16491: Fw: Opening of the Third Assembly of Caribbean People Under a Theme of Unity (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>


> Opening of the Third Assembly of Caribbean People Under a Theme of Unity
>
> By Gotson Pierre
>
> Cap-Haitien, 20 August 2003 [AlterPresse] "The unity needed for the
> construction of another Caribbean is possible," asserted Camille Chalmers,
Haiti's
> representative on the Regional Executive Committee of the Assembly of
Caribbean
> People (ACP) at the official inauguration of the Third Assembly which runs
until
> 24 August in Cap-Haitien in northern Haiti.
>
> The Third ACP opened in the presence several hundred of delegates and
> observers from 12 countries and territories of the Caribbean, and six
Latin American,
> North American and European countries, including Adolfo Perez Esquivel,
the
> Argentinian Nobel Peace Prize winner.
>
> Camille Chalmers was flanked by the 13 members of the Regional Executive
> Committee representing eight Caribbean countries as he declared: "We do
not want
> this system (capitalism) and we have decided to build another way of
life".
> According to the Haitian delegate, the revolutions in Haiti (1804), Cuba
(1959),
> Nicaragua (1979) and the Zapatista uprising in Mexico in 1994, are
testimony
> of this will "to make freedom reign across the whole Caribbean region".
>
> Camille Chalmers also stressed the influence of the anti-slavery revolt
which
> began in 1791 in Haiti with the ceremony of Bois Kayiman a few kilometers
to
> the south of the city of Cap-Haitien. Bois Kayiman represents "the unity
> between all the exploited", said the Haitian anti-neo-liberal militant,
who
> interpreted the policies of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the
debt owed by
> poor countries as a continuation of slavery. "We must fight to break these
> chains", he shouted.
>
> Chalmers also addressed the process of realising the Third ACP, which he
> described as "rich". Evoking the follow-up to the resolutions which will
be
> adopted in Haiti, he declared that "most important work is after the
Assembly".
>
> For the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, the holding of
the
> Third ACP is "a concrete demonstration that when people unite together
they can
> change history".
>
> In a short speech focusing primarily on the need "to build alternatives",
> Perez Esquivel contrasted "autonomous thinking" (pensamiento propio) with
the
> "single thought" imposed, according to him, by imperialism. Esquivel
criticised
> the external debt which he called the "eternal debt" and the Free Trade
Area of
> Americas (FTAA) which supports "an increase in poverty" and
militarisation.
>
> In connection with Haiti, Perez Esquivel took up the call "to break the
> chains" of the poverty and the domination which followed the Haitian
revolution of
> 1804.
>
> The Dominican Ivan Rodriguez and the Trinidadien David Abdullah, founder
> members of the ACP, both hailed the Haitian Revolution. They also pointed
out the
> historical course of the process of the ACP, that was launched in 1992 and
> which was concretised with a first assembly in 1994 in Trinidad and a
second in
> 2001.
>
> The inauguration of the Third ACP took place in an emotionally charged
> atmosphere and on several occasions the speeches were interrupted by
applause. Cuban
> and Dominican flags were raised in the room that was decorated with
posters,
> placards bearing slogans, streamers and artisanal objects. One banner
read,
> "Our strength is our unity".
>
> A young US American militant from the peace and human rights movement in
the
> USA told AlterPresse that the preliminary forums and the opening of the
Third
> ACP had enabled him to understand the way that the US is perceived in the
> region.
>
> Cultural events: theatre, choreography and music closed the evening. The
> director, the author and composer, Bob Bovano, was given a standing
ovation.
>
> (translated from French by Charles Arthur for the Haiti Support Group)
>
> Note: More on the Third ACP in Haiti can be found on the Haiti Support
Group
> web site.
> _______________________________________________
>
>
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>
> See the Haiti Support Group web site:
> www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org
>
> Solidarity with the Haitian people's struggle for justice, participatory
> democracy and equitable development, since 1992.
> ____________________________________________