RECOMMENDED ATTACHMENT Dear Mr. Fombrun, I received your attachment yesterday regarding the Brazilian Carnival, but unfortunately I could not see any of the pictures that you sent in yesterday’s CARL’S CORNER. Enclosed AS ATTACHMENT are some pictures. I hope to be helpful to your site. Best regards, Beatrice Cayo, Boston, MA 02122
LE BLOG DE CARL FOMBRUN
carlfombrun@yahoo.com www.fombrun.com
Wordcount: 6,464
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dans un verbe d’arc-en-ciel.
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For Thursday 22 February 2007. Pour le Jeudi 22 Février 2007.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
Some day, in years to come, you will be wrestling with the great temptation, or trembling under the great sorrow of your life. But the real struggle is here, now, in these quiet weeks. Now it is being decided whether, in the day of your supreme sorrow or temptation, you shall miserably fail or gloriously conquer. Character cannot be made except by a steady, long continued process.
Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) American Bishop
TODAY ON CARL’S CORNER
-- Attachment of Brazilian Carnival celebrations from Béatrice Cayo, Boston, Massachusetts.
-- Quote of the Day
-- CONFERENCE on Jacques Roumain by Carl Fombrun in Creole, translated in English by Carl.
-- George W. Bush’s IQ and the other U.S. presidents.
-- HAYO’S 9th annual festival at FIU South Campus.
-- Harry Fouché on CARL FOMBRUN SHOW, ISLAND TV with Carl.
-- French Section: Note from HAITIAN ATHLETE OF THE CENTURY, Manon Sanon, Thought of the Day, Editorial.
-- Spanish Section: Audit of visas in Dominican Republic’s embassy in Haiti.
-- Haitian Creole: Carl’s comments.
ENGLISH VERSION
OF
Carl Fombrun’s conference,
Libreri Mapou, Little Haiti, Miami
Sunday 18 February, 2007 ON
JACQUES ROUMAIN HAITIAN WRITER, MARXIST AND REVOLUTIONARY June 4, 1907 – August 18, 1944
by Carl Fombrun
(Adaptation “ÉDITIONS MÉMOIRE JEUNESSE” and the collaboration of :
Antoine Brice, Carine Roumain, Henri and Charles Delva.)
HONOR-RESPECT ! HONOR-RESPECT ! I DO NOT HEAR YOU ! HONOR-RESPECT ! Dear Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen : A special welcome to everyone! I would say, like the famous French writer Victor Hugo, that the art of writing well is to use common words with harmony, and I would add, to express oneself with simplicity. I hope to keep that discipline throughout this lecture. My friends, I was only twelve years of age when this remarkable and immortal Haitian, Jacques Roumain : Aristocrat, Novelist, Journalist, Poet, Etnographer, Archeologist, Writer, Philosopher, Diplomat and then some, died on 18 August 1944. This is a special date for me personally; it reminds me of my beloved son named after me who passed on at 12 years of age in a boat accident, in 1971 in New York City. The Lord gives and the Lord takes. Jacques Roumain was my neighbor in the small village of Kenscoff, situated in a mountain which dominates the capital of Port-au-Prince, where during the summer vacations all those financially comfortable, mulattoes and blacks, still have summer homes and run away from the summer heat in Port-au-Prince. Jacques Roumain was one of those well-to-do Haitian mulattoes, a bourgeois, who in August 1944 was recuperating in Kenscoff. He had two weeks to live. Two weeks prior to his death, Jacques Roumain had left his diplomatic post as Chief of the Haitian Mission in Mexico to return to his native land and rest in his mountainous summer residence. As a wild teenager, I met my neighbor Jacques Roumain who gave me the opportunity a couple of times to smoke the butts of his eternal cigarettes. Those are the most tender memories that I have of him; and he died in Pétionville at the vibrant age of 37. INTRODUCTION I will come back in a moment, I assure you, to relate in details the life of this remarkable and immoral Haitian who would have celebrated in 2007, one hundred years on this earth, if he had not left us at an early age in 1944. What is so special about Jacques Roumain ? I join the eminent writer Lyonel Trouillot in Haiti who is asking that the celebrations of the one hundredth year in honor of Jacques Roumain « should have a popular theme. The dialogue with Roumain, the manifestations in his honor must not be the privilege of a small group. That would be an offense to his memory. » As for me, Carl, I add that these manifestations in his memory must take place in Haitian Creole, the true language of Haiti. Although Jacques Roumain was from the upper class, who expressed himself in the French language, he fought for a better life for the vast majority of the Haitian people, whose language is Creole, which is together with French, the official language of the country. HERE IS JACQUES ROUMAIN In my research here is an extract of a letter by Jacques Roumain written to an acquaintance, Tristan Remy, and which was seized by the Haitian police. « I am a communist, non-militant for the time being because the political climate is not presently adequate. I am getting ready… Son of land owners I reject my upper-class origins. I have lived much with the peasants. I know their life, their mentality, their religion, this mixture of surprising Catholicism and Vaudou. I do not view the proletarian peasant as a sentimental value. The Haitian peasant is our sole producer and as a producer he is exploited horrendously by a minority which calls itself Elite. All my writings have been against this so called Elite… At an early age I wrote poems and tales… I am working for the renewal of Haitian literature and our rich folklore… Until today our writers, with a few exceptions, only imitate French poets and story tellers. Our literature must be Negroid and mainly proletarian. I am working at the same time for a unity of all Negro writers in the world. That is why that I am preparing, under the title, Afro-American Poems, a translation of all Black-American poems. Life in itself is a challenge; the fundamental mission of man is to justify himself, and justification he can find in total adhesion of human brotherhood.” Jacques Roumain was born June 4 1907 in a neighborhood called Bois Verna in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He was a mulatto, like myself your humble servant, also born in Port-au-Prince in the month of June, a warm summer month. It is not my intention to offend anyone, we are all humans, we are all brothers and sisters, I am part of you and you are part of me, but with the respect and honor due to all, I dare to suggest that I am not comfortable with the « grimo » designation popularly used in Miami, among Haitians to describe someone of a multi-racial background. The name « grimo » in my time described a negro with light skin, kinky hair and blue or green eyes. In my three Creole dictionaries I do not find the name “grimo” after the word “grimas.” Without offending the “grimos,” their description does not fit Jacques Roumain and Carl Fombrun. In colonial times it was normal to use the name “mulatto” which describes clearly a descendant of the caucasian and black races. Barack Obama, running for the U.S. presidency, is an authentic mulatto, but today, times have changed and diverse racial mixtures prevail in the United States and other countries. Dear friends, let’s not be sarcastic, we are all Haitians, blacks or mixed blood such as Alexandre Pétion first president of Haiti, such as this great writer, Alexandre Dumas, buried in company of Victor Hugo at the Panthéon in Paris ; like the journalist Jean Dominique, my friend the writer Roger Savain, like the poet Felix Morisseau Leroy where actually Libreri Mapou is established in Little Haiti, Miami in a street named in his honor. We are like many other Haitians mixed with Taino, Caucasian and other races, and some Haitians do not even know it. My friends, we did not choose our ancestors. Let’s return with what is important in Jacques Roumain, his accomplishments as a Haitian militant, as a citizen of the world in his short passage in this valley of tears. In the collection “Personnages Célèbres” i.e. “Celebrities” I read as follows : « In those days, the Bois Verna neighborhood in Port-au-Prince was a bunch of small streets with some homes where the Haitian Elite’s life was more comfortable than luxurious, to the sound of classic Polish pianist Frederic Francois Chopin and sometimes to langorous and romantic Haitian merengues. It’s in this atmosphere that Jacques Roumain grew up. The house where he he was born is today a school on Rue Lmartinière which bears the name Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Jacques Roumain went to school in St. Louis de Gonzague on Rue du Centre in Port-au-Prince administered by a French Catholic order from Bretagne, France. That’s where the Elite sent its children. Jacques had a turbulent childhood, but he already was aware of the injutices perpetrated by his social class vis-a-vis the starving Haitian masses, that he would describe later as an adult as « a political minority which calls itself Elite. » In 1920, at 13 years of age, Jacques Roumains’s parents sent him to Berne, Switzerland to continue his education. Jacques Roumain declared that « The only thing I do with passion is to read the great thinkers like Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and the verses of Heine and Lenau. » He enlisted at the Polytechnic school in Zurich, Switzerland. In Switzerland, Jacques Roumain wrote the following letter to Joseph Jolibois fils, editor of the newspaper COURRIER HAITIEN in Port-au-Prince, who was fighting for the departure of American troops who then occupied Haiti : Dear sir : Please excuse my choosing to write to you personnally being that you do not know me. I hope I will be forgiven, when I tell you that I love to brag in Switzerland that I am Haitian. I can not wait to go back, in order to help in lifting the courage of the Haitian masses. I would be overwhelmed if you would consider me as one of your most faithful followers. Jacques Roumain In 1926, age 19, Jacques Roumain went to Spain to study agronomy. In 1927, age 20, Jacques Roumain returned to Haiti which was under the American occupation. He declared himself openly against Yankee imperialism and calls on all the writers on earth, to fight against the oppression in his native country by Uncle Sam. He is repulsed and revolted by racial discrimination in the United States and declares: “ We the niggers, we the dirty negroes we do not accept it. It’s simple. No more! » In Haiti, Jacques Roumain as leader of a strike against Damien, an agricultural school in Port-au-Prince, is put in jail December 13, 1928 until 1929. In 1933 he is arrested this time for organizing, in clandestinity, the first Haitian communist party . In June 1934, “nationalist” Haitian president Sténio Vincent has Jacques Roumain arrested, and he is condemned as a terrorist by a Military Court for three consecutive years in jail. He is freed on June 15, 1936 and leaves Haiti immediately for exile. June 15 is my birthday and on that very day in 1959, miraculously still alive from the dungeons of Fort Dimanche in Port-au-Prince, I took refuge in the Mexican embassy in Pétionville, to escape Papa Doc’s dictatorship. After a month’s seclusion under the protection of the Mexican government, Papa Doc was finally obliged to give an exit visa to myself and two other brothers who were also political refugees in the embassy. An extensive exile in Cuba, United States, and Africa was to take place. At the age of 13, excluding a brief stay in the Dominican Republic, I left Haiti for the first time like Jacques Roumain for the United States. I would not compare my state of my mind and my intellectual penchant of this time as that of Roumain, but I dare say as a young Haitian of a privileged class, I had similar affinities with a turbulent childhood where he would exclaim: “I found pleasure in being in the company with all the bad apples of the neighborhood.” Without being a political militant like Jacques Roumain with a well defined cause, I observed like him the injustices among the social classes, and as the son of a prominent political figure, I experienced in a difficult society persecution, jail and exile at a young age. August 14, 1936 Jacques Roumain arrived in Bruxelles, Belgium. In September of 1937 he met for the first time black American writer Langston Hughes and Cuban poet Nicolas Guillén. Their friendship bloomed. In 1937 Jacques Roumain was in New York studying anthropology at Columbia University. He left New York and arrived in Cuba in 1941 with his Cuban friend Nicolà Guillén. Elie Lescot was elected president of Haiti in 1941 and Jacques Roumain returned home in October 1942. Lescot chose him to be the Chargé d’Affaires of the Haitian Diplomatic Mission in Mexico; it’s a tradition in Haiti when a president has a political adversary, without makin a fuss, he sends him overseas in a diplomatic post. Lescot did it, and he was imitated in this tradition by successors like Estimé, Magloire, and Duvalier. In 1943 Jacques Roumain was hospitalized three different times. In 1944 his health took a turn for the worst and he returned to Haiti for a two-week vacation. He would not survive longer than that and died in Pétionville of cirrhosis of the liver. He was 37 years old. From his birthplace in Bois Verna he was taken to the Port-au-Prince cemetery where under a thunderstorm and the presence of an imposing crowd, he was buried. Jacques Roumain was of a rare sensitivity and of a passionate nature.Regardless of his political activism he found time to create the Bureau of Ethnology October 31, 1941 « to salvage for posterity the traditions of songs, dances which are the most original and interesting creations of the Haitian people,” said Dr. Alfred Métraux, French ethnologist. Jacques Roumain wrote only one book of poems BOIS D’ÉBÈNE i.e. Ebony Wood and many books such as LA PROIE ET L’OMBRE, LA MONTAGNE ENSORCELÉE, LES FANTOCHES i.e (The Prey and the Shadow, The Bewitched Mountain, The Puppets). His most well-known novel GOUVERNEURS DE LA ROSÉE (Masters of the Dew), was published after his death in 1944, and will be eventually translated in 17 languages, to be presented on the big screen in 1964 in Cuba, and in France in 1974. It’s a love story in a little village in Haiti called Fonds Rouge. Anaise, a young Haitian peasant girl and Manuel, an agricultural worker just returned from Cuba, fall in love at first sight. Family misunderstanding, the environment and inadequate distribution of water came to a crisis. This is the gist of the story. « Jacques Roumain wrote a book which is maybe unique in world literature because it is without a question a story of love » as per writer Jacques Stephen Alexis. Jacques Roumain defended the civil rights of black Americans and said that his race was that of all workers, all peasants on earth. « We are brothers and we have the same weight in the balance of misery and of injustice. Africa, you live in me » he said. Jacques Roumain allied himself to Vaudou practionners against the campaign of the Catholic Church with the Lescot government which goal was to eradicate the Vaudou religion in Haiti. He said to the the Catholic church: “ The Haitian people are no more superstitious than any other people. Those so called superstitious practices are universal. » In a controversy with Father Foisset, a French Catholic priest in Haiti and whom I knew well as a student at the Seminary in Port-au-Prince, Jacques Roumain was serious, passionate, eloquent, ironic, on fascinating subjects which are still of the actuality. Our time is limited to mention them all and here are a few of his remarks : RELIGION « I read Father Foisset with attention. He has a lot of grace when he discusses miracles. The authenticity of Jesus Christ as God is of interest to my faith and intellect, but which for me has no practical significance.” « What is sad in believing without hesitation, is the archaic, rigid and anti-scientific attitude which hurts the Catholic church and trouble dangerously its intelligent followers, who are starving for the truth…” WITS « I do not know if the « erudite » father Foisset is a phoenix. The readers will have to judge. But it is undeniable that what he has in common with this fabulous bird, is that he can be browbeaten under an avalanche of logical arguments, and is born again from his ashes and dirt.” ON HAITIAN INDEPENDANCE IN 1804 If Dessalines had stayed in Africa, it is obvious that he would not be the Liberator of Haiti. But it is certain that by historical necessity in Saint Domingue another individual, which career would not have to be the same, would have achieved the same goal …The ideology of 1789 had become an iresistible force which did not depend of one individual. Homages rendered to Jacques Roumain : « The people of the world are like trees that flourish regardless of the bad season, and in good season our tree continues to live. A people that produced a Jacques Roumain cannot die. » Jacques Stephen Alexis « Jacques Roumain is dead, but the beautiful poem that was his life will last forever. His image will remain engraved in the memory of artists and champions of people everywhere.” Samuel Putman « We do not see you, but knowing that you have been a chemical part of our native soil, you remain our lesson.” Roussan Camille CONCLUSION BY CARL FOMBRUN Jacques Roumain was far from perfect, and far was my intention to deify him or agree with all his ideas. As Lyonel Trouillot wrote : « One must not, while celebrating him, rob Roumain of his own story, of his individual identity. It would be sad that Roumain becomes a sort of « lamayot » (a secret artifact used in Haitian carnival where one for a fee, gets to know what’s inside) a good and great citizen who loved everybody and that everybody loved. This said, the Haitian left or what is left of it, should not find in Roumain a paradise of memories, and take refuge behind his great shadow to avoid questions.” My intention, as a motivator, is not to present Jacques Roumain as a prophet with infallible wisdom, but to remind the world at large that Jacques Roumain was a great Haitian who left his mark worldwide in his writings and his militancy in favor of the poor; he left his mark as a militant for justice and a better life for the disenfranchised. Haiti can and must be proud of him. My friends, thanks to you all. Carl
NOT POLITICAL
JUST PSYCHOLOGICAL !
There have been twelve presidents over the past 50 years, from F.D.R. to George W. Bush, who were rated based on scholarly achievements:
1. Writings that they produced without aid of staff. 2. Their ability to speak with clarity, and several other psychological factors, which were then scored using the Swanson/Crain System of intelligence ranking.
The study determined the following IQs of each president as accurate to within five percentage points. In order by presidential term:
Franklin Delano Roosevelt [D] 142, Harry S Truman [D] 132, Dwight David Eisenhower [R] 122 John Fitzgerald Kennedy [D] 174, Lyndon Baines Johnson [D] 126, Richard Milhous Nixon [R] 155, Gerald R. Ford [R] 121, James Earle Carter [D] 175, Ronald Wilson Reagan [R] 105 George Herbert Walker Bush [R] 98, William Jefferson Clinton [D] 182, George Walker Bush [R] 91
In order of IQ rating:
182 . . William Jefferson Clinton [D] 175 . . James Earle Carter [D] 174 . . John Fitzgerald Kennedy [D] 155 . . Richard Milhous Nixon [R] 147 . . Franklin Delano Roosevelt [D] 132 . . Harry S T r uman [D] 126 . . Lyndon Baines Johnson [D] 122 . . Dwight David Eisenhower [R] 121 . .Gerald R. Ford [R] 105 . . Ronald Wilson Reagan [R] 098 . . George Herbert Walker Bush [R] 091 . . George Walker Bush [R]
The six Republican presidents of the past 50 years had an average IQ of 115.5, with President Nixon having the highest at 155.
President George W. Bush rated the lowest of all the Republicans with an IQ of 91.
The six Democratic presidents of the past 50 years had an average IQ of 156, with President Clinton having the highest IQ, at 182.
President Lyndon B. Johnson was rated the lowest of all the Democrats with an IQ of 126. No president other than Carter [D] has released his actual IQ (176). Note the institute measured him at 175.
Among comments made concerning the specific testing of President G.W Bush, his low ratings are due to his apparently difficult command of the English language in public statements, his limited use of vocabulary [6,500 words for Bush versus an average of 11,000 words for other presidents], his lack of scholarly achievements other than a basic MBA, and an absence of any body of work which could be studied on an intellectual basis The complete report documents the methods and procedures used to arrive at these ratings, including depth of sentence structure and voice stress confidence analysis.
"All the Presidents prior to George W. Bush had a least one book under their belt, and most had written several white papers during their education or early careers. Not so with President Bush," Dr. Lovenstein said. "He has no published works or writings, which made it more difficult to arrive at an assessment. We relied more heavily on transcripts of his unscripted public speaking."
The Lovenstein Institute of Scranton, Pennsylvania think tank includes high caliber historians, psychiatrists, sociologists, scientists in human behavior, and psychologists. Among their ranks are Dr. Werner R. Lovenstein, world-renowned sociologist, and Professor Patricia F.Dilliams, a world-respected psychiatrist For more information on the Lovenstein Institute, go to http://lovenstein.org// .
P.S.- The smartest president didn't know enough to keep his pants zipped and the dumbest one thinks he can run a war. HAITIAN- AMERICAN YOUTH
ORGANIZATION OF KENDALL
HAYO
presents
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Florida International University
(South Campus)
HAYO’S CEO MIREILLE SYLVAIN DAVID
AND
HUSBAND ENGINEER JOCELYN DAVID
Ninth Annual
Fête Culturelle Créole
Celebrating Black History Month
Doors open : 700PM
Show time : 8:00pm
at
Florida International University
Theater GL 100 (Across from the Library)
11200 SW 8th Street
Miami, FL 33199
Featuring:
HAITI A TRAVERS LES ANNÉES
(Haiti Through the Years)
An artistic dancing piece retracing the historical periods of Haiti; performed by the talented youth of HAYO of Kendall.
Music, poems and songs will also be part of the show.
Come and have, as usual, an evening of class and entertainment With HAYO
DONATION: $5:00 only
Sponsored: By the Haitian Students Organization of FIU; Graduate Students Honor Council; REL Graduate Students Club - ( For tickets call 305-232-3996)
ON THE SHOW OF CARL FOMBRUN
ISLAND TV
Interview of Carl’s last visit in Chicago with Economist and former Haitian Consul General in New York,
Harry Fouché on the
AZACA program.
FRENCH SECTION
LE COIN DE CARL
est délivré
par :
R.BENODIN@worldnet.att.net
journellement
des nouvelles d’Haiti.
DE
MANO SANON
L’ATHLÈTE HAITIEN DU SIÈCLE
Compatriotes... Internautes,
Un grand bonjour et garnd merci à vous tous pour vos souhaits de santé.
Actuellement, Susie les enfants et moi, traversons, l'un des plus durs moments
de notre vie de famille, la luttre va être longue et tumultueuse. N'ayez pas peur,
nous sommes prêts, à affronté l'adversaire debout face à face, A présent je
suis en train de suivre un régime médical très severe. Voilà, c'est tout ce que
j'ai `a vous dire ce matin, de temps à autres dans les prochains jours, selon
l'état de mon énergie, je viendrai vous faire part de l'etat de ma santé.
Que le grand Dieu vous bénisse, à la prochaine, continuouns de prier le tout puissant,
Manno Sanon
Athlete Haitien du Siecle
www.haitifoot.com,
www.haitilumiere.org,
www.theglobalartofsoccer.com,
Mano,
Tu es constamment dans les pensées du Coin de Carl.
Courage ! Carl
LES GENS HEUREUX…
Bonjour Miami, ses alentours et les « internôtres » qui écoutent
et nous lisent à travers le monde.
CHAQUE JOUR EST À LUI SEUL UNE VIE.
Dieu, le travail et la liberté. Et bonjour, bonjour la vie,
bonjour l’amour,
moi’j vais bien et’j m’habitue.
Les gens heureux n’ont pas d’histoires…Les gens
heureux ils font l’histoire. La ballade des gens heureux sur
LE COIN DE CARL parlant de tout et de rien
continue, dans un verbe
d’arc-en-ciel .
Le temps poursuit sa marche et avec lui avance le monde,
espérons aussi Haiti.
La pâle mort frappe d’un pied indifférent les masures des pauvres
Une certaine gauche haïtienne anachronique, hostile à la gauche certaine . De bonne facture, cette émission de Roro Pharel, diffusée le dimanche 4 février 2007 sur les ondes de Radio Métropole et centrée sur la valeur de l'argent dans notre société. Roro a raison de s'aligner sur la position de ceux qui croient qu'il existe des liens de causalité entre la croissance économique et le bonheur. J'y crois aussi. Dire que la croissance économique n'engendre pas nécessairement le développement, c'est vrai. Mais croire au développement, à l'amélioration de la qualité de la vie, au bien-être collectif sans penser à la croissance économique, c'est croire aux contes de fées. Et il ne s'agit pas d'histoire de Chicago boys, de pour ou contre le néolibéralisme. Il est tout simplement question de regarder les croyances, les valeurs, les projections en tenant compte de la dynamique spatio-temporelle. Et là, il me semble que certaines précisions s'imposent. Une manière d'établir la différence existant entre une certaine gauche (gauchisme) et une gauche certaine éclairée. Précision 1 : la gauche n'est pas le gauchisme C'est la Révolution française qui a donné au mot gauche son contenu politique : à l'Assemblée nationale française, les partisans du pouvoir royal se mettaient à l'aile droite de l'hémicycle, alors que les opposants au droit de veto royal se regroupaient à gauche. Et depuis ces notions ont évolué. Si la droite renvoie au libéralisme voire au conservatisme, la gauche éveille l'idée de lutte contre les inégalités sociales, elle réfère aux mouvements qualifiés de progressistes. S'il est un terme qui a dans la littérature marxiste une connotation péjorative et qui ne fait pas bon ménage avec la gauche certaine, c'est bien celui de gauchisme. Aux gauchistes agressifs qui dénaturent, caricaturent le marxisme, j'aime demander s'ils ont lu ce livre écrit en 1920 par Lénine titré La maladie infantile du communisme, ou le "gauchisme". Je présume que non et je comprends la confusion qu'ils font entre gauchistes et hommes ou femmes de gauche. Dans ce texte, Lénine donne des conseils à des membres de la 3e Internationale, notamment les Hollandais, les Allemands et les Italiens. Il rejette les positions radicalistes de certains partis et organisations européens et soutient, en substance, que ceux qui veulent travailler, dans la perspective des intérêts des masses, et permettre à celles-ci de mieux intérioriser l'idéologie socialiste doivent remettre tout formalisme en matière d'organisation et adopter au contraire la plus grande souplesse. Précision 2 : la gauche est, par essence, non manichéenne La gauche ne s'oppose pas à la croissance économique, elle réclame une meilleure distribution des richesses. Misérabilisme, non ! Culte de la pauvreté, non ! Accompagnement des pauvres dans une perspective de recherche de l'abondance pour la grande majorité, sinon pour tous, oui. La gauche lutte contre les structures sociales qui permettent de reproduire les inégalités sociales et elle s'intéresse donc à la qualité de la vie pour tous. Et pour cela, elle sait même, suivant que les circonstances historiques l'obligent, s'adapter à l'économie de marché. Aux gauchistes radicalistes, j'aime demander s'ils savent que, face à certaines difficultés auxquelles faisait face la Russie (celle-ci sortait de la Première Guerre mondiale), Lénine a dû prendre, en 1921, des mesures de type capitaliste. Avec la Nouvelle politique économique (NEP), la Russie d'abord, puis l'URSS ont connu une relative libéralisation économique. N'est-ce pas Lénine qui, s'adressant à ses compatriotes affirma :« [...] nous ne sommes pas assez civilisés pour pouvoir passer directement au socialisme, encore que nous en ayons les prémisses politiques ». Hier encore, il y avait au Parlement haïtien un bloc politique dénommé bloc anti-néolibéral. Le bloc se donnait une dénomination qui indiquait ce qu'il rejetait sans préciser ce qu'il proposait ! Et si, à l'époque, on faisait la remarque, on serait classé parmi les alliés de l'impérialisme. Précision 3 : la gauche n'est pas une confrérie de caleçons sales Quant aux gauchistes qui croient devoir affirmer leur position idéologique en s'habillant mal, en ne se coiffant pas ou en ne prenant pas soin de leur corps, je dis que ce folklorisme politique n'est pas de bon ton. Qui a dit que les communistes doivent constituer une confrérie de caleçons sales ? Cette question, Jacques Roumain, tout confortable dans sa culture de gauche, l'aurait faite, au début du XXe siècle, aux ancêtres de nos gauchistes folkloriques haïtiens. Ils se trompent tout simplement, ces messieurs, qui croient encore, aujourd'hui, qu'un homme/femme de gauche doit être un personnage mal fagoté. Et à certains d'entre eux, il faut, tout simplement, qu'on inculque des notions d'hygiène corporelle. Prendre sa douche, se nettoyer les ongles, se laver les mains avant de manger ou après avoir été aux toilettes ne relèvent pas de l'idéologie. Rien n'empêche à un homme ou femme de gauche de bien se vêtir, de fréquenter des restaurants d'un certain niveau, d'accéder aux loisirs, s'il dispose de moyens pour le faire. Position de classe n'est pas à confondre avec appartenance de classe. Se rallier à la cause du peuple ne signifie pas qu'on soit dans le peuple. Plaider pour que les pauvres cessent d'être pauvres implique qu'on veuille que les pauvres passent du moins être auquel les place leur statut de pauvres pour accéder à une situation de plus être. Dans cette bataille, quel avantage tirerait un homme ou une femme de gauche à précariser ses conditions de vie ? C'est parce qu'il avait les moyens pour le faire qu'Engels pouvait soutenir Marx en situation difficile. Parce que quelqu'un se réclame de la gauche, on ne peut pas lui demander de faire semblant d'être en dehors d'une économie de marché. Précision 4 : la gauche n'est synonyme ni de populisme ni d'angélisme politique Le peuple n'est pas un enfant de cœur. Ni rejet de l'expertise ou de l'élitisme pour faire appel au "sens commun ", ni idéologie qui idéalise le peuple et qui l'oppose à un " ennemi " démonisé, la culture de gauche n'érige pas le peuple en absolu. Le peuple sait se tromper. Les intellectuels organiques dont parle Gramsci se doivent être des avant-gardistes. Parce qu'il flatte le peuple, le populisme est plus proche des fascismes mussolinien et nazi aussi bien de leurs dérivés que de toute autre chose. A nos gauchistes populistes qui fréquentent l'université, qui s'entêtent à ressembler au peuple et qui sont toujours prêts à censurer ceux qui refusent de s'inscrire dans cette démarche démagogique, j'aime rappeler que, pour vivre totalement comme les gens pauvres, ils doivent cesser d'entreprendre des études supérieures. Précision 5 : la gauche n'est pas synonyme d'intolérance Aux gauchistes qui croient que tout doit se résumer dans l'affrontement, qui confondent lutte de classe et haine sociale, j'aime demander s'ils ont une idée de la théorie gramscienne de la société civile et société publique. Pour Gramsci, la construction du socialisme ne passe pas nécessairement par le putsch. Elle ne résulte pas obligatoirement de l'affrontement direct, mais se réalisera par la subversion des esprits. Les intellectuels organiques ont, selon le point de vue de Gramsci, un rôle important à y jouer De quelle gauche nos gauchistes se réclament-ils ? Allez savoir si ce n'est pas de celle qui avait mis le Cambodge à genoux. Entre 1975 et 1979, les Khmers rouges de Pol Pot ont mis en prison, dans un centre dénommé S-21, plus de 20000 personnes. Ils ne furent que 7 à survivre. Ils ont mené une guerre systématique contre les intellectuels et la population urbaine cambodgienne. Ils s'en sont pris avec rage contre tout ce qui s'apparentait à la modernité. La Banque nationale de Cambodge n'a pas été épargnée. Ils ont aboli la monnaie, la famille, la religion et la propriété privée. Plus d'un million et demi d'individus ont succombé sous ce régime. Mais chut ! Pol Pot se réclamait aussi de la gauche comme nos gauchistes. En finir avec la précarité, le chômage, l'exploitation, la pauvreté, la misère, l'oppression..., voilà, au bas mot, le travail à réaliser par la gauche certaine. Elle n'a pas à suivre la certaine gauche à la courte vue. Le matérialisme dialectique nous apprend que rien n'est absolu, tout est dynamique. Sans tomber dans le révisionnisme, cette gauche doit apprendre à comprendre pour mieux entreprendre. Jacques Yvon Pierre 13 février 2007
EN EL RINCON DE DON CARLOS
AUDITORIA A EMBAJADA EN HAITÍ
El embajador Serulle y el ministro Vásquez habrían firmado las cuestionadas visas de cortesía.
SANTO DOMINGO, D.N.- Las 2 mil 683 visas del tipo "cortesía” emitidas por la Embajada Dominicana en Haití habrían sido autorizadas y firmadas por el embajador, José Serrulle, y por el Ministro Consejero, Pastor Vásquez, según el informe de una auditoría entregada el martes a Clave Digital por la Secretaría de Estado de Relaciones Exteriores. En el documento se indica que, según las investigaciones hechas por los señores Américo Bogaert Marra, Ministro Consejero de la Cancillería; el licenciado Francisco Aponte, embajador adscrito, y el licenciado José Guillermo Reyes, Ministro Consejero encargado de contabilidad, el Estado dejó de percibir la suma de 149 mil 183 dólares con 84 centavos, por concepto de los impuestos y tasas correspondiente dejados de recaudar para el Gobierno dominicano. Además de las visas de “cortesía”, la embajada dominicana en Puerto Príncipe habría otorgado 184 visas diplomáticas y 122 oficiales, para un total de 306, el informe no señala si fueron autorizadas por la Cancillería, ni los nombre de las personas favorecidas. El informe de los auditores narra que en la frontera con Jimaní se presentó un inconveniente, “cuando en presencia del cónsul general dominicano en Puerto Príncipe, Haití, Carlos Castillo, del Ministro Consejero, Américo Bogaert, y del embajador Hernán Vásquez, fue interpelada la ciudadana haitiana Judith Estinvil-Turnier, pasaporte número PP 1419158, el cual tiene una visa de cortesía con el número 21-10, de fecha 04 de octubre del 2006, firmada por el Ministro Consejero Pastor Vásquez”. “La haitiana nos manifestó que era comerciante y que había pagado 200 dólares en la Embajada Dominicana para obtener el visado, agregando que siempre lo ha hecho (obtener la visa) por la vía de la Embajada y por el precio antes mencionado.” Los investigadores dicen en su informe, “que en la revisión de los visados de cortesía entregados por la Embajada durante el año 2006, en franca violación a la disposiciones establecidas en la comunicación 18173 de fecha 06 de julio del 2005, donde se determinó la suspensión de la misma”, encontramos que se habían emitido 1, 402 visas sencillas de dos meses, y 705 múltiples de un año, así como 302 entre diplomáticas y oficiales, para un total de 2 mil 416, durante el periodo enero-noviembre del 2006. En el documento la comisión recomienda a la Cancillería que ese tipo de visa sea emitida por el Consulado general de Puerto Príncipe, Haití, previa autorización de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, y que la Embajada se limite a canalizar la tramitación del solicitante. La auditoría también señala que las cartas de solicitudes de visas de cortesía son autorizadas bajo la firma del embajador José Serrulle, quien determina el tipo de visas a otorgar, y en su defecto la autoriza el Ministro Consejero, Pastor Vásquez, y que la consejera Rasa Aldiris García Medrano es quien estampa el sello del visado, pero en su ausencia le asiste la Ministra Consejera, Eridania Suero. En una de las recomendaciones que hace la comisión de funcionarios y diplomáticos que participó en las investigaciones dice, “pensando que se continuará otorgando este tipo de visas (de cortesía) sería pertinente que el procedimiento se haga a través del Consulado General, y que se tomen en consideración el llenado de algún tipo de fichas que nos permita formarnos un juicio sobre el perfil del beneficiario”. En otro orden, los auditores explican que a su llegada a la sede la Embajada Dominicana “sólo encontramos a cinco empleados, la secretaria Bernarda Bernard Yantil, la Ministro Consejero, Eridania Carolina suero, la consejero Rosa Aldiris García Medrano, el consejero Yamil Matos y el 2do. Secretario César Ignacio Pérez González, tanto el embajador Serrulle como Pastor Vásquez se encontraban en Santo Domingo, acompañando a una delegación haitiana”. Para el llenado del formulario de actualización de datos proporcionado por Recursos Humanos, el viernes 1 de diciembre del 2006, apenas hicieron presencia el primer secretario Sergio Manuel Pérez Pérez, el Ministro consejero Andrés Pérez Heredia. Alegadamente, por informaciones cruzadas pudieron enterase de que el personal no asiste con regularidad a la embajada.
KREYOL PALE
KREYOL KONPRANN
pa Kal Fonbren
Pwòvèb la pou jodi-an :« Moun ki kenbe chodyè-an se li ki konnen si li chô. Mezanmi, pou mwen fini, onè-respè,sa pa vle di li te raz men domy pran mwen lot swa depi koumansman diskou prezidan George W. Bush, ti-George pou zanmi KWEN KAL la .Eske nou janm remake “W” nan non ti-joj-la sa ta ka vle di « la gè » an angle: “War.” Se pousa tou, onè-respè, mwen renmen rele-li “ti-joj” ki pli dous pou zorèy nou pase “George W.” Nan diskou-l la lot swa mwen te wè nan yon rèv an teknikoulè tout moun tap bat anpil bravo menm Hilary Clinton ak Ted Kennedy. Mesaj linite. Malerezman, onè-respè, se bounda nini. La marye toujou bèl nan diskou lespwa chak janvye tout prezidan gran peyi sa-a, depi George Washington rive nan George W. Bush. Sa raple mwen yon chante kanaval anba Jan Klod: “Souke, souke, souke kow-w. Si nou dako leve lè men, leve lè men. Sa raple mwen tou yon lot chante Koupe Kloue: Jij, jije-m byen, pa jije-m isit, pa jije-m lot bò, jije-m la. An nou tand pou-n wè. Lespwa fè moun viv. Alatraka pou limanite.Konesans se pouvwa. Na pale denmen si Granmèt la vle. KAL
