“…You
expect the Haitian people to be ashamed of choosing the actor/entertainer/
musician Sweet Mickey who has entertained most of us with his jokes, beautiful
melodies, and acting on set for over 20 years? Why?” (A
question posed to me.)
Michel Martelly is no
newcomer to Haitian politics, but with the help of the public relations firm
Ostos and Sola, the shrewd Compas artist, who has had many of Haiti’s most
notorious politicians as his patrons, deftly presented himself as the candidate
of change. Amazingly, he did this without having to repudiate his links to
FRAPH and to the Duvalier regime. In choosing Martelly, many Haitians,
particularly those under 25, yearned for someone different from the countless
ineffective politicians in office:
politicians who ignore the language of the people and speak French;
politicians who enjoy the perks of office without making an effort to solve the
country’s ailments. Is Martelly a departure from those politicians or does he
share their attitudes but has simply never held office? His first press conference after obtaining the
people’s vote, may have given us a clue. His speech was delivered almost
entirely in French without Creole translation. The majority of Haitians were
shut out from whatever it was that he said.
What will a Martelly
administration look like? For those of
us who lived through the years of the Duvalier dictatorship, and for the
families and friends of the estimated thousands who were killed by the regime, it
is alarming to learn that Duvalierists were active in Martelly’s campaign- and
are likely to be part of his government.
Shouldn’t we be concerned about a return of Duvalier sympathizers to
office? Or are Micky’s jokes, melodies, and antics so entertaining, they can make
us forget his tacit approval of governments that have not protected the human
and civil rights of the Haitian people.
The majority of
Haitians are too young to remember the repression of the Duvalier years and
Haitian schools are predominantly run by foreign NGO’s and Christian groups that
have done a miserable job of teaching Haitians their history and culture. Until schools pick up the task, it is the
duty of the older generation to remind the new of what occurred under Duvalier.
If this generation is not instructed about what truly happened, the brutality,
the menace, and the repression of those years can make a comeback and that will
not be to Haiti’s benefit.
Already there are
people encouraging Martelly to do as he pleases, singing, “Prezidan vire dada w
jan w vle; peyi a se pou wou.” It is a song adapted from “Divalye, vire bouda w
jan vle, peyi a se pou wou.” That’s a
worrisome sign because the reality is that “peyi a se pou nou tout.” One should never give a president license to
do whatever he wants. We need to hold him accountable. “Tout chèf san brid
move.” When leaders, at our behest, are
encouraged to ignore law and order to do as they please, it is always the
people who suffer.
Although most rulers
want free reign, Martelly’s great task is to show that he wants to reign
himself in. When people take to the streets and say do as you please, the
reality of what they are saying is that they want to do as they please, and in
return Martelly can depend on their support. That is how it worked with
Duvalier’s macoutes. For the sake of a
better Haiti, Martelly needs to make it clear to everyone that he is here to
work within the law and not to do as he pleases. If Martelly is able to do
that, he will offer real change: the kind of change that says that my
supporters do not rule the streets; the law does.
It is expected that some
Martelly fanatics will shave their heads and join a chorus of Martelly
cheerleaders. If this is a show of joy and excitement for change, then there is
nothing wrong with it. If however, it erodes into a pink militia, then it will
be a setback for the country, and not the way to blaze a new trail. It will be
no change at all. We have been there
before.
We have given Martelly
the job of leading the country. If we want him to succeed, we must be demanding
of him and we must be demanding of ourselves. We must choose to be advisors,
builders, supervisors working together to buttress our democratic institutions
and to demand of each arm of our government that they respect the limits of
their power. Neither the president, the congress, the justice system, the
police, the citizenship, none of us should “vire bouda n jan nou vle.” Real change is when the President makes that
clear to all.
On this day, April
7, 208 years ago, one of Haiti’s
founding fathers, Toussaint Louverture died in a cold dungeon in France far
away from his beloved Haiti. He left behind a population of people who had
become the masters of their own fate. Even as he perished, Toussaint knew that
the final victory was his because the Haitian people, courageous as they
are, would carry on the fight to create
a brave new world built upon the principles of human rights, justice, and
self-determination. It is now time to get the job done, for the betterment of
our lives, for the honor of our foreparents and for the respect of our
children. Viv Ayiti.
References:
1.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfrV8Qw2Pms&feature=related This is a
video of Michel Martelly’s first press conference as the new President elect.
Creole is given lip service in the introduction and conclusion of the
conference. The French language is then used to conduct business as usual.
2.http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/04/05/sweet-micky-is-haitis-next-president-reliable-democrat-or-reckless-demagogue/
This
Time magazine article reports that many Duvalierists were involved in
Martelly’s campaign.
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