23682: (reply) Esser: Re: 23672: (reply and discuss) Wilson to Morse's post (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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

Ah, now it's Marxist-Leninist techniques that are responsible for the
wave of police killings and arbitrary detentions. I presume, if your
scenario is correct, that people such as So Anne and Father Jean
Juste had themselves arrested? A couple of points: Fanmi Lavalas has
never appeared to be a Marxist-Leninist political group. The
"pressure from below-pressure from above" concept, as you put it, is
somewhat novel, can you explain where it has been used and what it is
all about? If everything else fails, it is very predictable that
red-baiting will appear, the question is: does it work? In this day
and age and in Haiti in particular, it seems so outdated and relegated
to history...

There's one big difference between terror from the ultra-right and
that of the opposing spectrum to the left: while both sides may use
violent means to accomplish their goals and in no way am I implying
here that this applies to Lavalas, if you look at any number of
conflicts: in Northern Ireland, the Spanish civil war, Columbia, South
Africa under apartheid, Nepal, terrorist organizations in Western
Europe, or the indigenous struggle in Chiapas, the leftist groups
very rarely carry out attacks on their own people, as this would be
counterproductive and generally does not fit into their ideology.
When the population as a whole is terrorized, it is far more likely
to have been carried out by government affiliated groups, right wing
paramilitary outfits, as they do exist in Haiti, and similar people.

All those repetitive and incredible words of compromise are
redundant. FYI: Haiti's jails are full not of criminals, but of
political opponents of friends of the U.S. embassy, a.k.a. the
"interim" government of Haiti. Latortue very revealingly recently
spoke of killing demonstrators in the most approving terms and there
are many instances where he has openly lied to the international
press to cover up his reign of terror.

What's at issue here, is that the puppet regime brought to power by
violent means, lacks credibility within the country, as well as
internationally, and steps up repression in the vain hope of thereby
subjugating the Haitian masses. An increasing number of foreign
journalists, human rights groups and international organizations
point out what you are trying to negate: there's an upsurge of
violence coming from the Haitian government and the it's affiliates.

The notion that the Haiian people need an educated leadership,
implying they are lacking thereof, is condescending, untrue and
depending on your background, patently racist too. There's no shortage
of brilliant Haitian minds and this also goes for the participants of
the Haitian peoples struggle for a place on the table.

The interim government is not in place because it was a necessity per
se, but because the U.S. and French governments made the overthrow of
Aristide part of their agenda. Journalists (with some notable
exceptions - read today's piece in the Guardian for example), did and
do their bidding, by conjuring up necessities that never existed on
the ground in Haiti.
.