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30703: Forrest (reply) RE: 30701: Fofoye (reply) Re: 30676: Loccm (reply) Re: 30652: Lorsbach (reply) Re: 30648: Durban ... (fwd)





From fmooy@tulane.edu

It's funny, at first I thought FOFOYE was describing the Louisiana State court system instead of that of Haiti. The anecdote sounds familiar to some I've heard in New Orleans. Anecdotes aside (hallelujah Selby for finally pointing out some actual data, I'll definitely take a look) I wonder where your hope for the future is.

FOFOYE, you attack those of us with hope for Haiti as being superficial, but at the same time you describe Haiti in such superficial terms yourself. You say that Haiti has:

     "...no  infrastructure..."

But everyday I see crews out cleaning and fixing the streets, I see lights on (for a few hours at least) in neighborhoods where there are clearly no generators or inverters, I drive on newly graded and vastly improving roads like the one connecting PAP to Miragoane. These may be small signs of infrastructure development, but the are, nonetheless, real.

     "...no laws; no attorneys; no courts; no judges; no justice..."

but everyday I deal with Haiti's laws and some outstanding Haitian legal minds. It is true that there is a lot of corruption and bureaucracy here, the same is true in other places. In spite of that, many good people and organizations are using the Haitian legal system to their advantage in bringing about positive change. I have nothing but sympathy for your particular experience dealing with the Haitian legal system. You clearly feel that you were mistreated. At the same time, I would point out that Haitian renter's laws are incredibly pro renter. Without in anyway questioning your version of events, I have to say that I doubt very much that a similarly situated landlord could obtain judgment against a tenant before 5 years time had elapsed. That's not corruption or bureaucracy, that's just the law here. You may not like it; You may, like me, scratch your head and wonder how, in a country were everything else is so clearly stacked against the poor masses, such progressive renter's laws could develop, but that's the law.

     "...no  jails..."

but in reality there are plenty of jails in Haiti. They're just full of so many innocent people, there's no room for crooks.

     "...no real "education"..."

but I've never meet a people so hungry for learning. It is true that formal public education system here is a joke and millions can't read or write, but the same was true in the United States early in its history. That didn't prevent the US from developing. Anecdotally, I might also add that I am always surprised when I travel to small towns in the provinces here, like Boucankare or Milo, to find how many multilingual people there are among the illiterate crowd.

     "...no honesty [&] no conscience..."

but I would argue that it is the land owning elite in the country that are dishonest and without conscience, who represent a small fraction of the Haitian population. The millions swinging hoes in the countryside have don't seem to be in any position to cheat anyone and, in fact, seem to me to be generally honest and God fearing people.

You say that Haiti is not yet ready, it's not yet mature, its people are not yet grown up; When will it be ready? Who will show the country the way? How can things advance except by small steps (tipa tipa as the proverb goes)? If we don't talk about security and acknowledge the small, incremental, positive changes, how can we ever expect progress. You may be ready to throw up your hands and abandon hope, but there are millions who are not.

Forrest Mooy
Fonkoze S.A. Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Juris Doctor Candidate, May 2009
Tulane University Law School
email: fmooy@tulane.edu