Robert Malval: When Haiti Gets Bored

I’m borrowing the title of this text from a prescient article called ‘When France Gets Bored’ published in the French newspaper Le Monde on March 15, 1968, by its director and chief editorial writer Pierre Viansson-Ponté.

I’m borrowing the title of this text from a prophetic article called ‘When France is Bored,’ published in the French newspaper Le Monde on March 15, 1968, by its editor-in-chief Pierre Viansson-Ponté. This approach isn’t just about copying the headline but also about drawing inspiration from its content. At the time, I was a young student in Paris and an avid reader of the paper. The day after it was published, our lecturer at Sciences Po, setting aside the planned syllabus, invited us to discuss the article. Sure, there were a few stirrings at Nanterre University (the main demand was that girls be allowed into boys’ dorm rooms), but nothing that hinted at the upheavals of May 1968. So, the class unanimously thought the article was over the top.That feeling, oh so misleading at the time, has since taught us to better sense the pulse of currents, still unsuspected, that run through circles and the possible stirrings of minds.

Since June 11, the passion for football has kept the population occupied during the World Cup and has helped to disguise their daily lives. But what will happen on the day after July 19? The temporary government, which is going in circles and led by Didier Fils-Aimé, will not be able to keep riding the wave of national unity that formed behind our Grenadiers. Increasingly stuck in routine and comforting itself with certainties whose fragility it does not recognize, the wake-up call could be harsh. Nothing is more overwhelming than boredom after moments of euphoria. It often forms the fertile ground where excitement bursts unexpectedly from the depths of despair. The Prime Minister spoke with disdainful confidence about certain political figures he considers stale. He mocked, amid a chorus of laughter, their inability to mobilize voters. It is true that their audience is probably declining.But faced with economic, social, and political frustration, their voices can resonate in a country that’s bumpy and yearning. The great illusion of those in power in Haiti, especially when they are transitional and lack popular support, having as their only asset Washington’s backing, is to believe they are indispensable. The imminence of their being sidelined often surprises leaders in the midst of verbal delirium. Just look at the words of President Lescot on January 9, 1946: “It is not at the moment when we have just established an annual assessment of the fruitful activities of an honest and conscientious administration that we will give anarchists a chance. The nation is warned, the whole world is warned.” Two days later, he went into exile…