#102: Democracy in Haiti : Poirier comments

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Jean Paul Poirier <jpp@compa.net>

I believe that we are looking at democracy (as half heartedly dragged
through the dirt in Haiti, not even following 1/4 of the Constitution that
mostly french-trained lawyers and politicians wrote in 1987) as a failure
and say it will not work in Haiti. Take any system, use only part of it and
it will fail, anywhere. Do it with a cake recipe, it will fait. Build or
repair an automobile and rthe same will happen.

I have worked with a lot of street people of primary school background and I
can tell you that they know what Democracy means, a more level playing
field, more respect for all citizens and a chance to choose their leaders. I
have also worked very closely with grassroots organizations representing
close to 200,000 people. They were at first very sceptical, being very
directed by a "leader", but found through discussion within their own groups
and meeting other groups that they could come to consensus on a lot of
issues. We even organized meetings between business groups and popular
organizations, in private, during the coup. The results were astounding.

Democracy is as close to natural law as practiced in the real vodou as
anything else I have seen.

Let's agree to respect the rules of the game that we setup or agree to
change them. But by all means they have to be respected. What I have lived
through in Haiti is as close to anarchy as anything. Even under the coup,
many systems functioned irrespective of the military or civilain leaders.

Let's discuss.


Jean Paul Poirier