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A L S O+T O D A Y
Gun smoke
T A B L E+T A L K School reform is gaining momentum, but is privatizing education taking things a step too far? Take your side in the Education area of Table Talk
R E C E N T L Y Can Amtrak survive? Gun smoke Who says women never lie about rape? Where have we gone? $400 million and a mule? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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THE DANCEABLE TRAGEDY | PAGE 1, 2, 3
When I lived as a student in Haiti during the early 1950s, I enjoyed the castaway foreigners -- ex-Nazis, French collaborators, criminals on the lam, goofy anthropologists who fancied themselves voodoo adepts, lovers of all sexes who loved the various sexes, especially those who were young, black, possessed of special talents and grateful for a decent meal. Foreigners could do whatever they wanted. This so-called "golden age" was a time of permission, fast money to be made, a fast life to be enjoyed. In a period of what a friend calls "terminoil" -- terminal turmoil -- a few adventurers still show up. There is a white-bearded, white-maned old pirate with a bandanna around his head. Rolf, a sentimental Nazi, opened a bar for a few minutes, but it failed and he got permission to return to Germany. There are a few European and American deaf men who don't seem to have heard of AIDS. Drug dealers, missionaries and NGO do-gooders are out in force. Jorgen Leth, Danish film director, poet, journalist, who has directed features in Haiti, left his Danish wife and settled down, is always good company, but during this visit he was fully engaged in trying to help an unfortunate jailed Danish sea captain. In the great tradition of major visitor chagrins, the Danish sea captain landed in the lovely seaside village of Jacmel and found a lady, and she died two days later. He was charged with poisoning her. It turned out that she had had a botched abortion the day before their romance; no poison. But when asked if he had given her anything to drink, the unfortunate Dane replied, "A rum-Coke." He is accused of giving her rum and cocaine. Thus far the price for his release, several million dollars (American), is firm. The Danish consul in Mexico could do nothing. Jorgen Leth brings his compatriot food and kind words. The European Community has rallied around with urgent public declarations, but that's only background noise in Haiti, like the barking dogs or the roosters at dawn. I asked an official why the central government doesn't act. "Well, we're very busy with preparations for Carnival," she said. Several million dollars (American) is a lot of money. A Haitian jail compares unfavorably with a Turkish prison. When I left, the Danish sea captain had been sitting there for 104 days. The Haitian telejiol -- telemouth -- machine still provides news. A friend met the pope's son in Italy. My friend also knows the exact day, hour and minute when Aristide will return to power; he read it in his astrological charts and double-checked with numerological research. Haitian politicians don't need astrological charts to know who should be president. They wake up in the morning and see the anointed candidate in the mirror. There are 26, or maybe 36, political parties, each led by the future national leader, fervently supported by his driver. Although the parliament has been unseated by the current president, they still take their seats. In 1986, Felix Morisseau-Leroy, poet and dramatist, was carried through the airport on the backs of his supporters and made one of the supreme un-Haitian speeches of his long career: "I have an important announcement! I am not a candidate to be president!" N E X T+P A G E+| "I live on miracle!" |
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