Patrick Elie
Cross Canada tour
I put a lot of miles on my own driver's seat this
week. Wednesday evening I took Olivia and three of her friends to the Coldplay concert in Auburn
Hills, Michigan. Rick couldn't make it because of work so he entrusted me with
his daughter and a ticket for the front row. We were all blown away, enjoying
the music and the fantastic light show. I thought I'd be the oldest guy there
but it was a very mixed all ages audience. These guys must be very popular, most
of the crowd knew the lyrics and sang along. I at least was able to recognize
the Johnny Cash tribute medley.
Too early the next morning I drove back into Windsor and again became a chauffeur, this time for a former cabinet minister from Haiti. Patrick Elie has just begun a speaking tour across Canada, talking about the struggle for democracy in Haiti and the ways Canada has both helped and hindered that process. Like our Governor-General he is a citizen of both countries.
Elie describes himself as part of Haiti's small elite. He got a PhD in organic chemistry from McGill and was Professor of biochemistry on the Faculty of Medicine in Haiti's university from 1980 to 1991. After growing up under the brutual Duvalier dictatorship ("Even at home we only dared whisper his name") in the late 80s he fought, along with Jean-Bertrand Aristide, René Préval and many others, in the successful campaign to rid the country of "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who had succeeded his father as president for life. At one point he helped save Aristide's life. In the 1990 election he was the informal head of Aristide's security detail. After Aristide's election Elie served as the National Coordinator of the fight against drug trafficking. Later he became Secretary of State for National Defense and was instrumental in creating the National Police and dismantling the Haitian Army.
It was my privilege to take Elie to five different speaking engagements over the past two days, and share meals, coffee and a few beers. We went to two high schools, a university class and two public meetings. Each talk had a different theme and he ranged from the slave revolt two hundred and some years ago to this month's election. I had thought myself well informed, but each time he spoke I learned something new. Some of the sessions were recorded and I hope we can make them available online. I have to thank the other members of Haiti Solidarity Windsor who worked so hard to bring him here and let me have such a great opportunity.
Elie thinks that Haiti has just gone through two years of some of the worst violence and repression he has seen in his lifetime, previous coups and dictatorships notwithstanding. He also thinks the recent election has put Haiti back on the path to peace and democracy. He wants to know why Canada, which stood by Aristide after the first coup in 1991, changed course and participated in the overthrow of the Lavalas government on February 29, 2004. More importantly he wants Canada to make amends and repair the damage that has been done to the relationship between the two countries.
He didn't campaign for any candidate in the elections. Instead he co-founded S.O.S. (Sant Obsèvasyon Sitwayen) a citizen watchdog group whose motto is; "Politics is too important to be abandoned to the politicians." He is also president of a foundation that is carrying on the work of the late journalist Jean Léopold Dominique, assassinated on April 3, 2000. Dominque's story is told in the documentary The Agronomist. Elie thinks his murder was the opening salvo that led to the latest coup.
Dominque was a critic of Aristide and Elie wasn't a member of Aristide's second government. I tried to get him to talk about his differences with his old friend and the charges that have been made against the former president. He said that he had his disagreements but that it was important to understand that Aristide is an historical character, who means as much to Haiti as Mandela does to South Africa. He believes that Aristide has done what he can and that Préval and others must now provide the leadership.
In his speeches he did raise two criticisms. He thought it was "imprudent" to demand France return the reparations Haiti had been forced to pay for the loss of income when slavery was abolished. No matter how legally and morally just, this only served to embarrass and provoke the French, who could not make good their debt to Haiti without receiving many other claims from former colonies.
He also said that, if anything, Aristide was too accommodating and willing to compromise. He appointed his opponents to his cabinet and opened up his political party, the Fanmi Lavalas, to a number of social climbers who turned out to be corrupt. Elie takes pains to point out that the party is not the same as the Lavalas social movement, with which he still identifies.
As for the charge that Aristide acted like a dictator, Elie says he was in fact relatively powerless, unable to do much because of the intransigence of the opposition in both the state bureaucracy and the legislature. Préval had the same problem. The Haitian constitution gives the legislature the job of appointing the prime minister, not the president. For most of Préval's first term there simply was no prime minister. Aristide began to rule by decree when the opposition refused to participate on the electoral commission and the legislature expired. Even then he agreed to a proposal to share power but was again rebuffed by the same politicians who did so poorly in the recent elections.
That is only a small part of what Elie had to say. If you have a chance to hear him, do so.
Update: Here is an mp3 of Elie's talk on Friday, February 24 at the C.A.W. Local 200/444 Hall. It's about 56 minutes long. Thanks to Enver Villamizar who made available the audio files from his broadcast of the talk on the University of Windsor's student radio, CJAM.
......
Sorry, I had to remove the audio file because it was interfering with some changes I want to make to the blog roll. I'll try to find another way of posting it.
Too early the next morning I drove back into Windsor and again became a chauffeur, this time for a former cabinet minister from Haiti. Patrick Elie has just begun a speaking tour across Canada, talking about the struggle for democracy in Haiti and the ways Canada has both helped and hindered that process. Like our Governor-General he is a citizen of both countries.
Elie describes himself as part of Haiti's small elite. He got a PhD in organic chemistry from McGill and was Professor of biochemistry on the Faculty of Medicine in Haiti's university from 1980 to 1991. After growing up under the brutual Duvalier dictatorship ("Even at home we only dared whisper his name") in the late 80s he fought, along with Jean-Bertrand Aristide, René Préval and many others, in the successful campaign to rid the country of "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who had succeeded his father as president for life. At one point he helped save Aristide's life. In the 1990 election he was the informal head of Aristide's security detail. After Aristide's election Elie served as the National Coordinator of the fight against drug trafficking. Later he became Secretary of State for National Defense and was instrumental in creating the National Police and dismantling the Haitian Army.
It was my privilege to take Elie to five different speaking engagements over the past two days, and share meals, coffee and a few beers. We went to two high schools, a university class and two public meetings. Each talk had a different theme and he ranged from the slave revolt two hundred and some years ago to this month's election. I had thought myself well informed, but each time he spoke I learned something new. Some of the sessions were recorded and I hope we can make them available online. I have to thank the other members of Haiti Solidarity Windsor who worked so hard to bring him here and let me have such a great opportunity.
Elie thinks that Haiti has just gone through two years of some of the worst violence and repression he has seen in his lifetime, previous coups and dictatorships notwithstanding. He also thinks the recent election has put Haiti back on the path to peace and democracy. He wants to know why Canada, which stood by Aristide after the first coup in 1991, changed course and participated in the overthrow of the Lavalas government on February 29, 2004. More importantly he wants Canada to make amends and repair the damage that has been done to the relationship between the two countries.
He didn't campaign for any candidate in the elections. Instead he co-founded S.O.S. (Sant Obsèvasyon Sitwayen) a citizen watchdog group whose motto is; "Politics is too important to be abandoned to the politicians." He is also president of a foundation that is carrying on the work of the late journalist Jean Léopold Dominique, assassinated on April 3, 2000. Dominque's story is told in the documentary The Agronomist. Elie thinks his murder was the opening salvo that led to the latest coup.
Dominque was a critic of Aristide and Elie wasn't a member of Aristide's second government. I tried to get him to talk about his differences with his old friend and the charges that have been made against the former president. He said that he had his disagreements but that it was important to understand that Aristide is an historical character, who means as much to Haiti as Mandela does to South Africa. He believes that Aristide has done what he can and that Préval and others must now provide the leadership.
In his speeches he did raise two criticisms. He thought it was "imprudent" to demand France return the reparations Haiti had been forced to pay for the loss of income when slavery was abolished. No matter how legally and morally just, this only served to embarrass and provoke the French, who could not make good their debt to Haiti without receiving many other claims from former colonies.
He also said that, if anything, Aristide was too accommodating and willing to compromise. He appointed his opponents to his cabinet and opened up his political party, the Fanmi Lavalas, to a number of social climbers who turned out to be corrupt. Elie takes pains to point out that the party is not the same as the Lavalas social movement, with which he still identifies.
As for the charge that Aristide acted like a dictator, Elie says he was in fact relatively powerless, unable to do much because of the intransigence of the opposition in both the state bureaucracy and the legislature. Préval had the same problem. The Haitian constitution gives the legislature the job of appointing the prime minister, not the president. For most of Préval's first term there simply was no prime minister. Aristide began to rule by decree when the opposition refused to participate on the electoral commission and the legislature expired. Even then he agreed to a proposal to share power but was again rebuffed by the same politicians who did so poorly in the recent elections.
That is only a small part of what Elie had to say. If you have a chance to hear him, do so.
Update: Here is an mp3 of Elie's talk on Friday, February 24 at the C.A.W. Local 200/444 Hall. It's about 56 minutes long. Thanks to Enver Villamizar who made available the audio files from his broadcast of the talk on the University of Windsor's student radio, CJAM.
......
Sorry, I had to remove the audio file because it was interfering with some changes I want to make to the blog roll. I'll try to find another way of posting it.
Posted: Sat - February 25, 2006 at 04:48 PM
Quick Links
A blog by Jim Monk
XML/RSS Feed
Archives
Calendar
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
Categories
My Favourite Blogs
My Favourite Sites
Subscriptions
Windsor - Essex Blogs
Statistics
Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Sep 12, 2007 03:13 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Sep 12, 2007 03:13 PM