Saturday
Nov202010
Aba Elections, Down With Elections
Saturday, November 20, 2010 at 09:52PM
As I travel back to Port-au-Prince tomorrow for a week of pre-election extravaganza in the midst of a deadly cholera outbreak, I am reminded of this timeless poem from Haitian poet Felix Morriseau-Leroy, "Aba Tout Kandida/Down With All the Candidates". 
Down With Elections: The people are under tents, they are not in elections
Today I read two stories about presidential campaigning standing in stark contrast to the reality for most Haitians. In the first, a missionary working in St. Louis du Nord, Curtis Rogers of NWHCM, talked about working in the cholera clinic there yesterday and hearing a presidential candidate flying over town repeatedly to drop flyers. Loud music blared through the streets as well. Curtis wrote, "It was an interesting comparison between the people in the clinic and the outlandish expense and use of the helicopter." The second story, "Haiti’s Canal Crews Brave Muck to Help Stem Cholera was in the New York Times (http://nyti.ms/bKTUak) talked about men braving the putrid water and waste in a canal, clearing it by hand to reduce danger during flooding, when a truck passed by playing a campaign jingle. One of the men noted, "The money they use for that could be money for what I am doing here."
Even before cholera the majority of Haitians weren't planning to vote. Internally displaced earthquake survivors who live under tarps and bed sheets don't feel an election is the biggest priority while they still have no where to live. The photo above expresses their anger: "Down With Elections: The people are under tents, they are not in the elections."
I hope you will enjoy this poem as much as I do. The English translation is below the original Creole.
ABA TOUT KANDIDA
M’di aba tout kandida
Aba tout kandida alaprezidans
M’rele aba aba eleksyon
Ekri sou tout mi lavil la
Aba eleksyon fout
Ekri ak lakre sou tout mi gri
Ekri ak chabon sou tout mi blanch
Aba tout kandida
Aba tout eleksyon
Pou nonmen depite
Ekri sou lanme-a ekri sou mon lan
Aba tout kandida alaprezidans
Yo tout vle vann peyi-a
Ak meriken pou plen poch yo.
DOWN WITH ALL CANDIDATES
I say Down with all cnadidates
With all the candidates for president
I shout Down with Down with elections
Write all over my town
Down with the god-damned elections
Write with chalk all over the grey walls
And with charcoal all over the white walls
Down with all candidates
Down with all elections
To name congressmen
Write on the sea write on the mountainsides
Down with all candidates for president
They want to sell out Haiti
To the Americans to plump up their pockets
Down With Elections: The people are under tents, they are not in electionsToday I read two stories about presidential campaigning standing in stark contrast to the reality for most Haitians. In the first, a missionary working in St. Louis du Nord, Curtis Rogers of NWHCM, talked about working in the cholera clinic there yesterday and hearing a presidential candidate flying over town repeatedly to drop flyers. Loud music blared through the streets as well. Curtis wrote, "It was an interesting comparison between the people in the clinic and the outlandish expense and use of the helicopter." The second story, "Haiti’s Canal Crews Brave Muck to Help Stem Cholera was in the New York Times (http://nyti.ms/bKTUak) talked about men braving the putrid water and waste in a canal, clearing it by hand to reduce danger during flooding, when a truck passed by playing a campaign jingle. One of the men noted, "The money they use for that could be money for what I am doing here."
Even before cholera the majority of Haitians weren't planning to vote. Internally displaced earthquake survivors who live under tarps and bed sheets don't feel an election is the biggest priority while they still have no where to live. The photo above expresses their anger: "Down With Elections: The people are under tents, they are not in the elections."
I hope you will enjoy this poem as much as I do. The English translation is below the original Creole.
ABA TOUT KANDIDA
M’di aba tout kandida
Aba tout kandida alaprezidans
M’rele aba aba eleksyon
Ekri sou tout mi lavil la
Aba eleksyon fout
Ekri ak lakre sou tout mi gri
Ekri ak chabon sou tout mi blanch
Aba tout kandida
Aba tout eleksyon
Pou nonmen depite
Ekri sou lanme-a ekri sou mon lan
Aba tout kandida alaprezidans
Yo tout vle vann peyi-a
Ak meriken pou plen poch yo.
DOWN WITH ALL CANDIDATES
I say Down with all cnadidates
With all the candidates for president
I shout Down with Down with elections
Write all over my town
Down with the god-damned elections
Write with chalk all over the grey walls
And with charcoal all over the white walls
Down with all candidates
Down with all elections
To name congressmen
Write on the sea write on the mountainsides
Down with all candidates for president
They want to sell out Haiti
To the Americans to plump up their pockets
Reader Comments (1)
People won't exactly be able to appreciate the importance of the elections when they are homeless and sick. What's the use of it when the candidates do not even care to help them when they are terribly suffering? The candidates are also not worth electing into office for they are heartless.