9990: Re: 9986: Dictator (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Jean-Marie Florestal <sonice1953@yahoo.com>
	

Tsunetomi wrote:

>My 9 years of providing Haiti Information in Japanese
>have given me a kind of status as Honorary Haitian
without
>command of kreyol, and I am also a witness of Japan
over 
>50 years which started exactly from Haiti today.

Haiti has such a need that it is foolish not to
welcome advices from well intentioned non Haitian-born
like you. The outsider’s perspective brings a
dimension to the discussions that stretch the limits
of views imposed by cultural constraints on the
Haitians themselves. As an Honorary Haitian, you need
not apologize for showing you care about our dear
country and for participating in efforts to identify
solutions to our problems. As far as I am concerned,
your intervention is welcome even though some may not
agree with me on it.

Tsunetomi continued:

>I cannot think of a loving mother who does not beg
>for their children, that is why I am so unhappy with
the
>political arguments which have nothing to do with
nation-
>building. A nation's prosperity does not exist with a
>handful of top elites. It can never be realized
without
>the participation of the majority. One of the reasons
of
>Asian development is in the education where once
given
>a chance, to grasp it quickly and even improve.

 I believe that in these four sentences one can
identify the causes of Haiti’s economic and political
problems (inability of the elites to come to terms
with the majority) the current problems in Haiti 
(wasted energy in no nation-building efforts) and
solution of the problems (education). The comparison
Tsunetomi made to Japan was very appropriate. I would
add, however, that rebuilding Haiti would take longer
because Haiti does not have the 120 plus millions of
people that Japan has, and with its majority of
illiterate Haiti does not have the skilled labor, the
traditions and the institutions that benefited Japan
in its rebuilding efforts. This explains why education
should be the foremost priority of any government in
Haiti in shaping the future of the country, not
security. I am not suggesting that security is not a
priority. It is, but the security problem takes
relatively little time to solve in comparison to make
the majority of Haitians a skilled labor force. Its
solutions are in building an adequate justice and law
enforcemnt system lacking sorely in Haiti now, caused
primarily by the vacuum created when no adequate
substitute quickly replaced the military.         


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