#5221: Re: #5198: Dorce Comments on Durban (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: LAKAT47@aol.com

In a message dated 10/02/2000 9:14:01 AM Pacific Daylight Time, Lance Durban 
<lpdurban@yahoo.com writes:

<<It is difficult to defend the Preval administration, yet interesting that
there are still folks on the Corbett List who feel it can be done.  Guy
Antoine's recent post asking us to tone down the rhetoric and ask
ourselves what we personally have done to help the situation in Haiti
sidesteps the issue.  At some point you just have to look at the
scoreboard.  And if the score is lopsided and your side is getting
clobbered, one IS entirely justified in asking how the team is playing and
what the manager is doing to turn things around.>>
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Or a person might be forced to accept the facts:  the vast majority of people 
in Haiti want Aristide and his party to occupy the seats in the government, 
no matter what they told any blan who asked them what they would do in the 
election.  Tough nut to swallow but swallow it you must.
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Durban:
<<In my humble view job creation should be the number one priority in Haiti,
yet the Preval Administration has literally chased foreign investment out.
 Not just by the well-documented infrastructure shortcomings, but by
bureaucratic bungling at all levels.  While Preval addresses the world
stage at the U.N. I would defy anyone to try and set up a manufacturing
company in Haiti today.  The red tape and hassle is quite astounding.  Key
ministry approvals simply cannot be obtained and at every turn the
prospective investor is treated poorly... as though he is some sort of
monsterous exploiter of pep-la.  And he is treated that way because that
is how he is seen by the Preval administration!>>
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I am no economist, admittedly, but even I get that manufacturing is not going 
to give poor people a living wage.  A wage that can possibly change a life if 
a person works hard enough.....in Haiti, there is no such thing as working 
hard enough in a manufacturing job to change one's life.  I think you might 
want to talk to Preval or Aristide to see what their ideas are about how to 
provide income for Haiti's majority class.  If you truly want to help Haiti, 
this might be a good step.....what is it THEY want from you, not what YOU 
want from them.  Interesting approach isn't it.  If I were a betting person, 
I would wager that those men and others are looking to see how agri-business 
may be restored.  It will take a lot of doing to make Haiti self sufficient 
but that should be the goal.  So many people will be against this and stand 
in the way.  But it makes sense to me.  Then if some people want to sew shiny 
beads on silk dresses for rich ladies in the US for a few gourdes a 16 hour 
day, they can.  But a choice is always best.
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Durban:
<<Having visited the DR this past week, I was struck by the welcome mat the
Dominicans lay out.  Not only are top people in the ministries very
approachable and ready to help, but people in business report that getting
things done now really is quick and easy. >>
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Do you suppose they will import Haitian workers to do the slave labor,  I 
mean manufacturing assembly line jobs?  Just a thought.

Kathy Dorce