19859: Esser: Haiti's missing link (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

Trinidad and Tobago Express
http://www.trinidadexpress.com

Haiti's missing link
By Micheal Burke

Friday, March 5th 2004

This is not the first time that Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the first
elected president of Haiti, has been pressured to abandon his post.
Did he resign or was he kidnapped? Whom do I believe, the United
States Government spokespersons or Aristide? I believe Aristide.
There have been too many reports of similar happenings over the past
five decades for me to believe the US Government on this issue.

Jamaica's prime minister and chairman of Caricom, PJ Patterson, has
called the resignation or removal of Aristide a dangerous precedent.
It most certainly is. Owing to its own history, Haiti has never come
out of the curb of instability. And this latest move is likely to
perpetuate the trend.

Indeed, Patterson's concern reminds me of Edward Seaga's statement in
1979 when Maurice Bishop and the People's Revolutionary Government
overthrew Eric Gairy of Grenada.

In 1979, Edward Seaga (Prime Minister 1980-89) was leader of the
Opposition, as he is today. He opined that the coup d'état in
Grenada, the first in the English-speaking Caribbean, could set a
trend. He also said that he thought that the people of Grenada should
have taken the ballot-box route.

Seaga was indeed right on the point of setting a trend. In 1983,
Bishop was overthrown and murdered and there was an invasion by the
United States, which restored democracy. Where he might have been
wrong was in making the suggestion of taking the ballot-box route in
Eric Gairy's Grenada.

At the time, election fair play in Grenada was questioned and the
Mongoose Gang, which supported Gairy, terrorised the people. Maurice
Bishop and the PRG may simply not have had a choice. But if we are in
the habit of overthrowing, at worst or at best forcing presidents or
prime ministers to resign the moment there is a dispute, then there
will always be instability.

In days past, the domestic political details of life in Haiti (such
as the regular overthrows of presidents) were largely unknown because
of the language barrier and relatively primitive media. The Haitian
revolution in 1804 was different, if only because Haitians came to
Jamaica, (a mere 120 miles away from East Portland) and other
Caribbean islands in droves.

Today, happenings around the world are known as they unfold owing to
technological advancement in the media. Yet, the Haitian revolution,
perhaps because of its intensity, did set the whole independence
movement going in the colonies of European superpowers. The problem
with Haiti is that there was no middle period, no de-enslavement
process, between slavery itself and the taking of the presidency.

This is why Haiti has never got out of the curb of being ruled by
dictators, except for a brief interlude of the last 13 years, on and
off. But Haiti, as the first Caribbean country to achieve
independence, reminds me of many other "firsts".

The first aeroplane, the first motor vehicle, the first train engine,
the first telephone, the first printing press, the first radio and
the first television were certainly not the best. For that matter,
the first computer, invented by Charles Babbage in 1866, was a most
primitive contraption. Yet technology, as we know it today, was built
on all these inventions, as primitive as they were.

Similarly, with regard to Haiti's liberation, other countries, on
gaining political independence, have vastly improved on the concept.
Indeed, the others were more fortunate. In Jamaica's case, there was
a general de-enslavement process (not complete to this day) of 124
years between full emancipation in 1838 and political independence in
1962.

Factually, the material quality of life has improved for the average
Jamaicans by leaps and bounds since political independence in 1962.
Some years ago, I wrote this and an obvious political fanatic thought
that I was promoting the present government.

The fact is that both parties have served since political
independence and the Opposition JLP has served for 19 of our 42 years
of political independence. And because the fight for political
independence began with the example of Haiti in the minds of our
heroes, we should treat the Haitian people with respect. This is all
the more necessary because their own pioneer attempt has been fraught
with serious difficulties.

But, more important, they are human beings. And if you know anything
about the interchange of slaves between Haiti and Jamaica (which
explains a certain French influence in the Jamaican dialect) then the
Haitians are indeed our brothers and sisters.

But even if one is not naturally generous and charitable, Jamaicans
love to migrate. Our economy is kept from stumbling by remittances
from Jamaicans abroad who send money for their relatives. In light of
this, we should not object to Haitian refugees as some, have done in
letters to the print media and in telephone calls on radio call-in
programmes. But, thank God, not all objected. Indeed, most Jamaicans
have welcomed them.

-Courtesy Jamaica Observer
.