This is the 204th diary since the earthquake 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."
"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." (The Uses of Haiti P. 307) |
&A big thank you to ny brit expat for editing and much more.
Today's topic:
|
MESSAGE FROM IHRC CO-CHAIRS
As Co-Chairs of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), we invite you to explore this website and learn more about the reconstruction efforts in Haiti.
Established in April 2010 by the Government of Haiti through the leadership of President Préval and the Haitian Parliament, the IHRC reflects a shared vision for the future of Haiti that is rooted in the priorities of the Haitian people, marked by transparency, implemented in partnership with friends of Haiti, focused on quickly providing improvements in the lives of Haitians, and informed by reconstruction experiences in other countries.
With the engagement of international donors, businesses, investors, non-governmental organizations, and Haitians living abroad, and fueled by Haiti’s unique combination of values, resources, advantages, and ingenuity, we are confident the IHRC can help achieve the vision that Haitians have for the future of their country.
- Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and President Bill Clinton
The commission is made up of 13 foreigners and 13 Haitians. For foreigners to be eligible to sit on the commission they have to have donated at least $100 million. I do not know how the 13 Haitians were selected.
For more information about Bill Clinton and why he should never have been chosen to co-chair Haiti's Recover Commission, see, here and here.
"The austerity program that in the summer of 1994 Aristide was obliged to accept in exchange for an end to military rule and FRAPH intimidation was designed, in the words of one of the main authors of that program, to redistribute some wealth from the poor to the rich." (Damming The Flood, P.55)
"...in the words of one of the main authors of that program, to redistribute some wealth from the poor to the rich."
Bel dan pa di zanmi
(Just because someone is smiling at you doesn't mean they're your friend) |
The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (CIRH) co-chaired by Clinton & Bellerive is making some unsavory deals. Of the 26 members of the Commission, there are 13 foreigners and 13 Haitians drawn from Haiti's tiny class of elites. One of which
Reginald Boulos was a backer of both coups against Aristide. Another member
Garry Lissade, the former lawyer for Cedras during the 1993 Governor's Island post-coup negotiations.
Correction:Different Luis Moreno - One of the foreigners is Luis Alberto Moreno, [
this is not correct different person. IADB, who played a role in 2nd coup (he "accompanied" Aristide to the airport)]. - Sorry for mistake.
As we will see, members are busy enriching their friends. Reginald Boulos is a truly disgustingly vile immoral man; he and his family are actually responsible for children dying (more later). Clinton is giving Boulos' long time colleagues in the Mevs family a huge contract. These people do not have clean hands, the Mevs' and Boulos' have serious scandals in their past business dealings; so literally we are putting the foxes in charge of the hen-house and these foxes have already become fat on the blood of the Haitian poor.
There is also an appalling lack of transparency. It is a commission where foreign members had to buy their seat (I am unable to find how the 13 Haitians were selected for the commission). In order for foreigners to gain a seat on the commission they would need to have donated at least $100 million or forgiven $200 million in debt. A seat on the commission means access to the billions of dollars in aid money for contracts and it means having a say in how Haiti is rebuilt.
In the mean time, the 1.5 million Haitians living in camps have been forgotten. It is as if they don't really exist. They have no voice. The 2004 coup proves it, because the US’, France’, Canada’ and Haiti's domestic elite disinformation campaign was a huge success. After all, most people around the world believe Aristide resigned because his own people rebelled against his violent, corrupt dictatorship; the only people who know the truth are Haitian voters and, obviously, they don't count.
Our results indicate that aid has slowed and even stopped in each of the six camps surveyed, making life far worse for most of the families. (P.1)
snip
People are not consulted about their needs and aid has trickled to a halt in most camps. People cannot find enough to eat and there are limited opportunities for people to work and support their families. The recurrent threat of eviction only adds to stress. Despite the massive outpouring of international aid, in the words of one man, “it’s as if we are forgotten.” (P.2)
"...in the words of one of the main authors of that program, to redistribute some wealth from the poor to the rich."
One major project of this commission is the construction of an hotel built near the airport in Port au Prince. According to Clinton this is great news. He tells us on Meet The Press there are plans for more hotels (video below). The priorities of the rich are telling. The Mevs family apparently has land available for a hotel "'The idea is this: To rebuild Haiti you are going to need engineers and business people and they are going to need a place to stay,' said Edmund Miller, another partner in the project." This relies upon the idea that obviously those responsible for the projects will all be foreigners whose needs seem to be more important than the large number of Haitians that are still living in refugee camps and whom the money that was donated was supposed to help.
People do need a decent place to sleep, but what are the priorities for the commission; covering the wealthy or the needs of the many whose situation becomes more and more desperate by the day, what about their decent place to sleep? Moreover, Clinton doesn't mention that the Boulos' and Mevs' are two of the most prominent elite families in Haiti. And they both supported the coup and are involved in a number of serious business scandals (more about that below). The people whom the aid money is intended for, well, the IDPs are told by the Red Cross and other Poverty industry NGOs that they are saving the aid money for long-term projects while they remain homeless, hungry and forgotten. (I am sure that the interest that the NGOs are collecting on the aid money has nothing to do with their desire to help with long-term projects.)
Luxury hotel planned near Haiti airport
About a third of the funding for the currently unnamed hotel will come from private investors including Argentine energy mogul and developer Ronaldo Gonzalez-Bunster and Haiti's powerful Mevs family, which owns the property. The rest will be requested from lending organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank, said Miller.
The Mevs have no land to help the 1.5 million homeless, but they have plenty of land to build hotels. Why doesn't Clinton or other US Officials ask the elites to work out land deals with the Haitian government? Clinton and other US officials have more pull with the elites then the Haitian government does.
"Haiti's ruling class became in the nineteenth century what it remains to this day - a parasitic clique of medium-sized and authoritarian land-owners on the one hand, combined in uneasy alliance with an equally parasitic though more "outward-looking" assemblage of importers, merchants and professionals." (P13 Damming The Flood)
|
Clinton's priorities are to build luxury hotels for vulture capitalists that go to Haiti to do jobs that should be given to Haitians because they obviously can't stay in the horrid camps in which displaced Haitians live. The aid after all is to make Clinton and his buddies more money, of course.
Luxury hotel planned near Haiti airport
One of Haiti's most powerful families and an Argentine entrepreneur are swiftly trying to build a state-of-the-art hotel in the Port-au-Prince area, marking the latest effort to house visitors involved in post-earthquake reconstruction. "The idea is this: To rebuild Haiti you are going to need engineers and business people and they are going to need a place to stay,'' said Edmund Miller, another partner in the project. ``What place makes the most sense? That's at the airport and not up in Petionville. Hopefully, this will help get the reconstruction going.''
Two Major Caribbean Organizations Join to Develop Haiti's First Airport Hotel
For additional information about the project, please contact Edmund Miller at 305.987.0995.
About Rolando Gonzalez-Bunster
Rolando Gonzalez-Bunster is President & CEO of Basic Energy Ltd., an international electrical power company. Mr. Gonzalez-Bunster is engaged in diversified agribusiness and is currently a principal in several projects in Argentina, Paraguay and Dominican Republic. He is a partner in Remington Realty, a Texas based commercial real estate holding company and AquaCube, a Scottish manufacturer of portable water treatment and purification plants. Gonzalez-Bunster is a Trustee of the William J. Clinton Foundation and a member of the Clinton Global Initiative.
About WIN Group
The Haiti-based, Mevs family-held WIN Group is one of the Caribbean's largest conglomerates with stakes in diverse industries such as warehousing and storage, port operations and ethanol processing. WIN's holdings include SHODECOSA, the largest privately-owned industrial and commercial park in Haiti, Varreux Terminal, the largest privately-owned general cargo shipping terminal, and WINECO, the largest liquid bulk storage facility, among other enterprises. The fourth generation family has always had a significant impact on the country through its social service-based endeavors, and actively supports numerous organizations providing both immediate relief, and long-term infrastructure development.
Clinton's commission has some interesting characters on it, indeed. This week we will look at the Boulos family, because Clinton is backing the Hotel project for the Boulos' good friends, the Mevs. Next week we will look at another member, Garry Lissade, the former lawyer for Cedras during the 1993 Governor's Island post-coup negotiations.
THE MORALLY REPUGNANT ELITE (MRE)
Reginald Boulos
"This is what the earthquake is today
-an opportunity, a huge opportunity"
-Reginald Boulos
Haiti's Elite Eyes Profits as Millions Face Disease and Hunger by Bill Van Auken 2/16/10
Haiti’s wealthy ruling elite—together with US-based corporations—are salivating over the prospects for increased riches and big profits off of post-earthquake reconstruction as millions of working class and poor people are facing the threat of starvation and infectious epidemics that could easily push an already horrendous death toll up by hundreds of thousands more.
it gets much worse...
Reginald's brother, Rudolph Boulos, owns a company that is infamous for poisoning children:
"The G184's Powerbrokers - Apaid and Boulos: Owners of the Fourth Estate; Leaders of the Fifth Column"
infamous throughout Haiti for having sold a poisonous, cough syrup that killed 88 children in 1996 when it was “distributed throughout poor neighborhoods of the capital.
That is not all: Now his family company experiments on babies:
Another incident “victimizing innocent Haitian children and implicating Dr. Reginald Boulos,” occurred in the early 1990s when more than 2,000 babies in Cité Soleil, a dirt-poor Port- au-Prince area, were given an experimental measles vaccine up to “500 times” stronger than “normal.” This “U.S. government test” was conducted by the U.S.-funded Centres pour le Développement et la Santé (CDS), which Boulos then headed. The result was a “higher than expected death rate,” though “how many Haitian babies died as a result” is unknown.
And then this man's family company has experimented:
This was not the only time that Boulos’ CDS used the dirt-poor people of Cité Soleil as medical guinea pigs. Many women in this pro-Aristide area “suffered extremely severe side effects” when, “without...informed con-sent,” CDS used them to test a subdural contraceptive called Norplant.
This is a man's family company that has experimented on poor Haitian children and women using medication and contraceptive treatments. He must be one of the worst people on the planet. He's up there with Cheney. Where's Olbermann? Boulos should be a worst person. And Clinton is working with him and representing him, not the vast majority of the poor. Even more so, Clinton does have a prior relationship with him. When Clinton returned Aristide to Haiti in 1994, Clinton went out of his way to patronize the Boulos' and Mevs.'
On arrival in Haiti, US troops cooperated closely with leading pro-coup families in the business elite like the Mevs and the Boulos, renting their facilities, investing in their infrastructure, hiring their personnel. (Damming The Flood, P.51)
The US, IC and elites wanted to discredit President Aristide. One of the allegations they mead against him was that he was violent and compared him to the Duvaleir's. Since there was no evidence of this, because it is totally false, Aristides opponents would try to attach the murders of two journalists to him.
Rudolph is Reginald's brother
Dominique's fearless denunciation of Macoutisme in all its forms had alienated him from most member of his own class, and by 2000 he had many enemies among the Duvalierist and the business elite. Perhaps the most prominent of these enemies was the magnate Rudolph Boulos, who along with Pezzullo and Carney in 2002 would become the founder of the Haiti Democracy Project (a group for whom "justice for Jean" would become something of a sacred quest). Boulos' company Pharval Pharmaceuticals was responsible for concocting poisoned cough syrups which killed of 70 children in 1996, and Dominique stubbornly kept the story at the forefront of the news. Just as stubbornly, Dominique implicated both the Boulos and the Mevs families in another scandal, the manufacture of contaminated alcohol which poisoned dozens of peasants in the southern part of the country. (Damming The Flood, P.157)
One of the IRI's most prominent and influential partners was the so-called Haiti Democracy Project (HDP), an organization launched with great fanfare at the Brookings institute in Washington in November 2002. The HDP provided reactionary Haitian civil society groups with an impeccably well-connected international public relations team. The list of its members and associates includes many of the big-hitters of the rightwing American and Haitian-American political establishment. Along with IRI money, much of its funding comes from founder industrialist Rudolph Boulos. Like his brother Reginald (head of the Haitian Chamber of Commerce), Dr. Rudolph Boulos has long been a dominant figure in the Haitian business community. His various commercial interests include Pharval Pharmaceuticals (responsible for the manufacture in 1996 of contaminated medicines which led to the deaths of some 70 children) and his political connections extend backwards to FRAPH and the post Lavalas gangs in Cite Soleil. Other founding members of the HDP include Timothy Carney (US ambassador to Haiti 1998 - 99 and again in 2005 - 06), Lawrence Pezzullo (Clinton's special envoy to Haiti 1993 - 1994), Orlando Marville (chief of the OAS electoral mission that tried to discredit the May 2000 elections), Lionel Delatour (of the aggressively neo-liberal Center for Free Enterprise and Democracy, a prominent USAID grantee), and Boulos' old friend Ira Lowenthal (a leading figure in the early development of the democratic opposition to the Lavalas via PIRED and several other USAID - funded democracy enhancement programs, including Associated in Rural Development... (Damming The Flood, P.99)
A glimpse of the Boulos' USAID funded health centers:
During the first coup, powerful and well-connected local magnates Reginald and Rudolph Boulos could operate quite successfully in a place like Citè Soleil through a combination of carrots like their USAID funded health clinics (the Centers for Health and Development, or CDS) and sticks like FRAPH and FAdH: FRAPH provided the necessary security, while the CDS provided useful intelligence and valuable political leverage for "Mister Citè Soleil." Writing in December 1994, Jane Regan observed that "CDS has had FRAPH members including those accused of brutal murders on its payroll. CDS operates 12 health centers around the country and received at least $4 million in AID funding last year. It also has a database which includes records on most of the 180,000 residents of the poor, staunchly pro-Aristide neighborhood of Cite Soleil and is directed by Dr Reginald Boulos, a close associated of Marc Bazin, the presidential candidate the US had supported against Aristide in the 1990 election. According to residents, CDS, which offers the only health care in the area, turned away people who admitted to voting for Aristide in the 1990 elections." A major threshold was crossed, when Aristide came back and disbanded the army. Angry Lavalas protests against CDS and FRAPH forced Boulos on the defensive, and by the time of popular backlash against the 28 July 2001 attacks his network of clinics was reduced to a shadow of its former self. Shortly after the 17 December 2001 attack the government took over the running of its largest remaining clinic, the Saint-Catherine Hospital. For the next couple of years, Cite Soleil was a no-go for Boulos and other like-minded industrialists, notably Andy Apaid and Charles Baker. Pending the arrival of a more "security-conscious" government, the only solution was to try demonize pro-Lavalas groups while trying to enlist some of local gang-members to the anti-governmenet cause. Slowly but surely this strategy began to pay off in the summer of 1003, mainly in the Boston area of the Citè; I'll come back to this in chapter 11. Although it's difficult to measure these things with any precision, such recruitments, in combination with increasingly desperate levels of poverty and demographic pressure, us one of the most important factors behind the resurgence of violence on the streets of Port-au-Prince over the course of the past few years. (Damming The Flood, P.163-164)
When Clinton speaks of working with Haitians he is speaking of working with members of Haiti's ruling class, or as referred to by a well known writer, the morally repugnant elite (MRE). As an understatement, they do not represent the interests of the vast majority of Haitians.
Just a brief summary about the Mevs. I will look into them more, but for now, it doesn't look good. We know the Mevs were one of the biggest backers of the coup.
During the summer of 1991, some of these thieves led by the most powerful families in the country -- the Brands, the Mevs, the Apaids, and Nadals -- began collecting the millions of dollars they would need in order to pay the army to conduct another coup. (Damming The Flood, P.34)
Clinton’s commission is backing a hotel being built by an elite family, the Mevs, some of the biggest coup supporters and thieves. And Clinton is going to help them get Aid money!!
I can't say this is worse, but it isn't good:
Aristide resisted privatization and threatened his cabinet members with jail if they tried to do it. The US suspended all aid to Haiti and made sure that the IFIs suspend all promised aid and loans to Haiti. This had devastating consequences. Because Aristide was committed to helping the majority of Haitians, that were living in dire poverty, he refused to privatize any state enterprises. Ever since the mid 1980s, the US has been intensifying its demands on Haiti for structural adjustment. Aristide was determined not to repeat what happened when the state owned sugar mill was privatized in 1987 under Namphry. A single elite family (the Mevs) bought it, then quickly closed it, and laid off its employees. It had been a profitable mill and provided jobs and locally produced sugar.
The issue had been high on the transnational agenda for Haiti ever since the intensification of structural adjustment in the mid - 1980s. In 1987 (under Namphry) the state - run sugar mill had been privatized in exactly the way Aristide was determined to avoid. It was bought by a single wealthy family (the Mevs) who promptly closed it, laid off its staff and began importing cheaper sugar from the US and the Dominican Republic so as to sell it on at prices that undercut the domestic market. Once the world's most profitable sugar exporter, by 1995 Haiti was importing 25,000 tons of American sugar and most people could no longer afford to buy it. The state assets and utilities not only earn significant revenues while providing local goods and services under equitable conditions, they also offer (through the recruitment of thousands of public sector employees) one of the only significant ways a cash-strapped government can make limited progress towards affirmative action and redistribution of wealth. The ports and telecommunications company alone employ around 8,000 people, and account for a substantial portion of what little leverage the government still retains in its permanent struggle with a predatory private sector. On 10 May 1996 Aristide echoed what his supporters had been saying for months when he openly denounced the IMF's version of privatization, arguing that such moves have never "improved the lot of citizens of any country." (Damming The Flood, Pg. 58-59)
Clinton may have apologized for his neoliberal policies that destroyed Haiti's farm economy, however, that does not stop Clinton from continuing to push (unfortunately successfully) the same destructive failed policies (see the HOPE bill). The HOPE legislation gives corporations duty free access to the US market. This along with Clinton's opposition to increasing Haiti's minimum wage to $5 a DAY ensures that corporations continue to exploit Haiti for cheap labor. The Bill also allows the companies to repatriate 100% of the profit. The jobs pay such low wages that they do not boost Haiti's economy. Furthermore, because Clinton uses Haiti's poverty as leverage to attract business there is no moving up to better positions in the company. It is the race to the bottom. Clinton continues to support and even celebrate sweatshops and pillage Haiti with his commission. The 'American Plan' was designed by the US to destroy Haiti's farm economy, thereby forcing Haitians to compete for sweatshop jobs. This policy was to use Haiti's "advantage of poverty” to provide cheap labor for US and International Corporations (mainly in the garment industry). The US would move their factories and sweatshop jobs to Haiti where they could exploit the cheap labor and take advantage of the lack of regulation, unions and minimal taxes and tariffs. This was imposed on Haiti by US policy makers and implemented by the USAID, IMF and IFI's "restructuring" programs. Supposedly this was to provide jobs for Haitians. This deliberate plan - to destroy Haiti's farm economy to open the Haitian market to US agricultural industries and to provide US corporations with cheap labor is well documented. The US forced Haiti to reduce or eliminate tariffs. Haiti was not allowed to subsidize its farmers. The US, on the other hand, heavily subsidized its own farmers. These subsidies, along with the low tariffs, allowed US agricultural industries to sell products for much less money. Rice is Haiti's staple food. The US dumped cheap rice in Haiti and Haiti's small farmers could not compete. So Haiti went from being able to feed itself "but poor" to starving and poor. (pg. 5) "By 1995 the subsidies provided by the US to its domestic rice industry had risen to around 40% of its retail value, but in that same year the Haitian government was forced to cut the tariff on foreign rice to just 3%. Previously self-sufficient in rice, Haiti is now flooded with subsidized American rice that trades at around 70% of the price of its indigenous competition.... Domestic production is undercut even more by the vast amounts of additional ‘free’ American rice that are dumped on Haiti every year through the ministry of USAID grantees,..." As footnote: (Clinton apologized in 2010 to Haiti for his trade policy that destroyed Haiti's ability to feed itself. He said that his policy may have been good for the farmers in Arkansas but they hurt Haiti. However he still advocates for and did not apologize for the sweatshop trade bills).
We can examine the commission's record so far:
Clinton waited 5 months to hold the first meeting. And it was held behind closed doors. He gave out $20 million in contracts. The applications to apply for contracts were all written in English. The conditions at the camps are heartbreaking and INFURIATING to those of us who have followed this situation. The conditions at many of the camps are getting worse, not better. I remember when even skeptics had some hope that "build back better" was more than an empty slogan. Now I hear it, and I just feel sad, knowing that it doesn't have to be this way. It is not over, yet. But things look bad.
Foreign-Led Commission Now Governs Haiti
The majority of members on the CIRH are foreign. The criterion for becoming a foreign voting member is that the institution has contributed at least $100 million during two consecutive years, or has cancelled at least $200 million in debt. Others who have given less may share a seat. The Organization of American States and non-governmental organizations working in Haiti do not have a vote.
I know the the story goes that Clinton heroically returns Democracy to Haiti by having the army return Aristide to Haiti in 1994. On October 12, 1994, Aristide returned to Haiti escorted by about 20,000 US Marines. At the time, President Clinton was feeling the heat from the African American community. He, unlike his predecessor, depended on African American votes. Returning Aristide to Haiti was ideal for Clinton. He became known as the President who restored democracy to Haiti. He had pictures of US Marines escorting Aristide back to Haiti. The fact that Clinton could have returned Aristide at any time previously with a simple phone call isn't widely known. Aristide returned to office with a new pro-US businessman Prime Minister, Smarck Michel, and with the Clinton Administration keeping a tight grip on him. " On arrival in Haiti, US troops cooperated closely with leading pro-coup families in the business elite like the Mevs and the Boulos, renting their facilities, investing in their infrastructure, hiring their personnel."(Damming The Flood, P.51) Clinton also refused to disarm the death squad FRAPH.
To induce Aristide to accept these things and to placate the army that had overthrown him the Bush and Clinton administrations had an equally simple strategy -- they colluded in the killing of his supporters. All through the interminable negotiations between Aristide and Cedras , explains Allan Nairn, 'the US had a very clear, systematic policy of supporting the forces of terror in Haiti while at the same time, back in Washington, twisting Aristide's arm. He had a gun to his head, figuratively, just as his supporters had guns to their heads literally. It was outright political extortion. (Damming The Flood, P. 48)
Two further developments shaped the course of 1995. On one hand, US pressure on privatization and other forms of structural adjustment intensified, a renewal of old USAID priorities with a newly humanitarian face. Following fast on the heels of the Marines came the shock troops of what Jane Regan accurately described as a "more permanent, less reversible invasion" - the IFIs, USAID, the US National Endowment for Democracy and a plethora of liberally funded technocrats and NGOs. All these divergent agencies were authorized by their donors to bypass the elected government and to invest directly in a wide range of development projects designed
to impose a neo - liberal economic agenda, to undermine grassroots participatory democracy, to create political stability conducive to a good business climate, and to bring Haiti in to the new world order appendaged to the US as a source for markets and cheap labor. As in other countries, this democracy promotion industry will support those projects and people willing to go along with its agenda and will mold them into a center, In the crude old days, grassroots organizers un - willing to be co - opted would have been tortured or killed. Now, they will simply be marginalized by poverty and lack of political clout.
(Damming The Flood, Pg. 60)
Clinton loves sweatshops:
Haiti's Disaster Capitalists Swoop In
The reasonable course would seem obvious: Sort out the legalities and the who-owns-what before ripping down tents and moving the stricken, the sick, and the dying out of the camps. But in March, President René Préval, under pressure from landowners and business elites, ordered aid groups to discontinue food services (though some limited distribution to pregnant women and children continued). This was seen as a move designed to put pressure on camps to disband.
In the absence of government leadership on this issue, businesses and NGOs are filling the gaps—and exploiting the situation. For instance, Nabatec, a consortium owned by some of Haiti's most powerful families, and World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization, plan to build a new city of 300,000 displaced Haitians, complete with garment factories, homes, stores, and restaurants. This new business zone will be in Corail Cesselesse, about nine miles from Port-au-Prince. Nabatec owns the land where the refugees will live, and stands to gain a chunk of the $7 million dollars the Haitian government plans to pay landowners who've given up property for the site.
Now to be fair, Clinton was better than Bush II. He may have, however, been worse or at least as bad as Bush I. I keep talking about Clinton because he is playing such a big role in Haiti's recovery and he is pushing sweatshops.
"Beat the Dog Too Hard" Haiti's Elections
An excellent article by Mark Schuller about the dire effects of "structural adjustment" that, Clinton forced Aristide to agree to, on Haitians and it mentions Charles-Henri Baker is running for President again
One of the eight primary industrialist families, presidential candidate Charles-Henri Baker, allegedly sent a pink slip to 300 workers, saying they would be fired the day that the 200 goud minimum wage law is put in effect.
tout moun se moun
(every human being is a human being) |
Action Alert: Election:
The International Community Should Support Prompt and Fair Elections.
Elections that forbid the presence and participation of FL are essentially undemocratic and disenfranchising the choice of the vast majority of Haitians (h/t ny brit expat). The US and International Community should not fund illegitimate elections.
It is like the Democratic Party being excluded from our upcoming midterm elections.
To stand in solidarity with Haiti at this crucial time, please contact US government officials, your local
senators, and representatives and tell them not to fund illegitimate elections that Lavalas must be allowed to
participate in free, democratic elections. The US should withhold aid for the elections unless the ban is lifted.
The ban on Lavalas in the upcoming elections must be revoked.
White House: 202-456-1111
Email at www.whitehouse.gov
US State Department: 202-647-4000
Congressional switchboard: 202-224-3121
|
Additional Action Alerts:
|
Let The People Have A Voice
Let The People Have A Choice.
Take Your Hands Off Haiti's Throat.
Get Out The Way And Let Them Vote.
We're No Better, Equal, Just.
Demean What We Say If It's Broken Trust.
Haiti For Haitians, Like All Other Nations!
by renzo capetti
|
For more information about Bill Clinton and why he should never have been chose to co-chair Haiti's Recover Commission, see,
here.
Mantra from Aristide's 1990 campaign:
"Alone we are weak, together we are strong; all together we are Lavalas, the flood [yon se`l nou feb, ansanm nou fo, ansanm nou se Lavalas]."
Aristide Damming The Flood, (pg. xxxiv)
|
Sources We Like
|
|
Piti, piti, zwazo fe nich li
(Little by little the bird builds its nest)
Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti
"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
|
|
Elections
"Our rulers, notes Aristide's prime minister Yvon Neptune, still 'want a democracy without the people,' but rather than simply exclude them from politics today's goal is instead 'to reduce the people to puppets or clowns.'" (Damming The Flood, P XXXIII)
Haiti Liberté editorial on political situation, upcoming election |
The International Community Should Pressure the Haitian Government for Prompt and Fair Elections (IJDH) |
The International Republican Institute: Promulgating Democracy of Another Variety |
U.S. Gvt. Channels Millions Through National Endowment for Democracy to Fund Anti-Lavalas Groups in Haiti Amy Goodman interview's Anthony Fenton about the US funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED) it was created by Reagan in the 80's ostensibly to promote Democracy. What it does is funnel huge amount of money to anti-Lavalas groups. Most large NGOs have become arms of the CIA. They are easy for the US to control because large NGOs make a living off poverty. |
November Election in Haiti: The Silent Coup: The Silent Coup in Haiti P.1 of 2 9/19/2010 interview conducted by Darren Ell, with Concannon, Ives, and others . It covers the state of the Lavalas movement, the Nov 2010 election and more. -- P.2 |
The Untold Story of Aristide's Departure from Haiti, By KEVIN PINA 10/11/04 covers: Aristides second term; the 2000 election which was initially applauded by the IC as Haiti's best election, but was soon delegitimized by the "democratic opposition," the US, and IC. It covers the destabilization program & the coup. |
What’s At Stake in Haiti’s December 3, 2006 Elections: the ASEC System |
Haiti: No Leadership — No Elections (U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations) |
Haiti’s elections won’t relieve misery |
Unfair and undemocratic |
"Beat the Dog Too Hard" Haiti's Elections, By MARK SCHULLER covers election day and the empty streets and polling places. And he covers clintons devastating neoliberal plan for Haiti. He mentions Charles Baker who is currently running for president. |
IJDH-Elections IJDH has the bes election coverage around there are links to new and old articles and there are reports that explain Haiti's election system. They do amazing work. My favorite NGO |
With Date for Elections Set, Next Step is to Ensure Full Participation |
Elections Without Voters: Eroding Participation in Haiti |
Elusive Victories in Haiti |
Letter to Secretary Clinton Urging “Free, Fair and Inclusive” Elections in Haiti IJDH & other organizations write letter to Clinton re Nov 28, 2010 election. |
Haiti election commission under scrutiny for ties to President René Préval There are rumors that Preval told the CEP panel who to exclude from the 11/28/2010 election. |
Selection, or Election? The Monitor Describes the CEP's Troubling Exclusion of Fanmi Lavalas et al explains why the 2010 election as planned is a shame election. It links to some other must read articles. |
List of candidates here.
|
Aid
UNDERSTANDING HAITI STARTS WITH ACCURATE INFORMATION |
|
- Must see VIDEO
-
- Change Haiti Can Believe In
- Amy Goodman led a panel discussion about US-Haiti policy, Haiti's history, and what we can do to assist Haitians in their fight for justice -- The panel includes Paul Farmer Co/Founder of PIH, Brian Concannon Found of IJDH, Mat Damon, State Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry. You can watch the whole program, or if you are short on time pick a 10 minute segment to watch. This video especially the parts with Brian Concannon are a large part of what got me so interested in helping put a stop to my governments oppression of Haitians.
- Haiti Dreaming for More Than $3 a day Watch
- this is an excellent short video about how neoliberalism has destroyed Haiti's farm economy and what can be done differently.
- Life and Debt
- this award winning documentary about the impact that US neoliberal trade policy has had. It focus' on Jamaica but applies doubly to Haiti. This is a Must See. It is sometimes available on Youtube.
- Edwidge Danticat on US immigration detentions 60 minutes
-
- Haiti: Toto Constant Talks About CIA vs. Aristide
- this short video has clips from a 60 minute interview with Emmanuel Toto Constant who worked for the CIA and was the leader of the vicious death squad FRAPH. The full interview is not available. I purchased the transcript from CBS News but they have strict copyright rules and would not even sell me the actual video. If anyone has it please share.
- Jeremy Scahill on Democracy Now! responds to Clinton being appointed as UN envoy to Haiti Jeremy Scahill sums up Clinton's vicious Haiti policy in about 2 minutes. I love this video.
-
Join us Sunday's for book day : Current book is Damming The Flood: Haiti, Aristide, And The Politics Of Containment, by Peter Hallward: Chapter 6: You can see our book list is here.
|
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti:
Mission
We strive to work with the people of Haiti in their non-violent struggle for the consolidation of constitutional democracy, jus tice and human rights, by distributing objective and accurate information on human rights conditions in Haiti, pursuing legal cases, and cooperating with human rights and solidarity groups in Haiti and abroad.
IJDH draws on its founders’ internationally-acclaimed success accompanying Haiti’s poor majority in the fields of law, medicine and social justice activism. We seek the restoration of the rule of law and democracy in the short term, and work for the long-term sustainable change necessary to avert Haiti’s next crisis.
"IJDH is simply the most reliable source for information and analysis on human rights in
Haiti." — Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
|
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti: |