a1138: Yvon Neptune (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: KawolinA@aol.com

Yvon Neptune
A profile by Radio Soleil d'Haiti, Brooklyn, New York


Last name: Neptune
First Name: Yvon
Date and place of birth: 8 November 1946 in Cavaillon,
a southern
hamlet
located
near Les Cayes, Haiti.

Matrimonial status: Married, three children.
Profession: Architectural engineer


                  On March 5, 2002 Prime
Minister-designate Yvon
Neptune gave
up the presidency of the 47th legislature as he is
getting prepared to
face
his confirmation hearing in the next few days.

              Neptune attended catholic schools until
the ninth grade.
Then
he was admitted to the Philippe Guerrier Public School
in Les Cayes for
grades 10 to 12. After he earned his first
baccalaureate certificate,
like
most students from the provinces,  he went to Port au
Prince, the
capital
city for his last year at the secondary level [French:
philosophie]. He
ended
his secondary studies at Lycee Petion to spend a
preparatory year at
the
School of Sciences in Port-au-Prince.

                  In September 1967, he left Haiti for
the United
States where
he studied architecture for four years. He obtained
his Bachelor in
Science
in 1974.

       While, attending school, he joined a
community-based
organization
called "Rally of Young People" which created a very
positive social
environment for youths of the Haitian Diaspora in New
York.

       He subsequently entered the world of theatre
and music when he
began
his association with some of the best drama ensembles
of the Haitian
community in New York. Among his colleagues were well
known writers,
playwrights and actors such as Denise Lallemand,
Roland Dussec and Otto
Louis-Jacques.

       Some of his stage works included  "Le Roi" (The
King), an
incisive
play written by Michel Philippe Lerebours as well as
the role of
"Tiresias",
the oracle in Antigone in the Creole version adapted
by Haitian great
Felix
Morisseau Leroy.

       Neptune also became a regular with Kwi d'Or
(Golden Calabash), a
cultural group founded by Herve Denis and Syto Cave.
All these cultural
activities reflected sociopolitical and nostalgic
glances at the
beloved
homeland, which was being battered by one of the most
ferocious
dictatorships
in the Caribbean. He opted to continue his studies.

       From 1974 to 1978, he attended the Superior
School of Fine Arts
in
France to finish his architectural studies.


 After the overthrow of Duvalier, he entered the
country with the
purpose of
making a contribution to the construction of
democracy. He took part in
numerous political activities in Haiti as well as
abroad still within
the
framework of this search for a better life for the
people. Meanwhile,
he had
not yet given up his professional activities.




The Activist Radio Journalist and Commentator:

       On the eve of the overthrow of dictatorial
regime of Jean Claude
(Baby Doc) Duvalier, Yvon Neptune and his childhood
friend Joseph Chery
joined the cast of Perspectives Haitiennes, a radio
program founded by
Raynald Louis aired on WNYE (91.5 fm) in New York.
Four years later,
Neptune
became the program director of the weekly show.
Meanwhile, his segment
on
architecture grew into open political commentaries
with the ascendance
of
father Jean-Bertrand Aristide's to reach full fledge
advocacy in the
wake of
the bloody military coup d'état that propelled
President Aristide into
exile.

A few days following the 30 September 1991,  Yvon
Neptune made one of
the
boldest decisions yet of his life: He stopped all his
work as an
independent
architect to join the thousands of Haitians (and
non-Haitians) campaign
to
return the Haitian president to Haiti.

Neptune was then fulfilling quadruple duties as a
radio reporter and
commentator; Every Monday on WBAI (99.5) New York on
"Sak Pase" hosted
by
Michele Karshan: every Tuesday evening on Perspective
Haitiennes: every
Saturday on Radio Éclair (1240 am) New York and every
Saturday and
Sunday,
for three years, with Radyo Nèg Mawon, a radio
collective produced and
co-hosted by Village Voice journalist Jean Jean-Pierre
and broadcast on
short
wave Radio For Peace International, Costa Rica. On
that advocacy show
heard
around the world in Creole and English, Neptune's
commentaries used to
attract listeners from Australia, Japan, Europe to
Gonaives and
Carrefour who
would express their sentiment of approval with tons of
mail.

In 1993, Neptune became a member of Haiti's Watch, a
group created by
Jean
Jean-Pierre. Haiti's Watch, with its other members
Jean Leopold
Dominique,
André Charlier and Michele Karshan, used to respond to
all articles
deemed
erroneous on Haiti, resulting in engendering several
corrections by
some
major U.S. news outlets, including the New York Times.

As a representative of Haiti's Watch, Neptune appeared
on CNN, PBS and
NBC
capturing the attention of Aristide back in
Washington.  The exiled
Haitian
president later invited Neptune to become his
spokesperson upon his
return
in Haiti, a post he introduced in the country for the
first time.

                 Neptune returned to New York at the
end of Aristide
term in
office in 1996.  By then the political bug had already
entered his
system.
Besides, the plan he drew to help his brothers and
sisters built a
better
tomorrow had not been fulfilled.
     So he went back to Haiti to successfully run for
the Senate.
He won overwhelmingly and became the president of
Haiti's Parliament.

Contrary to press reports, Yvon Neptune has never
renounced his Haitian
citizenship.  In fact, according to a U.S. State
Department  Passport
Duty
Officer contacted by the station, the passport number
published in some
Haitian newspapers 035349148 belongs to a US born
citizen who has long
passed on.

Yvon Neptune who hates to be pigeonholed, describes
himself as a
progressive.