The Agronomist

Radio Haiti-Inter went on and off the air several times between 1960 and 2003.  In the people's language - Haitian Creole, not merely French, its announcers gave listeners, many of whom were dirt poor farmers, a voice that echoed their own.  A voice often silenced by dictators like "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his son/successor "Baby Doc", and even the C.I.A.  The station went dark a few times, following sieges by various regimes, ones responsible for unchecked corruption and human rights violations.  But it would rise from the rubble again and again to inspire and encourage the countrymen and women.

Jean Leopold Dominique was the spearhead of this beacon of the AM and FM dials.  He was a deeply, passionately involved activist for democracy.  Born in Port-au-Prince, Dominique found his activism early, accompanying his father on business trips through rural areas and seeing how the peasants lived.  He studied in France and returned to his home country to practice agronomy.  Some of his colleagues were killed by the government for promoting the rights of the farmers.   After his release from prison (for his association with his brother, an officer in the Army who attempted to engineer a coup), Jean decided to become a journalist.

2003's THE AGRONOMIST is a well assembled collage of interviews and news clips.  Director Jonathan Demme, himself a tireless activist for Haiti, is heard (but never seen, a good choice as to not be obtrusive to this man's story) interviewing Dominique in the 1990s and onward.  Different stages of life.  Sometimes in New York City, having fled his country after political and social volatility.  And for daring to speak his mind in public and on the air.  Dominique is shown to be an enthusiastic and excitable gentleman, someone who perhaps felt guilty and impotent while in exile in a land of plenty.  His people were suffering, and he needed to be there.

Interestingly, Demme also includes an interview between Jean and President Jean-Betrand Aristide, the first to be elected democratically.  While there was a likemindedness between them, Dominique questioned the former priest's methods, such as hiring his own people to work in public utilities, and allowing them to partake of such at no cost.  Charges of corruption.  This inclusion is a good illustration of Radio Haiti-Inter's dedication to the truth, never to be be biased or swayed by anyone in power.

Jean Dominique was assassinated in 2000.  It was of no surprise to anyone.  His wife would continue to broadcast for three more years before the plug was pulled for good.  We see the great man's ashes spread over water, and hear his wife proclaim that while Jean is in fact dead physically, his legacy rages on...