[Marxism] Sur realité ?

[Chris Brady <cdbrady@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Surrealité !

"A U.S.-backed seven-member Council of Sages" ???

What is this?  Lord of the Rings?  Sages?  A bedtime story fairytale to
put our international perceptions back to sleep?

"Mr. Latortue was selected by a United States-backed council of eminent
Haitians appointed after Mr. Aristide's departure to help form a
transitional government."

"Selected" and "appointed" -are these time-honoured democratic
processes?

Who decides who is "eminent"?  We all think Paul Sweezy was eminent, but
he couldn't even land an appointment at a community college because of
his politics.  What sort of politics would the US select for its
appointment to the office of top boss in Haiti? (That's a rhetorical
question, kids.)

"This government has no political attachment," Mr. Latortue said. "We
want to make a government of technocrats, a government of people from no
political parties, of people who are independent minded. We want the
transition to be as neutral as possible."

"After decades of living in United States and elsewhere" it may be a
given that Latortue has "no political attachment."  His top-down
declaration of "a government of people from no political parties",
however, sounds awfully like the sort of anti-politics we have gotten
before from the extreme right.  Independent minded people, who are
they?  Libertarians? Small businessmen? Or Marxists? (That just could be
another rhetorical question.)

But rest assured,
for Monsieur Latortue
 was appointed and anointed
 by the Sages of the Ages.
Everything is going to be just fine . . .
lullabye,
and goodnight.
Les reves commencent.

_________
Sources:

U.S. Troops Again Under Fire in Troubled Haiti
By Reuters, March 12, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-haiti.html

Aristide to Visit Jamaica Next Week
By The Associated Press, March 12, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Haiti.html

Haiti's New Leader Sees a Long Transition
By Lydia Polgreen, New York Times, March 12, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/12/international/americas/12HAIT.html?th

Key Facts About Haiti [published on Coup Day]
The Associated Press in The Washington Post, Sunday, February 29, 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16394-2004Feb29.html

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