Haiti News Updates on Wednesdays and Fridays (may change to one day a week).
"The Haitian people are asking not for charity, but for justice."
"What, then is to be done? Speaking of events since the 1991 coup, Noam Chomsky has noted that 'honest commentary would place all of this in the context of our unwavering opposition to freedom and human rights in Haiti for no less than 200 years.' The first order of business, for citizens of the United States, might be a candid and careful assessment of our ruinous policies towards Haiti. Remorse is not a very fashionable sentiment. But for many, old-fashioned penitence might be the first step towards a new solidarity, a pragmatic solidarity that could supplant both our malignant policies of the past and the well -meaning but unfocused charity that does not respond to Haitian aspirations. The Haitian people are asking not for charity, but for justice." (The Uses of Haiti P. 307) |
- Martelly's Evictions:
- Wave Of Illegal, Senseless And Violent Evictions Swells In Port au Prince By Bill Quigley
The following are recent examples of illegal forced evictions, all have occurred since Martelly became President.
On May 27, 2011, at 6am, Haitian National Police wielding machetes and knives stormed a camp in the Delmas 3 neighborhood destroying about 200 makeshift tents, and forcing people to flee, according to Jacqueline Charles of the Miami Herald. There was no court order of eviction.
In early June, Haitian National Police showed up and began destroying tarps and tents of hundreds of families camped at the intersection of Delmas and Airport Roads. The police fired shots and swung batons as people protested in front of their camp. This was done without legal authority.
Later in June, at another camp in Delmas 3, truckloads of agents armed with machetes descended on another camp and dismantled it. After the tents were destroyed a bulldozer showed up and leveled what was left. This too was without any legal process....
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"Haiti's ruling class became in the nineteenth century what it remains to this day - a parasitic clique of medium-sized and authoritarian land-owners on the one hand, combined in uneasy alliance with an equally parasitic though more "outward-looking" assemblage of importers, merchants and professionals." (P13 Damming The Flood) |
- International Forum on the Crisis of Housing: In Haiti, “Homes and Land are the Source of Life”:
We resolve to continue the struggle to force the state to define a policy on housing that guarantees the right of all Haitians to have a home to live in that respects their dignity. The government should start housing construction projects to respond to our needs;
The government must define a land use policy for the country. Before the earthquake, 80% of the population in Port-au-Prince was living in 20% of the land. We want housing discrimination to end. We reject all the wealth and infrastructure being concentrated in only some parts of the city. We also reject the reconstruction of the nation’s land only to create free trade zones;
The Parliament must draft and vote on a law to guarantee the right to housing;
The government must look for and acquire land though expropriation [eminent domain] so that there is sufficient space for housing needs;
- Justice and Human Rights
- WikiLeaks Reveal: U.S. and UN Officials Oversaw Integration of Ex-Army Paramilitaries into Haiti’s Police Force
The cable describes how previously high-level IGOH officials had made promises to the ex-FAdH paramilitaries. Some “of the ex-soldiers in Cap-Haïtien said they had been told by the PM's nephew and security advisor Youri Latortue and the PM's political advisor Paul Magloire that they would be admitted into the HNP,” explained the cable by U.S. Ambassador James Foley. “This raised a red-flag for us and the rest of the international community...”
However, at the Mar. 13 meeting, Gérard Latortue “made clear this was not the case,” telling the paramilitaries “that integration into the HNP would be a possibility for some, but they had to understand that not everyone would make it into the police. Ex-soldiers not qualified for the HNP could be hired into other public administration positions (e.g., customs, border patrol, etc.),” Foley wrote.
- Haitian Women Cross Border to Give Birth | Florida Center for Investigative Reporting:
In a series of changes to its Constitution over the past decade, the Dominican government has done what some powerful conservative politicians are attempting in Arizona and around the country — revoke birthright citizenship for many. A child born to illegal immigrants in the Dominican Republic is no longer a citizen of that country. At the same time, without registration in their parents’ home country, they are not citizens there either. They are stateless.
- Universal Periodic Review:Criminal Justice Report- 90 inmates in a cell- 1 min video: Men in Cell 5 Haiti
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- A brief video on attack: Tom Luce, Reed Lindsay, Raphael Jean-Labin, Jeremie Dupin, “Gran Ravine Massacre #3”
- Surge of violence in Desdunes- Martelly's propaganda- continues to call opposition violent.
- BBC News - Should Creole replace French in Haiti's schools?
Solidarity!
Mantra from Aristide's 1990 campaign:
"Alone we are weak, together we are strong; all together we are Lavalas, the flood [yon se`l nou feb, ansanm nou fo, ansanm nou se Lavalas]."
Aristide Damming The Flood, (pg. xxxiv)
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- For an International Solidarity Movement with Fidel Castro and Cuba, "Heroes of International Solidarity":
It is time to resort to a peaceful international solidarity movement and unleash a series of mass demonstrations on specified days to protest against an embargo whose aim is to destabilize Cuba's economy and inflict inhumane suffering on its people, and more specifically on children and the most vulnerable sectors of the population. Haitians who have served the cause of human liberty by abolishing slavery are well placed to undertake such an initiative.
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- This entry was posted in Haiti and tagged 1700s, 1717, Cap François, Cap Haitien, France, Haiti, Saint-Domingue, slavery.
- Senior US diplomat warns Caribbean countries - Caribbean - Go-Jamaica:
Earlier this month, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Maliki led a delegation to a number of Caribbean and Latin American countries seeking support for the proposal.
However, Christopher Sandrolini, the charge d’ affaires at the Barbados-based US Embassy said Washington does not want to see regional governments agreeing to support the initiative outside of the already agreed framework.
Reliable Haiti Sources
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Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti:
IJDH Does amazing work in Haiti. I donate to them whenever I can. Please support IJDH's work.
IJDH draws on its founders’ internationally-acclaimed success accompanying Haiti’s poor majority in the fields of law, medicine and social justice activism. We seek the restoration of the rule of law and democracy in the short term, and work for the long-term sustainable change necessary to avert Haiti’s next crisis.
"For friends of Haiti who seek to support a progressive and principled human rights organization that gets its facts right and does not erase history, look no further than the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti."
— Paul Farmer, Co-Founder, Partners in Health
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti:
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Twitter AP Reporter:
@KatzOnEarth Jonathan M. Katz
Danticat: To make a difference support grassroots women's organizations ... that deal with gender violence including FAVILEK & @IJDH
6 Jul via web Unfavorite Undo Retweet Reply
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The Aristide Foundation for Democracy (AFD) was created in 1996 by former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide (the first democratically elected president of Haiti) with a simple principle in mind: "The promise of democracy can only be fulfilled if all sectors of Haitian society are able to actively participate in the democratic life of the nation."
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Haiti Emergency Relief Foundation (HERF):
Haiti’s grassroots movement – including labor unions, women’s groups, educators and human rights activists, support committees for political prisoners, and agricultural cooperatives – are funneling needed aid to those most hit by the earthquake. They are doing what they can – with the most limited of funds – to make a difference. Please take this chance to lend them your support. All donations to the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund will be forwarded to our partners on the ground to help them rebuild what has been destroyed.
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Partners in Health At its root, our mission is both medical and moral. It is based on solidarity, rather than charity alone. When a person in Peru, or Siberia, or rural Haiti falls ill, PIH uses all of the means at our disposal to make them well—from pressuring drug manufacturers, to lobbying policy makers, to providing medical care and social services. Whatever it takes. Just as we would do if a member of our own family—or we ourselves—were ill. |
Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods(SOIL)
Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL) is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting soil resources, empowering communities and transforming wastes into resources in Haiti. We believe that the path to sustainability is through transformation, of both disempowered people and discarded materials, turning apathy and pollution into valuable resources. |