21746: erasmus: Re: 21738: anonymous: Re: 21730: Fenton: Reeves: Haiti's Disappeared (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: erasmus <erasumustom@sympatico.ca>

 From Tom Reeves:  Those who have to dwell in slums are indeed slum
dwellers, no matter what those who live outside believe.  The term
does not demean them.  The reality demeans them.  The obscene gap
between rich and poor demeans them.  The incredible wickedness of
oppression which continues to be supported by U.S. policies demeans
them.  I have dwelt in slums, but only because I chose to at times,
in order to have the honor of knowing some of the best people I have
ever met.  Those who dwell in slums are far more noble than those who
dwell in mansions.  Nothing will redeem this situation short of a
levelling, short of taking from the rich what they have stolen from
the poor.  Aristide knew this and Lavalas taught this.  That is what
made the elite so angry and so fearful.  So far, no-one has found a
way to undo this dreadful inequality without violence.  At the
moment, there are no weapons that could sustain an armed struggle
against the overwhelming power of the rich and mighty.  Nonviolence
is the only path open, and the strategies of nonviolence are
difficult to carry out.  A slum is not made by those who live in it,
but by those whose greed forces others to live there - but it is a
slum nonetheless, and to call it anything else is deceitful.