by Cina, Joshua A. Perper, Stephen J. ; Cina, Joshua A. Perper, Stephen J.
Skillfully using mystic populism and terror, Duvalier overcame all of Haiti’s main power brokers – the military, the mulatto business community, and the Catholic Church. Human rights abuses were commonplace under Papa Doc and up to 30,000 of his enemies were repeatedly tortured and murdered. Haiti, already the poorest country in the Americas, became poorer still under his leadership.
Paradoxically, the poorer the country became the richer Duvalier and his acolytes came to be as attested to by their bloated Swiss bank accounts. Duvalier knew well how to sell the misery of his people abroad attracting millions of dollars in aid from both the United States and the European Community. As is true of most dictatorships, the funds never reached their intended destination flowing instead into the private coffers of Duvalier and his friends. Following the re-election, America raised concerns about the misappropriation of aid money by Duvalier and all aid from the United States was suspended in 1962. The following year diplomatic relations were also suspended and the US ambassador was withdrawn.
In 1963 Barbot was released from prison. He promptly began plotting to overthrow Duvalier (for real, this time) and kidnap his children. However, the coup which was to take place in July 1963 was uncovered at the last moment and Duvalier subsequently ordered a massive search for Barbot and his fellow conspirators.
During the search, Duvalier received information that Barbot had transformed himself into a black dog. Duvalier then ordered that all black dogs in Haiti be put to death (which should have been called the “Labrador Retriever massacre of ’63”).
Barbot was later captured (in human form) and was shot. In another quelling of insurrection, Duvalier ordered the head of an executed rebel to be packed in ice and brought to him to allow him to commune with the dead man’s spirit. Maybe that heart attack did result in a bit of brain damage.
Duvalier’s dictatorship became more extreme and irrational. He assiduously cultivated his personality cult, portraying himself as a powerful Vodou sorcerer and as the Loa Baron Samedi, a magical Vodou spirit. In the pantheon of loas, Baron Samedi is a god of the dead often portrayed as wearing a white top hat, black tux-edo, dark glasses, and cotton plugs in the nostrils, as if to resemble a corpse dressed and prepared for burial in Haitian style. He has a white, skull-like face and basically resembles the bad guy in one of the old James Bond movies. If that wasn’t enough, Duvalier’s aids drafted an alternative Lord’s Prayer, modified to accommodate the greatness of Papa Doc:
Our Doc, who art in the National Palace for life, hallowed be Thy name by present and future generations. Thy will be done in Port-au-Prince as it is in the provinces. Give us this day our new Haiti and forgive not the trespasses of those anti-patriots who daily spit upon our country …
Papa Doc extended his dominance over the Catholic clergy by expelling almost all of Haiti’s foreign-born bishops in the name of nationalism and replacing them with his political allies. In response the Vatican excommunicated him from the Church but reinstated him a year later. At least Dr. Duvalier wasn’t trying to play God-he was only playing Pope.
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The elite got richer and the poor got poorer. The per capita annual income sank to $80, the lowest in the Western hemisphere and the illiteracy rate remained the highest at about 90%. Eventually, mass media support in Haiti began to drift away from Papa Doc. In response to this affront, Duvalier had no qualms in sending his enemies in the media to the ghastly Fort Dimanche to be tortured to death. The country’s leading newspaper editors and radio station owners were jailed for false sedition charges and many Haitians fled to exile in the United States and Canada, especially French-speaking Quebec. Nevertheless, Duvalier continued to have significant support among Haiti’s black rural population who still saw in him a champion of their claims against the dominant mulatto élite. In 1971, with death knocking at his door, Duvalier had the Haitian constitution amended so that he could be succeeded by his young son, Jean-Claude, who came to be known as
“Baby Doc.” He was not a doctor; actually, he studied law. Power was transferred to Jean-Claude, who at the age of 19, became the youngest president in the world.
He was ousted from power in February 1986 and he and his wife fled to a villa in France near Cannes.
Dr. François “Papa Doc” Duvalier died on April 21, 1971 in Port-au-Prince. After 30 years of dictatorial rule the Duvalier dynasty left behind an impoverished and ruined country, with well over half of Haiti’s workers unemployed, over 80% of Haitians illiterate, almost a third of Haitian children dying before their fifth birthday, and the lowest per capita annual income in the Caribbean.
“The Great Lion”
Another interesting example of homicidal politics and personal greed is Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, the now deceased dictator of Malawi, who died at the (very) ripe age of 99 years (more or less). It is unclear when he was conceived as no birth registrations were done in rural Africa at that time. Most estimates suggest he was born between 1886 and 1906. He was born to the Chewa tribe in rural Africa and worked several menial jobs prior to moving to America in 1925. After graduating from Central State University in Ohio he studied medicine at Meharry Medical College in Tennessee graduating in 1937. He received a second medical degree from the School of Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of the University of Edinburgh in 1941. His life was a true “rags to riches” story.
Malawi is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa bounded by Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique. It is one of the world’s least developed countries with a population close to 14 million. Although it has developed something of an agricultural economy over the past several decades, the country depends heavily on outside aid to meet the needs of its many people and support its government.
Malawi was first populated during the tenth century by Bantu tribes and remained under native rule until 1891 when it was colonized by the British under the name 132
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Nyasaland. In 1953, Britain merged Nyasaland with Northern and Southern Rhodesia in what was known as the Central African Federation (CAF). This linkage triggered opposition from Africans nationalists including Dr. Hastings Banda who was practicing in Ghana. Despite living abroad for decades, Banda was elected president of the NAC (Nyasaland African Congress) shortly after his return to his homeland. He worked tirelessly to mobilize nationalist sentiment before being jailed by colonial authorities in 1959. He was released in 1960 and subsequently asked to help draft a new Constitution for Nyasaland with a clause granting Africans the majority in the colony’s Legislative Counsel. His activism had greatly paid off for his people.
In 1961, Banda’s Malawi Congress Party (MCP) gained the majority in the Legislative Counsel and he was elected Prime Minister in 1963. On July 6, 1964, Nyasaland gained independence from British rule and renamed itself Malawi.
It was Banda himself who chose the name “Malawi” for the former Nyasaland; he had seen it on an old French map and liked the sound of it. Under a new constitution, Malawi became a single-party state and Banda declared himself president-for-life in 1970. His official title was “His Excellency the Life President of the Republic of Malaŵi, Ngwazi Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda.” The title Ngwazi means “Chief of Chiefs” in the Chicheŵa language or “The Great Lion.” Banda became a leader of the pro-Western bloc in Africa and he received support from the West during the Cold War. He generally supported women’s rights, improved the country’s infrastructure, and maintained a good educational system relative to other African countries. Clearly, he had a lot of potential to be a force for good in the region. He was criticized, however, for maintaining full diplomatic relations with South Africa during Apartheid and he was condemned for his highly repressive regime.
For almost 30 years Banda ruled autocratically, mercilessly suppressing opposition to his party and ensuring that he had no living personal enemies. Malawi became eventually a police state. Mail was opened and often edited.
Telephones were tapped and conversations were cut off if anyone said a critical word about the government. Needless to say, overt opposition was not tolerated. Banda actively encouraged the people to report those who criticized him, even if they were relatives. Thousands of Malawians were victimized by being thrown in jail for harboring different political views from the ruling class. Many were confined to detention camps for years on end without being charged or tried in a court of law. Many politicians who fled into exile were pursued by Banda’s secret agents, mostly by the notorious Malawi Young Pioneers, and assassinated.
In 1983, a major political activist who opposed Dr. Banda, Attati Mpakati, was killed by a letter bomb in Zimbabwe. Four years earlier Banda had admitted that he had tried to have him killed. That same year, the “Mwanza Four” consisting of three cabinet ministers and a member of Parliament were murdered; officially, they all died in a car accident. Apparently the air bags didn’t stop the bullets that, according to witnesses, caused the wounds on their bodies. Not surprisingly, an inquiry was not conducted to establish the circumstances leading to their deaths and no one, not even relatives, was allowed to formally mourn their deaths. The most prominent dissident who perished abroad at the hands of Dr. Banda was
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journalist and politician Mkwapatira Mhango. He was firebombed together with two of his wives and five of his children in Zambia in 1989. Human rights websites list other instances of imprisonment, repetitive torture, abduction, and murder of Dr. Banda’s political enemies.
It was impossible to avoid or ignore Banda during his reign in Malawi. Every business building was required to have an official picture of Banda hanging on the wall, and no poster, clock, or picture could be higher than his image. Before every movie shown in every theater, a video of Banda waving to the people was played with the national anthem streaming in the background. When Banda visited a city, a bevy of women were expected to greet him at the airport and dance for him.
A special garment, bearing the president’s picture, was the required attire for these performances. Churches were government sanctioned. All movies were first viewed by the Malawi Censorship Board and edited for content as were videotapes (DVDs didn’t exist yet for any young readers). Once edited, the movie was given a sticker stating that it was now suitable for viewing and sent back to the owner. Books and magazines were also reviewed. Pages, or parts of pages, were cut out of magazines like Newsweek and Time. Newspapers and radio broadcasts were tightly controlled and mainly served as outlets for government propaganda. Television was banned.
His picture adorned the national currency. If you bought a stamp in Malawi, you were licking the side opposite his head.
Banda’s 30 years of leadership were also marked by episodes of extreme, intolerant behavior. For example, after visiting swinging London at the end of the 1960s he decreed that no women in his country should wear mini or even midi skirts nor should they appear in public wearing trousers. Men were forbidden to grow their hair long or sprout beards or moustaches which were seen as signs of rebellious behavior. Men could be seized and forced to have a haircut at the discretion of border officials or the police. Kissing in public was not allowed and movies which contained kissing scenes were censored. Foreigners who broke any of these rules were often “PI’ed” (declared Prohibited Immigrants and deported). In many ways, he created an ultraconservative utopia. His regime also strongly discouraged the teaching of pre-Banda history and many books on these subjects were burned.
Dr. Banda also attempted to eradicate the culture of Northern African tribes such as the Tumbuka.
All adult citizens were required to be members of the MCP. Party cards had to be carried at all times and had to be presented at random police inspections. The cards were sold to the citizens at substantial profits by Banda’s Malawi Youth Pioneers. In some cases, these youths even sold cards for unborn children and pocketed the cash. When the good doctor travelled around the country he did so in full presidential style with a cavalcade of cars with sirens, flashing lights and motor-cycle escorts. All other commuters were supposed to stop their cars immediately, get out, and wave. Anyone who failed to stop before the first of the motorcyclists reached them had to answer charges of contempt and breach of security. The penalties ranged from a fine of 10 shillings to 10,000 pounds with jail sentences for locals and deportation for foreigners. The official tourist guide included a warning that if anyone entered the country with the purpose of overthrowing his regime, they 134
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would be “cut to ribbons and fed to the crocodiles.” Tourism was not a major source of revenue for Malawi.
Under international pressure Banda agreed to a referendum in 1993 resulting in the formation of multiparty democracy and free elections in 1994. A new Constitution was written and Banda’s “life presidency” came to an end when he lost his bid for re-election by a landslide. On November 25, 1997, Dr. Hastings Banda died in a Johannesburg clinic.
Dr. Banda legacy’s includes several bright spots in spite of his dictatorial style and ruthless conduct. He created academic and economic opportunities for women and encouraged them to participate in all aspects of public life. Banda also did much for the country’s infrastructure including the construction of major roads, airports, hospitals and schools. He founded Kamuzu Academy, a school modeled on Eton, at which Malawian children were taught Latin and Classical Greek. The country also made great economic strides during his term of office and its agricultural exports blossomed. While in office, Banda created a business empire that eventually produced one-third of the country’s gross domestic product and employed 10%
of the wage-earning workforce. He also accumulated at least $320 million in personal assets. Not bad, even for a doctor.
Chapter 14
Trading Treatment for Terror
Everybody hates death, fears death. But only those, the believers who know the life after death and the reward after death,
would be the ones who will be seeking death.
– British terrorist Dr. Mohamed Atta
There are actually hundreds of definitions of terrorism and cynics have claimed that
“one man’s terrorist is another man’s hero.” Terrorists seem particularly fond of this definition. However, it seems more reasonable to rely on the 2004 definition of terrorism adopted by the United Nations Security Council: “Criminal acts, including against civilians, committed with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, or taking of hostages, with the purpose to provoke a state of terror in the general public or in a group of persons or particular persons, intimidate a population or compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act.” Similarly, on March 17, 2005 a UN panel defined terrorism as any act:
“Intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act.” These definitions make it fairly clear that terrorists are not heroes.
Intense nationalism and religious extremism, alone or in combination, have engendered terrorism in many corners of the modern world. Organizations such as the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Basque separatists in Spain, Jewish groups such as the Irgun and Lehi in pre-Israeli Palestine, Palestinian Arab groups such as Hamas, and various extremist Islamic groups, particularly Hizballah and al-Qaeda, are considered terrorist groups (except, of course, by their members). In the past two decades, however, extremist Islamic groups have unquestionably become the dominant organizations behind terroristic attacks both in terms of the number of people murdered and frequency of incidents. Furthermore, they have been virtually the only organizations in which physicians have played a prominent role both directly and indirectly in terroristic activities. It is legitimate to ask, “Why are the majority of terrorists currently of the Islamic faith and why are some physicians o
f this faith attracted to terrorism?”
Some have argued that Islam is inherently violent and that it aspires to conquer and dominate the entire world. Others have denied such a negative viewpoint pointing out that hundreds of millions of Muslims throughout the world are peaceful and are J.A. Perper and S.J. Cina, When Doctors Kill: Who, Why, and How, 135
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-1369-2_14, © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010
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not involved in terrorism or violence. The truth is that most Muslims are peaceful, law-abiding citizens and that Muslim extremists have a tendency to be intolerant of other religions or cultures and may resort to terrorism. They likely see the excesses of Western society (“sex, drugs, and rock and roll”) as an affront to Allah and the eradication of this plague is a service to the remainder of humanity.
Also, from a historical perspective, maybe it’s just their turn to be the bad guys.
The behavior of Christians during the Crusades and Jews in portions of the Old Testament seems just as intolerant and barbaric as the crimes of modern day Muslim extremists. And remember that Muslims are not always the murderers; thousands of Muslims in Serbia/Croatia were the victims of ethnic cleansing just a few years ago. Only the Buddhists seem to really get along with everybody and everything.
Islamic terrorists, at least the ones involved in major attacks, are generally well-educated. Unfortunately for us, anti-Western philosophy and religious extremism are built into the curriculum of select Muslim schools. From an early age, bright children are taught to read, write, memorize the Koran, pray, and hate Americans. Following this sound fundamental training, many of the gifted students attend college, either at home or abroad, and may progress to graduate school.
Resultantly, the Islamic education system creates very sophisticated individuals who have been brainwashed since kindergarten. No other religion, at present, stresses the importance of education combined with intolerance as Islam. It should then serve as no surprise that college graduates, including physicians, have served as suicide-bombers, cyber-terrorists, masterminds, organizers, and fundraisers in extremist terrorist organizations. Despite years of training designed to alleviate suffering and heal the sick, Muslim physicians are not immune from radical Islamic beliefs and all that goes with them.