Jean-Bertrand Aristide — a radical priest in the Salesian order - was in charge of one of the poorest parishes in the town, and worked for many years with shantytown youth and homeless people. His popularity has spread countrywide, and for a long time the Haitian authorities have been demanding that the Church transfer him. There was a proposal to send him to Rome.
On August 19, Aristide's transfer was cancelled, and the following day he gave a press conference. We publish some extracts of this below, which appeared in the paper
Haiti en marche. Three days later, Aristide and several other priests were ambushed and only just managed to escape.
H
OW DO you see the relationship between your position and the general situation in the country?
In the Church, more so than other section of society, every person responsibility and a decision to make: whether to let the Macoutes' corruption go on and on, or to take part in the historic movement to eradicate it. In other words, what is happening now is the resurrection of a whole people.
Liberation theology is becoming a lever capable of raising up all youth against a corrupt generation. It is the storv of Jesus of Nazareth that we, the Christians in Haiti, are called on to relive today. In a word, we have of our own whereas we have always been only the
Haiti's "historic handlebars" are in our hands, and it is we who are steering the bicycle. The corrupt want to force us to keep the handlebars tilted to the extreme right — driving us straight towards the precipice. But we, the young people, say in the name of our faith:
International Viewpoint • October 12, 1987 this interminable turn to the right. And we say yes to a leftwards
What does this mean concretely? That we are communists? No. But does it mean that because we are not communists, we agree with those who are killing communists? No.
Voluntarily, freely, we are rejecting the corrupt right and advancing towards a left where the strength and the depth of our faith makes it possible for us not to turn away from society, but to join in, without the danger of being sullied, and to fight for a socialist Haiti. This is the only way that offers a possibility for everyone to eat, and to believe in justice, liberty and respect.
Without a socialist system - while we remain Christians - we can only consider ourselves a people condemned to die like dogs under the blows of imperialism and their local lackeys.
To attain these objectives it is important to rise above barriers of class, color and even political differences. Whatever political party people belong to, there must be a historic alliance that allows us to break out of the
• Let's talk precisely about the Church's privileges. For example, it is one of the biggest landowners in the country, and perpetuates the existence of a privileged elite through the education given in some schools... The Catholic Church's structures are, in my eyes, an exact mirror of the old society, the society of the fourth century. Before the fourth century, the Christians lived in a community where everything was shared equally (Acts of Apostles, Chapter 4, Verse 32). Nobody was left alone or in want. For four centuries Christian structures were more human and facilitated relations where the gospel had a better chance of being fully lived.
However, at the beginning of the fourth century Emperor Constantine broke up this initial structure by giving Christians immunity from persecution. Automatically, a sector came forward within the Church to sing Constantine's praises and to pander to him, to him and his court. The appearance of flattery and corruption in the Church dates from that time. From then also the Church linked its destiny to the feudalists and integrated itself into their ossified structures.
Today's Church is the heir of Constantine's Church. However, it is at the centre of an enormous contradiction, which I will try to explain. The Church has accumulated quantities of material riches (land, houses and so on) which it puts at the disposition of its members so that they can live communally without being bothered with material needs. This is peculiar in that it allows individuals from very different social backgrounds to live, if one can say so, as brothers and sisters. At this level one could speak of a sort of religious socialism existing inside the religious communities.
But the contradiction comes from the fact that this system transforms small groups of bishops and members of religious orders into big land owners. From then on how can the Church preach agrarian reform, if it is not determined itself to set an example, to take the first step? To put the goods it holds at the disposal of the people -this is the only way that the people will stop thinking that the Church
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only serves a minority.
Indeed, the Church owns a number of educational institutions where an elite is trained which has produced some of the most reactionary and anti-people elements in this country, while at the same time we have an 85 per cent rate of illiteracy.
In the context of liberation theology, this contradiction is intolerable. At the same time as we, priests and nuns, live socialist Christian relationships inside our religious communities, must also help civil society to fairer and more equitable forns sharing.
The land, the schools, the institutions — in other words, the Church's holdings — should not be at the disposal of a small group but available to the whole collectivity. If not, the gospel we preach is devoid of meaning, and the Church will again be a barrier to the changes our people are looking for today. The alternative is a purification of the political system where the Church would be forced to put its holdings at the disposition of the majority...such a solution will not be to its credit! • Do you always call for an end to the CNG? Do you have an alternative to replace it? We consider the concept of an alternative as a trap in the present context. On the contrary, we recommend clearthinking centering on the question of the need to fightback, to advance the struggle. What's important for us is through consciousness-raising, organization and mobilization to be able to create the conditions for real, if not revolutionary, change.
Then the alternative will be apparent, like a hired hand it will carry out the people's programme. • The source of the problems that we have touched on is not only to be found in Haiti. There are also the interests of the big powers. The Vatican is involved in your case. In Port-auPrince, Jean-Paul I exclaimed: "Things must change here".
These words continue to permeate the discussion on Haitian liberation. The Vatican representative here, the Apostolic Nuncio, is denounced today for acting against the "forces of change". What do you think about (anthropology, psychology, and so on) that are not dialectically related with the aim of orienting society in one direction or another. Even when the theology coming from the Vatican be a power for changing hearts and minds, there will always be a political science that will try to nudge the theological current in question towards serving its objectives in a specific region or in a given historical
Unfortunately, there is always a tendency to forget that alongside political imperialism there is also religious imperialism. Even though Jean-Paul II did not mean a change of government, still less of system, when he declared "things must change", the historical reality that we are living in means that we interpret this speech as an appeal
Vatican's political diplomatic institutions don't necessarily give the same interpretation to the Pope's words. On the contrary, they are going to remove any political dimension from his words, because the policies being followed today in the
HAM National Palace at Port-au-Prince are more in tune with Washington's policy and also with those of the political authorities in the Vatican. This creates an alliance of two imperialisms: religious and political. Consequently, we must note that today it is not only US imperialism that is out to stop Haiti from taking the leap forward that its people want, but also that there is a mafia-CIA-theology that the protestant pastors, particularly the Mormons, have been trying brutally to graft into our country.
Finally, inside the Catholic Church, even if our theology is not in itself an imperialist theology that wants to rule by fire and sword, there are a number of not insignificant elements who practice and interpret it in a way that we have to say is imperialist. That is to satisfy the two imperialisms defined earlier.
In conclusion, the fight against political imperialism goes hand in hand with attempts to unmask religious imperialism.
We cannot let people tell us that when John-Paul II said "things must change here", all he meant was a modest "change of heart". These words must also include structural change. I must be able to interpret the Pope's speech into Haitian, make it come alive with Haiti's problems and relate it the difficulties currently facing Haiti, my country. Theology can be interpreted in a way that "zombifies" people's minds so as to subject human beings to the power of the wealthy. So, we think that liberation theology way to reconcile all Haitians today, because it does not throw out excommunications here there and everywhere like the missionaries in colonial times -although this still goes on here.
I must not accuse Haitians practice voodoo of sin, without first having analyzed voodoo from the viewpoint of my real experience as a Haitian.
There is good and bad in voodoo. But in the Catholic religion, do we not also have to take some things and leave others? Theologically, we have to pursue a thoroughgoing analysis, striving to liberate the passion and energies of the Haitian people. And this passion and vigor cannot exist without voodoo.
You always have to understand where interlocutors stand in order to grasp the real meaning of their proposals. When the Vatican talks to me about God, I have to first work out from what position it is addressing me. Is it from an evangelical or a political point of view? Or is it hiding behind an evangelical or diplomatic mask to further 9 its political plans? *
October 12, 1987 • International Viewpoint