12611: Help prevent genocide in Haiti (Saint-Vil) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Jean Saint-Vil <jafrikayiti@hotmail.com>

Dear all,

I know racism, especially overt US racism and that of global white supremacy
against the people of Haiti is a taboo subject for many on this list.
However, I would never forgive myself if I caved in to the pressure of those
who espouse a round-about way or no way at all to point to the evil that is
destroying my nation. So here it is, as honestly as I could and as bluntly
as I believe Bob will allow us to discuss this urgent matter here.

I hope you will find it worthwhile not only to read this through but also to
kindly point any inaccuracy to me so that I may correct and improve the
text. As, my intention is to send an all out call for help to every
freedom-loving people of this planet having internet access - before the
fire now burning in Gonayiv spreads to the entire nation.

So, anyone able to send me an e-mail list of brave souls such as the Dick
Gregory, Jonathan Demme, Dany Glover, Randall Robinson, Spike Lee or Bono's
of this world would receive my eternal gratitude. People we are fast running
out of time!

-------------
The People of Haiti versus White Supremacy International -
which side are you on ?

by Jafrikayiti, August 2002

«The history of the abuse of Haiti, which in our lifetime has become a
tragedy,  is also the story of Western civilization's racism.»
Eduardo Galeano in  Haiti, Despised by All, World Press Review, December
1996

« Haiti was the world's first independent Black republic. It won that
independence in a bloody revolt of slaves, who prevailed against the three
dominant European militaries. This shattered the myth of white supremacy at
a time when slave labor was still the economic foundation of every
surrounding country, to include the new United States. As punishment, Haiti
has been attacked, exploited, and vilified every since.»
Stan Goff  (former U.S. soldier) in Haiti? The IMF?, 19 April 2000
(http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/184.html)


Today, I assume the responsibility of writing this piece with the hope that
it will properly inform “those who knew not” about the truly horrendous hate
crime being committed against the freedom-loving people of Haiti; motivate
“those who do know but feel powerless” so they may boldly come out of
lethargy and break their silent complicity; inspire and motivate “those who
are already engaged on the good side” so they may garner more strength; and,
finally and more importantly, I write these words to cry out for all to hear
an URGENT and loud warning – so that, if at all possible, the train of the
announced 2002 Haitian genocide be derailed BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!

Dear fellow human being, my intent here is not to attempt to convince you of
the urgency of this call with my own analysis or with my own ideological
proesse. So, I will simply lay out the bare FACTS and let you decide for
yourself whether or not we are indeed witnessing a deadly struggle between
the Haitian people and an international network of white supremacists. And,
depending on your own conclusions, you may or may not decide to pick your
side.

However, before going through this list of facts – some of which you may
indeed find surprising, it is wise to heed the warning of Dr. Paul Farmer:
“It is my view that the mainstream US media have consistently misrepresented
Haiti and Haitians. When I say "consistently" I mean for centuries! The old
forms of misrepresentation are now easy to dismiss [as] vulgar racism. But
the new forms are no better”


Chronology of the Haitian People’s Struggle against White Supremacy
International

1492- early 1500’s  Original Arawak-speaking Tainos population (over 1
million) wiped out by Spanish invaders ( Fouchard, Les Marrons de la liberté
(LML), 1972)

1499-1791 Africans maintained into racial slavery on the island by Europeans
– using unspeakable means of torture and oppression ( Fouchard, LML, 1972)

1791- 1803 On November 18, 1803, Battle of Vertières won by Africans against
Napoléon Bonaparte’s large expedition to Haiti. The 12 year-old uprising of
Africans enslaved on the island culminates in successive and definitive
victories for the Africans over the armed forces of Britain, Spain and
France.

1804 (January 1) Haiti declares its independence and becomes the very first
nation of the continent to banish slavery and the second, after the United
States, to form an independent republic.

1805 	Calling for “Western” [white supremacist ] solidarity , the French
foreign minister Prince Charles Talleyrand wrote to U.S Secretary of State
James Madison, “The existence of a Negro people in arms, occupying a country
it has soiled by the most criminal acts, is a horrible spectacle for all
white nations.” The United States banned trade with Haiti in 1806 and
renewed its embargo in 1807 and 1809.  (Bellegarde-Smith, Haiti: The
Breached Citadel (HBC) p 49)

1815-1816	Simon Bolivar visits Haiti twice and receives military assistance
for South American Liberation. In March 1816 Bolivar left Haiti with men,
money, munitions, weapons, and a small press for printing South American
revolutionary literature and the proclamation abolishing slaves. Bolivar
began by freeing his own 1500 slaves, Haiti’s only demand (HBC, p50).

1825  French king Charles X crippled the young black Republic of Haiti with
an outrageous “ransom for recognition” of 150 million Francs, which he
justified as “indemnity to former slave owners for loss of their property”.
In 1922, the last payment was made on the 60 million Francs eventually
extorted from the Haitians by France.

1826 	Anti-Haitian hysteria created serious misgivings in the U.S.A about
its participation in the first inter-American conclave, the Panama Congress
of 1826, until Haiti’s invitation to attend was withdrawn under U.S.
Pressure despite the assistance Haiti had given to Latin American
independence movements. (HBC, p50)

1838  	France recognizes Haitian independence with initial payments on
multi-million Francs ransonm

1857-1900 	U.S.A. intervenes 19 times in Haitian affairs (HBC, p183)

1861 	Spanish gun-boat diplomacy against Haiti (HBC, p183)

1862 – End of “legalized” racial slavery in the United States of America and
formal diplomatic recognition by that nation of the Republic of Haiti.

1861-1865 – Spain annexes the Dominican Republic: Fearing a return of
slavery on the island, Haiti helps the Dominican Republic to regain its
independence (HBC, p183)

1872 - German gun-boat diplomacy against Haiti (HBC, p183)

1897 – Acts of German gun-boat diplomacy against Haiti (HBC, p184)

1915-1934 United States invades Haiti, seizes its national treasury, imposes
a new constitution allowing property ownership by Americans and dismisses
the Haitian legislature from 1917 to 1930. Haiti-U.S accord on
reestablishing Haitian Freedom signed in 1933 and on August 15, 1934 all
U.S. Marines leave Haiti. (HBC, p184). As part of U.S. legacy, the reins of
political powers is once again strongly secured for the anti-black,
pro-“western” mulatto minority.

1937 (October) White Supremacist Dictator Raphaël Trujillo of neighbouring
Dominican Republic orders the massacre of as many as 30,000 Haitians in a
fit of anti-Haitian sentiments which also left countless black Dominicans
dead.

1958-1963 US Marine Corps mission trains armed forces of Haitian Dictator
François Duvalier (HBC, p185)

1971 – U.S trains new crack military unit: the Leopards for 19 year-old
Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier who “takes over” after his father’s
death.

1986 – Dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier flees on a U.S. air force transport
plane

1987 – Haitian student hunger strike to protest Vatican’s decision to
transfer popular liberation theologian Jean-Bertrand Aristide to Rome

1990 – U.S. opposes Jean-Betrand Aristide’s candidacy with overt support for
their “own man”, former World Bank employee: Marc Louis Bazin. Following
Aristide’s overwhelming victory in these democratic elections, U.S.
Ambassador Alvin Adams warns festive Haitians with Kreyòl proverb “ Apre
dans tanbou lou” (After the dance, drums are heavy to carry).

1991 – September (7 months following Aristide’ swearing in) Army officials
now known to have been on CIA payroll (Nairn, 1995) overthrew President
Aristide in a bloody coup d’état in which over 5000 Haitians perished.
Former CIA Director, Georges Bush Sr. becomes President of the USA. Vatican
is only state to officially recognise the de facto government established by
the military putchists. (See: Haiti's Nightmare The Cocaine Coup & The CIA
Connection by Paul DeRienzo, http://pdr.autono.net/haiti.html)


1994 – After 3 years of “boat-people” landings on Florida shores, world-wide
protests and international negotiations, including hunger strike by black
activist Randall Robinson, a U.S Airforce carrier brings President Aristide
back to Haiti with agreement that his 3 years of exile be considered as part
of his “5-year presidency”. Thus, on October 15, 1994 Jean-Bertrand Aristide
is returned to organise elections to find himself a suitable successor as
President of Haiti.

1995 – Haitian population elects as president Mr. René Garcia Préval, a
staunch Aristide ally and former Prime Minister. Millions of dollars of
international aid promised to help “rebuild Haiti” at the time of the 1994
return of Aristide, never materialise.

2000 – Once again, the Haitian population elects Jean-Bertrand Aristide to
the presidency of their country as Republican candidate George W. Bush
becomes President of the United States in a highly controversial election.
The International Republican Institute (IRI) which openly opposed Aristide’s
own election, provides assistance to Convergence Democratique (CD), a
15-party opposition coalition which declares the elections fraudulent and,
in challenge of Aristide’s legitimacy, names its own alternative president
while some of its members (CD) go further declaring their intention to
violently overthrow Aristide with assistance of the CIA and the disbanded
Haitian Army– for a second time around (Washington Post, February 2, 2001)

2001 – (July 28 and December 17) Two murderous armed attacks against Haiti,
arriving by way of the Dominican Republic are denounced by the Haitian
government as attempted Coups d’état. The U.S. Embassy in Haiti and the OAS
dismiss the claims of the Haitian government and instead join Canada and the
European Union in demanding that the Haitian government pays multi-million
dollar reparations to its “opposition” for victims and loss of property it
suffered during the popular unrest that followed the Dec 17th incident.
Meanwhile, these same nations, members of a self-appointed conglomerate
ironically calling itself “Friends of Haiti” within the OAS, stand firm in
their position that all “aid” or loans to the Government of Haiti shall be
suspended until a political compromise is reached between the elected
government and its opponents within the CD. Meanwhile, the dire
socio-economic conditions of a ruined country coupled with the political and
psychological destabilisation that the people of Haiti (which dared to elect
a government on its own)  have had to endure – AND the multiple errors,
faults and outright disappointments caused by a weak and overwhelmed
Aristide government - are giving rise to sporadic outbursts of violence that
are dangerously reminiscent of the days just prior to the Rwandan genocide
of 1994 .

2002 (August) As freedom-loving people world wide are becoming more and more
fed-up with the blatant racism of powerful nations towards Haiti, conflicts
start to boil openly within the OAS between Black-led CARICOM nations who
are sympathetic to Haiti and White-led former colonial powers and colonies
(US, Canada, Mexico…). In the U.S Congress, long time allies of the Haitian
people such as the Congressional Black Caucus and several progressive White
Democrats denounce the U.S. and European-led embargo against the Government
of Haiti. To this effect Congresswoman Lee tables a resolution 332 at the
U.S. Congress.

Meanwhile, right wing republicans maintain pressure on the OAS to vote one
resolution after another in disfavour of the Haitian government. Roger
Noriega, newly elected President of the OAS Permanent Council, is a former
employee and pupil of ultra-right wing Republican Senator Jesse Helms – the
latter is famous for his legendarily overt racism and anti-Haitianism.
Although Helms’ famous quotes include a statement of equality for all men,
even “niggers”, one can also see his right “colours” transpire through his
anti-Haiti campaign. “I've been portrayed as a caveman by some. That's not
true. I'm a conservative progressive, and that means I think all men are
equal, be they slants, beaners or niggers." (Jesse Helms, 1985).

If you want to know more about this special U.S. Senator on whom the lead
party forming the CD officially call for support on their web site
(www.oplpeople.com), please check out the following leads:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/aug2001/helm-a31.shtml
“Helms … retained the closest ties to far-right and Ku Klux Klan elements
openly committed to white supremacy.”
http://www.progressive.org/webex/wx082401.html
"He embraced the vicious system of racial apartheid and its morally
repugnant leaders in South Africa and Rhodesia," Al Hunt wrote in The Wall
Street Journal. "He was the leading supporter of an array of South American
thugs-Pinochet in Chile, Paraguay's Stroessner, D'Aubuisson in El Salvador,
and Cedras in Haiti."

http://pdr.autono.net/haiti.html

“Jesse Helms, a leading opponent of Aristide, brought CIA analyst Brian
Latell to Capitol Hill in October, to brief selected senators and
representatives on allegations that Aristide had been treated for mental
illness. It turned out that the time during which the CIA report alleges
Aristide was treated at a Canadian hospital falls within the same period
that Aristide was studying and teaching in Israel”.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/a.../helm-a31.shtml

“In 1950 he worked as a researcher for racist Democratic Senate candidate
Willis Smith, whose campaign included a doctored photo of the incumbent’s
wife dancing with a black man. (Helms biographer Ernest Furgurson reports
the claim that Helms personally cut up the photos and combined them.)”

«When informed that Contras in Nicaragua had been killing doctors, nurses
and children, he and his staff responded by saying, "Well, they're just
Communists - they deserve to die." During the 1960s, Helms continually
blasted Martin Luther King Jr. and his supporters, calling them "Negro
hoodlums."»

-----------------------
“A lot of the people with whom I live- - they're from central Haiti- - point
out the similarity between this embargo and that imposed on the Haitian
people by the United States after their revolution made them, in 1804, the
first independent black republic in the world. The United States refused to
recognize the new Republic of Haiti for some 60 years - until 1862 - in
large part because of the objections from U.S. slaveholding states. “ Dr.
Paul Farmer In December 2001 interview with The Haiti Bulletin, A
Ross-Robinson & Associates Publication. Dr. Farmer is a professor of
medicine and anthropology at Harvard University. This internationally
respected health expert established a clinic in Haiti in the early 1980's
and has remained an active practitioner in the health care delivery system
of that country.


2004 (January 1) Freedom-loving people, from all over the world, are
expected to make the pilgrimage to Gonayiv, Haiti, site of the first formal
abolition of slavery by an independent nation of the American continent.

Will you be by the side of the Haitian people?

Jafrikayiti

“Renmen Ayiti vle di renmen Ayisyen” (Liar ! You love Haiti, but you hate
her Haitians?”)


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