Deja Vu

Should Have Sent a Poet

Tags:

earthquake,

Haiti,

Italy,

New York Times,

poetry,

rap,

war,

Wyclef Jean

2010: Wyclef Jean, the Haitian-American musician turned politician, was barred last week from running as a candidate from Haiti’s upcoming presidential elections, the New York Times reported. Mr. Jean, via Twitter, has since stated that he will appeal the ruling.

Tensions had been building throughout the day after the council’s decision to reject Mr. Jean was leaked late Thursday but not confirmed. Hundreds of Mr. Jean’s passionate supporters had rallied in the Delmas area of the capital, chanting, “We want Clef, Clef is Haiti and Haiti is for Clef.”

The police and United Nations peacekeeping troops prepared for the possibility of unrest after a rejection of Mr. Jean’s bid.

The electoral council waited until long after darkness had fallen to issue its list of approved presidential candidates, originally due Tuesday. And it did so at its Pétionville bureau, and not at the office in Delmas where the crowds had gathered...

Despite his lack of political experience, Mr. Jean had been considered a potential front-runner from the moment he announced his candidacy in the first week of August. At that time, he described himself as having been “drafted” to run by the youth of Haiti.

“I didn’t create this hurricane, this tsunami you’re feeling in the last couple of days,” he said in an interview before announcing his candidacy.

1919: Gabriele D’Annunzio, the famed Italian poet, journalist, novelist, and proto-fascist, seized the Dalmatian port of Fiume in the name of Italian nationalism, deliberately violating Treaty of Versailles and creating the Free State of Fiume. The utopia would last for fifteen months and D’Annunzio declared music to be one of the new government’s fundamental principles. Here the New York Times describes D’Annunzio’s visit to the nearby city of Zara.

“At the sight of D’Annunzio,” [an eyewitness] says, “the crowd seethed with excitement. Women cried incoherent words of welcome. Old people cried unrestrainedly. Nothing was heard but cries of joy; nothing was seen but waving hands, hats, and tri-colored handkerchiefs.

“D’Annunzio appeared absolutely transfigured. His followers were obliged to struggle to protect him from the population, who otherwise would have suffocated him…

“When D’Annunzio, accompanied by Admiral Millo and Mayor Zilliotti and other notables, appeared on the terrace overlooking the sea where a body of 800 Zara volunteers had gathered, he received a notable ovation, the outburst lasting ten minutes. Then, in a loud voice, D’Annunzio gave his first greeting to the Holy Zara, saying that every Dalmatian stone was worthy to form part of an altar to the mother country. He concluded by solemnly presenting Admiral Millo as the first governor of Italian Dalmatia.

“After a review of troops D’Annunzio called all his officers to him and placed them under the orders of Admiral Millo, to be commanded by General Oneto, representing General Ceceherini. Admiral Millo announced that he had sent a telegram to Rome accepting the governorship of Zara in the name of the King of Italy. From all side the national hymn was sung and the church bells were rung. In the afternoon D’Annunzio again spoke to the people, who were in a state of delirium, the poet being obliged to protect his face from the flowers showered upon him.”

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