27232: Simidor (reply) Re: 27220: Ives : Haiti Progres vs. Batay Ouvriye (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

> From Daniel Simidor

The notion that Batay Ouvriye helped overthrow
Aristide two years ago and is now getting paid by the
Bush administration for their efforts is silly beyond
words.  It would take a feeble mind steeped in
conspiracy theory and bad faith to believe such
nonsense.  But if accepting a few thousands dollars
from the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center in Haiti is
tantamount to treason, what are we to call the fact
that Aristide and his Lavalas regime accepted millions
of dollars directly from the US government?  Not to
mention that they were begging for more to the very
end, that they signed all kinds of shady deals
(including the infamous Maribahoux free trade zone),
and that they brought us not one but two US invasions
in just one decade?  It?s the proverbial case of the
pot calling the kettle black!

When Jeb Sprague, the ?independent researcher,?
started his crusade against Batay Ouvriye, the only
existing ?money trail?, and this is known partly
through BO?s own disclosure, was a $3,500 contribution
from the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center to a BO strike fund
in support of the SOKOWA union in the Wanament
free-trade zone.  That contribution came more than
three months after Aristide?s downfall.  For
Haiti-Progres and Lavalas, this may have been enough
of an excuse to accuse Batay Ouvriye of accepting
"monetary aid and oversight" from the US government.
But would Sprague, the Ph D. candidate, put his career
(his dissertation) on the line on such a flimsy
charge?  I think not.  Somebody tipped him off that
there was more money in the pipeline.  This could have
been a grant reviewer or somebody more sinister, but
it wasn?t Batay Ouvriye, or the Solidarity Center for
that matter.

It now appears that BO is to receive additional funds
from the Solidarity Center in Haiti to help set up a
workers center in Wanament, and that those funds are a
portion of a $100,000 grant the Solidarity Center
received from the National Endowment for Democracy.
Would I accept NED money for the meager work I do?
No, but then again, I'm not organizing desperately
poor workers in desperately poor Haiti.  Would I take
blood money from the NYC police department like
Haiti-Progres did?  No, of course not.  But it's a
moot point anyway, because Batay Ouvriye never
received $100,000 from NED.  There are reasons why the
Solidarity Center would fund BO organizing, some of
those reasons not so innocent, but to pretend this was
payment two years after the fact for overthrowing
Aristide is just ridiculous.

Who overthrew Aristide, anyway?  First, it was his own
stupidity and greed.  Kim Ives once exposed Lavalas
corruption as adamantly as he is denying it today.
Sure, a few hundred opportunists and lumpen elements
benefited from Lavalas handouts and no-show jobs, but
overall Lavalas greed, at a time of increased
suffering for the masses, was a big let down for the
people ? witness their indifference when Aristide was
eventually led into exile.  The second element in
Aristide?s undoing was the kind of alliances he chose
to make and the allies he turned his back on.  Patrick
Elie has a revealing interview on that subject on one
of the Lavalas websites.  But more importantly, there
was the crisis in Haiti that ripped apart the best
laid-out plans for hegemony and power.  It is the same
crisis that has compelled the masses, again and again,
to impatiently toss aside all the bullshit politicians
used to pass for butter.

In terms of the big imperialist la-di-da plot against
Aristide, it bears to keep in mind that Aristide
himself made it possible for the imperialists to play
with him like a yo-yo, and that they supported him,
however tepidly, almost to the very end.  Two days
before his abrupt departure, Aristide was still
begging Bush to please strengthen that support, by
sending a few dozens Marines to protect his hide.

The workers organization Batay Ouvriye did not help
overthrow Aristide, even when they had every reason to
do so (Lavalas?s anti labor position, their
persecution and outright murder of BO organizers).
What Batay Ouvriye did do, while Haiti-Progres was
going down the path of ignominy with Aristide, was to
use every opportunity and every bit of resources
available to organize.  It wasn?t that long ago that
Kim Ives himself was reporting on some of those
organizing drives.

Batay Ouvriye has not changed its practice or its line
in the intervening period -- Haiti-Progres did.  As a
result, Batay Ouvriye has gone through a period of
rapid growth (in Creole ?vale teren?), which makes the
very envious very mad.  Batay Ouvriye is certainly not
above making mistakes, but their practice and their
line are some of the best and most hopeful things
happening in Haiti today, in terms of prospective
change. I?m not asking people to take my word for it,
but those of you who support some kind of
revolutionary transformation in Haiti should use the
opportunity of this campaign against Batay Ouvriye to
look into their practice on your own.  You can begin
by looking at their website at
http://www.batayouvriye.org/English/Welcome.html.  The
truth shall set you free!


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