Excerpt from Independance 2011

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Excerpt from the book-This is a copyrighted material

I am always having fantasy dream about Haiti.

I am always dreaming of a discrimination-free Haiti that shows respect to all of its citizens regardless of their level of education, their skin complexion or their political views.

A number of political times and situations have nourished my thoughts.

The Jean-Claude Duvalier era made me realize that Haitians can become a very law and order -abiding people.

Haitian politicians have been debating that possibility for years, but every time one of them gets an opportunity to bring order, he or she ends up instituting dictatorship to one degree or another.

Jean Bertrand Aristide's time in power made me realize that Haitians have the ability to recognize the need for social justice.

However, as we all know, when the social justice project is not properly researched, planned, implemented, and controlled, instability ensues and all efforts falter.

The two terms of Rene Preval lead me to the conclusion that Haitians can move ahead of the Macoute-Lavalas division patterns and function as one people, as one nation.

However, famous presidential messages to the nation' s citizens that impart phrases such as "keep swimming so you can get off shore" and "mobilizing all vital forces of the nation" constitute in no way, shape or form, a plan. Finally, the latest and unfortunate scenes stemming from the series of hurricanes that left the town of Gonaives in limbo, made me realize that Haitian businessmen can recognize the need to work toward social responsibility.

However, should this attitude be permanent, downtown Croix-Bossale, La Saline, the Miragoane sea port, and Barriere Bouteille would have been spotless.

The union of Macoute and Lavalas as Haitians with a diversity of political doctrines, social justice and social responsibility are indispensable to collaboration between Haitians with these two main schools of thought.

The Iraq war has, in part, last that long because the United States of America has completely ignored the very principles put forth by its most prestigious and most credible universities on the subject of conflict resolution.

In the region, countries are in a vehement struggle for predominance and hegemony.

Other rich and powerful countries have understood the complexity of the situation, and refrained for a long time from close involvement.

Reaching a compromise surpasses the human understanding.

What drives these conflicts?

What motivates Al Qaeda?

Some interesting questions that require a great deal of attention! One of the best approaches resides in the religious aspect of the quandary.

The United States of America is on the verge of exhausting all military approaches to an increasingly challenged war that yields infinitesimal satisfactory results.

Many well advised minds have for over six years decried the strategies that call for more and more military actions, not because they condone terrorist actions nor preach a show of weakness at the face of the universe, but because they understand that conflicts are multifaceted phenomena that requires a clear dissection of the notions of position and interest.

They understand that collaborative conflict resolutions call for objective listening, and a good grasp of the context and emotions behind the conflict.

Oppression and compromise are false alternatives to conflict resolution.

The same goes for the conflicts between Israel and Palestine, and recently between Russia and Georgia.

In addition, the United States has repeated that pattern of behavior several times in Haiti.

A republican president usually implements policies that favor Macoute, whereas a democratic president's policies often align with Lavalas in Haiti.

Nonetheless, as any Harvard professor would argue, unless, the United States contributes to efforts aimed at encouraging both Macoute and Lavalas to engage in meaningful and collaborative talks designed to define and discuss their contentious differences, and be predisposed to a win-win- like outcome, there cannot be conflict resolution.

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Gera Bougui, August 20 2009, 4:25 AM

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