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Meanwhile, in Port au Prince, Haiti, my friend John Engle blogs about the unrest there:
The conflict is incredibly complex. The rebels for the most part, are baddies. In my opinion, Aristide and his regime are also baddies. True, he was democratically elected twice and I had hope like millions others that he was going to bring about vast improvements. The reality is that he has not and that his government is very corrupt. And, unfortunately, there is not the necessary structures in place to impeach him.
The legitimate opposition, who are not aligned with the armed rebels, is committed to using peaceful means to push Aristide to resign: demonstrations, strikes, boycotts, etc. There are a lot of good people in the opposition but, they do not have significant support from the grassroots sector.
And, in the midst of all the uncertainty and strife, my Haitian colleagues who practice Open Space and Reflection Circles push onward. Yesterday I received an invitation from Fremy Cesar and several other colleagues for an Open Space meeting March 15 on: Creating a Haiti Open Space Institute: challenges and opportunities.
You see, this is an example of all the high falutin’ musing I have been doing about living in truth. John and his Haitian colleagues like Fremy Cesar, whom I have met and who I like a lot, just keep plugging away at the little bits of truth that shine through all of the darkness that wants to surround them. In the moment it seems as if their work pales in comparison to the chaos that has engulfed parts of the country, but if civil society is exactly this kind of engagement and reflection and support for grassroots leadership, and the biggest danger facing Haiti is the breakdfown of civil society, then these guys are in fact holding open the possibility for a new society to emerge from whatever happens over the next couple of months.
Civil society is not an idea, it is a practice, and it begins with an invitation to engage. I’m holding open a belief that John and Fremy and Bayyinah and Merline and others will simply and elegantly continue their work and set the tone for Haiti’s future.
