The following post is the first time I’ve posted to the president’s blog for Internet Bar in a while. A lot has happened, and, over time, I’ll get the word on our history out. For now, we are fortunate that the World Justice Forum has given us a grant for our project called PeaceTones. Here is our post from Haiti.

Traveling this summer with Valerie Schenkman of Tufts University to Israel and the West Bank, Afghanistan, and now Haiti, I have had the opportunity to see where the rule of law functions in ways that I wasn’t taught in law school. For me, this has been a great opportunity to meet lawyers from ‘tough’ parts of the world and see how they view law, what it means to them, and their clients, and what opportunities if any the rule of law can bring to their societies. I’m in Balan, Haiti, as I write, and a law student whose name is Hudson, and I have been talking about his last paper to write before he will be called to the bar: he wants to write about respect for the rule of law in Haiti!! What a perfect chance for InternetBar to make a difference.

But I digress – Haiti is the third of the three places we’ve been – and, rule of law notwithstanding, the rules of the road in these places are amazing! One thing all of these destinations have in common is traffic that is indescribable! Maybe you’ve seen the pictures in movies of dirt roads, filled with craters (potholes would be a kind way to describe these holes) – and, cars that know no lanes, horns that scream – are there drivers in these vehicles?– get out of my way, or, maybe, watch out pedestrians, here I come!! Cows, chickens and goats share the road with crazy drivers. Despite the noise and body wrenching going on, so far, – cross my fingers - I’m in one piece and I still haven’t seen an accident!

And, I haven’t seen any billboards advertising personal injury lawsuits, either… that part of the rule of law we have back in the states is missing in the developing world. I wonder what else.

So, I’m in Haiti tonight – after having flown from Ft Lauderdale – the local airline, Lynx, had failed to pay its fee to the airport in Florida, so we were bused to the hanger to leave- and, after waiting 4 hours, we landed in the Bahamas to refuel. I’m nervous that maybe the gas bill hasn’t been paid either, and, I’m wondering whether we’ll get off the island on this airline 10 days hence. Just before we were in the air, the stewardess, Susan, (she had to be from NY, with that accent and her attitude!), she told us that selected bags had been pulled off the plane just before we left to make the plane flyable – no notice (Valerie smartly got Susan’s attention and gave her a bag check to make sure our equipment for the trip, hand luggage that they made her check at the last minute, was not one of the ‘removed’ items); I don’t think the international tariffs are going to do any of us passengers any good if are bags don’t make it. Maybe the tariffs technically cover our baggage, but once you are on the ground, how you enforce your rights is a big ????? The airfield we landed at in Cap Haitain doesn’t look like much – we queued up awaiting a customs agent who just smiled and waved us in to Haiti with a quick signature on our passport. The frenzy of people wanting to carry our bags away was almost expected..

Thinking back just a few weeks ago, the airport in Kabul was a bit more organized, but not much – they have forms that you need to fill out- none here in Haiti; and, Israel, well, that was the rule of law in full display. Security, guns, and lots of questions. Just like the US. But not in Haiti. Just a mass of people looking for the opportunity to get a dollar. I parted with a few before getting to the car.

Our hosts, Adolphe, Nixon and Hudson got us to the car and off we drove – through the city of Cap Hatian, a city of homes and enterprises that looked like a mixture of French architecture and shantytowns. People were everywhere! It was getting late, as the sun went down; but people just seem to be out and about, and, after 40 minutes on the road again, we arrived in Balan.

One of our hosts is a lawyer in training, Hudson – he had received advance notice of our PeaceTones project from the leader of our hosts, Adolphe. Adolphe had arranged some meetings. With lawyers and musicians. As disorganized as our entry had been into the country, Adolphe was the essence of organization. He absolutely wanted to make sure that the projects we had come to Balan to work on with the local population were organized.

And, Adolphe made me practice some creole. Muerele Jeff. I am Jeff. A few other words. Though I speak some Spanish to get by, that’s it for a second language. Learning a few words makes sense. I hadn’t really done that in Afghanistan or the West Bank and Israel. But maybe now, I can learn a few words. After all, when you get right down to it, the rule of law is going to have a chance only in places where civility reigns. Isn’t the foundation of the rule of law a basic common decency?

I learned that from my parents growing up in the states during the 50s and 60s. But, somehow, in recent times, it seems that the Madoff scandal begets the latest New Jersey scandals involving government and rabbis, and we can’t take for granted that common decency is the foundation of our society. What can we learn from the place we are visiting?

The places that Val and I have visited in the West Bank, Israel, Kabul and Balan, I certainly felt that we were welcomed in the most hospitable way. Common decency is still in vogue – and for real.

Now that is a foundation for the rule of law.