Everybody knows the dice are loaded…

Everybody knows the dice are loaded, sings the Canadian poet Leonard Cohen. Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed. Everybody knows the war is over. Everybody knows the good guys lost.

Who will be the true losers in the global financial Armageddon caused by the United States which borrowed billions to invade Iraq and had its printing presses roaring lickety-spit to keep the slaughter going while the gombeen men filled their greedy pockets?

Will it be the obese 'living dead' in mind-numbing, sun-drenched Florida forced to give up their condominium or their vacation in the tax-free Caymans, or the working stiffs of Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia who have the pink slip of redundancy in their grimed hands, or will it be the hundreds of thousands of people rendered homeless in the Land of the Free?

Secretary-General of Pax Christi visits Australia…

Claudette Werleigh Secretary General of Pax Christi presently visiting Australia

"It will be the world's poor," says Pax Christi Secretary General Claudette Werleigh who is visiting Sydney to speak at Peacemakers — a Sign of Hope, Pax Christi's seventh national conference, which opens today (Friday) and continues into the weekend at Sacred Heart Church Hall, Randwick. "They always pay."

She knows what she's talking about. She is from the impoverished nation of Haiti which has sent more than a million people to the US to escape persecution and poverty. Their food line back home is breaking down.

They send to 'Maman' (mother) chickens, hams, electronic goodies, and most importantly cash and cheques to keep their family alive.

The mercy mail is just about over.

Claudette says the gifts and cheques have begun to stop coming.

So great is this calamity for her people that she fears famine.

Haitians could become as extinct as the Carib people or the Taíno Arawaks, who thrived in the transparent, blue-green waters when Christopher Columbus landed at Môle Saint-Nicolas on 5 December 1492, and claimed the island for Spain.

That's if global warming does not wipe the Haitians out first.

Claudette Werleigh knows what she's talking about.

She recalls how delighted Haitian farmers were when Taiwan decided to help them grow rice, provided training programs and finance.

Then 'Miami rice' began to be dumped on the island along with other food gluts from the US.

Most farmers gave up and migrated to the United States to work in menial jobs and send money and food home to 'Maman'.

Explore Haiti on Google Earth. You can access extensive web-based background information on the country, including from Wikipedia, directly on Google Earth. (Editor's note: I'm still figuring out how to link to Google Earth from a webpage. If you click the image of the link it will presently attempt to open a zip file "GoogleEarth_Placemark.kmz":. Open it and simply click on the file in it titled "doc.kml" and if you have GoogleEarth installed on your computer it will automatically open and take you to Haiti.)

Pax Christi has more than 60,000 members worldwide.

That's about the same number that 'Papa Doc' Duvalier, the US puppet, killed during his regime.

When Papa Doc finally died in 1971, he had managed to bring an already poor nation into unimaginable poverty and misery, as Haiti became the poorest nation in the Americas as a direct result of his wild kleptomania.

His twin legacies: the 15 year rule of his son (deposed in 1986), and the creation of millions of political and economic refugees. It is fitting that his grandiose mausoleum in Port-au-Prince was demolished by angry mobs who had finally learned to stop fearing the quiet little country doctor, only 20 years after his death.

"They took people to Fort Dimanche in Port au Prince to be tortured, starved and murdered," says Claudette who was a young girl during his regime.

Showing the US he was "killing communists"…

Duvalier, she said, did not kill on direct US orders, but to show the US he was destroying Communists.

After his demise there were moves to build a museum of his atrocities in Haiti, but it did not come to pass.

She said her people had great hopes for the Salesian priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide, but he was unable to resist the CIA men who undermined him. "Those who got rid of him were on the CIA payroll."

The United States occupied the island from 1915 to 1934.

From 1957 to 1986, the Duvalier family reigned as dictators. They created the private army and terrorist death squads known as Tonton Macoutes. Many Haitians fled to exile in the United States and Canada, especially French-speaking Quebec. In December 1990, the former priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide won the election. His mandate began on 7 February 1991. During August, 1991, Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government faced a no-confidence vote within the Haitian Chamber of Deputies and Senate. 83 voted against him. Only 11 members voted in support of Aristide's government.

On 29 September 1991 President Aristide resigned and flew into exile. In accordance with Article 149, of Haiti's Constitution of 1987, Supreme Court Justice Joseph Nerette was named Provisional President and elections were called for December, 1991. These were blocked by the international community and chaos resulted extending into 1994.

In 1994, Haitian General Raoul Cédras asked former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to help avoid a U.S. military invasion of Haiti. President Carter relayed this information to President Clinton, who asked Carter, in his role as founder of The Carter Center, to undertake a mission to Haiti with Sen. Sam Nunn, and former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell. The team successfully negotiated the departure of Haiti's military leaders, paving the way for the restoration of Jean-Bertrande Aristide as president. Aristide left the presidency in 1995. He was re-elected in 2000.

The election of 2000 was not recognized by the international community, which claimed that massive fraud had taken place. The country continued to struggle. In 2004, after several months of popular demonstrations against him because of a poor economy and his corruption, and pressures exerted by the international community, especially by France, the USA and Canada, Aristide went into exile on 29 February 2004.

Life and Peace Institute…

"The CIA held all the cards," says Claudette. "All the people against him were on the payroll of the CIA." She never voted in Haiti after her father received a telegram from the government telling him the election results before the votes were counted. Claudette Werleigh works in Sweden directing the Conflict Transformation Programme for the Life & Peace Institute. LPI is an international and ecumenical centre for peace research and action.

Claudette's section works with peace-building programs in the Horn of Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo Brazzaville, where LPI facilitates a gradual transformation into a culture of peace while working within the local social and cultural context.

The tiny Haitian has worked in Washington to help the thousands of Haitians who have escaped there. Convinced that women are crucial to ensure sustainable peace, LPI works to bring their full participation in conflict prevention and resolution. "Women are the backbone of society," said Claudette. "They possess enormous strengths to give to the peace process, far beyond traditional family care."

Claudette Werleigh pictured with Cliff Baxter yesterday

Trained as a lawyer, Claudette has devoted her career to what she terms "adult education" in a variety of settings. She has held public positions in Haiti, including Minister of Social Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs and, for a short period, Prime Minister. She's a great admirer of the legendary educator Paulo Freire.

Her life's work has been bridging the gulf separating different worlds: the poor and the affluent, women and power structures. Born to a well-to-do family in Haiti and privileged to study in the US and Europe, Claudette explained, "I never had to worry about money. But very young I realized that unless there were changes in the system, people like my family would always have money while others, like the peasants that were selling us their coffee and buying our goods, would always be in a poorer condition."

Claudette developed a sense of stewardship early. "Before I left Haiti to study abroad, my father explained to me that I had to manage well the money that he was going to send me. From that time, I have been using money for what I believe is important." Claudette's connection with Women's Perspective began years ago when she introduced a delegation from the U.S. to local women in Haiti. "The way these humble women received the Americans, opening their houses and hearts to us, was moving," said Claudette. "After only five or six days together, parting was so painful that everybody cried!"

The visitors had the opportunity to go beyond what they normally see, differences like black-vs-white, U.S. and Europe-vs-Africa and slave origins. "When we are connected to what is essential, we see that we're all human beings, social differences do not count," she said.

Claudette urged Western women to make a similar trip to Haiti or another developing culture as a way to experience personally the melting of barriers that separate us. "However, you have to be ready," Claudette cautioned. "You have to prepare yourself for difficulties. It may be the first time you share a bed or go without comforts that Americans take for granted. You have to let go."

Claudette observed there are cultural differences in attitudes toward money and giving. "In Haiti and Africa, the concept of extended family includes not only blood relatives but neighbours. We are conditioned to look after a greater number of people personally than Americans typically do. There's always someone who needs your help — money, childcare, medicine."

On the other hand, Claudette said that the less personal Western practice of giving to organizations has benefits, including better ways to manage money to make a collective impact. "Organizations allow us to give globally, even when there is no family or neighbour tie. Both are important," she said.

After fulfilling her two-year commitment to the Life & Peace Institute, Claudette hopes to apply her experience as a consultant in Haiti. "Unfortunately, the situation in Haiti is more and more complicated," she said about Haiti's political chaos. "I am not fatalistic. But if there are changes, I will adjust to the changes. After all, six or seven years ago, I never would have dreamed that I would come to Sweden!" Asked to share her vision for the future Claudette says "I come from a country where many people don't know if they'll eat tomorrow!" But will the Haitians survive the economic calamity? "In some ways they are better survivors than middle class Americans," she says.

"They buy collectively and are trying to grow food on a cooperative basis, against all of the odds."

I asked her how Australia rates as a fighter for justice and peace internationally? Diplomatically Claudette responded saying most people know almost nothing about Australia unless someone famous like the Pope visits.

I came away from the interview feeling that 'Maman' in Port au Prince is in for even harder times.

Cliff Baxter is a highly awarded journalist with a lifetime experience gained on the principal Australian secular newspapers, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and The Catholic Weekly.

We welcome your thoughts in response to this article in our forum.

©2008 Clifford Baxter

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