23628 (pub) Esser: John Maxwell - The Man Eaters Of Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser <torx@joimail.com>

COMMON SENSE  437

The Man Eaters Of Haiti
by John Maxwell

October 23, 2004

[Excerpts]


...Next door, in Haiti, a similar but much more brutal process is in
train; a fascist dictatorship has already been established and the
regime is arresting priests , politicians and children and  shooting
children or anyone else who gets in their way.

The two processes depend on each other. It was anticipated by some
that a quick decapitation of Haitian democracy would lead to the
installation of a new, globalised version of government, run by the
rich, for the rich and pacifying the underclass by handing out
sweatshop jobs to all and sundry. All the Haitians needed, in this
scenario,  was a full belly.

As Mr Luigi Einaudi, Assistant Secretary general of the Organisation
of United States said  in January, the only thing wrong with Haiti
was  that it was being run by Haitians.

As former US Ambassador to Haiti, Timothy Carney said at the
launching of the US government sponsored Haiti Democracy Project
(HDP):

 "The policies exist to realize the interests. Ambassador Roger
Noriega mentioned that one of our interests is to defend human
rights, but he didn’t mention the fundamental interest, which is to
defend Miami Beach. We don’t want Haitians on Miami Beach and we have
proven that very recently. That is a fundamental interest of the
United States—no illegal immigrants. Now that you have realized that
interest, you hopefully will have policies by which Haitians can
realize their prosperity and their future at home. How do you do
that?  Well, we haven’t figured that out yet, have we?"

Carney was speaking at the opening of the HDP in the august
surroundings of the leading right-wing think-tank in the US, the
Brookings Institution, on September 19, 2002.

The raw racism of Carney’s speech seemed so innocuous to the Haitian
Democracy Project that his speech was published in full on their
website and may still be there. ...



... Racism and terrorism are a noxious mix. They are evil enough on
their
own. In Haiti, they are lethal.

The Brazilian general in charge of the so-called United Nations
contingent in Haiti, one Augusto Heleno, has delivered himself of the
profound thought that the trouble in Haiti is the fault of Democratic
candidate John Kerry, who, shortly after the February coup, decried
the affair and said that Haiti deserved better treatment. Heleno’s
bizarre statement  statement in my view, makes it patent that not
only is the intervention racist and unfair, but that it is directly
linked to the presumed prospects of certain candidates in the US
general election next week.

In this past week I have been on two radio programmes with
representatives of the Haitian private sector, following another two
weeks ago. In the first programme, one Mr Wedemeyer, head honcho of
Radio Metropole in Port au Prince, said he knew nothing about the
arrest of Haiti’s best known folklorist, the 69 year old ‘So Anne’
August. This arrest happened in August, and was particularly brutal,
because a hand grenade was used to blow in So Anne’s door at midnight
and she and her family, including a six year old granddaughter and
another child, were hooded, manacled and taken off to jail without a
warrant. The children have been released. So Anne is still in jail.
At the time of her arrest she was still recuperating from a serious
surgical operation.

The President of the American Chamber of Commerce of Port au Prince,
one M. Armand, exploded in fury when I asked him on the Breakfast
Club what had happened to So Anne? Was she a violent person, as he
had alleged about  Father Guerarrd  Jean-Juste? Armand shouted
imprecations and hung up the telephone. That night we met again on
RJR’s Beyond the Headlines. Somebody must have told him that he had
made a fool of himself earlier in the day. He was determined not to
be rattled and tried to talk over every question. But he showed
embarrassment and confusion when asked about So Anne and  Father Jean
Juste, declaring that the government was right to arrest So Anne and
that she had been charged with an offence. This lie was quickly
disproved when a very brave Haitian journalist came onto the
programme. After a few statements which contradicted M. Armand's
version, M. Armand counselled the journalist to be very careful
because I was entrapping him with my questions. The journalist paid
no heed, and at the end of the programme, M. Armand was unable to
provide any rational defence for the government which he supports. 


Death on the Streets

There is on the Internet a great deal of information about the horror
story that is Haiti. Mr Colin Powell can say there  is genocide in
Darfur, in the Sudan, but he either cannot or will not deign to say
what he thinks the situation is in Haiti.

The US press is similarly discreet, unlike Mr La Tortue, the resident
satrap. I confess that I judged him simply to be seeking publicity
when he saaid last week that President Aristide fomented the violence
in Haiti from his temporary residence in South Africa.

The outburst demonstrates some of the less intelligent features of
the so-called ‘interim prime minister.’ La Tortue doesn’t think that
people are intelligent enough to figure out that it would take an
enormous organisation for Aristide to carry out subversion in Haiti,
or that people don't know that Aristide is a man of peace, despite
the lies spread by his opponents.

The South African government  gave La Tortue short shrift , while
President Aristide responded as I expected he would, in character.

"October 1, 2004, one day following a lawful demonstration in Haiti,
de facto prime minister Gerard LaTortue acknowledged that he is a
killer. In a publicly broadcast radio interview about the
demonstration he declared: "We fired on them. Some died others were
wounded, and others fled."

"A shocking and appalling admission; all the more reprehensible when
made by a so-called public official. The statement was confirmed the
next day … LaTortue crossed the line; he unleashed a new torrent of
repression in Haiti and is now looking for a scapegoat. He is
attempting to bury his self incriminating statements with lies. 
LaTortue’s lies come after his salute of convicted criminals as
"freedom fighters"; his de facto government’s exoneration of one in a
hasty, overnight trial; his consent in allowing soldiers of the
disbanded brutal army to take charge and remain in charge of entire
areas of the country; and his sanctioning their use of violence”

President Aristide then appealed for a change of course towards peace:

"LaTortue, stop the lying, stop the killings. Start paving the way
for a dialogue which we have unceasingly invoked these past three and
a half years."

"True dialogue is the only solution. With the lives of millions at
stake, public officials must act responsibly. As we have repeatedly
declared: violence and murder are not the answer. During these past
eight months thousands of Haitians have been killed in defense of
democratic principles. The Haitian people clearly want peace and a
return to a state of law. Let us work to bring a tumultuous
bicentennial year to a close with a lasting political solution that
is imperative to the future of our nation."

The world’s press does not pay much attention to President Aristide. 

He is out of Favour with the Lords of the Earth.

The world Press does not try to investigate what is happening in
Haiti. Like William Jennings Bryan they seem to think that the
Haitians are pretending to a position above their station –"Imagine!
Niggers speaking French!!!”

But it was these people who ushered in the modern age, who translated
the Enlightenment into reality, by rising up, and by  overthrowing
and abolishing slavery. Two hundred years ago the Haitians spoke
powerfully and decisively  on behalf of humanity, on behaalf of all
the wretched and enslaved of the earth.

It is long past time for us to speak for them.

But is Mr Patterson listening? Is Mr Annan paying attention? And
where, on this planet, can we locate  the conscience of Colin Powell?

Copyright 2004 ©John Maxwell
maxinf@cwjamaica.com