16848: Saint-Vil to Simidor Re: 16839 and Farmer article (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Jean Saint-Vil <jafrikayiti@hotmail.com>


Simidor wrote:

"Look here, Saint-Vil, no one is above criticism."

Konpatriyòt Simidor, I never suggested that Paul Farmer or anyone else be above
criticism. And indeed after reading and re-reading Paul Farmer's article I find
nothing that jumps at me as deserving of outrage. Especially, in view of all
the scandalous Haiti-bashing we have seen in the alligned-press in recent years
from people posing as international journalist as well as foreign diplomats.

You state that Farmer tries  to skip over the destruction of the Maribahoux
plain because he declared..."Comments on local problems, whether in Gonaïves or
a village near the border to the Dominican Republic, are misleading if they do
not bring into relief the connections between the actions of the powerful (few
of whom live in Haiti) and the lot of the poor,"

I don't see how Farmer's statement tries to skip over the issue and I certainly
don't understand why you consider his analysis mere "bla.bla ".



The man is simply saying that the forces backing these anti-Haiti deals are
simply more powerful and diverse than the progressive forces opposing them. And
guess why these  "progressive" forces are so powerless? Guess who has been
wasting their energies fighting each other for over 12 years now, instead of
focussing on the root of the issues affecting our lives? Simidor, Farmer's
analysis is right on the spot. Maribahoux' deal is the kind of deal only a weak
(weakened) government would accept. It is the kind of deal that succeeds when a
society has been so shaken by makeshift crises that there is little strength
left to be devoted to important issues. You say the powerful ones are in
Tabarre? Come on man, do you really believe that the MRE vanished from the face
of Haiti, the minute that Aristide's former "revolutionary communist" allies of
yesterday decided to now follow the drum beat of right wing extremist racists
like Jesse Helms ? (see letter sent by OPL to Jesse Helms on their website to
this very day!).

Simidor also wrote:

" look how cleverly the New Schweitzer of the Caribbean launches his attack on
the Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP), without ever naming any name. There is
nothing progressive or pretty about it, I assure you. MPP is an organization
that has been repressed by every government in power, Lavalas included, over
the last thirty years. Yet it survives and thrives, and is universally admired
for its cooperative projects in the Central Plateau"

Konpatriyòt Simidor, as I said in my previous piece, it is my understanding
that the forces that are masterminding the destruction of Haiti's popular
movement are as dedicated to the destruction of MPP as they are to that of
Lavalas. That's why, when a few years back I heard that Lavalas partisans were
fighting MPP partisans in Mirebalais, I wrote the piece entitled "Killing the
dream through strategic fratricide" in which I begged the Preval government to
do all that is in its power to protect the lives of MPP militants and help stop
the violence as soon as possible.  What greater victory would it not be for
them to see all the leaders of the original movement totally discredited,
physically amputed and carrying wounds suffered at the hands of their own
brothers and sisters....they jump for joy every time we allow them to savour
such moments. Have yo àu noticed how many of the leaders who have fallen in the
past 12 years share in common their strong connections with the peasant masses
(Pè Ti Jean, Jean-Marie Vincent, Jean Dominique etc...).

Simidor wrote " My cultural nationalist brethren, Saint-Vil, went out and
finally found

himself a good Blan, and this vilain (badass) Simidor had to spoil it for him."

No Simidor, I did not finally find myself a "good blan" and you did not spoil
anything for me. If I respect Dr. Farmer for his courage and devotion
to JUSTICE and socially  responsible human behavior, it does not follow that I
consider him a sort of "white saint lost in Haiti". As far as I can tell, the
man never made any claim to sainthood not withstanding all the praise bestowed
upon him by others.

Simidor this statement deserves clarifying: "Another Lavalas gentleman wrote
more directly to mark me as "a traitor, a paid agent of the enemy of Haiti."

For the purposes of this and other discussions on this list, I would hope that
I am not being categorized by you, merely as "the preceeding Lavalas
gentlemen".  For, what connects you and i dear konpatriyòt is not a blue
bandanna on my forehead reading "Lavalas" and a red one on yours reading
"not-Lavalas". We have learned too much from our sad episodes with "Les Cacos",
"les Piquets", "L'armée souffrante' and all the other self-destructive gangas
we have known in our history. I would dare hope that we have reached a level of
maturity that permits us to take one look at each other's front tooth gaps, or
the way we slide to the beat of Konpa to recognize and fully assume the fact
that indeed we are brothers. Sons of a tired and suffering mother named Ayiti.

Simidor wrote: " I'm jes' a poor "self-proclaimed progressive" trying not to
lose his head. All your fancy talk about "strategic fratricide," "real
targets," "right wing governments of Christendom," "helicopters" and
"prevention" is truly wasted on me"

No brother Simidor,  there is nothing fancy about what I wrote above. It's all
over the evening news. And if you want to see what I mean about right wing
government of Christendom fometing fratricidal violence among our people,
please check out the following links:

http://www.internetdiscovery.org/forthetruth/Rwanda-e/EN-13-CH.htm

There, you will find the report of the OAU describing the great works of our
french "friends" in Rwanda. The following quote from the page reference
above is especially noteworthy in view of what the suspected role of the french
in what is going on in Haiti these days:

"the French role was central. Besides providing supplies directly, France
secretly made funds available for arms to be shipped by Egypt as well.  South
Africa also supplied arms through a deal that was facilitated by French agents
and that violated a UN resolution to prohibit arms imports from the apartheid
state".

We have just learned from reliable sources that the French embassy in
Port-au-Prince is now in the business of lending white south-African
body-guards to protect white minority rule activists as they take their
political campaign’s caravan on the road to intimidate the poorest of the poor.

Please take a look at this
picture:  http://www.haitiprogres.com/2003/sm030716/index.html

(Makes one wonder whether it was Jean-Marie Le Pen who actually won the last
French elections, doesn't it?).

Ak respè, mwen di ou onè vye frè!

Jafrikayiti
"Depi nan inen bon Nèg ap ede Nèg" (Brotherhood is as ancient as the
motherland!)

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