a148: Duvergé/Lindor in Petit-Goâve: Pina responds to Chamberlain (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: kevin pina <kpinbox@hotmail.com>


Chamberlain writes:

>I'm sure you're right that it wasn't mentioned every time in Reuter and AP.
>
>Maybe you think a guy (Duvergé) getting beaten up,
>seriously hurt etc. has the same "news value" as a guy
>(Lindor) actually having his head chopped off (which is
>what I understand happened, apart from "just" getting killed).

For me that is another false dicotomy. Durverge could have just as easily 
died from the first attack. There is a vast difference between claiming 
justification for an event and exploring the provocations behind it. The way 
Mr. Lindor was killed is horrible but the truth of the matter is that 
Convergence supporters provoked the attack by attempting to kill Mr. Duverge 
first.  Instead the event was portrayed as an unprovoked rampage by Lavalas 
supporters.

>
>After all, Lindor was "suspected" of not being "on-side."
>Just as you might, as a white man with an American
>passport and money enough for an air ticket out,
>be suspected of being "CIA" at some difficult street
>moment in PauP and be disposed of without more ado
>as you yelled in vain:  "But I love the president!" but were
>not heard, understood or believed.  Good luck!


I am not sure what to make of your recent remarks regarding "white men" that 
seem to pepper much of your commments these days. For myself the issue of 
security is well founded but I can do without others projecting their 
personal fears or frustrations onto me.

I have a far greater fear of  military putchists and their supporters than I 
do of the lumpen poor majority. I cannot justify the actions of the poor 
majority but I do my best to keep it in historical perspective. I understand 
their anger and determination after feeling cheated by the OAS, the US, and 
the "international community". They are forced to suffer the far greater 
violence of daily poverty and feel as though they are being punished for 
their democratic choices in the last elections. Concession after concession 
has been made by their elected representatives as the powers that be seem 
hell bent on nothing less than putting in place an unpopular government made 
up of the Convergence. As for their reaction to the recent coup attempt, can 
you guarantee anyone that the Convergence would not be used to immediately 
legitimize and garner recognition for a successful military takeover? The 
opinion among the lumpen poor majority is that this is exactly what is 
planned for the future which might help you to better understand their 
reactions.

I think there are basically two types of observers with regard to the 
situation in Haiti, the first holds a deep fear and resentment of the poor 
and that's as far as it goes. They will never understand, nor seek to 
understand, the real causes of violence because it would take them out of 
the comfort of their intellectual constructs. The second type realizes the 
same fear but seeks to understand the historical roots of the anger and 
determination that is spilling into the streets.


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