13449: This Week in Haiti 20:32 10/23/2002 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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                           HAITI PROGRES
              "Le journal qui offre une alternative"

                      * THIS WEEK IN HAITI *

                      October 23 - 29, 2002
                          Vol. 20, No. 32

THOUSANDS MARCH IN CAP HAÏTIEN TO PROTEST BOTH GOVERNMENT AND
OFFICIAL OPPOSITION

Some 3000 peasants, students, and unionists marched through the
northern city of Cap Haïtien on Oct. 17, the 196th anniversary of
the assassination of Jean Jacques Dessalines, the father of
Haiti's 1804 independence and symbol of Haitian nationalism.

Loudly chanting and shaking hand-lettered signs, the protestors
denounced the "anti-national policies" of President Jean Bertrand
Aristide's government, such as the sale of 1875 square kilometers
along the Dominican border to a U.S.-controlled company for the
establishment of cheap-labor "free trade zones" and the
acceptance of recent Organization of American States (OAS)
resolutions which place the nation's political process under the
supervision of foreign diplomats.

The Democratic Convergence opposition front was also denounced as
a tool of Washington which, if it came to power, would place
Haiti even more completely under foreign control.

The National Popular Party (PPN) organized the march, which also
drew delegations from the Peasant Movement of Vodrèy, the Batay
Ouvriyè (Workers Struggle) union, and several local neighborhood
committees and popular organizations.

"The Free Trade Zone Plot Will Not Succeed," "Dessalines' Nation
Is Not For Sale," and "Lavalas and Convergence Are Twins" were
some of the slogans on the placards carried by demonstrators. One
of the large banners read: "National Production = Agrarian
Reform," a catchphrase which was central to a march of some 4000
PPN militants in Port-au-Prince on May 1, International Workers
Day (see Haïti Progrès, Vol. 20, No. 8, 5/8/2002).

The Batay Ouvriyè unionists carried signs calling for the
liberation of two of their members, who are still jailed without
trial after their arrest in Guacimal last May (see Haïti Progrès,
Vol. 20, No. 11, 5/29/2002).

The PPN announced its demonstration with only one day's notice in
order to thwart any government attempt to organize a counter-
demonstration with paid ruffians, a practice which has resulted
in several violent confrontations in recent months.

The peaceful but spirited march wound through the center of the
bustling city, Haiti's second largest, before it rallied on the
waterfront, where coffee, sugar, and slaves were traded when Cap
Français was the capital of France's richest New World colony.

There were speeches by several community leaders including
Wilfrid Zokè of the Vodrèy Peasant Movement, Claude Hilaire of
the Justinien Hospital Union, and Jacques Pierre of Batay
Ouvriyè.

"Why was there a plot to kill Dessalines? asked Ben Dupuy, PPN's
secretary general who gave the rally's closing speech. "It was
because Dessalines carried out a sweeping agrarian reform with
which other Haitian leaders didn't agree. After independence,
Dessalines took all the land in the country which the French
colonists had seized and nationalized it. It became the land of
all Haitians. This upset a lot of people, particularly those who
wanted to grab the land because it was the only wealth which
Haiti had after the war ended in 1804."

Dupuy explained the system Dessalines established for farming the
land, how he was killed, and how ensuing Haitian leaders
shamefully struck a deal to pay France 150 million gold francs,
reparations which took Haiti about 100 years to pay. "It's the
only time in history that the victorious army compensated the
loser," Dupuy pointed out, calculating that, with interest and
inflation, France now owes Haiti about $30 billion to pay back
that injustice.

"Have things changed today?" he asked. "NO!" the crowd roared
back.

"You're right," he continued. "The same small elite perpetuates
the same old system, borrowing right and left so we owe even more
money. Jean-Claude Duvalier borrowed $800 million, but stole $500
million of it for him and his clique... Today we have the Lavalas
Family [Aristide's party] and the so-called opposition who are
both on the same path. They fight between each other to prove to
[Washington] who is the better servant. Theirs is just a struggle
over spoils."

He went on to analyze the current political situation, noting
that the formation of a new Provisional Electoral Council by the
OAS deadline of Nov. 4 was unlikely and that there were no
popular representatives on it anyway.

"Now they tell us to celebrate 2004," Dupuy concluded, speaking
of Haiti's upcoming bicentennial. "But look at the poverty,
unemployment, tribulations, and fly-by-night cooperatives which
have stolen peoples' money. We can't celebrate that. But you know
how we can celebrate? By making another 1804, to liberate the
country from that little elite -- the big landowners and pocket-
patriot bourgeoisie... That is why the National Popular Party is
working to build a real alternative for real change."


WBAI HAITI SPECIAL ON OCT. 24

The Haitian Collective at WBAI will host a two-hour special
program on Haiti on WBAI 99.5 FM in New York on October 24 from 7
p.m. to 9 p.m.. The program will include interviews with poet
Paul Laraque and author Jaira Placide, new developments in the
case of Pennsylvania death-row prisoner Borgela Philistin, as
well as the latest news from Haiti and a live performance by
renowned drummer Frisner Augustin of the Twoup Makandal.

Special gift packages of music CDs and books will be offered to
listeners during the program. Hosts include Haitian community
activists Christian Lemoine, Daniel Simidor, Kim Ives, and
Margaret Dominique.

The program can be heard on the Internet at www.wbai.org.


ERRATA

It was President Jean-Bertrand Aristide who told El Diario Libre
that U.S.-bound drugs passing through Haiti had dropped from 14%
to 9%, not Dominican president Hipolito Mejia, as we erroneously
reported in last week's English column. There was also a
typographical error in the Culture Minister's name. It is Lilas,
not Lilac, Desquiron.

All articles copyrighted Haiti Progres, Inc. REPRINTS ENCOURAGED
Please credit Haiti Progres.

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