Arisitde’s return – two accounts
Here’s the NYT story:
Despite warnings from President Obama that his return could cause yet another tumultuous political development here, the Rev. Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, the twice exiled former president of Haiti, was preparing to leave his adopted home in South Africa on Thursday to go back to Haiti.
And here is a piece by Kim Ives, with whom I visited Haiti eleven times:
The arrogance of Washington’s renewed efforts to thwart former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s return to Haiti from a seven-year exile in South Africa is mind-boggling.
During the 29 February 2004 coup d’état, in the middle of the night, a US Navy Seal team, under the direction of American deputy ambassador Luis Moreno, kidnapped President Aristide and his wife Mildred from their home in Tabarre and flew them, under guard in an unmarked US jet, into a first stint of exile in the Central African Republic. Since then, tens of thousands from all over Haiti have taken to the streets several times each year to demand his return.
Stan:
Disgusting hit piece from Reuters
…with a rigged election in which both candidates together received less than 10 percent of the vote, and the largest party in the country, Fanmi Lavalas (Aristide’s Party) is banned from particpation.
…the unpredictability is perfectly predictable. The vast majority of Haitians will be in the street celebrating like crazy, always a scary thing to the Haitian elites.
Notice that the support from the poor is “fanatical.”
If Aristide were put on the ballot today, on Sunday he would receive more than 80 percent of the vote. That’s what the neoliberals know, and it exposes the hypocrisy of their so-called support for democracy.
Here is our democracy-lover in chief:
FULL
17 March 2011, 1:11 pmDeAnander:
“Western donors that have invested heavily in trying to steer the fragile Caribbean state to lasting stability”
[cue: hollow laughter]
oh yeah right. by undermining its rural economy, dispossessing farmers, and eliminating food security by dumping “cheap” US rice on its market… very likely to lead to lasting stability.
I think we need a dictionary for translating this business-speak. “stability” means no unions, no left activism of any kind, a docile (read: hungry and hopeless) labour force, consolidation of all valuable resources in foreign hands (or the hands of comprador puppets). it means “pacified” not peaceful. it means a reliable satrapy or colony.
we knew all that, but still… it hurts the brain to hear these people mangling reason, common sense and language itself as they spin their PR.
17 March 2011, 1:36 pm(Boer) Tom:
Canada’s the main preventer of Aristide’s return. And let’s not forget what Canada did in Haiti. And UN/Canadian arithmetic that 2006-2003=24. (Especially when it shows that you’ve destroyed a country…) Pedophile arithmetic?
@DeAnander
17 March 2011, 2:27 pmIs there any good way to distribute via the internet bootleg copies of documentaries? I have a copy of Kevin Pina’s Haiti Untold Story, and I think it desperately needs wider distribution…
Chasm:
Let’s not forget that immediately after the earthquake, the U.S. sent in the U.S. military, which immediately took over the main ports and prevented other organizations — organizations already positioned to do the most good — from getting in and out or bringing in badly needed supplies. The U.S. stuck its dickskinners in every pot and arrogated to itself the right to decide what happened, where, and when. And this undoubtedly contributed significantly to the casualty count.
Meanwhile, the crack team who did so much for Somalia, Iraq, Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq (again), and, let’s not forget, Haiti! — namely, Bill Clinton and George Bush — were put in charge of “relief” efforts (but relief for whom?) because, as we all know, Haiti certainly doesn’t deserve sovereignty. Within days, Haitians on the “team” were complaining that they’d been ostracized pretty much completely from the discussion, let alone the decision-making process (George is the “decider,” after all). The real purpose of the American intervention, of course, was to take advantage of the catastrophe, just as they’ve done so many other places (including New Orleans and the Gulf) to further their neo-liberal agenda.
I sincerely hope that the brave Aristide survives this return.
@(Boer) Tom: You distribute bootleg copies of documentaries the same way you distribute any other bootleg videos or software: bit torrent. Find a site, upload it, post the link to the torrent file here (and wherever else).
17 March 2011, 4:27 pmStan:
Democracy Now on Aristide’s return
17 March 2011, 4:40 pm(Boer) Tom:
A half decent article on Aristide without the usual lies.
17 March 2011, 4:49 pmRobert Karaffa:
So..now that we are going to do Libya….how do we handle the rebel forces and the whole movement? When Guy Phillipe ran into PAP with his band wrapped in American Flags…proclaiming that they were in control…it was easy to make him desist then chase him down on drug charges later.. And put Aristide on a plane. How are neolib interests going to do this with a much better armed expansive rebel movement in a larger resource rich country with a dictator that can do alot including threaten the commercial interests cruising the Med.? One side can be taken out. But both? How?
17 March 2011, 8:38 pm(Boer) Tom:
Took me a while to figure this torrent business out. Here goes…
18 March 2011, 1:40 amMichael Anderson:
Several months ago ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier returned to Haiti, also, to a muted media response, beating Aristide to the punch (I would take that literally):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11943820
18 March 2011, 1:47 pmRobert Karaffa:
Now I hear that Obama says “US fears atrocities” in Libya, and the US will go in on some level above no-fly perhaps. So in reference and answer to my vague and perhaps stupid question above….I guess thats how.
18 March 2011, 2:04 pmKevin Pina:
Why would you want to bootleg an earlier copy of what became the final version of my film: “Haiti: We Must Kill the Bandits?” Please support my work by watching the final version at http://haitiinformationproject.blogspot.com/2010/11/haiti-we-must-kill-bandits-broadband.html
I did it for love but would like to be able to raise a bit of $$ to support my Haitian colleagues still filming and my final doc in my Haiti trilogy entitled “Haiti: The Betrayal of Democracy.”
Thanks for your support.
Kevin Pina
19 March 2011, 1:04 amStan:
Mesi. Kenbe la, Kevin.
19 March 2011, 8:08 am(Boer) Tom:
@Kevin
How can one donate directly?
Also, I feel the ethical value of the first over the final is that the faces aren’t blurred – I want people here to know in their guts that the corpses lying around had lives – even if the names are read, the novelty for them of seeing corpses might be distracting, but that doesn’t work as well when they see the faces.
19 March 2011, 11:56 am(Boer) Tom:
Thanks for the link, though.
19 March 2011, 11:58 amRobert Karaffa:
@Kevin P. Just want to say that I have followed your work over the years. Seen pics of you in bad circumstance..and must say that I thank all that is good in creation for film makers and true journalists like you. A small mess keeps me out of Haiti for now but I will be back.
19 March 2011, 8:53 pmKevin Pina:
Tom,
You can help our work by encouraging people to watch the final version of “Haiti: WE Must Kill the Bandits” via PAY-PER-VIEW and/or to purchase a DVD copy at:
http://haitiinformationproject.blogspot.com/2010/11/haiti-we-must-kill-bandits-broadband.html
I have found that the final version actually shows more than most people can take. It is always difficult when making a documentary about human rights abuses to strike a balance between showing the reality and being respectful to the victims and your audience. What is most important to me is that people will want to watch the film to understand the overall context and reality of what occurred in Haiti between 2004-2006, what I consider one of the greatest human rights cover-ups in the history of this hemisphere.
Thank you Robert Karaffa for your kind words of encouragement. I would have been in Haiti to cover Aristide’s return and the elections myself but my wife and I are about to have our third child and that had to take priority.
Thanks to all of you again for your support. I’m now working on completing my final documentary in my Haiti trilogy entitled “Haiti: The Betrayal of Democracy.” Combined with “Haiti: Harvest of Hope” & “Haiti: We Must Kill the Bandits” it will span two decades of history of the popular movement in Haiti and their fight for social justice.
Best regards,
Kevin Pina
23 March 2011, 12:05 amStan:
Congratulations Kevin, to you and your family.
23 March 2011, 7:13 am(Boer) Tom:
@Kevin
That I’ve been doing since you posted the link – I only tried to do the bootleg because I’d given up finding an online version about a year ago, after repeated searches since late 2006 – I just felt that Aristide’s return made for an opening in general awareness that could be usefully exploited. As to donations, I meant more along the lines of after seeing it, if someone wants to make a bigger donation than $2.
But I’ve found the same about people not being able to take more in – I usually give references e.g. the Lancet paper, and a link to the 2003 census and the 2006 denial of the 2003 census, with a quick overview of what changed…
23 March 2011, 9:34 am(Boer) Tom:
@Kevin
23 March 2011, 9:49 amActually, one thing you could do to get more hits – could you create a page with the link to view at the top, so that it is immediately obvious? I’m finding quite a bit of functional illiteracy, and frankly, it took me a while to spot the ‘play now’ button, as I figured it would be at the bottom – it is trickier to find it where it is.
Kevin Pina:
Tom,
Great suggestion and I’ve changed the page accordingly. For additional contributions to our work you can check out: http://www.teledyol.net/HIP/about.html
“and a link to the 2003 census and the 2006 denial of the 2003 census, with a quick overview of what changed…” I did a Flashpoints report on that and I am so glad to see that someone else picked up on the UN’s cover-up of the 2003 census for obvious political reasons. Much respect!!
Trying to break story now of how USAID funded coup supporter & Martelly campaign manager, Hans Tippenhauer, to monitor fraud in the March 20 election: http://haitirewired.wired.com/profiles/blogs/mapping-election-fraud-with-an
In the article they also admit: “Because of the early morning irregularities at some polling stations, many were kept open an extra hour at the end of the day. But despite this, and all the efforts on behalf of several governments, including the US government, to encouraging people to vote, this election produced the lowest turn-out rate ever in the history of Haiti’s attempts at democracy.”
You can also follow on twitter: HaitiInfoProj
23 March 2011, 11:31 amStan:
Kevin, here is the link to “Hillary’s Bones – A Coup Tutorial” that compares the Haiti, Venezuela, and Honduras coups. Plenty there on USAID, IRI, et al.
23 March 2011, 11:35 am(Boer) Tom:
@Kevin
23 March 2011, 12:41 pmThanks! Do you have any references on Canada’s financing of the death threats against the first author of the lancet piece? You’ll see that I linked the 2003 census above (comment on 17 March 2011, 2:27 pm – otherwise people don’t believe that the 2003 census exists) – the UN has however used the 2003 census at times – see here. Also, do you have any good references on Canada (or the US or France) doing the arm twisting for the 2006 census and/or hiding of the 2003 census? I prefer to have every detail secure if possible.
(Boer) Tom:
Got some stuff on the death threats:
23 March 2011, 10:03 pmhttp://www.counterpunch.org/sprague09112006.html
http://www.haitisolidarity.net/article.php?id=83
(Boer) Tom:
I’ve been reading further. Seems Canada is mainly sponsoring criminal ‘NGOs’ in Haiti itself, but not (as far as I could gather) the groups that did the campaign against the Lancet authors.
Several sources list the “Haiti Support Network” as the source of the campaign (Charles Arthur being the main perpetrator of the campaign), but he seems rather to be tied to the “Haiti support group” – this group claims to receive funding from Oxfam-GB, Christian Aid and CAFOD. In fairness, none of these organizations mention HSG on their websites, although OXFAM Quebec was known to support the coup.
24 March 2011, 3:25 amKevin Pina:
Tom,
You single-handedly contributed to my completing a long overdue chapter of my book. I’d been searching high and low for another copy of the 2003 census since I lost mine and lo and behold there it was with a click. By comparing the 2003 census data with the 2006 UN-sponsored census, the effects of the 2004 coup become quite obvious. What also becomes obvious are the advances in education and welfare made by the Lavalas administration and what was sacrificed on behalf of Haiti’s elite. As far as I am concerned, those are the primary reasons the UN would not acknowledge the 2003 census.
29 March 2011, 10:33 am