San Jose, CA – Dozens of San Jose community members attended San Jose Against War’s educational mini-series for Black August, honoring Black resistance and liberation struggles around the world. The series consisted of two educational programs, one focusing on Haiti and the other focusing on the Confederation of Sahel States.

The educational event about Haiti was on August 24. Guest speakers from Haiti Action Committee gave a presentation covering an extensive history of Haiti from its colonial exploitation by Spain and France, to the current role that the U.S. has played in toppling progressive governments.

“[Haiti] is poor, but like many countries, it’s been made poor,” said Judith Mirkinson from Haiti Action Committee. “At the time when they overthrew the French, it was France’s richest colony in itself. It generated more wealth than all the other colonies. It’s estimated that like 20% of the French economy came from Haiti.”

“When we look at the situation in Haiti today, it has its genesis in the long history of colonialism, but specifically it has its genesis in the 2004 coup,” said Mirkinson, referring to the coup against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

“This was the most progressive government that Haiti ever had,” Mirkinson stated about Aristide’s time in office. “More schools were built in Haiti than in its entire history. He did literacy campaigns; he introduced hospitals and clinics.”

“Aristide was overthrown and a U.S.-UN occupation came in,” said Mirkinson. “The U.S., Britain, France, and Canada have bankrolled paramilitary death squads. This is a strategy to destroy society. They want the gold, they want minerals. They just want people to leave or die or whatever.”

On August 27, over two dozen community members gathered for the educational event about the Confederation of Sahel States, an anti-imperialist alliance between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. The event featured guest speakers Inem Richardson of the All-African Women’s Revolutionary Union and the Thomas Sankara Center, and Akubundu Amazu Lott of the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party.

“The first coup that led to the Alliance of Sahel States happened in Mali in 2021,” said Richardson. “For several years before the coup happened there was this emerging budding anti-imperialist movement that kept growing. The people first called for the alliance. In July of last year, the three countries became the Confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States.”

“For the first time in a long time Burkina Faso is nationalizing its gold reserves,” stated Richardson. “Niger is nationalizing its uranium deposits. Africa’s largest solar power field is being built right now in Mali. It’s this massive transformation.”

“These countries ended a lot of different forms of collaboration with countries in the NATO bloc and started to move towards collaborating more with countries like Russia, Iran, China, Venezuela and Cuba,” Richardson continued. “Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger share a lot in common with these countries in terms of how they’ve been targeted by imperialists.”

“There are U.S. sanctions on Mali right now. The European Union is sanctioning Mali and Niger,” Richardson said. “The propaganda war is enormous, adding that Western media “has come down really hard against these three countries.”

“There’s been reports stating that AFRICOM, the U.S. military, now that it’s been chased out of Niger, is working to create a drone base in the Ivory Coast. The U.S. is trying to move to the border of the Alliance of Sahel States,” stated Richardson. “In this moment, we really need to focus on protecting and defending these revolutions.”

#SanJoseCA #CA #International #Haiti #Sahel #Africa #OppressedNationalities #HAC #AAWRU #AAPRP

Los Angeles, CA – On Friday, October 18, Centro Community Service Organization (CSO) members and community gathered at local bookstore ReArte in Boyle Heights for a film screening and discussion. The film was on the history of Haiti and was shown in light of recent racist remarks by Donald Trump in Ohio. Haitian American and CSO member Chris Bernadel and the CSO immigration rapid response team chair Jordan Peña co-facilitated the event.

Bernadel and Peña opened the event expressing solidarity with Haitian immigrants and condemning the racist remarks made by Trump. They introduced the film Bitter Cane, an award-winning documentary that was filmed clandestinely in 1983, during the U.S. imposed-dictatorship of Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier.

The film captures the shifts in the modes of production that Haiti experienced and the impacts they had on the majority of the people. Haiti’s economy was characterized as semi-feudal, in which landless peasants worked in coffee fields for large landowners in order to earn a small living. Haiti’s economy transitioned to a capitalist one in which U.S.-owned businesses opened many clothing and electronic factories in Haiti, due to its very cheap labor supply. Peasants migrated into cities in search of wage labor opportunities.

Chris Bernadel said, “The Haitian people in the city slums have tried to rise up against the dictatorships but the U.S. has squashed rebellion with heavy repression.” Bernadel shared that Haiti has only had one democratically-elected president elected by the people, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In 2004 a U.S.-backed coup d'etat removed him from power.

A discussion continued among participants after the film. In the discussion, Jordan Peña made a connection between the root cause of refugees fleeing Haiti to the immigration crisis that we see today, stating, “People south of the U.S. border are coming to the U.S. but you never hear people question why they are fleeing their home country in the first place. It is because the U.S. has invested in destabilizing these countries.”

After discussion, participants enjoyed Haitian food cooked by a local family owned-restaurant named Island Flavors Caribbean Cuisine. Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) member Sol Marquez closed the event expressing solidarity with immigrants and inviting members to join the Legalization for All Network.

An upcoming event for the CSO immigration rapid response team is a know your rights training, which will take place on the 9th of November and will be in Boyle Heights. That event is being coordinated by CSO members Amanda Diaz and Peña. Please message CSO at (323) 484-8630 or on social media to attend and help.

#LosAngelesCA #CA #International #Haiti #ImmigrantRights #CentroCSO

Minneapolis, MN – On Monday, October 14 over 50 protesters gathered together on Indigenous People’s Day to tell Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance that he is not welcome in Minneapolis. Vance attended a private fundraiser in Minneapolis the same day, and held a press conference at the burned down Minneapolis former 3rd Precinct police station.

The protest was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) as part of a national week of action called by the Legalization for All Network to stand with Haitian immigrants in the fight for legalization for all, in the face of the intensely racist anti-immigrant rhetoric spewed by right-wing politicians at every turn.

Vance and the Trump administration continuously dehumanize immigrants to fuel their campaign that champions racist inequality above all else. Vance has been a major player in spreading disgusting lies about Haitian immigrants consuming pets in Springfield, Ohio. Since these lies have been popularized, threats and vandalism targeting Springfield immigrants have forced families to shelter at home, many too afraid to send their children to school.

The protest began with chants of “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here!” as the crowd prepared to listen to speeches and hold banners and signs to the honks of supportive cars driving by.

A speaker from the Haiti Justice Committee of Minnesota called out the anti-immigrant lie Vance has been spewing that Haitian immigrants eat dogs and cats. “It was like watching a horror show because we know that it’s a lie.”

She continued: “The empty rhetoric that Trump and JD Vance are pushing regarding Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio is false propaganda due to a lack of sound plans to address serious and difficult issues such as global warming, homelessness, inflation, health care costs, and so forth. Without migrants the economy would be in a dire situation. The hospitality industry, the construction industry, and the agricultural industry rely heavily on the labor of immigrants.”

Alfreda Daniels, a Liberian immigrant and co-founder of the Black Immigrant Collective also spoke to the despicable use of immigrants as scapegoats to the country’s issues and how immigrants must be welcome regardless of how they came here, stating, “When I hear people like Vance and Trump say that people need to come in the right way, tell me, what is the right way? There is no ‘right way.’”

Protesters also heard from Noah Schumacher with Twin Cities Coalition for Justice (TCC4J) about the connections between struggles against oppression around the world and the fight for community control of the police, as, little did the crowd know, JD Vance was telling racist lies in his meeting with the Minneapolis Police Department outside of the former 3rd Precinct around the same time.

Schumacher stated, “Many of us here in the U.S. are so indoctrinated with the myths of how great the American Revolution is, we are never taught about the revolution that was a real leap forward for humanity: the Haitian Revolution. In Twin Cities Coalition for Justice, we see how the struggles for Haiti, Palestine, and across the globe are connected to our struggles here to get community control of the police.”

The protest concluded with a passionate speech from Mari Mansfield with MIRAC in support of legalization for all: “We have to stand up and fight back. We have to fight for immigrants, for the people who walked across the earth to be here, for the people who carried their children on their backs to be here. And to do that, we need legalization for all!”

The protest was led by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) and featured speakers from the Black Immigrant Collective, Haiti Justice Committee of Minnesota, Black Lives Matter, the Minnesota Abortion Action Committee and the MN Anti-War Committee.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #ImmigrantRights #Haiti #MIRAC #HJCMN #BLM #MNAAC #MNAWC #TCC4J #Vance #Trump #Feature

St. Paul, MN – The MN Peace Action Coalition and Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) co-sponsored a vigil on the Marshal/Lake Street bridge over the Mississippi River on June 12 to draw attention to the role of the U.S, in Haiti. 30 people attended and they received many positive honks from rush hour drivers.

Sarah Martin, a member of the MN Peace Action Coalition and WAMM explained, “The U.S. is financing and orchestrating a multinational military occupation of Haiti which will be led by 1000 special forces from Kenya, with additional forces from numerous countries in Africa and the Caribbean. Foreign occupations and coups against progressive governments, like those against former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, deny self-determination to the people of Haiti, and have led to the violent chaos in Haiti today. It is important to support the right of the Haitian people to self-determination.”

Marcy Shapiro, a member of WAMM’s Solidarity Committee on the Americas, concurred, stating “ongoing U.S.policies and actions toward Haiti have brought the terrible devastation to the people of Haiti.”

#StPaulMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #International #Haiti #WAMM #SCOTA #MNPeaceAction

Milwaukee, WI – This past Saturday, October 28, over 300 people attended a joint solidarity march linking the struggle against U.S. imperialism in both Haiti and Palestine. The event called for an end to U.S. support for the UN intervention in Haiti, and an end to continued U.S. funding of genocide in Palestine.

The march showed support for the “Zone of Peace” campaign led by the Black Alliance for Peace in response to the UN vote on October 3 which approved a foreign-led intervention in the sovereign affairs of Haiti, whose people recently ousted the illegitimate Prime Minister Ariel Henry from office. However, due to the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine by the Israeli government, the event served a dual purpose in order to draw people of both struggles together and to show how they are linked within the broader fight against war and imperialism.

The Milwaukee Anti-War Committee (MAC) organized the event, which was co-hosted with Black Youth Project 100 – Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression (MAARPR), the Milwaukee Chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), the Pan-African Revolutionary Socialist Party, the UW-Milwaukee chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization Wisconsin (FRSO-WI).

A crowd of protesters composed of many in both the Muslim and Black communities and their allies gathered at Red Arrow Park in downtown Milwaukee, known as the location where Dontre Hamilton was extrajudicially executed by Milwaukee police in 2014. They enthusiastically took to the streets, marching to the U.S. Courthouse and Federal Office Building on Wisconsin Avenue. Dozens of Palestinian flags and the sounds of pro-Palestine and pro-Haiti slogans filled the streets, including, “From Haiti to Falastin, end the U.S. war machine!”

Once at the Federal Building, groups’ representatives spoke. Though their organizations had different focuses, the speakers were united in calling for an end to foreign intervention in sovereign countries like Haiti, an end to U.S. support for Israel’s genocidal campaign, and in linking the struggle felt all around the world against U.S.-led efforts to maintain power and control for its billionaire class.

Kareem Sarsour of AMP said, “United, that’s our strength, when we stand together!”

“This is a crucial moment to not look away. We must connect these struggles because we are not alone in this fight!” said Sara Onitsuka of MAC, “There is no bomb more powerful than the collective will of the people!”

The speakers also encouraged everyone to keep fighting and to join an organization committed to the long haul.

“Malcolm X put it simply: 'Freedom by any means necessary, justice by any means necessary, equality by any means necessary!'” said Ryan Hamann from FRSO-WI. “We have a duty to the people of the world who suffer under the boot of U.S. imperialism to fight, and we have a duty to win!”

“The same thing that is happening to us in Milwaukee is the same thing happening to others all over the world!” exclaimed Aurelia Ceja of MAARPR. “Please get involved and take action!”

This protest was the third this month coordinated by MAC, the previous two working alongside AMP as part of the newly formed Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine, which includes over 34 organizations in the Wisconsin area.

#MilwaukeeWI #Palestine #Haiti #AntiWar #MAC #AMP

Orlando, FL – On Saturday, September 16, around 45 community members gathered at Knowledge for Living in the Parramore district for an educational forum on U.S. and Western intervention in Haiti and West Africa. The event was hosted by the Revolutionary Education and Action League (REAL) and the Florida chapter of the All-African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP).

The presentation began by highlighting the connection between imperialism abroad and political repression and police violence domestically. For example, the Department of Defense’s 1033 Program allows state and local police forces to acquire surplus military equipment including weapons, tanks, drones, and more for next to no cost. These highly militarized police agencies then serve as occupying forces in working-class and oppressed nationality communities. The police also utilize that same military-grade equipment to suppress popular movements, as seen most recently with the George Floyd uprisings in 2020 and in the current efforts to build Cop City in Atlanta.

On the other hand, the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) operates 46 military bases across the African continent, with tens of thousands of troops currently stationed on African soil. In many cases, the police and militaries in these African countries receive training from U.S. and NATO military forces, and are taught the same tactics of oppression used here in the U.S.

“We cannot understand our struggle for justice, our struggle against police brutality as isolated from what's happening in Nigeria, what’s happening in Burkina Faso, what’s happening in Haiti or what’s happening in any part of the world resisting imperialism. We have to understand that we have more in common with the poor and working-class masses, with those youth fighting back against police violence than we do with the people in power here,” said Onyesonwu Chatoyer of the A-APRP. 

Chatoyer then laid out the historical and political context through which imperialism and neocolonialism arose. This gave the audience the background necessary to understand the recent anti-colonial military take overs springing up throughout West Africa and the Western imperialist meddling in Haiti. 

The main goal of these military takeovers, spearheaded by military leaders like Ibrahim Traoré in Burkina Faso and Abdourahamane Tchiani in Niger, is to secure their country’s natural resources and sever the extractive and exploitative relationship with Western imperial powers, namely France and the U.S. For example, one in three lightbulbs in France are powered using electricity generated by nuclear power using uranium ore extracted from Niger. At the same time however, 80% of Nigeriens do not have access to electricity in their own homes. Shutting down foreign military bases and kicking out foreign – namely French and U.S. – troops occupying the land is part and parcel with this goal.

One of the main ways we can support revolutionary movements – not just in Africa but around the world – is to staunchly oppose U.S. economic sanctions against these progressive governments, sanctions which only serve to crush and starve the everyday people of these countries. Chatoyer added, “The same that we show up for Cuba, that we show up for Nicaragua, that we show up for Venezuela, we have to show up for Niger, for Zimbabwe, for Azania, for Algeria.”

REAL and A-APRP hope to host more educational forums for the community, especially in the Pine Hills and Parramore district, one of Orlando’s historically Black neighborhoods. Their next event will be on Saturday, September 30 at the Hiawassee Branch Library. See @aaprpflorida on Instagram for more information.

#OrlandoFL #Africa #Haiti #Imperialism

Chicago, IL – On Monday, October 24 more than a dozen activists from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS); Anakbayan, a patriotic Filipino youth organization, and Young Democratic Socialists of America joined together for a demonstration. Students marched on the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) ROTC building to denounce the Biden administration’s intervention in Haiti and demand an end to the 12-year long UN occupation of the island. The protest was planned in connection with the United National Anti-War Coalition’s week of action.

Marchers gathered in front of the student center and read several short, prepared statements explaining the action. Students passing by stopped to listen to the speeches given by members of SDS and Anakbayan.

SDSers gave speeches condemning the 200-year history of U.S. intervention in Haiti, from the first invasions in the 1800s to the past decade of UN occupation. They also called out the corporate interests backing the Haitian intervention and the “forever wars” that had spanned many of the protesters' entire lives.

An activist from Anakbayan spoke about the importance of international solidarity in the face of American aggression. They called on students in the U.S. to fight against the intervention in Haiti and the 100 million in U.S. military aid going to the Marcos-Duterte regime

After the speakers wrapped up, SDSers led students in chants of “From Haiti to the Philippines, stop the U.S. war machine!” Protesters marched to the ROTC center, circling it before returning to the student center.

SDSer Natalie Praneis summed up the event afterwards, “The U.S. has no place defending a corrupt government over the will of the Haitian people. We must stand in solidarity with Haiti against U.S. acts of aggression.”

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #StudentMovement #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #Haiti #PeoplesStruggles

Minneapolis, MN – On October 25, 35 Haiti solidarity activists held a rally in front of the office of Senator Amy Klobuchar under the slogan “No U.S./UN Military Intervention in Haiti.”

This new military intervention in Haiti continues years of foreign interference in the affairs of that country. Peace and security will not come from turning to the UN Security Council, the Organization of American States (OAS), and especially not the U.S. government, which has poured money into the repressive Haitian National Police, which has collaborated with death squads. Turning to the UN, the U.S. and the OAS to “stabilize” the crisis in Haiti today is akin to pleading with the arsonists to quell the fire they have unleashed.

Activists began the bannering with chants including “No to occupation – yes to liberation!” “No to occupation – yes to reparations” and “No to occupation – yes to self-determination,” to the honks of rush hour traffic.

Speakers included Andrew Josefchak of the Anti-War Committee, who recounted the history of U.S. intervention and the resistance of the heroic Haitian people. “U.S. forces are preparing to deploy to Haiti in order to crush the popular movements of the Haitian people, who have led the way forward in the Americas in the struggle against colonialism, imperialism and slavery going back some 200 years.”

Josefchak continued, “But this isn’t the first time the U.S. has tried to turn back the clock on the Haitian Revolution. Ever since the revolution ended slavery in 1804, Haiti has faced U.S. financial bullying as well as outright invasions. France and the U.S. forced Haitians to pay $30 billion in reparations for their own freedom from their former slave masters! We’re never taught in our schools that a long U.S. invasion and occupation from 1915 to 1934 reinstated slavery on the island. Years later, the U.S.-backed Duvalier family dictatorships ruled from 1957 to 1986. Another U.S. invasion happened as recently as 1994. These invasions and economic coercion have kept the Haitian people from the full self-determination that all people are entitled to by right, and another invasion will only make things worse.”

For the past four years, Haitians have courageously taken to the streets and faced police and paramilitary attacks as they demand their human rights, a fair election, an end to the U.S. domination which has kept them the poorest country in the hemisphere, basic economic rights including a living wage, and an end to corruption and plundering of their public resources. Thousands of unarmed Haitians have been killed but still they struggle for justice.

Bruce Nestor, member of the Haiti Justice Committee and a member of the National Lawyers Guild, who was in Haiti in 2004 shortly after the U.S. coup which ousted the popularly elected President Jean-Aristide, spoke of what U.S./Canadian intervention under the UN auspices really means and looks like. “It means intervention on behalf of political elites who are partners of the international corporations and investment banks in exploitation of Haitian people.” He went on to say, “These elites will get contracts to provide all the services to the troops, the food, cleaning of places they stay, etc., and with this money fund the gangs they hire to oppress the Haitian people and to gain their own political power. This will not bring security, will not bring a stable environment for an election, but will support powerful people who are the source of all that is wrong in Haiti today.”

Other speakers were April Knutson of the Haiti Justice Committee, Marcy Shapiro of the Haiti Justice Committee and WAMM's Solidarity Committee of the Americas, and Christine Harb from the Party of Liberation and Socialism. The Minnesota Peace Action Committee and Women Against Military Madness also played leading roles in organizing the protest.

#MinneapolisMN #Haiti #antiwar #AntiWarCommitteeAWC #Americas

New Orleans, LA – On August 21, around 30 community members gathered in opposition to the U.S. government’s role in fueling crises around the world. They met at the historic Congo Square in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans.

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization of New Orleans and the New Orleans Hospitality Workers Alliance called the march. Participants rejected U.S. attempts to destabilize Cuba. They also condemned the United States’ role in creating miserable ongoing conditions in Haiti and Afghanistan.

Solidarity with the people of Cuba and Haiti, who share a geographical region and a long historical link with the people of New Orleans, was a major theme of the rally. Co-organizer Toni Jones said to the crowd: “For over 200 years Haiti has been a beacon, for showing the world that it’s possible for Black people in America to create a free republic.”

Local historian Leon A. Waters spoke about the direct link between the Haitian revolution and the 1811 Slave Revolt in Saint Charles Parish. The Revolt carried the slogans “On to New Orleans” and “Freedom or Death” only seven years after Haiti achieved independence.

The crowd marched through downtown New Orleans, taking over major roads to reach the Hale Boggs Federal Building, where they rallied.

Meg Maloney of the Hospitality Workers Alliance said, “We have to be willing and ready to speak to our coworkers, to our community members, about this because it directly affects us. They are taking our money and they are using it to terrorize people around the world.”

Speakers highlighted that the U.S. government terrorized the people of Afghanistan through years of drone warfare. It is also terrorizing the people of Cuba with the blockade and economic embargo.

The protest rejected the lie that U.S. wars are fought to spread freedom and democracy. “The U.S. has lost the war in Afghanistan, and that’s a great thing,” said Serena Borne of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, “because these wars and interventions crush the self-determination and democracy of these nations.”

#NewOrleansLA #AntiwarMovement #Cuba #Afghanistan #Haiti #PeoplesStruggles

Minneapolis, MN – Around 30 people took to May Day Plaza, July 29, to hold signs and banners in a show of solidarity with the people of Cuba and Haiti after a new wave of U.S. intervention attempts. This event came after the Biden administration’s July 22 issuance of new sanctions on Cuba, as well as the July 7 assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse.

The financial and administrative origin of President Moïse's assassination by a group of Colombian and U.S. mercenaries has not yet been confirmed. However, investigations later revealed some of the mercenaries responsible had taken part in U.S. military training programs at the School of the Americas.

“The recent assassination of Haiti President Jovenal Moïse is no excuse for U.S. intervention. That includes the military, the FBI and Homeland Security,” said Sarah Martin, reading from a statement by Marcy Shapiro. She continued, “Every step Haiti has taken for true independence has been subverted.” Martin and Shapiro are members of the Solidarity Committee of the Americas, a subcommittee of WAMM (Women Against Military Madness).

For the past 60 years, the U.S. has subjected Cuba to an embargo that recently has specifically impacted Cuba’s ability to import necessary medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cuba was forced to develop their own COVID-19 vaccine but have had limited access to syringes. Since June, U.S. media has explicitly used images of pro-Cuban government protests as examples of Cuban ‘anti-government’ actions in order to justify U.S. intervention.

Speaking on Cuba's reputation for international solidarity despite crushing sanctions, Tracy Molm of the Anti-War Committee explained, “The U.S. government is threatened by Cuba’s independence and support for other independent countries trying also to break free of U.S. interference.” Molm visited Venezuela in 2019 and saw firsthand the impact of Cuba's material solidarity with other countries resisting U.S. intervention.

“As we stand on stolen land, and as people rise up against police brutality and murders in our communities, we need to expose this hypocrisy – the U.S. government has no moral high ground to police other parts of the globe or try to impose its will on the people of the world,” Molm concluded.

Organizers of the event encouraged supporters to continue their international solidarity by attending the upcoming protest on August 5 organized by the Anti-War Committee and American Muslims for Palestine to call on Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar to take action for Palestine.

The June 29 event was organized by the Anti-War Committee and the WAMM Solidarity Committee of the Americas.

#MinneapolisMN #International #AntiwarMovement #Cuba #Haiti #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #AntiWarCommittee #WomenAgainstMilitaryMadness

Nov. 20 – Hooded gangs today attacked a large demonstration that was protesting election fraud in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. According to radio reports, a group of about 20 hooded men exited a white pickup truck — license plate 1-00692 — armed with machetes, pipes, hammers and guns, and attacked marchers in the Delmas 95 district while police looked away. One marcher was wounded in the head by a machete, reported the Associated Press. In the Delmas 40 district, a young man in the march was shot and killed by a unit reportedly affiliated with the national police of outgoing President Michel Martelly.

Haitians, determined to thwart what they see as an ongoing “electoral coup d’etat,” have been in the streets almost daily by the tens of thousands since the first round of the presidential election on Oct. 25.

On Nov. 1, a big election protest in the plebeian Bel Air district, led by a Rara musical band, was attacked and two marchers shot dead. Later that day, a third protester was ambushed and killed on the way home.

Huge demonstrations on Nov. 18 were punctuated by police firing into the crowds, wounding several. They had been celebrating the anniversary of Haiti’s defeat of Napoleon’s armies at the Battle of Vertieres in 1803, which paved the way for the island’s independence from France and the abolition of plantation slavery in Haiti.

Massive and sustained protests

“Only continuous mobilization through­out the country can win respect for the people’s rights and their votes. When one person tires, their neighbor must take up the fight,” said a communique from Fanmi Lavalas, the party of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was ousted by a coup in 2004. Fanmi Lavalas had been banned outright since then from running candidates until this year, and was credited with few votes in the disputed election results.

Lavalas presidential candidate Dr. Maryse Narcisse, who is in the streets every day getting tear gassed with the protesters, has officially challenged the results with the National Electoral Litigation Bureau. Other major parties have unofficially protested the fraudulent elections, in which President Martelly’s handpicked candidate, a political neophyte, miraculously emerged as the front-runner. A runoff election is due in December.

Many recall the 2010 election, when Martelly was illegally catapulted into the runoff under pressure from then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Organization of American States. Occupying forces of the U.S. and the United Nations have continued their in-your-face interference in the 2015 election as well.

U.N. charged with major role in election fraud

Haiti’s political crisis took a dramatic turn in mid-November with revelations by Antoine Rodon Bien-Aimé and two other candidates for Parliament from President Martelly’s own PHTK party (Parti Haïtien Tèt Kale).

It has been reported that some 10,000 Haitian police and 2,500 U.N. personnel from Minustah, the U.N.’s military mission in Haiti, were deployed during the Oct. 25 voting, and that both Minustah and the U.N. Office for Project Services (UNOPS) were involved in transporting ballots to be tallied in Port-au-Prince.

Now, Deputy Bien-Aimé and two of his colleagues are accusing UNOPS, headed by Sandra Honoré, with direct involvement in the Oct. 25 election fraud. Specifically, they charge UNOPS and its electoral logistics coordinator, the Canadian national, Sylvain Côté, with direct responsibility for taking boxes of ballots actually cast by the people and switching them with boxes of pre-filled-out ballots. Sylvain Coté scurried out of the country the day after the revelations surfaced.

Fifteen well-known Haitian intellectuals were so outraged by the “clear involvement of U.N. agencies in the fraud that marred the elections of October 25” that they wrote an “Open Letter to Sandra Honoré” on Nov. 16, saying, “The whole world is discovering, under pressure from the street … the truth of the biggest electoral fraud operation … for the last 30 years in Haiti.”

But the main resistance is coming from the street. Many are comparing today’s nonstop mass demonstrations to the uprisings that led to the 1986 collapse of the dictatorship of “Baby Doc” Duvalier. The people are turning the defense of their vote into a focus of mass struggle against the hated neo-Duvalierists in the Haitian government and their U.S., French and Canadian backers.

On Nov. 9, another general strike by transportation workers forced the government to rescind draconian price and fee hikes by effectively shutting down most of the country for half a day. Haiti is defiant and its people determined.

Welsh was a member of a Human Rights and Labor Fact-Finding Delegation to Haiti in October that reported on systematic voter suppression, violence and intimidation in the election process.

#PortauPrinceHaiti #PortauPrince #Haiti #HaitiElections #Americas

Tallahassee, FL – Community members and students gathered in front of the Old Tallahassee Capitol, June 19, to protest the planned mass deportation of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent, from the Dominican Republic.

The protest was organized by Black Liberation Action Coordinating Committee (BLACC), Haitian Lives Do Matter, and Recycle4Haiti Foundation Inc.

The protest attracted 15 supporters of the Haitian community, who stood at the intersection of Monroe Street and Appalachee waving signs. Afterwards, the protesters moved to the capitol steps, where they chanted “No human is illegal,” and “Haitian Dominicans are Dominicans.”

Regina Joseph of BLACC told the crowd “The Dominican Republic and Haiti are divided because of Western imperialism.”

Selestria de La Cruz, a member of BLACC, stated “We need to call the embassy of the Dominican Republic and boycott any travel or purchases from the Dominican Republic. We cannot support the economy of a country that does not support its people.”

#TallahasseeFL #ImmigrantRights #Haiti #deportations #Antiracism #BlackLiberationActionCoordinatingCommittee #BLACC #HaitianLivesDoMatter #DominicanRepublic #Americas

More than ever, the earthquake disaster in Haiti exposes the social vulnerability and devastation caused by two centuries of colonial slavery, debt bondage and modern imperialism. The capability of the people of Haiti to surmount the dire results of such a natural disaster has been undermined and debilitated by man-made disasters, inflicted by foreign debt, US military interventions and occupation, and US-imposed “free market” policies.

On 12 January 2010, a magnitude 7 earthquake shook the Caribbean nation of Haiti, its epicenter hitting west of the capital Port-au-Prince. The quake and its numerous aftershocks have wrought death and injury to a huge number of people and catastrophic damage to their homes and other vital infrastructures.

Current estimates put the death toll to at least 110,000, with some estimates saying that up to 200,000 have been killed. About 75,000 have already been buried in mass graves but tens of thousands still remain buried in collapsed buildings in the capital. Health facilities are overwhelmed by more than 250,000 wounded, with shortages of medical personnel and supplies hampering efforts to treat them. Estimates indicate that more than 2 million people have been rendered homeless, billions of dollars worth of public and private infrastructure have been devastated.

The people of Haiti are undergoing incalculably great suffering. We, the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS) convey our deepest sympathies to the Haitian people for their loss and express our most heartfelt recognition of their plight. We join the people of the world in lending our wholehearted support to help ease their suffering and call on our member-organizations and allies to extend immediate rescue and relief support to the victims in Haiti.

In the face of the devastation, the people of Haiti have had to rely on themselves and have shown heroism in helping each other as they go through the rubble, digging with their hands and puny tools to pull out what they can of the victims, both survivors and dead. With hardly any government or international aid support effectively reaching them on the ground despite the speed of information and hype of international disaster response, the people have had to rely on themselves for getting much needed water and emergency supplies.

We salute the Haitian people for helping each other. We also praise the various private organizations and institutions who have been able to extend whatever help on an international scale. At the same time, we direct our strongest denunciation against the US government for deploying military forces in Haiti instead of the personnel of US civilian agencies that are trained and equipped for rescue and relief aid.

The US government's first prolonged reaction to the earthquake was to send in the US Marines and the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. This is the notorious force unit that had invaded Vietnam, the neighboring Dominican Republic in 1965, Grenada in 1984, Haiti in 1994 and Afghanistan. Under the preposterous pretext of providing security to the devastated nation, the US landed and deployed armed soldiers instead of civil rescue personnel and equipment, water and food.

The US military took control of the airport and blocked private relief organizations in order to make way for the flights carrying soldiers and military cargo in the crucial first week after the earthquake. Professional rescue teams from many countries were compelled to stay in neighboring Dominican Republic or elsewhere, because they were not given landing slots.

A French plane, carrying a fully-equipped field hospital, was prevented from landing by the US military. The aircraft of the UN World Food Programme was also blocked from landing food, medicine and water for three days, because the US gave priority to flights ferrying US troops and equipment and evacuating Americans and other westerners. On 18 January, a US military spokesperson admitted that they have distributed a measly 15,000 liters of water and 14,000 meal packs. And they had done so chiefly through air drops, prompting the people to complain, “We are not animals!”

More than ever, the earthquake disaster in Haiti exposes the social vulnerability and devastation caused by two centuries of colonial slavery, debt bondage and modern imperialism. The capability of the people of Haiti to surmount the dire results of such a natural disaster has been undermined and debilitated by man-made disasters, inflicted by foreign debt, US military interventions and occupation, and US-imposed “free market” policies.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere where 80% of the population live in poverty. At its peak in 2008, the country's total foreign debt was at US$1.4 billion, about 40% of its GNP. It has been spending more in debt service than on medical services to the people. Worse still, about 80% of the debt was incurred during the corrupt dictatorship of François and Jean-Claude Duvalier. Ruling under the strings of the US government, the Duvaliers plundered and repressed Haiti, stashing millions of dollars in their private bank accounts abroad.

Haiti is currently occupied by UN troops and controlled by a puppet government installed after the US military kidnapped democratically-elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. Decades of “structural adjustment” programs, under the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, have robbed the nation of the capacity to provide social services, produce enough food from the land and develop national industries. Since the late 1970s, these US-dictated programs have ejected tens of thousands of small farmers from the land and driven them to the overcrowded urban slums. A nation previously self-sufficient in grains and sugar is now importing rice and sugar, chiefly from the US.

It is utterly absurd and perverse for the US to invoke security as pretext for landing its military forces on a country which has long been laid prostrate by imperialist plunder and which just been devastated by the earthquake. Natural disasters have become one of the major pretexts for US military intervention and occupation in various parts of the world. It is the dastardly policy of the US government all over the world to militarize its every pretense at aid and relief assistance, to gain extraterritorial rights and to make propaganda for the acceptance of its military forces.

The ILPS calls on its member-organizations, its allies and the people of the world to extend their solidarity and support for the people of Haiti. Emergency support and relief activities by non-military organizations must be given full play, to help ease the suffering of those most affected. Long-term rehabilitation of Haiti must eventually be mapped out together with the Haitian people, in conjunction with respect for their national sovereignty and self-government.

The ILPS reiterates its call for the withdrawal of all US and other foreign military forces. We call on the American people to demand an end to US military occupation and intervention in Haiti and help reverse the course of US-Haiti relations. We can best help Haiti recover from the devastation of the 12 January earthquake by supporting the Haitian people's struggle for national self-determination against foreign military occupation and economic plunder.

#Haiti #Occupation #OpEd #InternationalLeagueOfPeoplesStruggle #Americas

The U.S. government is stepping up its surveillance and harassment of U.S. activists in an attempt to intimidate them and dampen their spirits for the change we believe in. International solidarity activist James Jordan was returning from a two week trip to Haiti, on Jan. 7, five days prior to the terrible earthquake disaster. When his flight touched down in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, flight attendants called out for “James Patrick Jordan” and asked him to come to the front of the airplane. Homeland Security came on board the airplane to escort him off.

Jordan said, “The agents put me up against a wall, kicked my legs apart and frisked me. They took me to a detention area, then a back room where two agents began going through all my papers, my cell phone and camera, all my bags, looking for Lord knows what?” Homeland Security was most interested in his notebooks concerning Haiti and Colombia.

The Haitian groups James met with organize against the grinding poverty, support workers’ rights and work to improve health care for the masses. Now hundreds of thousands of Haitians are dead in the earthquake and more will die due to poverty and lack of doctors and medicines. The U.S. government is responsible for the dire conditions in Haiti, holding the people down and suppressing any progressive change. In 2004, the U.S. military kidnapped President Aristide and overthrew his government. Aristide had disbanded the Haitian army a few years earlier to prevent a U.S.-backed military coup. President Aristide, a former Catholic priest, was making mild reforms to help the people of Haiti, but U.S. companies wanted privatization of the electric system and other services.

The Latin American Solidarity Coalition (LASC) in the U.S. sponsored Jordan’s delegation, and his Colombia work was the focus of the interrogation. Jordan said, “I told them that two of us were in Haiti representing the Alliance for Global Justice [AFGJ] and that, specifically, I worked with the Campaign for Labor Rights, a part of AFGJ. And I explained that AFGJ was part of LASC. They asked about Chuck Kaufman and what kind of work he did. They wanted to know his flight information and I told them I didn’t know what it was. They asked me about the other delegates and I told them that I didn’t know their flight information and that I didn’t feel comfortable giving them names and other information about those delegates and they ceased questioning about them.”

Chuck Kaufman, also on his way home from Haiti, was detained and questioned in New York City. Chuck said, “I told them I was in Haiti. They asked what other countries I've visited and what I did there. I described a trip to Hiroshima, Japan and swimming with nurse sharks in Belize. They dropped the subject.” Chuck was held for a couple of hours and missed his connecting flight, forcing him to spend the night in New York.

James Jordan continues, “They were very interested in the folder I had about the terrible situation with the Colombian prisons, political prisoners and human rights violations. I am working on a project to advocate for better conditions at La Tramacua prison in Valledupar, Colombia – a prison that is very overcrowded, rife with violence and intimidation aimed at the political prisoners and imprisoned guerrillas, where inmates do not have access to sanitary toilet facilities and have access to drinkable water only ten minutes a day. There was also information about the relationship of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in funding, advising and restructuring this and other maximum-security prisons in Colombia. We are calling for an investigation of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons’ relationship with these prisons and what responsibility it bears for the conditions that exist there. Everyone hears about the White House closing Guantanamo, but the U.S. government is overseeing terrible things in Colombian prisons.”

Jordan emphasized, “There was a flier for my speaking at the School of the Americas protest this [past] year that featured a picture of Lily Obando. Lily Obando is a political prisoner we support and campaign for. The agents asked about Lily Obando, if she was part of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia [FARC] or accused of being part of the FARC. I told them Lily is so accused, but the evidence against her is not credible. They seemed especially interested in notes I had taken from a Counter Punch article concerning the Valledupar prison in Colombia and the targeting of FARC members held as prisoners of war. I tell you the U.S. government is up to no good there.”

Lily Obando is internationally known for her recent report exposing the death squad murders of 1500 farm organizers and union members with FENSUAGRO. Obando is one of 7000 political prisoners and prisoners of war. Many are trade unionists, peasant organizers and community leaders; some are FARC and ELN guerrilla fighters, held by the Colombian government, many without trial.

There is a massive movement against the wealthy elite, including narco-traffickers, that rule Colombia. The U.S. government funds the notoriously corrupt Colombian military, giving it nearly $7 billion in the last ten years. The White House announced it is occupying seven military bases inside Colombia. This will expand the U.S. war in Colombia and threaten neighboring countries like Venezuela and Ecuador. Pentagon generals and the U.S. Southern Command direct the war that brings poverty, misery and death squads to the lives of Colombian peasants and workers. The U.S. Congress funds and covers for the most reactionary, corrupt and unsavory elements of the Colombian elite.

James Jordan, though a seasoned activist, said, “Certainly the process was intrusive, uncalled for and intimidating. I was unsure of what my rights were when they took me off the plane. I did not know if I should answer their questions or ask for a lawyer?”

Bruce Nestor, of Minneapolis, Minnesota and past President of the National Lawyers Guild, advises, “Homeland Security asserts an unprecedented right to search people’s papers and even the entire contents of their computers, when they cross the border back into the United States. In addition to treading upon constitutional rights to privacy and against unreasonable searches, much of this activity appears to be intelligence gathering directed at political activists traveling to countries which are actively challenging United States foreign policy. People need to know and assert their rights, to refuse to answer unwarranted questions and refuse consent to search of personal papers and electronics.”

We have heard from a number of activists and their families that they have been detained when returning from holiday trips abroad. The line of questioning is similar to the case of James Jordon where they are asked of political history regardless of the purpose of the trips the activists were taking. U.S. agents made insinuations and demanded answers that had nothing to do with the trips that these people were taking. It is clear the U.S. government is stepping up its harassment and repression of people organizing for fundamental social change.

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #Colombia #Haiti #LatinAmericanSolidarityCoalition #AllianceForGlobalJustice #Repression

If you were having a heart attack and needed an ambulance, would you want police to run into your house with their guns drawn? The first response of the U.S. government has been to send in U.S. military Special Forces and surround Haiti with the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard. Homeless, starving and thirsty, no Haitians will be allowed to flee their living hell on lifeboats. This is outrageous.

The suffering caused by this earthquake is made ten times worse by the U.S. domination and exploitation of Haiti. The U.S. overthrew and kidnapped Haitian President Aristide six years ago because the former Catholic priest worked for peace and justice. Aristide’s crimes were to oppose privatization and to try to improve the lives of the people.

So give your hard-earned money to a group that prioritizes empowering the Haitian people and promoting peace with justice.

Fight Back! is asking you to donate to Haiti earthquake aid at Haiti Reborn of the Quixote Center or Haiti Action Committee.

#Haiti #PeoplesStruggles #HaitiRebornOfTheQuixoteCenter #HaitiActionCommittee #Americas

Haitian government officials say that up to 500,000 are dead, crushed beneath their homes, schools and workplaces during a mighty earthquake Jan. 12. Most were killed when poorly constructed buildings collapsed on them. Television news in the U.S. showed rows of children's bodies lying lifeless, bloodied and bruised. It is a horrible tragedy that will be largely reported as a natural disaster. There is nothing natural about it.

James Jordan of the Campaign for Labor Rights said, “I just returned from Haiti last week where I saw a people organizing for freedom and equality. I am heartbroken by the devastation, but I am also angry because I know all those people did not have to die. It is the poverty and misery imposed by the U.S. empire that creates the conditions where so many die, are injured and lose their homes because of a natural disaster. It reminds me of all the African-Americans and working people in New Orleans who died or were forced out during Hurricane Katrina.”

Haiti suffers under U.S. domination and exploitation. Poverty is abundant and hunger stalks the vast majority. Many homes are made of concrete cinderblocks with corrugated metal or other found materials used for roofing. Due to poverty and lack of materials, the bigger buildings are shoddily made and there is little regulation or standards. These came tumbling down on top of hundreds of thousands of Haitian people.

U.S. Marines are landing in Haiti before any large scale humanitarian aid or teams to dig out victims. The U.S. military's mission is to preserve the reactionary social order for U.S. corporations and to protect the wealthy few. While Haitian people are sleeping on the streets, searching for clean drinking water and digging out loved ones with their hands and sticks, the U.S. government is worrying about maintaining their military might. The U.S. supports a small Haitian ruling class composed of a few land-owning families and rich businessmen. They keep the vast majority of the island in poverty and backward living conditions.

The U.S. has dominated Haiti for decades, sponsoring military coups and death squads. In 2004, the U.S. orchestrated the ousting and kidnapping of President Aristide, a former Catholic priest and advocate for social justice and equality. Aristide opposed the privatization of state industries like the electricity and telephone companies. President Aristide put the interests of ordinary Haitians above those of the elites. Aristide still lives in exile. Haiti is suffering and many more are sure to die in the coming weeks. U.S. troops are occupiers, not liberators.

#Haiti #Aristide #CampaignForLaborRights #earthquake #Americas

Aristide states that U.S. envoys forced him to sign a 'resignation' letter, under the threat of bloodshed against the people of Haiti. Guy Philippe and other death squad members, convicted felons and murderers, have declared themselves to be Haiti's new government. No one should be confused about the nature of these 'rebels.' Their roots can be found in the Duvalierist regimes that terrorized Haiti from 1957 until 1986 and the CIA-tied military government that ruled in the early 1990s.

The blame for Haiti's current crisis must be placed squarely on the U.S. government, which has attempted to control Haiti's politics and economy for more than a century. The U.S. occupied Haiti militarily from 1915 to 1934 and supported the Duvalier dictatorships for decades. With the full backing of the U.S. government, Haiti's elite lined their pockets, while the majority sank deeper and deeper into poverty.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, has a standard of living comparable to sub-Saharan Africa. Life expectancy is 52 years. Of every 1,000 children born, more than 100 died before their fifth birthday. Haiti has the worst AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean.

Rise of Aristide: Coup and Return

The Haitian people, desperately looking for something or someone to bring them out of the grinding poverty, found hope and inspiration in Jean Bertrand Aristide. A parish priest influenced by liberation theology, Aristide worked with the poorest of the poor. Loved by the Haitian people, he was elected president by a landslide in 1990. For the first time in recent history, Haitians believed that the government would represent them and that it would work to resolve the needs of the poor majority.

Aristide's call for populist economic programs set off alarms for the richest Haitians and in Washington D.C. Leading the charge against Aristide was Senator Jesse Helms, then the chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee; Roger Noriega, Helm's chief of staff and Otto Reich, a fanatically anti-Castro policy maker in the Reagan and Bush administrations.

Aristide's populist experiment in Haiti was not to be allowed by Washington. Guy Philippe and other members of FRAPH, a U.S.-backed death-squad, carried out a coup that killed between 3,000 and 5,000 Haitians just months after Aristide's election.

Aristide went into exile and worked to negotiate a return to power. In exchange for the U.S. government 'backing' Aristide's return in 1994, he was forced to agree to the presence of 20,000 U.S. troops in Haiti. Aristide was also mandated to implement a World Bank economic plan for Haiti that would privatize state industries, lower tariff barriers, dismantle the traditional agricultural sector and destroy food security. The World Bank and the U.S. forced Aristide to reverse all of the populist economic programs he had promised the people.

In spite of the growing discontent over the economic policies, Aristide continued to be wildly popular. In 2000, Aristide again ran for president and again won overwhelmingly. The U.S.-backed opposition refused to take their seats in parliament, though, claiming that the election was unfair.

Bush's War on Caribbean and Latin America

When George Bush came to power, he appointed Roger Noriega, mastermind of Jesse Helms' anti-Aristide policies, to the post of Under Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs. Citing the 'undemocratic' Haitian elections, the Bush government immediately cut off international funds promised to Haiti, forced Aristide to empty the national treasury to repay International Monetary Fund loans and (via the Republican party) poured money into the coffers of the opposition forces who had been ousted by Aristide in 1991 and in 1994. The country plunged into even greater levels of poverty and social crisis. Taking advantage of the discontent, a small group of right-wing 'rebels,' aided by the U.S., invaded from the Dominican Republic and demanded that Aristide step down. When he refused, the U.S. military stepped in.

The U.S. government's role in the coup in Haiti is yet another example of the return to the gunboat diplomacy that the U.S. is so well known for throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. George W. Bush has brought back the zealous right-wing policy makers of the old Reagan-Bush era. Otto Reich, Roger Noriega and their cronies see Latin America and the Caribbean as nothing more than the U.S.'s backyard – a source of cheap labor and environments ready for U.S. corporate exploitation. They will stop at nothing to ensure imperialist domination.

However, they have underestimated the ability of the people of Latin America to resist. A similar coup attempt in 2002 against Hugo Chavez, the democratically elected president of Venezuela, was unsuccessful due to the powerful resistance of the Venezuelan people.

The people of Latin America and the Caribbean will not kneel down to U.S. aggression. The Haitian people in particular have a proud history of resisting imperialism. Two hundred years ago, under the leadership of Toussaint, the Haitian people rebelled against French rule, destroyed slavery and established the world's first Black republic. In 1986, they brought down the dictatorship of the U.S.-backed 'Baby Doc' Duvalier. There is no doubt that they will continue to fight for a free Haiti, where the country's destiny is in the hands of the Haitian people.

Cherrene Horazuk is an expert in on Latin America and the former National Director of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES).

#News #Haiti #Aristide #USIntervention #Americas