#madisonsmarttbell — Public Fediverse posts

I've been reading the Haiti Trilogy by Madison Smartt Bell, but out of order. It might be good for the study of writing (Bell is also the author or Narrative Design) to read the books out of order. There are a lot of characters and it can be hard for to keep track of the African, Creole, and French names, like all those similar-seeming names in Lord of the Rings or other fantasy series books. I can see how making a lot of movies and "fanfic" about this trilogy could be great for more unified and accurate views of the world: especially USA foreign policy, immigrant-bashin and "typical Antony Blinken" lying in the course of his work as the Secretary of State for the USA.... At the end of the thrid book one character is sacrificed as "a fanatic" so that soldier in transformatin can save another character. Getting to the second book after the third one made me more sensitive to the creation of "a fanatic": even if the term was used by a character who probably didn't really feel that way about the scarred man...

.> Madison Smartt Bell, author of a three volume series on the Haitian Revolution that begins with the masterful All Souls’ Rising, (all souls being the English translation of Toussaint), wrote this about Toussaint’s end:


.> .> In fact, Toussaint survived a little more than seven months at the Fort de Joux. In the conclusion of his memoir he had written, with a certain insight into Napoleon’s plan for him: “Is it not to cut off someone’s legs and order him to walk? Is it not to cut out his tongue and tell him to talk? Is it not to bury a man alive?” No one wanted to make him a martyr. His bones were lost in a potter’s field, but his spirit, never to be suppressed, helped carry the Haitian Revolution to ultimate victory.


.> Speaking of Haitians being moved around the globe by nonHaitians: today, 61 Haitian migrants who were deported from the US to Haiti in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak here. Haiti had already closed its borders last month in hopes of preventing an outbreak of the virus, but the US was allowed to violate that with this deportation.

https://amywilentz.com/deportations-on-the-anniversary-of-toussaints-death/

#AmyWilentz #HaitiHistory #DeportationsToHaiti #USAdeportations #MadisonSmarttBell #HaitiTrilogy

#^Deportations on the Anniversary of Toussaint’s Death

It’s been 217 years since Toussaint died of cold, exposure, and neglect on April 7, 1803, at the Fort de Joux, on a high hilltop in the Doubs, France. He’d been arrested treacherously i…

What form of government would best serve the interests of the Haitian people remains a conundrum, though one seldom acknowledged. Aristide’s original populist program, driven by liberation theology on the one hand and bedrock Haitian communal values on the other, was never given a fair chance to succeed. The 18th-century model of democracy we use in the United States has begun to falter even at home; imposing a simulacrum of that on Haitian society remains intractably difficult. In the 200 years since their revolution, most Haitians have experienced little from any government but oppression. No great surprise, then, if what we call democratization inspires only muted enthusiasm.
Haiti’s default sociopolitical solution is a feudalism that, though many of its origins are African, would be perfectly recognizable to the lords and ladies of King Arthur’s court. My grasp of this system improved when, in the late 1990s, I realized I was enacting it myself on a very small scale. I was operating a miniature feudal state, quartered first in my rented vehicle, later on that acre of ground near Bwa Kayiman. My intentions didn’t matter; the thing naturally, inevitably, assumed this form.
Someone in charge of a feudal state must feed his retainers. They deserve it, they expect it, and without it they grow disloyal. The process can be disarmingly simple: it’s traditional, for example, for drug lords in the Cap-Haïtien area to hand out the equivalent of $20 to each of a hundred or so people in their neighborhoods every Saturday night. The necessity of such procedures does something to explain the chronic corruption of Haitian government.
...
Poisoned at the instigation of U.S. evangelicals bent on extirpating Vodou, the mapou tree of Bwa Kayiman was burned for charcoal after it died. In the face of such desperation, my own resources were utterly inadequate and I couldn’t muster other resources quickly enough. In the end, my house was burned, which as an absentee blan proprietor at Bwa Kayiman, I had always had every right to expect.
...
During the five-year interim between his two presidencies, René Préval had completely regenerated the area surrounding his hometown of Marmelade, a village so desolate in the late 1990s that when my mud-spattered vehicle lurched onto the square, most of the population turned out to look at it. Using $5 million from Taiwan—which came without the cat’s cradle of strings normally attached to international aid to Haiti—Préval had paved the roads, refurbished the town center, restored a colonial plantation to resume production (with cooperative labor) of top-quality coffee for the export market, started a bamboo plantation and furniture factory, installed an Internet café, staffed a clinic with Cuban doctors, and started a music school attracting students from all over the country. Naysayers dismissed this success as the exploitation of a personal fief (it was true that exuberant townspeople liked to salute Préval as “Excellence!” whenever he appeared among them), but I saw it as a shining example of what Haitians could do for themselves, given sufficient resources and a free hand to deploy them. With such a high level of achievement, an element of patronage seemed forgivable; one could imagine the restoration of the whole country in this manner, a bit at a time.

• #^Letter from Haiti: After the Earthquake - The American Scholar

For a little more than a decade, beginning in 1995, I had made the trip frequently, and once there I traveled far and wide, often with another blan (non-Haitian) from Europe or the United States and a Haitian companion-guide. I would rent a four-by-four truck and drive all over the northern part of the country, with the object of seeing firsthand...

- https://theamericanscholar.org/letter-from-haiti-after-the-earthquake/

#MadisonSmarttBell #RenéPréval #HaitiFeudalism ??

Creative NonFiction "True Stories, Well Told" might be a good translation, or description, for the Documentary Literature of Kyushu: 記録文学. Creative NonFiction sounds a lot more invitings somehow, more like fun, less like work. Maybe the writings of  Michiko Ishimure, Eishin Ueno, Matsushita Ryuuichi and others is a bit of work though... This article by Madison Smartt Bell is kind of fun though, in spite of everything I guess...

... there was a song that played in my head, sometimes with hallucinatory clarity, a simply structured number by Boukman Eksperyans, with few chord changes and a back-beat guitar figure that very closely followed the drum, and over this a sonorous refrain:
...
The verse, which also was simple and repetitive, spoke of the pain of being forced to accept foreign culture and the practices of foreign power.
...
Like any establishment of consequence in Port-au-Prince, St. Martial is a walled fortress, enclosing a church; a seminary for priests; a school that runs from elementary grades through the lycée level; a vast collection of books and documents on the Haitian Revolution, the slave trade, and Carribbean history in general; and the station Radio Soleil. Along with creating priests for the whole country, St. Martial turns out secular intellectuals who speak perfect, elegant, 18th-century French and have an astonishing clarity of vision; many of the most important writers and thinkers of Haiti had been educated here, and so had the lead singer of Boukman Eksperyans. St. Martial was an amazing concentration of spiritual power, which could sometimes translate itself into political power, via the radio beacon, among other means. The place was a great power node of liberation theology. Some of Aristide’s most powerful orations had taken place as broadcasts of Radio Soleil, notably the one he delivered from a mobile microphone, in a hail of bullets, as a popular demonstration outside the Duvalierist prison Fort Dimanche was murderously repressed by army troops.

- #^https://creativenonfiction.org/writing/soul-in-a-bottle/

#BoukmanEksperyans #HaitianMusic #MadisonSmarttBell #CreativeNonFiction #DocumentaryLiterature #記録文学

#^Soul in a Bottle - Creative Nonfiction

Creative NonFiction "True Stories, Well Told" might be a good translation, or description, for the Documentary Literature of Kyushu: 記録文学. Creative NonFiction sounds a lot more invitings somehow, more like fun, less like work. Maybe the writings of  Michiko Ishimure, Eishin Ueno, Matsushita Ryuuichi and others is a bit of work though... This article by Madison Smartt Bell is kind of fun though, in spite of everything I guess...

... there was a song that played in my head, sometimes with hallucinatory clarity, a simply structured number by Boukman Eksperyans, with few chord changes and a back-beat guitar figure that very closely followed the drum, and over this a sonorous refrain:
...
The verse, which also was simple and repetitive, spoke of the pain of being forced to accept foreign culture and the practices of foreign power.
...
Like any establishment of consequence in Port-au-Prince, St. Martial is a walled fortress, enclosing a church; a seminary for priests; a school that runs from elementary grades through the lycée level; a vast collection of books and documents on the Haitian Revolution, the slave trade, and Carribbean history in general; and the station Radio Soleil. Along with creating priests for the whole country, St. Martial turns out secular intellectuals who speak perfect, elegant, 18th-century French and have an astonishing clarity of vision; many of the most important writers and thinkers of Haiti had been educated here, and so had the lead singer of Boukman Eksperyans. St. Martial was an amazing concentration of spiritual power, which could sometimes translate itself into political power, via the radio beacon, among other means. The place was a great power node of liberation theology. Some of Aristide’s most powerful orations had taken place as broadcasts of Radio Soleil, notably the one he delivered from a mobile microphone, in a hail of bullets, as a popular demonstration outside the Duvalierist prison Fort Dimanche was murderously repressed by army troops.

- #^https://creativenonfiction.org/writing/soul-in-a-bottle/

#BoukmanEksperyans #HaitianMusic #MadisonSmarttBell #CreativeNonFiction #DocumentaryLiterature #記録文学

#^Soul in a Bottle - Creative Nonfiction

Creative NonFiction "True Stories, Well Told" might be a good translation, or description, for the Documentary Literature of Kyushu: 記録文学. Creative NonFiction sounds a lot more invitings somehow, more like fun, less like work. Maybe the writings of  Michiko Ishimure, Eishin Ueno, Matsushita Ryuuichi and others is a bit of work though... This article by Madison Smartt Bell is kind of fun though, in spite of everything I guess...

... there was a song that played in my head, sometimes with hallucinatory clarity, a simply structured number by Boukman Eksperyans, with few chord changes and a back-beat guitar figure that very closely followed the drum, and over this a sonorous refrain:
...
The verse, which also was simple and repetitive, spoke of the pain of being forced to accept foreign culture and the practices of foreign power.
...
Like any establishment of consequence in Port-au-Prince, St. Martial is a walled fortress, enclosing a church; a seminary for priests; a school that runs from elementary grades through the lycée level; a vast collection of books and documents on the Haitian Revolution, the slave trade, and Carribbean history in general; and the station Radio Soleil. Along with creating priests for the whole country, St. Martial turns out secular intellectuals who speak perfect, elegant, 18th-century French and have an astonishing clarity of vision; many of the most important writers and thinkers of Haiti had been educated here, and so had the lead singer of Boukman Eksperyans. St. Martial was an amazing concentration of spiritual power, which could sometimes translate itself into political power, via the radio beacon, among other means. The place was a great power node of liberation theology. Some of Aristide’s most powerful orations had taken place as broadcasts of Radio Soleil, notably the one he delivered from a mobile microphone, in a hail of bullets, as a popular demonstration outside the Duvalierist prison Fort Dimanche was murderously repressed by army troops.

- #^https://creativenonfiction.org/writing/soul-in-a-bottle/

#BoukmanEksperyans #HaitianMusic #MadisonSmarttBell #CreativeNonFiction #DocumentaryLiterature #記録文学

#^Soul in a Bottle - Creative Nonfiction

Creative NonFiction "True Stories, Well Told" might be a good translation, or description, for the Documentary Literature of Kyushu: 記録文学. Creative NonFiction sounds a lot more invitings somehow, more like fun, less like work. Maybe the writings of  Michiko Ishimure, Eishin Ueno, Matsushita Ryuuichi and others is a bit of work though... This article by Madison Smartt Bell is kind of fun though, in spite of everything I guess...

... there was a song that played in my head, sometimes with hallucinatory clarity, a simply structured number by Boukman Eksperyans, with few chord changes and a back-beat guitar figure that very closely followed the drum, and over this a sonorous refrain:
...
The verse, which also was simple and repetitive, spoke of the pain of being forced to accept foreign culture and the practices of foreign power.
...
Like any establishment of consequence in Port-au-Prince, St. Martial is a walled fortress, enclosing a church; a seminary for priests; a school that runs from elementary grades through the lycée level; a vast collection of books and documents on the Haitian Revolution, the slave trade, and Carribbean history in general; and the station Radio Soleil. Along with creating priests for the whole country, St. Martial turns out secular intellectuals who speak perfect, elegant, 18th-century French and have an astonishing clarity of vision; many of the most important writers and thinkers of Haiti had been educated here, and so had the lead singer of Boukman Eksperyans. St. Martial was an amazing concentration of spiritual power, which could sometimes translate itself into political power, via the radio beacon, among other means. The place was a great power node of liberation theology. Some of Aristide’s most powerful orations had taken place as broadcasts of Radio Soleil, notably the one he delivered from a mobile microphone, in a hail of bullets, as a popular demonstration outside the Duvalierist prison Fort Dimanche was murderously repressed by army troops.

- #^https://creativenonfiction.org/writing/soul-in-a-bottle/

#BoukmanEksperyans #HaitianMusic #MadisonSmarttBell #CreativeNonFiction #DocumentaryLiterature #記録文学

#^Soul in a Bottle - Creative Nonfiction

Creative NonFiction "True Stories, Well Told" might be a good translation, or description, for the Documentary Literature of Kyushu: 記録文学. Creative NonFiction sounds a lot more invitings somehow, more like fun, less like work. Maybe the writings of  Michiko Ishimure, Eishin Ueno, Matsushita Ryuuichi and others is a bit of work though... This article by Madison Smartt Bell is kind of fun though, in spite of everything I guess...

... there was a song that played in my head, sometimes with hallucinatory clarity, a simply structured number by Boukman Eksperyans, with few chord changes and a back-beat guitar figure that very closely followed the drum, and over this a sonorous refrain:
...
The verse, which also was simple and repetitive, spoke of the pain of being forced to accept foreign culture and the practices of foreign power.
...
Like any establishment of consequence in Port-au-Prince, St. Martial is a walled fortress, enclosing a church; a seminary for priests; a school that runs from elementary grades through the lycée level; a vast collection of books and documents on the Haitian Revolution, the slave trade, and Carribbean history in general; and the station Radio Soleil. Along with creating priests for the whole country, St. Martial turns out secular intellectuals who speak perfect, elegant, 18th-century French and have an astonishing clarity of vision; many of the most important writers and thinkers of Haiti had been educated here, and so had the lead singer of Boukman Eksperyans. St. Martial was an amazing concentration of spiritual power, which could sometimes translate itself into political power, via the radio beacon, among other means. The place was a great power node of liberation theology. Some of Aristide’s most powerful orations had taken place as broadcasts of Radio Soleil, notably the one he delivered from a mobile microphone, in a hail of bullets, as a popular demonstration outside the Duvalierist prison Fort Dimanche was murderously repressed by army troops.

- #^https://creativenonfiction.org/writing/soul-in-a-bottle/

#BoukmanEksperyans #HaitianMusic #MadisonSmarttBell #CreativeNonFiction #DocumentaryLiterature #記録文学

#^Soul in a Bottle - Creative Nonfiction