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poliphilo Thinking about the US President this morning- and how hard it is to get such people to let go their hold on power- a lttle chant came into my head.
It goes like this "Da-da-da, Saviour of his country, President for life."
The "Da-da-da" stands in for a name I couldn't call to mind.
It's a dispiriting chant, the mantra of a people under the lash.
It would fit the American President I thought or- at least- it would fit his aspirations. And if you replaced the "Da-da-da" with his first name as well as his surname it would scan....
As I thought about it and was writing the first draft of this post the fog cleared and I realised the "Da-da-da" stood for Duvalier. And that I most probably came across the chant in the film version of Graham Greene's The Comedians. Whether it was composed for the movie or is something that was actually intoned on the streets of Port au Prince is something I don't know. And wikipedia isn't enlightening me.
The Duvaliers- father and son- ruled Haiti between 1957 and 1986. the older Duvalier had been a Doctor- so they were known as Papa Doc and Baby Doc. They were horrors. Greene said he'd been travelling all his life in search of a Hell on earth- and he'd found it in Haiti under Papa Doc.....
It goes like this "Da-da-da, Saviour of his country, President for life."
The "Da-da-da" stands in for a name I couldn't call to mind.
It's a dispiriting chant, the mantra of a people under the lash.
It would fit the American President I thought or- at least- it would fit his aspirations. And if you replaced the "Da-da-da" with his first name as well as his surname it would scan....
As I thought about it and was writing the first draft of this post the fog cleared and I realised the "Da-da-da" stood for Duvalier. And that I most probably came across the chant in the film version of Graham Greene's The Comedians. Whether it was composed for the movie or is something that was actually intoned on the streets of Port au Prince is something I don't know. And wikipedia isn't enlightening me.
The Duvaliers- father and son- ruled Haiti between 1957 and 1986. the older Duvalier had been a Doctor- so they were known as Papa Doc and Baby Doc. They were horrors. Greene said he'd been travelling all his life in search of a Hell on earth- and he'd found it in Haiti under Papa Doc.....
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