A convo with Josué Pierre-Paul of Metaids in Haiti

For sake of confidentiality, I’ve blocked his username from public view.

harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:00:21 AM): hello?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:03:50 AM): you sent me an email on the 5th, and I just wanted to say hi. However, since I’m not inclined to the whole IM/email thing, I don’t know who you are, but I would like to know a bit about you before I say my bit. k? thanx.
*username* (8/6/2005 1:17:29 PM): hi
*username* (8/6/2005 1:17:36 PM): I wanted you to tell me abit about your work
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:12:43 PM): what work?
*username* (8/6/2005 2:13:28 PM): the work you are doing for Lavalas
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:13:42 PM): ahh, that
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:13:50 PM): yeah
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:14:22 PM): well, the only thing that I’ve done so far was create http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fanmi+lavalas_usa
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:14:30 PM): whoops
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:14:51 PM): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fanmi_lavalas_usa
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:15:59 PM): It’ll probably be the only one in existence at yahoogroups anyway, lol
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:16:23 PM): considering the bad press that the party has received because of the G-184 propoganda
*username* (8/6/2005 2:17:09 PM): ok I understand.
*username* (8/6/2005 2:17:34 PM): but you have told me that you are about 21
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:17:50 PM): heh? did I say that?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:18:10 PM): nah, I’m 18, and about to head to college
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:18:17 PM): in Atlanta
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:18:26 PM): for Business law
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:18:51 PM): wish i were 21, though
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:19:05 PM): but never actually said that i was
*username* (8/6/2005 2:19:26 PM): I see that you are too young for that
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:21:01 PM): and too far as well. however, that doesn’t hinder me from my political motivations, at least, those aspects which I *can( help or do something about
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:21:15 PM): *can*, I mean
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:22:22 PM): For one, I think that a 27-Senator, 83-deputy Parliament couldn’t actually fully represent the 8.5 million people of Haiti
*username* (8/6/2005 2:23:34 PM): what do you propose?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:24:06 PM): try this: make every *communal section* an electoral district
*username* (8/6/2005 2:24:15 PM): do you propose all the people to get into the parliament?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:25:33 PM): hold on…and make the legislature unicameral. So in that way, you will possibly get a 565-member parliament, and possibly, a coalition government of the likes of the netherlands
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:27:08 PM): considering that the communal section is the smallest political division of governance, it would make the most possible sense for it to elect its own representation to the Nation’s legislature
*username* (8/6/2005 2:27:24 PM): I agree.
*username* (8/6/2005 2:27:31 PM): your idea is noble.
*username* (8/6/2005 2:28:19 PM): but that is not sufficient to save the future of Haiti
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:29:36 PM): I know that its not enough to end the violence and utter misery in Haiti, but its one of those many things which can be implemented in order to eventually get to that point.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:30:16 PM): my own take on Aristide: I agree that he wasn’t as good of a head of state as he should’ve been
*username* (8/6/2005 2:30:19 PM): that must come after
*username* (8/6/2005 2:30:56 PM):
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:31:29 PM): so how exactly do you propose to bring a new beginning to the country?
*username* (8/6/2005 2:31:49 PM): by starting to invest ourselves really in that
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:34:51 PM): well, if there isn’t any money to invest with (considering that the USA initiated a per-se blockade on economic aid to the country following the 2000 election, and is still playing with the feelings of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean), is there an alternative
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:34:54 PM): ?
*username* (8/6/2005 2:36:38 PM): It is time to cease accusing others, but to unite our strenghts with what we get to start on the new change
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:37:52 PM): ok, but how?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:38:17 PM): (stupid picture, lol)
*username* (8/6/2005 2:38:21 PM): for example, through the Movement of Backing and Social Aid, trying to support the others.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:40:19 PM): so do you think that the economic and infrastructural reconstruction should come before the political renovations?
*username* (8/6/2005 2:41:06 PM): yes, because those who corrupt the politic come from the society,and will always come from there
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:42:17 PM): Aye, be it grassroots society (Lavalas) or civil society (G-184).
*username* (8/6/2005 2:42:49 PM): what do you mean by civil society?
*username* (8/6/2005 2:43:03 PM): aren’t you of the civil society?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:45:00 PM): Honestly, I don’t head any NGO’s other than the one at YahooGroups, so in a rather minute way, yes i am
*username* (8/6/2005 2:45:55 PM): That means the real civil society is everyone who is not of the government.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:46:51 PM): however, civil society, insofar as Haiti is concerned, is mostly money-backed, particularly those who live on the *higher slopes* of Petionville
*username* (8/6/2005 2:47:32 PM): if you were in Haiti, you would know that PetionVille is now invaded by poor people too.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:48:34 PM): hmm, so now its no longer the suburbs. Wouldn’t be surprised
*username* (8/6/2005 2:49:27 PM): the most important thing is to not divide the country into two blocks.
*username* (8/6/2005 2:49:44 PM): it is to take time to identify the real problems.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:52:10 PM): I agree. The situation is becoming even more polarized by the day, and the partisans are put in the same boat as the paramilitants by both sides (hence jean-juste and neptune in jail, hence the apparent aliance between the government and the former military [ie, Louis Jodel Chamblain, Guy Phillippe, etc.])
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:52:45 PM): This simply will not be conducive to the elections in October
*username* (8/6/2005 2:53:41 PM): do you think that Guy Philippe is against Lavalas in real?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:54:28 PM): Unless the Western media screws with me yet again (in the same regard as Voudoun), yes.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:55:17 PM): i mean, he *was* in the forefront of the rebel movement into Port-au-Prince
*username* (8/6/2005 2:55:28 PM): do you know the reason?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 2:56:43 PM): well, apart from the fact that he apparently favors the reconstitution of the military that was abolished (rightfully) under Aristide, “dunno”, as they say in everyday America.
*username* (8/6/2005 2:58:25 PM): you think that he was a rebel because he apparently favors the reconstitution of the military?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:00:21 PM): as were *most* of the rebels, since many of them are/were former members of death squads such as the notorious FRAPH, and found themselves unemployed when Aristide abolished it.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:00:52 PM): are you sure?
*username* (8/6/2005 3:01:15 PM): have you realized an inquiry ?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:01:29 PM): I’m not holding to a rigid standard, but I’ll say that its possible.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:01:54 PM): an inquiry? heh, I’m going by the news and common sense
*username* (8/6/2005 3:02:00 PM): what is possible may be false
*username* (8/6/2005 3:02:07 PM): news?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:02:30 PM): news from CBC, news from BBC, news from Google, etc.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:02:37 PM): it seems that you get the info at one hand.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:02:52 PM): this is only what you get from them?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:03:44 PM): yep, and from the last that I read, Guy is running for President in October/November.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:05:01 PM): G. Philippe was not the only person to get against Aristide. The students, pastors, pupils, were demonstrating everyday.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:05:18 PM): G. Philippe came far after.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:05:58 PM): wouldn’t be surprised.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:07:54 PM): Conditions had gotten to that point, thanks to extremely screwed economic weather for Haiti. Aristide, I don’t actually believe that he was the actual problem though.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:08:25 PM): Where were you when they were demonstrating?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:08:48 PM): Still in high school, and just getting internet at home.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:08:54 PM): Did you know what happened on Dec. 5, 2003?
*username* (8/6/2005 3:09:59 PM): that was the decisive date of most of students in Haiti.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:10:31 PM): I am not for Bourgeois. but we don’t have to say what we think, but what happen
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:11:17 PM): from http://www.haitiaction.net/News/HIP/8_24_4.html According to So Anne’s husband, Wilfrid Lavaud, it was acknowledged at her first hearing that there was no warrant at the time of her arrest, but at the second hearing the prosecution produced a back dated warrant. So Anne was later charged with having mobilized people to attack anti-government demonstrators at the Faculty of Human Sciences of the State University on December 5, 2003. The judge presiding over her case found no evidence linking her to this demonstration and ordered her release but the government prosecutor refused saying he was waiting for more charges.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:12:11 PM): what are you talking about? Now you are talking about Lavaud. I thought you were talking about Aristide.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:12:32 PM): sorry, I just copypasted from another site
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:12:55 PM): it happened to talk about december 5, so I copypasted it
*username* (8/6/2005 3:13:37 PM): ok
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:14:32 PM): alright, an actual article on the incident
*username* (8/6/2005 3:14:39 PM): the problem of Haiti is not that. The real problem is that, in spite of the coming and going of governments, things are still the same.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:14:49 PM): http://www.haitigetinvolved.com/news/reut_312051.htm
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:14:58 PM): true, I agree
*username* (8/6/2005 3:15:11 PM): Haitian refuse to invest in Haitian without making them zombies for their own desire
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:16:02 PM): i mean, why are things the way that they are in Haiti, despite the apparent turnaround in the political situation within the last 20 years
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:16:05 PM): ?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:16:32 PM): why is violence and extortion so prominent in this country?
*username* (8/6/2005 3:18:17 PM): because all haitians are now politicians
*username* (8/6/2005 3:18:45 PM): all news from Haiti are political.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:18:50 PM): its like the violence has gone on nonstop for the past 2 centuries, as if Haiti still doesn’t know that the Revolution ended with Dessalines declaring independence on New year’s 1804
*username* (8/6/2005 3:19:01 PM): few act for social lives, as I do.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:19:27 PM): now you are trying to harvest the fruit in its roots.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:20:02 PM): true. and the actions and words of the US are only making the situation worse
*username* (8/6/2005 3:20:48 PM): Now, you want to accuse the USA. Why don’t you come in Haiti to realize a specifi study of the situation?
*username* (8/6/2005 3:20:55 PM): You would be wiser.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:21:04 PM): Dude, I live in the USA
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:21:22 PM): My sister is stationed at Fort Benning for God’s sake!
*username* (8/6/2005 3:21:32 PM): I myself live in Haiti and know almost all that happened, you dare not ask for information, and you thing you know more than I do.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:21:52 PM): I dont think I know more than you, lol
*username* (8/6/2005 3:21:56 PM): In this way, you think that the situation will change
*username* (8/6/2005 3:22:25 PM): the situation will change when you and I develop a real social program out of political desire.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:22:35 PM): That is the very truth.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:23:17 PM): I agree, on all points. I’m only stating what I know to be fact from the North American perspective.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:23:32 PM): If you want to reject it, recognize that words in the air will not prevent people in Haiti from being kidnapped, tortured, killed, raped, starving, etc.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:24:01 PM): The problem of Haiti cannot be out of Haitians in Haiti.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:25:34 PM): OK, now you’re accusing me of being ignorant of the situation, as I know that I am.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:25:35 PM): If you refuse to join my social activities, and reinforce it. You will allow the problems to keep on, and show that you don’t give a damn at all.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:26:32 PM): because when people are starving in Haiti, and died in floods, you can only see pictures. But I put spoon in their mouths and keep them up. This is my work and i am not a politician.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:27:08 PM): If you are ignorant or not, I don’t care. But what I care of, is that the country is now need help…
*username* (8/6/2005 3:28:20 PM): People are kidnapped, die flat in their bad house, invaded by sea waves… we need people to put hands to create a better generation.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:28:39 PM): For God’s sakes, Can you please let me say something in edgewise?
*username* (8/6/2005 3:31:02 PM): ok
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:32:37 PM): Come on, I see your situation, and I get the point. I see that a political solution isn’t going to solve the problems of this country. Its not going to stop the suffering. Its not going to stop the murder. Its not going to put money in the pocket of every haitian citizen. Its not giong to guarantee civil rights for all Haitians. And I’ll be damned if its not going to solve every other of the million issues which matter to the average citizen of the country, but escape the North American eye every God-forsaken day of this country’s existence.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:33:48 PM): in what country do you see that political improvement change things?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:36:31 PM): No country, honestly. Not one, despite the propoganda of the US government as in “Oh, look at Afghanistan, look at Iraq, my babies are developing their democracies!” while all but ignoring the far-less-developing infrastructure, in terms of health care, education, basic human services, especially in the most violent regions.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:37:38 PM): so, let us change the society that will provide us with good leaders.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:38:04 PM): and not just in the political arena, right?
*username* (8/6/2005 3:39:03 PM): good leaders firstly in families…
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:39:24 PM): and their respective communities.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:41:04 PM): no doubt.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:41:27 PM): I’m wondering, though, about how Haiti can develop a good, solid infrastructure and public servantry, with or without a responsible political structure
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:42:29 PM): Cause I mean, politics be damned if human rights and needs are being neglected or put on the backburner
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:43:05 PM): I see now….
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:43:32 PM): I see what we who care about Haiti must do:
*username* (8/6/2005 3:43:40 PM): what is a human right?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:45:48 PM): right to worship, right to assembly, right to speech, right to a court of law (YES, and a good judicial system at that), right to protest, right to equal treatment under the law
*username* (8/6/2005 3:46:20 PM): where can we find it firstly?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:46:53 PM): The Constitution of 1987
*username* (8/6/2005 3:47:07 PM): you are kidding?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:47:12 PM): which has yet to be fully enforced in any aspect, lol
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:48:38 PM): but I mean, at current, that’s the only piece of paper that Haiti can hold on to as a semblance of the apparently absent rule of law and order
*username* (8/6/2005 3:50:06 PM): you are sure kidding.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:51:28 PM): heh, Im only mentioning the closest thing, which is a million miles away from the current, though perennial, situation
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:51:52 PM): What about the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man from 1948?
*username* (8/6/2005 3:51:53 PM): change begins in family.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:52:06 PM): true.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:52:07 PM): do you respect it?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:52:54 PM): I don’t even think that the Declaration is even legal tender in the United States, so I can’t accurately answer that
*username* (8/6/2005 3:53:49 PM): does Bush respect it?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:54:49 PM): heh, considering his differences with the UN, I don’t even think he knows that it exists!
*username* (8/6/2005 3:55:06 PM): mud also exists.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:55:12 PM): however, I do agree with all of its ideals.
*username* (8/6/2005 3:55:20 PM): is it good to live in mud?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:56:19 PM): depends upon to whom you ask the question. I’d say no, while the guy who does live in it will probably say yes.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:58:24 PM): after which, we will haul him to the happy house, LOL
*username* (8/6/2005 3:59:01 PM): things start in family
harryo15us (8/6/2005 3:59:41 PM): which begs the question: is there a sense of family in Haiti?
*username* (8/6/2005 4:00:12 PM): let us develop it
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:00:41 PM): Gladly.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:00:59 PM): so uh……how do we do that?
*username* (8/6/2005 4:01:49 PM): through the work I am fending for myself to do
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:03:17 PM): I am sure that Haiti needs more of you.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:04:59 PM): If Haiti had 100,000 more of you, the violence and politics will be drowned out within a year’s time or less.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:06:54 PM): And then, everything else will fall into place, including a responsible government and judiciary, upon which too much of a stock has been placed by the West.
*username* (8/6/2005 4:07:49 PM): oui
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:12:07 PM): So what Haiti needs is more hospitals, more doctors, more food banks, more insurance, more basic human services. Furthermore, it needs the means by which such can be distributed to the masses (and all of them) for the long term so that a vast safety net can be constructed, one which can withstand the current and future environment.
*username* (8/6/2005 4:12:25 PM): will you come to build them?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:13:28 PM): Well, I’m going to college in Atlanta come the 27th, but if I ever get the chance or ability to do so, then hell yes, I’m all up for it.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:15:13 PM): I wonder if Atlanta can be a nexus for aid distribution to Haiti, though, so that I won’t necessarily be that incompetent within the arena of Haiti and helping the country.
*username* (8/6/2005 4:15:42 PM): keep in touch with me.
*username* (8/6/2005 4:16:11 PM):
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:16:43 PM): heh, alright. I’ve already added you to my buddy list, byw.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:16:47 PM): *btw
*username* (8/6/2005 4:16:54 PM): ok dear
*username* (8/6/2005 4:17:00 PM): thank you for the dialogue
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:17:27 PM): likewise. it was a refreshing one at that.
*username* (8/6/2005 4:17:36 PM): thx
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:17:57 PM): one question: can the countries of scandinavia serve as the best example?
*username* (8/6/2005 4:19:21 PM): we have only one example
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:19:36 PM): the family?
*username* (8/6/2005 4:19:47 PM): Jesus
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:20:25 PM): well, despite my Protestant background, I’m rather partial to Christianity, considering my slave ancestors and all
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:20:42 PM): but I’d see him as a good example as well
*username* (8/6/2005 4:20:42 PM): the ancestors were like you?
*username* (8/6/2005 4:20:59 PM): as our ancestors were betrayers, must we be too?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:21:54 PM): my ancestors were slaves, just like your’s, except for the fact that they fought for their freedom, while mine were subjected to a cultural genocide.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:23:17 PM): Which is why I favor African spirituality, although Jesus, as the man himself, was, I agree, the best example of what human beings can become.
*username* (8/6/2005 4:23:20 PM): because of that, must we act as slaves?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:23:37 PM): no, far from it.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:24:57 PM): I’m only saying that I wouldn’t want to put myself under the umbrella which protects me under the rain but not from the sun
*username* (8/6/2005 4:24:57 PM): in this way, let us act as free people by doing right.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:25:13 PM): I agree.
*username* (8/6/2005 4:25:27 PM): Jesus’ words are the only solution for world problems
*username* (8/6/2005 4:27:48 PM): people for years have shown themselves intelligent to create their own problems.
*username* (8/6/2005 4:29:30 PM): love is the key
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:30:00 PM): true, but it takes a truly intelligent man to know what can be done to rectify the problem.
*username* (8/6/2005 4:30:16 PM): one man can’t change Haiti. Haitian people can’t save Haiti without love and new perspectives.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:31:06 PM): Didn’t say *one* man. I’m only mentioning the less-common of the average human being
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:31:42 PM): And of course new perpectives and actions are needed.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:32:22 PM): Haiti is too stuck in the so-called glories its own past to move forward.
*username* (8/6/2005 4:32:59 PM): yes, you are right.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:35:56 PM): I mean, the guns, the arms, the weapons; it couldn’t be more evident that the wars are not over in Haiti, and that, among the most prominent of haitian folk, there is no desire to end it.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:36:43 PM): but the commoners, the peasants, the ones who are born and are dead in the dark, they want no more of it.
*username* (8/6/2005 4:36:58 PM): more we believe that the pig’s blood is in us, more we will act as slaves.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:38:19 PM): Thus we must end the war and its legacy by increasing the peace and the reach of such.
*username* (8/6/2005 4:38:52 PM): yes, but do you get strategies for that?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:39:51 PM): I don’t know how to strategize this, but here’s my idea on how to end the struggle.
*username* (8/6/2005 4:40:42 PM): but in this level, as they refuse, many will die unfortunately.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:43:02 PM): death is only a part of life which, unfortunately, we will all ahve to deal with at some point in our lifetime. however, while there is life in our bodies, we must increase life and the maintenance of such, and decrease death and the various means/times by which it can be accomplished
*username* (8/6/2005 4:44:58 PM): I hope things will change if we go to the real problems. And let us unite ourselves.
*username* (8/6/2005 4:45:12 PM): There is only one camp for Haiti: Haitians.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:46:38 PM): Aye, for if they are the most familiar with the problem, then they can be just as able to find a solution.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:47:53 PM): But in the current muck, there is a lack of detail, as everything is being intertwined with everything else.
*username* (8/6/2005 4:48:38 PM): yeah
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:51:14 PM): Thus, we must be the dissolver to the confusion. If we can provide the dissolution to the mixture and its chemical bondings, we will accomplish a sorting out of the chemicals in the manner of oil and water
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:52:20 PM): inso that they cannot mix, so that we all can put everything in detailed perspective
*username* (8/6/2005 4:53:02 PM): ok
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:54:20 PM): what is the dissolvent? everything that is lacking in Haiti right now, basic human services, love, peace, joy, things which we hold dear to our hearts.
*username* (8/6/2005 4:55:35 PM): ok
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:56:29 PM): We must implement and execute those things in all sectors and areas of Haiti, or better yet, the entire Caribbean region, so that everything else, such as government and money, will fall back into their respective places.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:58:23 PM): If we can implement that, then what will be the need for guns? What need will we possess for Swiss Bank accounts? What need will we have for political graft and favoritism?
harryo15us (8/6/2005 4:59:18 PM): Haiti, I declare on this day, will not have any need whatsoever for the like.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 5:03:43 PM): And the Third World will be better off as a result.
*username* (8/6/2005 5:05:27 PM): hahhahahahaha
harryo15us (8/6/2005 5:07:32 PM): ?
*username* (8/6/2005 5:10:30 PM): for a 18-year-old youth, you are interesting.
harryo15us (8/6/2005 5:11:01 PM): eh, i get that alot, lol.
*username* (8/6/2005 5:11:19 PM): yeah
harryo15us (8/6/2005 5:11:19 PM): i try to rattle these things from the top of my head
*username* (8/6/2005 5:11:26 PM): good
harryo15us (8/6/2005 5:12:49 PM): basically, this is why I’m going into Business Law. My most constant obsessions are countries and their governments.
*username* (8/6/2005 5:13:13 PM): ok
harryo15us (8/6/2005 5:17:31 PM): especially Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany (Bundestag; I’ve been there twice), Canada (Parliament, Quebec, and Michaelle Jean), California (2003 recall election which put Arnold in office), Hawaii (sovereignty issue), Japan (I also like Japanese television), Taiwan (5 branches of government), the PRC (especially its realist-leaning, cynical foreign policy), South Africa (yay Mandela!), Australia, New Zealand (at the other end of the world; Lord of the Rings), and Nigeria (Egbe Omo Yoruba)
(8/6/2005 5:17:49 PM): ok
*username* (8/6/2005 5:21:11 PM): I have to go for now
*username* (8/6/2005 5:21:16 PM): next time
harryo15us (8/6/2005 5:22:59 PM): alright, likewise. hit me up whenever you want to talk.
*username* (8/6/2005 5:23:23 PM): ok dear
harryo15us (8/6/2005 5:23:54 PM): ill try to come up with a chart or diagram of how the basic services should be distributed and run
*username* (8/6/2005 5:24:02 PM): ok
harryo15us (8/6/2005 5:24:38 PM): peace!
*username* (8/6/2005 5:24:59 PM): love

Well that was enlightening, wasn’t it?

14 thoughts on “A convo with Josué Pierre-Paul of Metaids in Haiti

  1. i’m sorry if you addressed this in the post…usually i read entire posts but right now my contact is messing up and i’m about to go to bed…

    but why do you support lavalas?

    1. Well, considering the present political polarization

      I vouch for Lavalas because, from a review of Haiti’s history since 1986, they draw their support from the grassroots, the poverty-stricken majority of the country, rather than from the civil/private-sector-oriented elite which benefits from US-sponsored neoliberal reforms to the already-flimsy infrastructure and opposes any move toward its socialization. Aristide, with his initiation of such reforms as income taxes, posed the biggest threat to that same elite; hence, the leadership of the Group of 184 by Andre Apaid, Jr., a US-born businessman (Haiti doesn’t recognize dual citizenship) who owns a handful of sweatshops in Haiti and was an avowed supporter of the Duvalier family dictatorship.

      Basically, its more of the “lesser of the two evils” which we see at most US elections: two political monoliths who will continually fight against each other for temporary supremacy, but will stomp on the head of anyone who tries to offer a third option.

      Hence the murders of innocent people, the unnecessarily-high body count every time a hurricane hits (and in its aftermath), the total absence of a social safety net or any basic human services.

      Politics have never, ever built up a country or made it great. Rather, politics, ideology, governance, law, order, etc., were actually the byproducts of the traditions of the people and the maintenance of their welfare. Unfortunately, for all of its culture, Haiti has neither a tradition of responsibility nor a regard for the commonweal.

      These two things are what make Haiti the most unfortunate of countries in the Americas.

      1. Re: Well, considering the present political polarization

        well…this is gonna be a quick & incomplete reply. i’ll get back to you later.

        but 1) i agree that the government of a country is primarily its figurhead. however, this statement
        Unfortunately, for all of its culture, Haiti has neither a tradition of responsibility nor a regard for the commonweal.

        seems unfair to me. there have always been rifts between the mulattos and the blacks, even the haitian flag is representative of this. but wait i can’t go into that right now. basically, as you well know, ‘the west’ has been angry at haiti’s independence since the beginning and has done just about all it could to try to tear it down. i think haiti has been under an assault since its inception, and i don’t think you can really discuss it’s “tradition of responsibility” or lack thereof, otherwise there would never have been a revolution in the first place.

        furthermore, generations of haitians have stayed or fled the country dedicating their lives to uplifting the country and its people. as a group, i have never met an ethnic group whose people, spanning all ages, have been more passionate about uplifting their people. speaking as a black person, it’s inspiring. speaking as an african-american, i can’t help but be somewhat envious and wish that my people had that same furor for change.

        secondly…i’m not sure how much i agree with your assessment of lavalas. many of haiti’s elite were tortured under duvalier, one the father of a close friend of mine. also…i disagree with the u.s.’ removal of aristede because that was haiti’s business to handle. i know that he originally was a man of the people. however, he took many bribes from all sorts of unsavory people…and did not use that to uplift the people, but to fatten his wallet. and the murders of innocent people…seem to happen regardless of who is in office. is it better if the murdered are the elite vs. the starving?

        on “the lesser of 2 evils”…i guess i just don’t agree that just because someone is “less bad” makes them a good choice because i don’t think you can ever achieve change by propagating sameness.

      2. Re: Well, considering the present political polarization

        I agree on all points with what youre saying, and those happen to be parts of the case in its entirety. However, I do emphasize *part of*.

        In regards to the “lesser of 2 evils”, I’m not necessarily propogating the sameness of the two monoliths. Rather, I am dead set against it; I despise the L2E concept because it leaves me and you and millions of others with similar concerns with no options whatsoever. However, at the moment, despite the intolerance which I have for the situation and for those who perpetuate, propogate, and goad it, it seems the most (disturbingly) pragmatic approach to Haiti right now, considering that the third or fourth options receive no help, no mercy, and no time/place of the day in order to manifest themselves in their own particular ways.

        As far as Aristide is concerned, the fattening of his pockets is something that all heads of state and government do on a daily basis behind the scenes, as detestable as it may be. It pains me to say this, but it is rather obvious that he didn’t deserve as much credit as is given to him by his protractors. However, it should’ve taken a civil process to put him out of office rather than such outrageous actions by the opposition as appointing a rebel president (as was done in the aftermath of the 2000 elections) or demanding the resignation of Aristide.

        This is why I say, though, that Haiti has no tradition of responsibility. It’s because of the continual absence of a responsible government; its because of the continual lack of a respectable system of politics; its because there have been little to no calls for a civil structure that puts everything in perspective rather than muddle and mix it up in every other seemingly-important thing, like ideology, opinion, and pocket change.

        Its just like Josue said, everything in Haiti, no matter how distant it *should* be from one’s own political leanings, is either tied directly into either of the 2 evils or else crushed and trampled upon by the two respective monoliths.

        About the Haitian revolution, I have to differ on your statement that the tradition of responsibility was part of the reason for the actual happening of the war, unless, of course, you make mention of Toussaint, who showed a strong inclination toward restoring stability (and coupling it with compulsory civil liberties) to the colony after the initial conflict. The war happened because of the fact that the slaves were no longer collectively content with the gross repression that they faced every day from the elite minority. They, of course, had traditions of culture and spirituality which were imported from Africa via the Middle Passage. However, the African family was summarily, and indiscriminately, destroyed by slavery and the slave trade, and had to be reconstructed following the initial war, prior to LeClerc’s invasion. Unfortunately, that never happened, not then, not when Haiti was thrown into violence and conflict, and not now. Understandably, the reconstruction of the traditional sense of family took a second-class seat in the *very* back, while politics and money took the helm of the Haitian tap-tap. Ever since, for 200 years straight, its been a wild, “Con Air”-like ride for the Haitian people, and the turbulence never truly ceases.

        Why do I say such? Because this happens to every country that goes through a similar process, has similar backgrounds, and is destined for a similar future. I mean, while they still are attached in several ways to Mother England, at least the British Caribbean has developed 1) an orderly fashion of conduct in politics and 2) a strong sense of family and community. Such is severely lacking in Haiti except for those few, precious areas which aren’t as racked with politics or money issues as the urban landscapes of Port-au-Prince, Gonaives, and Cap-Haitien.

        Patriotism is fine, but when you can only base your national gladness upon the events of the past, and the current situation is all but murdered for little reason, then what good is the future?

        I’m a bit of a nihilist, I guess…

  2. Bah… sorry for the drastically off-topic post, but I came across your profile and noticed we’ve got a lot of similar interests. Hi, I’m Rin.

      1. Well, kinda. It was based on a drawing that Shadee did for me, and what I did was trace on the screen, add glasses, and a few other tweeks, and that was all. 🙂

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