16383: Durban: Haiti's Middle Class

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Lance Durban <lpdurban@yahoo.com>
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In Corbett #16378 Kathleen writes

  the middle class (in Haiti) are the people you go to to have your teeth
fixed/cleaned,
  buy letter paper and groceries, gas, get the cut on your ankle stitched,
have
a
  mammogram, have your photos developed - in short, live an ordinary life
between
  the rich and the poor in Haiti.
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A good part of Haiti's problem is that these people are not seen as middle
class either by Lavalas, or (to a lesser extent) by themselves.  And in
fact,
compared with the Haitian masses in Cite Soleil, they ARE rich folks.  The
biggest challenge for any government in Haiti is to "get everyone on the
same
bus", working for the same common good.  Yet with class struggle as its
underlying theme, Lavalas completely misses this point.  Or perhaps it is
recognized but just not felt to be important.  And with no real effort
made to
bridge the psychological gulf between the haves and the have nots, most of
the "haves" in Haiti don't even want to get on the Lavalas bus.
Admittedly,
this is a simplification, but the point remains...

L. Durban