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<font size=3>From: Global Women's Strike/SF Bay Area
<sf@crossroadswomen.net><br><br>
Dear Friends,<br><br>
Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his wife and colleague Mildred Trouillot and
their children are due to return back to Haiti this week. Women in Haiti,
and the Haitian grassroots generally, have been calling for their return
for seven long years, but obstacles are still being thrown in their
way.<br><br>
<b>Please sign TODAY in support of the right of the Haitian people to the
leadership of their choice.</b> All women and men are welcome to
sign.<br><br>
</font><h2><b>To Mark International Women’s Month 2011<br>
AN APPEAL FROM HAITIAN GRASSROOTS WOMEN<br>
FOR THE RETURN OF JEAN-BERTRAND AND MILDRED ARISTIDE
</b></h2><font size=3>On March 8th 2011, the centenary of International
Women’s Day, thousands of Haitian women ‘reflected on this day’, once
again calling for the return of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide
and his wife Mildred Trouillot. They said:<br><br>
</font><h3><b>WOMEN ARE THE MAIN PILLARS</b></h3><font size=3><i>In
Haiti, we see how women are despised, without resources and structures
for our well-being.<br><br>
Since 2004, women have been facing increasing hardship, terrible living
conditions, verbal abuse, lack of shelter, and then a devastating
earthquake and no assistance from the government. <br><br>
We women have decided that we have to come out from behind the curtain
because we are the main pillars of society and without us nothing works.
Yet they take away all our rights: 1) our right to housing; 2) our right
to send our children to school; 3) our right to work; 4) our right to
vote.<br><br>
That’s why we, the women of OFAV, declare that others cannot choose for
us. We have to make our own choices through just and fair elections, not
through an undemocratic fraudulent selection process designed to put in
power whoever those already in power happen to like.<br><br>
Sisters, we have had to manage for many years without Titid, without
Mildred and without Senator Mirlande Liberus. We need them now so that
together we can look for solutions.<br><br>
We, the women in tent cities, the women in sweatshops, the market women
and small vendors, join our voices to thank you for your support and
solidarity.<br><br>
Women are the main pillars.<br><br>
Women are the source of life.<br><br>
Women are the salt of the communal meal.<br><br>
</i></font><h3><b>OGANIZASYON FANM VANYAN – OFAV (Brave Women’s
Organization)</b></h3><font size=3>As the Aristide family, which has been
in forced exile in South Africa for seven years, gets ready to return to
Haiti, the US State Department issued another statement pressuring the
South African government to stop them from returning. It reads:<br><br>
<i>“We would urge former President Aristide to delay his return until
after the electoral process has concluded, to permit the Haitian people
to cast their ballots in a peaceful atmosphere. A return prior to the
election may potentially be destabilizing to the political process. The
government of South Africa has generously hosted former President
Aristide and his family since he voluntary departed Haiti in 2004. We
encourage the South African government, as a committed partner to Haiti's
stability, to urge former President Aristide to delay his return until
after the elections.”<br><br>
</i>This is how Hillary Clinton responds to the demands of the women of
Haiti. This is how she dismisses their democratic vote cast
overwhelmingly for President Aristide in 2000. This is how she endorses
George Bush’s coup which removed President Aristide in 2004. Her
intervention does a disservice to women and to pro-democracy people
everywhere. <br><br>
We support the right of Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his family to return
to Haiti immediately, the right of the women who have called for their
return to welcome the Aristides home, and the right of the sovereign
government of South Africa to respect the wishes of the Haitian
people.<br><br>
<br><br>
Andaiye, Red Thread, Guyana<br>
Selma James, Global Women’s Strike (GWS), UK <br>
Nina López, Global Women’s Strike,
UK <br>
Margaret Prescod, Women of Clolor/GWS, US<br><br>
<br><br>
</font><h3><b>We the undersigned support this call from <br>
OGANIZASYON FANM VANYAN – OFAV (Brave Women’s Organization)
</b></h3><font size=3><b>Name<br><br>
Organization <br>
(if any)<br><br>
Email/Phone<br><br>
City/Country<br><br>
</font><h3><b>Call issued by OGANIZASYON FANM VANYAN – OFAV (Brave
Women’s Organization)</b></h3><font size=3>Endorsement call issued by:
<i>Global Women Strike (GWS)</i> and <i>Women of Color in the GWS<br>
</i><b><a href="http://www.globalwomenstrike.net/">
www.globalwomenstrike.net</a></b> <br><br>
Email:
<a href="mailto:la@crossroadswomen.net"><b>la@crossroadswomen.net</a>
</b> Tel: 323-276-9833<br><br>
Information:
<a href="http://www.Haitisolidarity.net"><b>www.haitisolidarity.net</a>
</b> Email:
<a href="mailto:info@haitiAction.org"><b>info@haitiaction.org</a>
<br><br>
<br><br>
</b></font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
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