Brooklyn meeting in solidarity with Haitian struggle
By G. Dunkel
Brooklyn, N.Y.
"Haiti at the Crossroads: What Is to be Done," was the theme
of an important solidarity meeting that filled the 800-seat
hall at New York City Technical College in Brooklyn Dec. 5.
Speakers at the meeting explained what the audience could do
to support the struggle in Haiti to end repression, restore
democracy and return President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to his
rightful office.
La Troupe Makandal, which provided a cultural performance to
begin the event, frequently joined its drumming to the
audience's applause.
What made the evening both memorable and significant was
that the two sponsoring groups, the Fanmi Lavalas (FL) Movement
and the National Popular Party (PPN), have sharp differences in
their vision and tactics, how they are organized, and the
solutions they see for Haiti's problems.
But as Kim Ives, a founder of the North American group Haiti
Support Network, put it: "They are clearly and solidly united
on one thing: their complete rejection of the Feb. 29 coup
d'état and the ensuing foreign military occupation of
Haiti."
Both groups understand the motto of the Haitian flag and the
Haitian Revo lu tion, which triumphed 200 years ago: "Union
fait la force" or "In unity lies strength." Both groups put
this motto into practice in building of the Dec. 5
gathering.
Yvon Kernizan of FL said, "The people in Haiti are dying
because they are poor and the de facto government doesn't
care." Kernizan then introduced Maryse Narcisses, who pointed
out that "Haiti is at a crossroad and what is to be done is for
each of us to support the struggle there."
When Ramsey Clark, the founder of the International Action
Center and a former U.S. attorney general, came to the podium
he was greeted with a wave of applause. He mentioned a
conversation he had with Aristide the last week of November. He
said that Aristide expressed his concern to do everything
possible to end the killing in Haiti. Clark's cry, "Bring
Aristide back!" brought the drums of Makandal to beat
again.
Clark ended his talk by saying: "The powers in this world
will never forgive a successful slave revolution, even after
200 years. But their success against overwhelming odds has to
give us hope."
Brian Becker from the ANSWER Coalition asked the audience to
come out for the Jan. 20 counter-inaugural protest in
Washington, D.C., and the March 19-20 demonstrations to mark
the second anniversary of the war in Iraq.
Pat Chin, an IAC organizer who has tra v eled to Haiti many
times, began her talk with a chant: "Aristide in, CIA out!" Her
anti-imperialist, pro-solidarity talk was interrupted
frequently by the drums of Makandal, matching the applause of
the crowd. (Read excerpts from her talk below.)
A wonderful video, "Kraze lespwa," showed the concrete
achievements of Aristide's government in building 250 schools
and markets in the poorest communities in Haiti. All this
building was accomplished only with Haiti's own resources, with
no aid from foreign governments or non-governmental
organizations.
Mario Dupuy, Aristide's director of communications,
proclaimed: "Fanmi Lavalas is ready to talk and dialog with all
sane forces in the country, while continuing its mobilizations.
It feels that Haiti has no future without democracy, but that
doesn't mean elections like those that took place in Florida in
2000."
The video "Nou Gen San Deslin" showed some mass
demonstrations in 2003 along with participants inviting Haiti's
government to take appropriate measures against the oncoming
coup. After this video, Ben Dupuy, secretary general of Haiti's
National Popular Party, spoke.
He began by quoting from the Dessalinien, the National Hymn
of Haiti--"Se pou n mache, men nan lamen" (hand in hand, let us
march)--and the audience burst into applause.
He then began to analyze U.S. Secretary of State Colin
Powell's recent trip to Port-au-Prince, where Powell wanted to
put pressure on the United Nations Stabilization Mission in
Haiti (MINUSTAH) to crush the popular movement resisting in the
streets.
"The UN is showing its true face as a tool of big countries
like the United States and France," Dupuy said. Since both
countries have other adventures, the United States in Iraq and
France in the Ivory Coast, he said, they had to call on the
United Nations. But the Brazilian general in charge of MINUSTAH
told a congressional commission in Brazil, "I command a
peace-keeping force, not an occupation force."
Dupuy pointed out that "Haiti is slippery ground. The United
States didn't find a cakewalk in Iraq and it won't have one in
Haiti either. The mobilizations in the streets are continuing.
The struggle for democracy will continue and the Haitian people
will get it."
George Honorat, a leading member of the PPN who works with
the National Cell of the Base of Reflections of the Popular
Organizations of Lavalas, gave a brief talk on conditions on
the ground in Haiti. Lain Sixth, a Fanmi Lavalas militant from
the New York area, called for support in the United States for
the protests in Haiti.
Reprinted from the Dec. 16, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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