15256: radtimes: Report from Haiti: 'Independence, yes! Occupation, no!' (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: radtimes <resist@best.com>

-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the April 10, 2003
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------

REPORT FROM HAITI: "INDEPENDENCE, YES! OCCUPATION, NO!"

By Pat Chin
Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Haiti's first major protest against the U.S.-led war on Iraq, linked to
the key demand that Washington stop meddling in Haiti's internal
affairs, took place here in the capital on March 27.

The fired-up demonstration of more than 3,000 people, organized by the
National Popular Party (PPN), occurred one day before the PPN convened
its fifth national congress. The protest, joined by other popular
organizations, ended with a loud rally in front of the U.S. Embassy
where an effigy of President George W. Bush was burned to cheers from
the crowd.

Speaker after speaker denounced the Bush administration through a
gargantuan sound system facing the compound. "George Bush, terrorist,
George Bush, oil thief," shouted the protesters in Creole. "Independence
yes, occupation no."

As in Venezuela and elsewhere, the Bush regime has been brazenly
attempting to execute "regime change" in Haiti by collaborating with the
local bourgeoisie to topple President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

This is the second time that Aristide, who was re-elected on Nov. 26,
2000, has been targeted for imperialist destabilization--even though he
now moderates his once fiery and outspoken anti-imperialist views.

The PPN, which transformed itself in 1999 from the National Popular
Assembly to a political party, supports, though critically, Aristide's
government and his Fanmi Lavalas Party.

On March 28, 600 PPN militants gathered for their "fifth congress for a
second independence" at a site that was once the "Ranch Croix des
Bouquets" owned by U.S.-backed dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, who was
driven from Haiti by the masses. The spread, just outside Port-au-
Prince, is now a sports training center for Haitian youths run by Cuban
coaches, and a conference center.

The congress was opened by Georges Honorat of the PPN's Political
Bureau, who led the assembly in chants of "the country is not for sale"--
Creole style.

Undersecretary General Evariste Wilson summarized the last four years'
work and outlined the PPN's perspective for the future.

Secretary General Ben Dupuy denounced the dominant class "for the
widespread deterioration of the country." He stressed the importance of
party work in developing political consciousness and mobilizing all
strata, especially the poor masses.

PPN is a national revolutionary and anti-imperialist party based in the
popular masses, specifically the peasantry. "Its goal is to bring the
masses out of the darkness in which the traditional elite has kept them
for 200 years," explained Maude LeBlanc of the Political Bureau. "PPN,"
she added, "is a party fighting for Haiti's national independence and
against the domination and meddling of imperialist powers."

The delegates laid out tasks for the future, including organizing
internal elections at all levels and "reviving the struggle of the
people for our second independence as we approach 2004."

Resolutions were issued denouncing "the Macoute-bourgeoisie alliance
against the Haitian people" and foreign meddling in Haitian affairs.

Resolutions also demanded freedom for the Cuban Five, and expressed
solidarity with the people of Venezuela, Brazil, Cuba and Iraq, among
other issues.

Foreign delegates included Zhang Boqing, Permanent Representative of the
Development and Commercial Bureau of China, and Cuban Ambassador Rolando
Gomez.

Cuban Communist Party Central Committee Representative Ricardo Garcia
read a solidarity message from the Cuban people. He also denounced U.S.
aggression against Cuba and the detention of the Cuban Five imprisoned
by the U.S. government for working to prevent terrorism against
socialist Cuba.

Kim Ives from the Haiti Support
Net work and Katherine Kean of Crowing Rooster Arts were also there, among
others.

Johnny Stevens of the International ANSWER coalition described the
growing anti-war movement worldwide and in the U.S. and invited Haitian
participation in April 12 mobilizations.

This writer, representing Workers World Party, brought solidarity
greetings from the U.S., including from the Bedford-Stuyvesant Coalition
for Peace, and linked the anti-war movement to Haiti's struggle for self-
determination.

Speakers also condemned the capitalist economic system that breeds
racism, poverty and war. Some echoed the demands for freedom for the
Cuban Five, freedom for Palestine, and an end to repression and cuts in
social programs in the U.S.

PPN's strong ties to Cuba were very evident. Not only did the Cuban flag
flutter next to the Haitian flag on the podium, but everywhere could be
seen portraits of Che Guevara alongside Haitian heroes Jean Jacques
Dessalines and Charlemagne Peralte. There were also rainbow peace flags
from the Italian anti-war movement, reading "Pace."