23891: Ives (news) This Week in Haiti 22:39 12/8/2004 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

"This Week in Haiti" is the English section of HAITI PROGRES
newsweekly. For the complete edition with other news in French
and Creole, please contact the paper at (tel) 718-434-8100,
(fax) 718-434-5551 or e-mail at <editor@haitiprogres.com>.
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                        HAITI PROGRES
              "Le journal qui offre une alternative"

                    * THIS WEEK IN HAITI *

                    December 8 - 14, 2004
                      Vol. 22, No. 39

BROOKLYN RALLY ENERGIZES RESISTANCE
by Greg Dunkel

On December 5, close to 1000 people packed the New York College of
Technology's auditorium for a very powerful and informative rally, which
made the Haitian flag's motto "In unity, lies strength," a living reality.

The Lavalas Family and the National Popular Party (PPN), the two largest
parties in Haiti, whose members are presently targeted by the de facto
regime's goons, came together to organize the event, entitled "Haiti at
the Crossroads: What is to be Done?." Although they have different
orientations, organizational principles, and programs, both parties are
solidly opposed to the Feb. 29th coup and the ensuing repression and
foreign military occupation.

Most of the audience was from the Haitian community, coming from as far
away as Boston, Philadelphia and Miami, but there were also many North
Americans and African Americans.

Rosna Zila of the Troupe Makandal began the evening, as is traditional,
by leading the audience in a rendition of the national anthem, "La
Dessalinienne," before the Troupe gave a musical performance of drums
and song.

"People across Haiti are rising up and demanding an end to the violence,
an end to the occupation and the return to constitutional government and
democracy," said co-master of ceremonies Kim Ives, a founder of the
HaVti Support Network, in introductory remarks."This event is part of
the worldwide resistance to the offensive of George W. Bush's
administration around the globe to reshape the world, trample
sovereignty and re-enslave people."

Ives then introduced co-MC Yvon Kernizan of the Lavalas Family. "The
people in Haiti are dying because they are poor and the de facto
government doesn't care," Kernizan said.

Maryse Narcisse, a doctor who sits on the Lavalas Family's
Communications Commission in the U.S., then spoke. "Haiti is at a
crossroads and what is to be done is for each of us to support the
struggle there," she said.

Narcisse claimed that the repression had grown more cruel and determined
as the fight for the return of democracy and Jean-Bertrand Aristide grew
stronger. She feels that the current wave of repression is the cruelest
that Haiti has ever faced in the past century.

When Ramsey Clark, the founder of the International Action Center and
former U.S. attorney-general, came to the podium, he was greeted with a
wave of applause as Troupe Makandal, in the background, pounded their
drums. He had just come from a meeting in Venezuela with Ben Bella, the
Algerian revolutionary leader, the actor Danny Glover, who sent this
meeting a solidarity message, and other notables concerned with the
aggressive attempts of the United States to build a new world empire.
Haiti was one of the topics raised at this conference.

Clark told the audience about a phone conversation he'd had with
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide the last week of November in which
Aristide called on him and other U.S. activists to do everything
possible to end the killing in Haiti. Clark's cry - "Bring Aristide
back" - brought the drums of Makandal alive again. "The powers in this
world will never forgive a successful slave revolution, even after 200
years," Clark concluded. "But their success against overwhelming odds
has to give us hope."

Brian Becker, from the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and
End Racism) spoke next on the need for unity and the need to build a
united front against the real enemies of democracy sitting in the While
House. He asked the audience to come out for the Jan. 20
Counter-Inaugural, called by ANSWER, in Washington and the
demonstrations March 19 and 20th to mark the second anniversary of the
war in Iraq.

Pat Chin, speaking for the International Action Center, began by
chanting "Aristide in, CIA out!" to which the Troupe Makandal responded
with their drums and the audience with their voices. She pledged the
IAC's "continued support in word and action for strengthening the
solidarity movement in the United States" and pointed out that the
racist ruling class in the United States was so terrified of the Haitian
revolution that it engaged in a 200-year long campaign to mire Haiti in
poverty and despair in order to reinforce the myth that Black people
can't govern themselves, that they need white saviors.

She went on to say the fighting spirit and uncompromising struggle that
the Haitian people inherited from Dessalines are moving the current
struggle forward. Comparing the struggle in Iraq with the struggle in
Haiti, she pointed out that the occupying forces don't realy control
Port-au-Prince, just like they don't really control Baghdad.

She called for unity with the Creole proverb "men anpil, chay pa lou"
(with many hands, the load is light) and exhorted the audience: "On your
feet, on your feet, and back into the streets." And the drums of
Makandal again sounded along with heavy applause.

Mario Dupuy, Aristide's Secretary of State of Communications, spoke after a
wonderful video, "Kraze lespwa," which showed the concrete achievements of
Aristide's government in building 250 schools and markets in the poorest
communities in Haiti, areas the elites currently in power can't even locate
on a map much less rule. All this building was accomplished from Haiti's own
resources without aid from foreign governments or NGOs.

Mario Dupuy proclaimed that "the Lavalas Family is ready to talk and
dialog with all good faith forces in the country, while continuing its
mobilizations. It feels that Haiti has no future without democracy, but
that doesn't mean elections like those that took place in Florida in
2000." He also raised the issue of supporting Cuba and the five Cuban
patriots imprisoned in the United States for spying on the Gusano
terrorists in Miami.

Next was the premiere of the stirring video "Nou Gen San Desalin"
(English title: Dessalines' Blood), produced by Haiti Films. It showed
the mass demonstrations organized by the PPN during 2003, in which the
demonstrators urged the Lavalas government to take more forceful
measures against the oncoming coup. Afterwards, Ben Dupuy, PPN's
secretary general, spoke.

He began by quoting from the Dessalinien. "Se pou n mache men nan lamen"
(we should walk hand in hand) saying that the PPN and Lavalas Family
were doing just that with the event. The audience burst into applause.

He joked that the de facto government had just registered 90 political
parties for the upcoming election, which means little more than 90
corrupt politicians looking for a job. Perhaps the de facto government
will qualify for the Nobel Prize for political parties, he quipped.

He then analyzed the recent trip of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell
to Port-au-Prince, during which he pressured the MINUSTAH (United
Nations Mission to Stabilize Haiti) to crush the popular movement
resisting in the streets.

"The UN is showing its true face as a tool of big powers like the United
States and France," Dupuy added. Since both countries have other
adventures - the U.S. in Iraq and France in the Ivory Coast - they had
to call on the UN. But the Brazilian general in charge of MINUSTAH told
a congressional commission in Brazil: "I command a peacekeeping force,
not an occupation force." The foreign minister feels that Brazil would
need 100,000 men prepared to seek and kill in large numbers to stop
unrest. That is something Brazil does not want to do.

Dupuy pointed out, as demonstrators had chanted in the video, that Haiti
is slippery ground. "The United States didn't find a cakewalk in Iraq,
and it won't have one in Haiti either," he said. "The mobilizations in
the streets are continuing. The struggle for democracy will continue,
and the Haitian people will get it."

After a video message from Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) to the hall,
Georges Honorat, a leading member of the PPN who works closely with the
National Cell of the Base of Reflections of the Popular Organizations of
Lavalas, gave a brief talk about the "on the ground" conditions in Haiti
and the nature of the struggle in the months ahead, rejecting the notion
that fair elections could be held under a fascist regime and foreign
occupation. Alino Sixto, a Lavalas Family militant from the New York
area, closed the evening by calling for support in the United States for
the protests in Haiti.

In short, the rousing event fulfilled the call that Danny Glover sent to
the meeting. "Silence in the face of aggression, in the face of
injustice, is simply unacceptable," he wrote. "It is time that our
collective voices be heard and that our actions become apparent. We must
work with all forces in Haiti that are fighting for a restoration of
democracy. We must support their efforts in the struggle against
injustice."


DANNY GLOVER TO DECEMBER 5 MEETING:
"THERE ARE TIMES WHEN ONE MUST SIMPLY TAKE A STAND"

Actor Danny Glover sent the following letter to the December 5 rally in
Brooklyn organized by the Lavalas Family and the National Popular Party,
where it was read.

I am sorry that I could not be with you tonight. This rally is of great
importance and will not only echo in New York, but also from San
Francisco to Saint Marc, from Montreal to Mirebalais, from Boston to
Belair.

Not since the dark days of the Duvalier dictatorship has Haiti seen such
repression. Every week brings new horrors. Police have fired on unarmed
demonstrators repeatedly. Former soldiers conduct murderous rampages
through popular neighborhoods, leaving dozens of corpses in their wake.
Others are arrested or have simply disappeared.

Today, without exception, all credible international organizations
concur that Haiti's jails are replete with political prisoners. This is
intolerable in this year 2004 when Haiti should be celebrating its
bicentenary.

Fortunately, despite the pressure Caribbean nations have come under,
CARICOM is refusing to buckle to the pressure and intimidation of the
big powers that would like to steamroll Haitian democracy. Furthermore,
I am gratified to see South Africa and President Thabo Mbeki standing
steadfast beside the Haitian people.

And from the actions of President Mbeki, as well as the actions of the
CARICOM nations we can learn an important lesson. Despite the pressure
that can be brought against those who stand for justice, there are times
when one must simply take a stand. One must recognize that the
consequences can be severe, but that silence in the face of aggression,
in the face of injustice, is simply unacceptable.

So, for us in the United States of America, it is time to step out from
the shadows and the margins of the issue of Haitian democracy and
sovereignty. It is time that our collective voices be heard and that our
actions become apparent. We must work with all forces in Haiti that are
fighting for a restoration of democracy. We must support their efforts
in the struggle against injustice.

For those with even an iota of conscience, there is no alternative.
Haiti much be returned to its people. Haiti must be permitted to chart
its own course.

In Solidarity,
Danny Glover

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

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