Jean-René Lemoine: "Haiti, land strength and pain '
February 4, 2010 - Posted to the site PELERIN.INFO - CULTURE BLOG
http://culture.blog.pelerin.info/web/jean-rene-lemoine-haiti-terre-de-force- and-pain /
- Haiti, for you is ...
Haiti is a country with which I fed a very special relationship. I was born, but have never lived. It crystallizes in me many things, both fears and desires. It is a land of great strength and great pain, even before the earthquake. The poverty there is, indeed, long time. We can choose to see it. But it overshadow the joy and passion for life of a people, their dignity and their ability to transfigure everything.
is a country that has been kept out of the world, which is entered into or globality, or globalization. He suffers terribly from isolation, and paradoxically this singularity has protected the minds of neo-colonialism that is globalization. It is a freedom paid dearly, but it must be highlighted: there was no Zara or HM, no McDonald's in Haiti, which is pretty incredible. Because there were no consumers for it. There has not yet been a leveling of thought in Haiti. I am not advocating a poverty that would be a bulwark against globalization. Far from it my point.
I see there is a unique identity in Haiti. That may be why so many have fallen under the spell. There is no aggression towards each other. No resentment for those coming from the "North". It receives and, if comes into contact, we accept the relationship. This land has long been wounded, was perpetually patched in order to survive. But no doubt these fragile dressings were placed haphazardly as many wounds were reopened sharply with the earthquake. But if cities are destroyed, just like a sick body is already overwhelmed by an attack, it seems that the soul is still there, shaken, disturbed, but intact. We saw in the impulses of solidarity.
We saw people come together and sing. The resilience of this people, its relationship to the spiritual, his humanity are remarkable. This piece of land, abandoned the world, many are discovering only now that the occasion of the disaster, was and is always in relation to the necessities of life, with the sacred. This makes it a unique place.
- What role do artists and the culture they have to play in the reconstruction?
This is to rebuild, but also to build, quite simply, that did not exist. But we must be vigilant. This country, I repeat, has a soul, strong and intact. This is where the artists, the culture may be essential. Tell you how at the moment, I do not know. The moment is even more urgent. But reconstruction will be thinking, ripened by the people who are there, or here, in respect of a place in respect for people. And artists can support, participate in this action-reflection. It is also important.
Personally I try to change the look that is here on Haiti. I refuse to be an exotic place where they still tend to put on. I would like to also understand that this country has shaped exodus of Haitians very different and it is an asset that must also be taken into account.
It seems to me important to say a word of bereavement, mourning that because it is already rebuilt. It has not yet done. People need words to their pain and urgency in which we are not yet allowed it.
must allow room for the tears to cry.
must be given a symbolic burial for the dead who were thrown into mass graves, the living, breathing, survivors who will have to cope with the immense loneliness of having not even a grave to pray. Is it that words can do that? I can not answer. I know it must be said, against all odds. And if they can embrace that allows the sob, which allows the living not to die inside the shock of horror, then, fine. Haiti is, as ancient Greece, a country of myths. Greece was able to compose his song to say the unsayable. He'll have a word to say one day that the unspeakable has occurred in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and other cities. I know some writers say, tell what happened.
- Are you confident about the future of the island? A copy
hope rose in this Caribbean island I mean by "hope yours" is the ability to transform the world the example of Haiti. After the "death" comes rebirth. Can we help this country to be reborn and really live. Can again become a symbol? While many countries slipping into the abyss, facing a west sated, will there be the courage to say we will do something else, we will create a precedent? We finally abandon paternalism of colonial thinking, a notion of support, sharing, respect and listening. All this is yours.
Am I confident about the future of the island? I hear there voices raised to say, take care, do rafistolons not heal. I trust these voices. I trust in people. I hope only that they will be heard and helped.
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