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Hope and Humiliation: May 18, 2006 and the Inaugural of President Rene
Preval by Marguerite Laurent<br><br>
<br>
Today, May 18, 2006 is Flag Day in Haiti. It's a time to remember why the
African general, general Jean Jacques Dessalines took the tri-colored
French flag, ripped out the white and threw it into the sea, leaving our
flag, blue, and the red. It's a time to remember why the emblem engraved
in the coat of arms of Haiti is "L'union Fait La Force" “in
unity lies our strength”.<br><br>
It's a time to remember that after 300 years of European barbarity in
Haiti Haiti, the first place Africans where transported as European
captives for the "New World" - that on May 18, 1803, after
beating the armies of Great Britain, Spain, France and the embargo and
arms of the US white settlers, the Africans, who became
"Haitian," in the land of the Taino-Arawaks Amerindians had,
with this great feat, even Spartacus couldn’t achieved, liberated the
sons and daughters of Africa, eviscerating the white men's fatalistic
idea that the child of a Black woman was lesser than that of the white
men.<br><br>
HLLN created a flag for the FreeHaitiMovement which represents this
Haitian struggle against tyranny that continues to this day, May 18,
2006, some two centuries later.<br>
<a href="http://www.margueritelaurent.com/solidarityday/infoforsponsors.html%A0" eudora="autourl">
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/solidarityday/infoforsponsors.html </a>
<br><br>
We take this opportunity to thank all those who have ANSWERED THE CALL
and joined the list of sponsors to the FreeHaitiMovement.- Dessalines Is
Rising Worldwide<br>
<a href="http://www.margueritelaurent.com/law/res2006.html%A0" eudora="autourl">
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/law/res2006.html </a> . <br><br>
Today, May 18, 2006 and throughout the rest of the month, in
countries in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas, decent people
worldwide will stand in solidarity with the people of Haiti against the
Coup, the de facto protectorate and the foreign occupation of
Haiti.<br><br>
There will be teach-ins, rallies and lectures before and on May 18, 2006
about Haiti's historical accomplishments; vigils, pickets outside
embassies and U.N. buildings; audio and video streaming for internet and
DVD distribution of testimony from victims and resisters of the 2004 coup
d'etat; the wearing and flying of the blue and red colors of Haiti; and,
the sacrilege of the 2004 bicentennial coup, shall be remembered as
Africans and friends of Haiti worldwide commit to fax, call-in and
deliver to French and US Embassies and Consulates worldwide the People of
Haiti’s demand that France pays back the 22 Billion dollars it extorted
from Haiti, and the US pays back its portion of this illegal slave-trade
debt which was “refinanced” by the US in 1914 (enforced, through a
19-year occupation), the final payment made in 1947 to the United States,
after Haiti’s people had broken the chains of racial slavery to win their
independence.<br><br>
<br>
The year, 2006, also marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Haiti's
liberator, general Jean Jacques Dessalines. Pro-democracy Haitians
worldwide shall continue to call on the vision of Dessalines for Haitians
as we struggle to liberate Haiti of its current France/US/Canada and UN
occupiers. HLLN will culminate our year-long celebration of the life and
works of Dessalines, on Oct 17, 2006, the day marking the first coup
d'etat in Haiti and Dessalines assassination.<br><br>
Haitians have live through and survived 33-such coup d'etats as part and
parcel of the legacy of struggle against Euro/US debt, domination and
dependency.<br><br>
The February 29, 2004 coup d'etat against Haiti's democratically elected
president, Jean Bertrand Aristide continues to this day, as Haitian
sovereignty continues to be humiliated by the white saviors and their
Black overseers in Haiti - Haiti's morally repugnant wealthy
few.<br><br>
The imperialist and their Black overseers say Haiti is a failed state and
they will save us. 20,000 Haitians have died, over 4,000 are in prison,
there are children jails now in Haiti, something Haitians have never had
before. And though the people of Haiti continue to resist this tyranny,
have elected and fought for the speedy installation of President Rene
Preval to office. The repression continues.<br><br>
One only has to analyze the May 14, 2006 Presidential inaugural events to
understand how both hope and humiliation still vie for a place in the
Haitian psyche. <br><br>
Hope, of course, is represented by the Haitian peoples' courage,
commitment and living legacy as pioneers in the human rights struggle for
life with dignity. Humiliation as represented by the presence of foreign
troops to Haiti to install the Latortue death regime. Humiliation as
represented by the fact that these Neocon fascists even controlled the
inaugural day of the people's new president. Humiliation as represented
by the fact that since the ouster of Haiti's democratically elected
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, there has been systematic repression of
the people and their voice in Haiti. Humiliation in that, even as
President Preval officially took power, two months after his election,
the claws of the coup d'etat vampires are so deep inside the backs of the
Haitian poor, Haiti still cannot liberate Yvon Neptune, So Ann, Jacques
Mathelier and thousands of others who have languished in
Canada/US/France-supported indefinite incarceration on Dessaline's
land.<br><br>
Even though President Preval has taken power, there is still a gun to
Haiti's head. A gun held by the coup d'etat governments of the US,
France, Canada, with the UN as their "peacekeeping" cover.
There is no justice in Haiti. For Haitians cannot forget all of
Latortue’s human rights violations, will not forget the 20,000 Haitians
slaughtered since Feb. 29, 2004 and 4,000 in prison, mostly all political
prisoners; cannot forget the multinationals, NGOs, foreigners and IFCs’
fleecing Haiti these last two coup d’etat years and calling it “bringing
development, justice and democracy.”<br><br>
It wasn't an easy job for these folks to turn Haiti back to this
miserable level. But, as President Preval stated in his inaugural speech
- and HLLN takes the liberty of forgetting the double entendres,
high-society proprieties and diplomatic protocols, to say what a manacled
President perhaps cannot and even may not have intended to say but we,
HLLN say, on behalf of the people of Haiti who were not INVITED to the
inaugural of the President they elected, that "it wasn't easy but
the illegal Boniface Alexandre, Gerard Latortue, their cabinet members
and their illegal Provisional Electoral Council did EVERYTHING they could
to undermine the people of Haiti, so Haiti could get to this point of
humiliation, this point of insanity, bloodshed and chaos that it is
today.” It was not easy, but they had powerful US/Canada/France/UN guns
behind them to push Haiti to here: <br><br>
HERE where Prosper Avril, a former general who escaped two years ago from
the National Penitentiary where he was being held as a threat to national
security, had a front row seat, while Rene Civil, who HLLN is told,
allegedly had a letter of invitation in his hand to attend the inaugural,
was illegally arrested, on the Friday (May 12, 2006) before the
inaugural, at the border of the Dominican Republic. <br><br>
So, at Preval’s inauguration, Proper Avril was out of prison and in a
front row seat of the Legislative Palace. So Ann, Yvon Neptune and
thousands of political prisoners, with no human rights violation records,
still languish in jail.<br><br>
That’s where we-Haitians are.<br><br>
HERE where we hear an unconfirmed report that even Louis Jodel Chamblain
attended the inaugural.<br><br>
HERE where the Haitian people’s duly chosen President has no control of
the police force, the UN soldiers, not even the National Palace.<br><br>
BUT, but, in spite of all of the Boca Raton regime and their powerful
Western supporter’s undemocratic efforts, the people of Haiti still won
back the presidency.<br><br>
This folks, is how the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network explains the
comment made by President Rene Preval at the inaugural that:<br><br>
“…President Boniface Alexandre, Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, cabinet
members [applause], you have done EVERYTHING you could so Haiti could get
to this point. It was not easy, but we got here. [Applause]<br><br>
Members of the Provisional Electoral Council, your job was not easy,<br>
either. Since 1987, elections in Haiti have been trouble. The first<br>
one ended in blood. Most of the others ended in challenges. These<br>
elections also had their problems, but everybody acknowledges that<br>
there was no violence. The people participated en masse, and<br>
everybody acknowledges the results. [Applause] “<br><br>
Our work at HLLN is to give voice to the voiceless people of Haiti, a
voice not often found in the mainstream press or the powerful citadels of
power on this planet. That the Boca Raton regime did everything to
destroy justice, democracy and anyone associated with the Constitutional
governement of Haiti is undisputable. Fortunately, like the Haitian
people outside the inaugural halls, who came to make their presence
known, their grievances heard, HLLN also has no diplomatic need or
practical reasons to couch this truth behind double entendres or
diplomatic protocols.<br><br>
But, true also, is the fact that, even as there is hope today in Haiti,
we are still being humiliated as a people, a nation. That is why when
HLLN ponders at what point are we-Haitians in the struggle today for
self-determination, self-respect, self-defense and national sovereignty,
we singled out the noted paragraph from President Preval’s inaugural
speech and ask:<br><br>
Is President Preval being held prisoner in plain sight without the bars,
for instance, locking in So Ann and Yvon Neptune? Is Preval unable to
freely speak? Is that what we fought for? Or, in the alternative, if
President Preval meant to freely praise the Boca Raton regime for “doing
everything” to get us “to this point” - to this repression point that
continues right up to this very moment, is that what we all fought
for?<br><br>
It doesn’t take much thinking to figure out why the double entendre. Why
President Preval, who is hobbled by the events of the coup d’etat, the
presence of a police force trained by Haiti’s enemies, backed by UN guns,
is limited. The humiliating part we are in right now as a nation is that
Haiti is under domination and pretending to be electing a president,
hoping we can transform the dynamics of the situation: buy ourselves
breathing room, stop the killings, free the political prisoners, get the
return of President Aristide, alleviate the people’s total repression
since the 2004 coup d’etat.<br><br>
The inaugural of President Rene Preval is one step in this direction. For
that hope, Haiti has paid with the lives of over 20,000 of its sons and
daughters and continues to pay, as at least 12 political prisoners are
reported to have been killed by the defacto police with UN firepower
cover just hours before President Preval’s inaugural.<br><br>
Haiti’s humiliation continues this May 18, 2006.<br><br>
But Haitians know how to fight US/Euro containment-in-poverty. <br><br>
Those of us who stand without shackles, like the Haitians in the Haitian
Lawyers Leadership Network, owe our success and survival to this
legacy.<br><br>
We teach our children, the example of Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, that
NO, it is not alright to reconcile with injustice. We teach our
children what Dred Wilme and the people of Site Soley, Bel Air, Solino,
Martissant and all over Haiti have taught the world these last two
nightmarish years, NO, it is not acceptable to "get along on our
knees" rather than telling the truth because that would mean risking
losing a job, a social status, even prison or a bullet in the
head.<br><br>
On this May 18, 2006, Haitians worldwide will continue teaching
these values, celebrating our roots, Dessalines legacy, Catherine Fon’s
flag and the Ancestors “live free or die” principle and heavy example.
Our ancestors would not reconcile with injustice. Even if they died for
this, they would not accept injustice. <br><br>
Are today’s Haitians to live in discord with the legacy the African
Ancestors left us in Haiti? No. Haitians cannot and still BE “Haitian.”
<br><br>
There is a humiliation still to be erased in this current coup d’etat
struggle. President Preval has begun the process on behalf of the people
of Haiti at his inaugural. <br><br>
THERE, he made three critical points.<br><br>
MINUSTHA was clearly informed Haiti prefers tractors and bulldozers to
MINUSTHA’s heavy weapons, armored vehicles and war tanks. The speech was
entirely in Kreyol. This is a first for Haiti, has never been done before
to anyone’s memory and is CRITICALLY significant to Haitians. BUT,
equally and the most satisfying action of President Preval at the
inaugural, what made us-Haitians feel he is OURS, was the way President
Preval dexterously and without fanfare, skipped “the propriety” of having
Boniface place the presidential sash on him. This says much to
Haitians and pro-democracy advocates. It rejects and soothes our many
wounds since Feb. 29, 2004. <br><br>
Still, the repression continues and is suffocating us. Haiti is still not
free. That is why today, May 18, 2006 is also International Solidarity
Day with Haiti. And why people of conscience worldwide will be flying the
blue and red colors of Haiti’s liberty to support our struggle and let
the poor majority in Haiti know: YOU ARE NOT ALONE.<br><br>
Today May 18, 2006 is better than the last two flag days we have had, in
2004 and 2005. Again, this year we remember the Haitian woman who
face-off the US Marines’ guns and refused to give them the body of the
unarmed Haitian demonstrator that was shot, in cold blood, in front of
said “peacekeepers” with impunity. We remember how, on that May 18, 2004
day, this anonymous Haitian woman, refused to give up to fallen body of
this demonstrator. She took off all her clothes, staring down the US
Marines tanks and guns, to show them she was not armed. Then, she wrapped
her naked body up in a large Haitian flag, hoisting up the dead man upon
her back, walking off with him on her back, daring the “peacemakers” to
shoot her.<br><br>
This exemplifies Haiti’s “to live free or die” motto. It is why Haitians
celebrate Flag Day. It is why today, we pro-democracy Haitians, we too
hoist on our back the 20,000 dead since the coup d’etat, the thousands
still in prison, the 33 coup d’etat’s, the 200 years of
containment-in-poverty and before that, the 300 years of slavery.
Haitians are a strong people and hoist all of this on our back. We may
buckle down under the weight, nou plie pa case, but we shall NEVER
reconcile with injustice.<br><br>
On Flag Day 2004, at least 9 unarmed demonstrators were shot dead
fighting for Haiti’s liberty. On Flag Day 2005, Sanel Joseph lost his
life, along with many others. Today Flag Day 2006, we hope no Haitian
life is lost. We hope that the inaugural of President Preval will mean
Haitians will stop getting killed by organized, state-sponsored
forces.<br><br>
At Preval's inaugural the crowd outside were chanting “arrest Boniface
and Latortue” and remembering how, after the September 30th killings of
unarmed demonstrators, Latortue said “We shot them, some of them fell,
others were injured, others ran away…”<br><br>
We-Haitians who commit to protect the Feb. 7th vote, who discount the
polemics aimed at “the gallery,” and international community during
inaugural, we who congratulate President Rene Preval for safely
traversing the dangerous coup d’etat gauntlet set for his team to bridge
at the inaugural, we find, May 18, 2006 is a good time to ask, “Did you
hear Mr. President, the PUBLIC CLAMOR for the arrest of Boniface and
Latortue? When, sir, will the political prisoners be free? “<br><br>
The people of Haiti voted for President Preval in order to wipe out the
humiliation of Feb. 29, 2004. The crowd outside told the world, at
Preval’s inaugural, what must be done for Haiti’s humiliation to be
assuaged? <br><br>
It is wonderful that President Preval has officially been inaugurated,
taken power. But, according to the wishes of Haiti’s majority, who
elected President Preval to office, justice must be done. The people, as
documented by the reporters on the scene at the inaugural, were
requesting the arrest of Boniface and Latortue, asking for the release of
the political prisoners and that MINUSTHA stop killing the people along
with the Haitian police. But, for Haiti’s humiliation to be assuaged, for
that to be done, the return of President Aristide to Haitian soil is the
only event Haiti’s majority poor FEEL will BEGIN to erase the total
humiliation Haiti has suffered, at the hands of the US, Canada, France
and the UN, since 2004<br><br>
<br>
Respect,<br><br>
Marguerite Laurent, Esq.<br>
Chair and Founder, Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network<br>
May 18, 2006<br>
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