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Feeding Haiti

2008-05-07T01:17:00Z

By: Dr. Joia Mukherjee and Donna Barry - The Boston Globe

ONCE AGAIN the media are filled with stories and images of unrest in Haiti, this time due to soaring food prices and pervasive hunger. In the United States and around the world, grain stocks have been depleted, energy costs have skyrocketed, and prices of food staples are inflated by increased use of grain to feed livestock in middle-income countries and supply ethanol plants. Unpredictable weather is causing droughts and flooding in key grain-producing countries. Add to that the widespread deforestation of Haiti, and the result is a 50 percent increase in the price of food staples over the past year and countrywide shortages.

Yet the current crisis is only the most recent in the hemisphere's hungriest country.

Food insecurity in Haiti has deep historical roots and can be tied to interventionist policies of foreign governments - from the brutal and slave-dependent sugar production that made Haiti France's richest colony to the current US practice of grain dumping. In the 1980s and 1990s, under pressure from international financial institutions and the United States, Haiti lifted tariffs that protected the livelihoods of its rice farmers, leaving local producers unable to compete with heavily subsidized US agribusiness. The United States gave Haiti rice as "food aid." Such assistance is highly profitable for US producers but disastrous for Haiti's small farmers, and resulted in dramatic decreases in local production of this staple. In short order, the tiny country of Haiti became the fourth largest importer of US rice.

These stressors are not isolated to Haiti. Generous subsidies of agribusiness and shipping companies disguised as food aid have enormously deleterious effects on the local production of food and livelihood of farmers who live on a small economic margin. Acute shortages superimposed on chronic food insecurity are like matches on gasoline in countries like Haiti, where the large majority of people earn less than $2 a day and spend more than half their income on food. It is past time for the United States, other donor governments, and large aid agencies to reexamine agricultural, trade, and aid policies to prevent more crises, and to work with local farmers and markets to assure lasting food security.

First, nongovernmental organizations should stop buying surplus US grain at cheap prices, subsidized by US taxpayers, and then reselling it in developing countries for profit. Such programs undermine local production and local markets. CARE acted wisely last year when, after examining the effects on local farmers, it opted instead for cash transfers to directly aid local food production and purchasing.

Second, foreign aid for food security should be increased and separated from the US Farm Bill. The current linkage serves to tie the financial interests of the agricultural and shipping industries with aid instead of having assistance driven by an analysis of local needs. Food aid is the only form of international assistance almost entirely outside the purview of the House and Senate foreign relations committees.

Last, the world's poorest countries must be released from their enormous debt to international financial institutions, most of which was incurred to support ruthless dictators and never reached the neediest. While President Rene Preval's government in Haiti struggles to calm and feed its population, it continues to remit over $1 million per week to service its debt. Last month, the House passed the Jubilee Act, recommending debt relief for several countries to free up critical funds to improve food security. The House unanimously approved an amendment from Representative Alcee Hastings of Florida advocating that Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson use his office to immediately cancel Haiti's debt and debt repayments. We encourage the Senate and President Bush to pass and sign similar legislation.

Since most of the world's poor and malnourished populations depend on agriculture for their income, higher grain prices would benefit small producers if they could compete in global markets. However, subsidies of the US food industry create a steep gradient against fairness. When subsidies are couched as "food aid" they are deeply cynical and infringe on the basic right to food that should be afforded to all.

Joia Mukherjee, M.D., and Donna Barry are director and manager of the Institute for Health and Social Justice at Partners In Health.

Ericq Pierre Nominated as Prime Minister

2008-05-04T00:01:00Z

By: Yves Pierre-Louis & Kim Ives - Haiti Liberté

On April 27, President Rene Preval finally nominated neoliberal economist Ericq Pierre as his Prime Minister, after two weeks of intense negotiations at the National Palace. Preval consulted with Haiti's political parties, the heads of the Senate and the House of Deputies, "civil" society and business leaders, as well as, inappropriately, representatives of the international community.

If approved by both Parliamentary houses, Pierre would become Haiti's next prime minister, replacing Jacques Edouard Alexis, whom the Senate ousted on April 12 (see Haiti Liberte, Vol. 1, No. 39, 4/16/2008).

Pierre, 63, is from Jeremie in Haiti's southwestern Grand Anse department. Trained as an agronomist, he has worked in recent years as a senior advisor to the Executive Director of Haiti and Argentina at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). He has also acted as the IDB's liaison with Haiti - appointed by the bank with Haitian government approval - since 1991.

Ericq Pierre was Preval's first nomination for a replacement Prime Minister 11 years ago, during his first administration, after Prime Minister Rosny Smarth resigned. The Parliament rejected the nomination on "technical" grounds that Pierre had not met constitutional conditions for citizenship, residency and tax-paying that the post requires.

However, there were other factors at play. At that time, the Parliament was dominated by the Struggling People's Organization (OPL), Smarth's party, which was wrestling with Preval for control of the government and the emergence of the newly founded Lavalas Family party. The OPL was trying to establish - unsuccessfully - its dominance.

Furthermore, Pierre had proudly trumpeted his neoliberal credentials and intentions. While the OPL parliamentarians had no problem with this orientation, others did, causing them to also vote against his nomination in August 1997.

This time around, Preval seems to have laid the groundwork more carefully. Senate President Kelly Bastien dismissed the notion that Pierre's nomination would suffer the same fate as it did in 1997. "There is no longer any conflict between the majority party and the executive," he said.

Several lawmakers have already declared that they will support the nomination, including Senator Rudi Heriveaux from the Lavalas Family party (FL). "The Lavalas party of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in exile in South Africa, is ready to vote for the nomination of Mr. Pierre," Heriveaux told AFP. "I believe that he [Pierre] perfectly matches the profile that all the sectors have recommended. I hope though that he will listen to their demands."

Of all the parties in the Parliament, the FL would be the most likely to oppose Pierre's neoliberal pedigree. To complicate matters, Lavalas executive committee leader Annette "So An" Auguste last week denounced Heriveaux (without naming him directly) as a "threat" who was creating "disorder and spreading confusion" by claiming to be the party's supreme leader in Aristide's absence.

Meanwhile, 53 parliamentarians have formed a new bloc called the Coalition of Progressive Parliamentarians (CPP), claiming that they have an anti-neoliberal stance. Will the CPP oppose Pierre's nomination, although it includes many lawmakers from Preval's Hope alliance? Time will tell.

Preval was also pressured to choose Ericq Pierre by several visiting foreign officials such as Alain Joyandel, French Secretary of State for Cooperation and Francophonie, Jose Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), and Miguel Angel Moratinos, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

Bastien and president of the House of Deputies, Eric Pierre Jean Jacques, said that both parliamentary houses are forming special commissions to start reviewing the nomination.

Pierre purports to have no ambition to be head of government. "It's a sense of duty for me to serve my country," he said. "I did my studies in Haiti and the country invested in me and I should in return to put my knowledge at my country's service."

Pierre also eloquently expressed his technocratic vision when he said: "There is no reform of the left or the right, there are only necessary reforms." The greatest outcry against Ericq Pierre's nomination may come from the Haitian people themselves. The uprising that began of April 3 and swept away Alexis was not just against food's high cost but against neoliberal austerity policies in general. In this light, Pierre's nomination is likely to provoke more anger and demonstrations in the weeks ahead.

May Day in Haiti: Workers Protest Privatization

2008-05-03T00:52:00Z

By: IWW Haiti Mission - Delegation Blog

The following is an excerpt from an IWW delegation's report from Haiti, currently being hosted by the Confederation of Haitian Workers (CTH).

May Day is a national holiday in Haiti, and all over the world except in Canada and the US, so people were out in the streets enjoying themselves.

We arrived at CTH headquarters where the fired Teleco workers were gathering for a rally and march to demand their 36 month severance package. There slogan, written in French, English, and Creole, was "do you want to hurt our people and country or fight with us against poverty and hunger. They concluded the first part of their demonstration affirming "our destiny is to struggle with you or against you," directed particularly against the government.

Simultaneous to this was a press conference where their representative made three points: 1) We must protest against the IMF and World Bank; 2) 36 months severance pay with 6 additional months health insurance; 3) Negotiation regarding future dismissals. Then everyone stood and sang the national anthem in Creole.

We wanted to join them protesting against the neo-liberal plan and the jailing of Levi Mileot, the president of the hospital workers union. This was a genuine expression of rank-and-file militancy. We were unable to join the march itself do to miss-communications and instead went to the Champ de Mars, PAP's central square, and celebrated May Day with the people.

We returned to CTH headquarters and enjoyed food, music, beer, and dancing. Happy May Day.

Press Conference for laid off Teleco workers at CTH headquarters.

Fired worker holding Haitian Constitution.

After a nice rendition of a EDH union song.

Popular Base Committee of Fanmi Lavalas Makes Declaration

2008-05-01T23:22:00Z

By: Jean Ristil - HaitiAnalysis.com

On January 26, 2008 the Committee of Reflection of the Popular Base of Fanmi Lavalas released a declaration in Port-au-Prince. The committee had assembled in Plas Fyète (Pride Square) in Site Soley to say no to the massacres being committed in this impoverish slum. A large march, with blaring trumpets and chanting crowds, had made its way to the location.

The group explained how on that same day, across the country, people were coming out into the streets with the same slogan: “we may get hit and forget, but the scars will serve as a reminder.”

The gathering of this committee from the popular base was attended by many people, including well known grassroots activists and former political prisoners René Civil and Annette “So An” Auguste.

A declaration from the organization read, "From April 26, 1825 to April 26, 2008 marks the 123rd anniversary of the ransom debt; the exploitative government of France forced President Boyer who had his hands tied behind his back to pay in order for France to recognize the Haitian independence. Our ancestors gave their blood for that independence; if we are in this impoverished state today, it’s because of France. We want to tell France that if they are such a beautiful country it’s because they sucked the life blood out of Haiti."

Showing more significance to the date, they observed, "April 26 2004, April 26 2008 marks the 43rd anniversary of the massacre that took place in the town of Jeremi; 22 years ago on April 26 1986, another massacre occurred in Fort Dimanche; April 26 2008 is Peasants World’s Day; let’s encourage our national production. April 26 2004, April 2008 marks the 4th year since a group of young men & women came together to put into place a political tool; to say no to the February 29 kidnapping. "

The assembled audience explained how their flag and dignity had been trampled upon by those events. "The result was arbitrary arrests, theft; rape and exile." In Site Soley, La Salin; Belair, Solino; Fort National, Grand Ravine; Aux Cayes, Jacmel; Gonaives and all over the country people suffered.

They questioned "When will this little country live the dream of Toussaint Louverture & Dessalines?" The assembled audienced explained how former president Aristide and the mobilization around the political movement he was associated with remained the most potent force in the country.

The declaration from the group ended with: "Haiti has yet to see any good days; she has seen only accursed dates. Every day people are saying that Haiti is liberated; but is she really free? Since the liberation in 1804, it’s always been men pretending to be leaders coming to power; how many of us believe we are truly free? Perhaps Haiti is free but Haitians are not free. If we work together, we will make others respect our country; we are the first Black Republic in the Western Hemisphere, yet we are worse off; when will we ask ourselves to truly unite as one?"

See photographs here.

Confederation of Haitian Workers Hosts IWW Labor Delegation to Haiti

2008-05-01T00:20:00Z

By: IWW Haiti Mission - Delegation Blog

The following are reports from the IWW delegation to Haiti, currently being hosted by the Confederation of Haitian Workers (CTH). Visit the website above to read more.

April 29, 2008

This morning we went to a press conference related to the unjustified arrest of Levy Mileot, president of the hospital union. Afterwards we stopped by the CTH office where there was a conference held by the Assocation des Employes Victimes de la Teleco, over 5000 of whom have been laid off since 2004 when the privatization of TELECO began. They were left with only a 12 month severance package and are demanding an extension to 36 months based on the precedent set by the public concrete and flour companies which were also privatized. There are accompanying demands such as medical coverage, money for children's schooling, microcredit loans, professional training, and elimination of workers' debts. They are planning a protest on May 1st in conjunction with civil society to which our delegation has pledged its support as a tactic to pressure the Haitian government (and the North American neo-colonialists) from reversing the privatization of the public sector.

We next met with representatives from the EDH (Electicite d Haiti) the state electrical company, in particular Hary St. Felix, General Secretary of the Federation of Workers Unions of the EDH. The EDH is the next target for privatization following the neo-liberal model. Hary stressed the idea of pushing for a 3 year severance package for the soon to be laid off workers. He proceeded to explain the working of the electrical union and how the production of power took place in three different stages: Production, transportation, and commercialization. The problem in this process is practical-- how can you furnish the necessary service. In fact 75% of Haitians lack electricity as witnessed in Hinche and even in PAP where there are 3 hours or less of power a day. The EDH would like to have sustainable energy created (solar, wind, hydro) but the state is not interested in exploring these alternatives.

There are 2500 EDH employees, each of which support roughly 10 dependents. In October 2007, before the food crisis, the union did a study that concluded that the salary needed to bring a family of 4 up to the poverty line is $450 a month. This only includes 2 meals a day, and does not include the cost of schooling and health care, both of which are now private. However, the average salary of an EDH worker is only $80 a month. Keep in mind there are only 200,000 formal sector jobs so if 2,500 EDH workers are laid off it effects over 25,000 individuals.

The EDH is involved in both production and delivery. There is also a private firm that only produces electricity and refuses for the moment to involve itself in delivery and collection of payment from individual customers because there is such a problem with theft. Apparently, of all the electricity that is consumed in the country the EDH receives payment for only 50% of it because people at all levels of society are illegally tapping into the electrical lines. Of course this only includes those who have access to the electrical infrastructure in the countryside and the shanty towns where there is no infrastructure there is no "theft." The EDH has asked for proper funding to improve its bill collection and infrastructure improvement, but this has fallen on deaf ears.

To date the government's argument for privatization has been that the public sector operates at a loss, however the evidence suggest that this is due to underfunding. The union believes that this is a deliberate strategy to justify handing over potentially profitable public sector industries to corporations.

In contrast, Venezuela and Hydro Quebec have proposed a cooperative agreement which would see to the construction of several power plants around the country. Venezuela in particular will be constructing 3 power plants, one in Gonaives, one in Cap Haitien and one in Port-au-Prince. They are being built in the spirit of cooperation and not competition; the Venezuelans will provide their own technicians to get things up and running, but they will be training Hatians to replace them, thereby providing Haiti with electrical sovereignty. In addition, Venezuela provides Haiti with 14,000 barrels of oil a day, 60% of the cost is paid now while the remaining 40% must be invested in state infrastructure and repaid in 25 years time.

According to the EDH union representatives, President Chavez of Venezuela does not promise aid, he gives it as opposed to the United States, Canada and Europe who only promise but never give. Our personal experience confirms this as we have seen the tangible aid from Venezuela as opposed to the constant and intimidating U.N. military patrols. Furthermore, a medical university that Cuba helped establish in Tabarre has since been closed and is now occupied by the U.N. and is used as a military base.

Currently the EDH is striking in order to get the promised 35% raise in salaries to deal with the increased cost of living. This was promised in March but has yet to be realized. While taking a break from our meetings we heard singing in the adjacent room. We went to listen and saw that it was the union representatives, Hary Saint-Felix and Pierre Nadal, singing solidarity songs, which described how the union fights not just for the betterment of its members but also for the betterment of the whole country. They said that songs demonstrate that union members walk not with the heads down but with their heads held high, they don't walk alone, but with each other. By betterment they are referring to socio-economic and political conditions as well as to working class culture. Song is a concrete expression of solidarity because we sing together a common understanding and goal. Our cameraman Nathaniel returned the favour, leading in the singing of "Solidarity Forever."

April 27- April 28, 2008

Yesterday we took the day off and went to the beach with Paul and Jeanette. On the way we drove briefly through Cite Soleil, the Port Au Prince slum from which Aristide drew significant support. We witnessed shanty towns with corrugated metal roofs slapped up on top of garbage dumps along toxic streams. On the outskirts was the Duvalier prison, Dimanche, which was destroyed after the dictators' fall. From the slum we saw the apartments Aristide began to build for the poor, some were completed but the project was never finished due to the 2004 coup. Proceeding toward the beach we crossed PAP's largest market, which is being replaced by permanent structures funded by Venezuela, an example of real international solidarity. Contrast this to the UN which is basically an occupying power driving through PAP in armored personal carriers brandishing guns.

We witnessed other dramatic contrasts, on one side sat the slums, while on the other the National Theater and embassies, including the old US embassy, replaced just last week by a fortress near the airport. Thus the architecture tends to confirm the statistic that 85% of Haiti's wealth controlled by 6% of the population (ironically the richest billionaire in Latin America is Haitian, and Haiti has the most billionaires in the Caribbean). Leaving the market area we saw a few of the remaining Creole pigs drinking and eating in the sewer. Creole pigs were forcibly eradicated in 1982 and replaced by pigs imported from Iowa, dubbed by peasants "prince a quatre pieds" (four footed princess) as they required a higher standard of living than most Haitians, needing clean drinking water unavailable to 80% of the population, vaccinations, special imported feed provided by US agribusiness, and special roofed pigpens.

The beach was lovely, though catered mostly to upper class Haitian youth, costing more than most Haitians live on in a day. It was quite a contrast being the only white people on the beach. The water was lovely, warm, and refreshing.

Today we visited PAP's docks, where the CTH has a presence with the Syndicat de Employes de Lautorite Portuiare Nationale (SEAPN- National Dock Workers' Port Authority Union). We had a meeting with the union's president and 7 committee members. We learned that the docks have 1800 employees, 1275 are union members, 1300 of which are about to be laid-off. According to those we interviewed the SEAPN is "apolitical," doing social instead of ideological work.

The union's main focus is working with the employees, making sure they keep their jobs and that their rights are defended. They stressed they have a "new union philosophy," to work in collaboration with the Port's director to obtain a better severance package for the workers. Their focus is to "modernize through diplomacy to present the problems of workers to management." Unfortunately, there is now a crisis between the union management and the government; the State has decided to lay off 1300 workers and the union, not opposing the layoffs, is focusing on obtaining a 2 year severance package with 6 months health care beyond that. They also talked about professional training to manage the money they receive and initiate "income generating activities through new economic initiatives" (through the informal sector?).

This reveals a tension between the CTH and the SEAPN as the CTH remains opposed to this kind of privatization and is trying to organize national and international opposition to the move, which is one example of how badly they require our solidarity. There is no opposition to the layoffs in the Haitian government in fact the port director and "civil servant", Jean Evans Charles, a hatchet man, after 2 hours of pontificating stated "we are capitalists, we have to make money in a competitive system, and the best way to do this is to privatize." What will the layoffs be based on -- seniority, age, family? -- we did not get a clear picture.

When asked about the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights (guaranteed to all people, the right to work, education, food, clothing, shelter, and to live a life of quality in a democracy), Charles repeated the Reaganite doctrine of trickle down economics. Interestingly, no one from the SEAPN was listening to his spiel, instead they talked on their cell phones, engaged in non-verbal communication with us, and one even fell asleep.

As we left the port some Haitians shouted at us "CIA, CIA fuck off," alluding to US cooperation with the port's privatization. We proceeded to the Parquet, a local courthouse, where hospital workers who had not been paid for 7 months were standing in solidarity with the president of their union who had been arrested after an altercation between some union workers and the hospital's director. The union president, Levy Mileot, was not even present at the incident. In a crowd surveyed by plainclothesmen who carried M16s and shotguns we learned that on March 15 a 35% increase in hospital worker pay had been approved but has yet to be implemented.

We interviewed several members of the hospital workers union who denounced not only corruption in the health care industry, but also launched into attacks on bureaucracy, clientelism, systemic violence and corruption, and anti-unionism. By 4:30 the judge had not shown up for the hearing. Shortly thereafter Mileot was whisked away amid the outcry of the 30 or so there in solidarity.

April 26, 2008

We started the morning by being interviewed by at least 10 members of the local press who questioned us on our objectives. We explained that as citizens of Canada and the US (the two main countries behind the coup and the neoliberal/privatization policies) we felt a moral and democratic obligation to document the living and working conditions created by our governments' foreign policies, and to bring that information back to our fellow citizens with the hope that this will compel them to mobilize for social justice.

Our final stop was in the countryside where we met with peasant groups affiliated with the CTH. Interestingly enough the meeting was held in a building used to raise pigs. At the time it was empty, but again due to a lack of resources it was the only structure available for the meeting. One telling part of the meeting was when the delegation asked them whether they have received any of the international aid our governments claim to be giving to Haiti, the question was met with a resounding and unified NO!

The farmers explained that the peasants are the motor of the economy because without food there is no work. They actually sang a song which dramatized this point. Subsequently the attendees elaborated six main points to improve agriculture, which would improve the quality of life for children, women, and men throughout Haiti:

1. Food 2. Health Care 3. Education and job training 4. Decent housing 5. Dignified work 6. Leisure time.

One key word summed up how many of these points could be accomplished: IRRIGATE!

In short the peasants and peasant organizers displayed a profound political consciousness when they explained that the US and Canada did not want Haiti to be politically or economically independent because the people would use their independence to develop and redistribute the resources of the country for its people.

April 25, 2008

We left Port-au-Prince to visit the countryside, more precisely the Plateau-Central, the poorest region of Haiti. The road that led us there was indicative of the state of the country, as it resembled a mountain riverbed as opposed to a smooth paved highway, much like the life of your average Hatian. En route we passed Peligre Dam designed and built in 1950 to provide electricity to factories in Port-au-Prince, but not for the people of the region. Currently it only provides on average 3 hours of electricity per day, and only to those who can afford it. As we progressed along the so-called road, we witnessed acute poverty in the form of shanty homes built of scrap wood/metal, roaming goats and chickens, sparse vehicles loaded with mangoes, bananas, and people in the room that was left, many of whom were scantily dressed. Most of the people we witnessed along the road were simply waiting in front of their homes. Others were involved in the mango harvest using boney horses and donkeys to transport the produce. We arrived in Hinche, the capital of the Plateau-Central, where we met with regional coordinators of the CTH, none of whom are paid for their union work. They explained the conditions within each sector they represented: Commerce, cooperatives, journalism, construction, youth work, transportation, women's issues, agricultural workers, professional artisans etc. And then each sector went into great detail as to what their problems were. The overwhleming obstacle was a complete and utter lack of infrastructure, such as means of transportation for their products, financial assistance to propel growth, irrigation, modern tools, local places to meet, schools, drinkable water, electricity, hospitals, social security or services, job training, child care, etc.. For the 55,000 people on the plateau, one of the only recourses is to work in the sugar can fields of the Dominican Republic for starvation wages, under conditions of extreme discrimination. The only other recourse is to go to Port-au-Prince and attempt to join the informal economy. For many women this means prostitution, and for many men this means unemployment, begging or petty crime.

April 24, 2008

We were hosted by Paul "Loulou" Chery, the general secretary of the CTH. We visited the main building of the CTH, INAFOS (the National Institute for Social Training) where they used to train members in foreign languages (Spanish, English and French) as well as cadres that would go to the countryside to help organize for the union. The union has been suffering a low period over the last 5-6 years and the builiding has fallen into disrepair due to a lack of resources. They are in need of $25-30,000 for renovations and also need a steady income of $4-5,000 a month for operational costs. For the moment some of the space is being rented to other organizaions who need limited space.

Photo Exhibit: A Committee of Reflection of the Popular Base of Fanmi Lavalas

2008-04-30T00:48:00Z

By: Jean Ristil - HaitiAnalysis.com

On April 26, 2008 the Committee of Reflection of the Popular Base of Fanmi Lavalas held a gathering in Port-au-Prince. For more information see the accompanying article here.

U.N. “Peacekeeping” Soldiers Launch Brutal Attack on Haitian Street Vendors

2008-04-28T01:34:00Z

By: Seth Donnelly - Dissident Voice

Note: the following article is based on a recent investigation carried out in Haiti by a member of the Haiti Action Committee and other US human rights observers in Haiti.

On Saturday, April 11th, a little past 3 p.m., a MINUSTAH (UN) soldier, Nigerian Cpl. Nagya Aminu, was shot and killed in downtown Port-au-Prince. While this killing was widely reported in the international media, what followed the killing was not.

In the immediate aftermath of the killing, at approximately 3:30 p.m. that same afternoon, MINUSTAH troops launched a massive assault on Haitian vendors at the open-air sidewalk market near the main Cathedral in downtown Port-au-Prince — the area where the soldier had been killed.

According to many different street vendors who directly witnessed the MINUSTAH assault, four or five MINUSTAH soldiers emerged from parked trucks near the market and began smashing up the property of street vendors, setting the market on fire, setting off tear gas, and shooting directly at unarmed vendors.

According to one vendor, MINUSTAH soldiers used flame throwers to torch the stalls. He said the soldiers also grabbed hammers and began destroying property. This vendor was hit in the head by MINUSTAH soldiers with these hammers. On April 17th, he showed a member of the Haiti Action Committee and other US human rights observers a massive wound to his head and a blood soaked shirt. He lost consciousness and was taken by a friend to the St. Joseph Hospital nearby.

Another vendor reported that he was shot in the leg by MINUSTAH soldiers and showed his wound to the delegation. He also showed his medical records from the hospital where he had gone to be treated.

Vendors spoke of people killed by MINUSTAH gun fire. According to an officer of the National Association of Vendors, at least three people were shot and killed by MINUSTAH soldiers, who allegedly zipped bodies into bags and took them away. Reportedly, the families could not locate the bodies in the local morgue. A different source indicated that more people may have been killed. The Vendors Association officer also stated that several hundred vendors may have lost their property in the raid.

The National Association for the Defense of Haitian Vendors and Consumers has filed a formal complaint asking the Haitian President to take action and secure compensation for the 263 Haitian vendors whose property was reportedly destroyed by the MINUSTAH troops. Members of the association provided our human rights delegation with a full listing of the names of these vendors, what property they lost, and how much it was valued. For many of these vendors, who live in dire poverty, the loss in property is truly devastating. Additionally, the Association provided us with a list naming seven people who were injured and two killed — Amonese Pierre and Anna Ainsi Connu — by the MINUSTAH troops.

This kind of massive assault by MINUSTAH troops on the civilian population has happened many times before, such as the notorious attack on the people of Cite Soleil on July 6th, 2005. I was part of a small human rights delegation that visited Cite Soleil approximately 24 hours after this attack. We saw firsthand the bodies of murdered civilians, including a mother and her two young children, who community members told us were gunned down by MINUSTAH soldiers. Our delegation later interviewed the military high command of MINUSTAH who reported that the command was unaware of any civilian casualties during the assault.

It is time for the international human rights community to face squarely what has happened in Haiti: a US-backed coup in 2004 that ousted a popular, democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and a subsequent UN occupation (MINUSTAH) authorized by the rich nations on the Security Council. Under this occupation, some 9,000 military and police officers from different countries — ranging from Jordan and Sri Lanka to China and Brazil — are charged with keeping the “peace”. These forces have been accused by many in Haiti of targeting Aristide supporters. Indeed, the occupation serves to consolidate the anti-democratic qualities of the coup. Until the international human rights community starts to pay attention to what is happening in Haiti and join in solidarity with the Haitian people, more egregious human rights violations will be perpetrated in the name of “peacekeeping” operations.

To learn more about what you can do visit Dissident Voice

Bishop Gumbleton Delivers Keynote at Pax Christi NJ Assembly on Migration and Global Solidarity

2008-04-26T00:53:00Z

By: Kathy O’Leary - Pax Christi New Jersey

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, in an address to about 150 participants at the Pax Christi New Jersey Assembly, called for Catholics in America to simplify their lives and commit to taking action for justice. Speaking on the theme “We Suffer and Rejoice With our Brothers and Sisters” the Bishop, quoting from St. Basil and referencing the food crisis in Haiti and the disparity in both wealth and consumption between the United States and the rest of the world, stated that those who have more than they need must recognize that they are living unjustly. Bishop Gumbleton made his remarks in an address to the Pax Christi New Jersey Assembly on Saturday, April 19, at St. Patrick’s School in Jersey City. The assembly was co-sponsored by the Haiti Solidarity Network of the Northeast.

The Bishop made reference throughout his talk to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was ratified by member states of the United Nations in 1948, sixty years ago. He spoke of the extraordinary violation of human rights he witnessed as a result of the targeted destruction of infrastructure including water treatment and irrigation systems in Iraq, both presently and in 1991, as well as from the twelve years of sanctions. He also described the dire situation in Haiti and explained the food riots as an example of the biblical “cry of the poor.” Bishop Gumbleton urged Catholics to take action for justice. He stated that “participation in the transformation of the world constitutes living the gospel of Jesus.”

A longtime national and international activist in the peace movement, Bishop Gumbleton is the founding bishop president of Pax Christi USA. He has traveled to over 20 different countries to promote peace and support human rights. The bishop is the recipient of honorary degrees from several Catholic colleges and universities including Seton Hall Law School and he has testified on behalf of Catholic conscientious objectors.

Bishop Gumbleton answered questions from Dajahi Wiley, sophomore of McNair Academic High School, and other members of the audience on a wide range of topics related to human rights.

Bishop Gumbleton was introduced to the assembly by Tonie Malone, co-founder of Pax Christi New Jersey, who also conducted one of four afternoon workshops. Participants attended workshops concerning micro credit, reconciliation, immigration and the Iraqi refugee crisis. The afternoon plenary was delivered by Juan Carlos Ruiz an immigrant from Mexico and currently the lead organizer for New Sanctuary Movement activities in New York City, who spoke on the prophetic task of the Church dealing with new immigrants to the United States. Other speakers included Georgette Delinois, president of the Haiti Solidarity Network of the Northeast, Greg Sullivan, executive director of IRATE/First Friends, Sr. Clare Nolan, NGO representative to the UN for the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, and Rev. Petero Sabune, protestant pastor for the Sing Sing Correctional Facility.

Students attending St. Patrick’s School who participate in the school’s peace program welcomed the assembly participants by reading poems about peace which they had written. During the assembly, Rev. Gene Squeo was recognized as the recipient of the 2007 Dorothy Day Peacemaker Award in recognition for his work with the Haiti Solidarity Network of the Northeast and the North Jersey Regional Coalition Immigrant Rights Taskforce.

The morning was brought to a close with everyone joining hands and singing a Haitian solidarity song. The song was lead by Fr. François MacArthur of St. Patrick’s Church.

Several local legislators attended the Mass and reception which ended the day. Jersey City Councilwoman Viola Smith and Councilman Steve Lipski both said a few words in praise of the work of Fr. Squeo. NJ State Assemblyman Harvey Smith presented Fr. Squeo with a commendation in recognition of his dedication to issues of peace and justice.

The Haiti Solidarity Network of the Northeast (HSNNE) is an organization based in New Jersey, whose goals are to:

* show solidarity with our Haitian brothers and sisters through prayer and meetings * inform ourselves and others regarding Haiti * visit our brothers and sisters in various parts of Haiti through personal delegations * provide financial support and manually self-help projects in Haiti * publicize true information about Haiti * strengthen Haiti's independence through whatever non-violent means possible

Pax Christi NJ is a region of Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic peace movement, reaching more than half a million Catholics in the U.S. Its membership includes more than 130 U.S. bishops, 800 parish sponsors, 650 religious communities and 300 local groups. Pax Christi USA is a section of Pax Christi International, the international Catholic peace movement with consultative status at the Untied Nations.

Editorial: Is Jacques Edouard Alexis A Victim of His Own Success?

2008-04-25T10:05:00Z

By: Marcus Garcia - Haïti en Marche - Translation by HaitiAnalysis.com

THE BATTLE FOR 2011 IS OPEN

PORT-AU-PRINCE, April 13 - At the end of the vote of censorship taken against him on Saturday (April 12) in the Senate, the exiting Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis said that the country will always be able "to count on him."

This reminds us of a sentence attributed to the French ex-president Georges Pompidou, while Prime Minister of Charles de Gaulle during the events of May 1968, Pompidou was forced to resign.

Shortly after, the press lent him these afterwards famous words: "I am a republic reservist". Nevertheless, the historical Gaullists made him pay for it well. Booby traps for the future candidate were multiplying, of which the famous one "Markovic Affair", along with photo slides, to try to discredit the Pompidou couple. Ever since the expression: "Republic reservist" has been popularized

The last sentence of Alexis in the Senate seems then to send us back to it.

Strides of a Leader of State...

For everyone, Jacques Edouard Alexis is one almost natural aspiring candidate to the presidential elections of 2011. After being the head of René Préval government during two presidential mandates, he already has the stride of a leader of State. Both in the eyes of his fellow-countrymen and of international partners.

University formation and career scholar and tireless worker, the vote of the Senate surprises him between two trips abroad on governmental affairs, of which the last one brings him back to Washington where he was at once official of the OEA, along with financing institutions (meeting with the new number 1 of the FMO, Dominique Strauss-khan) and of the American government (meeting with Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice) to negotiate the new economic program realized with international partners under the name of DSNCRP (strategic national File for growth and poverty reduction).

All is well and ready for the summit of lenders planned for the 25th of this month (next week) in the Haitian capital to finalize this program of which Haiti hopes 2 billion dollars to begin with. Declarations of the Prime Minister Alexis on his return from Washington: "Protect me from my friends"...

Little beforehand, he represented Haiti at a historic summit of the Group Rio in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo (where the recent disagreement between Colombia and its two neighbors Venezuela and Equador was solved), and during which Haiti became officially a member of this important South American association. He also currently represents president Préval at the summits of our neighbors of the CARICOM.

The man begins to gain momentum at the international level.

But within the country, it is not as easy, and even darn difficult. Alexis heads a coalition government. Where, it is necessary to add, the contenders for the presidential elections of 2011 all naturally elbow each other (without counting the numerous others on the outside of Power, i.e., the Senate, for example). Now we know the precept: "My God, protect me from my friends, and as for my enemies I will take care of them!" Friends do not necessarily strike you, but they can hand you out to your enemies.

For example, to the senator Youri Latortue, a native of Artibonite just as Jacques Edouard Alexis and who, as everyone knows it, can't stand his fellow citizen even with a ten foot pole.

A "Leadership Power "...

Saturday was Youri Latortue's day of glory. The whole international press was suspended to its declarations in which they denounced the exiting Prime Minister, as having been a sort of puppy of René Préval, the senator of the L'Artibonite en Action party believes the constitution gives to the Prime Minister a true "leadership power".

Has Jacques Edouard Alexis been too complacent towards president Préval? Probably. For the hidden face of the vote of censorship of the senators is a certain number of frustrations with respect to the Préval-Alexis government.

Rising to power in May 2006, the new head of State has not, to this day, proceeded to any sizable restructuring within the Administration. Practically the same leaders, who arrived within the non-constitutional government of ex-premier minister Gérard Latortue, are the ones who fill again today the functions of delegates (or official representatives of executive office in the 11 departments), general directors and plenipotentiary ambassadors or general consuls...

Now Power is a game of "give and take" under all skies. Parliamentary officials (senators and representatives) always have pockets full of small bills, and many big or small contributions from their constituents.

The Préval-Alexis administration seems to make a point of honor at remaining closed to all contributions

The crabbing basket's political culture...

Furthermore, this administration is prompt to encourage reports on corruption (representative having declared 47 tires for his only car in a year. Common, we know that these tires disappear in a wink of an eye during parish fairs,,,)

Or yet the investigations on double nationality, etc.

So the Parliament replies by never letting the government breathe. Summons to no end, up to the fateful vote of Saturday, April 12.

But this is not nothing yet. More important is our crabbing basket's political culture. As soon as one tries to get out, all hang on to its claws and bring it back towards them. At the risk of everyone losing...or disappears.

On Wednesday, (and again Saturday) President Préval presented a program for the boosting of agricultural production that was already launched two months ago by the office of Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis (credits to the small producers and subsidies for up to 50 percent of the purchase of fertilizers and agricultural input etc.). Besides the community stores, university restaurants and others that could profit in this instance of the tons of food products offered today by "friends" countries (Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, France. ..), all that figuring in the announced emergency program, on Friday, April 4, by the Prime Minister after the explosion of the first riots in the city of Cayes (190 km south of the capital ).

Without the means of its politics...

But his declarations did not encounter the expected echo. Why? The population does not believe in the promises of the government leader because they never were followed by effect.

And even on the dawn of the riots, the check for a disbursement of 400 millions of gourdes, announced by Alexis, was not completely approved yet.

Did the Prime Minister lack the means of his politics?

Or, on the contrary, was he so afraid to commit a faux-pas that could harm his future ambitions? Maybe both.

In any case, a certainty: the foes-winners over Alexis, who they may be, surely will not be able to do better.

Georges Pompidou did not raise fear when general Charles de Gaulle took him as assistant during his crossing of the desert. This graduate of Normal Sup, ès Literature, Ph.D., director of Rothschild banks did not seem to be headed for a big political career. But endowed with fine intelligence, he also had known to surround himself with young people who will remain loyal to him even after his death. One of them was Jacques Chirac.

The only crime of Alexis...

In conclusion, to be a republic reservist is not easy to carry. And this is without doubt the only crime of Alexis. One only needs to see the embarrassment that characterizes the summoning letter of the 16 senators. It was said that it was necessary to bunch them all together on the eve of Saturday, April 12. To serve them the same meal, to have them attended by the same doctor for fear that one of them miss the rendezvous due to illness or catching some intestinal bug.

Haiti is a rare political jungle...Where the republic can be more easily assaulted (as roughly as on Saturday, April 12, 2008, for example) than while being "reservist" and no matter how brilliant it might be...

Taking Global Poverty Seriously: A Speech by Paul Farmer

2008-04-25T00:13:00Z

By: Paul Farmer - Haiti Liberte

The following are excerpts from a speech delivered by Dr. Paul Farmer of the Harvard Medical School to the Inaugural Millennium Campus Conference of the Global Poverty Initiative at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston on Apr. 19. Farmer is the founder of Partners in Health, a world-wide healthcare network which began with a clinic in Cange on Haiti's Central Plateau. The wide-ranging speech, delivered to an audience of 800, was entitled This Is Not a Hobby: Taking Global Poverty Seriously.

Here we are again at MIT, talking about-among other things-how we can bring technology to bear on the persistent problem of global poverty.... We need solutions and a plan to implement them in precisely those parts of the world that have never benefitted from the remarkable innovations in technology that have made life better for so many of us. Why have these innovations never reached the bottom billion? There are many reasons, and they are complex, but one of the reasons is that too little attention has been paid to the hard work of actually bringing these advances into the villages and slums in which the poor live. To be frank, too many people have treated such efforts as a sort of hobby - a solar panel here, an ingeniously designed water pump there, an alchemical miracle that turns turnips into fuel over there.

Those gathered here today know that these scatter-shot efforts, no matter how innovative, will not suffice to reverse the awful trends now evident around the world. New plagues - AIDS, drug-resistant tuberculosis and hospital-acquired "superbugs" of all sorts - sweep rapidly across vast swathes of land, blurring national boundaries. Old maladies that should've been history, like smallpox, remain rooted in long-standing and increasingly unjust social and economic structures. Malaria, hookworm, and other parasites claim lives or simply drain energy from hundreds of millions; it's hard to work when you're tired and anemic or pregnant a dozen times before the age of 30. There are still rich people and poor people, but most economists agree that social inequalities, both global and local, have grown rapidly over the past three decades. The earth itself is tired and malnourished. Man-made environmental crises dry up lakes, wash topsoil into the seas and smother reefs, and-from what we can tell-spark huge storms. A billion people do not have safe drinking water. A war built on lies will cost, one Nobel laureate economist tells us, three trillion dollars. (...)

This conference draws together health, education, technology, economics, and public policy - and all are necessary components of this global fight for food. If you've been reading the paper recently you will have seen news of the food riots happening in Haiti. This is not just a problem of rampant malnutrition - though that is of course a huge problem where we work in the Central Plateau and most of the country. It is, rather, a problem of global collusion, unfair trade agreements, and crazy agricultural subsides. I was in Haiti during the years the country was pushed, by countries with their own ridiculously high ag supports for rice and others cereals, to drop import tariffs on rice and sugar. Within less than two years, it became impossible for local farmers to compete with what the Haitians called "Miami rice." The whole market in Haiti fell apart as cheap, US-subsidized rice -- some of it in the form of "food aid" -- flooded the market. There was violence -- "rice wars" -- and lives were lost. Within that time, Haiti, once the world's largest exporter of sugar and other tropical produce to Europe, began importing even sugar-- from US-controlled sugar production in the Dominican Republic and Florida. It was terrible to see Haitian farmers put out of work and all this sped up the downward spiral that led to this month's food riots. Within a decade of all of these pressures to "open up Haitian markets," Haiti was still under intense pressure from the so-called international community to privatize. In the mid-90s, when U.S. support for President Aristide's return was linked to continued privatization and removal of any trade protections that might have helped the farmers, most of them working small plots of land, become competitive, Oxfam declared Haiti's economy one of the most "open" in the world. This at a time when US agribusiness continued to enjoy ludicrous levels of subvention.

This is an awful story that is hidden away from all the headlines of rioting Haitians and it reminds us that no one group of innovators, not even agricultural whizzes who can come up with drought-resistant, super-high-yield, supersize-me maize or wheat, will be enough to solve the global problem of food insecurity. It will require technical innovation and a movement for social justice. That's what we need to build here, and what the generation now in college here needs to take on. (...)

Medicine and public health will not solve the world's problems, but can offer part of the solution to some of them. What's been shocking to me over the past 25 years is the lightning speed at which many policymakers... decide that a complex intervention is "too difficult" or "not cost-effective in Haiti or Africa," or "not sustainable." In microfinance parlance, many of my patients are "poor credit risks," but aren't they the very people we claim to serve in the first place? And this is why I chose to make a loyalist's critique of our movement to end global poverty: we need to be aware that each of the terms and concepts and tools we've developed can be used to deny the destitute access to goods and services that should be rights, not commodities. They're not full participants in the magic market, after all. How many times have you heard that people will value something more if they pay for it? And yet how many times have you seen data showing this is so regarding vaccines, bednets, or external fixators after picking up a landmine? Does anyone really believe that a mother loves her newborn more if she's had to pay some sort of users' fee to access prenatal and obstetric care? (...)

Look around this room and you will see a conspicuous absence of poor people. You'll see people of every hue and background, but not the poor. And my comment is not really a critique: what matters is less that we invite them to MIT and more that we fight for their right to survive and to become themselves social entrepreneurs. Without them, the movements we seek to build, and the innovations we seek to share, will not succeed. If a movement can have two Achilles heels-and I know I've mangled the metaphor-this is the second one. We cannot build an environmental movement or a movement for sustainable development that does not have the social and economic rights of the poor at the center of the movement. And they are decidedly not there yet, for the environmental movement has for too long been a movement of the privileged. (...)

Berthold Brecht, who is almost always right, has argued that "the compassion of the oppressed for the oppressed is indispensable. It is the world's one hope." I fear that, at this late date, an additional kind of solidarity is necessary. A social-justice movement that links the rich world and the poor, MIT to the villages in Haiti and Rwanda to which I return again soon , the movement that links concern for the earth with respectful solidarity towards its poorest inhabitants, is our last great hope for a world marked by less suffering and violence and premature death. It's our last great hope for the generations to come, and for our own children, privileged though they may be.

Photo Exhibit: Protestors Take to The Streets Against Rising Food Prices

2008-04-23T08:43:00Z

By: Nazaire St. Fort - HaitiAnalysis.com

From the 7th to the 14th of April 2008 large demonstrations took place in Port-au-Prince against the rising cost of food and basic goods. These photos were taken during this time around the national palace. For more information see the accompanying article here and here.

Anti-Hunger Protests Rock Haiti

2008-04-23T00:16:00Z

By: Nazaire St. Fort and Jeb Spague - Upside Down World

Demonstrations that started in Le Cayes on Thursday, April 3rd, against soaring food prices spread across Haiti to Petit-Goagve, Gonaïves, Aquin and, by April 7, to the capital, Port-au-Prince. Anger over rising prices has been building for many months with basic food stuffs increasingly out of reach for the poor. Tires were set ablaze in the streets and thrown together to form barricades that paralyzed traffic for days.

Numerous businesses were vandalized and looted, especially those selling food, as crowds vented their anger at the perceived indifference to their plight by the nation's elite, including the René Préval /Jacques Edouard Alexis administration. Broken glass on the streets near targeted buildings and cars became a common sight.

Hunger now termed "Klorox" and "Battery Acid" by Haiti's poor, likens hunger to a chemical acid eating away at empty stomachs. These new slang terms to describe the mounting hunger have come into usage over the last few months. Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis resigned April 12, a move that was partly the work of sixteen senators who claimed they were responding to the huge demonstrations. Alexis appears to have sealed his fate by saying in a speech that many of the protesters were merely gangsters and drug dealers.

Some early reports in Haitian media outlets, owned by some of the small elite families in the country, also took this line, but it quickly became clear that the demonstrations were a massive outpouring of anger and that it would be unwise to dismiss as just criminal activity.

Alexis correctly pointed out that Haiti is not the only country in the world that has been hit hard by rising food prices. One Haitian media outlet, Agence Haitienne de Presse, in an editorial criticized the senators who helped remove Alexis, explaining that Alexis was used as a convenient scapegoat for deep seated problems.

The online alternative news outlet HIP (Haiti Information Project) noted that many of the senators opposed to Alexis were part of the elite political opposition to Haiti's former president Aristide, and that "...the censure of Alexis' government also signals the end of a tenuous political compromise between those who supported Aristide's ouster in 2004 and co-opted renegades of his Lavalas movement. Preval's Lespwa party base was built upon the Lavalas movement who saw him as a means to end repression following Aristide's ouster. Alexis' government was representative of a temporary truce between supporters of ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the opposition that worked with the international community to remove him from office."

They fear that with Alexis out a more reactionary replacement will further polarize political disputes between Haiti's rich and poor.

One woman interviewed, Jacqueline, a street vendor whose commercial activities are considered illegal by the state, explained her situation in buying power. She said that Haitians like herself typically earn 75 gourdes (roughly $2 USD) per day, but an individual serving of rice now costs upwards of 150 gourdes. Similarly an individual serving of corn or wheat is 135 gourdes, while a box of eggs has risen to 175 gourdes.

AT THE GATES OF THE NATIONAL PALACE

On April 7 large crowds demonstrated outside the National Palace, including men and women of all ages, demanding that the Prime Minister reduce the price of basic food stuffs. The national police alongside MINUSTAH (U.N. mission stationed in Haiti) dispersed the crowd. Some protesters pelted the troops and police with rocks, and a large palace gate was brought toppling down.

Police and soldiers tried in vain to put down the massive protests and protect private property that was being destroyed just blocks away from the palace.

MINUSTAH set up defensive ramparts around the National Palace. Undeterred, some demonstrators continued to throw stones that cracked loudly against the armor of UN personnel carriers.

In response, UN soldiers shot lachrymose bombs (gas to scatter the protesters) and fired guns at point blank range. Some deaths and many wounded were reported to have occurred in the melee.

Richardson, a demonstrator from Carrefour, said that he would rather be killed in the street by a MINUSTAH bullet than die passively of hunger in his house.

Some people shouted "We have our national police, we don't need MINUSTAH". Others stated that the powers behind the U.N. were part of the coup that ousted former President Jean Betrand Aristide in 2004.

Protestors said that their situation has deteriorated horrendously since the 2004 coup d'etat and that the former Aristide administration, even under a near total aid embargo, had placed subsidized food banks in Haiti's poorest slums. Among protestors widespread support was apparent for Fanmi Lavalas, the political movement led by the exiled president.

In March, before the latest "food protests", student activists appeared to have made some ground in reversing the ruinous policies that have decimated Haitian agriculture since 1986.

At the time, in a response to the student protesters Haiti's Minister of Agriculture, Francois Severin, said he would adopt eleven specific recommendations that the students had put forward to revive Haiti's agricultural sector. But in a recent address Severin said that now the government will not be able to implement those recommendations.

Under pressure from transnational financial institutions such as the IMF and World Bank, Haitian agriculture has been liberalized. Rural incomes and production has plummeted. Haiti's food supply has been made vulnerable to international price fluctuations as cheap, highly subsidized imports of rice and other staples put Haitian farmers out of work.

RELIEF FOR NOW, MORE PROBLEMS ON THE HORIZON

Debt relief for Haiti continues to be a subject for debate despite the country's predicament. The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the Jubilee Act, a bill which guarantees debt relief and additional benefits of debt relief for 67 impoverished countries. The legislation now moves to the U.S. Senate, where this Thursday there will be a hearing on the Jub Act.

Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center of Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), based in Washington D.C., said that Haiti's short term problems with spiraling food prices result largely from US policy. "A big part of the story is biofuels. Land is being taken out of food production and used to grow crops for biofuels," he commented.

Despite being the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti lags behind many countries in the Americas in obtaining debt relief through a program run by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. A hard-hitting paper published in December by CEPR argues that the IMF and World Bank should disregard the rules of their HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Country) program: "Haiti's debt should be cancelled without further delay," said CEPR

By April 14, demonstrations had slowed but it is widely agreed that the problem of mounting food prices will continue to plague the island nation.

The Preval government appears to have realized it has no choice but to subsidize and negotiate price breaks for food for the poor, even though it has only put in place short term measures to offset the growing gap.

The government of Venezuela, viewed increasingly as a close friend and ally to Haiti, sent hundreds of tons in food stocks which were distributed in short order. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in recent days has also been vocal in calling for increased food aid to Haiti to avert a crisis; UNOPS is busy meanwhile increasing its distribution of donated food.

Solidarity Needed with Unions in Haiti: A Review of the Recent Report by the Quebec Federation of Labour

2008-04-22T00:09:00Z

By: Roger Annis - HaitiAnalysis.com

The Quebec Federation of Labour (Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec—FTQ) has issued a lengthy report (in French) by a delegation of representatives from its international affairs office and affiliates that visited Haiti from January 22 to 30. This present writing is a short summary and commentary on that report.

The visit of the FTQ delegation to Haiti signals a shift in attention and resources by the organization towards Haiti. The Federation has not been very present since the coup d’etat that removed President Aristide and the Haitian government from office in February, 2004. The needs of trade unions and other social organizations in Haiti for international solidarity are enormous, so any support and attention that they can receive is welcome.

Meetings

The delegation held formal meetings with many of the important unions in Haiti, including telephone workers (SOETEL), electricity workers (FESTREDH), transport workers (APCH and FTPH), tourism workers (ACIDT, an affiliate of the CTH), nurses (SPI) and postal workers (SPH). It held a two-day conference at the end of its visit attended by the unions with which it met.

The delegation held a less formal meeting with the CTH, one of Haiti's largest trade union federations. Its report is harshly critical of the CTH and questions how representative the union really is. More on this later in this writing.

Massive layoffs of telephone workers

The report paints a harsh picture of the consequences of the privatization by the Haitian government of the state telephone company, Téléco. Hundreds of workers have lost their jobs, and as many as 1,000 more layoffs are expected. The report is critical of the union at Téléco for not doing enough to organize and mobilize workers to oppose the privatization and to fight for compensation for those laid off. The delegation took some positive steps to support and encourage members that want to carry out a reorientation of the union and wage a serious struggle on this issue.

The president of the FTQ, Henri Massé, sent a strongly worded letter to President René Préval in September 2007 protesting the privatization of Teleco. Massé did not receive a reply. The letter was raised with government officials during the delegation’s visit and it appears the FTQ may be invited by the government to lend some expertise in negotiating benefits for workers who have lost their jobs.

Conference

A two-day conference concluded the delegation’s visit, entitled “Forum of National Dialogue.” App. 20 delegates from the unions with which the delegation met (though not the CTH) attended the conference, and there were also representatives of two ngo’s on hand—the Dominican Republic-based Plan Nagua and the Institut Karl Levésque. Plan Nagua played a key role in organizing the delegation’s itinerary in Haiti. It appears the conference may give impetus to greater coordination and organizing efforts by Haitian unions.

Delegation conclusions

The delegation met in Montreal on February 12, 2008 to discuss and approve its final report. The report says, “Haiti has, sadly, become a laboratory for neoliberal politics and for the strategic interests of multinational corporations.” The labour movement in Quebec and internationally has a responsibility to act in solidarity, says the report. Among its conclusions are the following:

* The desire of Haitian workers to struggle and organize for their rights remains very strong.

* Haitian society is deeply polarized, making social progress and trade union organization very difficult. Additionally, democratic and representative structures in many of Haiti’s unions are weak or non-existent.

* Urgent action is needed to oppose privatizations by the Préval government.

Appended to the delegation’s report is a 2007 report by the International Trade Union Confederation on the state of trade union rights in Haiti.

Social disaster in Haiti

There is a shameful and glaring absence in the FTQ report, and that is its refusal to address the terrible blow to Haitian workers rights delivered by the coup of February, 2004. The events of that year are not even mentioned. This is a glaring absence, given the crisis in Haiti today.

Four years after a foreign intervention took effective control of Haiti, the country is facing an unprecedented social and economic calamity. The unemployment rate is 70% or higher. Little or no investment is coming into the country. Half of Haiti’s children do not attend school. Health care is not available to most of the population. There is a massive exodus from the countryside into the cities under the combined effects of deforestation and decline of Haiti’s agricultural production. The promised democratic freedoms that the foreign intervention was supposed to provide are illusory. Haiti’s prison population has doubled since 2004. Kidnappings, killings and disappearances of political rights figures continue, notably the disappearance in August, 2007 of Lovinsky Pierre Antoine, coordinator of the September 30 Foundation social rights group. Violent assaults by UN forces and the Haitian National Police against poor neighbourhoods have declined since the elections of early 2006, but they are still taking place, whenever a local population organizes to repel the violence of the police and UN. There is a constant threat of a return to the worst of the human rights violations that marked the two years following the coup, under the UN-appointed, so-called “interim government” of Gerard Latortue.

Of course, the breakdown of Haitian society caused by the overthrow of the government has given rise to lots of crime and social violence (though this is greatly exaggerated in the international media). This is, in turn, used to justify the foreign police and military presence. But it is the foreign presence itself that is ultimately responsible for the rise in violence.

The United Nations maintains a 9,000-member police and military occupation regime in Haiti, known by its French acronym, MINUSTAH. It spends some $600 million a year. There is deep resentment in the Haitian population that such extravagant expenditure on police and military activity happens while almost nothing is directed towards the basic needs of the population. That’s why the food and hunger protests in early April throughout the country have often targeted the local headquarters of MINUSTAH.

The future of Haiti cannot be seriously discussed and evaluated without taking into account the consequences of the coup of 2004. The country has lost its sovereignty and its capacity to make decisions in the national interest. The FTQ will hopefully take a critical look at its own statements during this time--individuals speaking in its name in 2003 and 2004 lent their voices to the calls for the overthrow of President Aristide and his government.

Criticisms of the CTH union federation

The FTQ report contains a number of sharp criticisms of the Confédération des travailleurs haïtiens (CTH), one of the important trade unions in Haiti. The CTH is the only union in Haiti that is affiliated to the same international organization as the CLC and FTQ, the recently-founded International Trade Union Confederation.

The report questions the CTH’s claimed membership numbers. It says that certain affiliates of the CTH consider the organization to be undemocratic and its leaders authoritarian. It repeats accusations by unnamed trade union sources that the CTH sacrifices militancy and effective representation of its members in exchange for cosy ties with whatever government is in power. The CTH is criticized for its support to the U.S. HOPE Act, a recently-passed law in the U.S. that makes it easier for sweatshop manufacturers to locate in Haiti and exploit the country’s very low wages.

A reply to these accusations is beyond the scope of this writing. Briefly, the CTH and every other union in Haiti is not without its faults. Discussion of the HOPE Act and its meaning for Haitian workers is an important and legitimate discussion to have. But the accusations by the FTQ are sometimes inaccurate, all the time unbalanced. The CTH is one of many important unions in Haiti that are playing an important role in creating or strengthening popular movements to organize against the calamitous economic and social situation. It is the only union in Haiti that is affiliated to the same international organization as the CLC and FTQ.

The FTQ has a different appreciation of the coup of 2004 than the CTH. The latter opposed the coup. It correctly foresaw the disastrous consequences for the Haitian people. The FTQ and its ngo allies, on the other hand, lent their voices to calls for Aristide’s “removal” from office. They failed to vigorously protest the vast repression that followed the coup. (An estimated 5,000 supporters of President Aristide were killed in the two years following the coup, thousands of others were jailed or driven into exile, and sexual violence against women has risen dramatically--see September 2, 2006 issue of The Lancet, among many other sources).

The FTQ report says, “Nous rappelons à notre camarade de la CTH que la FTQ se tient loin du « Politique » et c’est la raison pour laquelle nos liens sont demeurés distants.» (Translation : We remind our colleague of the CTH that the FTQ keeps its distance from « politics » and this is why our relations have been and remain distant).

But if that is the case, how is it the FTQ lent its voices to sectarian calls for Aristide’s “removal” from office in 2004. Today, it says it has no official view on the 2004 coup, despite that fact that the coup was and remains a monstrous violation of the sovereignty and democratic rights of the Haitian people.

Furthermore, the FTQ and all other unions in Canada are deeply involved in politics. On its website, the FTQ says one of its strategies is, "Inciter ses membres à participer à la vie politique sous toutes ses formes et assurer une présence prépondérante des travailleurs et travailleuses partout où des décisions sont prises en leur nom." (Translation: To encourage its members to participate in political life in all its forms and to assure a strong presence of workers everywhere that decisions are made in their name).

It is an ABC of progressive trade union belief in Canada that many of the problems faced by working people cannot be solved by collective bargaining alone. Unions have a responsibility to fight for governments that represent workers interests. With this in mind, the FTQ actively supports the Parti québecois provincially and the Bloc québecois federally. Why is the CTH condemned for its sympathies and support to President Aristide’s government? Does it not have the same responsibility to engage in politics as unions in Canada?

Need for dialogue and exchanges to continue

Members of the Canadian Haiti Action Network who are active in the labour movement look forward to more exchanges and dialogue about the situation in Haiti. The findings of the FTQ delegation concerning the enormous political and economic difficulties facing Haiti’s people are a reminder to us of the urgent need to redouble solidarity with the people there, including our trade union counterparts.

Human Rights, Community-Based Health Care and Child Survival

2008-04-21T00:48:00Z

By: Paul Farmer and Jim Yong Kim - UNICEF

With 20 years of experience in rural Haiti introducing modern medical care to millions who had not previously enjoyed it, we now know many of the requirements for a successful health-care programme in areas devastated by disease and poverty. To provide primary care alongside specialized treatment for infectious disease, while promoting women’s and children’s health, community health-care workers must be trained and mobilized to prevent illness and to deliver quality health care. With recent expansion to Lesotho, Malawi and Rwanda, we now see that many of the lessons learned in Haiti are universal in improving the health of children and adults worldwide.

In each of the settings in which Partners In Health works, our goal is to ‘do whatever it takes’ to improve the health and well-being of those we serve, almost all of whom live in poverty. In each setting, we have learned that health problems do not occur in isolation from other basic needs, such as adequate nutrition, clean water, sanitation, housing and primary education. We have also learned that non-governmental organizations cannot work in isolation but must collaborate with members of the communities served and with local health authorities to strengthen public health so that future generations may come to regard these services as rights rather than privileges.

This rights-based, community-based approach to promoting health leads to a clear vision regarding the health of children

In Haiti, Lesotho, Malawi and Rwanda, Partners In Health – in collaboration with local communities and a wide range of partner organizations, including the Clinton Foundation, ministries of health, UNICEF and the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights – has identified five key components for a comprehensive, community-based child survival programme.

First, we work with public health authorities to roll out the interventions shown to be crucial to improved child survival. These include expanded vaccination campaigns; vitamin A distribution; the use of oral rehydration salts to treat diarrhoeal disease and safe-water programmes to prevent it; an aggressive programme for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV; malaria prevention with mosquito nets, backed by improved communitybased and clinical care; nutritional assistance for children suffering from or at risk of malnutrition; and the provision of high-quality in-patient and ambulatory paediatric services for those children who do fall ill. Currently, we are working with the Government of Rwanda and other partners to show how an integrated package of key child survival interventions, including prevention of mother-tochild transmission of HIV, can be rapidly deployed under the Government’s strengthened rural-health-care model. With support from the international Joint Learning Initiative on Children and HIV/AIDS, a cross-sectoral, interdisciplinary exercise in collaboration between leading practitioners, policymakers and scholars, practitioners scaling up child survival interventions in rural districts are sharing innovations and results through a collaborative network that will enable them to improve service quality, even as they reach greater numbers of children and families in previously underserved areas.

Second, since the health and well-being of mothers are key determinants of child survival, our efforts promote integrated maternal and child health. Our work on behalf of children is linked to efforts on behalf of their mothers and other family members through family planning programmes, prenatal care and modern obstetrics as part of women’s health programmes, efforts to promote adult literacy and poverty alleviation in general.

Third, we initiate and/or strengthen paediatric AIDS prevention and control programmes. As part of an upcoming campaign, and in the manner outlined above, we are launching a major paediatric AIDS initiative in Rwanda in concert with the Clinton Foundation and Rwandan health officials and providers. This initiative will establish a national centre of excellence for paediatric AIDS care. Quality paediatric services will be linked to community-based care for children with HIV and also to prevention efforts within primary and secondary schools in rural Rwanda.

Fourth, we need to launch operational research and training programmes designed to improve the quality of care afforded to rural children. Such research will examine the programmatic features of successful efforts to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child; the diagnosis and management of HIV among infants; paediatric tuberculosis diagnosis and care; the role of community health workers in improving care for chronic paediatric conditions, including AIDS and tuberculosis, and in preventing, diagnosing and providing home-based treatment for such common ailments as malaria and diarrhoea; and assessing the impact of social interventions, including those designed to curb food insecurity and illiteracy, on the health and well-being of children worldwide.

Fifth, we work to advance these efforts in tandem with those designed to promote the basic rights, in particular, the social and economic rights, of the child. The Partners In Health Program on Social and Economic Rights (POSER) disseminates, through tangible projects and through advocacy, a rights-based model of poverty alleviation, using access to health care as a means of meeting and working with the poorest children and families in the communities we serve. POSER backs education, agriculture, housing and water projects to guarantee basic social and economic rights for every child and every family. If we know that hunger and malnutrition are the underlying cause of millions of child deaths each year – and we do – then we must face up to the challenge of prescribing food as an essential medicine for immunization and paediatric care. Similarly, if studies show that education reduces the risk of infection with HIV – as they do – then we must be prepared to invest in access to schooling as a potent and cost-effective element in our formulary for combating HIV and other diseases of poverty.

We now know that without a community-based, comprehensive strategy, efforts to treat children – and subsequently mothers, fathers and siblings – fail to provide the desired outcomes. Working in conjunction with ministries of health, international institutions and other non-profit organizations, we are committed to stemming the tide of childhood death and disease in the areas we serve. From experience in Haiti and now around the world, we know that community-based services to improve health and reduce poverty, linked, when necessary, to excellent clinical resources, offer the highest standard of care in the world today and the key to improving child survival.

Drs. Paul Farmer and Jim Yong Kim are co-founders of Partners In Health, an international health and social justice organization that works in Haiti, Lesotho, Malawi, Peru, the Russian Federation, Rwanda and the United States. Paul Farmer is the Presley Professor of Medical Anthropology at Harvard University and an attending physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Jim Yong Kim is Chair of the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Chief of the Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights and a former director of the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS Department.

Editorial: Violence And The Vote To Censure: Time to Render an Account and to Count the Casualties

2008-04-20T02:18:00Z

Agence Haitïenne de Presse

When the group of 16 dismissed Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis on Saturday , it was euphoria.

These senators characterized themselves as stars, as heroes who raced to free the poor from hunger and misery. What altruism!

How far off they were from imagining that the consequences would arrive so quickly.

It was also far away from the time when the majority of the members of the group were regarded as bribe takers.... these 16 were able to extol senator Rudolph Boulos by electing him to the vice-presidency of the senate and to let him go less than two months later, although they knew for a long time already that Boulos had another nationality.

But that’s not all. The vote to censure on April 12, guided it is said, by objectives other than the high cost of living, is quickly turning into a nightmare for the country and the hunger demonstrators.

The two pronged measures - the presidency and the importers - for relieving the suffering of the vulnerable sectors, held up to justify the anti-Alexis attack, have still not materialized.

And if the violent demonstrations and plundering have ceased, quite happily, living conditions have not improved, even if they have not worsened. One even fears clashes between buyers and sellers of rice who wish to benefit from the promised fall of 15%.

Worse, a conference of funders in Port-au-Prince which was supposed to help out the fight against poverty, was put off indefinitely, a consequence of the decision of the 16, whereas, from their point of view, the departure of Alexis was supposed to take care of things for those demonstrating against the high cost of living.

Thus, these 16 have not yet gotten anything from their movement if only the head of Alexis, a senatorial gift with bitter taste.

But, the situation is likely to become more complicated: the victims of the break-ins of April 8 and those of the plundering having followed the events of February 29 2004 threaten to demand compensation.

The State’s ability to help those who have been victimized has therefore been more than destroyed.

In short, even if some people could have gained something from the immediate dividends, the demonstrations in the streets together with the damages and the vote of censure will only have poisoned an already difficult situation and compromised initiatives which were supposed to bring changes.

Could someone be thinking of trying again to do something to impose a PM? Could they think of preparing other attacks?

In any event people should count to 10 before endorsing or taking part in movements whose precise objectives they do not know and are likely to turn into a catastrophe and to endanger lives and goods.