Harry Belafonte

Amy Goodman interviewed Harry Belafonte yesterday on Democracy Now.  In response to a question about Haiti, Belafonte said "We admit and accept democracies according to how we think they serve our most selfish and our most arrogant and our most oppressive needs. That's what we do, especially in the developing world.

We stepped in while Vietnam was trying to iron out its own internal policies and were very close to having a victory there, when the United States intervened and lied once again to the American people, led us to a war that cost millions of lives, and all the things that we know about Vietnam.

It's not an unusual thing for us to do. And I think that citizens just have to understand that the first order of business for a democracy is vigilance among the citizens. It is a delicate instrument. It continues to need nourishment and attention. And the minute we turn away from that nourishment and that attention, it will be taken away from us, as it is now appearing to be the case."

The interview is available at http://www.democracynow.org/...

The interview is quite inspiring.  It is worth the read.