Si n al fè yon resansman epi nou ta mande pèp ayisyen an si yo ta vle lame a retounen, plis pase 95% ta di «non».

Lame Ayisyèn lan nan ventyèm syèk (ke Tonton Sam enplante nan ane 30 yo), absoliman se pa menm ak Lame Endijèn nan ki te batay kont pouvwa kolonyal nan diznevyèm syèk. Poukisa Ayiti ta bezwen yon lame: pou batay kont Dominiken? pou pwoteje pèp ayisyen? pou fè koudeta lè sa nesesè? pou chita netwaye zam pou touye Ayisyen inosan (kòm yo te fè nan koudeta pi sanglan ki te fèt 30 septanm 1991 lan)? pou mete o pouvwa moun ki pa popilè (yon bagay nou konnen ki fèt anpil fwa nan 20tyèm syèk la)?... Nou te ka kontinye poze yon dal ak yon pakèt kesyon ki relate wòl yon lame an (n) Ayiti.

Plis pase 16% Bidjè Nasyonal peyi a (nan ane 80 yo) ale nan lame, yon kokenn pèt plizyè milyon dola vèt! Lajan ki te kapab itilize nan edikasyon, agrikilti pou ede ak devlopman Ayiti, kreye travay pou pèp la.

Lame mwen panse Ayiti bezwen an se: yon lame (yon gwoup moun, enkli ansyen manm lame defen an) volontè pou travay nan plantasyon pyebwa, ede konstwi wout, ede nan devlope agrikilti epi patisipe nan lòt travay ke peyi a bezwen pou ale vè lavan. Tou depan bidjè peyi a demen, yo ka peye mesye sa yo (ki sèlman konn tire kòm metye) kèk dola pou fè travay sa yo ke peyi a bezwen brid sou kou.

Ayiti jis bezwen yon fòs polis pwofesyonèl (youn ki byen antrene tou) e youn ki byen ekipe (ki gen ekipman li bezwen pou fè travay li). Mwen sèten anpil moun sou fowòm ayisyen yo familye ak istwa Costa Rica nan sans sa a. Èske l pa pi bon pou yo san yon lame (depi nan fen ane 60 yo)? Poukisa pou sipòte yon enstitisyon ki p ap travay pou pwogrè yon peyi? Èske vrèmanvre yon lame ap fin ak tout tip gang ki pran nesans Ayiti nan fen ane 80 yo? (akoz vid politik ki te vin kreye)? Se yon bagay mwen doute. Li sèten ke Ayiti bezwen sekirite pou tout moun, men ann serye sou sa. Ann diskite meyè fason sa kapab fèt. Ann gade pwoblèm lwa (ki gouvène sa) Ayiti  epi lwa ki nesesè pou fikse, nan avantay tout sitwayen.

Zafè Lame Dayiti (si sa dwe kontinye egziste ou pa, pa depann de okenn gouvènman Ayisyen. Poudayè, lè ou se yon peyi okipe, ou pa gen lavwa o chapit pou pran desizyon (esklav pa pran desizyon pou mèt li) e patwon ki alatèt okipasyon an pa bezwen yon lame nonplis pou reyalize objektif li. Konben fwa yo repete sa (endirèkteman)? Èske nou janm di vrèman poukisa Lame Dayiti te egziste? Ki misyon lame defen an? Èske menm 2% Ayisyen ap gen odas di ke se yon enstitisyon ki te trè enpòtan e ki kontribye nan devlopman peyi a?

Majorite moun Ayiti, lè yo te wè yon chèf (kit li te «makout» (ak inifòm ou san inifòm) kit li te «militè», «atache», «chèf chimè», premye bagay ki te vin nan tèt yo se: «ènmi yo» (nan yon sans, yo pa t janm santi chèf la pou pwoteje yo). Chèf pa t janm = zanmi moun an Ayiti. Ann aprann viv nan reyalite, e reyalite tan an tou san sa, n ap toujou rete yon pèp k ap viv nan ilizyon, fè diskou gramatikal zewo fot (kòm Piram ta di) ki p ap abouti a anyen pou ede Ayiti.

Mwen ri kò pèdi lè kèk grenn odyansè sou kèk fowòm ta fè konnen «enpòtans lame a nan devopman Ayiti?» Alò ki lame? Lame Raketè? Bon si se sa, Ayiti deja gen twòp. Ki sekirite Lame Dayiti te janm bay pèp Ayisyen tout bon vre? Sou Divalye, Tonton an te netralize lame ak kreyasyon «tonton makout» yo men an menm tan, anpil nan militè yo te espyon Divalye e anpil nan nou konn sa tou. Èske menm lame sa a pa t manje nan fanmi/zanmi nou nan Fò Dimanch («Fò Lanmò»)? Èske menm lame sa a pa t patisipe nan «les vêpres de Jeremie» e tandòt gwo krim kote plizyè Ayisyen inosan pèdi lavi yo? Men nan tout lwa gen esepsyon; se vre te gen «kèk» moun serye nan Lame Dayti (ki te eseye chavire diktati sanginè sa a men ki pa t reyisi e ki pèdi lavi yo) men pa t reyèlman gen anyen yo te ka fè tout bon pou ede nan devlopman peyi a.

An jeneral, lè n ap pale de lame, nou pa dwe wè sèlman kèk grenn sòlda k ap make pa (swe kou pitit kokobe, mèg kou tako – alò pitit Sòyèt) ak yon fizi Tonton Nò + yon bayonèt ladan e pou fizi sa a tire fò l pise pou plon an pou chofe l , men se tout yon enstitisyon ki divize an plizyè branch e ki mande plizyè milyon dola vèt pou alimante l. Èske nan sitiyasyon ekonomik Ayiti ye la a li reyèlman bezwen yon enstitisyon ki pa pwodiktif pou peyi a pou l ta envesti plizyè milyon ladan? E nou wè sa Lame Dayiti remèt apre diktati kraze zo Divalye a chavire an 1986. Sa k pase? Kòm Dinasti Divalye a se te yon diktati sivil , enben lame (kòm enstitisyon ki pa t dwe nan politik) vin kreye yon diktati militè li menm, soti sou Jeneral Nanfi (lè koudeta kòmanse fèt) pou rive sou Jeneral Avril (kòmansman 1990) epi lame reprann mayèt enkonstitisyonèl la (ak koudeta 30 sept. 1991) sou lebedyans Jeneral Sedras (byenke yo te mete kèk popetwèl sou pouvwa kòm prezidan /premye minis - men o fon, se lame ki t ap fè e defè sou lòd patwon blan an) jis pou rive nan mwa oktòb 1994.

Pandan tan sa yo, èske Lame Dayiti montre l te vle fè yon bagay pozitif pou peyi a tout bon? Se kesyon enpòtan pou tout Ayisyen ta poze, patikilyè kèk entelektyèl (moun nou ta panse ki gen bon sans) k ap pale anpil sou kesyon «retou lame a» ki p ap abouti a anyen. Enben repons lan se pito: ratibwazay total sou pèp la atravè peyi a. Gen yon gran diferans ant «mete lòd nan dezòd» (kontwole bandi k ap fè dezòd, moun k ap simaye latèrè ou latwoublay) ak «pèsekite moun inosan» pou opinyon yo oubyen pou yon kandida patikilye yo te chwazi. Pèp Ayisyen an, ke kèk moun panse analfabèt la, viv reyalite peyi a chak jou Bondye mete e li ka esplike nou fen e byen (fil an egui) reyalite politik peyi a pase l diplome nan Inivèsite Lavi. Moun ki malad, se yo k konn remèd.

(E.W.Vedrine, otè roman Sezon sechrès Ayiti )

     

WHAT TYPE OF ARMY DOES HAITI NEED ?

(by E. W. Vedrine)
Spring 2005

If we do a survey and ask the Haitian people if they would like to see the army come back, more than 95% would say “no”.

The Haitian Army of the 20th century (implanted by Uncle Sam in the 30's), is absolutely not the Indigenous Army that fought against colonial powers in the 19th century. Why would Haiti need an army for: to fight against the Dominicans? To protect the Haitian people? To make coups when necessary? To sit down cleaning their weapons to kill innocent Haitian people (as it was the case in the bloody coup of September 30, 1991)? To put unpopular people in power (something that occurs frequently in the twentieth century)?... We could go on and on, asking a bunch of questions related to the role of the army in Haiti.

More than 16% of the country's National Budget (in the 80's) went to the army, quite a big lost of many million of dollars! Money that could be used in education, agriculture to help with Haiti's development, create jobs for the people. The army that Haiti needs is: an army (a group of people, including former member of the defunct army) volunteers to work in tree planting, help with construction of roads, help with developing agriculture and participate in other works that the country needs in order to go forward. Depending on the future budget of the country, they can give these guys (who only know how to shoot as skills) some dollars to do these types of works that the country needs right away.

Haiti just needs a professional police force (one that is well-trained also) and one that is well-equipped (that has the equipments needed to do their jobs). I am certain that many people on the Haitian forums are familiar with the history of Costa Rica in this sense. Aren't they better off today without an army (since the late 60's)? Why supporting an institution that is not working toward the progress of a country? Truly, will an army finish up with all types of “gangs” that have been evolved in Haiti at the end of the 80's (due to the political vacuum)? This is something that I pretty much doubt of. It is certain that Haiti needs security for everyone, but let's be serious about it. Let's discuss the best way that can be done. Let's look at the problem of “laws” (governing it) in Haiti and laws that are necessary to be fixed, in the advantage of every citizen.

The issue of the Haitian Army (whether that should continue existing or not, does not depend on any Haitian government. First, when a country is occupied, it does not have a say in terms of making decision) and the boss who is leading the occupation does not need an army either in order to achieve his objectives. How many times have they repeated it (indirectly)? Have some of us ever said truly why the Haitian Army exited? What was the mission of that defunct Army? Would even 2% of the Haitian People have the audacity to say it was an important institution that contributed to the development of the country?

Most people in Haiti, when seeing a “chief” (be it a ‘macoute' (in uniform or without), a ‘military man', an ‘attaché', a ‘chimè chief', the first thing that would come to their mind is: “their enemy” (in a sense, they did not feel protected by any chief). Chiefs never = friends of people in Haiti. Let's learn to live in reality, and the reality of the times also; without that, we will always remain a People who is living with illusion, people who give beautiful speech in French with no grammatical errors (as Piram would put it) but that end up to end nothing in helping Haiti.

I have a belly laugh when some funny people on some Haitian forums would talk about the “importance of an army in the development of Haiti” What army? An army of “Raketè”? Well, if it is so, then Haiti already has too many. What kind of security the Haitian Army has ever given the Haitian People for sure? Under the Duvalier's regime, the old man neutralized the army and created the “tonton macoutes” but at the same time, many of the military men were Duvalier's spies and many of us also know that. Didn't that same army get rid of some of our relatives or friends in Fò Dimanch (“the Forth of Death“)? Didn't that same army participate in “slaughtering of Jeremie” and has committed so many big crimes where many innocent Haitians lost their lives? But there is always exception to all rules; it's true that there were “some” serious people in the Haitian Army (who have tried to overthrow the bloody dictatorship but with no success, and they've lost their lives) but they couldn't do anything to help in the development of the country.

In general, when talking about “army”, we should not only see some soldiers who are doing military exercises (they sweat a lot, skinny like bones – so, the children of Sòyèt) having in their hand a short gun dated the time of Tonton Nò + a bayonet in it and for this short gun to shoot, the poor soldier would have to urinate on the bullet in order to heat it up, but it's a whole institution that is divided into branches and that requires many millions of green dollars to keep it going. In the economic situation that Haiti is in, does she really need to invest many millions in an unproductive institution? And we've seen what the Haitian Army has done after the collapse of the ferocious dictatorships of the Duvaliers in 1986. What happened? Since the Duvaliers' dynasties were civilian dictatorships, the army (as institution that should have not meddled in Politics) has created a military dictatorship from general Henri Namphy (when coups started out) up to general Prosper Avril (beginning of 1990) and the army retook the unconstitutional power (with the September 30th. 1991 coup) under the leadership of general Raoul Sedras (though they've put in power some puppet presidents and prime ministers – but deeply, it was the army that was doing everything behind the scene under the order the White Boss) until October 1994.

During all these times, did the Haitian Army show its willingness to do something positive for the country for real? That is the important question for all Haitians to ask, particularly some scholars that people would think have a positive way of thinking) who are talking about the “return of the army” which won't end up in anything. So, the answer is rather: total persecution against the people throughout the country. There is a big difference between “mete lòd nan dezòd” (by controlling bandits who are misbehaving, who are spreading out terrors) and “persecuting innocent people” for their opinion or for a particular candidate that they have voted for. The Haitian people, that some people think are illiterate, live the reality of the country on a daily basis and can explain to us quite well the political reality of the country for they graduated from University of Life. People who were sick are those who know medicine for their sickness.

E.W.Vedrine

     

Emmanuel W. Védrine
E. W. VEDRINE CREOLE PROJECT, Inc.
P.O.B. 255962
Dorchester, MA 02125-5110 (U.S)
e_vedrine@hotmail.com, e_vedrine@yahoo.com