#1687: Disagreement is fine but what are the facts? Delatour replies

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Mario L. Delatour <mardel@gol.com>

>From Mario L. Delatour  mardel@gol.com

Monsieur Simidor,
The issue here is not so much "Who ate the beans or who should sh....the
beans".When the "Beans" are finally released, the floating aroma of the"
Beans" will eventually lead us to  whoever ate the "Beans".The issue here
goes deeper than the voracity with which the "Beans"were eaten.What we are
talking about here is why the Haitian fails to maintain and preserve what
he has.I mentionned in my post about a "Krase Brise"(To break & Tear)
mentality which is pervasive in Haiti.Let us not get carried away and say
that I am raising a racist argument.You and I both know that this is
completely ludicrous.Black people are not the only people who have indulged
in "Krase Brise".I believe the Serbs gave us a fine example in Kosovo, and
the returning white muslims did the same to the Serbs in revenge.Let us
bury this silly argument once and for all.
Let us now examine the roots of "Krase Brise"in Haiti and why our country
is littered with ruins.In 1990 French writer Gerard Barthelmy published a
book called "Le Pays en Dehors" (The outside country).In his book he
examines why the african slave rebelled.He fought not so much to free
himself from a despicable inhumane & cruel system,but he also fought to go
back to Africa.Lets us not forget that slave ships are coming in well into
the 1790's and unloading youg men 18,19,20 &21 who just a few years later
will fight an independance war.These "Negres Bossales"had no sense of
attachment to Haiti,their allegiance was to Africa the mother land.When
their hopes had been dashed and they could not go back home.Barthelmy
claims that the haitian developed a "Transit mentality",meaning he is
always seeking to go elsewhere.This mentality floated down thru the
generations.All of this just to say that the haitian does not love his
country.Let us apply Barthelmy's theory in today's context. Ex:Give a
haitian a state job,he becomes a "Grand Mangeur",he not only eats the
"Beans",he eats the rice,eats all the meat,drinks the sauce and goes home
with everything.He is looking to purchase that house in Miami,he wants to
stash his money abroad,he is always looking for a future that will not be
haiti. Now Simidor,that's one man's theory.I am not saying that i subscribe
to it,but it is food for thought.
Closer to my own thinking,I believe the problem stems from a lack of
education.A TapTap driver
does not feel the need to maintain his vehicule,he does not own it.But once
he starts paying those car notes its a different story,his Tap Tap is "spic
and span".Middle class housewives throw fits when their maids break things
like electrical appliances.Well they just dont know,teach them !  14 years
ago I filmed "Dechoukage" galore and watched closely the intensity with
which houses,cars,flowers pots were destroyed.I watched the level of
hatred,when  dead remains were pulled out from the main cemetery.I found a
man stumping on the remains of General Gracia Jacques who had been buried
more than a year and a half,and saw mobs of people looking for dead
collaborators.A real frenzy.Call it a cleansing ritual,but the people
destroyed a lot of valuable things in the process.Lets not be too
apologetic now and state the facts as they were.I invite you to read
Turnier's "Quand la republique demande des comptes" and you will see 1986
repeating itself throughout Haiti's history.There is virtually no
difference between the period of "Les president ephemeres"preceeding the
1915 US intervention and the period from 1986 to 1994 when the US invaded a
second time.That is why our "Landscape is cluttered"as you said with NGO's
and missionaries,"Blancs" and all their cohorts.Let us not point the finger
one more time to the foreigner and cry "Conspiracy",what "Conspiracy"?The
only "Conspiracy" I know ofis Haitians stubbornly"Conspiring"not to advance
and lay the seeds of Nation building.
I stand by my comments that "Krase Brise"is alive and well in Haiti and
will continue to be so until we as a people learn to measure our anger,and
learn to be more tolerant of one another.
It is an education process.
Dr.Georges Michel wrote an excellent book on the history of trains in
Haiti.Where are those trains today.Dead by "Krase Brise". The "Sapeurs
Pompiers" (Firemen) started in the late 1880's.Where are they today to save
Jeremie?Dead by "Krase Brise".Our sanitation officiers who use to go around
to clean the markets in the fifties along with the "Pompiers",where are
they today?Dead by "Krase Brise".The sanitation service that use to go
around and pick up stray dogs and tag them,where is it today?Dead by "Krase
Brise".SNEM (Le service national pour l'eradication de la Malaria) where is
it today? well you guessed it,Dead by "Krase Brise".The old Cathedral that
stood proudly next to the new cathedral.Where is it today? Dead by "Krase
Brise".Who burned it ? The people did.                                     
                                           "Simidor reveille toi mon cher
ami."