24889: Nicholls: (ask) CONAP

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Tracey Nicholls <tracey.nicholls@mail.mcgill.ca>

Dear List Members,

First, let me thank you all for your individual contributions to this list.  I
have been reading your posts for about a year and a half now and I believe
this forum has provided me with a better education than I ever thought
possible.

I am a PhD student in philosophy and I am writing a Haiti-related paper for
presentation at a conference.  The paper is on principles of feminist practice
and democratic solidarity and I have reached an impasse in my research that I
was hoping some of you might be able to help me with.  My attempt to explore
what these principles might be is grounded in analysis of the barrage of press
releases and position statements on the subject of Aristide's coup-napping
that were issued by a group of Caribbean women (among them, Peggy Antrobus of
Barbados) and a Haitian group called CONAP (National Coordination for Advocacy
on Women's Rights / Coordination Nationale de Plaidoyer pour les Droits des
Femmes).
 And here's my problem: I am finding it terribly difficult to get information
on CONAP.  In their statement on the coup (some of you might remember reading
this on the list back in March 2004; you can view it at
http://www.haitipolicy.org/printversions/1944.htm), they describe themselves
as an umbrella group representing a broad cross-section of women's groups in
Haiti but their claims to representativeness seem to be undercut by anti-
Aristide language (e.g. references to 'Lavalas thugs' which don't appear to
acknowledge the possibility that one could be a thug without being a Lavalas
supporter, and vice versa).  The only other 'information' I have is Peggy
Antrobus's claim that this group represents the privileged class and,
therefore, elite interests.  Can anyone point me to information that might
help me figure out where CONAP fits in on this fragmented political landscape?

mesi anpil / thank you very much,

Tracey Nicholls, Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Philosophy
McGill University
-----
...take up the heart of courage, and have consideration for each other in the
strong encounters, since more come through alive when men [sic] consider each
other, and there is no glory when they give way...
(The Iliad, V, 529-532)





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