26331: Arthur (news) Peasant organisations in unity drive (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Tttnhm@aol.com

Extract from the Haiti Support Group's Haiti Briefing, September 2005

Peasant organisations in unity drive

At the beginning of July 2005, a year-long effort to unite the different
peasant organisations in a national structure came to fruition with the unveiling
of the Plateforme Nationale des Organisations Paysannes Haitiennes (PLANOPA).

Robert Métayer, a PLANOPA spokesperson, told the AlterPresse news agency that
for around 30 years the country's peasant organisations had worked
independently of each other and without really being able to constitute a force that
could press home the peasants' demands. "We have been too dispersed and our
enemies have taken advantage of that. That is why we need to unite", he explained.

The two oldest and most established peasant organisations - the Mouvman
Peyizan Papay and Tèt Kole Ti Peyizan Ayisyen - discussed unification back in the
late 1980s, but ideological differences could not be overcome. In the late
1990s, former president René Préval and murdered radio journalist Jean Dominique
were involved in the creation of an Artibonite-based peasant organisation with
the acronym, KOZEPEP. This organisation collapsed in the early 2000s as a
result of moves to co-opt leaders and a repressive climate under the Lavalas
Family government.

More recently, there have been moves to develop new platforms of regional
peasant organisations, and there has been some success with the creation of the
Mouvman Revandikatif Peyizan Latibonit, (MOREPLA, the Artibonite peasant's
movement for justice), and the Kòdinasyon Rejyonal Oganizasyon Sidès (KROS, the
coordination of regional organisations in the South-East).

PLANOPA now unites the following seven organisations:
Tèt Kole ti Peyizan Ayisyen (national),
Mouvman Peyizan Nasyonal Kongrè Papay (MPNKP) (national),
Mouvman Peyizan Papay (MPP) (Central Plateau),
Mouvman Revandikasyon Peyizan Latibonit (MOREPLA) (Artibonite),
the peasant branch of Kòdinasyon Rejyonal Oganizasyon Sidès (KROS)
(south-east),
Konbit Peyizan Nip (KPN) (south-west), and
Rezo Koperativ Peyizan Ba Latibonit (RACPABA) (lower Artibonite),

According to Métayer, PLANOPA will attempt to channel the energies of all
seven organisations to put forward the peasants' demands for farming land and for
subsidised credit. He said it was also important to put an end to impunity.
"After all the massacres suffered by the peasants, the judicial system has
still not yet reined in the criminals."

Métayer continued, "We want to mobilise the peasants to work out a national
agreement and to position ourselves vis-a-vis the State." He added that the
organised peasants would support the demands made by workers and students.

The first PLANOPA congress was held la Petite Rivière de l'Artibonite in the
north of the country between 22-25 August. Three hundred delegates from the
different organisations met to discuss the future of national agricultural
production, particularly rice, and to denounce the invasion of imported rice from
the United States and the neo-liberal policies of the International Monetary
Fund.

Addressing the delegates, Assancio Jacques, spokesperson for MOREPLA, said,
"Today agricultural production in the Artibonite department is on the road to
oblivion. Fertiliser production is in the hands of the bourgeoisie, and peasant
must pay between 100-200 gourdes (US2.35-4.70) for one sack."

In 1985, the Artibonite department was producing around 200,000 tonnes of
rice. At that time the state-run Artibonite Valley Development Organisation
(ODVA) worked with peasants and provided what they needed. Now, according to
Artibonite peasants, the ODVA has given up on its mission and has been displaced by
the US sub-contractor, T&S Rice SA. This company only employs 300 Haitian
workers whereas rice production in the Artibonite involved 80,000 producers,
28,000 agricultural labourers, and 400 owners of rice mills.

The delegates declared that they could not compete with US rice imports, and
called on the authorities to pull themselves together to put a stop to the
trade which if unchecked would lead the country into the abyss of the total
destruction of national production.

The PLANOPA coordinator, Vilfranc Cénaré, told the delegates that peasants
are always left out, treated like poor relations even though they represent the
lungs of the national economy. Cénaré said, "Haitian peasants are just like
other sectors who now have to live on imported products. There is no food
security, agricultural production is negligible, and Haitians are prone to all sorts
of illnesses because they have to consume products made from
genetically-modified produce."

He continued, "We peasants  - who make up around 80% of the population - we
have today decided to end with the policy of division. Those of us here must
constitute ourselves as a social force in order to rebuild our beloved Haiti,
and we are conscious of the historic role we must play in the struggle for
change in this country."

"Peasants don't exist without land, and the land must be distributed to those
who work it. We must unite to demand our right to participate in the
management of our country, and to demand that the State carries out an equitable
agrarian reform."

Before the end of the congress, the Artibonite peasant organisations agreed
on a number of demands for measures to be taken to restore the department to
its position as the nation's granary. These included irrigation and drainage of
land, and initiatives to save the environment, such as reforestation, soil
conservation, and to protect mountains and rivers.

Source: www.alterpresse.org
____________________________

Forwarded as a service of the Haiti Support Group - solidarity with the
Haitian people's struggle for human rights, participatory democracy and equitable
development - since 1992.

Web site: www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org