13127: JJean-Pierre:Actor rallies support for pilgrimage to Haiti-M.Herald 8-25-02 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Jean Jean-Pierre <JJEANPIERRE1@aol.com>

Comments from Jean Jean-Pierre)

In spite of the debilitating effect politics (please read politicallerie)
has on Haiti, 2004 is fast approaching.  Unless US, Iraq and the
rest of the "axis of evil"... Well, I'm sure the drift is clear. But
seriously,
there is an apparent design (by some of the great powers and their
Haitian proxies) to prevent Haiti from commemorating its independence
bicentennial -witness political negotiations ad infinitum and ad nauseam,
periodic racist warnings from the US State Department, "we [Haitian
cannibals] are eating Canadians",  we (Haitians) are incapable of
organizing elections (remember Florida?) et al.-.
We can always argue the best ways to celebrate such momentous
year: conferences on slavery, reparation ($) from France, the arts
(music, sports, theater, etc.), literacy campaign etc.  But what
remains undeniable, undertakings such as reported in the following
Miami Herald piece should be encouraged as an affirmation of our
existence as a nation. For, in spite of politics, Haiti must survive.
jean jean-pierre
____________________________
Miami Herald August 25, 2002

Actor rallies support for pilgrimage to Haiti
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@herald.com <mailto:jcharles@herald.com>

For film star Danny Glover, the love affair began more
than 30 years ago when, as a young student, he was
required to read Trinidadian scholar CLR James'
gripping analysis of the Haitian Revolution, The Black
Jacobins.

The more he read, Glover said, the more he became
transfixed by the horrific tale of slaves housed like
animals and the successful slave revolt by Toussaint
L'Ouverture that made Haiti the first black republic
in the western world.

Now with the country quickly approaching its 200th
anniversary -- it gained independence from France in
1804 -- Glover wants others to be transformed by
Haiti's story and legacy.

He and several other well-known activists were in
Miami on Saturday to rally support for a cruise
commemorating the anniversary.

The proposed voyage, ''Cruising Into History: A
Pilgrimage to Haiti in 2004,'' is tentatively
scheduled for Aug. 14-21, 2004, and would feature
an International Black Arts and Cultural Festival by
sea and land for about 3,000 passengers. The cost
is still being worked out, but organizers say it would
be between $1,500 and $2,500, with stopovers in
Cap-Haitien, Jacmel and Port-au-Prince, Haiti's
capital.

''This cruising into history is about reclaiming our
own history. It's about giving voice to the real
context in which Haiti exists,'' Glover said Saturday
during the kickoff luncheon aboard Royal Caribbean's
Cruise Lines' Explorer of the Seas, one of the ships
organizers hope to charter for the historic voyage.

While most people tend to view Haiti as a poor
struggling country in perpetual political turmoil,
Glover said, ``there is another way in which we
have to see this historic struggle, which is the most
important of the three revolutions that happened
within 25 years because it took the rights of man --
the French Revolution -- and it took the Declaration
of Independence and it elevated it to the highest
place it could be elevated to.''

And for that, he said, ``the Haitian people have been
condemned in history. They continue to be thrown
aside because of this historic manifest for creating
this nation.''

Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat and a
leading advocate for Haiti in the U.S. Congress,
said the anniversary means a chance to bring
together a ``global reorganization of the support
Haiti needs to make it a truly successful democracy.''

The man behind the cruise idea, Ron Daniels, said the
pilgrimage has many goals, including encouraging
''socially responsible investment in Haiti,'' and fostering
relationships between people of African descent.

A political activist, Daniels is chairman of the Haiti
Support Project, a New York-based nonprofit
organization he founded in 1995 after falling in love
with ``the Haitian people because there was so much
Africa, so much vibrancy, but so much pain and
creativity there.''

In addition to Conyers and Glover, Daniels also has
enlisted support from the Revs. Jesse Jackson and
Al Sharpton.

Former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial, whose family
is of Haitian descent, is the honorary chairman of the
cruise.

The Haitian government, which sent Hon. Leslie Voltaire,
Minister for Haitians Living Abroad, to the kickoff luncheon
at the Port of Miami, is also on board.