21475: Higbie:Re: 21459: Antoine Re: 21416: Of genocide and human rights (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

[Corbett prefaces:]

Folks the genocide discussion is not much about Haiti any longer. This
will be the last of the "general" posts I will do on genocide.  The list
is for issue that are SPECIFICALLY and primarily about Haiti.  I urge
folks interested in genocide to discuss it off-list.  Thanks,  Bob  ]

From: Janet Higbie <jhigbie@nytimes.com>

I agree with much of what Du Tuyau and Guy Antoine say, including that
genocide is not the best word in this context.  As I said in my original
post, something along the lines of "reports of killings and other human
rights abuses" would have been better.   It's just that I don't think the
use of that word should be enough to discredit the inquiry into what
happened at La Scierie/Lasiri or anywhere else.   It seems me that the
thing to focus on at this point is not the word to use, or the merits of
the particular human rights group involved, or even each individual
allegation of a human rights violation (though each abuse is
important).  It seems to me that the crucial thing is to take up the
immensely difficult task of moving toward a functioning and fair law
enforcement and judicial system.

I'm not sure what to make of the last line of Guy's message
(below).   Being as I myself am the only non-Haitian other than Napoleon
Bonaparte, Christopher Columbus and Slobodan Milosevic mentioned by name in
the entire post, I might have gotten the impression, were I of a paranoid
frame of mind, that I had been placed on some sort of enemies
list.  Suffice it to say that, though I have many Haitian and
Haitian-American friends (including Du Tuyau and Guy Antoine), I have never
put myself forward as a "friend of Haiti."  I'm not in the habit of
befriending entire countries; for one thing, my address book isn't big
enough.  Nor do I consider myself an expert, though I'm pretty good at
finding experts on Haiti when I need to, thanks largely to this list.  I do
think that Haiti is a wonderful, maddening, misunderstood and
underappreciated place that's in a terrible mess at the moment.  I see my
role at remedying that in some small way by trying, often by thinking about
the words that used, to see that it is portrayed as fully and accurately as
possible in this country (another immensely difficult task).

JH

>It is time that we embrace our own and reject the condescension
>of our enemies who have a knack of dissimulating themselves as
>friends of Haiti.