16364: Fopuche: Re: 16351: Dorce: Re: 16270: Vishnusurf: Re: 16267: Kathleen: Re: 16263: Dorce (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: "[iso-8859-1] Rachel Fouché" <vze4xd3t@verizon.net>

That's right, let's beat up on the dwindling middle class in Haiti -- what
the heck, they're mostly living abroad anyway.  I have remnants of family
who live in Petionville and Cap Haitian, and yes, they live in nice houses
(some of them with walls).  But they work for a living -- as doctors and
teachers and businesspeople, lest I lead you to believe that they "harvest
the blood of the proletariat." They also are emigrant-retirees who want to
finish their lives where they had started -- sheer criminals for working
towards personal goals!  Intriguingly enough in this argument, Haitians who
are capable of taking care of themselves in Haiti are "bad," while those
Haitians who must rely on NGOs chock full of people eager to direct their
lives as "good."  What an Orwellian bargain with a dollop of Faust thrown
in!

Just because one lives in Haiti, they aren't allowed to live their lives as
they see fit?  If one makes something of themselves only to become the
visible symbol of "power" to the poor, they are to be dechoukaged?  People
are devils for trying to create a little corner of Haitian paradise for
themselves and their families? I realize some love the spark and heat of
beating on people who have access to improve themselves beyond the masses,
but in reality it is a non-starter.

Part of Haiti's problem is the intoxication with communism and "dignity in
poverty" that is so pervasive amongst the liberal elite.  I'd break it down
even further, but some readers may perceive a structural argument as a
personal attack.  The true Haitian spirit believes in the strength of
community and the prosperity of personal initiative; to stoke the illusion
of "class struggle" as the grievance of the Haitian people when the
situation bares a more complex set of struggles lacks a mature understanding
of the Haitian dilemma.

A true-life allegory which comes to mind is Bob Geldof and Band Aid, which
was his attempt to "solve" the famine crisis in the Horn of Africa in the
early 80s.  Geldof, music/movie stars, and notaries alike poo-pooed the
political and socio-economic situations in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Sudan and
announced on TV that "hunger on the planet Earth would end today" during the
Band Aid concerts, which were broadcast throughout the world. Gosh darn,
didn't we feel good!  The millions raised to purchase food wasted away at
docks, or were diverted to warring parties as a tool to control the masses
because the truth couldn't fit the sound bite.  It is the 21st century, and
famine and war remain the uninvited guests of East Africa.  And yet, Bob
Geldof was knighted for his efforts for ignoring the truth.  I never condemn
a person for doing something -- but by dumbing down a complex crisis for
popular consumption ("bad Haitians/good Haitians"), those that were able to
survive the famine in the early 80s only lived to witness similar conditions
arise again.  In this respect, Haiti has expert knowledge of these polemics,
"full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Rachel Fouché