Making Sense of Complexity

[bcholmes]

Background facts: last film festival, I watched a film called Ghosts of Cité Soleil, which I felt was pretty one-sided in its criticism of Aristide. Kevin Pina has recently made a film called Haiti: We Must Kill The Bandits, which seems to take the "other perspective".

This blog entry by Michael Deibert offers a perspective on some of those figures. Deibert's opinions on the people involved seem more consistent with Ghosts (which he says he has not seen), but he writes persuasively. I find some of Deibert's other blog entries less compelling. Nonetheless, I've ordered a copy of his book.

Comments

[lovecraftienne.livejournal.com]

Hey - do you mind if I ask you what your connection with Haiti is? You obviously have a very deep sense of attachment - it's lovely - and I wondered if there's a story to it.

[bcholmes.livejournal.com]

I don't know that I have a good answer for that.

After my first trip there, in 2002, I just developed an unexplainable love for the place. Because I'd been there, I very aware during (and affected by) the two big events in 2004 -- the coup in January/February, and the flood that spring.

After my second and third trips, that love intensified.

Haiti

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for noticing, BC, and thanks for your interest in Haiti. Having reported on many countries around the world, I think Haiti, along with Brasil, is still my favorite, and will probably always be the dearest to my heart. Hopefully, with the democratically-elected, progressive, non-criminal government of René Préval, this extraordinary nation, which has done so much for the world on behalf of not only freedom (the 1804 revolution and its sheltering of Simon Bolivar during a pivotal time in his struggle to liberate South America) but also beauty (for my money, the most vibrant musical, artistic and literary tradition in the Caribbean) will have a chance to breathe free from the shackles of poverty, political violence, bad and venal governance and unwanted foreign manipulation.

Michael Deibert
www.michaeldeibert.blogspot.com