19466: Blanchet: Fw: Guy Antoine: Personal thoughts on the Haitian crisis (February 28, 2004) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>

Sent: Sunday, February 29, 2004 2:25 AM
Subject: Guy Antoine: Personal thoughts on the Haitian crisis (February 28,
2004)


Guy Antoine: Personal thoughts on the Haitian crisis (February 28, 2004)

Like the level of water steadily rising in a bucket under our predictable
yet
sudden tropical storms, the political crisis in Haiti is reaching the point
of overflow, but in the process making liars out of all who bet on its
futures,
that is the precise moment(s) when "Titid's era" will be no more...
Champagne, thrice chilled, waiting to be uncorked (any day now) by members
of an elite
opposition which has had to endure three initials, JBA, far longer than any
reasonable notion of purgatory would permit... Notes of premature
e-jubilation
tripping over cries of anguish... Press releases announcing, welcoming,
institutionalizing the "Cannibals", the "Freedom fighters", the
"Resistance", the
"Thugs", the "Rebels", the "Terrorists", the Angels or the Devils, the
Zakatas or
the Katelemas... Everything and everyone is admissible in the theater of the
absurd, while in the real world the kids do not go to school, the adults
have
no jobs to go to, and the body count threatens to approach Iraqi-like
proportions.

I fear for the country, for what will come in the next several months and
years. Even though it is easy money to bet on the shifty nature of America's
defense of democratic principles when it comes to Haiti, and the duplicitous
maneuvers of the non-Latin bi-continental, pardon me, the "international
community", in the undoing of the popularly elected (but perhaps
un-appointed or
un-anointed) government of Haiti, it remains that the government of
Jean-Bertrand
Aristide has also failed due to its unwillingness to listen to the genuine
concerns of Haitian Nationals, particularly those departing from the
scripted "Viv
Titid, tout sa ou fè se li ki bon". Unsurprisingly, this government has
preferred to place its faith in "yes" men and handsomely compensated foreign
advisers. It has been very slow to correct any of its mistakes. In a very
real sense,
it reminded me of great orthodox institutions like the Catholic Church.

The government's response to the irregularities of the May 2000 elections
for
instance, made as much sense as the Vatican's response to the allegations of
sexual abuse and pedophilia among its priests in North America.

Likewise the government's response to accusations about and growing evidence
of corruption in its administration (the rice scandal, the cooperative bank
fiasco -- Haiti's Enron).

Likewise the government's aloofness and reactionary stance towards its own
disaffected popular base (Guacimal, Maribahoux ...) that turned Haiti's best
known workers' organization, Batay Ouvriye, decidedly against the
government.

Likewise the government's lack of leadership in economic and migration
policy
that caused a pro-Haiti think tank like PAPDA to denounce the retrogressive
nature of the government's policies as well as the arbitrariness in its
decision-making... long before PAPDA's recent, politically questionable call
for
Aristide to resign without delay (and before any alternative had been
formulated).

Likewise the government's lack of initiative in diplomacy that failed to
condemn vigorously human rights abuses of Haitian Nationals in the Dominican
Republic and in the State of Florida.

Likewise the government's lack of interest in taking measures to
appropriately integrate the capabilities of the Haitian Diaspora in lieu of
continuing its
demonstrably harmful politics of economic dependence.

Likewise the government's non-pursuit of justice in specific, high
visibility, criminal cases where the personal interests of its officials or
associates
were at stake. Commitment to justice is not demonstrated only in the just
and
necessary pursuit of FRAPH and military officers who were implicated in
wholesale massacres of defenseless civilians. Commitment to justice is
evidenced
foremost by the political will to pursue the aims of justice, based on the
merit
of the claims and not on the name, status, or political affiliation of the
suspects.

In the last few years, we have witnessed a mind-numbing polarization in the
discourse about Haiti, where it has become extraordinarily difficult to
critique the government without being spat out by the Lavalas camp on one
hand or
being assimilated to a mindless intellectual opposition whose only message
to the
Haitian people has been that Aristide must go. I have felt stymied by both
an
ineffective government and an obstructionist opposition. I am baffled by the
behavior of an elite class that has sacrificed its own business and
political
interests, in its categorical rejection of the non-elite. On top of it all,
I
am exasperated by the perfidy of the "international community" that has
denounced the failures of the government, while wringing its neck and only
supporting the opposition. Finally, I have been dismayed by the clear
politicization of
even our human rights advocates. Just about everyone, the government
included, has appeared dedicated to the (self) destruction of Jean-Bertrand
Aristide
and his administration.

When the curtain closes, according to the most persistent of the scripts,
there will be some short-lived celebrations. But the hangover will be
brutal. No
one will walk away pretty from this disaster. Not the United States. Not
France. Not Canada. Not the Organization of the American States. Not the
United
Nations. Not the Dominican Republic. Not the Front of Resistance, not FRAPH,
not
the ex-and-perhaps-restored-Armed Forces of Haiti. Not the CIA. Not IRI. Not
NED. Not USAID. Not the fractured but superficially united opposition
parties
in Haiti. Not Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

And not I, because I have not given my life for the betterment of Haitian
society and have only chosen safer approaches, from my pulpit of Windows on
Haiti. I cannot walk away pretty from the mess, though I have a clear
conscience of
not having participated in it. But who, might you say, could walk away,
unsullied? Surely, no one can "walk away" in a dignified manner, but I can
think of
a few who have "walked with it" in exemplary manner. Let's start with those
who are done walking:

Jean Dominique... Jean-Marie Vincent... Jean Pierre-Louis (Ti Jean)...
Antoine Adrien... Renaud Bernadin... and the thousands of others who have
sacrificed, but whose actual names will not make any list because they did
not achieve
personal notoriety.

And those who are leading the walk of the just: Franklyn Armand in
Pandiassou, Joseph Philippe in Fondwa, Michaelle de Verteuil in Les
Abricots, Brian
Concannon in Port-au-Prince and Jomanas Eustache in Jeremie, Antonia Malone
in
Pignon, Paul Farmer in Cange, and many more in Haiti and abroad whose work
hand-in-hand with Haitian peasants, who constitute the overwhelming majority
of
Haitian citizens, cannot be cited here because of the limits of this format
or
because I have not yet had the privilege of getting acquainted with their
life
service on behalf of Haitians like me.

I say Haitians like me, though I am now an American citizen. I believe in
Haiti Without Borders. I believe that Haiti resides in every Haitian
community,
whether in the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, the United States,
Europe, or wherever. Haiti cannot die, Haiti will never die. But Haiti
suffers...

Since I have mentioned examples of those who have walked the walk, I cannot
end this note without mentioning the help of one country in the
international
community, which has been much ostracized by every U.S. government since the
end of the Batista regime: Cuba. Oh yes, the authorities in my country of
citizenship may be upset when I point out their miserable failure of helping
Haiti
emerge from the trappings of misery over the last 200 years and the relative
success of the Cubans to provide humanitarian assistance to Haitians, man to
man. True success is not measured in dollar expenditures but in the sum of
the
qualitative differences one's contribution makes. How can one small country
be
so big and one big country be so small in terms of the actual good that they
do, people to people? You spend (or withhold) the billions of dollars, but
the
eyes see, the ears listen, and the hearts understand what is genuine
assistance
and what is merely bluff. If I do not point this out, I would not be worthy
of your vaunted traditions. I have learned your lessons on democracy. You
have
perhaps taught me too well.

If you truly care about Haiti, then "walk with it". In the long term, this
should save you billions of dollars in loans, and Haiti her blood and soul
in
loan repayments. That's what you call a win/win outcome for the American
continent and for the World.

Guy S. Antoine
Windows on Haiti
February 28, 2004

______________________________________________


This email is forwarded as a service of the Haiti Support Group.

See the Haiti Support Group web site:
www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org

Solidarity with the Haitian people's struggle for justice, participatory
democracy and equitable development, since 1992.
____________________________________________