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From: haiti action <action.haiti@gmail.com><br><br>
POLITICS OF THE EARTHQUAKE<br>
RESPECT THE PEOPLE OF HAITI<br>
<br>
By Robert Roth<br>
Haiti Action Committee <br><br>
In June of 2004, I went to Haiti with two other members of the Haiti
Action Committee. We were there to investigate the effects of the
political earthquake in which the democratically elected government of
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had been overthrown by a coup
orchestrated by the United States, France and Canada. <br><br>
What we saw still resonates. Hundreds of families who had had to
flee their homes in the face of repression, thousands of grass roots
activists in prison because of their association with Aristide’s Lavalas
movement, literacy projects and schools destroyed, community-based
activists forced into exile, Haiti returned to elite control in the name
of “stability” and “security.”<br><br>
We also saw the beginnings of the United Nations occupation, labeled
“peacekeeping” by UN (Minustah) authorities, but clearly seen by the
popular movement as the beginning of an international take-over of
Haiti.<br><br>
The coup devastated Haiti. It shattered the promises of a truly
democratic period in Haitian history. It interrupted a process of
building schools (more schools were built under Lavalas governments than
had been built in all of Haitian history), establishing health clinics
and parks in the poorest communities, support for literacy efforts among
women, , respect for the indigenous religion of Vodou, and a commitment
to the development of Haitian agriculture in the face of the flooding of
Haitian markets by U.S. goods. <br><br>
Six years later, here we are. Fanmi Lavalas, the most popular
political party in Haiti, has been banned from participating in
elections, with the full support of the United States. The Preval
government has tailored its policies to what the United States demands,
rather than to what the people need. There is a deep fissure between the
people and the official government, a deep gap between the occupied and
the occupiers. <br><br>
Yes, the earthquake was a violent natural disaster, presenting
overwhelming challenges to any government or any aid responders.
Yet, it is clear that this natural disaster—just like that of Hurricane
Katrina -- is compounded by a political failure, the continuation of
generations of assaults against Haiti, and – in particular – a
brutal UN/US occupation that has brought to a grinding halt the promise
of the Aristide years. <br><br>
Now we watch the U.S. gear up for a massive military operation in Haiti,
while people die due to lack of medicine, or starve while food supplies
sit on the airport tarmac. We see the pictures of families digging
their relatives out of the rubble, with no aid in sight despite the
presence of 9000 UN troops. We read the usual racist slurs against
Haitians, called “scavengers” or “looters” when, after days of no
assistance, they look for food and water in abandoned homes. We read that
the problems of Haiti are rooted in “their culture and religious
beliefs,” rather than in the harsh realities of colonialism and
occupation. We hear CNN reports of a field hospital being ordered
out of a community for “security reasons” by the United Nations, even in
the face of wounded and dying people. And we read that Doctors Without
Borders cargo planes were denied landing space in Port-au-Prince by U.S.
military authorities. <br><br>
This is a time to respect the resiliency and courage of the Haitian
people. It is a time for aid, not charity, for solidarity not a
U.S. military take-over. And it is a time to return President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide to his homeland. <br><br>
Please support community-based organizers in Haiti who are working day
and night to get aid to the people. Please <br>
contribute to Haiti Emergency Relief Fund at
<a href="http://www.haitiaction.net/">www.haitiaction.net</a> <br><br>
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