Laughing Maze - Mostly Haiti

Please support Li, Li, Li! reading storybooks in Haiti's tent camps

2011-11-24T10:17:00.003-05:00

While we are giving thanks for family, friends, home, & country, let us also give thanks for our capacity to love, feel compassion and our ability to act on our concerns for others -- here and abroad.

Our trained teams of readers continue to read storybooks in 25 tent camps per week, reaching more than 3,000 children per month. Li, Li, Li! brings joy, stimulates imagination, ignites hope, and models literacy and the power and diversity of books. And, while cholera continues to rage and take lives, we brief children, and their families, on precautions and treatment.

Please continue to support the unique and empowering work of Li, Li, Li! Read. Please donate today. Your gift of $25 or more will make a difference.

Donate through our secure Paypal button at www.LiLiLiRead.org

Look for Li, Li, Li! Reading on Facebook!

Samantha Black's Appeal Letter on Behalf of Li, Li, Li! Read

2011-10-19T13:18:00.003-04:00

Dear Friends,

If you are receiving this mass email you know it is historic. I don't send out mass communications ever except for work of course! I have a wonderful thing to tell you about and a favor to ask you. Amelia Burgess has written you about the benefit for Li Li Li, an amazing organization started by our incredible friend, Michelle Karshan. Amelia is a board member as well as a huge supporter of the organization. Let me tell you a bit about why the organization has moved me to not only become involved but to truly believe in their mission and purpose. In a nutshell, Li Li Li is about putting Haiti back to work several meaningful jobs at a time while inspiring the imaginations of the most vulnerable -- the children living in tent camps all over Haiti.

Officially, Li, Li, Li! (which means Read, Read, Read! in Haitian Creole) is a storybook reading out loud program in Creole for Haiti's children who became homeless or displaced because of the catastrophic January 12, 2010 earthquake. Founded in February 2010, Li, Li, Li! is based in Haiti and has been reading in the camps since April 2010. Li, Li, Li! Read, Inc. is a not-for-profit program registered in the State of New York.

Li, Li, Li! provides an engaging, interactive, and fun hour-long activity for children displaced by the earthquake that addresses the trauma and anxiety children are suffering, encourages literacy, creates a model for parents to read to their children, reinforces Creole, and contributes to job creation. (Plus, it gives crucial time to parents who need a break from cramped quarters with their kids and we all know how important that is for parental sanity.)

In addition to reading books written in Creole, Li, Li, Li! translates other language storybooks into Creole and often uses puppets and dolls to animate the stories as well.

Personally, I think Edwidge Danticat who is reading at Saturday's benefit says it best when she asked the readers why they read. "In the midst of such sadness and turmoil, why read to displaced children who live in tents and fear the rain, like the passionate Haitian readers of the Port-au-Prince-based Li, Li, Li! (Read, Read, Read!) program do every week?

"We read to these children for the same reason people read to all other children," the readers say. "We read to them to help them grow their imaginations, to teach them about the world around them. And beyond them. We also read to them to learn from them."

So here is the favor part. Will you consider coming to the Li Li Li Reading/Benefit Cocktail Party with celebrated author Edwidge Danticat this Saturday in Brooklyn? All details are on the home page of the website http://www.lililiread.org and if you can't make the reading, despite the fact that Sabrina and I will be there with other friends, ... will you consider giving a donation. Every donation goes to supporting this amazing program and to creating desperately needed jobs in Haiti. We all know what an important place in our education reading aloud had not to mention what a magical space it created. Our parents gave us this joyous gift of reading and encouraging our imaginations. Will you pass that wonderful advantage on by contributing to this fantastic organization? Hit the donate button on the website above and I will be eternally grateful for your support of this cause.

Thanks a million for reading this and for being the wonderful supportive friends you are.

Love,
Samantha Black
New York, New York

Please feel free to pass this along to other friends all are welcome at the Benefit and donations are always needed. This is a very grassroots organization.

An Evening with Author Edwidge Danticat to Benefit Li, Li, Li! Read

2011-10-05T00:22:00.002-04:00

Photo of Edwidge Danticat/Copyright Nancy Crampton

An Evening with Author Edwidge Danticat to Benefit Li, Li, Li! Read

Intimate Reception with Author Edwidge Danticat on Saturday, October 22, 2001 in Boerum Hill, downtown Brooklyn. Intimate Reception with Edwidge Danticat from 6:30-7:30pm followed by General Event from 7:30-10:30pm at Belarusian Church, 401 Atlantic Avenue, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, New York 11217.

Activities include a Reading & Q&A with Edwidge Danticat, Video of Li, Li, Li! reading storybooks in Haiti's tent camps, entertainment, Haitian art & culture, refreshments & light food, autographed books for sale, silent auction including painting donated by Jonathan Demme.

Li, Li, Li! Read is a not-for-profit literacy program reading storybooks out loud in Creole to more than 3,000 children per month in earthquake-victim tent camps in Haiti. The program promotes literacy, eases stress, and creates jobs for Haitians.

Advisory Board member Edwidge Danticat is actively engaged in the Li, Li, Li! program and regularly participates in its storybook reading sessions in Haiti.

For Pricing and Tickets: http://www.lililiread.org/
Phone: 212-613-6033
Email: LiLiLiRead@gmail.com
Web: http://www.LiLiLiRead.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LiLiLiRead

Li, Li, Li! NEEDS YOUR DONATION NOW

2011-08-20T11:31:00.001-04:00

Photo by Alice Speri. Reginal Janvier reads to children at a tent camp in Tabarre

Li, Li, Li! NEEDS YOUR DONATION NOW

August 20, 2011

PLEASE DONATE $25 or MORE SO THAT OUR PROGRAM CAN CONTINUE TO REACH 3,000+ CHILDREN EACH MONTH IN 25 TENT & TARP CAMPS WHERE CHILDREN HAVE NO TELEVISION, NO RADIO, NO TOYS, NO BOOKS AND FOR MANY – NO HOPE.

Please donate through our secure Paypal link at http://www.lililiread.org/

Our storybook reading out loud program helps ease the trauma, the stories inspire hope, and we provide cholera education & supplies. Li, Li, Li! is still very important to the children. It provides relief from the misery and frustration of living in torn tents amongst mud and floods and tropical storms. We provide a model for literacy -- more than half of Haiti's children do not have access to school. We demonstrate to the children that we (you included) truly care and are there for the long haul -- but we need your support to continue this important work.

Our program is still as necessary as it was a year ago!

More than 650,000 people still live in approximately 1,000 horrible tent encampments in and around Haiti's capital. Most of these camps have no resources, no water, no food, no medical care. Human rights & development organizations have criticized the slow response to this humanitarian disaster. A deadly cholera epidemic is still raging causing more deaths and suffering.

Finally, our readers, all Haitian and victims of the earthquake, receive a monthly salary that is critical to the wellbeing of their own families -- each supporting approximately 6 other people.

Thank you. (Look for us on Facebook as well)

PDHRP applauds ABA Support of the Right of Deportees to Reopen their Immigration Cases

2011-08-18T06:42:00.005-04:00

August 17, 2011

PDHRP applauds ABA Support of the Right of Deportees to Reopen their Immigration Cases

The Post-Deportation Human Rights Project commends the American Bar Association (ABA) for adopting a resolution calling for the elimination of the “post-departure bar” on filing motions to reopen or to reconsider removal proceedings. The “post-departure bar” prevents individuals who have been removed from U.S. soil from legally challenging their deportation cases, even when they later discover that major errors had occurred or they were deported based on legal theories that the Supreme Court has overturned. We estimate that thousands of long-term legal residents have been wrongly deported or denied the opportunity to ask courts to consider their family ties, rehabilitation, and other factors.

The ABA is the largest voluntary professional association in the world, with nearly 400,000 members and, as part of its mission, it strives to advance just laws and to assure meaningful access to justice for all persons. The ABA’s resolution is particularly timely, as over the course of recent years a majority of federal courts have invalidated the post-departure bar, and a petition for rulemaking to eliminate the post-departure regulation is pending before the Department of Justice. Despite these developments, the Board of Immigration Appeals continues to hold that it lacks authority to review motions filed by individuals who have been deported, finding instead that such individuals have simply “passed beyond our aid.”

Boston College

Law School Prof. Daniel Kanstroom - Co-Director of the Post-Deportation Human Rights Project - worked in conjunction with Prof. Rachel Rosenbloom of Northeastern University School of Law and formerly of the Project, and Prof. Jill Family of Widener University School of Law to achieve support from the ABA. A link to the ABA Resolution (Resolution 104A) is available here: http://www.abanow.org/2011/07/2011am104a/.

Challenging the post-departure bar through federal litigation and advocacy has been at the core of the work of the Post-Deportation Human Rights Project. In light of the passage of the ABA Resolution and the recent federal court decisions invalidating the regulation, we call on the appropriate government agencies to eliminate the post-departure bar regulation and to allow proper legal and discretionary consideration of these compelling cases.
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Note from LaughingMaze: Michelle Karshan, Alternative Chance/Chans Altenativ sits on the Advisory Board of the Post-Deportation Human Rights Project of Boston College Law School. http://www.alternativechance.org/

Erzulie Freda by the late master flag artist, Lalanne

2011-06-01T21:16:00.000-04:00

Click on image to see details of Erzulie's jewels and wealth.

Erzulie Freda by the late master flag artist, Lalanne

Erzulie Danthor by the late master flag artist, Lalanne

2011-06-01T21:13:00.000-04:00

Click on image to see it larger.

Erzulie Danthor by the late master flag artist, Lalanne

Detail from Erzulie with paper face by Maxon

2011-06-01T21:07:00.003-04:00

Click on image to see it larger.

This is a detail from the flag below.

Erzulie with paper face by Maxon

2011-06-01T21:02:00.003-04:00

Click on image to see larger image

Jayne Fleming's March 4, 2011 letter on her work in Haiti with rape survivors, KOFAVIV, FAVILEK, etc.

2011-03-11T15:21:00.006-05:00

Jayne Fleming* receives Maricia Jean of FAVILEK in New York for a multi-state speaking tour
Photo by Michelle Karshan

NY1News interview
http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/132040/crimes-against-women-in-haiti-staggering--panel-finds

* Jayne Fleming is an attorney with the Reed Smith law firm working on pro bono cases. Through a foundation in the name of her late mother, Jayne runs a unique program for rape survivors and their families in Haiti. To donate, see link below.

March 4, 2011

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry for the long silence. I just arrived home from our beloved Haiti. This makes my sixth trip in twelve months. I delivered another hundred pounds of your donations to our families, including baby clothes and supplies for our tiny cherubs, a hundred stuffed teddy bears for the sweet children, and belated Valentines for their courageous mothers and grandmothers. Toys and chocolates may not be as practical as flashlights and water purification tablets, but they are a rare indulgence and bring priceless smiles.

I did my usual round of interviews at KOFAVIV and the Bureau of Advocates International, met with the leaders of FAVILEK, visited our safe houses, spent time talking with women living in the camps, and met with UNHCR. I talked to more than a hundred people over six days and conducted thirty-two in depth interviews. Long days, sobering stories, courageous women.

Two of our mothers told me that police officers wielding clubs attacked them at their camp in Champs Mars (across from the National Palace), ordering them to clear out. Of course they would if they could, but they have nowhere to go. The assault on them was part of a sweeping police raid on their whole camp and it reflects the ever-increasing problem of forced evictions, even at the hands of government officials. The attack is no secret, but there has been no government accountability. I asked our clients if they made a police report. They said they were too afraid to do so because the perpetrators are part of the police, but they agreed to speak with a team of IJDH advocates working on wrongful eviction issues.

Housing is not the only problem. Rape of women and girls in camps continues to be an under-addressed crisis. On Saturday one of our clients told me about a 45-year old woman who had been so brutally raped she could not walk. She could not get to the BAI because she had no money for a cab. We sent a car to pick her up. The woman told me she was trying to rescue her teenage daughter from rapists. Her daughter escaped, but then they turned on her. After I interviewed her, the driver and a KOFAVIV agent took her to the General Hospital with her brave teenage sons. She was hospitalized (still is) and the boys slept in the hospital courtyard, taking turns sitting at her bedside. Despite all of the promises from the head of the hospital and Ministry of Health, her care was not free. We paid over $200 (US) for x-rays, prescriptions and exams.

Hers was not the only tragic story. I interviewed a 22-year old rape victim who is an orphan and has no place to go, an 18-year old victim who gave birth and is too malnourished to nurse, an orphan with malaria and no money for medicine, a dozen elderly women with no access to food, housing or medical care. We gave all of them money for food and medicine, but our safe houses are full so we could not provide shelter.

Although the challenges are enormous, the women and children I interviewed showed remarkable resiliency. They are survivors. Still, the light has gone out of their eyes. They have suffered hunger, homelessness and brutality for more than a year. Many had suffered harsh conditions and violence before the earthquake. They have not given up, but I felt a deepening sense of despair this week, a wearing down of the inner reserves needed for survival. Where is hope?

While it's easy to become overwhelmed by the magnitude of their suffering, my philosophy has always been "one woman, one child". If we can give one woman the tools to reclaim her life, we will have taken one step forward on the path to social justice and we will have made a difference in the world.

With this idea in mind, I met with a small group of 18 women on Sunday afternoon and brainstormed about how they could move beyond tragedy towards empowerment, from a situation of dependence to one of self-support. The reaction was initially grim. They have nothing, they said, no more than a dollar in their pocket. Where would they get the resources needed to rebuild their lives? My offer to help build bridges

to resources was met with skepticism. They'd been victims of false promises for too long. I swore I would not betray or mislead them. I confessed I don't have millions, or anything even remotely close, but I promised to advocate for them for as long as it takes. I have become very close to all of these women over the last year because they are in my safe houses. They decided to give me a chance.

Their "homework" for Sunday night was to come up with a personal plan of how they could reclaim their independence. I urged them to dream, but cautioned that pragmatism is an important ingredient to success. I suggested that each woman come up with a business concept that could be launched with a modest investment (around $1500) - a small beginning,

but very significant in Haiti. We reconvened the next day. It seems that once the idea started to sink in, their creative juices started to flow.

Everyone arrived with an outline of their plan on paper. At first people were quite shy, a bit uncertain of what was expected of them. I could see they had worked hard on their "homework." Rather than calling on anyone, I asked for volunteers. One young woman who has been terribly discouraged for the last few months timidly raised her hand. I urged her to tell us her idea. This talented young widow and mother of two said she wants to open a beauty shop. She described the types of products she would sell, wigs and hair extensions and cosmetics. She also envisioned styling hair and doing nails at her shop. Turns out she already has a degree from a beauty school. She had a shop before, but it collapsed in the earthquake. She has a booth reserved at the downtown market, but no merchandise. All she needs is a helping hand to get re-launched. We all gave her our full attention. Some of the women offered ideas and words of encouragement. I can honestly tell you I have never seen this woman smile before. As she talked, I watched her eyes light up. She broke into the most radiant smile. We all praised her vision and talent. We were off to a good start.

After our bold beautician broke the ice, we went around the table. Four women said they want to resume vocations as shopkeepers selling groceries and household items, something they feel confident they can do with a bit of help getting started because they did it before the earthquake. Two women said they want to be chefs and open their own restaurants. I learned they are celebrated cooks within their circle of families and friends. Another young woman wants to open a fashion boutique. Her sister wants to open a cafe. The girls are orphans raising their four younger siblings.

And so it goes ...

The most beautiful thing about our meeting was how animated everyone became. I have become so used to the flat expressionless demeanor that goes hand in hand with chronic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I was taken aback by their change of mood- from darkness to light. As we shared ideas and brainstormed about how to make their plans a reality, I watched the women's expressions soften, their eyes become brighter, their shoulders lift as they sat taller in their chairs and felt validated. It was moving beyond words.

I grew up with very little, but I was always told I could achieve my dreams if I worked hard. I feel the same is true of these courageous women. They just need someone (us) to believe in them. The goal now, and our responsibility, is to give them the tools and resources they need to achieve their dreams.

My plan is to identify 18 mentors for these 18 women. The role of a mentor is to cheer them on, kind of like a pen pal. I'll provide an interpreter for the mentors as needed. Mentors can be from anywhere, in the U.S. or Haiti or elsewhere. The only qualification required is compassion and enthusiasm.

I also plan to work with an NGO called "We Lead" to help the women develop their business plans and fine-tune their skills as small business owners. We Lead is based in Haiti, but affiliated with Heartland Alliance in Chicago, an organization my firm has worked with for a long time. I'll also work with Lisa Davis of MADRE in NYC. Lisa is a women's advocate with enormous talent and wisdom. Finally, I'll do everything I can to raise enough money to allow each woman to start her business and fulfill her dream. If you'd like to work with us on this project, in any capacity (mentor, supporter, expert), please let me know. I would deeply appreciate your support.

I know this email has become long, so I will conclude with a happy story. Three of our young clients have given birth since the earthquake.

The babies were conceived through violence, but received into the world with open hearts and tremendous love. On Sunday morning we celebrated the baptism of the three newborns at the chapel at St. Damien's Hospital. I had the honor of becoming the Godmother to one of the babies. They are so precious, our tiniest miracles. Not one baby cried.

They were all awake and alert and wholly mesmerized with the priest.

They were angelic in their white baptism gowns. These precious ones deserve all that life has to offer. I pray we will do our utmost to honor and protect them.

In closing, thank you for your ongoing support and friendship. I am blessed to have such a wonderful circle of friends and colleagues. I can't do this work without your emotional support. I hesitate to ask for more than this, but know you will not fault me for inviting financial support for our families, too. You all know by now that the guardian angel of this project is my mom. If you wish to make a contribution to her foundation, you may do so here:

https://ijdh.myetap.org/patriciaflemingfund/

This is what makes the work possible.

With friendship and my deepest gratitude, Jayne

Jayne Fleming

On my return to Haiti …, The Guardian, Feb. 4, 2011

2011-02-05T18:25:00.005-05:00

On my return to Haiti …

by Jean-Bertrand Aristide

guardian.co.uk, Friday 4 February

"A profit-driven recovery plan, devised and carried out by outsiders, can not reconstruct my country."

2011 20.00 GMT o

Haiti's devastating earthquake in January last year destroyed up to 5,000 schools and 80% of the country's already weak university infrastructure. The primary school in Port-au-Prince that I attended as a small boy collapsed with more than 200 students inside. The weight of the state nursing school killed 150 future nurses. The state medical school was levelled. The exact number of students, teachers, professors, librarians, researchers, academics and administrators lost during those 65 seconds that irrevocably changed Haiti will never be known. But what we do know is that it cannot end there.

The exceptional resilience demonstrated by the Haitian people during and after the deadly earthquake reflects the intelligence and determination of parents, especially mothers, to keep their children alive and to give them a better future, and the eagerness of youth to learn – all this despite economic challenges, social barriers, political crisis, and psychological trauma. Even though their basic needs have increased exponentially, their readiness to learn is manifest. This natural thirst for education is the foundation for a successful learning process: what is freely learned is best learned.

Of course, learning is strengthened and solidified when it occurs in a safe, secure and normal environment. Hence our responsibility to promote social cohesion, democratic growth, sustainable development, self-determination; in short, the goals set forth for this new millennium. All of which represent steps towards a return to a better environment.

Education has been a top priority since the first Lavalas government – of which I was president – was sworn into office under Haiti's amended democratic constitution on 7 February 1991 (and removed a few months later). More schools were built in the 10 years between 1994, when democracy was restored, and 2004 –
when Haiti's democracy was once again violated – than between 1804 to 1994: one hundred and ninety-five new primary schools and 104 new public high schools constructed and/or refurbished.

The 12 January earthquake largely spared the Foundation for Democracy I founded in 1996. Immediately following the quake, thousands accustomed to finding a democratic space to meet, debate and receive services, came seeking shelter and help. Haitian doctors who began their training at the foundation's medical school rallied to organised clinics at the foundation and at tent camps across the capital. They continue to contribute tirelessly to the treatment of fellow Haitians who have been infected by cholera. Their presence is a pledge to reverse the dire ratio of one doctor for every 11,000 Haitians.

Youths, who through the years have participated in the foundation's multiple literacy programmes, volunteered to operate mobile schools in these same tent camps. In partnership with a group from the University of Michigan in the US, post-traumatic counselling sessions were organised and university students
trained to help themselves and to help fellow Haitians begin the long journey to healing. A year on, young people and students look to the foundation's university to return to its educational vocation and help fill the gaping national hole left on the day the earth shook in Haiti.

Will the deepening destabilising political crisis in Haiti prevent students achieving academic success? I suppose most students, educators and parents are exhausted by the complexity of such a dramatic and painful crisis. But I am certain nothing can extinguish their collective thirst for education.

The renowned American poet and essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote that "we learn geology the morning after the earthquake". What we have learned in one long year of mourning after Haiti's earthquake is that an exogenous plan of reconstruction – one that is profit-driven, exclusionary, conceived of and implemented by non-Haitians – cannot reconstruct Haiti. It is the solemn obligation of all Haitians to join in
the reconstruction and to have a voice in the direction of the nation.

As I have not ceased to say since 29 February 2004, from exile in Central Africa, Jamaica and now South Africa, I will return to Haiti to the field I know best and love: education. We can only agree with the words of the great Nelson Mandela, that indeed education is a powerful weapon for changing the world.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2011

Alfred-Georges Hoen, 1925, magazine cover portrait of my Irish grandmother

2011-01-25T00:20:00.007-05:00

Large portrait of my Irish grandmother, Marie Nichols, by

Alfred-Georges Hoen, 1925

This portrait was on the cover of a magazine. My mother had the magazine cover but it is now lost and I cannot recall the name of the magazine. I believe this was part of the cover girl series. This is a flapper portrait from the Roaring Twenties period. If you know the name of the magazine, please contact me via this website through comments.

Jewelry by Riva

2011-01-23T01:21:00.001-05:00

‎14K gold wire wrapped feather earrings made by Riva Nyri Précil

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide Statement, January 19, 2011

2011-01-19T15:50:00.002-05:00

Dr Jean-Bertrand Aristide

Former President of Haiti

19 January 2011

I would like to thank the government and the people of South Africa for the historic hospitality, deeply rooted in Ubuntu, extended to my family and I.

Since my forced arrival in the Mother Continent six and a half years ago, the people of Haiti have never stopped calling for my return to Haiti . Despite the enormous challenges that they face in the aftermath of the deadly January 12, 2010 earthquake, their determination to make the return happen has increased.

As far as I am concerned, I am ready. Once again I express my readiness to leave today, tomorrow, at any time. The purpose is very clear: To contribute to serving my Haitian sisters and brothers as a simple citizen in the field of education.

The return is indispensable, too, for medical reasons: It is strongly recommended that I not spend the coming winter in South Africa ’s because in 6 years I have undergone 6 eye surgeries. The surgeons are excellent and very well skilled, but the unbearable pain experienced in the winter must be avoided in order to reduce any risk of further complications and blindness.

So, to all those asking me to return home, I reiterate my willingness to leave today, tomorrow, at any time. Let us hope that the Haitian and South African governments will enter into communication in order to make that happen in the next coming days.

United to the Haitian people, once again my family and I express our sincere gratitude to the government and the people of South Africa .

Rights Groups File Emergency Human Rights Petition to Stop Imminent Deportations to Haiti

2011-01-06T14:29:00.002-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 6, 2011

CONTACT: Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)
press@ccrjustice.org

Rights Groups File Emergency Human Rights Petition to Stop Imminent Deportations to Haiti
Earthquake, Cholera And Violence Is Death Sentence
MIAMI AND WASHINGTON - January 6 - Today six civil and human rights groups filed an emergency petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), to halt the roundups, detention, and imminent deportations of hundreds of Haitian nationals by the United States government. The petition, submitted by the University of Miami School of Law Human Rights and Immigration Clinics, the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Alternative Chance and the Loyola Law Clinic and Center for Social Justice, argues that deporting people at this moment to Haiti, which is still reeling from the devastating January 2010 earthquake and is burdened with a massive cholera epidemic, political unrest, and rampant street violence, will result in serious human rights violations, including deprivations of the rights to life, family, and due process, and freedom from cruel or unusual punishment.

Deportations from the U.S. to Haiti have been stayed on humanitarian grounds since the January 12, 2010 earthquake devastated Haiti. Advocates and community members were shocked when, on December 9, 2010, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unexpectedly announced that it was lifting the ban on deportations to Haiti for individuals with criminal convictions and that it would resume deportations in January 2011, the one-year anniversary of the earthquake.

"The U.S. Government is violating important human rights obligations," said Caroline Bettinger-Lopez, Director of the Human Rights Clinic at University of Miami School of Law. "These deportations will compound a catastrophic public health and humanitarian crisis in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. It is simply unconscionable to resume deportations to Haiti on the one-year anniversary of one of the most devastating natural disasters in world history, especially as a cholera epidemic rages across the country."

"The upshot of this abrupt change in policy," said Sunita Patel, Staff Attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, "is that the Obama administration plans to deport Haitian nationals, many living and working in the community here with their families, to a country in the midst of a cholera epidemic. Since 2006, Haiti has detained people like the petitioners in overcrowded police holding cells without toilets, sinks or access to safe drinking water. The government's actions will only put more people at risk of death."

The petition asks the IACHR to order the U.S. to adopt precautionary measures to prevent irreparable harm to the Haitians subject to imminent deportation. Specifically, the petition asks the U.S. to continue its stay of deportations, release the petitioners and grant "deferred action" status to all people facing removal. In addition, the petition asks that the U.S. government publicly release information about its decision to resume deportations to Haiti, and that the government publicly engage with the Haitian-American community before instituting policy changes that will dramatically affect community members.

The petition relies on information gathered from interviews by the Loyola Law Clinic & Center for Social Justice and Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center with Haitians detained in Louisiana. It also includes declarations from Michelle Karshan, the Director of Alternative Chance, and two doctors with extensive practice in Haiti, Dr. John May and Dr. Arthur Fournier. Together, these declarations paint a distressing picture of the disastrous consequences of these planned deportations.

Romy Lerner, Supervising Attorney at the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center said, "We are deeply concerned that this policy is tearing apart the Haitian community. Our petition alleges that the United States has violated the human rights of the Haitians who are at risk of imminent deportations by separating them from their families without considering their ties to the United States or the welfare of their U.S. citizen children. In Miami, the community is terrified of what is about to happen."

"While the U.S. has often historically shirked its human rights obligations toward Haitian migrants, we hope our government will come to its senses and halt the planned deportations of the individuals whose stories are represented in this petition," said Rebecca Sharpless, Director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Miami School of Law.

To read the request for precautionary measures, go to CCR's legal case page.

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The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.

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Being Deported to Post-Earthquake Haiti?

2011-01-06T14:24:00.002-05:00

Being Deported to Post-Earthquake Haiti?
Life-Threatening, Illegal and Inhuman Detention Conditions will make Newly Deported the Latest Victims of Deadly Cholera Epidemic

December 15, 2010, Port-au-Prince, Haiti – Alternative Chance (Chans Altenativ), a self-help, peer counseling, advocacy program for criminal deportees in Haiti was founded in 1996. For nearly fifteen years, Alternative Chance has been intervening on behalf of Haitian criminal deportees from the United States once they arrive in Haiti and are imprisoned in nightmarish conditions in police station holding cells or prisons. Following the devastating January 12, 2010 earthquake, we welcomed the humanitarian gesture of the U.S. government when it announced it would suspend deportations to Haiti. We are shocked by this week’s pronouncements and actions by the U.S. government to resume these deportations at this juncture.

Earthquake conditions have not significantly changed since the U.S. saw fit to suspend deportations. In fact some conditions have worsened. Today there are more than 1.3 million persons still living in tent and tarp encampments with no transition or permanent housing on the horizon. Haiti was hit by a recent hurricane and flooding and its first cholera epidemic brought on by the arrival of a virulent South Asian strain. And, a week ago Haiti became embroiled in election chaos and violence in its streets. Today Haiti's Ministry of Health announced that since October 2010 there have been 2,405 known deaths from cholera and 109,196 persons have been sickened. Health organizations believe the numbers are at least double this. The World Health Organization predicts 650,000 persons will be sickened over the next year with a large percent to occur within the next few months.

Prior to the earthquake, Alternative Chance observed firsthand criminal deportees held in Haiti’s DCPJ police administrative building and in other police stations or prisons in and around the capital. Not charged with any crimes in Haiti, their detention is illegal under Haitian law and international standards. They are not provided any due process, a release date or an attorney. If they have no acceptable family member living in Haiti to apply for their release, the police enforce the Ministry of Interior policy and hold the criminal deportees indefinitely for months.

While in detention criminal deportees are not provided food, treated drinking water, medical or mental health care, and are not provided any necessary medications. Medical files transferred at the time of their deportation for those who have serious medical conditions are confiscated by the Ministry of Interior and never shared with any healthcare providers or hospitals.

Most of the police station holding cells are grossly overcrowded, are intended for short term detention and have no toilets or sinks. The detainees are forced to urinate in a communal bucket and defecate in paper bags. When there is room to lie down, criminal deportees must lay directly on insect, rat infested cement floors. Their cells usually have no lighting, are over 100 degrees, and the criminal deportees are locked in twenty four hours a day.

In pre-earthquake Haiti, criminal deportees have died while in police station detention or shortly after their release from these harsh conditions. In post-earthquake Haiti detention conditions are even more dire. Most prisons and police stations were damaged or destroyed leaving even less detention space per person.

Cholera, a deadly disease primarily caused by bacteria infected water or exposure to feces, can cause rapid dehydration, shock and death within the first few hours of its first symptom. Cholera is raging through prisons and detention facilities taking lives with it. Persons with cholera must be quickly rehydrated and in most cases placed on an IV drip. They must be attended to round the clock by medical personnel in either Cholera Treatment Centers or hospitals. In Haiti’s national prison, for example, it has been observed that many cholera victims died at night in the absence of medical care.

Humanitarian organizations in Haiti are already strained, have shortage of supplies to prevent and treat cholera and a shortage of medical personnel. Health organizations are currently in debate on treatment protocol as they are losing the battle to prevent cholera and to save lives.

We fear for the lives of those who would be deported to Haiti.

Michelle Karshan, Executive Director
Alternative Chance/Chans Altenativ
70A Greenwich Avenue, #373
New York, New York 10011

Answering service: 212-613-6033
Internet FAX: 1-212-202-3992
In Haiti: 011509-3-871-0400
In US: 347-281-2958
Skype: Michelle.Karshan
Email: altchance@aol.com
http://www.alternativechance.org/

Please donate to Li, Li, Li! reading out loud in creole program for Haiti's displaced children in the tent camps

2010-12-31T13:30:00.004-05:00

Photo of Li, Li, Li! reading session donated by William Wheeler @2010

DONATE NOW to bring joy, literacy and employment to Haiti’s earthquake victims!

Dear Friends,

Please include Li, Li, Li! in your end of year donations. Donate by midnight tonight to claim your 2010 tax deduction. Click here to donate online.

Please take one minute to donate $20 or more to our not-for-profit organization Li, Li, Li! Read. Every dollar goes to our program in Haiti.

Li, Li, Li! is a storybook reading out loud in Creole program for Haiti's children living in tent & tarp encampments after becoming homeless or displaced by the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Our trained readers read in 25 camps per week – reaching more than 3,000 children per month in Port-au-Prince, Leogane, Tabarre, Cite Soleil, Delmas, Pernier, and other neighborhoods and towns.

Our program’s focus is psychosocial engagement, literacy promotion and job creation for Haitians. Since October, we also have a cholera education & resource component enlisting children in the prevention, identification and treatment of cholera (more than 3,300 deaths and 150,000 sickened by cholera in Haiti since mid-October). The World Health Organization predicts that 650,000 more will be sickened in Haiti this coming year.

Read more about us in the Edwidge Danticat article featuring Li, Li, Li! in the January 2011 issue of Good Housekeeping (on newsstands now). Danticat quotes one of our readers, Natacha: “Kids who are now laughing were crying so much after the earthquake…Many are always reliving the whole thing in their heads, but when I read them a story all of that disappears for a moment. They become children again.”

Alice Speri explains in her AFP article Reading sessions help Haiti children through quake trauma that “…Li Li Li! is not only about stress release, it is also an attempt to entrench a love for reading in a country where, before the earthquake, 44 percent of the population could not read or write, according to UN estimates.”

For a quick who, what, where, when, and why, visit our About Li, Li, Li! page. And, you can click here to review our Accomplishments and Goals. We need your help to make these goals happen.

As we approach the one year anniversary of the January 12th earthquake, approximately 1.3 million people remain in horrendous and unsanitary conditions in spontaneous encampments.

Please help us to continue to provide important and sustainable services to Haiti’s children in the tent & tarp camps. Join us in this timely, meaningful and uplifting work.

Donate by midnight tonight to claim your 2010 tax deduction. Click here to donate online.

Or mail a check to: Li Li Li! Read, 70A Greenwich Avenue, Suite 373, New York, New York 10011

Sincerely,

Michelle Karshan, Caitlin Karshan & Riva Precil

In Haiti: 011509-3871-0400, In U.S.: Leave messages at: 212-613-6033, Fax: 212-202-3992 (internet fax), Email: LiLiLiRead@gmail.com, Web: http://www.lililiread.org/ / Li, Li, Li! is a not-for-profit organization registered in the State of New York

Working Group on Media Protocols on Sexual Gender-Based Violence in Haiti Launched in Support of UN Campaign to Eliminate Violence against Women

2010-12-24T12:27:00.005-05:00

Reporting on Sexual Violence in Haiti Requires new Guidelines

Working Group on Media Protocols on Sexual Gender-Based Violence in Haiti Launched in Support of UN Campaign to Eliminate Violence against Women

(December 16, 2010—PORT-AU-PRINCE)—A consortium of leading women’s, children’s and human rights advocates, health organizations, representatives of the media, and experts on gender-based violence have come together to form the “Working Group on Media Protocols on Sexual Gender Based Violence in Haiti.” The group will develop and recommend protocols for media coverage of sexual gender based violence against women and girls in Haiti. The group formally launched their mission this month in support of the UN’s “16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign.”

Throughout the year, members of the group have worked with Haitian NGOs and earthquake survivors in various capacities, including providing aid and documenting the increasing incidences of rape and sexual violence since the January 2010 earthquake left more than 1.5 million people stranded in roughly 1,300 camps. Other members have provided advocacy on behalf of rape survivors and lobbied for their protection, shelter, food, and access to emergency medical care. All of this work has highlighted the common need for clear and consistent protocols on media coverage, so that victims of sexual violence are not again exploited and placed in further jeopardy by news reports on their cases.

“The continuing rise in sexual violence in Haiti has resulted in increased media coverage of the issue, as well as focus on those who have been victimized,” says group co-founder Michelle Karshan. “Media coverage is essential to focus attention on the issue, sensitize readers and to instill action.” However, the media faces many unique challenges when covering sexual gender based violence. “Often, journalists find themselves balancing the need to produce an engaging story while wanting to avoid exposing victims to additional or future risks and retaliation,” explains Karshan, who has been a social justice advocate for Haiti for 26 years. Karshan is currently the executive director of “Li, Li, Li! Read,” a psychosocial, literacy program for children in Haiti’s makeshift tent camps.

The working group concept began as a conversation between Karshan and attorney Jayne Fleming, who leads the Human Rights team at Reed Smith LLP. Fleming and Reed Smith are involved in a unique initiative in Haiti to identify and represent candidates for emergency Humanitarian Parole to the U.S. Fleming leads delegations of legal and medical experts to Haiti to identify candidates for Parole, provide advocacy for survivors, and document testimony from victims of sexual gender based violence.

Karshan, Fleming and other members of the working group frequently provide commentary and background information to media on the realities of the sexual violence epidemic in Haiti. Over the last year, they have helped journalists working in Haiti address and resolve such considerations as confidentiality, identifying victims and locations, obtaining proper consent, protecting the rights of minors, and what images are appropriate to share.

Members of the working group are currently researching existing guidelines and frameworks covering sexual gender based violence contained in government, press, legal, health, and human rights standards. They are also conducting focus groups with editors, news directors, journalists and other members of the media; meeting with women’s and children’s rights groups; seeking input from other participating international and state organizations, and are seeking to work with the Haitian government in developing and implementing these protocols as a step towards stemming the tide of sexual violence, and ensuring the rights of Haitian women and children survivors.

Another area that the Working Group on Media Protocols on Sexual Gender-Based Violence in Haiti will focus on is how new media is fast changing the rules for what is considered ethical reporting of sexual violence.

“Because of the rapid increase in mobile technology—including live Twitter feeds or Facebook coverage, as well as online radio and TV stations, and rapid translation capabilities—the majority of news coverage on Haiti is now shared almost instantly inside Haiti, regardless of where it originates,” said Sergio Garcia, Chair of Reed Smith’s Technology Transactions Team, who is helping to spearhead the project. “In our experience, this fairly recent development makes our mission all the more critical and timely, especially as it relates to protecting the rights and safety of Haitian victims of sexual violence.”

Members of the working group include a broad spectrum of affected sectors, including:

o Journalists, Photographers, and Authors: such as Claude Adams, Jennifer Cheek Pantaléon, Beverly Bell, Patrick Douge, Miriam Neptune and representatives of the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

o Women and Gender-Based Violence (GBV): including noted attorneys Elizabeth Barad, Esq. and Lisa Davis, Esq.; activist Melinda Miles; and Karen Musalo, Esq., director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (CGRS) at UC Hastings College of Law. GBV organizations in support of the working group include CGRS, Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees, MADRE, FAVILEK, and KOFAVIV—Commission of Women Victims for Victims.

o Justice and Human Rights: including representatives of the Lawyers’ Earthquake Response Network (LERN), Haiti Emergency Relief Fund, Haiti Justice Alliance, Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights for the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Let Haiti Live/project of TransAfrica. Other members in this sector include Mario Joseph, Esq., director of Bureau des Avocats Internationaux; Privat Precil, the former Director General of Haiti’s Ministry of Justice; Bill Quigley, Legal Director for the Center for Constitutional Rights; human rights attorney Moira Duvernay; and Professor Mark Schuller, Professor of African American Studies & Anthropology at York College, CUNY and Holly Cooper, Esq. of the UC Davis Immigration Law Clinic.

o Children’s Program: such as Zanmi Lakay, and Li, Li, Li! Read.

o Medical and Mental Health: including the Stanford University School of Medicine, along with Dr. Daryn Reicherter and Dr. Victor Carrion, co-directors of the Stanford University International Initiative's working group on Orphans and Vulnerable Children.

For further information on this release, please contact:

Jamie Moss
newsPRos, PR Counsel, Reed Smith LLP
(201) 493-1027
jamie@newspros.com

For further information on becoming directly involved in the Haiti Working Group on Media & Sexual Gender-Based Violence, please contact:

Michelle Karshan
(212) 613-6033
michelle.karshan@gmail.com

or

Sergio Garcia
(415) 659-4748
sgarcia@reedsmith.com

-###-

Dr. Jean-Bertrand Aristide - Bòn Ane 2011

2010-12-21T08:56:00.003-05:00

Bòn Ane 2011

Sè m, Frè m,

Se toujou nan menm lespri MEM AMOU an,

Minouche avè m salye w, anbrase w fratènèlman,

E swete w ak tout kè nou yon BON ANE 2011.

Plis pase 300.000 pitit tè d Ayiti ta renmen la,

Byen vivan, pou wè ane 2011 la menm jan avè n.

Domaj!Yo menm ak lòt Sè n, Frè n ki peri anba

Sikòn Toma ou maladi kolera a deja konte pami

56 milyon moun ki mouri pandan ane 2010 sa a.

Pandan klòch Bòn Ane 2011 la ap karyonnen,

Nou sonje yo e n swete tout lòt viktim kap soufri

Lakay ou aletranje: Anpil kouraj! Anpil kouraj!

Pèmèt nou ofri w yon gwo bouke flè remèsiman

Pou tout bèl souwè nou resevwa yo san bliye

Kokenn chenn solidarite-fratènite 15 Jiyè 2010 la.

Nan lonbraj Tousen Louvèti, Jan Jak Desalin,

Ak Zansèt nou yo, m swete tout sa ki bon pou

Moun ki gen po nwa kòm pou moun po blanch.

An palan de koulè po, divès ekriven tankou

Robin Walker ou H.G. Spearing rapote kijan,

Lontan, anpil atis Grèk te renmen pentire

Po gason ak koulè nwa e po fi ak koulè blan.

Nan admire bèl kout penso sa yo,

Konn gen Grèk ki pat ka sispann di:

πολύ καλά, άριστα! ευχαριστώ πολύ!

Trè byen, ekselan! Mèsi bokou !

Depi 2004, nouvo kolon yo ap pentire figi

Nou tout ki Ayisyen ak labou imilyasyon.

Jiskaprezan, minorite ki ekskli majorite a

Poko janm ka admèt ke li fè yon erè grav

Lè l aksepte koupe branch li chita sou li a.

Plis figi Ayiti pran kout tiwèl labou,

Se plis minorite a di nouvo kolon yo

Anba anba sa Grèk yo tap di byen fò:

πολύ καλά, άριστα! ευχαριστώ πολύ!

Trè byen, ekselan! Mèsi bokou !

Nou poko menm ka retire très cheve Manman Ayiti

Anba dekonm goudougoudou 12 Janvye 2010 la,

Nou gen tan retrouve n anba dekonm 2 kalite kolera :

1-Yon kolera kolon ki ta soti nan dlo kontamine Minista

2-Yon kolera politik ki soti nan dlo eleksyon-seleksyon.

Pou òganize kolera politik sa a, fo zanmi Ayiti yo

Depanse 30 milyon dola vèt, san bliye 5 milya dola

Ki deja depanse pou Minista pandan 6 dènye ane yo.

Nenpòt ki moun ka wè ki kantite kay, lopital, lekòl,

Lajan gaspiye sa yo ta gentan bati pou viktim yo.

Ekslizyon Fanmi Lavalas se eksklizyon majorite a.

Se pa etonan si n debouche sou yon katastwòf politik

Ki antere Ayiti pi fon toujou anba dekonm 12 janvye yo.

Pwoblèm nan se eksklizyon, solisyon an se enklizyon.

Mennen koulèv lekòl seleksyon se youn, fè l chita se de.

Pwoblèm nan se eksklizyon, solisyon an se enklizyon.

Gran moun pa monte chwal bwa dèyè kòbya seleksyon.

Pwoblèm nan se eksklizyon, solisyon an se enklizyon,

Enklizyon majorite a nan eleksyon lib, onèt e demokratik

Pou tout Ayisyen san distenksyon soti anba kolera politik.

Sè m, Frè m,

Jan nou tout ka konstate l, tren eksklizyon ki deraye a,

Plis 2 kalite kolera sa yo ogmante strès popilasyon an

Ki te deja ap viv anba twòp strès depi tranbleman tè a.

Strès sa a se yon pwazon envizib kap opere an silans.

Pwazon envizib sa a merite yon atansyon espesyal

Paske dega li fè an silans se twòkèt la, chay la dèyè.

Twòp strès pandan twò lontan ka fasilite kriz kadyak,

Strok, diabèt, tansyon, ilsè lestomak, twoub memwa…

Anpil viktim 12 Janvye ap naje pou sot nan strès.

Lè yon moun ap viv nan kondisyon strès sa yo,

Kò w gen mwens fòs pou reziste kont mikwòb.

Laboratwa nouvo kolon yo konnen sa trè byen.

Ni kolera kolon ki ta soti nan dlo kontamine Minista a,

Ni kolera politik ki soti nan dlo eleksyon-seleksyon an

Tonbe nan yon teren ki te deja minen ak pwazon strès.

Lè yon moun strese anpil, ren w travay plis pou

Founi adrenalin ak divès lòt òmon tankou kòtizòl.

Egzanp: chak ti tranbleman tè se yon menas danje

Ki fè glann adrenal ki sou ren yo bay plis kòtizòl.

Lè twòp kòtizòl rete twò lontan nan kò w,se danje:

Li aji tankou yon pwazon envizib ki atake venn ou.

Konsekans:

Lè san an mal pou rive nan sèvo w, ou ka fè strok;

Lè san an pa rive alè nan kè w, ou ka fè kriz kadyak ;

Lè san an mal sikile bò tanp ou, kote ipokanp sèvo a

Anrejistre sa moun aprann, ou ka gen pann memwa.

Strès ka ogmante ni tansyon, ni sik, ni kolestewòl.

Pouki sa li enpòtan ke nou raple w verite sa yo?

Paske se ou menm ki premye responsab sante w

Lè ou soufri strès e se ou ki pi byen plase pou

Ofri tèt ou kèk ti moman detant ak relaksasyon.

Repo lespri se gwo medikaman pou konbat strès.

Deplis, sante chak Ayisyen nesesè pou ede Ayiti

Jwenn sante politik, sante ekonomik, sante sosyal.

Se egzakteman lekontrè pou laboratwa kolon yo ki

Toujou ap programe konfli, manti, mizè, grangou,

Vye maladi, eleksyon-seleksyon ou kolera politik

Pou malere pa gen la pè nan tèt ak lapè nan vant.

Gade epidemi kolera a; pouki sa se kounye a menm

Li debake ak sèkèy anba bra l, apre plis ke yon syèk?

Si epidemi an gen fòs pou fè 500 a 650 mil viktim,

Nou oblije kontinye fè lespri n travay pou bloke l

Anvan twòp tè nan peyi a fin tounen simityè kadav.

Travay doktè, enfimyè, oksilyè, pwofesyonèl sante yo,

Konkou Ayisyen ki aletranje, kontribisyon jounalis,

Radyo, televizyon, nesesèsè anpil pou konbat kolera a.

Sepandan, pi gwo responsabilite a chita nan men Leta.

Leta ayisyen gen obligasyon pou bay viktim 12 janvye yo

Kay pou yo ka sispann viv nan labou, nan lari, nan fatra,

Anba vye moso tant, moso twal, moso ranyon, moso prela.

Sa te dwe fèt e sa te ka fèt tou swit apre tranbleman tè a.

Sak manke, se pa lajan, se diyite ak bon jan volonte politik.

Leta ayisyen gen obligasyon pou bay viktim yo posiblite

Jwenn dlo pwòp pou yo sispann bwè dlo sal ki bay kolera.

Ayiti chita erezman sou 56 milya mèt kib dlo ki anba tè a.

Sak manke, se pa lajan, se diyite ak bon jan volonte politik.

Lè Ayiti plis bezwen kout men, se lè li jwenn plis kout pye

Ni nan men yon leta ki trayi li, ni nan men fo zanmi fo kòl

Ki monte chita sou do Ayiti pou fè lajan sou do Ayisyen.

Chak katastwòf tounen yon gwo biznis

Ki rapòte plizyè milyon lè se pa milya.

Men malere ki deja viktim kolera politik

Lage de bra pandye anfas epidemi an.

Twòp milyon milya ranmase sou do Ayiti

Pou jiskaprezan malere pa menm ka achte

Yon ti klowòs pou touye mikwòb kolera

Nan dlo kontamine yo kontinye ap bwè.

Chak jou, dlo kontamine nan divès peyi

Touye 1.800.000 ti moun ki poko gen 5 an.

Chak 20 segonn, m di byen, chak 20 segonn,

Dlo kontamine touye yon timoun sou latè.

Lakay, anplis tout moun zam Minista deja touye,

Se atò dlo kontamine Minista pral touye inosan.

Alòs ke disparisyon Lowensky, lanmò Pè Jean Juste

Ak anpil lòt inosan fèt anba je n, l ap trè difisil pou

Konte tout viktim kolera k ap tonbe nan pwovens yo.

Mezanmi,

Pèmèt mwen adapte pawòl laten filozòf Cicéron an

Pou m poze Minista yon kesyon ki konsène diyite n:

“Quousque tandem abutere, Minista, patientia nostra?”

Jiskilè, Minista, w ap sispann pase pasyans nou anba pye?

Nan sèlman yon ventèn ane apre 1492 ki se

Dat premye kolon yo te debake nan peyi a,

Nou te deja pèdi 96.000 Sè n - Frè n Taynos.

An natandan Minista pati, konbyen inosan

Konbyen jèn gason, jèn fi ki dwe pral mouri?

Obligasyon nou tout genyen, se kole zèpòl pou

Nou rive elimine kolera a e non viktim kolera a.

Pou konbat opinyon Pèp la, Minista pa gen dwa

Itilize ni vyolans zam ni Argumentum ad baculum.

Lè Pèp la di e redi: “Minista se kolera”,

Li bay diagnostik pa l ki se verite pa l.

Lè l repete san rete: “Minista se kolera,”

Li bay diagnostik pa l ki se verite pa l.

Lè Minista reyaji ak gwo zam pou touye

Moun ou libète lapawòl, li fè yon krim e

Li itilize yon Argumentum ad baculum

Olye li chwazi wout larezon ak lalwa.

Reyaksyon vyolans sa yo pa gen plas nan

Ankenn peyi lib ou sosyete demokratik,

Menm si nou wè sa ap fèt bò lakay nou,

Nan yon Ayiti ki rekolonize depi 2004,

Wi, yon Ayiti kote la gramè popilè a di:

Le cholera ou la Minista, sè le mèm choz.

Sè m. Frè m,

Sa mennen n, pou fini, nan

Yon pwezi popilè ki rele:

“ LE MEM CHOZ.”

Nou dedye l pou Zansèt yo

Ak pou Jenès la ki, to ou ta,

Pra l fè Ayiti reprann diyite l.

Le mèm choz

Depi jou koudeta kidnaping 29 fevriye 2004 la,

Tousen Louvèti move, Jan Jak Desalin fache.

Men, chef konze bò lakay ak esklav mantal yo

Kontan bese tèt jiska tè pou di: yès sèr! Avozòd!

Tank Tousen Louvèti friz nan fè move san,

Se tank Jan Jak Desalin frape pye l atè pou di:

Ayayay! Si pat gen koudeta-kidnaping 2004,

Jodia, nou pa tap nan ni kolon ki bay kolera,

Ni eleksyon-seleksyon ki bay kolera politik.

Sepandan, konze ak esklav mantal bò lakay

Toujou byen relaks paske afè diyite peyi a,

Se bliye sa antere sa pou fè kòb nan trayizon.

Dayè depi koudeta kidnaping 29 fevriye 2004 la,

Konze bò lakay pa gen dwa nan fache, fè kòlè

Lè se kolon blan an ki di: agoch, adwat, ajenou…

Se pou sa menm, senatè sousou ak depite restavèk

Ki pa swete wè aksidan diplomatik, pwopoze pou:

Prezidan ta fè kòlè krapo

Premye minis ta fè kòlè chat

Minis ta fè kòlè ra, raman.

Yon kolon blan ki tande

Pawòl sa a di: Ki sa?

Minis ta fè kòlè ra, raman,

Ou byen

Minista fè kolera?

Yon blan mannan reponn:

A! A! Sè le mèm choz.

Pwen ba ! Pwen final !

Sè m, Frè m,

M sèten ni ou ni Minouche,

Ni mwen, nou tout ta swete

Rankontre lakay an 2011 la,

Pou ansanm, nou kontinye

Wouze peyi a ak lanmou

Ki bay anpil anpil kouraj

Pou n soti nan le mem choz.

Se ak lespri sa a nou anbrase

Tout ti moun yo e n redi w:

Bon kouraj! Mèm Amou!

Dr Jean-Bertrand Aristide

Pretoria, Desanm 2011

adidas Originals - adicolor™ Royal

2010-11-22T22:30:00.002-05:00

Catch Riva Precil in this Adicolor Royal commercial for Adidas

FingerBeat - Make Pocket Music! ( iPhone/ iPod )

2009-07-14T17:44:00.001-04:00

My decorator? Mexico (New York Times)

2009-07-14T09:48:00.001-04:00

Roundtable: Haitian Music, Part 2: What Does Revolution Sound Like?

2009-07-14T07:10:00.002-04:00

Roundtable: Haitian Music, Part 2: What Does Revolution Sound Like?

Roundtable: Haitian Music, Part 1

2009-07-14T07:09:00.004-04:00

Roundtable: Haitian Music

Shared via AddThis

Official Website of Sydney Guillaume - Composer | SydneyGuillaume.com Homepage

2009-06-14T18:41:00.004-04:00

Official Website of Sydney Guillaume - Composer SydneyGuillaume.com Homepage

Choral music in Kreyol! CLICK ON CONCERT WORKS to hear various pieces all sung in Kreyol!
And, if you click on LINKS on his page you can view performances on youtube.com

From website:
"Sydney takes great pride in his Haitian roots. He hopes that his music will serve as an ambassador for his country and create an awareness of the beautiful culture that exists amidst the economic and political turmoil. Sydney is an active member of the choral community both as a composer and singer. He has been commissioned by renowned choirs such as The University of Miami Frost Chorale, Seraphic Fire, The Young New Yorkers Chorus, The Miami Children's Chorus and Kokopelli Choir. He is in high demand for commissioned works and his music has been performed at ACDA, All-State conventions and abroad. Sydney resides in Los Angeles, California, where he is also pursuing a career in film music."

Homeland Guantanamo

2009-06-14T11:59:00.002-04:00

Homeland Guantanamo

The Untold Story of Immigrant Detention in the US. Facts and stats on all aspects of Immigration detention!

Living With Music: Madison Smartt Bell (NYT)

2009-06-09T11:13:00.006-04:00

Madison Smartt Bell (Jerome De Perlinghi)

New York Times

January 7, 2009, 7:00 am — Updated: 11:31 am -->

Living With Music: Madison Smartt Bell
By Gregory Cowles

Madison Smartt Bell is the author of numerous books, including a recent biography of Toussaint Louverture.

Rebel Music Old and New

I started listening to most of this music in the early 1990s, as I was finishing the first of what would be three long novels about revolutionary events a long time ago in a small obscure place that few people in the United States had heard of and fewer cared about. What’s different now? At least a few more people are aware that Haiti, and the conditions of living in Haiti, are closer to us here than we used to like to think. …

1) President, Wyclef Jean. One of the few English-language tracks on Wyclef’s astounding “Welcome to Haiti: Creole 101″ — an album I’ve used for a language and cultural primer (exactly as advertised) since it came out in 2004. When I first heard this song I associated it with Haitian elections, and with a comment by a Haitian academic friend of mine who’d been invited to serve in the government and declined, with some regret, but firmly. It’s difficult, he explained to me, to find enough people who are capable and competent, whose probity is beyond question and who don’t object to the strong possibility of assassination. …

2) Revolution, Bob Marley. I first heard this one when “Natty Dread” broke on college campuses in the late 1970s. While writing “All Souls’ Rising,” I wore out the first two Wailers records. Marley’s is more tenacious than most other rebel music because the political message is so deeply rooted in religion — because the singer locates revolution in revelation with the first breath of this song.

See rest of article and comments at http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/living-with-music-madison-smartt-bell/?scp=3&sq=Madison%20Smartt%20Bell&st=cse

10 News photos that took retouching too far

2009-06-09T10:36:00.003-04:00

10 News photos that took retouching too farThursday, May 21, 2009
Many news photographs are Photoshopped here and there to increase clarity or to optimize for print or online display. But there have been several instances where retouching has been pushed too far, changing the original intent or accuracy of the photo.

Retouching may seem innocent, but can have a profound effect on the way we remember an event, according to a 2007 study published in Applied Cognitive Psychology.

See article on the before and after photos! http://www.10000words.net/2009/05/10-news-photos-that-took-photoshop-too.html

Revolutionary Haitian priest Gerard Jean-Juste, presente! (BayView)

2009-06-09T10:04:00.004-04:00

Jesus-like revolutionary priest Father Gerard Jean-Juste “suffered the little children to come unto him,” tending to their needs, body and soul, and fighting for their future and for justice in Haiti.

May 30, 2009

Revolutionary Haitian priest Gerard Jean-Juste, presente!
by Bill Quigley
BayView National Black Newspaper

Though Haitian priest Father Gerard Jean-Juste died May 27, 2009, at age 62 in Miami from a stroke and breathing problems, he remains present to millions. Justice-loving people worldwide mourn his death and celebrate his life. Pere Jean-Juste worked uncompromisingly for justice for Haitians and the poor, both in Haiti and in the U.S.

Pere Jean-Juste was a Jesus-like revolutionary. In jail and out, he preached liberation of the poor, release of prisoners, human rights for all and a fair distribution of wealth. A big, muscular man with a booming voice and a frequent deep laugh, he wore a brightly colored plastic rosary around his neck and carried another in his pocket. When he was jailed for nearly a year in Haiti by the U.S.-supported coup government which was trying to silence him, Amnesty International called him a Prisoner of Conscience.

Jean-Juste was a scourge to the unelected coup governments of Haiti, who served at the pleasure - and usually the direction - of the U.S. government. He constantly challenged both the powers of Haiti and the U.S. to stop killing and starving and imprisoning the poor. In the U.S., he fought against government actions which deported Black Haitians while welcoming Cubans and Nicaraguans and others. In Haiti, he called for democracy and respect and human rights for the poor.

Pere Jean-Juste was sometimes called the most dangerous man in Haiti. That was because he was not afraid to die. His computer screen saver was a big blue picture of Mary, the mother of Jesus. “Every day I am ready to meet her,” he once told me, when death threats came again. “I will not stop working for justice because of their threats. I am looking forward to heaven.”

For rest of article: http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/revolutionary-haitian-priest-gerard-jean-juste-presente/

Trance, Sodo Waterfall, Haiti by Christian Cravo (Verve Photo)

2009-06-09T09:52:00.003-04:00

Trance, Sodo Waterfall, Haiti by Christian Cravo

FROM VERVE PHOTO WEBSITE: http://vervephoto.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/christian-cravo/ for bio of photographer and description of photo.

Activists Seek TPS for Haiti

2009-06-09T09:48:00.001-04:00

Narrated slideshow of demo in front of White House

Shell settles Nigeria killings (Al Jazeera English)

2009-06-09T09:28:00.003-04:00

News Americas

Shell settles Nigeria killings suit

Shell was accused of colluding with Nigeria's government to silence rights activists [GALLO/GETTY]

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to settle a lawsuit accusing the firm of complicity in the executions of human rights activists in Nigeria for $15.5m, the families of those killed have said.

The settlement agreement came on Monday as the more than decade-long dispute was due to go to trial in a district court in New York.

The lawsuit accused Shell of human rights abuses, including violations in relation to the hangings in 1995 of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a well-known rights activist, and eight other protesters by Nigeria's then-military government.

Shell, which still operates in Nigeria, said it had agreed to settle the lawsuit in the hope of aiding the "process of reconciliation", but acknowledged no wrongdoing in the case.

"This gesture also acknowledges that, even though Shell had no part in the violence that took place, the plaintiffs and others have suffered,'' Malcolm Brinded, Shell's executive director for exploration and production, said in a statement on Monday.

See rest of story http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=117758085408&h=khKfY&u=qpIx6&ref=nf

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Obama Flinches on Immigration

2009-03-24T08:18:00.003-04:00

THE NEW YORK TIMES
March 24, 2009

EDITORIAL
Obama Flinches on Immigration

In a little-noticed act of political faintheartedness, the Obama administration has pulled back from nominating Thomas Saenz, a highly regarded civil-rights lawyer and counsel to the mayor of Los Angeles, to run the Justice Department’s civil rights division.

Mr. Saenz, the former top litigator in Los Angeles for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or Maldef, was privately offered the job in January. The floating of his name led to fierce outbursts from anti-immigrant groups and blogs, which detest him for being so good at what he does.

He was a leader of the successful fight to block California’s Proposition 187, an unconstitutional effort to deny social services and schooling to illegal immigrants. He has defended Latino day laborers who were targets of misguided local crackdowns, from illegal police stings to unconstitutional anti-solicitation ordinances. An editorial in Investor’s Business Daily slimed Mr. Saenz by calling him “an open-borders extremist” and said Maldef wanted to give California back to Mexico.

None of it was true, but it was apparently too much for the White House. Mr. Saenz was ditched in favor of Maryland’s labor secretary, Thomas Perez, who has a solid record but is not as closely tied to immigrant rights.

Immigrant advocates are stuck with the sinking feeling that Mr. Obama’s supposed enthusiasm for immigration reform will wilt under pressure and heat. Representative Luis Gutiérrez of Illinois, a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, found it sadly unsurprising that a lawyer could be rejected for the nation’s top civil-rights job because he had stood up for civil rights. “In what other position do you find that your life experience, your educational knowledge and commitment to an issue actually hurts you?” he asked.

Mr. Obama may have avoided a nasty fight this time. But if he is ever going to win the battle to put 12 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship, he will to have to confront and dismantle the core restrictionist argument: that being an illegal immigrant is an unpardonable crime, one that strips away fundamental protections and forgives all manner of indecent treatment.

The Constitution’s bedrock protections do not apply to just the native-born. The suffering that illegal immigrants endure — from raids to workplace exploitation to mistreatment in detention — is a civil-rights crisis. It cannot be left to fester while we wait for the big immigration bill that may or may not arrive under this president.

Mr. Saenz would have been an ideal candidate to reaffirm values that have been lost in the poisoned immigration debate, had Mr. Obama dared to nominate him.

Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

Diverse organizations demonstrate for TPS for Haiti on March 20, 2009 outside Federal Plaza, New York

2009-03-21T08:12:00.002-04:00

Photos by Michelle Karshan

Demo for TPS March 20, 2009, Federal Plaza, NY

2009-03-21T08:10:00.001-04:00

Demonstration for TPS in front of Federal Plaza, New York, March 20, 2009

2009-03-21T08:02:00.002-04:00

NAACP Action Alert Kit for TPS for Haiti

2009-03-21T07:47:00.001-04:00

NAACP Action Alert Kit for TPS for Haiti
http://www.naacp.org/get-involved/activism/alerts/111thaa-2009-03-19-2/HAITIAN.pdf

(includes summary of issue, list of suggested actions to take. summary of the message to get across, and a sample letter to President Obama)

President of US Conference of Catholic Bishops for TPS for Haitians

2009-03-20T12:52:00.004-04:00

UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS
Office of the President
3211 Fourth Street NE
Washington DC 20017-1194

Cardinal Francis George, OMI
Archibishop of Chicago

May 19, 2009

Honorable Barack Obama
President
United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

On behalf of the Catholic Bishops of the United States, I write to ask you to designate the country of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for a period of eighteen months. The United States Catholic Bishops Conference (USCCB) has a long history of serving the Haitian community, both in the United States and in Haiti, and has first-hand knowledge of the great humanitarian challenges facing the Haitian people.

As you know, a designation of TPS permits nationals of a designated nation living in the United States to reside here legally and qualify for work authorization. A designation of TPS is based upon a determination that armed conflict, political unrest, environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions exist in a nation and that the return of that country’s nationals would further destabilize the nation and potentially bring harm to those returned.

Haiti meets the standard for TPS because it has experienced political tumult, four natural disasters, and severe food shortages in the last year, not to mention the devastation of Hurricane Jeanne in 2004. In April 2008, starving citizens took to the streets to protest rising food prices, causing political instability.

In August and September 2008, Hurricanes Gustav and Ike and Tropical Storms Fay and Hanna passed through Haiti, causing severe damage and the death of close to 700 persons. Massive flooding from the storms has destroyed homes, crops, roads, and bridges, and largely rendered areas like Gonaives inaccessible to relief workers. Over 90 percent of Haiti has been impacted. Tens of thousands have been displaced, and the fate of thousands more is unknown. More than 300,000 children have been affected.

In addition, the conditions in Haiti are at least as bad, if not worse, than those in nations which recently received an extension of TPS. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced late last year that it was extending TPS for El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras because of “lingering effects” from the earthquakes in 2001 and from Hurricane Mitch in 2004. These effects included destroyed roads and bridges, high unemployment, and incomplete international development efforts.

We agree wholeheartedly with DHS’ decision to extend TPS to these countries. However, if “lingering effects” in these countries merit a grant of TPS, then so do the conditions in Haiti, where multiple disasters this year have left immediate and devastating effects.

Some observers argue that granting TPS to Haiti would cause a massive “boatlift” that would bring thousands of Haitians to the United States. In our view, this argument holds little merit, since TPS is only available to Haitian nationals already in the United States at the time of the designation. No such boatlift occurred in 1997, when President Clinton granted Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) to Haiti, or in subsequent years when Haiti experienced increased political violence and civil unrest. Additionally, few Haitian water craft currently exist, having been destroyed by the recent storms.

Another consideration is that designating TPS to Haiti would allow Haitian nationals already in the United States to work and send much-needed remittances back to their poverty-stricken homeland. The Inter-American Development Bank reports that Haitians abroad sent close to $1.83 billion home in 2007, which equals about 35% of the country’s gross domestic product. It is critical that this life-blood of the fragile Haitian economy be sustained.

Mr. President, by any measure, the conditions in Haiti meet the statutory requirements for TPS. There has been “substantial disruption” in living conditions and Haiti is “unable to handle adequately” the return of its citizens abroad. Extending this mantle of protection to struggling Haiti is a just, compassionate, and concrete step the United States can take toward alleviating the human suffering of the Haitian people.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely yours,

Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago
President

NAACP Urges TPS for Haitian Refugees

2009-03-19T16:24:00.002-04:00

NAACP Urges President Obama to Grant Temporary Safe Haven to Haitian Refugees Already In The U.S.

March 19, 2009 (from NAACP website)
The Issue:

Temporary protected status (TPS) grants temporary protection from deportation to nationals of a country in which environmental or political events have occurred which make it temporarily unsafe to deport them or when armed conflict poses a serious threat to public safety. TPS has been granted to nationals of many countries including those of Nicaragua and Honduras in 1999 following Hurricane Mitch, and of El Salvador in 2001 following severe earthquakes.

Recent devastating environmental disasters from which Haiti has not recovered, continuing violence, and unstable political conditions pose a serious threat at this time to the personal safety of anyone forcibly repatriated to Haiti. Last year's storms and hurricanes killed hundreds and rendered hundreds of thousands homeless. Fifteen percent of Haiti's already fragile economy was destroyed, the equivalent of eight to ten Hurricane Katrinas hitting the United States in the same month. Haitian deportees face hunger, homelessness, and grave threats to their security. The Haitian government's ability to provide basic governmental services--clean water, education, passable road and basic healthcare--has been severely compromised by the natural disasters and food crisis in 2008. Repatriating Haitians exposes them to these dangerous conditions, while imposing an additional burden on government resources that are already stretched too thin.

Furthermore, granting TPS to Haitian refugees would help Haiti recover, as Haitians in the United States could obtain work permits and would increase the already significant flow of remittances to their family and friends back home. Haitians who receive that aid are more likely to stay and rebuild Haiti. Many depend on those remittances for their very survival. That flow of dollars is among the best foreign aid that the United States can provide, and it costs taxpayers nothing. Strengthening Haiti’s economy will be the only sure way to ensure that more Haitians will not risk their lives on a perilous oversea journey to the United States. Granting Haitians TPS would also directly assist Haiti's nascent democracy in its efforts to recover from these conditions, stabilize the country's economy, rebuild its political and economic institutions, and provide a future of hope for Haiti's people. TPS would be extended only to those Haitians currently residing in the United States, so any concerns about a mass exodus to the US are unfounded.

Haiti is the hemispheres oldest democracy, and has always had a special relationship to the United States. Haitian immigrants have long contributed to America’s diverse and vibrant culture. The current plight of Haitians in their homeland clearly qualifies them for TPS here in the United States, and thus the NAACP strongly urges President Obama to grant TPS to Haitian refugees. Furthermore, the NAACP strongly supports legislation introduced by Congressman Alcee Hastings (FL) to grant TPS to Haitians (H.R. 144).

Cynthia McKinney on Obama boycott of Durban conference

2009-03-19T06:03:00.007-04:00

http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/despite-obama-boycott-black-caucus-should-attend-durban-racism-conference/

San Francisco Bayview

Despite Obama boycott, Black Caucus should attend Durban racism conference

March 17, 2009 In Africa and the World |

And now that I am as completely in the middle of the marsh as I was as completely in the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea when my boat was rammed by the Israelis, let me make an observation about one aspect of marshes. I have witnessed the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets on the Savannah, Georgia, marshland. And the most beautiful rainbows. Being away from the glass and concrete can give one a better perspective.

by Cynthia McKinney

...This morning, I sent the following message to the White House:

“Mr. President, it was with great disappointment that I read of your decision to pull out of Durban II. Even the Bush administration, under pressure from the Congressional Black Caucus, provided some funding for the United Nations effort and sent staff to support the Congressional delegation that attended the conference. I was there. I was head of the Congressional Black Caucus Task Force that negotiated Congressional and administration engagement on this issue. There is still time for the U.S. to participate. Your decision is not irrevocable. I would encourage you to please reconsider this decision and not only attend the conference, but also provide funding to ensure its success.”

Dignity will not come without first an acknowledgment of the truth: With truth we can have justice; and with justice we can have peace; and it is only with peace that we can truly have dignity.

I implore the members of the Congressional Black Caucus to spearhead the participation of the United States in the United Nation’s World Conference Against Racism: to boldly go where we have gone before. Dr. King reminded us that “the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” On this issue, President Obama has shown us his measure. I hope that the Congressional Black Caucus and the Progressive Caucus and the Democratic Caucus can show us, oh, so much more.

TO READ FULL TEXT: http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/despite-obama-boycott-black-caucus-should-attend-durban-racism-conference/ OR CLICK IN TITLE ABOVE

Haiti's Quiet Corner

2008-12-25T10:02:00.004-05:00

The Basin Bleu offers secluded waters for bathing outside of Jacmel. Luke Jerod Kummer / The National

Haiti's Quiet Corner by Luke Jerod Kummer
The National Newspaper, December 20. 2008

Before I landed in Port au Prince I knew I didn’t want to stay there long. A generation of news footage had convinced me that Haiti’s capital was a city of unrest, despair and no place to holiday. When I left the airport I found the chaotic scenes I had imagined – city streets on fire with burning rubbish and UN vehicles patrolling shanty neighborhoods – as the recently elected president Rene Preval tried to find his footing in yet another of the Caribbean country’s uneasy political transitions. I was keen to escape and so the next morning Hattie, a friend from New York who had been interpreting at a medical conference, hired a driver with a 4x4 and we headed south for more tranquil grounds. Read article and see photos at http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081220/TRAVEL/788392063/-1/OPINION

Half-Hour for Haiti: Invest in Hope and Justice for Haiti

2008-12-25T09:33:00.002-05:00

Half-Hour for Haiti: Invest in Hope and Justice for Haiti
December 10, 2008

This end of the year wrap up piece contains very good update on the work of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti and various justice issues. Click here for full report:
http://blog.ijdh.org/haiti_justiceblog/2008/12/half-hour-for-haiti-invest-in-hope-and-justice-for-haiti.html

Birth, not ancestry, relevant to citizenship by Sonia Pierre

2008-12-25T09:20:00.004-05:00

Photo borrowed from Robert F. Kennedy Memorial website page onSonia Pierre. Go here: http://www.rfkmemorial.org/legacyinaction/2006_pierre/ for speeches by Sonia Pierre, press releases, biography, and the RFK Human Rights Award 2006 awarded to Sonia Pierre

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Birth, not ancestry, relevant to citizenship
BY SONIA PIERRE
http://www.project-syndicate.org/

from Miami Herald, Opinion

SANTO DOMINGO -- I am a native-born citizen of the Dominican Republic. I grew up, went to school, started a family and raised my children on Dominican soil. This is the only place I have ever called home. Yet, after more than 45 years in this country, my nationality -- along with that of thousands of other Dominicans -- is being called into question.

Like many Dominicans, I am of Haitian ancestry. My family came to the Dominican Republic from neighboring Haiti to find work. Their journey was not uncommon, nor was it discouraged. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians came to work in this country with the express permission of the Dominican government.

But Dominicans like me have always paid a price for our ancestry.

For more than a century, the government has promoted a policy of state-sponsored racial discrimination. We have been used as scapegoats to shift the focus away from the country's economic and political problems.

Even so, one lesson I learned growing up was that any person born in the Dominican Republic is a Dominican citizen. This no one questioned. This no one doubted. The Dominican Republic's constitution says explicitly that anyone born on the country's territory, except infants born to parents who happen to be diplomats or foreigners ''in transit'' -- understood for decades to mean in the country for fewer than 10 days -- is a Dominican citizen. Because of this, I never worried that my status as a citizen would ever be in doubt. I was wrong.

For rest of article: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/801626.html

Five Bailout Lessons From Katrina

2008-12-25T09:09:00.005-05:00

Hurricane Katrina victim, Lewis Reddick, stands in the FEMA Diamond travel trailer park in May of 2008. (Photo: Getty Images)

FIVE BAILOUT LESSONS FROM KATRINA

by Bill Quigley,

Wednesday 24 December 2008

t r u t h o u t Perspective

The US has committed nearly three trillion dollars to the financial bailout so far. The Federal Reserve has made more than $2 trillion in emergency loans and another $700 billion has been pledged through Congressional action. Much more money is coming.

Things better for your community? I didn't think so.

Welcome to Katrina world. Despite pledges of a hundred billion dollars, we are still in deep pain along the Gulf Coast. What happened?

Unless citizens are vigilant and demanding, the entire US will be subjected to the same forces that swept through the Gulf Coast after Katrina - spending huge amounts of money and leaving a second disaster behind. Read rest of article: http://www.truthout.org/122408A

Demonstrations in Haiti

2008-12-18T14:58:00.002-05:00

The Freeport News

Demonstrations in Haiti
December 18, 2008

Major demonstrations that took place in Haiti earlier this week could signal the beginning of another chapter in that troubled nation's history of political violence and instability.

Thousands of Haitians marched through the streets of Port-au-Prince and several other cities on Tuesday calling for the return of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide from exile in South Africa and demanding that President Rene Preval keep a promise he supposedly made two years ago to let Aristide return to Haiti.

"We voted for Preval because he promised to bring back Aristide," one demonstrator shouted, according to one wire service report on the demonstration.

What is most significant about these demonstrations is that they come at a time when the United States is about to swear in a new president, and there is every reason for supporters of Aristide to believe that the new Democratic administration may not be as anti-Aristide as the former Republican administration headed by President George W. Bush. Indeed, Aristide supporters are convinced that the armed uprising that forced him to resign the presidency early in 2004 and leave Haiti was supported by President Bush's administration. They also strongly believe that the administration of George Bush Sr., 13 years earlier, supported the military coup that deposed Aristide in 1991, just eight months after he won election.

For most of the time between 1991 and 1994, Aristide lived in the United States and generated strong support among the Congressional Black Caucus, which wields tremendous power within the Democratic Party. It was, therefore, not surprising that his return to power in Haiti in 1994 with strong backing from the U.S. military was during the first term of Democratic President Bill Clinton.

Undoubtedly, this fact is what has Aristide supporters now believing that history may repeat itself under the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama, who will be sworn in on January 20. Their optimism may very well be buttressed by the fact that one of Aristide's strongest supporters during his tenure as president was Congresswoman Maxine Waters, a democratic representative from the state of California, who had very strong ties to President Clinton.

Waters was quite outspoken in denouncing reported U.S. involvement in the uprising that forced Aristide to flee Haiti on February 29, 2004, for the Central African Republic, and she was said to be instrumental in arranging for then Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson to invite Aristide in March of that year to spend some time in Jamaica. After spending several weeks in Jamaica, Aristide left for exile in South Africa.

Obviously, supporters of Aristide are hoping that Waters and the Congressional Black Caucus will have some influence on the first elected black President of the United States, and that influence will translate into support for Aristide's return to Haiti. But very little has changed in Haiti with regard to the seemingly equal amount of love and hate that Aristide generates among the Haitian people. Therefore, his return to Haiti could very well trigger a new round of violence in that country that would certainly not be in the best interest of The Bahamas, which has had a very serious illegal Haitian immigrant problem for decades.

Minister of State for Immigration Branville McCartney, who is doing a remarkable job addressing the illegal immigrant problem, should brace himself to deal with a substantially increased influx of illegal Haitians if sustained violence were to erupt in Haiti should Aristide be allowed to return.

Actually, he would be wise to start preparing for that eventuality because the possibility of that happening now appears to be quite likely.

Little Haiti, photography by stefano Giovannini

2008-11-12T23:32:00.003-05:00

American Journal
Frame by Frame

Little Haiti

Photography by Stefano Giovannini
Music: Generation X by Wyclef Jean

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Haitian refugees fleeing Francois Duvalier's military dictatorship began arriving in Miami and settling in the neigborhoods of Lemon City, Little River and Buena Vista.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTO SLIDESHOW
http://www.american-journal.org/issue11/framebyframe.html

Anger & Hope: Haitian Families Furious Over School Collapse

2008-11-12T23:14:00.002-05:00

Photo borrowed from media (not from this article)

Anger & Hope: Haitian Families Furious Over School Collapse

November, 11 2008 By Bill Quigley

"No one cares about the children, living or dead," one furious father of children in the collapsed school outside of Port au Prince Haiti swore Sunday in an interview. "No one has come to provide any counseling to the children and families who survived. Nothing has been done for the families whose children died. The children now have no school and no books. They are sick and have nightmares. Government officials and people from all the NGOs, they all come, take pictures, make speeches and they leave us with nothing. We need action!"

Reports of the deaths caused by the collapse of the school on Friday continue to climb, reaching nearly 100 on Sunday. Several hundred other children escaped or were rescued. Many are still missing.

"The families of the victims are mad," the father said. "But it is not just the families who are mad. All the people know the government is not making good decisions. We do not trust that the government will help us. No doctors have come. Nobody comes except those who want to take pictures, make reports, and make money. We have been promised everything, but we have received nothing. Watch," he said. "After fifteen days, no one is even going to be talking about this. Only the victims and the families will be talking about it. The government and some other people will get some money out of the disaster and the children and their families and the community will see none of it."

Haiti has been plagued by a string of disasters this year with over 800 dead from four hurricanes that raked the island nation; many of those dead were also children. Rest of article at http://zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticlePrint/19582

Florida fireman Nathaniel Lasseur part of rescue teams in Haiti

2008-11-10T17:31:00.005-05:00

Fireman Nathaniel Lasseur carries a child who was rescued from under the rubble of a school that collapsed in Petionville, Haiti, Friday, Nov. 7, 2008. The 'La Promesse' school, where roughly 500 students crowded into several floors, collapsed during classes killing at least 47 people and injuring many more.

(AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

GOOD WORK NATE!

I KNOW YOUR HEART MUST BE BREAKING FOR ALL THE CHILDREN LOST AND THEIR GRIEVING FAMILIES. BUT I KNOW YOU COULD NOT STAND STILL IN FLORIDA IN THE FACE OF THIS TRAGIC DISASTER.

Haiti School Collapses...OCHA Situation Report No. 4

2008-11-10T09:24:00.001-05:00

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Date: 09 Nov 2008

Haiti: School Collapses in Port au Prince OCHA Situation Report No. 4

Search and rescue operations are on-going conducted by Haitian, French and American rescue teams that are working by shift through the debris of the La Promesse school that collapsed last Friday morning in Nerette, Petion ville commune, Port-au-Prince.

Teams identified the location of four dead bodies trapped beneath the concrete; however the precarious safety conditions of the collapsed building only allowed removing one corpse.
At this time chances to find survivors are very little. Nevertheless search and rescue teams are not giving up and they agreed that the demolition phase of the building starts in 2 hours - Haitian and the French teams will try to turn around the last step of concrete (about 800 Kg) - then allowing the three teams to continue search operations. Operations are expected to pursue until Tuesday.

Official information provided by the Haitian Civil Protection Unit shows that: 89 victims are reported dead;　150 wounded persons have been transferred to hospitals.

It is still unknown how many children attended school last Friday morning. The La Promesse school had capacity for 700 students in two shits. It is estimated that 250-260 children were in school when it crumbled, leaving students, teachers and some street vendors under the concrete.

The Government is preparing a plan to support the families of the victims.

Mia Farrow's Photostream/Slideshow

2008-11-08T22:39:00.001-05:00

CLICK LINK BELOW TO VIEW MIA FARROW'S PHOTOS FROM HER SEPTEMBER 2008 TRIP TO CITE SOLEIL & THE CITY OF GONAIVES WHILE IT WAS UNDER WATER AND MUD. GOOD AERIAL SHOTS OF GONAIVES. Click on options and check option to have descriptions on the screen. Following Haiti slides are photos from her trip to Africa.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30238868@N08/show/

In Focus Haiti: House Call in Hell by Antigone Barton

2008-11-08T04:54:00.005-05:00

In Focus Haiti: House Call in Hell
Learn more about this video at: http://pulitzercenter.org/showproject.cfm?id=51 This video takes you inside the walls of one of the worst prisons in the Western hemisphere. Overcrowding, poor sanitation, and a general lack of funding in Haiti's National Penitentiary have led to exorbitant HIV and Tuberculosis rates. Reporter Antigone Barton and videographer Stephen Sapienza take a first-hand look at these conditions and an American doctor working to correct them. After this video was taken, USAID authorized $200,000 in emergency funding for health and sanitation improvements. Visit the interactive narrative at: www.palmbeachpost.com/heroes

Haiti's Separate Worlds for Rich and Poor (Al Jazeera)

2008-11-08T04:39:00.002-05:00

Haiti's Separate Worlds for Rich and Poor - 19 Oct 08 -
Haiti may be one of the poorest countries in the world, but it's also home to some very wealthy communities. It's a situation that's creating a significant divide between the haves and the have-nots. Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo reports from the capital Port au Prince on the huge disparity between rich and poor.

NOTE: Man identified in video as Harry Desire is actually Harry's brother, Harres Désiré.

laughingmaze.blogspot.com

2008-11-07T14:38:00.001-05:00

Bethany & Rufus: Sail Away Ladies (Spirit of Woodstock) - Funny home videos are a click away

Haiti Hope

2008-11-06T18:33:00.003-05:00

Haitian Hope - Free videos are just a click away

BZ Films (http://www.bzfilms.com) is proud to have produced Haitian Hope, a short film bringing to light the issues in Haiti brought on by four storms that devastated the small country. The film was produced in conjunction with Partners In Health, an organization with the simple goal to do whatever it takes. Partners in Health is a worldwide organization dedicated to bringing health care to those who need it. For BZ, creating this film was moving and heart breaking. The goal was to bring awareness. BZ encourages you to watch, share and support Partners In Health.

Pregnant women desperate for free emergency care in Haiti

2008-11-06T14:33:00.005-05:00

Haiti 2007 © Julie Rémy
A patient waits for an available bed five hours after being admitted to the hospital.

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS

Press Release
November 6, 2008
Pregnant Women Desperate for Free Emergency Care in Haiti
Doctors Without Borders Struggling to Provide Care

Port-au-Prince, November 6, 2008 – Teams from the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) are struggling to provide free, quality emergency care to pregnant women and their babies in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti.

Over the last month, hundreds of women have desperately sought emergency obstetric care at Jude-Anne hospital in Port-au-Prince. In October, hospital staff assisted a record high of 56 women giving birth in one day and received 160 women waiting for hospitalization. The hospital has been so overwhelmed by demand that mothers have given birth in the hospital’s waiting room, the staircases, and in the washrooms, essentially anywhere they could find space.

Read rest of press release at http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/pr/release.cfm?id=3172

Cartoon du Jour - By Khalil

2008-10-30T12:13:00.002-04:00

CLICK ON CARTOON TO ENLARGE IMAGE

In the Aftermath of Hurricanes, Haiti Situation is Critical

2008-10-20T15:09:00.004-04:00

In the Aftermath of Hurricanes,

Haiti Situation is Critical

Mark Schneider 20 Oct 2008

World Politics Review Exclusive

A decade ago, when Hurricane Mitch devastated Central America, the world reacted with immediate, nearly unlimited generosity. Two weeks after that disaster, the U.S. already had pledged $263 million. Soon thereafter, Sweden hosted an international pledging conference that produced pledges of $9 billion to rebuild smarter and better.

By contrast, in barely three weeks beginning in mid-August, four hurricanes -- Fay, Gustav, Hannah and Ike -- lashed Haiti and the Caribbean, and the international response has been eerily muted. In Haiti, roads are still blocked, bridges are down, and the country's agricultural heartland is flooded. More than 800 were killed, 100,000 people are displaced and another 130,000 families suffered serious damage to their farms and homes. Local businesses are crippled. Food distribution to rural communities is critical but is nearly impossible because of the continuing mudslides. In hard-to-reach areas, there is a real danger of famine.

Despite the devastation, the U.S. has committed just $30 million for Haiti. The U.N. has sent out a humanitarian appeal for $107 million, but only $20 million has been received. In fact, the most significant pledges came from private philanthropies at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York last month. A number of private individuals and relief agencies are already struggling mightily with the challenges, but they are overwhelmed and under-supported.

The risk goes beyond humanitarian concerns. Haiti is so fragile today that it requires a U.N. peacekeeping force (MINUSTAH) to keep it afloat. Recall that food riots resulted in several deaths and occupation of public buildings in February and forced one Haitian government out of office. Political unrest and violence loom if there is not a rapid and extensive response to this natural disaster.

Not only was the economic infrastructure destroyed by the hurricanes, but public services were hard-hit as well. Police cars in Gonaives were swept away. In other cities and towns, courthouses were flooded. Without these basic tools in place, ongoing efforts to reform the security sector by vetting police, establishing standards for judges and responding to overcrowded jails will grind to a halt.

With school starting, many children will not be able to attend classes because dozens of school buildings are still being used as shelters, while others were simply washed away. Most families will be unable to pay school costs in a country where free public education exists for barely 20 percent of school-age children. Donors need to construct an urgent safety net by helping those families pay to enable the children to attend school.

A vast rebuilding and transformation is needed in virtually every sector. The same kind of comprehensive donors meeting that was held in Stockholm a decade ago should be organized by the international community to provide Haiti, which is far more desperate today than Central America was a decade ago, with a 10-year multibillion dollar pledge of recovery and reconstruction. That conference should also address the needs of other Caribbean countries harmed by the hurricanes, including Cuba.

Another immediate step that the Bush Administration should take is to order Temporary Protective Status for Haitians, which would ensure that current illegal migrants would not for now be forced back into an already overburdened Haiti.

If Haitian families cannot send their children to school, if their farms cannot produce, if roads and bridges are not repaired, and if electricity and clean water remain scarce, even the U.N. peacekeeping force may find it difficult to control the next riot.

Mark L. Schneider is the senior vice president of the International Crisis Group.

Photo: Members of the Jordanian battalion of the United Nations StabilizationMission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) rescue children from an orphanage destroyedby hurricane "Ike," Port au Prince, September 2008 (UN photo by Marco Dormino).

Hitting a Wall on Immigration by Bishop Thomas Wenski

2008-10-20T11:41:00.008-04:00

(Photo and caption borrowed from The Florida Catholic and are not connected with article below)

Bishop Thomas G. Wenski meets with Haiti's President Rene Preval July 16 at the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince. Bishop Wenski, who was in Haiti recently, said the country needs political stability to combat its extreme unemployment and poverty. Photo Father Andrew Small,OMI

===============================

The Washington Post

Hitting a Wall on Immigration

By Thomas Wenski

Monday, October 20, 2008; A15

As the presidential election heads into its final days, the issue of immigration remains largely unaddressed. It was not examined during the debates and is not high on either candidate's list of talking points. Congress has left the issue on the table. Sadly, this congressional reluctance has created a policy vacuum that has widened America's political divisions and left us with an inconsistent, ineffective and, in many cases, inhumane national policy.

The failure of comprehensive immigration reform last year, when Congress bowed to a vocal minority, unleashed a torrent of initiatives designed to demonstrate that the U.S. government can enforce our laws and secure our borders. In truth, intermittent work site raids, increased local law enforcement involvement and the creation of a wall along parts of our southern border, among other efforts, have done little to address the challenges presented by illegal immigration.

The most visible of these initiatives has been the work site raids in cities and towns across the nation. While these enforcement actions meet the political need to show government's law enforcement capabilities, they have had minimal effect on the number of undocumented workers in the United States.

Instead, they have caused dislocation and disruption in immigrant communities and victimized permanent U.S. residents and citizens, including children. The sweeping nature of these raids -- sometimes involving hundreds of law enforcement personnel with weapons -- has made it difficult for those arrested to secure basic due-process legal rights, including access to counsel. Some families have been split up indefinitely.

The involvement of local law enforcement in immigration enforcement, most prominently in Arizona and parts of the South, has greatly harmed the trust between immigrant neighborhoods and law enforcement and has diverted police from the work of apprehending criminals. The border wall and an unprecedented immigration enforcement buildup along our southern border have failed to deter new entrants to the United States and have discouraged immigrants from leaving.

Perhaps most damaging are the adverse, long-term effects these policies have had on immigrant communities. The overriding emotion many immigrants feel is fear. Not only do legal immigrants worry that a loved one may be swept away in a work site raid or after a knock at the door at home, they are fearful for their own futures -- and the futures of their children -- in the United States. This is not the way to encourage integration and responsible citizenship.

While some organizations that oppose immigration are delighted by this and hope such an atmosphere will lead to a mass exodus of illegal and legal immigrants, they are likely to be disappointed. What they do not acknowledge is that 70 percent of the undocumented have lived in this country for five years or longer and have no home to return to. These people identify themselves more as Americans than anything else and would rather live here in the shadows than take their U.S.-citizen children back to a place they do not know.

Opponents like to argue that our economy does not need the work of immigrants, now or in the future. Again, they are wrong. The Labor Department predicts that in the years ahead, despite the current economic slowdown, a shortage of low-skilled labor will exist in several important industries, for some beginning as early as 2010. As baby boomers begin retiring, immigrants will help support them by paying billions into the Social Security system.

To many elected officials, immigration has become the new "third rail" of American politics. Refraining from addressing this pressing domestic issue, however, will elevate tensions in states and localities, further alienate immigrants and their communities, and tacitly affirm the acceptance of a hidden and permanent underclass in our country.

The silver lining of this dark cloud upon our immigrant history is that it demonstrates that an enforcement-only approach to illegal immigration is ineffective and contrary to our national interests. A new administration and new Congress will be forced to act -- this time in a broad and balanced manner. Otherwise, the American people will be left pondering a wall and wondering why it is not working.

The writer is the Catholic bishop of Orlando and a consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration.

Block the Vote by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. & Greg Palast

2008-10-20T08:46:00.004-04:00

http://www.stealbackyourvote.org/

Block the Vote

Will the GOP's campaign to deter new voters and discard Democratic ballots determine the next president?

By ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. & GREG PALAST

"I don't think the Democrats get it. All these new rules and games … could flip the vote to the GOP in half a dozen states."

Rolling Stone Magazine is making this important investigative story available on the net in its entirety, free of charge.

Read this excerpt, then read it all on-line at www.RollingStone.com Or download it all, with the Kennedy-Palast voter guide, Steal Back Your Vote, at www.StealBackYourVote.org.

“The new registrations thrown out, the existing registrations scrubbed, the spoiled ballots, the provisional ballots that were never counted - and what you have is millions of voters, more than enough to swing the presidential election, quietly being detached from the electorate by subterfuge.

"Jim Crow was laid to rest, but his cousins were not," says Donna Brazile. "We got rid of poll taxes and literacy tests but now have a second generation of schemes to deny our citizens their franchise." Come November, the most crucial demographic may prove to be Americans who have been denied the right to vote. If Democrats are to win the 2008 election, they must not simply beat John McCain at the polls - they must beat him by a margin that exceeds the level of GOP vote tampering.

- From the current Rolling Stone

These days, the old west rail hub of Las Vegas, New Mexico, is little more than a dusty economic dead zone amid a boneyard of bare mesas. In national elections, the town overwhelmingly votes Democratic: More than 80 percent of all residents are Hispanic, and one in four lives below the poverty line. On February 5th, the day of the Super Tuesday caucus, a school-bus driver named Paul Maez arrived at his local polling station to cast his ballot. To his surprise, Maez found that his name had vanished from the list of registered voters, thanks to a statewide effort to deter fraudulent voting. For Maez, the shock was especially acute: He is the supervisor of elections in Las Vegas.

Maez was not alone in being denied his right to vote. On Super Tuesday, one in nine Democrats who tried to cast ballots in New Mexico found their names missing from the registration lists. The numbers were even higher in precincts like Las Vegas, where nearly 20 percent of the county's voters were absent from the rolls. With their status in limbo, the voters were forced to cast "provisional" ballots, which can be reviewed and discarded by election officials without explanation. On Super Tuesday, more than half of all provisional ballots cast were thrown out statewide.

This November, what happened to Maez will happen to hundreds of thousands of voters across the country. In state after state, Republican operatives - the party's elite commandos of bare-knuckle politics - are wielding new federal legislation to systematically disenfranchise Democrats. If this year's race is as close as the past two elections, the GOP's nationwide campaign could be large enough to determine the presidency in November. "I don't think the Democrats get it," says John Boyd, a voting-rights attorney in Albuquerque who has taken on the Republican Party for impeding access to the ballot. "All these new rules and games are turning voting into an obstacle course that could flip the vote to the GOP in half a dozen states."

Download the rest – and get the Kennedy-Palast comic book/voter guide – at http://www.stealbackyourvote.org/.

Or, read it on-line, and watch the video, at www.Rollingstone.com/issue1064

Experience vs. Inexperience

2008-10-17T09:04:00.006-04:00

Photographs by Associated Press
HONORS FROM THE CHAIRMAN Senator John McCain presenting Freedom Awards from the International Republican Institute to Vice President Dick Cheney in 2001; Condoleezza Rice, now the secretary of state, in 2004; and President Bush in 2005.

(photo and caption not connected to below email and is borrowed from New York Times article entitled Democracy Group Gives Donors Access to McCain)

received in email today. good piece on McCain's role in undermining democracies and plotting coups!:

October 17, 2008

Experience vs. Inexperience

by Ray Torres

Dear Voter,

My knowledge of John McCain foreign policy experience is disturbing. In the 1980s he served on the advisory board to the U.S. chapter of the U.S. Council for World Freedom. They worked with the CIA to fund the Contra war, who mission was to overthrow the democratically elected government of Nicaragua. In 1983 I was in Nicaragua with Witness for Peace and accompanied a bus load of widows from the Rio Coco farming cooperative whose husbands had been massacred by the Contras. We went to the U.S. embassy and dumped the American bullet casings at the gate of the Embassy. The Congress with pressure from Witness for Peace cut off funding to the Contras but the Council for World Freedom kept illegally funding the blood shed. This summer I returned with Witness for Peace to Nicaragua and meet with the Veterans of the Contra War, the former Contras who said that their American funders promised them land and money but the response from the Embassy, “We make a lot of promises that we don’t keep.”

In 1993, McCain became Chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI) a post which he has held for the past 15 years. The IRI has intervened in about 30 countries mostly with US taxpayers money. One of their programs was the Haiti Democratic Project that paid Sweatshop Owners and Politicians to come to Miami and plot how to undermine the popularly elected President. The situation got so bad that the US Ambassador complained that the IRI was undermining negotiations for a political settlement. This disruption set the stage for the violent coup of 2004 that overthrew the democratically elected President of Haiti. In the early 1990s I heard President Aristide of Haiti preach at First United Methodist Church of Germantown, when he was in exile in the 90s. In 1994 I went to Haiti with our church delegation to twin with a Peasant Association which is still transforming Haiti. In 2006 went on a Witness for Peace trip to Venezuela and confronted the Embassy staff with the IRI involved with the April 2002 failed coup in Venezuela. The President of the IRI congratulated the coup leader and then had to retract the statement when hours later the people threw off the coup. The strange response from the embassy staff, “Our mouths are duck taped on that issue”. We have no control over what a non-governmental organization like the International Republican Institute does in Venezuela, for that you need to see Washington. McCain needs to be held accountable for his role in undermining the will of Poor people and increasing their misery. The Poor I have worked with have had enough of McCain leadership that favors the rich over the poor. Barack Obama inexperience has to be weighed against this sad record of leadership.

Ray Torres, 144 W. Durham St. Phila., PA 19119 # 215 753 9022 (for identification purpose only) co Chair of Haiti Committee, First United Methodist Church of Germantown

(FUMCOG) raytorres2@verizon.net Chair of the Mid-Atlantic Witness for Peace and co-leader of the Haiti delegation to bring back Philadelphia’s Ash from Haiti 1997

Partner in Progress, Haiti, board member

"Haiti: Affirmative Engagement or Malign Neglect?"

2008-10-17T07:45:00.003-04:00

"Haiti: Affirmative Engagement or Malign Neglect?"
Donald Steinberg* in the Haitian Times, 9 October 2008

In December 2000, just before a newly elected George Bush took office, former National Security Advisor Anthony Lake and I went to see Jean-Bertrand Aristide in Port-au-Prince. Haiti was still in a state of confusion following flawed elections, tarnishing the mandate under which Aristide would return to the presidency. Already, Jesse Helms had publicly warned Bush that Aristide had surrounded himself with “narco-traffickers, criminals and other anti-democratic forces.” Helms’ aide, Roger Noriega, slated to become US ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), had a visceral hatred of Aristide, whom he frequently derided as a “defrocked psychopath.”

Our message to Aristide was simple: to have a shot at a reasonable relationship with the new Bush team, he had to commit publicly to restore democracy to Haiti and address American concerns about illegal migration, human rights abuses and drug trafficking.

Aristide got it. He quickly wrote to President Clinton and pledged to redress the faults of the flawed elections, bring opposition members into his government, invite the OAS to oversee political negotiations, permit international monitoring of human rights, work out an economic reform package with the IMF and World Bank, and cooperate with the US to stem the flow of boat people and cocaine across the Caribbean to Florida. See rest of commentary at http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5723&l=1

* Donald Steinberg, deputy president of International Crisis Group, served as the State Department’s Special Haiti Coordinator from 1999-2001.

Cartoon du Jour - By Khalil

2008-10-15T14:25:00.003-04:00

Cartoon du Jour - By Khalil

If the cartoon doesn't load automatically, please visit the following URL to manually load the cartoon:http://www.bendib.com/newones/2008/october/small/10-2-Can

Wicked cartoons by America's Most Wanted Political Cartoonist. Enjoy!

Check-out-the-cartoon-book

(Received in email. Thanks Max!)

Mud disaster follows hurricanes in Gonaives, Haiti

2008-10-15T09:48:00.004-04:00

Early photo of Gonaives after storm (not connected to this article but gives good idea of extent of mud that flowed into Gonaives and apparently is still there)

Source: Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
Date: 14 Oct 2008

Mud disaster follows hurricanes in Gonaives, Haiti

Donal Reilly is CRS senior emergency advisor in Haiti where he worked from 1996 to 2002. He returned to the country in September.

Gonaives is a mess. Haiti is a hard-pressed country on a good day. I used to work in the slums in Port-au-Prince, but I've never seen this amount of destruction. The water was a huge problem at first. It rose past the first floor levels of the buildings at the center of town. People who worked in Ache described it like the Tsunami effect, but the water didn't come from the sea.

Now with the water receding, the silt is settling and the mud is becoming more of a problem. I've never seen a place so choked by debris. The UN has calculated 2.5 million cubic meters of mud have been deposited in the city alone. I estimate it would take removing about 400 truckloads of mud a day, every day for a year to clear Gonaives

With all the mud on the streets there is no drainage. The drains are full. The septic tanks are full. The pit latrines are full. Gonaives is basically a city without sanitation.

People are already cleaning the mud out of their homes and business, but the problem is, there is nowhere to dump the mud. So they put it in the streets and it piles up and hinders mobility. If it rains again before the streets are cleared their houses will effectively be turned into swimming pools. This is because their buildings are at a lower level than the streets around them. Since there is no drainage, the water just stays there.

Haiti: Survivors in Flooded Village Stranded with No Help

2008-10-15T09:35:00.004-04:00

The area of Mamont, in the Artibonite region, remains partially submerged under water.

INCLUDES Reuters Video: Submerged Village in Haiti

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS Press Release
October 2, 2008

Haiti: Survivors in Flooded Village Stranded with No Help

One month after storms, needs remain huge; people being forced from shelters

Port-au-Prince/New York, October 3, 2008 — A month after the last tropical storms and hurricanes hit Haiti, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) medical teams have found a whole village partially submerged and its 2,400 remaining inhabitants stranded with no help.

READ REST OF STORY BY CLICKING http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/pr/release.cfm?id=3135

HPSP Annual Benefit for Haiti in Woodstock, New York

2008-10-06T21:35:00.006-04:00

THE HAITIAN PEOPLE'S SUPPORT PROJECT

WOODSTOCK, NEW YORK

(I attended this group's first annual benefit in 1990 in Woodstock and they are still going strong today with various projects throughout Haiti and for Haitians in the Dominican Republic. The art and crafts are directly from Haiti, the dancing fun and the restaurant is one of the best in the Woodstock area!)

Soñando! Sounding Out the Latin Beat!

10th Annual Benefit Dance for the children of Haiti

Haitian Art and Craft Sale

Date: Friday, November 14, 2008

Time: 9pm-1am...

Craft Sale @ 7:30 PM

Place: New World Home Cooking Rte. 212

(between Saugerties & Woodstock)

Suggested Donation: $20

For More Information Call: 679-7320 or 246-0900

Or Contact Pierre Leroy – pierre_leroy2003@yahoo.com

http://www.haitiansupportproject.org/

Haïti, sur le passage des ouragans

2008-10-06T21:30:00.003-04:00

Haiti, the passage of the storms, September 28, 2008

Graphic 8 minute news video by France 24 and Le magazine de l'action humanitaire
Par FRANCE 24 (texte) / Nicolas Ransom et Mary McCarthy (vidéo

http://www.france24.com/fr/20080928-humanitaire-haiti-cyclone-catastrophe-naturelle-gonaives

Death of Detained Immigrant Inspires Online Game With Goal of Educating Players

2008-10-06T21:13:00.007-04:00

( Photo borrowed from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/nyregion/05detain.html,
Few Details on Immigrants Who Died in Custody by Nina Bernstein, May 5, 2008)

Death of Detained Immigrant Inspires Online Game With Goal of Educating Players

by Nina Bernstein
The New York Times, October 5, 2008

The death last year of Boubacar Bah, a Guinean tailor held in a New Jersey jail for overstaying his visa, showed immigration detention to be one of the most secretive corners of American life. But now Mr. Bah’s story is being retold in an unusually public way: in an online video game.
The game at (http://www.homelandgitmo.com/)— created by Breakthrough, an international human rights organization in New York that is trying to get the public behind efforts to strengthen oversight, due process and medical help in immigration detention — uses Mr. Bah’s story to walk players through a simulated detention center, and into the documented ordeals of other detainees. They include a pregnant woman kept in shackles during labor and an Army veteran held for three years while he fought deportation.

The video game (which can be found at http://www.homelandgitmo.com/) casts the player as a reporter seeking clues in the death of Mr. Bah, 52, who suffered a skull fracture and brain hemorrhages in the Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey. A cartoon guide leads the way to actual video testimonials of former detainees and information that unlocks the mystery of Mr. Bah’s fate.

CLICK ON http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/nyregion/05detain.html?_r=1&oref=slogin to read rest of article.

Haiti is in ruins by Marleine Bastien

2008-09-26T10:32:00.005-04:00

CARIBBEAN CROSSROADS: Haiti is in ruins

BY Marleine Bastien, South Florida Times, September 26, 2008

Tande se Youn- We se de.

That’s Creole for the saying, “Hearing it is one thing, seeing it is another.’’

I arrived in Haiti last Friday with a big delegation of city officials, Miami City Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones, North Miami City Councilman Jacques Despinosse, state Rep. Yolly Roberson, community activists and city employees with a sense of purpose.
First step: Cite Soleil. Within a New York minute, we were surrounded by an army of men, children and women, including pregnant women.

Marie wanted us to see her still inundated one-room house. Her earthly possessions were meager. A makeshift bed supported by four blocks and flattened carton boxes served as a mattress. She had a few rags. The family’s only clothes were the bedcovers.

In the middle of the bed lay a very small, 6-day-old baby. She was born at term, but she looked so tiny. She could have been mistaken for a doll. Her name is Denise. She cried a very weak, barely audible cry. She had not had anything to eat all day. It was 4 o’clock. Her mother was so malnourished that her breast milk had dried up.

Read rest of article at http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1960&Itemid=188

HAITI Road Conditions Map, 24 Sep 08

2008-09-25T16:42:00.008-04:00

Weeks after four storms hit Haiti, it is still plagued by collapsed bridges, potential mudslides, flooding, etc.

See map for updated details. http://www.logcluster.org/ht08a/road-transport/road-condition-map/ Click on pdf file to open large, elaborate full-color map.

"This map needs your help! If you have updated information, contact 509 3701 2355 or bernard.wright@wfp.org "

Haiti, still over the brink by Edwidge Danticat

2008-09-24T11:10:00.011-04:00

Dog circles mud cakes for sale (photo accompanying Danticat article in Philadelphia Inquirer online)

Gonaives, and much of the country, under mud. Loss of lives, livestock, homes, infrastructure, four key bridges, crops that were ready for harvest.... (photo not part of original article)

Haiti Still Over the Brink

Hurricane's devastation requires the world's attention.

Philadelphia Inquirer, September 24, 2008

Edwidge Danticat is a Haitian-American writer living in Miami

Haiti desperately needs your help.

While most Americans have understandably been concerned about Hurricane Ike's assault on Texas, people in Haiti just a few hundred miles away are suffering an even worse fate.

More than a week after Ike assaulted Haiti, people in Gonaives, the country's third-largest city, were still stranded on rooftops and trapped by rivers of mud. Others in remote areas remained huddled in schools and churches, cut off from the capital by washed-out bridges and roads.

At least 1,000 deaths have been reported. A million people remained homeless. Crops and livestock had been wiped out, making a chronically dire hunger situation worse.

Haiti is not just on the brink of disaster, as Haitian President Rene Preval noted in his plea for international aid. It's over the brink.

Right now, Haiti needs all the help it can get, with food, drinking water, medical supplies and shelter at the top of the list.

Haiti's neighbors and the international community must not only find the will and compassion to help the country's desperate survivors, but they also need to ensure a steady supply of aid down the road. Haiti's problems did not recede with the floodwaters, and the international community must recognize this.

For its part, the Haitian government, which had begun to invest heavily in agriculture in the devastated regions, needs to continue to pursue long-term solutions, including large-scale reforestation and alternative fuels to replace the charcoal production that has left Haiti with less than 2 percent tree cover.

It is also vital that Haitians living and working in the United States not be deported back to Haiti at this devastating time. Deportations threaten the most consistent type of aid that Haitians receive. It comes in the form of $2 billion in remittances from friends and relatives abroad.

The U.S. government may fear that granting Haitians temporary protection status will encourage mass migration to U.S. shores. However, it is mass starvation and political instability that have encouraged Haitian sea migration more than anything else.

Haitians are strong and proud and determined, and most will survive this latest in a string of political and natural disasters. But at this most vulnerable time, they need your help to overcome the immediate crisis and implement long-term solutions.

Want to help? Please check out these two organizations:

Partners In Health (pih.org), founded by Paul Farmer, provides medical care to the poor and is participating in relief efforts.

The Lambi Fund of Haiti (lambifund.org) supports sustainable development by channeling resources to community-based institutions.

E-mail Edwidge Danticat at pmproj@progressive.org.

Haiti Needs Our Help

2008-09-24T10:44:00.007-04:00

Appeal from New York City Council Speaker, Christine C. Quinn:

Dear New Yorkers,

I am writing today in hopes that you might join me in spreading the word about efforts currently underway to provide badly-needed relief to hurricane victims in Haiti.

As you know, this past month, three deadly hurricanes left more than 100 dead and tens of thousands homeless in Haiti before barreling into the U.S. and wreaking havoc and destruction along the Gulf Coast.

On Thursday, following similar relief efforts to our neighbors in the South, Governor Paterson directed the opening of the New York Army National Guard Armory in Brooklyn to allow for the collection of donated relief supplies for the hurricane-stricken island nation of Haiti.
Items in high demand for shipment to Haiti include:

Bottled water (packed in cases or six packs at a minimum). Single bottles are inappropriate donations since they would have to be repackaged.

Rice (dried in bags)
Beans (dried cans only)
Sterno canisters
Tarpaulin (of any size, preferably 10 ft. x 10 ft. or larger) - to be used for both roofing and flooring
Nylon cord (100 ft. rolls)
Hygiene items limited to toothbrushes, toothpaste, mild soaps
New underclothes (children sizes)
New hand towels

Soldiers from the New York National Guard will be on hand to receive, sort and prepare donations at the following locations:

Bedford Armory1579 Bedford Avenue at Union Street, BrooklynSept. 18 - Sept. 26, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building163 West 125th at Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., HarlemSept. 18 - Sept. 26, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

As the aftermath of these hurricanes continues to unfold, it’s important that we do what we can to help alleviate some of the pain and suffering in Haiti.

The Council and I have already begun reaching out to our constituents to encourage them to collect and donate. If you could please pass this information along to the members of your community and encourage them to do the same, we’d deeply appreciate it. Working together, we can help make a difference in the lives of the Haitian people.

In closing, I would like to thank all of our state and city elected officials, especially Governor Paterson, Council Members Mathieu Eugene and Larry Seabrook, and the members of the Council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus, for heading up this important relief effort.
I would also like to thank our brave men and women of the New York National Guard for once again stepping in during a time of crisis to help those in need.

For more information about the Haitian relief effort, please call (212)681-4010 or e-mail relief@chamber.state.ny.us.

Best wishes.
Sincerely,
Christine C. Quinn
Speaker, New York City Council

Donors ignore UN Haiti storm appeal

2008-09-23T16:40:00.001-04:00

Donors ignore UN Haiti storm appeal

Reuters AlertNet, 23 Sep 2008

Written by: Emma Batha

U.N. agencies are pressing donors to cough up cash for storm-battered Haiti after receiving only a tiny fraction of the funds needed to help hundreds of thousands of survivors living on the edge.

The $108 million flash appeal launched almost a fortnight ago has attracted just $3.7 million, according to the U.N. relief co-ordination office known as OCHA.

"It's 3.4 percent covered. That's very, very low. I don't know what people are waiting for. I have no clue," said OCHA spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker.

"Given the scale of the disaster and the relative visibility of it in the news media, one is surprised. It was not a disaster that was here one day and gone the next."

Four storms - Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike - have hammered Haiti since mid August, killing 600 people and leaving 800,000 in dire need of help after destroying houses, infrastructure and crops.

Bunker said she was puzzled that no one had donated money towards the United Nations' food operations, an area that normally attracts relatively generous funds in emergency appeals.

"It's especially surprising given what we all know about the food situation in Haiti and how much, even before the hurricane, people were being squeezed by high food prices," she added.

More than half Haiti's population subsists on $1 a day. Anger over rising food and fuel prices triggered deadly riots earlier this year, bringing down the government.

Bunker said donors had also failed to give money to other crucial sectors in the U.N. appeal, including water and sanitation, agriculture, economic recovery and education.

Although they have pledged another $18 million for Haiti, they have not yet turned these promises into cash.

By contrast, the U.N. appeal after the cyclone that hit Myanmar in May is 52 percent funded and the food requests are 83 percent covered. The more recent U.N. appeal for Georgia is 42 percent covered.

CROPS WIPED OUT

The World Food Programme, the U.N. food agency, said its operation in Haiti was proving very difficult because of the colossal destruction to infrastructure, which means most aid can only be brought in by air or sea.

"We would urge donors who have promised money to get it in our coffers as soon as possible so we can keep our pipelines flowing," said WFP spokeswoman Hilary Clarke.

"Our biggest concern is that an estimated 70 percent of Haiti's agriculture has been destroyed, which is indeed extremely serious," she added.

"The hurricane has come at a very bad time because crops like rice and maize were seedlings and it has washed them all away. And cash crop trees like mango and banana trees have suffered terrible devastation."

Clarke said another major worry was that many people who had lost their homes needed to buy basic household items, reducing the amount they could spend on food.

WFP has so far delivered 1,470 metric tonnes of food to more than 313,000 people. By the end of the week, it will have the use of four boats and two helicopters. Another two helicopters and 20 off-road trucks are on their way.

Outside the U.N. flash appeal, OCHA said donors had given some $17 million in bilateral aid to Haiti and promised another $6 million.

Reuters AlertNet

Haiti Relief Operations: Who is Doing What Where? [Part 1: Governments]

2008-09-23T00:12:00.000-04:00

Haiti Relief Operations: Who is Doing What Where? [Part 1: Governments]

Changes in U.S. policies would calm Haiti's storm

2008-09-22T04:31:00.007-04:00

Indystar.com

September 22, 2008

Changes in U.S. policies would calm Haiti's storm

Fran Quigley

Vicious storms transformed the streets of Gonaives, Haiti, into mud-choked, fetid rivers. Rotting animal carcasses floated between homes where people had scrambled to the rooftops, clutching their belongings and praying for the waters to recede. Thousands more people were forced to the roads, carrying goats and children as they searched for shelter, food and water. Death toll estimates climbed to more than 1,000.

This was Haiti earlier this month. But it was also Haiti in 2004, when Tropical Storm Jeanne killed 3,000 people. And it will be Haiti again -- maybe next week, maybe next year, but assuredly soon -- unless the United States changes our policies that hurt the people of our hemisphere's poorest nation.

In Haiti, the deadly consequences of tropical storms and hurricanes are more of a political tragedy than a meteorological one. Other Caribbean nations, including Cuba, were battered by the storms but suffered only a handful of casualties. As Partners in Health's Dr. Paul Farmer wrote from submerged Gonaives two weeks ago, Haiti is suffering from a distinctly un-natural disaster.

"The real storm damage doesn't come from the ocean waves," says Brian Concannon of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. "It comes from the water pouring down from the mountains stripped bare of any trees and into communities with horribly inadequate drainage systems. Many poor Haitians have little alternative but to cut down trees to sell for charcoal, and the government of Haiti doesn't have the ability to install a decent drainage system or coordinate disaster response."

Concannon and other advocates for Haiti, including thousands of Hoosiers who are active in the 68 Indiana Roman Catholic parishes that have relationships with Haitian counterparts, identify several solutions the United States can kick-start immediately.

First, the Senate can pass the Jubilee Act, which would cancel the debt of impoverished countries like Haiti. "Haiti is sending $1 million each week to banks to pay off debt when that money could be much better spent on reforestation or disaster planning," Concannon says. The House version of the Jubilee Act passed in April, while the Senate version, co-sponsored by Sen. Richard Lugar, awaits a vote.

Sen. Evan Bayh should follow Lugar's lead, and Congress should pass the Jubilee Act this fall. Forcing Haitians victimized by oppressive regimes to repay the debts incurred by their past dictators is like forcing a battered wife to repay the pawn shop for the cost of the knife used to attack her.

Second, President Bush can grant temporary protected status to Haitians currently living in the United States, which would allow those non-residents to work without fear of deportation and send money back to suffering families. Haiti's economy is so weak that these remittances already equal an estimated 25 percent of the country's gross domestic product. Granting short-term lenience for immigrants from similarly struggling countries like El Salvador, Somalia and Sudan has helped provide the kind of short-term relief Haiti needs now.

Third, we can reform U.S. trade policy that has crippled Haiti's agricultural economy. The recent global spike in food costs leaves many Haitians so desperate that they are forced to literally eat dirt. That shouldn't happen in Haiti, which as recently as the 1980s produced all the rice needed to feed the country. Now, subsidized U.S. imports have forced Haitian farmers out of the market. "I know Haitian rice farmers who got so little return on their crops they couldn't afford to pay for help to harvest it," Concannon says. "So they left the rice unharvested in the fields."

Unless we change U.S. policies immediately, it is the country of Haiti that is being left in the water to rot.

Quigley is an attorney and director of operations for the Indiana-Kenya Partnership. Quigley is an attorney and director of operations for the Indiana-Kenya Partnership.

La Troupe Makandal upcoming events: The Color of All Shadows: A Tribute to Makandal

2008-09-21T11:44:00.010-04:00

Friday, October 10, 2008, 4 pm (roundtable) and 7 pm (performance)

The Color of All Shadows: A Tribute to Makandal

Please join Makandal in a celebration of the life and the magical passing of our company's namesake.

Precisely two hundred and fifty years ago French colonists arrested the maroon Makandal in northern St. Domingue for his plot to liberate the island. Mystery surrounds the story of his execution, which, according to many, never happened. Our program begins with a roundtable discussion with scholars and audience, who will attempt to sort out legend and fact and explore the reasons for Makandal's relative obscurity in the pantheon of s/heroes.

The Troupe will follow with a performance bringing together music, song, dance, literature, and visual arts.

Presentors and performers include Dr. Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee; Marie Lily Cerat, Haitian Bilingual Technical Assistance Center at Brooklyn College; Dr. Frantz-Antoine Leconte, Kingsborough Community College; Dr. Lois Wilcken, La Troupe Makandal/City Lore; Frisner Augustin and La Troupe Makandal; Graphics by Kesler Pierre; and Edgar NKosi White.

Roundtable: FREE.

Performance: $10, FREE for students with Hunter College ID.

The Color of All Shadows has received support in part from the Puffin Foundation, the New York Council for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Location:Ida K. Lang Recital Hall, Room 424 Hunter College North. Take the 6 subway to 68 Street/Hunter College. Use the entrance on East 69 Street between Park And Lexington Avenues. Take the elevator to the fourth floor and make a left toward the Lang Recital Hall.

See photo, hear music and learn more at http://www.makandal.org/

Haiti and the Jean Dominique Investigation: An Interview with Mario Joseph and Brian Concannon

2008-09-19T11:53:00.007-04:00

Jean Dominique and wife Michele Montas (r) at birthday event for Jean-Bertrand Aristide at Aristide's home, July 15, 1995, Photo by Michelle Karshan (not part of the published article) (Copyright)

The Journal of Haitian Studies, Vol. 13 No. 2 © 2007

Jeb Sprague, University of Manchester

Haiti and the Jean Dominique Investigation: An Interview with Mario Joseph and Brian Concannon

On April 3, 2000, Jean Dominique, Haiti’s most popular journalist, was shot four times in the chest as he arrived for work at Radio Haïti. The station’s security guard Jean-Claude Louissant was also killed in the attack. The President of Haiti, René Préval, ordered three days of official mourning and 16,000 people reportedly attended his funeral. A documentary film released in 2003, The Agronomist, by Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme featured Dominique’s inspiring life. However, since Dominique’s death the investigation into his murder has sparked a constant point of controversy. Attorneys Mario Joseph and Brian Concannon worked for the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI), a human rights lawyer’s office supported by both the Préval and Aristide governments. The BAI was tasked with helping to investigate the killings. A discussion with the two attorneys reveals the unpublished perspective of former government insiders who worked on the case and their thoughts on the role of former Senator Dany Toussaint, the investigation headed by Judge Claudy Gassant, the mobilization around the case, and recent revelations made by Guy Philippe, a leader of the ex-military organization Front pour la Libération et la Réconstruction Nationales (FLRN). This interview was conducted over the telephone and by e-mail during April and May of 2007.

JS: It has been seven years since Jean Dominique was killed. From your perspective, how did the investigation into the killing of Jean Dominique begin?

BC: The investigation started immediately. Police came to the scene a few minutes after the killing. There were lots of false starts, because the system, although functional, was not up to a case this tough, but there was a continuous effort to investigate.

MJ: After Dominique was killed there was a huge public funeral at a sports stadium in Port-au-Prince. Both the current President Préval and the former President Aristide participated in the funeral. Both were visibly upset. First under the Préval, and later the second Aristide administrations, our legal group the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) was tasked with following up on the case. We were initially asked by Michèle Montas, Jean Dominique’s widow, who asked me to represent her as a civil lawyer, as I was doing for the victims of the Raboteau massacre. But we were also asked to work on the case by both Presidents. Soon after Aristide was elected, and from time to time during his administration (2001-2004) we talked with him about the Jean Dominique case. We asked him, as he was the executive, what he wanted us to do on the case? He answered, “Find the murderers.”

JS: Who were the initial suspects and how did the investigation evolve?

BC: There were lots of leads at the beginning. There were leads pointing to Dany Toussaint but also several other people, including several members of what became the Group of 184.2 Some of the leads were based on witness reports. Some were based on tips—we set up a hotline in our office for tips, and the number was broadcast on Radio Haiti. Other leads were based on
circumstantial evidence.

MJ: We did not see all the evidence—under Haitian tradition the judge’s pre-trial investigation is secret—and we never saw direct evidence of Mr. Toussaint’s involvement in the crime. But there was circumstantial evidence, and our position was always that all the leads should be followed against everyone, including Dany Toussaint. Presidents Préval and Aristide both told us the same thing—pursue the case and the leads. Judge Claudy Gassant was named investigating judge on the case, I believe sometime in mid-2000, and headed up the investigation. But we felt already in 2000 that many people were using the investigation as a political tool for undermining the Lavalas movement (Aristide did not take office until 2001). The pressures from the international community and elite Haitian civil society were to pursue people based on their connection with Fanmi Lavalas rather than based on the available evidence. We were not involved in any discussions of whether or not Dany Toussaint was guilty. We did not then and still do not have enough information to take a position on that. Our interest was in the process—were all the leads, no matter where they led, being followed? Was Haitian law, and the rights of the victims, and of the accused, respected? We felt there certainly was good reason to support investigating Mr. Toussaint, and we supported that investigation. But we were also concerned that promising leads involving other targets were being neglected.

TO READ ENTIRE INTERVIEW CLICK LINK BELOW:

http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~jhsprague/Sprague_2007_JOHS.pdf

Constant Sorrow

2008-09-12T10:55:00.002-04:00

By Bernice Yeung
Mother Jones, May/June 2008 Issue

Commentary: It wasn't Toto Constant's human rights violations that finally landed the Haitian paramilitary leader in prison. It was mortgage fraud in Long Island.

on a weekday morning last August, I sat in the visiting room of the Coxsackie Correctional Facility in upstate New York gazing at the elaborate concertina wire that surrounds it. After a long wait, a metal gate clanged shut and in walked Emmanuel Constant, founder and former leader of the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti (fraph), an organization linked to the rapes and murders of pro-democracy activists in Haiti during the early 1990s. He smiled pleasantly and extended his hand for a firm shake.

I'd seen footage of Constant back in his heyday sporting tailored suits before a throng of microphones and firing up rallies with a raised fist. Now he appeared somber in state-issued forest-green slacks and a yellow polo shirt. He had the same long, equine face and pronounced jowls, but at 51, his short Afro was flecked with gray and he wore drugstore-style glasses. Working the media is perhaps Constant's greatest skill—he is personable, charming, even likable. But he wasn't ready to trust a surprise visitor, he said, so we made small talk, chatting about the public-speaking and memoir-writing classes he'd taken prior to lockup and about his jailhouse reading of John Grisham and self-help books.

Continues at http://motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2008/05/witness-constant-sorrow.html

"I have never seen anything as painful": Paul Farmer writes

2008-09-12T10:42:00.001-04:00

"I have never seen anything as painful":Paul Farmer writes from flood ravaged Haiti
On Saturday, September 6, PIH co-founder Paul Farmer wrote to colleagues and supporters of Partners In Health describing the devastation caused by flooding from Hurricanes Gustav and Hanna in Haiti. The previous day Paul and colleagues from Zanmi Lasante had driven to and through the coastal city of Gonaïves, where tens of thousands of people have been driven from their homes and thousands more are living on rooftops without any access to food, water or shelter. Hurricane Ike arrived the next day with more torrential rains and deadly floods.

6 September 2008
Dear PIHers:

I am writing from Mirebalais, the place where our organization was born, having just returned from Gonaïves—perhaps the city hit hardest by Hurricane Hanna, which, hard on the heels of Fay and Gustav, drenched the deforested mountains of Haiti and led to massive flooding and mudslides in northern and central Haiti. A friend of mine said this morning: “I am 61 years old, born and raised in Hinche. I have never seen it under water.” Gonaïves, with 300,000 souls, is in far worse shape, as you’ll see from the other pictures I append. The floodwaters in Hinche are dropping, but as of 5 p.m. last night, when we left Gonaïves, the city was still under water. And hurricanes Ike and Josephine are heading this way as I write.

Write full letters and view photos at http://www.pih.org/inforesources/news/PEF_hurricane_letter.html

Twenty Questions: Social Justice Quiz 2008

2008-09-12T10:37:00.000-04:00

Twenty Questions: Social Justice Quiz 2008
Friday 12 September 2008
by: Bill Quigley, t r u t h o u t Perspective

We in the US who say we believe in social justice must challenge ourselves to look at the world through the eyes of those who have much less than us.
Why? Social justice, as defined by John Rawls, respects basic individual liberty and economic improvement. But social justice also insists that liberty, opportunity, income, wealth and the other social bases of self-respect are to be distributed equally unless an unequal distribution is to everyone's advantage and any inequalities are arranged so they are open to all.
Therefore, we must educate ourselves and others about how liberty, opportunity, income and wealth are actually distributed in our country and in our world. Examining the following can help us realize how much we have to learn about social justice.
1. How many deaths are there worldwide each year due to acts of terrorism?
Answer: The US State Department reported there were more than 22,000 deaths from terrorism last year. Over half of those killed or injured were Muslims. Source: Voice of America, May 2, 2008. "Terrorism Deaths Rose in 2007."
2. How many deaths are there worldwide each day due to poverty and malnutrition?
A: About 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations. Poverty.com - Hunger and World Poverty. Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes - one child every five seconds. Bread for the World. Hunger Facts: International. Continues at http://www.truthout.org/article/twenty-questions-social-justice-quiz-2008

The Spin

2008-09-12T10:28:00.002-04:00

received this in my email today:

THE SPIN:

Black teen pregnancies? A 'crisis' in black America.White teen pregnancies? A 'blessed event.'

If you grow up in Hawaii you're 'exotic.'Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you're the quintessential 'American story.'

Similarly, if you name your kid Barack you're 'unpatriotic.'Name your kids Trig and Track, you're 'colorful.'

If you're a Democrat and you make a VP pick without fully vetting the individual you're 'reckless.' A Republican who doesn't fully vet is a 'maverick.'

If you spend 3 years as a community organizer growing your organization from a staff of 1 to 13 and your budget from $70,000 to $400,000, then become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review,create a voter regstration drive that registers 150,000 new African Amerian voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor,then spend nearly 8 more years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, becoming chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, then spend nearly 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of nearly 13 million people, sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you are woefully inexperienced.

If you spend 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, then spend 20 months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people, you've got the most executive experience of anyone on either ticket, are the Commander in Chief of the Alaska military and are well qualified to lead the nation should you be called upon to do so because your state is the closest state to Russia.

If you are a Demoratic male candidate who is popular with millions of people you are an 'arrogant celebrity'. If you are a popular Republican female candidate you are 'energizing the base'.

If you are a younger male candidate who thinks for himself and makes his own decisions you are 'presumptuous'. if you are an older male candidate who makes last minute decisions you refuse to explain, you are a 'shoot from the hip' maverick.

If you are a candidate with a Harvard law degree you are 'an elitist 'out of touch' with the real America. if you are a legacy (dad and granddad were admirals) graduate of Annapolis, with multiple disciplinary infractions you are a hero.

If you manage a multi-million dollar nationwide campaign, you are an 'empty suit'.If you are a part time mayor of a town of 7000 people, you are an 'experienced executive'.

If you go to a south side Chicago church, your beliefs are 'extremist'.If you believe in creationism and don't believe gobal warming is man made, you are 'strongly principled'.

If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years with whom you are raising two beautiful daughters you're 'risky'.

If you're a black single mother of 4 who waits for 22 hours after her water breaks to seek medical attention, you're an irresponsible parent, endangering the life of your unborn child.

But if you're a white married mother who waits 22 hours, you're spunky.

If you're a 13-year-old Chelsea Clinton, the right-wing press calls you 'First dog.

'If you're a 17-year old pregnant unwed daughter of a Republican, the right-wing press calls you 'beautiful' and 'courageous.'

If you kill an endangered species, you're an excellent hunter.
If you have an abortion you're not a christian, you're a murderer ( forget about if it happened while being date raped)

If you teach abstinence only in sex education, you get teen parents.
If you teach responsible age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

Dollar's Clout Sinks Worldwide

2008-03-13T18:19:00.001-04:00

So much for globalization!
Dollar's Clout Sinks Worldwide

FREE RICE

2008-03-12T22:35:00.002-04:00

Play this word game, increase your vocabulary and feed the world at the same time! For each word you get right, they donate 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to help end world hunger.http://www.freerice.com/

Collaborative Peace Poem by Michelle Karshan and others

2008-03-08T17:04:00.007-05:00

Borrowed from http://www.signs2peace.org

Collaborative Peace Poem by Michelle Karshan and others.

Send in your suggestions for additional “peace” or “piece” phrases.
Thank you so far to Caitlin Karshan, Alain Charles and Hilary Bieber for their contributions

Peace march
Peacenik
Peaceful
Peace God
Peace up in here! (Hilary Bieber)
A piece of the pie
Nobel Peace Prize
Peace pipe
Department of Peace
Peace building
International Day of Peace
Imagine Peace Tower
Teaching Peace

Planting Peace
Increase the Peace
Peace Broker
Peace Protest
Rest in Peace
The Mideast Peace Talks
The Paris Peace Talks

Brooklyn for Peace
Veterans for Peace
Pathways to Peace
Peace on Earth Goodwill to Men
Peace, love and hair grease! (Caitlin Karshan-Shaw)
World peace
Greenpeace
Prayer for Peace
The Peace Museum
The Mideast Peace Talks, again!
United Nations Peace Keeping?
Piece of shit
Piece of the action
Piece of ass
A piece of the rock
A piece of rock
Piece of advice
Peace of mind
Piece of work!
Fighting for peace?
Blessed are the Peacemakers
Build Peace
Peace Corps
Peace and Reconciliation
The Mideast Peace Talks, still!
World Peace
Witness for peace
Peace Brigades
Peace Games
World Peace Day
Peace Talks
Peace Treaty
A piece of paper
Waging peace
Inner peace
Peace symbols
Peace dove
Love and peace

Thuggin peace (Alain Charles)
Peace and hugs (Hilary Bieber)
Peace sign
Peace through art
The art of peace
Piece of chalk (Alain Charles)
Peace for animals (Hilary Bieber)
Animals for Peace (Hilary Bieber)
The Peaceable Kingdom
Peaceful Places
Peace and art (Hilary Bieber)

Music 4 Peace
Peace, love and happiness
Hand me that piece (Alain Charles)
Make peace
Peace Education
War and Peace (Hilary Bieber)
Peace and Justice
No peace, no justice!
Grandmothers for Peace
Pastors for Peace
Peace protestor
All we are saying is give peace a chance
Peace – pay it forward! (Hilary Bieber)
Down the road a piece
Peace and solitude
A piece of my heart
Peace and quiet
Piece of cake
Pieces of a puzzle
Piece meal

Peace…

Peace is cool (Hilary Bieber)

Peace be with you (Hilary Bieber)

Peace Now!

Peace out!

How to identify and treat alcohol poisoning

2008-03-07T21:19:00.003-05:00

There is a serious drinking epidemic in our country's colleges and universities. Young adults are drinking dangerous amounts of alcohol and participating in drinking games. The increasing number of college students who must be rushed to hospitals because of alcohol poisoning is daunting. Many students, and parents, are asking how they can tell when a student is in danger from alcohol poisoning and what to do about it.

See this link for College Drinking --Changing the Culture

Facts About Alcohol Poisoning
What Happens to Your Body When You Get Alcohol Poisoning
Critical Signs for Alcohol Poisoning
What Should I Do If I Suspect Someone Has Alcohol Poisoning?
What Can Happen to Someone With Alcohol Poisoning That Goes Untreated?

http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/OtherAlcoholInformation/factsAboutAlcoholPoisoning.aspx

Haiti: Once-Vibrant Farming Sector in Dire Straits by Nazaire St. Fort

2008-03-06T17:41:00.005-05:00

HAITI: Once-Vibrant Farming Sector in Dire Straits

By Nazaire St. Fort*

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Mar 4 (IPS) - Student activists in Haiti are calling for an overhaul of the nation's agriculture policies, which they say have resulted in Haiti importing more than half of its food while local farmers are mired in poverty.

A petition recently submitted to the René Préval government by students of the Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine (FAMV) department at Haiti's State University calls for a programme spanning the country's 10 departments to increase technical and expert assistance, give subsidies to the agriculture and fishing sector, promote egg and chicken-farming projects to ease reliance on Dominican imports, a nationwide campaign to provide agricultural credits to peasants and an incremental raising of tariffs on foreign agricultural products to benefit Haitian farmers.

Other points of the petition deal with strengthening environmental protection, improving access to social services and higher education for agronomy students, and supporting them to work in the field so that Haiti can develop its own well of local expertise. Of the 420,000 tonnes of rice Haitians consume yearly, 340,000 tonnes are imported. Of the 31 million eggs the Haitian population eats monthly, 30 million are imported from the Dominican Republic. About 80 percent of farmers earn less than 135 dollars a year.

For full story see http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41454

Half of New Orleans's Poor Permanently Displaced...by Bill Quigley

2008-03-06T16:56:00.006-05:00

Image (The Recovery Process Explained) borrowed from Toulouse, Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans at toulousestreet.wordpress.com/.../ (image not connected with the article by Bill Quigley)

Half of New Orleans's Poor Permanently Displaced - Failure or Success?

by Bill Quigley

TruthOut Perspective

March 6, 2008

Government reports confirm that half of the working poor, elderly and disabled who lived in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina have not returned. Because of critical shortages in low-cost housing, few now expect tens of thousands of poor and working people to ever be able to return home.

The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) reports Medicaid, medical assistance for aged, blind, disabled and low-wage working families, is down 46 percent from pre-Katrina levels. DHH reports before Katrina there were 134,249 people in New Orleans on Medicaid. February 2008 reports show participation down to 72,211 (a drop of 62,038 since Katrina). Medicaid is down dramatically in every category: by 50 percent for the aged, 53 percent for the blind, 48 percent for the disabled and 52 percent for children.

The Social Security Administration documents that fewer than half the elderly have returned. New Orleans was home to 37,805 retired workers who received Social Security before Katrina; now there are 18,940 - a 50 percent reduction. Before Katrina, there were 12,870 disabled workers receiving Social Security disability benefits in New Orleans, now there are 5,350 - that's 59 percent fewer. Before Katrina, there were 9,425 widowers in New Orleans receiving Social Security survivors benefits; now there are less than half that many - 4,140.

Children of working-class families have not returned. Public school enrollment in New Orleans was 66,372 before Katrina. Latest figures are 32,149 - a 52 percent reduction.

See rest of article at http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030608J.shtml

Aristide's backers demand return to Haiti - 03/01/2008 - MiamiHerald.com

2008-03-01T07:28:00.000-05:00

Aristide's backers demand return to Haiti - 03/01/2008 - MiamiHerald.com

The Caribbean

2008-02-29T17:04:00.000-05:00

The Caribbean

February 29th - International Day of Solidarity with the Haitian People

2008-02-28T09:07:00.007-05:00

Flyer handed out in Haiti's streets warning that the people would never accept a coup d'etat again. However, on February 29, 2004 a coup d'etat forced democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and 7,000 elected officials from office. To read about the 2004 coup d'etat, it's impact on democracy and conditions in Haiti and continued injustices, see the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti website at http://www.ijdh.org/

Current list of 56 actions in 47 cities on 4 continents in solidarity with Haiti - as part of 2-29-08 global day of action for Haiti

Growing list of cities participating in actions on or around Feb. 29, 2008, in solidarity with the Haitian people, on the 4th anniversary of the Feb. 29, 2004 coup d'etat in Haiti. Updated as of Feb. 27, 2008 - 5 p.m. Pacific time Here is a list 47 cities - so far - that have informed us that they are participating in the Feb. 29th Day of Solidarity with the Haitian People. A total of 56 actions are planned in the 47 cities on 4 continents, in support of the Haitian people's demand for self-determination, democracy and justice. New York City (2 activities)Durban, South Africa - the Abahlali Shack Dwellers MovementMontreal, QuebecBerkeley, California (2 activities)Los Angeles, CaliforniaGeorgetown, GuyanaNotre Dame, Indiana (2 activities)Toronto, Ontario, CanadaSan Rafael, CaliforniaLondon, England (2 activities)San Jose, CaliforniaRoanoke, VirginiaDublin, IrelandSault Sainte Marie, Ontario, CanadaAtlanta, GeorgiaRichmond, CaliforniaMinneapolis/St Paul, Minn. (2 events in the Twin Cities)Huddleston, VirginiaKigali, RwandaFremont, California Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (3 activities)Rochester, New YorkOakland, CaliforniaVancouver, BC, Canada (2 activities)Boston, Mass. Detroit, MichiganSan Diego, CaliforniaAuckland Park, Johannesburg, South AfricaWashington, DCOttawa, CanadaPittsburgh, Penna.Miami, FloridaCalgary, AlbertaBrooklyn, New YorkSan Francisco, CaliforniaPrince George, BC, CanadaMacon, GeorgiaJacksonville, FloridaNew Orleans, LouisianaSanta Cruz, CaliforniaNorth Minneapolis, Minn.Enterprise, OregonSonoma, California (2 activities)Many cities and towns in Haiti (4 confirmed so far) For more info, see Haiti Action Committee at http://haitisolidarity.net/ or http://www.haitiaction.net/ or http://www.ijdh.org

The Democratic Debate in Cleveland - New York Times

2008-02-26T23:31:00.001-05:00

Damon Winter/The New York Times

TRANSCRIPT OF DEBATE:
The Democratic Debate in Cleveland - New York Times

Our Legacy of Shame in Haiti

2008-02-26T23:12:00.004-05:00

Our Legacy of Shame in Haiti

Island is worse off without Aristide, and Canada shares blame.

View full article and comments here http:///Books/2008/02/26/Haiti/

By Claude Adams (on TheTyee.ca website)

From this article: ...Why did Aristide have to go? It's simple, says Peter Hallward, the author of a dense and meticulously researched new book called Damming the Flood: Haiti, Aristide and the Politics of Containment. Aristide had to go because "the movement he led (Lavalas, the Creole word for 'flood,') posed an intolerable threat to Haiti's comfortable ruling class."

Manny Vega and His ‘Hip Hop Byzantine’ Art - The New York Times

2008-02-26T22:17:00.001-05:00

Librado Romero/The New York Times

“I liked painting,” the artist Manny Vega said. “But paint fades.” His mosaic at a subway station at 110th Street and Lexington is a tableau of glimmering color that picks up light and movement.

Citywide
In Mosaics, an Artist’s Lasting Impression

By DAVID GONZALEZ
Published: February 25, 2008
There is life in the hands of Manny Vega. With nothing more than a pair of pliers, thick fingers and boundless patience, he transforms thousands of stubby tiles of stone and glass into glimmering mosaic portraits of poets, drummers, mothers and sons. By the end of the workday, he has to plunge his numb, dust-covered hands into hot water to revive them...

In Mosaics, an Artist’s Lasting Impression - New York Times

2008-02-26T22:13:00.001-05:00

In Mosaics, an Artist’s Lasting Impression - New York Times

View multimedia show of Manny Vega's murals and listen him to talk about his art

Saturday Night Live Takes On Drug Ads - Well - Tara Parker-Pope - Health - New York Times Blog

2008-02-26T14:37:00.000-05:00

Saturday Night Live Takes On Drug Ads - Well - Tara Parker-Pope - Health - New York Times Blog

Using Music to Lift Depression’s Veil

2008-01-27T12:00:00.000-05:00

An uplifting result of music therapy. (Alan Zale for The New York Times)

The New York Times, January 24, 2008, 10:38 am
Well
Tara Parker-Pope on Health

Using Music to Lift Depression’s Veil

Many people find that music lifts their spirits. Now new research shows that music therapy — either listening to or creating music with a specially trained therapist — can be a useful treatment for depression.

The finding that music therapy offers a real clinical benefit to depression sufferers comes from a review by the Cochrane Collaboration, a not-for-profit group that reviews health care issues. Although there aren’t many credible studies of music therapy for depression, the reviewers found five randomized trials that studied the effects of music therapy. Some studies looked at the effects of providing music therapy to patients who were receiving drug treatment for depression. Others compared music therapy to traditional talk therapy. In four out of five of the trials, music therapy worked better at easing depression symptoms than therapies that did not employ music, the researchers found.

“The current studies indicate that music therapy may be able to improve mood and has low drop-out rates,” said lead author Anna Maratos, an arts therapist for the National Health Service in London. “While the evidence came from a few small studies, it suggests that this is an area that is well worth further investigation….We need to find out which forms have greatest effect.”

Full article at:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/using-music-to-lift-depressions-veil/

and see blogger responses at end of article as well.

Click here to listen to a podcast about music therapy with the study author.

A Basic Hospital To-Do List Saves Lives

2008-01-27T11:39:00.001-05:00

Personal Health: A Basic Hospital To-Do List Saves Lives

By Jane E. Brody, Published: January 22, 2008, The New York Times

This is a call to arms for everyone who may someday be hospitalized, or who has a relative who may someday be hospitalized — which is to say everyone.

These days, to spend time in the hospital is to be at risk of contracting a hospital-acquired infection. Some of these infections can be life-threatening. But there is a simple way to make that hospital stay safer, devised by Dr. Peter J. Pronovost, a physician-researcher at Johns Hopkins.
The method — a five-item checklist to assure that proper precautions are taken to prevent infection — has been thoroughly tested, first at Johns Hopkins and later in 108 intensive-care units in Michigan, where it succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest dreams in saving lives and reducing costs for patients who received the major fluid tube called a central venous catheter.

See 5 steps and rest of article at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/health/22brod.html?scp=2&sq=jane+brody&st=nyt

Study Calls HIV in D.C. A 'Modern Epidemic'

2008-01-27T11:10:00.000-05:00

Study Calls HIV in D.C. A 'Modern Epidemic'
More Than 80 Percent Of Recent Cases Were Among Black Residents
By Susan Levine, Washington Post

Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, November 26, 2007; Page A01

The first statistics ever amassed on HIV in the District, released today in a sweeping report, reveal "a modern epidemic" remarkable for its size, complexity and reach into all parts of the city.

The numbers most starkly illustrate HIV's impact on the African American community. More than 80 percent of the 3,269 HIV cases identified between 2001 and 2006 were among black men, women and adolescents. Among women who tested positive, a rising percentage of local cases, nine of 10 were African American.

The 120-page report, which includes the city's first AIDS update since 2000, shows how a condition once considered a gay disease has moved into the general population. HIV was spread through heterosexual contact in more than 37 percent of the District's cases detected in that time period, in contrast to the 25 percent of cases attributable to men having sex with men.

See full article and charts at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/25/AR2007112501677.html?wpisrc=newsletter

Drugs-for-Information Scandal Shakes Up New York Police Narcotics Force

2008-01-27T11:00:00.000-05:00

NYC Police give snitches portion of proceeds of drug seizures from dealers that the snitches pointed out to them! Doesn't that make the cops dealers themselves? Read this article!

The New York Times, January 23, 2008

Drugs-for-Information Scandal Shakes Up New York Police Narcotics Force
By Al Baker

In the world of urban policing, few relationships are as fraught with peril as those between narcotics officers and confidential informants. These informants — C.I.’s in police parlance — are often small-time criminals who are paid or get criminal charges dropped in return for information about other, theoretically more dangerous criminals.

Now four police officers in Brooklyn are under arrest in a case that involves paying informants not with cash or leniency but with the very drugs they craved, taken from the dealers who were arrested after the informants pointed them out. Two of the officers were charged in an internal sting last week after another was caught on a department audio tape bragging about the practice in September, officials said. For full story go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/nyregion/23arrest.html?pagewanted=all

Also see the article's chart on [recent NYC] ...History of Police Misconduct Charges
at http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/01/23/nyregion/23arrestchart.ready.html

Keep Fighting for Lovinsky's Return!

2008-01-27T10:22:00.000-05:00

Distributed by the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti http://www.ijdh.org/ on January 26, 2007

Half-Hour for Haiti: Keep Fighting For Lovinsky’s Return!

Human rights activist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, abducted on August 12, is still missing. For many of us, the holiday celebrations with family and friends were tempered by Lovinsky’s absence, from his family and from our midst (see the January 13 message from Lovinsky’s wife Michele). But the fight for Lovinsky’s safe return continues. Haiti’s Embassy in Washington reported receiving over 500 letters in response to Amnesty International's Action Alert for Lovinsky and his colleague, Wilson Mesilien. The Petition to Save Lovinsky now has 1803 signatories. This week Vanessa Redgrave signed onto the Free Lovinsky! movement, joining a host of celebrities including Danny Glover, Martin Sheen and Selma James.

This week’s action: Yesterday, United for Peace and Justice, a coalition of over 1,300 groups that came together to oppose the Iraq War, issued an alert for Lovinsky that was drafted by the Haiti Action Committee. The letters generated by UFPJ, on top of the letters for Amnesty International and all the other alerts, could make a turning point in this case. If you have not yet urged the Haitian government to investigate Lovinsky’s disappearance, now is the time:

Demand the safe return of Haitian human rights activist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine.

Lovinsky was kidnapped on August 12th, 2007 after meeting with a U.S. human rights delegation. He is a member of Fanmi Lavalas and a founding member of September 30th Foundation. He is a psychologist who works with victims of torture, and a fierce activist who stands with his people in the streets.

Shamefully, the United Nations helped legitimize the Bush Administration-backed coup that forced out the democratically elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. That coup reversed Haiti's ten years of grassroots democracy, and in its aftermath, as documented by reports from the University of Miami, Harvard Law School, and other organizations, UN "peacekeepers" backed up Haitian police as they cracked down on activists with the pro-Aristide Lavalas movement. Lovinsky was among those who worked ceaselessly against all that the 2004 coup brought: killing, torture and exile of thousands; the destruction of schools, health services, markets - the infrastructure which served Haiti's poor; sex trafficking and rape of Haitian women and girls by UN troops and Haitian rightists.

Lovinsky's kidnapping serves to warn Haitian's poor majority that powerful forces can and will do whatever it takes to crush resistance.

Haiti Action Committee joins with organizations and individuals across the globe that are working to keep the pressure on those who hold the power in Haiti - the U.S. and the UN occupying forces - to demand the safe return of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine.

A petition for Lovinsky has been signed by over 1600 organizations and public figures, including actor/activist Danny Glover, Selma James, actor Martin Sheen, Andaiye, writer George Lamming, playwright John Arden, former Labour Minister Tony Benn, John McDonnell MP, journalist Rickey Singh, Madaraka Nyerere (son of the late Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere), the Walter Rodney Commemorative Committee and many more. To sign the on-line petition, click here http://www.petitiononline.com/august/petition.html

Haiti Action Committee members are fasting on Wednesdays as part of an ongoing rolling fast to highlight the Haiti-based campaign for Lovinsky's safe return. Solidarity activities have been taking place in Los Angeles, London, Boston, San Francisco and Benton Harbor, MI, as well as in the Caribbean.

Support for Haitian democracy in the U.S. Congress has been led by notable progressive Democrats including Representatives Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee, and Jan Schakowsky. Much work needs to be done to pressure other Congresspeople to support Haiti's poor majority, rather than Bush-backed elites.

Join the campaign, and open a discussion with your friends and co-workers about Haiti (learn more at www.haitisolidarity.net and www.haitiaction.net) and about taking action to save Lovinsky's life.

Haitian president René Preval's 2006 election was a victory for the country's poor, but pro-democracy activists maintain that government ministries remain dominated by coup forces, which also control the Haitian police. The Haitian government is also receiving enormous pressure from the Bush Administration to privatize state companies and to pursue even more draconian "free trade" (pro-rich, anti-poor) policies.

Preval needs to hear from supporters of Haiti's pro-democracy movement about the importance of the safe return of Lovinsky, the release of remaining political prisoners, the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide and ending the occupation.

Please send a letter to Haiti's President René Préval, urging him to ensure that his government does everything it can to investigate Lovinsky's disappearance and ensure his safe return to his family and his community. A sample letter is below, please customize and personalize it if you can.

You may send your letter directly to President Préval by regular mail (.69 postage in U.S., $1.55 in Canada), or by fax: (206) 350-7986 (a U.S. number) or email: avokahaiti@aol.com, and they will be delivered.Thanks for your support and your solidarity in helping us save our brother Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine.

Haiti Action Committee

---------------

January __, 2008

His Excellency René Préval

President of the Republic of Haiti
Palais NationalPort-au-Prince,
Haiti

Re: Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine's Disappearance

Your Excellency:

I am writing because I am extremely concerned about Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, the human rights activist kidnapped last summer. I sincerely request that you do everything in your power to ensure that your government takes every possible step to ensure Mr. Pierre-Antoine's safe return to his family. Mr. Pierre-Antoine is important to people all over the world that care about Haiti. His safe return is essential to show that Haitians can participate effectively and lawfully in Haiti's democratic process, without fear. I am also concerned about reports from Haitian grassroots human rights activists that the Haitian police are not zealously investigating this case. Please demand that everyone working for your government- from the Ministry of Justice to police leadership to investigators- immediately take every possible lawful step to investigate Mr. Pierre-Antoine's disappearance, pursue the perpetrators and return Mr. Pierre-Antoine safely.

Sincerely,

Artists of Grand Rue, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

2007-12-18T09:52:00.000-05:00

The Artists of the Grand Rue

http://www.artshaitian.com/Pages/epluribus2.html
E Pluribus UnumAn urban museum in Port-au-Prince, Haitiphotographs© Bill Bollendorf 2005

VIEW SLIDESHOW at http://www.artshaitian.com/Pages/epluribus.html

Artists Resistance, The sculptors of Grand Rue (See top image)

http://www.atis-rezistans.com/