16478: Fouche: Re: 16465: Dorce: Re: 16369: Kathleen: Re: 16364: Fopuche: Re: 16351: (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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

Before one actually engages a discussion on economic class in Haiti, one has
to realize that the standard Marxist rhetoric cannot be engaged in Haiti's
political arena.  I don't quite understand Ms. Dorce use of the term
"defensiveness" regarding prior comments made about the status of the middle
class in Haiti -- given the role of the middle class has had globally in
developing state economies and stabilizing democratic institutions,
inclusivity is a key goal of those who are of -- or who hope to aspire to --
middle-class status.

The Haitian Diaspora is fully middle class and active in developing more
members of its class through a well-documented informal system of assistance
to those who still reside in Haiti.  But because the middle class has been a
target of both the political/economic elite and the lower classes, they have
had to build their lives elsewhere.  And with what remains of Haiti's
internal middle class being (what I find to be) ludicrously attacked as the
axis of Haiti's ills, entropy wins the day again, Corbetteers!

Another aspect of the comments made by Ms. Dorce which I find amusing is the
tendency of bourgeois intelligentsia to argue as if their point is the
definitive opinion on (in this case) Haiti. The ongoing opinion constantly
brayed on this list is that Haiti is in the midst of a "class war" which
needs to be "won" by the poor and that true equality can only come in some
type of mass "dignity in poverty" where nice, foreign NGOs can live out
savior fantasies on the new versions of the "noble savage."  Being of full
Haitian descent, I would bet my life that my ancestors did not rise up
against the tyranny of systemic racism to have their progeny live in what
Haiti has become.

I signed up on Bob's list many years ago to find real solutions to the
Haitian dilemma.  The list has had its ups and downs, but it seems to be
sliding into the nadir of irrelevance.  There needs to be more discussions
on real, sustainable change for Haitians both in the homeland and abroad.
Let's not delude ourselves with pointless barbs that only serve to stick
spoons in the Haitian pot, yet no one actually stirs.  If you add the other
nine digits to the pointing finger, maybe they can be used to build and
construct, not divide and erode.

Rachel Fouché