The epistemological privilege of the poor

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CHAPTER TWO BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL FOUNDATIONS FOR ARISTIDE’S POLITICAL THEOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

“The poor” not only plays a major role in modern Biblical exegesis and Theological reflection but also an important linguistic category in Liberation Theology. The phrase is also a central motif in Aristide’s intellectual discourse and theological corpus. In the tradition of Liberation theology, Aristide accentuates that God is committed to the liberation and freedom of the poor and the oppressed, and therefore the community of faith is required to “remember the poor.” God seeks the integral liberation of the poor, the exploited, and the marginalized.
“The poor” is prominently feature in Aristide’s political philosophy, his idea of democratic equity and social justice, within the context of the Haitian poor majority whom he has called “the people of God.” For example, in two important works, Théologie et politique (1992), and Nevrose vetero-testamentaire (1994), Aristide articulates what might be called “theological nationalism” and “theological ethnocentrism,” two concepts that need to be explored in further chapters of the dissertation. Aristide re-appropriates theologically and politically the Exodus event in the content of the Haitian experience of the poor, the marginalized, and the masses. In his rereading of the Exodus narrative (Ex. 3:1-22), Yahweh is no longer the God of the Israel, but the God of the Haitian poor majority who guides and orients the general masses to future possibilities and an optimistic life absent from oppression, poverty, and political totalitarianism. God understands the reality of the Haitian poor, his people, and therefore is fully committed to their absolute freedom and emancipation.
To understand these themes in Aristide’s political theology and theological rereading of the biblical narrative of liberation, in the second part of the chapter, we shall explore the Judeo-Christian tradition and imperative to “remember the poor.” Focus is given particularly to the literature of the Old and New Testament, including selected texts in Second Temple Judaism. This chapter also sets the context for Chapter two, in which we will examine in greater detail the concept of the poor in Aristide’s theology of relationality. For the reader who is not familiar with the name Jean-Bertrand Aristide—our subject of inquiry—and his writings, in the first part of the chapter, we shall provide a brief account of his entrance into Haiti’s political scene. Finally, we examine how Aristide reappropriates and contextualizes some of the texts mentioned in the second part of the chapter and the biblical discourse of emancipation to fit the Haitian context. This chapter argues that Aristide should be regarded first as a theologian—not a traditional and orthodox politician— whose political ideas and democratic actions have been influenced deeply by the biblical narrative of freedom and emancipation; this brief account will help us understand his entrance into Haiti’s political scene. Therefore, we show exclusively the biblical and theological basis for his political rhetoric and theological worldview.
Correspondingly, Aristide has been influenced by a wide-range schools of thought, intellectual traditions, and prominent historical figures. This chapter also consider the intellectual foundations of Aristide’s political theology. In brief, this chapter is concerned with the biblical, theological, and intellectual circles which had shaped Aristide’s theology and political philosophy.

ARISTIDE: THE THEOLOGIAN OF THE (HAITIAN) POOR

Relationship is the essence of the Christian faith and the idea that members of the Christian community—the body of Christ—belong together and share a life in common in Christ. This principle is articulated as Jesus establishes in precise terms the relational aspect of the central message of the law and the prophets: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:36-40). The Christian life is a life relations and relational reciprocity. Therefore, good theological exegesis gives special attention to the plight of the poor, the oppressed, and those who had been left out the meganarrative of human history and Western theological discourse.
After the fall of the hereditary Duvalier regime in February 1986, Jean Bertrand Aristide became the first democratically elected Liberationist Theologian-President of the Caribbean nation of Haiti (and perhaps in the Americas) in the free elections of December 16, 1990, with an overwhelmingly vote by the majority of the Haitian population (Chomsky, 2002:158). Aristide’s prophetic political vision and revolutionary theology of liberation had contributed enormously to a promising democratic future and social transformation in Haiti. Participatory democracy, justice and social equality for the poor marked Aristide’s presidential campaign rhetoric and strategy. His early presidency was also marked by active social interaction with the poor and political activism on behalf of the general masses. With the tremendous support of the ecclesiastical grassroots movement known as Ti Legliz (“Little Church”) and Haiti’s underclass majority, Aristide was able to foster and articulate an alternative vision of Haitian politics and civil society which was post-dictatorial, post-macoutism (a reference to Duvalier’s military regimes and Haitian totalitarianism), anti-imperialist, and anti-oppression. Aristide was deeply influenced by the ideas and promises of Liberation theology.
Aristide employed liberation theology as a mechanism to mobilize the Haitian poor and the underclass workers and peasants. The tenets of liberation theology facilitated a wide range of future possibilities for the President-Theologian; the historic movement of liberation theology in Haiti resurrected a people who were seeking for life, hope, and guidance. As Aristide (2000) himself states:
What weds the movement within the Church to the movement within Haitian society as a whole is liberation theology, which has filtered into the youth of our country, which invigorates them, which purifies their blood…It is liberation theology that is lifting our children up against a corrupt generation, against a mentality of the Church and the society which sees corruption as the comfortable norm. (Wilenz, 1989:113) Haitian liberation theology may orient us to an understanding of human history as a dialectic between alienation and solidarity and the possibility of creating collaboratively a quality of social interaction conducive to the flourishing of a vibrant community of life across Haiti and the world (Sturm, 1998: 11).
Jean-Bertrand Aristide was born poor and black in July 15, 1953 in Port-Salut, a poor  village in the south of Haiti.As a seminary student, he distinguished himself academically and intellectually. He went to study aboard and completed doctoral work in Biblical Studies in Israel as well as in psychology in Canada. Aristide holds a Ph.D. in Literature and Philosophy from the University of South Africa, an M.A. in Biblical Theology from the University of Montreal, and a B.A. in Psychology from Haiti State University. He is a prolific writer and eloquent speaker.
Aristide was ordained a Catholic priest on July 3, 1982. A proponent of Liberation theology, he was the priest of St. Jean Bosco Catholic Church. As an eyewitness explained, Father’s Aristide Sunday masses were attended by thousands of the Haitian black poor who lived in nearby La Saline, one of the slums in the capital. His sermons were broadcast across the country on Radio Soleil, Catholic Church radio. The slightly built priest would remind his parishioners of the Haitian proverb Tout moun se moun (every human being is a human being), instantly transforming the deliberating pain of his individual parishioners into a galvanizing new summons to purpose for millions of the poor. (Robinson, 2007: 29)
In various instances, Aristide had escaped several assassination attempts by the Haitian army and militia who tried to murder him for his radical philosophy and preferential option for the poor.  Eventually, in 1987, Aristide was removed from the Salesian Order for using his pulpit to preach politics and liberation theology, which challenged the Catholic Hierarchy in Haiti.He became the first democratically elected President of Haiti on December 16, 1990. Aristide’s victory was a victory for the Haitian poor, the general masses, and for the country that had been oppressed by years of dictatorship and social violence. As Aristide explains,
The emergence of the people as an organized public force, as a collective consciousness, was already taking place in Haiti in the 1980’s, and by the 1986 this force was strong enough to push the Duvalier dictatorship from power. It was a grassroots popular movement, and not at all a top down project down by a single leader of a single organization. It wasn’t an exclusively political movement, either. It took shape, above all, through the constitution, all over the country, in many small church communities or ti legliz. It was these small communities that played the decisive historical role. (Robinson, 2007: 32) Alex Dupuy (1997:72) states that “Aristide had emerged as the single most important symbol of resistance to the ignominious, larcenous, and barbaric neo-Duvalierist dictatorships” in Haiti. Peter Hallward (2010:19) reasons, “If in 1986-87 Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide emerged as the leading figure in the popular mobilization it is because he understood the nature and depth of this antagonism as clearly as other members of the peuple (“the people”) themselves.” Robert Patton (2002:77) argues that Aristide entered the political race to “stop reactionary forces from legitimizing their continued hold on privilege and to empower the marginalized poor majority.” It is good to note here, after his ordination as a priest in July 1982, Aristide had already shown concern for Haiti’s marginalized poor majority uncommon among Haiti’s ruling classes by establishing Lafanmi Selavi (“Family is Life”), a foster home for homeless orphans and street children (Girard, 2010: 117-8). Aristide’s historic entrance into Haiti’s politics was a challenge to Haiti’s bourgeois class, the oppressive Church hierarchy, the international community (i.e. United States, Canada, France, England, etc.); nonetheless, the Aristide turn in Haitian politics symbolized promises of hope, democracy, equality, inclusion, as well as a better future for the poor majority in the nation and the opportunity for the nation’s underclass people to integrate fully into the mainstream society. Aristide’s historic candidacy and ultimately Presidency was a powerful statement on behalf of the suffering Haitian masses.
The force of Aristide’s theology of resistance and theological sensibility had allowed him to inspire sustaining hope and prophetic faith to the Haitian people in their struggle against abject poverty, despair, social injustice and evils, and oppression. Jean-Bertrand Aristide presented himself as a theologian of the poor and a theologian of hope correspondingly to the community of faith in Haiti and those living on the margins of modernity.
One of the most historic moments and most compassionate socio-political actions in Haitian politics occurred during Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s first presidency. The Liberationist Theologian-President held a banquet at the Presidential “Palais National” (the “National Palace”) and invited the poor in the slums across the country, street children, street vendors and merchants, beggars, and factory workers, as well as the peasant majority who heard him on Radio Haiti-Inter and Radio Soleil, and those living in the “popular zones” in the capital city (Port-au-Prince) to dine with him and Haiti’s highest governmental officials. Aristide’s gesture of solidarity with the poor was symbolic; the Haitian poor majority were treated with the highest human dignity and incredible worth as important and equal citizens in Haiti’s civil society and culture. As Aristide himself remarks, “The simple fact of allowing ordinary people to enter the palace, the simple fact of welcoming people from the poorest sections of Haitian society with in the very center of traditional power—this was a profoundly transformative gesture” (Robinson, 2007: 31). Aristide’s radical action made a substantial impact on the national conscience. Nonetheless, it was Aristide’s radical philosophy and preferential option for the scandalous poor that would lead to two coup d’état during his presidency. Aristide was perceived as a threat to the powerful political, economic, and religious class at the local and regional levels, which contributed to a chain reaction against him eventually leading to his overthrow twice as President of Haiti.
By opening the gates of the National Palace to the poor and holding a “banquet of the poor”—as he called it—, Aristide went in public to acknowledge the significant role of Haiti’s underclass in making important political decisions for their country. The poor are agents of and shapers of history. Aristide defines the meaning of democracy and a politics of inclusion in the following words:
Women, children and the poor must be the subjects, not the objects of history. They must sit at the decision-making tables and fill the halls of power. They must occupy the radio and airwaves, talking to and calling to account their elected leaders. Their participation will democratize democracy, bringing the word back to its full meaning: Demos meaning people, Cratei meaning to govern. (2000: 41)
The misery endured by Haitian poor majority made a profound impression on the Liberationist Theologian-President. In his politico-theological writings, Aristide presents himself as the champion of the cause of the poor and the voice of the voiceless. Aristide’s “preferential option for the poor” led to “the unfolding of the connecting thread of a theological view which surely brings one back to the one God, that of the excluded, manipulated by the more privileged to maintain an ancestral domination of the poor” (Dupy, 1997: 72). Amy Wilentz (1989:112) reports that “Like other Liberation theologians in Latin America, who use Jesus’ teachings to raise the political consciousness of the poor, Aristide tried to make connections between the struggle of the Haitian people for freedom and what liberation theologians see as the struggle of Jesus for the liberation of Jerusalem.” Christopher Wargny makes a poignant observation about Aristide’s intimate relationship with the Haitian poor:
His abiding and exclusive concern for the marginal, what liberation theologians call the preferential option for the poor, has changed him into a spokesperson for the dammed of the earth—the eighty percent in Haiti who live below the threshold of absolute poverty…He has slowly built up a power without any structure, alongside a great many structures that are utterly lacking in power. (Aristide, 1997:7)

Table of Contents
Declaration
Acknowledgements
Dedication
Abstract
Chapter One: Introduction
1.1. Preliminary Remarks
1.2. Context of the Problem
1.3. Research gap
1.4. Main Argument
1.5. Research Goals
1.6. Research Contribution
1.7. Methodology
1.8. Scope and Limitation
Chapter Two: Biblical, Theological, and Intellectual Foundations for Aristide’s Political Theology
2.1. Introduction
2.2. Aristide: The Theologian of the (Haitian) Poor
2.3. “Remember the Poor”: The Judeo-Christian Tradition
2.3.1 Old Testament Antecedents
2.4. Haiti is the “Land of God’s People:” Re-appropriation and Re-contextualization
2.5. The epistemological privilege of the poor
2.6. Aristide’s Intellectual Circles of Influence
2.7. Aristide’s Ministerial Formation or Theological Education
2.8. Summary and Conclusion
Chapter Three: Toward a Politico-Theology of Relationality and Justice as Solidarity
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Prolegomena to a Theology of Relationality and an Ethics of Solidarity and Justice
3.3. Poverty as an Existential and Theological Crisis
3.4 Toward A Theology of Relationality for the Poor
3.5. Conclusion and Summary
Chapter Four: The Calvary of Blackness for Humanity:Critical Anthropology and Ethics
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Anthropology and the Discourse on Culture and Race
4.3. The Anthropology of Colonial Christianity:The Deconsecration of Black Lives and Dehumanization of Black Humanity
4.4. Conclusion and Summary
Chapter Five: The Hope of Black Theological Anthropology and Ethics: Reconstructing Black Personhood and Humanity
5.1. Introduction
5.2. What Are They Saying About Black Personhood and Humanity?
5.3 Methods in Caribbean Theology
5.4. Toward An African Doctrine of Man and Theological Anthropology
5.5. The Values and Practice of Ubuntu
5.6. Conclusion and Summary
Chapter Six: Ubuntu as a Humanism of Love and Interdependence: Aristide’s Theology of Love and Relationality
6.1. Introduction
6.2. The Divine Encounter: The Soul of God in the Life of Humanity
6.3. Love as Justice or the Justice of Love
6.4. Aristide’s Relational Anthropology
6.5. Theological Anthropology and the Spirit of Ubuntu
6.6. The Spirit of Ubuntu, and the Optimism of Black Religion and the Reconstruction of Black Humanity
6.7. Conclusion and Summary
Chapter Seven: Viv Dechoukaj, Long Live Uprooting! Aristide’s Politico-Theological of Violence, and the Ethics of Necklacing and Gangsterization
7.1. Introduction
7.2. Aristide and the Practice of Pere Lebrun (Necklacing), and Gangsterism (Chimeres)
7.3. Viv Dechoukaj, Long Live Uprooting! A Politico-Theology of Violence
Chapter Eight: Conclusion: Rethinking the Meaning and Implications of Aristide and Theology for the Global Culture in the 21st Century
8.1 Rethinking the Meaning of Aristide
8.2 Recommendations for Future Research
9. Appendix 
10. Bibliography
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