[News] Statement from Haiti’s Popular Movement

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  Statement from Haiti’s Popular Movement
  <http://resumen-english.org/2016/01/statement-from-haitis-popular-movement/>

January 24, 2016

In this statement, written right before the postponement of the January 
24th presidential “run-off” election, 68 grassroots organizations in 
Haiti issue an urgent call for solidarity with their struggle for free 
and fair elections, dignity and justice. The statement was written as 
tens of thousands of Haitians have taken to the streets—braving 
assassination, tear gas, beatings, and police torture—demanding the 
annulment of the fraudulent elections that gave the lead positions in 
the legislative and presidential races to the hand-picked candidates of 
President Michel Martelly. The postponement of the presidential election 
was a dramatic and hard-won victory for the people’s movement, which had 
insisted that no election take place until it could be free and fair and 
democratic. The struggle for the right to vote and for all Haitians to 
participate in the political process continues.

*/We are honored to circulate this powerful message /*

Haiti Action Committee www.haitisolidarity.net, on Facebook, @HaitiAction1

*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,” preventing 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 
universally accepted as a way for people to protect its existence. 
Today, confronted by the danger presented by local and international 
colonialists, 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 
resources. 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.

List of Signers

Action Nationale des Chauffeurs (ANC)

Aide Humanitaire

Alternative Syndicale pour le

Transport Moderne (ASTM)

APMS: Action des Paysans de Masson Sion

APTN: Association pour le

Développement Terre Noire

Association Professionelle des

Enseignants Haitiens pour l’Avancement

de l’Education (APEAE)

APSAB: Association Planteur Savane Dubois

Asosiyasyon Fanm Senlwidisid (AFS)

Asosiyasyon Fanm Vanyan Okay (AFVO)

Asosiyasyon Machann Aken (AMA)

Asosiyasyon Peyizan Gwomaren (APG)

BPN (Baz Popile Nord)

Baz Fanmi Lavalas Aken

Baz Fanmi Lavalas Anike

CEGBD

CHANJE LESON

CURO: Comité Usager Rodaille

COSCOB

CRCSPFL (Cellule de Reflexions des Cadres

Socio Professionnels de Fanmi Lavalas)

CUREH (Cercle Universitaire pour

le Renouveau d’Haiti)

DEMELE FANM

G.R. (Gwoup Refleksyon)

FAJEP (Fanm an Aksyon

pou Jistis ak Pwogre)

FANM LENTO

FANM WOZO

FASA

Groupe Alternative pour Petites et

Moyennes Entreprises (GRAPME)

Gwoupman Plante Senlwidisid (GPS)

JOFAP

Baz Fanmi Lavalas Kanperen

Baz Fanmi Lavalas Kavayon

Kodinasyon Peyizan Sid (KPS)

KPDS (Konbit Planteur pou Devlopman Sanyago)

KORE MAP KORE W

Le PHARE

Baz Fanmi Lavalas Maniche

MOFUP

MOJIDMA: Mouvement des Jeunes Intègres

pour le Développement de Marigot

Mouvement d’Opposition Citoyenne (MOC)

Mouvman Tet Kole Kavayon (MTKK)

OBMP

Oganizasyon Devlopman Solon (ODS)

Oganizasyon Fanm Vanyan (OFAV)

OGANIZASYON LEVE KANPE

OJFS

Baz Fanmi Lavalas Okay

Organisation 30 Septembre

OPG: Organisation Paysan de Grande Rivière

Organisation Sans Bloff (OSB)

OPDPS: Òganizasyon Pou

Devlopman Peyizan Sarazin

OPPB: Organisation Paysan Platon Blan

Plateforme Nationale des Syndicats

de Transports Fidele (PNSTF)

POGRES (Oganizasyon Planteur

pou Devlopman Sanyago)

Baz Fanmi Lavalas Port Salut

Pou Solèy Leve

Regroupement des Enseignants

Normalien Haitien (RENOH)

RFDP (Rasanbleman Fanm pou

Devlopman Petitans)

Rasanbleman Militan Pwogresis (RMP)

RASSINE (Rasanbleman Sitwayen

NORD AK NORD EST)

SDDC (Societe d’Encadrement pour le

Developpement Communautaire)

Baz Fanmi Lavalas Senlwidisid

Solidarite Jenn Kavayon (SJK)

SOPU- FANM pou FANM

S.O.S Transport Federee

Baz Fanmi Lavalas Tibiron

Baz Fanmi Lavalas Torbec

Union du Mouvement Syndical de

Transport Public (UMSTP)

UJDSB:Union des Jeunes pour le

Developpement Savane du Bois.

http://www.haitisolidarity.net/downloads/Statement%20from%20Haitian%20popular%20movement.pdf

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