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November
19, 2001
Full
Circle of Savagery
By
Smarck Michel
Former
prime minister
Case closed. We have gone full circle and returned
to the starting point. Uprooted from Africa by the thousands,
piled naked in ships' holds like animals, deprived of
soul or dignity, under the eye of the savages who were
the slavers, here we are three centuries later in 2001,
naked like animals, deprived of soul and dignity, under
the eye of the savages who are our jailers, the guards
of the national penitentiary of Haiti.
One hundred ninety-eight years have passed since the
declaration of our independence and eleven years since
Lavalas came to power with the slogan, "Dignity to the
least among us."
The picture that appeared on the front page of the
Friday, November 16, 2001 Le Nouvelliste will
stick in everyone's mind and particularly in the minds
of those who survived days, months, and years, naked
like animals, deprived of soul or dignity, under the
eye of the savages who were their guards in the Fort
Dimanche cells.
It is a pity that this picture was printed on the front
page with no caption, with no indignant editorial, with
no thought for the dignity of these men and the humiliation
that such a display brings them. With no word for the
fathers, the mothers, the children of these human beings
lying bare on the concrete of the National Penitentiary,
while trying chastely to hide their nakedness from the
amused glance of a young reporter also captured by the
camera. That amusement is most likely nervous but it
registers the extent of the damage to our souls caused
by this dehumanizing process, this lack of respect of
others and self-respect in our society.
The picture would be shocking even if the inmates were
all convicted felons. But we all know that the majority
of these prisoners are in preventive custody.
Are we condemned, we Haitians, to transmit from one
generation to the next such a low opinion of ourselves?
Are we condemned to reproduce from one generation to
the next this class of bosses only concerned with their
own interests and these governments that start poor
and leave power super-wealthy, while the nation gets
even poorer?
If what this picture on the front page of this newspaper
symbolizes does not provoke general outrage, it would
confirm that our people only have the government they
deserve. Its mediocrity, rapacity, demagoguery and roguishness
will only be the unwelcome reflection of ourselves.
Enough of this decay of the values of humanity!
Enough of those attempts to corrupt our youth!
Enough murders!
Enough of this degradation of ourselves and others!
Can't we finally wake up from this nightmare and renew
ourselves? The difficulties are numerous, the obstacles
great, but in order to surmount them, it is important
that the collective will express itself.
Self-respect and the respect of others must be at the
basis of our efforts. Those who exercise responsibilities
to the collective must be motivated by the ethic of
service and not by lust for power.
When the slogan "The Tontons Macoutes are gone" was
on our lips, we all believed that it meant Macoute mentality
and Macoute behavior. Today, after seeing this picture,
we all understand that this slogan only served to promote
a new class of bosses to perpetuate Fort Dimanche.
It is time to stop this debacle. Those who only lust
for power must get out of the way so that the nation
can reclaim its stolen dignity.
Originally
appeared in Le Nouvelliste
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Haiti@inxil.com
· James
R. Morrell, executive director