This is the 188th diary on the earthquake disaster in Haiti. The first diary was by Dallasdoc and previous diaries are linked below. This is the Justice, Not Charity edition of the diary.
"The Haitian people are asking not for charity, but for justice."
The Uses of Haiti last paragraph pg. 307
What, then is to be done? Speaking of events since the 1991 coup, Noam Chomsky has noted that "honest commentary would place all of this in the context of our unwavering opposition to freedom and human rights in Haiti for no less than 200 years." The first order of business, for citizens of the United States, might be a candid and careful assessment of our ruinous policies towards Haiti. Remorse is not a very fashionable sentiment. But for many, old-fashioned penitence might be the first step towards a new solidarity, a pragmatic solidarity that could supplant both our malignant policies of the past and the well -meaning but unfocused charity that does not respond to Haitian aspirations. The Haitian people are asking not for charity, but for justice.
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This is where Paul Farmer's book The Uses of Haiti ends. This is where our new diary begins. Farmer answers our question- what to do first, "The first order of business, for citizens of the United States, might be a candid and careful assessment of our ruinous policies towards Haiti." that is what this diary will attempt to do (mainly through the discussion that takes place in the comments). Many of us are new to learning about Haiti. But we really want to help. This diary is a place to learn about Haiti, about US policy towards Haiti, and to advocate for Haiti.
Please take a couple of minutes to see/complete (takes 5 minutes) today's action alert directly below today's topic. Join us for today's news discussion and more.
Join us Thursday's for book day : Current book is Damming The Flood: Haiti, Aristide, And The Politics Of Containment, by Peter Hallward: Chapter 3:
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tout moun se moun —
(every human being is a human being)
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Today I am reviewing Chapter 3 of Damming the Flood, titled "2000 - 2001: Aristide and the crisis of democracy".
ELECTIONS AND MONEY
A key, pivotal point in all the troubles that followed was the legislative election held in May, 2000. The turnout was large, around 60%, and the victory by Fanmi Lavalas (Aristide's party) was overwhelming. They won 89 out of 115 mayoral positions, 72 out of the 83 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, and 16 out of the 17 Senate positions which were contested (meaning all but one of the 27 total Senate seats).
The Senate seats were the crux of later problems. In Haiti, a candidate needs to get an absolute majority (50% + 1) to win the seat in one round of voting. In 2000, an unusually large number of Senate seats were contested, two or even three in a given department, and a lot of candidates ran. The country's independent electoral commission (the CEP) put all the candidates for a given department on a single ballot, and voters could vote for the two (or three) of their choice. I think this next bit merits a direct quote.
However, because many voters preferred to vote for only one candidate, and because some other voters spoiled part of their ballot, there was no mathematically perfect way of calculating absolute majorities for any given seat. The CEP decided to simplify and resolve the issue by counting only the actual votes cast for the top four candidates in each departmental district (or the top six, in the department contesting three seats). "This practice followed the precedents of the 1990 and 1995 elections", Concannon points out, and "in those two contests, no candidate complained about the calculation method, nor did the OAS observers" who met regularly with the CEP all through the 2000 pre-election period.
This method of counting the votes meant that eight elections, seven won by Lavalas candidates, were declared on the basis of the first vote, instead of going to a second election. The election of these seven senators was what led to later descriptions of this election as "flawed", "tainted", "disputed", "sham"; even though the seven stepped down.
This provided the pretext for the US to stop all direct aid to Haiti (they had never done so during the reigns of the Duvaliers and the military juntas). The US also blocked all loans from the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank. (However, the Aristide government was compelled to pay interest on the frozen loans - a large item in the miniscule budget that remained to them.)
THE DEMOCRATIC OPPOSITION
OK, time for another block quote.
Almost as soon as the May results were announced, the leaders of most of the vanquished parties formed a loose made-for-media coalition called the Convergence Democratique. (CD). As we shall see, this alliance of far-right and ex-far-left opportunists was held together by something rather more forceful than simply a shared hatred of Aristide. Devised and supervised by the most reactionary wing of the US foreign policy establishemnt, the CD's strategy was based on recognition of a single and self-evident principle: the futility of electoral politics so long as Aristide's FL remained an organized and coherent force. With a touch of poetry, CD leaders Evans Paul and Gerard Pierre-Charles named their alternative option zero.
This was the Haitian version of the Party of No. They refused all overtures from Aristide's government, including numerous offers of power sharing, new elections, offers of seats on a new electoral commission (CEP, remember?), a majority of seats on a new CEP, etc. Aristide made concession after concession, and CD always said NO. (Sound familiar?) Meanwhile, the US, other foreign governments, and the press presented this as a deadlock between two equally legitimate equally stubborn parties.(At best, that is! It was also cast as an illegitimate government running rough-shod over the poor overwhelmed "democratic opposition". See the Senate elections above.) Aristide's government was refused all forms of aid because it could never reach a compromise with CD; all CD had to do to make conditions ruinous was sit on their hands and just keep saying NO. (That sounds kind of familiar, too!)
Then Haiti's economic collapse was blamed on Aristide, who was said to have lied to Haiti about the improvements he would make. (Oh boy does that sound familiar!)
UPCOMING BOOK DIARIES
We are moving the book diaries to Sunday, currently the next one is scheduled for August 15. Do join us then, and read along with us!
Action Alert:
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993 signatures the goal is 1000. This is to stop Haitian's from being evicted from homeless camps. The Petition to stop rape got results, see UN Human Rights Council Resolution: Accelerating efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women: ensuring due diligence in prevention.
Action Alerts:
Aid
Evictions: Stop Forced Evictions of Haiti's Earthquake Victims Institute For Justice & Democracy in Haiti has a petition, here.
The UN and Haitian Government agreed on April 22 to an immediate 3-week moratorium on forced evictions which expired, Thursday, May 13th. Within that period reports of evictions continued. Humanitarian aid, including food, water and sanitation facilities have been cut off in targeted camps (1, 2). In other locations, residents are being harassed and abused by the police. The people most affected by the earthquake, those who have lost their families, homes and livelihoods, now live in fear that they may be violently forced to leave their present settlements without viable options established for relocation (2).
Additional Action Alerts:
TransAfrica Forum
Stand up and be counted (Partners in Health)
HAITI ACTION COMMITTEE ACTION ALERT
Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti
Jubilee USA
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Let the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) know how they are doing. but read this first please.
Contact Us
We want to hear from you.
If you have general questions or comments, please email us at: info@cirh.ht
For press inquiries please contact: press@cirh.ht
Phone number: (509) 25 19 31 31
Damming The Flood, (pg. xxxiv): Mantra from Aristide's 1990 campaign:
"Alone we are week, together we are strong; all together we are Lavalas, the flood [yon se`l nou feb, ansanm nou fo, ansanm nou se Lavalas]."
Aristide
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News Update: See comments for more news:
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TOP STORY:
MUST LISTEN KPFA, Brian Concannon Discusses Haiti’s Upcoming Elections on KPFA’s Flashpoints It starts at 40 minutes into
show.
lash points on KPFA Pacifica Radio
A special report from Kevin Pina on the decision by Wyclef Jean to run for president of Haiti.
Listen to the report that begins at 40:00 minutes into the program.
Guests include:
Brian Concannon, Director, Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
Andre Joseph, Miami-based radio producer and political commentator
Wadner Pierre, Haitian Journalist in Haiti
MUST READ: SF Bay View, Wyclef Jean for president of Haiti? Look beyond the hype:
Fanmi Lavalas has already been banned from the next round of elections, so enter Wyclef Jean. Jean comes from a prominent Haitian family that has virulently opposed Lavalas since the 1990 elections. His uncle is Raymond Joseph – also a rumored presidential candidate – who became Haitian ambassador to the United States under the coup government and remains so today. Kevin Pina writes in "It’s not all about that! Wyclef Jean is fronting in Haiti," Joseph is "the co-publisher of Haiti Observateur, a right-wing rag that has been an apologist for the killers in the Haitian military going back as far as the brutal coup against Aristide in 1991.
"On Oct. 26 [2004] Haitian police entered the pro-Aristide slum of Fort Nationale and summarily executed 13 young men. Wyclef Jean said nothing. On Oct. 28 the Haitian police executed five young men, babies really, in the pro-Aristide slum of Bel Air. Wyclef said nothing. If Wyclef really wants to be part of Haiti’s political dialogue, he would acknowledge these facts. Unfortunately, Wyclef is fronting."
As if to prove it, the Miami Herald reported on Feb. 28, 2010, "Secret polling by foreign powers in search of a new face to lead Haiti’s reconstruction ..." might favor Jean’s candidacy, as someone with sufficient name recognition who could draw enough votes to overcome another Lavalas electoral boycott.
Wyclef Jean supported the 2004 coup. When gun-running former army and death squad members trained by the CIA were overrunning Haiti’s north on Feb. 25, 2004, MTV’s Gideon Yago wrote, "Wyclef Jean voiced his support for Haitian rebels on Wednesday, calling on embattled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to step down and telling his fans in Haiti to ‘keep their head up’ as the country braces itself for possible civil war."
Join us Thursday's for book day : Current book is Damming The Flood: Haiti, Aristide, And The Politics Of Containment, by Peter Hallward: Chapter 3:
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This is our book list so far:
Isabel Allende (h/t Deoliver47):
Island Beneath the Sea
Jean-Bertrand Aristide: In the Parish of the Poor;
Eyes of the Heart
Beverly Bell: Walking on Fire
Edwidge Danticat: Brother, I'm Dying;
The Farming of Bones;
Krik? Krak!;
Breath, Eyes, Memory
Paul Farmer: The Uses of Haiti;
Partner To The Poor: A Paul Farmer Reader;
Getting Haiti Right This Time: The U.S. and the Coup
Peter Hallward: Damming The Flood (2010 updated edition will be out soon. You can
pre-order it now. h/ty NY brit expat published date is 9/6/10)
C.L.R. James: The Black Jacobins, (h/t Deoliver47)
Tracy Kidder: Mountains Beyond Mountains
Maurice Lemoine: Bitter Sugar: Slaves Today in the Caribbean [1985]
Paule Marshall: The Chosen Place, The Timeless People
Timothy T. Schwartz: Travesty in Haiti
Amy Wilentz: The Rainy Season - Haiti after Duvalier
PIH has a new website. They have
recommended reading,
a book list, links to websites with action alerts, and articles.,
videos:
Aristide and the Endless Revolution; Life and Debt; The Agronomist and Poto Mitan.
Any suggestions? We are looking for books, articles, websites where we can get accurate information about Haiti. Please share any information.
I found one. The World Traveler - Haiti page.: This website has links to articles about Haiti and it has excerpts from books including The Uses of Haiti and Damming The Flood.
"Dye mon, gen mon."
Translation: Beyond the mountain is another mountain.
(A proverb of both patience and the recognition of how difficult life in Haiti is.)
ijdh:
Anyone interested in democracy and rights has reason to be interested in Haiti. Over two centuries ago, Haitians challenged the notions of human rights taking root in Europe and the nascent United States, insisting that all people are human and that slavery could have no place in any republic worthy of the name. This was the beginning of the modern human rights movement.
— Paul Farmer, Co-Founder, Partners in Health
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ShelterBox: TexMex is busy moving, but carolina stargazer is still watching the store. The next ShelterBox diary is planned for Tuesday morning, but activity in
diary will be monitored until then.
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Past diaries in this series:
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The World Traveler - Haiti page.: This website has links to articles about Haiti and it has excerpts from books including The Uses of Haiti and Damming The Flood.
Deadly Force, Deadly Fears: How Many More Oscar Grants? this is not a diary about Haiti. But it does shine a light on racist policies affect on communities.
Be sure to also see diaries by Bev Bell for informed ground-level information on Haiti's needs.
FishOutofWater takes a moment to explore the benefits of Partners in Health's commitment to solar powered health centers.
Meteor Blades points the way to a better and more sustainable future for Haitians in Haiti Could Use a New Deal.
As the MSM (in the United States) turns attention away from Haiti, Deoliver47 reminds us that things are not suddenly all better: Raining Disease and More Deaths.
For some good pre-earthquake background on Haiti, see Daisy Cutter's Book Review: "Damming the Flood" by Peter Hallward, pt 1. This diary was published in July 2008 and presents a history of Haiti up to 1999 using Hallward's book as a reference. Excellent.
ShelterBox:carolina stargazer is still watching the store. The next ShelterBox diary is planned for Tuesday morning, but activity in diary will be monitored until then. Matching funds are available.
Thursday is Haiti diary book day. Here is the Book List
UPCOMING DIARIES
Tuesday: *** Open ***
Thursday: Book day - RunawayRose
Sunday: *** Open ***
If you would like to volunteer to contribute a diary to continue this series, please volunteer in the comments below. Norbrook has created a Google documents file with the source code for the first version of the diary with the NGO list. allie123 created a Google doc for the new series Justice, Not Charity. However, because we are cutting back to 2 or 3 diaries a week we will be adding a focus and new information to each diary now.
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The icons and March 13 formatting revision of this diary series are courtesy of the html artist known on Daily Kos as Pluto. The "Help Haiti" image at the top of the diary that has become the "logo" of this series is courtesy of AuntKat. Big thank you to swampus for maintaining the google doc for months.