a1: Re: 9999: Haiti-Palace Shooting (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Racine125@aol.com

Well, now, what did they expect?

I can't imagine how anyone on the Haitian right could expect the majority of 
Haitians to just lie down and let another coup d'etat run them through the 
meat grinder again.  Let's be realistic - almost every majority-class Haitian 
was victimized in some way by the 1991 - 1994 military regime. Either they 
were beaten, or arrested, or their male family members were kidnapped, or 
their female family members were raped, or their businesses were crushed, or 
they were arrested without a warrant, or forced to live in fear of a knock on 
the door at night because they worked in a polling station or taught people 
to read or organized market women into cooperatives or wrote poetry about 
democracy... almost no one who wasn't wealthy and allied with the right wing 
was able to live normally.

Now there is an armed attempt on the National Palace by men wearing the 
uniforms of the hated Haitian Army.  And all those folks whose last look at 
those uniforms was on the receiving end of a bludgeon, or under the sweating 
body of some filthy rapist, or on the business end of a gun, woke up to find 
themselves in the middle of a recurring nightmare!  

OF COURSE they went bonkers, of course they burned down buildings and went 
after people they identified with the criminal putchists.  How could anyone 
imagine it would be any different?  If I was in Haiti and I saw something 
like that, I might grab a gun too!   Those maniacs nearly killed me twice the 
last time around, and I'm not even Haitian.  It's a simple question of 
self-defense, the anti-Aristide forces have given us a very clear indication 
of what they are capable of already.

This has NOTHING to do with President Aristide's strengths or weaknesses as a 
president, it has nothing to do with the success or failure of Lavalas 
governmental policy.  This was an armed assault on the National Palace and on 
the democratically elected, constitutionally mandated government.  It was an 
attack on the people of Haiti, complete with bullets, and everyone knows what 
would happen next if those insane murderers had won.

Peace and love,

Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen

"Se bon ki ra" - Good is rare
     Haitian Proverb

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