21542: Simidor Re: 21532: Esser: Re: 21528: (Chamberlain) 21522: Fenton re: 21507(fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Daniel Simidor <karioka9@mail.arczip.com>


D. Esser torx@joimail.com wrote:
>
>Speaking of the main stream media and their inaccuracies (no need for
>quotation marks here): they haven't even covered in passing the
>current wave of violence against popular organizations in Haiti.
>Papers, such as the one of record, have been very silent about
>killings that happened under Latortue's watch, whereas interestingly
>enough even smallish anti Aristide demonstrations were deemed news in
>the months leading up to the Coup d'État.

What "current wave of violence" against what "popular organizations?" It is cowardly and cynical on the part of the Lavalas bosses, but then what else is new, to be squealing all over the place about a “lack of protection” from the occupation and transition authorities.  A few weeks ago, everything was fine when they were the perpetrators of violence against any group (peasants, trade-unions, students, etc) who dared to criticize or to distance themselves from the Lavalas hegemon.  You mean in all the years Lavalas was running the country, they never envisioned such a reversal of roles?

Now, I’m not denying there is some retaliation going on, some of it more than deserved. It’s the only justice most Haitians will ever see.  There is also too much criminal activity (hold-ups break-ins, kidnappings, gang-related murders) on the part of all the Chimères, former Tonton-Macoutes and discharged soldiers, who have access to automatic weapons and no other means of support. But there is much more manipulation of fears and rumors than actual anti-Lavalas killings going on.   I am particularly amazed by the silence of all the liberals and shamed-face fellow travelers, who were always quick to discredit every allegation of Lavalas corruption and crimes, with calls for “proofs.”  Whatever became of their ethical posturing, their “objectivity,” their requirement for proofs?

I also find it extraordinary that the revenge killings involving Lavalas and PPN thugs, that took place in the town of Plaisance, have gone so far unreported.  The Alterpresse news organization holds several testimonies from eyewitnesses and survivors of Lavalas retribution that left three people dead in Plaisance on March 23.  Anthonal Mortimé, a spokesperson for the Popular Democratic Front, a coalition of some 30 progressive and grassroots organizations, told Alterpresse that “the perpetrators are well-known individuals who have identified themselves as PPN members,” adding that they received their weapons from Exalus Jeanty and Theodore Saintilus, two former Lavalas officials.  PPN is Ben Dupuy’s “Parti Populaire National.”

I am somewhat disturbed that Alterpresse did not secure the names of the people killed in Plaisance.  But what is truly remarkable is the number of alleged Lavalas victims (several hundreds according some) who have so far remained nameless. Any political organization claiming repression against its members must be able to name those disappeared or killed.  There is no reason to withhold their names.  For people to repeat those unsubstantiated allegations is to be part of a lie.

There are higher issues involved here.  The historian CLR James wrote of the Caribbean 50 years ago that its inhabitants were a 21st century people caught in a 17th century quagmire.  This is certainly true of Haiti today.  Haitians had put Aristide in power as the man who could usher in the modernity of gas stoves, schools, hospitals, courtroom justice, public accountability and a living wage. Instead, he harked back to the worse atavisms of the past: kleptocracy, satrapy, demagoguery, vigilantism and identity politics, the list goes on.  Chamblain, Guy Philippe, Ravix and the military that spawned them are also holdovers and demons from the same past that the people are trying to exorcize.  They too have to be gotten out of the way.

On a lighter note, this once great list has become so redundant with jive articles that I imagine an entire cottage industry of Lavalas diehards in the background, combing the English-language press from tiny Montserrat to the most obscure proto-Marxist organ in the land, looking for the right kind of stories.  It’s a “modern kidnapping, a modern way of a modern coup d’état,” designed to turn innocent list members into nodding zombies before killing them with boredom.  The best proof of this conspiracy is how this deadly redundancy is kept from the Lavalas websites.  It’s also true that most of them have shut down (Fondation 30 Septembre, Aristide Fondation for Democracy), as if once the money spigot was shut down there was no incentive left for all this great charitable work…

Daniel Simidor