25725: Raber: (comments) Watching The Agronomist (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: PM Raber <raber88@zoominternet.net>

Today I watched two DVDs without even thinking about the order in which I
watched them or the fact that out of several I had rented from Netflix I
chose those particular two.  First I watched "Osama" about the despair of a
12 year old girl under the Taliban.  Her complete lack of hope and her fear
were overbearing.  This must be exactly like what some young Haitians are
feeling.  This morning I had gotten a report about the Topography of
kidnappings and rapes in Haiti.  The Osama movie ended with the (not shown
but assumed) rape of the poor girl who "got lucky" because the Taliban
spared her life but gave her as a bride to an old man.  From reports in
Haiti, some kidnapped women have killed themselves after being repeatedly
raped.  Hoping for better fare, I put "The Agronomist" in the DVD player.
It could be an uplifting movie if Jean's sacrifice for his cause had
resulted in a "prise the conscience" by those with power.    Knowing what
goes on daily in Haiti today, I am glad Jean Dominique does not have to be a
witness to the worsening of what in the movie he called a descent into
mediocrity.  How far will Haiti descend?  Will we have to get to an
Afghanistan-like state before things change?  One thing that bothered Jean
in the movie was the fact that Aristide and Lavalas were not decrying any of
the violence and other crimes committed by those who claimed to be his
followers.  As we saw later after Jean's death, Aristide continued to
explain away their thuggish behavior and even invited them to the national
palace.  This is the same man who is heard in the Agronomist telling the
people to go to the rich people's home and disarm them.  Today, we have
heard JBA cry about getting back into power.  On the other hand he is
leading an even better life than Jean-Claude Duvalier or Raoul Cedras in
post Apparteid South Africa.  His wife was just recently one of the speakers
at Nelson Mendela's birthday party.   I am sure that, like all of us on this
list, the Aristides know exactly what is happening to Haiti.   Even Jean
Claude Duvalier has an opinion about the lawlessness.  Why is Aristide
silent on the rapes, murders and kidnappings which have skyrocketed since
September of 2004 when his gangster buddies declared the start of operation
Baghdad?   I don't think he should be meddling heavily but if some people
are commiting crime in one's name,  what does it mean when that person stays
silent? At least he should make a strong statement decrying the behavior as
in: " Kidnappings, murders and rapes are never justified.   I call any
person involved in such activities an enemy of JBA and an enemy of Haiti".
In the last couple of weeks, two gentlemen in their 70's were murdered in
their homes by thieves. Stealing is one thing but why murder elderly people?
My own high school chemistry and litterature teacher (also in her 70's) was
bound, tortured and murdered a year of two ago.  She was of very humble
means.  Why?

A highlight of the Agronomist movie was seeing Jean Dominique's older sister
Madeleine Paillere speak about him.  Some of my friends went to her school.
She was a wonderful person to listen to.  Madeleine died this week of an
embolism at the age of 88 while visiting her sister in France. Better there
than to be murdered in her Haiti home by a generation that has lost all
respect for life and its elders.