Eyes of the Heart

Jean-Bertrand Aristide

I have just read Eyes of the Heart. It is short (80 pages), passionate, and inspiring. Jean-Bertrand Aristide movingly describes the terrible poverty of Haiti, and cites historical statistics to argue that this poverty is created by outside forces that also create poverty elsewhere. The cure is that terror of the libertarian marketplace, the mobilization of the poor. True political democracy and true economic democracy must go hand in hand.

Quotes from the book:

"At home we are hungry. But if we sit home we will surely die. If we go to the street we may also die, but there at least is a glimmer of hope."

"There will never be money enough, but there are people enough... A wealth of experience, knowledge, skill, energy and the power to mobilize resides with the poor. From this creativity, this panorma of human endurance of the poor in Haiti, and the poor in Mexico, and in Brazil, and Southeast Asia and Africa, and more and more of the poor in North America and Europe, we can learn."

"Do not confuse democracy with the holding of elections. Elections are the exam, testing the health of our system. Voter participation is the grade. But school is in session every day. Only the day-to-day participation of the people at all levels of government can breathe life into democracy and create the possibility for people to play a significant role in shaping the state and the society that they want."

"Democracy asks us to put the needs and rights of people at the center of our endeavors. This means investing in people. Investing in people means first of all food, clean water, education and healthcare. These are basic human rights. It is the challenge of any real democracy to guarantee them."

"Remember that history moves in waves. We cannot expect to always live on the crests. We have to keep floating even when the waters ebb."

It is hard to argue with this book unless one claims, as Aristide's critics do, that it is a lie from beginning to end. The book left me wanting to know a lot more about Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and about Haiti. I have compiled some of this at http://anitra.net/books/activist/aristide.html