To witness the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti
is to be lost inside a waking nightmare,
the markers on this mapless journey,
swarms of looters, children with chopped-off limbs,
cities fabricated of sticks and bed sheets,
pulverized cathedrals, dogs circling the dead in the streets.Most Haitians have always lived in a society clinging to a narrow ledge
on a precipice above the abyss -
on the plateau over them,
the rich,
unseen in their black-windowed Land Cruisers.Higher still,
as if levitating in air,
the immaculate, blinding white Presidential Palace,
the secret desire of all despots,
now crushed by the weight of its own three Baroque domes.Where the ledge crumbled the dead cascaded into oblivion.
Where it held, people huddled closer,
those with next-to-nothing now with even less.They continue to endure their own history -
a crescendo of privation and hardship,
matched by strength, pride and dignity
born in the conquest of slavery,
nurtured by poverty, struggle and faith.
(words taken from an email distrubuted in VII newsletter and from part of an article in TIME)
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Intense and great words…. just not more to say
You’re right. These words are as strong as his best photos. Thanks for the link.
This is from the same article. It’s an important perspective, one that’s not always visible in the American media:
“The Haitians are not just sitting back with their hands out. They’re doing a lot of the heavy lifting — so humble in its nature, it seems invisible. Massive international relief supplies are transported by cargo ships, helicopters and C-130s. Haitians carry what they need on their heads. They dig survivors out of the wreckage by hand, not with big yellow machines. Everyone is doing what he or she can by whatever means available.”
It’s interesting to read Asim Rafiqui’s take on this
Nachtwey: They continue to endure their history — a crescendo of privation and hardship, matched by strength, pride and dignity. Their nation was born in the conquest of slavery; it has been shaped by poverty, struggle and faith.
Rafiqui:
“Not quite.
Even a cursory study of modern Haitian history reveals the heavy and frequently racist hand of America in Haitian history. Their deprivations are not divine retribution or ill luck, but in fact manufactured by over a hundred years of American machination and intervention in Haitian politics, economics and society.”
There’s a great deal more intelligence and understanding displayed in the thoughtful words of Asim Rafiqi. Far too often we’re blinded by sentimentality over reason, and Nachtwey’s words are closer to the cynically self-regarding schmaltz of the likes of Fergal Keane and Anderson Cooper than a real attempt to get to grips with the backstory of haitian deprivation.