Anything Prose

Concordia University's Caribbean Connection Recalled

Rosie Douglas Elected PM of Dominica : Year 2000

Douglas was 28, a 16-year resident of Canada, a landed immigrant and a student of McGill University when the Computer Riot took place. A months-long dispute over charges of racism levelled against a professor led to the occupation of several floors of the Henry F. Hall Building (then part of the Sir George Williams University) and erupted into violence on February 11, 1969.

(See the POSTED obituary for his successor, Pierre Charles, another Left-leaning leader turned politician heavy.)

Note: though the Hall Bldg has been the scene of more recent, violent confrontations -- particularly when former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was prevented from speaking there in Sept. 2002 -- the security you see in the campus hub with all the video cameras goes back to this 1969 confrontation.

Not only is the world a small place, but Canada and Quebec is even more so. Though I support the politics of many who successfully protested Netanyahu's anti-Palestinian stance, a few weeks later I discovered that a friend of mine was one of the security guards called in to protect university property. His tale was one of a young man frightened and confused by all the ruckus.

Will the ultimate irony play out in another 30 years with one of the protesters elected prime minister of Canada?

Dominica's Pierre Charles Dies Young

OBIT: Prime Minister Pierre Charles of the Caribbean Island Nation Dominica

Jan. 6, 2004
ROSEAU, Dominica (AP) - Prime Minister Pierre Charles of the Caribbean island of Dominica, a critic of some U.S. policies, collapsed and died Tuesday night, his press secretary said. He was 49.

Charles, who suffered from heart problems and recently took a brief leave of absence to recover, was pronounced dead at Princess Margaret Hospital, press secretary Sean Douglas said. The cause of death wasn't released.

Charles was born June 30, 1954, in the village of Grand Bay in southern Dominica. He was elected to Parliament in 1985 and as prime minister in 2000.

Starting in the political opposition, he was critical of the 1983 U.S. invasion of nearby Grenada, which was supported by Dominica's leader at the time, prime minister Dame Eugenia Charles.

Recently, Charles was critical of the U.S. action in Afghanistan and he recently called for an end to the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba.

Charles defended recent austerity measures as necessary to improve the economy of one of the Caribbean's poorest countries. The 2003 budget slashed spending 15 per cent and introduced new taxes- measures that were unpopular with many workers and led to strikes in the former British colony of 71,000 people.

Charles previously served as the country's minister of communication and works, and was appointed prime minister after predecessor Roosevelt Douglas died of a heart attack in October 2000.

(See the background post on Roosevelt "Rosie" Douglas.)

Zambian-Brit Writer Lampoons Pres. Levy Mwanawasa

Journalist Takes Another Swipe

Zambia had ordered the deportation of Roy Clarke for an article in the privately-owned Post newspaper, modelled along the lines of George Orwell's "Animal Farm," in which he referred to the person in charge of a game park as "Mawelewele" - or "fool" in the local Nyanja dialect.

In his latest article, entitled "Baboon," Clarke referred to himself as a baboon who was ordered to be deported to Mfuwe, a famed luxury game resort where Mwanawasa had spent his Christmas vacation.

In an apparent broadside at the home affairs minister, who issued the deportation order, Clarke in his latest article spoke of a "minister for law and disorder."

Clarke's popular Spectator column on Thursday came out a day after Lusaka issued a warrant of arrest, ordering all security agents to look for Clarke and immediately detain him pending deportation.

His last article, published on January 1, referred to ministers as "long-legged giraffes, red-lipped, long-figured baboons."

Meanwhile, the Lusaka high court was due to hear the case later on Thursday in which Clarke challenged the deportation order, his lawyer Patrick Matibini said.

Clarke has lived in Zambia for many years and is married to a prominent Zambian women's rights activist.

Hispanics in the U.S. Congress

For those of you who listened to George Bush's speech yesterday outlining legislation to normalize the status of Mexican-American 'illegals' in the States: read the mainstream press for analysis of the political support the GOP is seeking in the Hispanic community. For historic background, HERE is a list of Hispanic-Americans who have sat in the U.S. Congress.

Do you think the folks who voted for these guys will start to look on Bush today as their Liberator, The Toussaint l'Ouverture of Hispanic Americans?

(Note: I cannot write Abe Lincoln in the same sentence as Bush, but T.Ouverture is a comparison that will do, since it would offend many of the American bigots on the Right who still support the current administration.)

We shudder at the thought.

Micro-Bios on Famous Haitians

These biographical paragraphs are from a site with scores of other micro-bios on famous Haitians. Obviously, each entry flatters its subject. It is like a list of saints in the Haitian firmament.

But if you don't agree, try to fill in the blanks: stuff like that Jean-Jacques Dessalines went a bit too far in promoting white genocide -- you get the picture.

This website in a treasure trove for Black History Month graphics for February 2004.

Here you are offered substantial ideas. Any group putting out a colour brochure or calendar celebrating African-American history would be remiss in overlooking the Haitians, and HERE they are for the asking.

TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE

Leader of the Haitian Revolution - Born in 1743, the eldest of eight children born to slaves on the Bréda plantation in northern Haiti. Taught to read and write by his godfather, Toussaint rose quickly in rank among the household slaves, and became first his master's coachman, and then steward of all livestock on the estate. In the early months of 1792 he joined the slave uprising and began to organize the rebellious slaves into a revolutionary army.

A skilful military leader, expert at guerrilla warfare, and able to instill loyalty, respect and admiration in his followers, he soon became the undisputed leader of the black forces. Over the years of bloody conflict, he maneouvered and manipulated the competing armies of French Republicans and Royalists, the Spanish and British, to achieve the goal of an independent republic free from slavery.

Toussaint himself was captured by the French in 1802 and was taken to France. He died in prison in April 1803, but as, William Wordsworth wrote in his poem, To Toussaint L'Ouverture, "Though fallen thyself, never to ride again, Live and take comfort. Thou has left behind Powers that will work for thee." Under the command of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the united black and mulatto forces defeated the troops sent by Napoleon Bonaparte to reimpose slavery, and the revolution was completed when Haiti declared independence on January 1st 1804.

Other famous Haitians:

Jacques Stephen : Alexis Anacaona : Jean-Bertrand Aristide : Rose Anne Auguste : Jean-Michel Basquiat : Marleine Bastien : Garcelle Beauvais : Esther Boucicault : Emmanuel "Manno" Charlemagne : Marie Chauvet : Coupé Cloué : Edwidge Danticat : Jean Dominique : Jean-Jacques Dessalines : François Duvalier : Tyrone Edmond : Hector Hyppolite : Wyclef Jean : Martha Jean-Claude : Emeline Michel : Sweet Micky : Félix Morisseau-Leroy : Emile Ollivier : Raoul Peck : Charlemagne Peralte : Gérard Pierre-Charles : Yvonne Hakim Rimpel : Jacques Roumain : Manno Sanon : Maurice A. Sixto : Toussaint Louverture

allAfrica.com: Zimbabwe [column]: The American Century Begins

Harare, Zimbabwe The American Century Begins

The prose is straight out of Southern Africa and is refreshing in how it balances the critique of the illegitimate regimes US aggression has targeted with an exposure of the fragility and hubris of the Americans' ground-plan for the world.

Zimbabwean intellectuals survive in what some philosophers call a liminal condition - halfway between two worlds. We should listen to them acutely when, in the midst of a state that is failing, they reflect on the successes of the Americans abroad. Ken Mufuka sums up how successful US strategy has been of late:

But all these are temporary successes on the part of the US because what it wants is a complete change in the cultures and lifestyles of these people and a remaking of their economies and religions to suit American hegemonic tastes.

Click HERE

Comment: Unity '04 Project

John D. Smith of New York left a COMMENT to the posting entitled AFRICAN-AMERICANS GET EVEN.

If you, landing on this page, find it hard to track the comments coming in, I sympathize and intend to elevate the substantial ones to the status of fresh postings. I hope I am not violating the ethics of netiquette, but let me know if you think so. Here is Mr. Smith's comment:

I applaud the work of the National Coalition
for Civic Participation (NCBCP) and other
organizations in registering and educating potential voter.

In furthering your efforts, I encourage you to
obtain, distribute and screen the video/DVD
entitled "Unprecedented: 2000 Presidential Election" (Joan Sekler), which is available through Amazon.com at $16.99.

The approx. 90 min piece documents and educates
the public about the Florida 2000 presidential
election fiasco, through interviews with Floridians,
observers, historians, reporters,
and through news clippings and identification
of those who cheated tens of thousands of voters
out of their vote and how they accomplished it,
even before the Supreme Court's decision.

The screening of "Unprecedented" should significantly
help in convincing people of their responsibility to get
involved rather than simply to get angry and complacent.

Continue your important work.

John D. Smith (New York City)

= = = Thanks for the pointer to an interesting resource and the encourgagement.
rjp

French Press: "Andy" Apaid Leads Haitian Opposition

Le Monde via Perspectiva Ciudadana.com

D'origine libanaise, "Andy" Apaid appartient à l'élite à la peau claire, minoritaire et jalousé dans la première république noire. Autre handicap : son père, André Apaid Sr, a été l'un des principaux financiers de Marc Bazin, le candidat de la bourgeoisie battu par Jean-Bertrand Aristide lors de l'élection présidentielle de 1990. A ce titre, il n'avait pas vu d'un mauvais œil le coup d'Etat militaire contre le curé des bidonvilles, qui incarnait alors l'espoir de changement après trente ans de dictature.

This month the report from the "comité de réflexion" on the Haitian crise is scheduled to be made public. Régis Debray (Revolution in the Revolution) heads the group appointed by France. The year 2004 also marks 200 years since Haiti's independance. We will follow the year's events on Anything Prose.

AFRICAN-AMERICANS Ghost Of Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment

Tuskegee Experiment

The fear of being injected to fight influenza (flu), a contagious respiratory illness caused by a virus, may come from memories of the 1932 Tuskegee, Ala. syphilis study. In that experiment, the U.S. government used 600 Black men as human guinea pigs over a 40-year period. As part of the study, African Americans were not treated for the disease after it had been diagnosed.

Polls - Canada is Different

Are Northern Pacifists Now for Muscle and Might?

I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that we have learned more about the world and international affairs in the past 27 months than we did in the previous 27 years. And that knowledge and understanding have led us to conclude that Canadians and Americans see the world through dramatically different prisms. This expanding sense of being different appears to have a side effect -- a new, more outward, more confident nationalism. For example, for the past two years we've found a majority of Canadians wanting to upgrade our military. This seems to be not simply from a desire for greater military might, but from a realization that if we are to exert our unique sensibilities on the world, we have to participate in it more actively.

Fellow writers and editors please note: this is my pedantry at work -- excuse it please, but polls are not to be taken seriously anyway -- but notice the question of subject-verb agreement in the quote above. ". . . that knowledge and understanding have led us to . . ." This, understood as a collective noun, could just as well be written in the singular: "that knowledge and understanding has led us to". Editors really should stop chickening out on this point and give that spin on the punctuation when the meaning truly is singular.