Rebellion grows against occupiers
U.S., U.N. & cholera out of Haiti!
By
G. Dunkel
Published Nov 24, 2010 11:23 PM
For more than a week, mass protests against the U.N.’s occupation have
broken out throughout Haiti, especially in Cap-Haïtien on its northern
coast and Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital. Protests have also taken
place in southern cities like Cayes and in the center of the country in
Gonaïve.
What fueled these protests, which involved burning barricades, trenches, trees
and rock piles placed across National Route 1 and city streets, as well as
militant marches, were the raging cholera epidemic and the widespread belief
among the people that U.N. troops have introduced the disease into their
country. By Nov. 20, more than 1,100 Haitians had died of cholera, and nearly
20,000 were hospitalized.
However, it was clear from the protesters’ slogans, such as “Down
with American imperialism! U.N. and cholera out of Haiti!” that there is
an understanding that while the troops on the ground wear blue helmets embossed
with ‘U.N.,’ it is the U.S. which calls the shots. (French TV5
news, Nov. 18).
The U.N.’s official role in Haiti has been to ensure stability, which is
why its 12,000-member armed force, the Minustah, is officially called the U.N.
Stabilization Mission in Haiti.
Minustah has been the main military force in Haiti since June 2004, when it
took over from a coalition of U.S., French and Canadian imperialist troops that
occupied Haiti two months earlier. This was after the second coup against
democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, when U.S. Special
Forces kidnapped him to the Central African Republic. (See “Haiti: A
Slave Revolution.”)
When the U.N. command structure was crushed by its headquarters’ collapse
during the January earthquake, the U.S. rushed in more than 20,000 troops and
seized control of Haiti’s air- and seaports. This kept many emergency
supplies for aid organizations from arriving quickly and made a coordinated
relief operation harder. Most land-based U.S. troops were withdrawn by
mid-March.
When Hurricane Tomas threatened Haiti in early November, the Pentagon moved in
the helicopter carrier Iwo Jima with “emergency supplies” and a
brigade of Marines. Since Tomas spared Haiti from a major catastrophe, the
country was spared another U.S. invasion. Both the act of sending the Iwo Jima
and the U.S.’s so-called “humanitarian” troop invasion in
January make it clear that the U.S. not only directs the work of Minustah, but
is prepared to back it up militarily at the drop of a hat.
Thousands just came out in Cap-Haïtien, the country’s second-largest
city. They threw rocks and blocked streets. After riot police fired on
demonstrators, police stations at Barrière Bouteille and Pont Neuf were
burned. A World Food Program warehouse in the city’s southeastern section
was liberated.
Stanley Jean-Mary, a reporter for France 24 news service who is also a leftist
and a community leader in Cap-Haïtien, writes, “For two years, we
have had to deal with an irresponsible government, which was not prepared.
After the earthquake, it gave up. Then there was Hurricane Tomas, followed by
the cholera epidemic. The situation was falling apart but the government did
not come to the aid of the people.
“When my neighbors learned that three people infected with cholera died
overnight, we had a spontaneous mobilization to bring the whole neighborhood
into the movement. A few blocks from here, another demonstration ended in a
confrontation with the riot squad. A police station was burned and Minustah
began firing tear gas. We defended ourselves by throwing rocks and building
barricades.”
He continues, “We organized a mass meeting to discuss the significance of
our independence gained Nov. 18, 1802, in the current context. Because Haiti is
still occupied by foreign powers and by the U.N., which they direct.”
(observers.france24.com, Nov. 19)
Minustah claimed that six of its soldiers were injured and that armed
protesters fired on troops in Quartier Morin, on the outskirts of
Cap-Haïtien. Two Haitians were killed, one protester and a passerby. Also,
19 people were injured in Cap-Haïtien. Fifteen people were shot at with
bullets.
“We’d rather die from bullets than be decimated by the cholera
epidemic,” Cap-Haïtien protesters shouted, while throwing rocks at
the Minustah base. (AlterPresse, Nov. 15)
French TV5 on Nov. 18 and videos posted on AlterPresse, a Haitian Internet
site, showed groups of 200 to 400 youth confronting Minustah in Port-au-Prince,
using the tarp-camp on the Champs des Mars as a base. The Minustah were very
aggressive, breaking out and tear gassing crowds of protesters. The youth
running and dodging didn’t appear willing to leave the streets, except
under major pressure.
The videos showed parents grabbing their children when tear gas was shot into
their tents, running and dodging through the warren of tents in front of the
collapsed National Palace and then ducking their heads in buckets of water to
wash the tear gas out of their eyes and hair.
One demonstrator told TV5, “Down with U.S. imperialism! U.N. and its
cholera out of Haiti.” Another demonstrator angrily said that foreigners
want to impose neocolonial slavery on Haiti, turning back the clock before 1804
— the year Haiti proclaimed itself the first Black republic in the
Western Hemisphere after a glorious and hard-fought struggle against
Napoleon’s army.
At a recent forum in Harlem, Ray Laforest, a Haitian-American labor organizer
and longtime political activist, called for all progressive forces to support
the growing national uprising against the U.N./U.S. occupation of Haiti. This
event, held at St. Mary’s Church, was sponsored by the Black is Back
Coalition and the Harlem Tenants’ Council.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
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