24393: Hyppolite Pierre (point of view): I still see blood (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Hyppolite Pierre <hpierre@irsp.org>

I know many will disagree. Especially those on the side of the Pyrrhic
winners who are now running Haiti. But in truth, Haiti is going through a
horrific anomaly and in fact, unless some honest effort is made by Haitians
with the support of the international community, things will get worse and
there will be once more a bloodbath in this island nation.

You have a situation where very few (if any) Haitians are suggesting ways
out of the impasse. I understand that elections are a very difficult, but
necessary step towards achieving stability. I hope and pray that such
elections do take place in due time, and are well-organized, transparent so
all the chips may lay where they fall afterwards. This is crucial.

But let's be honest. The "Aristide" anomaly is real. It is real. I am not
sure any honest analyst or politician who knows about the situation in Haiti
would or should suggest, that the man should return to power. He's gone for
good. His time is over. He very, very, very sadly overplayed his enormous
political capital and by the end, the corruption was so deep and entrenched
in the system that even the constitutional die-hards either remained silent,
or stated that he had to go for the best of the country. Those who know of
all the misdeeds and insist that he should return to power are only doing
what we call in Haitian, "fè wont sèvi kólè" (hiding their shame with
unjustified anger). It is now time for all Haitians to see how the country
can get out of that hole.

Latortue made his tragic mistake by calling the former soldiers, many of
whom were human rights abusers, freedom fighters. NCHR, the Haiti version at
least, insisted that Neptune order the massacre of hundreds in La Scierie.
This is a supposed massacre for which the man is now laying in prison
perhaps even awaiting his own death because of his hunger strike. But
Neptune was the same man who helped assure the political transition so that
Latortue could play his current role as prime minister. Meanwhile, when
Pierre Esperance of NCHR was pressed to give proof of the massacre
engineered by Neptune, he simply replied that dogs hate the corpses. Well
perhaps true ... and as dogs like bones, maybe they hate all the bones too.
But unfortunately, no one at the time in the Lavalas camp had the good sense
to ask Esperance to identify those dogs (or at least a few of them), so they
could perform some DNA analysis on them, or something of that sort. So
sometimes one woders: was it some kind of revenge on the part of NCHR? If
so, revenge for what? But their position on this supposed "La Scierie
massacre" had since them complicated the entire political equation in Haiti.

How then, can you ask Fanmi Lavalas to participate in the next elections if
they are or perceive that they are being persecuted by government? The idea
of "moving on for the good of the country", seems definitely not to be in
the political vocabulary of Haitian politicians. After all, Haiti is the
country of Dessalines, NOT that of Toussaint. We are all warriors, but we
don't know how to manage the peace. This is true whether we're blacks (for
the noirists) or mulattoes (for the mulatrists), two stupid and deadly forms
of ideological insanity. That's the true and sad part. But Haitians still
have to learn.

Haitians have to learn that true victory can only be achieved when everyone
feels like they have a share, a stake in the political system whatever their
ideology. That true victory begins, only when the wacko-est of all waco's
can say things that are outreageous but thanks to a rigid system of law and
law enforcers, they are unable to reify, actualize their insanity but at
least have an outlet to vent it. Haitians have to learn that true victory,
as much in politics as in real life, is what's left to you after everyone
else had agreed that your victory is legitimate. But a country of vindictive
politicians from all sides still can't see it. They just can't seem to get
it. Instead, the most fanatic continue on blaming Aristide's shadow for
everything that had gone wrong since the man had left the country more than
a year ago.

Meanwhile, you have a population, the masses of poor and disinherited, of
impoverished middle class, of frustrated well-to-do upper income individuals
who feel out of place, out of hope, and out of outlets to express their
political conviction. In truth Corbetters, Haiti is in very, very, very bad
shape right here, right now. Right here, right now. Make no mistake about
it.

Latortue needs to understand that he is not in a game to please any group.
The international community needs to offer him the kind of necessary support
so the more moderate elements from the Lavalas camp can actually participate
in the next elections.

Lavalas is not a person. Maybe the word (semantic) is or was ill-chosen by
the party founder (Lavalas), but the idea and ideal of that political
movement still resonate far in the heart and soul of many in Haiti. It may
anger many among us, especially the die-hard anti-Titid who love to blame
"Papa Aristide" (ti pè-a) for everything that had gone wrong in Haiti since
before independence. But a fact is a fact. The current government and its
international backers need to help find a formula that can actually
encourage moderates to partake in the next elections. Otherwise, the
alternative is at best more instability, lack of legitimacy for the next
government, and even worse. I would only advise the Lavalas moderates, if I
may, one more thing: they should not, under no circumstances, send their
coandidate to the presidency. That would not be the right strategy at this
point. It simply, would not be.

If the current government does not try to find a way to make the next
elections truly inclusive so most of the population (even a mere 60
percent), can participate, then more blood may be shed, and
Papa-Dessalines-Pyrrhus will have won again.

Some may find this email ludicrous. Well, it may not be so. It may not be
so. I am simply trying to be honest here. Haiti is in serious, serious,
serious trouble. It's a human catastrophe and a political basket case. Only
those with the necessary courage can and will help the homeland out of this
quagmire.

Sad, sad, sad... I truly, truly see more blood otherwise.

Best to you all,
Hyppolite Pierre
IRSP
http://www.irsp.org