5176: Re: Where are all the weapons? Simidor responds (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: karioka9@cs.com

Ms Klarreich should read my reply to Chamberlain more carefully.  Chamberlain's argument, often repeated here, is a flat denial of any resistance in Haiti, armed or otherwise, and an admonition that Haitians stop whining and be more grateful to the US, etc.  My response was that although there was no armed resistance per se, there was a movement toward one, and that this movement was preempted by Aristide's insistence on nonviolence, peaceful resolution, the international community, etc.

No amount of condescension can obscure the resistance and the defiance of ordinary Haitians toward the military regime.  What was missing was leadership and organization in order for the country to overcome the coup. The point however was not to stockpile weapons or to improvise some kind of guerilla warfare, but to mobilize the population against the putschists.  But before they could go out and mobilize the masses of people, the grassroots organizers had to be able to protect themselves.  Armed propaganda as a first stage, that's all I'm talking about.  

Where are all the weapons Ms Klarreich is searching for?  In the same hands they've been all along, before, during and after the coup.

Daniel Simidor