Anything Prose

Police Force versus Army

The Haitian Support Group is against the formation of an army for Haiti, seeing such a development as the fastest road back to the history of dictatorship.

Some would argue, maybe too abstractly, that a democratic, universal-service military is the greatest insurance policy against such dictatorship.

So far, the argument for a police force -- not an army -- has the saints on its sides. Who, however, is reading history correctly?

Click on this LINK to open an important position statement from a leader of the Haitian Support Group.

Human Camera -- Port-au-Prince

Yesterday, with Aristide fleeing in a U.S. jet while Colin Powell is on the phone to desparately find a country somewhere on the globe that will offer the reverend safe haven, I figured the big news would be covered in The Wall Street Journal. (The WSJ is the only paper from New York, London or Paris that arrives in Montréal before noon of the day it appears.)

They ran the story on Page 3 with only a tiny summary on the front page, so I bought Canada's Globe & Mail instead and got the latest news.

But, as we saw in Afghanistan and Iraq, when you read The Independent or the Guardian (both English) you are offered a more humanly objective view compared to any of the major American papers treating a situation even remotely touching on U.S. strategic and economic interests.

Click to see how The Independent offers cinema verte on one day in the Caribbean capitol without trite expressions about the politics.

Click this LINK, and a local file will appear on your screen.

HAITI: SOME KNOWNS, MANY UNKNOWNS

The only thing clear is that Supreme Court Chief Justice Boniface Alexandre was sworn in as president within six hours after Aristide's departure.Beyond that, given Haiti's chronic unpredictability, anything is possible.

For the local copy of an article today in the Miami Herald, click on this LINK.

Haiti: The Altar of Saviour Politics

The trouble didn't start, as is often claimed, with slightly fiddled elections in 2000 that Aristide would have won anyway. It started before that, with unpunished killings of opponents, the takeover of the police by his henchmen, the looting of public funds — turning thousands of idealistic supporters against him and giving a green light to the lawless youths now manning the barricades in the capital, Port-au-Prince, as the U.S. government struggles for a solution tailored to its own election year rather than the needs of Haiti.

. ++ ++ ++ .

Michèle Montas, journaliste vedette haïtienne --

Il est vrai qu'avec une trentaine de coups d'Etat en deux cents ans d'indépendance, avec les Duvalier, le régime militaire du général Cedras, et maintenant Jean-Bertrand Aristide, mon pays a eu son lot de violences politiques. Mais de là à parler de fatalité...

L'histoire d'Haïti, c'est aussi et surtout l'histoire du
long combat d'un peuple pour sa place au soleil.
Un combat exemplaire qui a commencé, je vous
le rappelle, face aux troupes de Napoléon.

Qu'un groupe d'esclaves ait pu défaire une armée
si prestigieuse, n'était-ce pas refuser cette
fatalité dont vous parlez ?

- - Vendredi 20 février, Figaro Magazine

Click on the LINK

Haiti:“non-violent” Versus Blood Bath

The press has labelled the failed settlement a power-sharing agreement. In fact, it gave the opposition Democratic Platform—a coalition led by the political representatives of Haiti’s autocratic, traditional elite—virtually everything that it has been demanding . . .

The following analysis needs to be debated. The best elements of the Haitian opposition have not taken up arms; among those presently leading the armed uprising are the worst elements from Haiti's past under the Duvaliers and Cédras. So the severe critique of both the elements who have taken up arms as well as of the pacifist opposition to Aristide (click link below) must be taken seriously . . . though personally and politically I have many reservations about letting Aristide stay on in any capacity. RJP

. "No hay viento favorable para el que no sabe donde va"
. -- Lucio Anneo Séneca

Click on LINK to open the local file (in English).

Haitian Armed Insurrection is Stained by the Torturers of the Past Thirty Years of Duvalier Dictatorship

Haitian Armed Revolt
Stained by Torturers of the Past
Thirty Years of Duvalier Dictatorship

Haiti Support Group press release - 23 February 2004 - The reappearance of the FRAPH/FAD'H is nothing less than a stinking stain on today's Haiti.

In December 2003, the Workers' Struggle (Batay Ouvriye) organisation succinctly summed up the main protagonists in the struggle for political power in Haiti: "Lavalas and the bourgeois opposition are two rotten buttocks in a torn pair of trousers."

Today, 23 February 2004, as Haitians wake up to the news that the northern city of Cap-Haitien has fallen to a rebel force composed of former Haitian Army (FAD'H) soldiers led by FRAPH leader, Louis Jodel Chamblain, we can perhaps continue with this analogy, and say:
"The reappearance of the FRAPH/FAD'H is nothing less than the excrement that's making a stinking stain on the torn pair of trousers that is Haiti today."

Click on the THIS LINK for the local file with biographical notes on the current armed leaders of the Haitian Revolt, Version 2004

Haiti: Monday deadline for peace deal

Aristide, Haitian opposition given Monday deadline to accept peace deal.

+ * + *
(Note: the military situation on the ground is reported to be to the advantage of the Opposition forces. Cap-Haïtien is said to be surrounded by the forces of "l'ex-commissaire Guy
Philippe, le "commandant en chef" des insurgés.")

(For the first time in four years, we find Secr. of State Colin Powell making some sense when he warns progressives in Haiti not to "get under the same umbrella with thugs, murderers." But why is it not Canada that is leading in this intervention and wise counsel?)
+ * + *

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 21 (AFP) - International mediators have given embattled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Haiti’s political opposition three days to accept a peace plan aimed at ending the country’s increasingly violent political crisis, diplomatic sources said Saturday.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said diplomats from the
United States, Canada, France, the Caribbean Community and the Organization of American States delivered the ultimatum to Aristide and opposition leader Andre Apaid in meetings here Friday.

"They have until Monday to respond and, give or take a little slippage, we expect them to respond by Monday," said one source familiar with the talks.

Higher-level diplomats from the plan’s sponsors were to arrive to reinforce the urgency of that message amid growing fears the western hemisphere’s poorest country might succumb to anarchy.
(....)

In Washington, White House spokesman Scott McClellan confirmed Aristide could stay under the plan but declined to offer more details. The diplomatic sources said a three-person panel -- one Aristide representative, an opposition member and an international official -- would select advisers who would name a prime minister and a new government. The plan pointedly excludes members of the armed insurgency. That prime minister would have direct authority over an internationally trained and supervised police force, they said.

Both Aristide and the opposition must name their representatives by Monday if they intend to accept the deal, the sources said. The sources could not say what would would happen if both, or either side, refused to agree. Aristide has
thus far rejected giving his opponents a say in choosing a prime minister, but one source said the president had given diplomats "no reason to believe he won’t accept the plan."

Of greater concern, the source said, is the possibility the opposition may reject a proposal that keeps Aristide in office. "This is what we consider to be a difficult exercise," the source said. Opposition demands for Aristide’s ouster have become more strident since the president dissolved the legislature and began ruling by decree in January amid a bitter fight over disputed parliamentary elections two years ago.

Apaid, the leader of the so-called "Group of 184" opposition movement, was expected to announce his intentions shortly after meeting with the visiting delegation and just before the leader of the team, US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Noriega, speaks, officials said.

One of the opposition’s chief concerns is the disarming of pro-Aristide gangs such as the one that opened fire on about 1,000 student demonstrators Friday in Port-au-Prince, wounding 14, including two journalists -- one foreign, one Haitian. Also complicating the situation is the presence of the armed
insurgents -- many of them ex-soliders in Haiti’s army, which Aristide disbanded in 1995 after a coup -- who have been mounting hit-and-run raids on Haitian cities since February 5, when they captured Gonaives.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell and others have vowed not to deal with the rebels and warned Aristide’s political opponents not to associate with them simply because they share the goal of ousting him. "This is the time for the
opposition to recognize that whatever their legitimate complaints may or may not be, they will not be dealt with if they fall in league or get under the same umbrella with thugs, murderers," Powell told the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain.

STATEMENT ON HAITI - Newsletter 6

Note: the following statement does not necessarily reflect the view of the Haiti Support Group (HSG), but on behalf of the HSG I feel that it is worth reading and makes some important points with regard to the current situation in Haiti.
- Charles Arthur

STATEMENT ON HAITI
TransAfrica Forum
February 17, 2004

TO read MORE . . CLICK HERE and a local file will open.

LINK to the statement on the Web.

Threat Haiti to be Invaded -- Popular Groups Will Resist

Position platform of 30 organisations from the popular democratic sector in response to the talk of foreign intervention forces deploying in Haiti
- 28 January 2004

(originally: Danje pandye sou dwa grandèt majè peyi a ! Pozisyon 30 oganizasyon ak platfòm nan sektè demokratik popilè a sou pawòl entèvansyon fòs etranje an Ayiti)

Between 1789 and 1804 our ancestors made all kinds of sacrifices to beak the chains of exploitation that the white colonialists had put on them and the country. The First of January 1804 was a sacred day marking the liberation of the whole of Haiti. Unfortunately, on two occasions during the last century (1915-34) and again in 1994, compromised leaders encouraged foreigners to come and trample on the dignity of our people.

Today, 200 years later, Jean-Bertrand Aristide and dirty rat politicians have decided to lead the people into the mud once more. We say 'No', a thousand times 'No'. The Haitian people are not accepting a third foreign occupation in any form.

We, the Popular Democratic Group, say Haitian people are drawing a line in the sand: Jean-Bertrand Aristide, for the second time in less than ten years, is readying for a foreign occupation to protect his personal power. In the name of our ancestors, our Group says no country can make another occupation at the time of the 200th anniversary of independence.

We, the Popular Democratic Group, say 'No' to another foreign occupation because during 1915-34 the country was looted, and then in 1994 we got insecurity and armed bands. We must be clear, if foreign occupation benefits some people, that is not how we in Haiti have found it on two occasions in less than one century.

We, the Popular Democratic Group, say 'No' because it is we Haitians who know
the problems, and it is we Haitians who can resolve them. What we need is for
Aristide to stand down, so that the country can make a new start.

If Caricom and other foreign countries what to help us properly then they must start by putting Aristide in 'quarantine', suspend all invitations to him, withdraw their diplomatic missions, cut off all collaboration, and begin the process of summoning him to appear before the Caribbean Court of Justice, the court for the Caribbean region. The Organisation of American States should arrange to get together with reliable lawyers in Haiti to draw up charges to be put before the Interamerican Court of Human Rights.

All the international community is saying it is for Aristide to solve the problems in Haiti. We, the Popular Democratic Group, on the contrary, say they should realise that it is the valiant men and women of Haiti who are on the road
of resistance to dispense with Aristide, without an occupation, so that Haiti
can be like all other countries on the planet run by responsible people.

Down with Aristide and the whole bloody Lavalas regime.

Down with any form of occupation.

Long live a free people in a grown-up Haiti!

Port-au-Prince, 27 January 2004

For authentication:
Antonal Mortime, RERKA

Carole P.Jacob, KONAP

Organisations and institutions signing:
Antèn Ouvriye (workers' organisation)

Kay Fanm (women's organisation)

Tèt Kole Ti peyizan Ayisyen (national peasant movement) Solidarite Fanm Ayisyen (SOFA) (women's organisation) CHANDEL (popular organisation for public education)

UNNOH (national teachers' union)

KANPAN (Anti-debt and anti-structural adjustment campaign for a national alternative)

Regwoupman òganizasyon popilè granmoun yo (popular organisation) GRAEP (Gwoup Refleksyon ak Animasyon Edikasyon Popilè) (popular organisation for public education)

Enfo Fanm (women's organisation)

MUPAC (Mouvman Inite Pèp Okay) (popular organisation)

Fwon Rezistans pou Refòm Inivèsite leta a (student organisation) BRESTEK (popular organisation)

RAJES (Rasanbleman Jèn pou Avansman Savanèt) (youth organisation)

RERKA (Haitian community radio network)

KONAP (National Coordination of Women's Organisations)

ACO (Catholic Workers' Action)

Fanm Yo La (women's organisation)

RAPL (Rasanbleman Plantè Laskawobas) (peasant organisation)

KPN (Konbit Peyizan Nip) (peasant organisation)

KODENA (Komite Defans Enterè Nasyonal) (popular organisation)

GERDDH (Gwoupman Etidyan pou Respè Demokrasi ak Dwa Moun) (student
organisation)

KORENIP (Kòdinasyon Rejyon Nip) (popular organisation)

FOPOD (Fòs Popilè Delma) (popular organisation)

PAPDA (Platfòm k ap Plede pou yon Devlopman Altènatif) (representing non-governmental organisations (NGOs), unions, and peasant organisations)

KOREGA (Kòdinasyon Rezistans Grandans) (popular organisation)

SAKS (Sosyete Animasyon ak Kominikasyon Sosyal) (popular communications NGO)

KFPN (Konbit Fannm Peyizan Nip) (peasant organisation)

FGPB (Federassyon Gwoupman Peyizan Bèlfontèn) (peasant organisation)

N.G. (Nasyon Ginen)

Translated from Creole by Charles Arthur for the Haiti Support Group.
Source: AlterPresse

(Please note, this post is not written by the Haiti Support Group - it is
forwarded by the Haiti Support Group. It is written by the Regwoupman Demokratik Popilè.)
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Haiti Newsletter #2 Jan. 20, 2004

Pressure from International Agency to Recognise Right to Bargain in Free Trade Zone

The first Haiti Newsletter installment discussed the general situation in Haiti on January 10. Find it posted yesterday. Each number will explore the issues further.

Today's newsletter is a sort of victory announcement for the campaign to defend the rights of a group of Haitian workers to organize into a bargaining unit affiliated with an international labour union.

The Haiti Support Group's campaign in favour of workers' right to unionise in a new free-trade zone bore fruit at last. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has finally approved a loan of US$20 million to Grupo M (the employer) with an explicit condition that the company recognise its employees' freedom of association and collective bargaining rights.

Organizing efforts in a massive new free trade zone development in Ouanaminthe, Haiti (on the Dominican Republic border), led by the International Textile Garment and Leather Workers' Federation, were frustrated by anti-union actions by Grupo M, including threats, discrimination and violence against workers seeking to organise.

To read more, CLICK HERE and a local text file will open.

For more details on this story and the Haiti Support Group campaign see: http://www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org/zonefranche.htm