement between two or
more people; in this case we say between two or more
political organizations including individuals.

The choice of a Mediator is crucial. That person or
entity has to be neutral and must remain neutral
during the whole process. However, the parties in
conflict have to be willing to make it work;
otherwise, there is no reason to call a mediator.
Those of you who follow closely the Haitian Saga, you
have difficulties to understand the role of OAS. To
put everything in perspective let’s define these two
terms: Mediation and Arbitration.
Mediation according Kreidler, is resolving conflicts
with the assistance of a neutral third party who does
not influence the solution. (You let them discuss
among themselves until they reach a solution)
However, Arbitration is resolving conflicts with the
assistance of a neutral third party who directs the
solution.

Now, what is the role of OAS? Should another entity
take over the negotiation such as the UN or whatever?
This is again another dilemma, OAS is controlled by
the US, Canada and another European country that plays
an Observatory role in the Haitian Saga, which is
France. Send that burning and sensitive case to the
United Nation, again you are going to find the U.S.,
France and Canada will shift its role with France.
Therefore, there is no reason to remove that case from
the OAS even though that Organization has shifted
position from time to time and this is due mainly of
not understanding the real problem and we are not
willing to share the truth problem.

But one thing remains certain, that problem is not
going to go away and if we mishandle this current
conflict, Haiti one day may become another Liberia
that you are seeing right now live on TV, another
Ethiopia or another Lebanon which can seal the fate of
this new generation.

These current Haitian leaders have a responsibility to
spare Haiti from becoming another Lebanon that used to
be the Paris of the Middle East. You see what is going
on right now in Liberia where underweight and
malnourished children are carrying expensive weapons
on the streets and the worst is yet to come. Haiti has
not reached that point yet, but we are heading in that
direction at the speed of light. A historical
compromise among the Haitian leaders can be very
beneficial for the whole country. Remember in a
compromise, each of you has to give a little and there
are thousand of solutions to resolve the same problem.


I know already that each sector cannot stand one
another; that compromise has nothing to do to with
inviting people in your private house or becoming
friends.  The existence of Haiti is a stake, the
effort that our ancestors had done to leave us a
country is being compromised. We can keep on blaming
or accusing each other, we can hide being a tree and
throwing rock at each other, we can keep on practicing
“Le plomb gaillé”, we can keep on accusing foreign
countries but if we do not take the necessary step to
resolve our conflicts, we won’t go anywhere. You,
Haitians, who are living inside Haiti must come up
with a Haitian solution, other people or countries and
the Haitians living in the Diaspora can assist you but
let’s go straight to the bottom line: it must come
from you. Do not expect any miracle, don’t expect
anyone to take your burden and solve for it for you.
If you want the country to move forward, you know what
to do. So far, you have wasted three years and many
more to go if you are not willing to compromise.  It
is not the time to play on people emotion crying we
need to get together to celebrate the 200 years of our
existence.  There is still time to reiterate May 18,
1803 in July, in August or in September, celebrate
together Nov 18, 2003 and chilling out on January 1st,
2004.  Just compromise.

It makes others laugh at us when we say:“l’union fait
la force”. I wonder how many of you who are raising
the Flag each day feel about reciting the Pledge of
Allegiance. Do we do it by routine without paying
attention to its truth meaning? Sincerely what Union
are we talking about?   As we are getting closer to
our bicentennial, go back and read the Historical
Speech of Dr. Rosalvo Bobo in 1904, one hundred years
later in 2004, the same speech can be used today.

Joseph Alfred, Educator
P.O. BOX 334
Smyrna, GA 30081


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