Statement from Haiti’s popular movement

Haiti Action Committee

A Call for Solidarity from Haiti’s Popular Movement

Reflecting on the voting rights struggle led by Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. and so many other courageous fighters for justice fifty years ago in
the US; on the one person one vote struggle led by Mandela’s comrades
in South Africa; reflecting on struggles everywhere, we came to the
conclusion that a people can’t be sovereign if they don’t have the right
to vote. No people can retain their dignity if their vote does not count.
As clearly stated by President Aristide: “If we don’t protect our dignity,
our dignity will escape us!” That is why we struggle and ask that people
the world over with a history of struggle stand in solidarity with us.

Six years after the earthquake that jolted the country, causing the death of hundreds of thousands of Haitians, we, Haitian organizations, in the
context of reflection, take our hats off and humbly say to the people all over the planet who opened their hearts to us, “We have not forgotten your
acts of solidarity”. The sharing impulse manifested by people the world
over, should have helped the Haitian people to rebuild their environment,
rebuild their lives. Pity! To this day, the people’s lot has not changed. Adding
insult to injury, shameless characters, local slave owners, empowered by
various international organizations, hijacked the reconstruction funds.

Right after the earthquake, the internationals took advantage of our
momentary state of helplessness to occupy the political space. Today,
the Haitian people are engaged in an all out struggle to reclaim that
space and to exercise their right to vote. The very ones who hijacked the
reconstruction money want to prevent the people from choosing their
government, in a wide scale conspiracy to continue the looting of the
country’s resources. Subsequent to many schemes designed to remove
the people from the political equation, local colonialists joined forces
with international colonialists to force the people to accept choices
against their best interests. Illegitimate officials implemented urban
removal plans and land grabs, assaulting both the middle-class, as well as the poorer classes, putting the country on the brink of collapse.
The people’s resistance slowed down the “terror apparatus,” prevent-
ing it from completing this program. Now they want to put more false
officials at the helm of the government to continue their assault.

The blatant violence perpetrated in Ile-a-Vache, the hideous massacres
perpetrated on the people of Arcahaie, the continuous massacre of the people of Cité Soleil because they manifest a will to vote, various
acts of aggression perpetrated throughout the country, in the context
of land-grab or voter suppression, convince the Haitian people that
they are in a fight for their very existence. We say NO, WE WILL NOT
OBEY ILLEGITIMATE OFFICIALS. Self-defense is a legitimate universal
law. Civil-Disobedience is an accepted universal right when a people
confronts an illegal regime. The right to elect a government is uni-
versally accepted as a way for people to protect its existence. Today,
confronted by the danger presented by local and international colo-
nialists, the Haitian people have started a RESISTANCE FOR EXISTENCE
movement. They ask for people to people solidarity from everywhere
on the planet. The local and international colonialists plan is not an
earthquake, yet it has caused far more damage to the country.

Our experience of the six years since the earthquake is no different than
the experience of other small countries with natural and human resourc-
es. The internationals loot, have an orgy, while the international media
turns a blind eye to lies spread by “their” ambassadors in their country’s
name. The Haitian army, now being rebuilt to oppress the people, is a gift to the Haitian people by the Organization of American States (OAS). The
Cholera epidemic and the blood thirsty and corrupt Haitian Police, were
United Nations (UN) gifts to the Haitian people. The Media is mute, as the
country nears total collapse. We say NO, WE WILL NOT OBEY. We will not
dig our own graves. We’d rather tell the truth and expose the conspiracy. n