News
and opinions on situation in Haiti |
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| 17/5/05 |
Flag Day: An unarmed Haitian will die from a bullet tomorrow |
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JOIN IN THE FREE HAITI MOVEMENT Tomorrow, May 18, 2005, is Haiti’s Flag Day. One thing is certain. An unarmed Haitian will die from a bullet tomorrow. A U.N. bullet, a U.S. bullet, a Canadian Bullet, A French bullet, A Brazilian bullet – all the nationalities are in on the hunting game for Haitian blood. An innocent Haitian will die protesting more than a year of occupation and massive repression brought on by the Western-backed Feb. 29, 2004 Coup D’etat. Haitians cannot celebrate Flag Day tomorrow. Last year 9 demonstrators died under the bullets of the Haitian “police” and firepower cover of the U.S. Marines. Other bodies were taken away in body bags and never released to the families. Last year, no mainstream press mentioned these deaths. In fact, the habit of the press is to mention that the killings in Haiti of Lavalas supporters started after September 30, 2005. Haitians know differently. For, last May 18th Haitians faced down U.S. Marines, shouting “Liberty or death” and “Bring back Aristide.” We wrote about this, for the San Francisco Bayview, in an article entitled “ At least 9-demonstrators killed during huge march on Haiti’s flag day”. See, www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/sfbayview5.html Today we write to remember those fallen last year and pray the numbers to fall tomorrow will not be so many. We write to remember that one Haitian woman last year who REFUSED to give up the body of an unarmed demonstrator shot dead by the U.S.-backed Latortue police. Last year, detailing what had happened on May 18, 2004, we wrote “One Haitian woman seized the fourth body when it fell next to her, refused to give it to the Marines. She removed ALL her clothes to show she had no weapons while Marines surrounded her at gunpoint as she cursed in Kreyol (Creole), calling on the revolutionary ancestors and shouting “Liberte ou lamo!” She picked up the dead body herself and put it on her bare back, daring the Marines to kill her also while she carried it away. People who saw this cannot stop talking about it, nor marveling and crying, all at the same time. Reportedly, the “blan” (the “white” soldiers) looked at each other, shook their heads and backed off, letting her carry the body which she wrapped around her naked torso in a huge blue and red Haitian flag. All the while singing, “Bring back Aristide” and “Liberty or death.” That was last year. Today, more Haitians organizing tomorrow’s demonstrations were arrested. All in an effort to prevent the marchers from taking to the streets tomorrow. Last year to intimidate, it was folksinger So Ann who was arrested. One year later, So Ann, a Haitian grandmother and community activist who was planning the demonstration for last May 18, 2004, she is still in prison with no clue as to a trial or release. Two days ago MINUSTAH went to Bel Air and arrested Romualt Dufresne and Ti Joe just as the Marines last year arrested So Ann. Romualt Dufresne and Ti Joe are two well-known community organizers. Many others have been reported arrested by MINUSTAH in Bel Air and turned over to the Haitian police. The forceful silencing of Haiti’s pro-democracy voices continues. According to our source, Romaualt Dufresne was severely beaten by a “police” named Nasson. Both Ti Joe and Romualt Dufresne’s families and friends fear they will just be executed and buried in mass graves like the others taken out of Cite Soleil, Bel Air and other poor neighborhood since Labanye’s death and never seen again, not even from behind bars in prison. What are we doing about this foreign-sponsored killing of Blacks in Haiti? For one year, pro-democracy advocates concerned about Haiti have tried to get the world’s attention. To mobilize the world to help stop this U.N./US/Canada/France sanctioned slaughter in Haiti. Tomorrow, on the occasion of Haiti’s flag day, we launch the Free Haiti Movement. www.margueritelaurent.com/solidarityday/infoforsponsors.html Tomorrow, all over the world, groups in solidarity with the masses in Haiti will be taking ACTION. They will be sending letters to support the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network’s Haiti Resolution. www.margueritelaurent.com/solidarityday/hsd_sampleletter_res.html In New York, we will be demonstrating in Brooklyn and delivering our demands for the 22Billion France extorted from the people of Haiti to the French consulate. All our friends are invited to sign the Petition and send letters to the French consulate. www.margueritelaurent.com/solidarityday/restitution.html We will be on radio shows all over the world delivering ONE message to the marchers who will face down US/MINUSTAH and Latortue’s bullets: Ayisyen: You Are Not Alone! By our actions, we shall be saying to the Haitian demonstrators and marchers: You shall not walk or die on this freedom road alone or in vain. We are flying Dessalines liberating colors on May 18, 2005 worldwide to honor your courage; your right to self-determination, self-respect and self-defense. To stand in solidarity the resistance inside and outside of Haiti to the U.S./Canada/France-backed Coup D’etat and foreign occupation of Haiti. All, and there are so far almost 100 organizations from all over the world) who signed-on to the May 18, 2005 International Solidarity Day With Haiti, all the sponsors support the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network’s Haiti Resolution calling for a stop to the killings, rapes and political persecutions; return to Constitutional rule; release of all political prisoners; disarm, prosecute and bring the death squads, ex-military, paramilitaries, renegade police and Coup Díetat orchestrators to justice; to not remobilize the former military or reconstitute human rights violators into the police force; give temporary protected status to fleeing Haitian refugees, and support calls by CARICOM, OAS, African Union, Congressional Black Caucus for investigations into foreign powers’ role in the coup Díetat. ACTIVITIES: All people of conscience are invited to ANSWER these marchers and demonstrators calls. They’ve been dying for more than a year making the same call. JOIN IN THIS FREE HAITI MOVEMENT. Go to a march happening in your city. Join a Haiti solidarity coalition. Contact us to sign-on the Free Haiti Movement. Go to our website and using the sample letters, write a letter supporting the Haiti Resolution, sign the petition. (Sample Letter with HLLN appeal and info on the Petition included below. Ask UN to protect the marchers, not shoot them or provide cover as the Haitian “police” kills them. Marguerite Laurent, Esq. Sample Letter supporting Dear _________ I write to request that our government stop supporting the reign of terror in Haiti and use all diplomatic efforts to return the democratically elected government of Haiti back to power. I urge you to take all steps to help: Show respect for Haiti’s right to self-determination, respect for the one-person-one-vote-principle and to support the return of the democratically elected President Aristide back to office in Haiti; Stop the U.N. and Haitian police killing of Lavalas supporters; Release all the political prisoners in Haiti; Disarm, prosecute and bring the death squads, convicted killers and thugs to justice, not reintegrating the military into the civilian police force or rewarding these human rights violators with positions of authority over the people they are abusing. Give temporary asylum to the fleeing Haitian refugees, and, Support the OAS/CARICOM/African Union and Congressional Black Caucus’ request for an international investigation into the role the foreign powers of the United States, France and Canada into the Feb. 29, 2004 Coup d’etat in Haiti. Sincerely, Name______________ Address_____________ E-mail/phone number_________ ****** The Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network’s Appeal for international support on the People of Haiti’s right to self-respect, self-determination and self-defense We Haitian democracy activists have taken on ourselves a great task. The Haitian people have been robbed again, not only of the wealth of our country, and not only of the lives and livelihoods of our countrymen, but of our sense of self-determination. The very essence of being Haitian is the connection to those freedom fighters of the revolution who would not lie down and obey the men who claimed to be their masters. Today, Haiti is being ruled by a regime that was selected by foreign powers. The legitimate officials are in exile, in hiding, or in captivity. All around, voices are telling us to suffer this indignity, to give up on our quest for self-governance, that somehow we are unfit to choose our own leaders or our own style of governance. We utterly reject this pattern of thought. It is the mental slavery from which Bob Marley calls us to emancipate ourselves. For the average Haitian “This Song of Freedom” is truly all we have ever had. And now they want to take that too. It is with this sense of insistence and urgency that we set forth our grievances and define our terms for reconciliation in the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Haiti Resolution. We ask that all Haitian democracy activists circulate this resolution, and address the issues and demands of the resolution to their own governments, and to the United Nations, which has the responsibility for protecting the right of self-determination. The Haitian Lawyers Leadership Haiti Resolution: 1. Demand the return of constitutional rule to Haiti by restoring all elected officials of all parties to their offices throughout the country until the end of their mandates and another election is held, as mandated by Haiti’s Constitution; 2. Condemn the killings, illegal imprisonment and confiscation of the property of supporters of Haiti’s constitutional government and insist that Haiti’s illegitimate “interim government” immediately cease its persecution and put a stop to persecution by the thugs and murderers from sectors in their police force, from the paramilitaries, gangs and former soldiers; 3. Insist on the immediate release of all political prisoners in Haitian jails, including Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, Interior Minister Privert and other constitutional government officials and folksinger-activist SÚ Anne; 4. Insist on the disarmament of the thugs, death squad leaders and convicted human rights violators and their prosecution for all crimes committed during the attack on Haiti’s elected government and support the rebuilding of Haiti’s police force, ensuring that it excludes anyone who helped to overthrow the democratically elected government or who participated in other human rights violations; 5. Stop the indefinite detention and automatic repatriation of Haitian refugees and immediately grant Temporary Protected Status to all Haitian refugees presently in the United States until democracy is restored to Haiti; and 6. Support the calls by the OAS, CARICOM and the African Union for an investigation into the circumstances of President Aristide’s removal. Support the enactment of Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s T.R.U.T.H Act which calls for U.S. Congressional investigation of the forcible removal of the democratically elected President and government of Haiti. Dessalines Is Rising!! ************ U.S. Citizens: To find your representatives contact info, use Ambassador Anne Patterson U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, James B. Foley Haitian Government contact: * * Ambassador of France in Haiti MINUSTAH (UN) contacts: please send emails to all of the following addresses: Gender issues: Nadine Puechguirbal – puechguirbal@un.org Or send letters to any MINUSTAH contacts at: MINUSTAH 385 Ave. John Brown OR Hon. Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) ****** ******* Petition for Restitution This petition calls for the full restitution by the France of funds it extorted from the Republic of Haiti at gun point starting in 1825. The value of the infamous Charles X ransom was estimated in 2003 to surpass $22 Billion U.S.D. We, men and women working for a world of justice and peace, having been appraised of the facts pertaining to the Charles X Ransom, hereby demand that the France assumes its legal and moral responsibilities to: 1) Return, without undue delay, the current value of the funds it extorted from the People of Haiti beginning in 1825. 2) Present formal apologies to the impoverished People of Haiti. 3) Renounce, in words and in deeds, to its persistent harassment of Haitiís African population began during the ignominious years of racial slavery and colonization. Delivered at the (Embassy or Consulate) of France in (city), this (date) By: Name & Affiliation, THE ONLINE PETITIONS: www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/restitution4haiti/ (ENGLISH) Documents (Sample letters etcÖ) from the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Networkís Restitution Campaign ******* (French version) JournÈe internationale de solidaritÈ avec HaÔti, le 18 mai, 2005 Cette PÈtition exige que líÈtat franÁais restitue intÈgralement ‡ la RÈpublique díHaÔti les fonds quíelle lui a extorquÈs de force ‡ partir de 1825. En 2003, la valeur capitalisÈe de la ranÁon de Charles X ft estimÈe ‡ plus de 22 milliards de dollars …U. Nous, femmes et hommes qui militons pour un monde de justice et de paix, ayant pris connaissance des faits relatifs ‡ líignoble ranÁon de Charles X, demandons ‡ lí…tat franÁais díassumer ses responsabilitÈs lÈgales et morales pour enfin: 1) Restituer, dans les plus brefs dÈlais, la valeur actuelle des fonds extirpÈs au peuple díHaÔti depuis 1825. 2) PrÈsenter des excuses formelles au peuple appauvri díHaÔti. 3) Renoncer, en paroles et dans les faits, aux efforts de dÈstabilisation de la population afro-haitÔenne qui est jusquí‡ ce jour incessamment harcelÈe par la France. Ce, depuis les annÈes de honte ou la RÈpublique colonisatrice pratiquait líesclavage racial. DÈlivrÈ ‡ lí (Ambassade ou Consulat) de France ‡ (Ville), ce (date) Nom et/ou organisation TÈlÈphone/Adresse Signature Documents de rÈfÈrence: LES P…TITIONS EN LIGNE: Signatures, rÈfÈrences historiques et commentaires www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/restitutionpourhaiti/ (FRAN”AIS) Documents (exemple de lettre etcÖ) de la campagne de restitution du Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network “Men anpil chay pa lou” is Kreyol for – “Many hands make light a heavy load.” Join our International Solidarity Day with Haiti for May 18, 2005 and be on Help stop the arrests and slaughters in Bel Air and Cite Soleil Right now. Go to: Kreyol Speakers: Keep up to date by listening to – al tande nouvel e entËvyou ******************* |
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