Aristide lectures on slavery

[struggle4progress]

28/01/2005 15:09 - (SA)

Pretoria - Almost a year after fleeing his country, Jean Bertrand Aristide took up his post at a South African university, delivering a first lecture on African values and the trauma of slavery, "Africa's first tsumani".

The 51-year-old former president of Haiti was named three months ago as honorary research fellow at the University of South Africa in Pretoria, which has lauded his knowledge of several languages and his degrees in psychology, theology and philosophy.

Before a small group of students and academics, Aristide this week offered his insights on the "psychology of Ubuntu", a term used in many African languages to mean "humanity to others".

Aristide invited his audience to ponder the state of "Ubuntu" during what he termed "the first African tsunami": "From 1451 to 1870, hundreds of thousands of African bodies disappeared in the seas." <snip>

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1654104,00.html

[Dirk39]

1. I wish there would be more teachers like Aristide...

but wasn't he an evil dictator before? Wasn't he toppled with the support of the USA one year ago with the goal to establish a funny democracy in Haiti?

"In nations around the world, even those experiencing rapid economic growth, there are millions of children living on the streets, refugees of a system that puts the market before the person. If we listen closely, these children have a message for the new century. Thirteen years ago we opened a center for street children in Port-au-Prince. In 1996, we opened a radio station with our 400 kids. Radyo Timoun (Little People's Radio) broadcasts their music, their news, and their commentaries 14 hours a day. In a world in which a child under the age of 5 dies every 3 seconds, children must speak. In a commentary on democracy prepared by three eleven-year-old girls, democracy was defined as food, school, and health care for everyone. Simplistic or visionary? For them democracy in Haiti doesn't mean a thing unless the people can eat.
Democracy asks us to put the needs and rights of people at the center of our endeavors. This means investing in people. Investing in people means first of all food, clean water, education and healthcare. These are basic human rights. It is the challenge of (any real democracy to guarantee them.
Ironically, in many countries of the South the transition to democracy comes at a time when states are being forced to rapidly divest of resources, saddled with debt, abandoning the economic field to market forces, and playing a smaller and smaller role in the provision of basic human services. They have neither the money nor the will to invest in their people. Today democracy risks being rapidly outpaced by the galloping global economy. If democracy in rich countries and poor ones alike is to be more than a facade, nice in theory, but irrelevant in the face of global economic relationships, our concept and practice of democracy must make a giant leap forward. We must democratize democracy.
Do not confuse democracy with the holding of elections every four or five years. Elections are the exam, testing the health of our system. Voter participation is the grade. But school is in session every day. Only the day-to-day participation of the people at all levels of governance can breathe life into democracy and create the possibility for people to play a significant role in shaping the state and the society that they want."

Jean-Bertrand Aristide

Hello from Germany,
Dirk

[struggle4progress]

2. Maybe Aristide put people before profits.

I hear some folks don't like that attitude ...

[ima_sinnic]

3. wow--I had no idea--I hadn't read anything by him before

--just knew vaguely that he was a good guy. thank you so much for sharing that (now I know exactly what I want in my sig line).

yes, that BushCo would have a strong hand in his demise is no surprise, no surprise at all.

[darkism]

4. Hey look, it's that word again. n/t

[bemildred]

5. He did not "flee", he was kidnapped. nt