23716: (net) radtimes: As repression mounts in Haiti: Resistance & solidarity grow (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: radtimes <resist@best.com>

From: radtimes <resist@best.com>

As repression mounts in Haiti
Resistance & solidarity grow

http://www.workers.org/ww/2004/haiti1104.php

By Pat Chin and G. Dunkel
New York
Nov. 4, 2004

Activists from African American organizations, Venezuela's Bolivarian
Circles and their supporters picketed the Haitian Consulate here Oct. 25 to
demand an end to the bloody imperialist occupation of Haiti and the return
of exiled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Endorsers of the "Emergency Rally in Support of the People of Haiti"
included the December 12 Movement; Patrice Lumumba Coalition; Africans
Helping Africans; People's Organization for Pro gress; Black Telephone
Workers for Justice; Roger Toussaint, president of Transit Workers Local
100; Brenda Stokely, president of AFSCME District Council 1707; the Africa
is Home Coalition; and the International Action Center.

White-House-backed repression in Haiti has expanded so sharply that Hai
tians weren't able to go out into the streets for planned demonstrations
the weekend of Oct. 16-17. But when police and foreign occupation troops
raided Bel Air and Martis sant--poor neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince where
support for Aristide and his Fanmi Lavalas Party is strong--they were met
with gunfire and burning barricades.

Oct. 17 was the 198th anniversary of Jean-Jacques Dessalines's
assassination, and the 10th anniversary of Aristide's return from the first
U.S. coup against him in 1991. The second putsch took place earlier this
year, on Feb. 29, when U.S. Marines kidnapped Aristide and flew him from
the country.

Haiti's Radio Metropole reported Oct. 18 that Aristide's supporters had
attempted to overrun the police station in Martissant but were beaten back.
One vehicle was set ablaze. The resisters were reportedly from the Grand
Ravine section of Port-au-Prince. Heavy gunfire was heard throughout the
weekend around the capital.

Meanwhile, on Oct. 20, central Port-au-Prince and its surroundings remained
"the scene of burning roadblocks and sporadic shooting...." There were
"burning barricades across Boulevard La Saline near the seafront and in
Bel-Air, the bastion of armed Aristide supporters. However, while traffic
was fluid in the commercial center, in Carrefour activities were disrupted
by an absence of public transport." (Haiti Press Network)

The struggle continues

There's been an upsurge in resistance to the U.S.-installed puppet regime
headed by Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue since the Sept. 30 police
killing of two anti-coup protesters. As a result, the de facto government
is negotiating with the U.S. State Department to purchase new weapons.

Any agreement will end a 13-year arms embargo Washington instituted after
the first coup against Aristide, which was kept in place even after his
return from exile.

The uprisings have also forced the International Monetary Fund to cancel
talks on loans to Haiti. And the United Nations announced Oct. 21 that it
will send 3,000 additional troops to "stop violence" and prevent a flood of
refugees. (Bloomberg)

This will increase the Brazil-led UN force to 6,200 foreign
occupiers--whose goal is to crush Haiti's popular movement, leaving the
country open to unbridled capitalist super-exploitation.

With protests growing in strength and militancy, Latortue has accused South
Africa--which has given Aristide and his family refuge--of interfering in
Haiti's internal affairs. But President Thabo Mbeki sharply denied
Latortue's charge that Aristide is using South Africa as "a base to
destabilize Haiti by violent means." An official press statement also
asserted that "South Africa and President Mbeki cannot be taken as a
scapegoat for the failure of the de facto regime in Haiti to restore peace
and stability."

A huge contingent of flag-waving Haitians joined the Oct. 17 Million Worker
March in Washington, D.C. Lavalas activist Marlene Jean-Louis called for
continued solidarity with Haiti from the podium.

"More than 8,000 Haitian workers have lost their jobs since Feb. 29 because
of their political association," she told the crowd. "The U.S. government
along with the French and Canadian governments have taken President
Aristide out of Haiti because they want to implement their own neoliberal
plans in Haiti, and also because Aristide is the first president in Haiti's
history to call for reparations for the Haitian people, the over $21
billion that France had forced us to pay in indemnities after we won our
independence.

"We will get it back. Even though Aristide is not in Haiti, he is still the
president of the people, and he is with us in spirit, and we will continue
to fight for his return."

On Oct. 18 there had been yet another protest at the Haitian Consulate.
Demonstrators demanded the release of the Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, who was
brutally arrested in Haiti as he was feeding hungry children, three of whom
were reportedly shot. Organized by the Committee Against Repression in
Haiti, the Haiti Support Network, Fanmi Lavalas (New York City), Haiti's
National Popular Party and Komite Chalo Jacklen, protesters also called for
an end to the occupation and bloody repression of popular protest in Haiti.

Aftermath of floods

Four weeks after Tropical Storm Jeanne mercilessly lashed northern Haiti,
the streets of Gonaives are still filled with water and mud. Most people
there remain homeless. Food and water distributions are sometimes canceled,
and the number of distribution points has been cut from four to two. Over
2,000 people were killed.

Latortue has done little or nothing to help the storm victims. But he has
vowed to crush Aristide's supporters, whom he calls "terrorists."

His regime has arrested hundreds of people, including the Rev. Jean-Juste,
Gérard Gilles, Lavalas activist So Anne, former Prime Minister Yvone
Neptune and others. Many people have been killed for being Aristide supporters.

The ex-soldiers and paramilitary death squad gangs the U.S. trained, armed
and bankrolled to overthrow Aristide have proclaimed themselves as the
Haitian army in small cities like Petit-Goâve. (Washington Post, Oct. 15).
They've sent small detachments to Port-au-Prince to see if Latortue's White
House bosses will accept their reconstituting the army.

Given that body's murderous history, Latortue would no doubt like to deploy
a reconstituted army--the real terrorists--against his opponents. But he
and the Bush administration have to worry about international reaction--and
opposition from the Haitian masses being propelled forward by such a threat.

Haiti's bourgeoisie--who composed most of the "opposition" to
Aristide--locked out Haiti's work force on Oct. 15. The loss of a day's pay
was calculated to increase economic pressure and stifle the people's will
to fight back. But it failed.

The occupation regime has raised the price of basic necessities. Yet only
around 30 percent of the people work steadily--and for a pittance.

They have shot people in the street during protests and in the dead of
night. But they haven't crushed the struggle to end the occupation, free
all political prisoners and obtain the return of their democratically
elected leader, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

As the popular resistance continues to grow in Haiti, so too does the
solidarity movement in the United States. It's now time to globalize the
struggle.

Donations are needed to help the victims of Tropical Storm Jeanne. Send
checks payable to MUDHA or Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees, 335 Maple
Street, 2nd Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11225. For tax- deductible donations, make
checks payable to IFCO/MUDHA or IFCO/ HWHR. For more info, call (718) 735-4660.

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