You can link to it from the rabble.ca main page under "in cahoots," (and I certainly hope that rabble.ca gives "Rights & Democracy" a heave-ho along with "Alternatives" for this dreck.

quote:

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Haiti: Préval should form a government of national reconciliation
The Canadian government must stay committed to Haiti for the long-term

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quote:

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The decision to declare René Préval as the winner in Haiti’s presidential elections must be followed by immediate steps towards healing past divisions, including the establishment of a government of national reconciliation, says Rights & Democracy.
... Rights & Democracy encourages Mr. Préval to make use of the mandate Haiti's people have given him to reach out to his opponents and invite them to participate in the rebuilding of Haiti’s fractured political system.

“The Haitian political process has unfortunately been dominated by a winner-take-all attitude in recent history,” said Jean-Louis Roy, President of Rights & Democracy. “Mr. Préval should break that tradition and approach his opponents to form a government of national reconciliation.”

Opposition politicians, members of the newly-elected Parliament and Senate, and civil society groups have an important part to play in bridging past divisions, said Rights & Democracy. They should seize the opportunity provided by these elections and work constructively with the new government.

---

"... and blah, blah, blah; Canada and its International Partners [in crime] must help Haitians to learn how to govern themselves, racist claptrap, willful blindness, craven complicity, blah, blah, blah."

So there it is: We create the bullshit crisis. We back and arm the "opposition." We escort the legitimately-elected president out of the country and welcome in a gang of murderers and thieves. We oversee a bullshit election. We suppress the majority party. We countenance jailing political opponents without charge. We have no comment on UN assaults on slum neighbourhoods in Port au Prince. And then we have the unmitigated gall to call on the leader of the forces that we have been trying to crush, to be a good sport and allow the tiny kleptocratic minority and their attendant brutes into his government.

Could we remove this from "In Cahoots" please?

Thank-you.

[ 21 February 2006: Message edited by: thwap ]

Yeah, Haiti's recovery is really going to be off to a good start that way

quote:

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Originally posted by Andrew_Jay:
So you would just send a big "fuck you" to the significant number of people who didn't vote for Preval, and deny them any role in the government of their country?

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In case you've been living under a rock, you might want to take a look at some of the older Haiti threads, and see what sort of Canadian government involvement "Rights & Democracy" is calling for the perpetuation of. One example: That farce of an election received our seal of approval until Preval's supporters rebelled at the obvious fraud.

You might want to ask just what sort of "winner take all" attitude Aristide had before he was deposed the first time. And then the second time.

60 percent of the electorate voted. Thousands tried to vote but intentional procedural failings made this impossible. Thousands more probably think voting is a waste of time, given that the people's choice will be deposed if he deviates from the Washington Consensus, or, will be forced to implement the neo-liberal dogma in any case. That was the main reason Aristide became unpopular. see:

global research

quote:

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More than 75 percent of the Haitian population is engaged in agriculture, producing both food crops for the domestic market as well a number of cash crops for export. Already during the Duvalier era, the peasant economy had been undermined. With the adoption of the IMF-World Bank sponsored trade reforms, the agricultural system, which previously produced food for the local market, had been destabilized. With the lifting of trade barriers, the local market was opened up to the dumping of US agricultural surpluses including rice, sugar and corn, leading to the destruction of the entire peasant economy. Gonaives, which used to be Haiti's rice basket region, with extensive paddy fields had been precipitated into bankruptcy:

. "By the end of the 1990s Haiti's local rice production had been reduced by half and rice imports from the US accounted for over half of local rice sales. The local farming population was devastated, and the price of rice rose drastically " ( See Rob Lyon, Haiti-There is no solution under Capitalism! Socialist Appeal, 24 Feb. 2004, http://cleveland.indymedia.org/news/2004/02/9095.php ).

In matter of a few years, Haiti, a small impoverished country in the Caribbean, had become the World's fourth largest importer of American rice after Japan, Mexico and Canada.

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And, excuse me "Rights & Democracy" but since when did Preval start talking like a dictator? Check out his opponents.

quote:

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Originally posted by Andrew_Jay:
So you would just send a big "fuck you" to the significant number of people who didn't vote for Preval, and deny them any role in the government of their country?

Yeah, Haiti's recovery is really going to be off to a good start that way

No one is suggesting that he hand over power, but that a "winner-take-all" mentality be abandoned - and that those who did not win, co-operate with Preval's government and work with it. According to the "official" count, he only has a very slim majority - ruling without any regard for Haiti's minorities is going to cause nothing but trouble.

---

I understand that Stephen Harper - who had no kind of majority at all - is soon going to form a government of national reconciliation in Canada.

I am imagining all of these liberal college students of participatory developement studies programs being unleashed from our universities upon the unsuspecting third world, and penning these wild eyed denounciations without the slightest thought of whose interests they serve.

This is what is refered to in the last paragraph of the article:

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For many years, Canada has invested significant resources and energy into Haitian institutional development and democratic processes. Canada must now make sure that its efforts are sustainable by continuing to provide consistent and adequate assistance for the strengthening of Haitian institutions.

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[ 21 February 2006: Message edited by: Cueball ]

quote:

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Originally posted by Andrew_Jay:
So you would just send a big "fuck you" to the significant number of people who didn't vote for Preval

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You mean the thugs that stuffed all those blank ballots into the ballot boxes?

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb. 19 — President-elect René Préval, who rose to power as a champion of this country's poor masses, attended his first victory party among its elite.

It was a Friday-night, garden-side, happy-hour kind of affair in a mansion near Pétionville, a mecca for this country's glitterati, with lots to drink, lots of laughter, and performances by popular Haitian musicians.

But when the hostess invited Mr. Préval, a reluctant politician, to address the group, he introduced several carefully chosen backers to speak for him. Two were leaders of Fanmi Lavalas, the principal political party of the poor. Then he called two men whose designer clothes and light complexions marked them as sons of the upper classes.

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NYT Link.

Unfortunately, as we can already see, the top American diplomat is demanding that Preval 'perform' or risk having the disputed election result used against him:

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Opponents of Haiti‘s president-elect could use the country‘s disputed election result to try and weaken his government "if he doesn‘t perform," the top American diplomat in Haiti said Saturday.

The move gave Preval the 51 percent of the vote he needed for outright victory, drawing angry complaints from his two nearest rivals, neither of who polled close to Preval‘s numbers in the Feb. 7 vote.

"If he doesn‘t perform, yes it weakens him," Carney said during an interview with The Associated Press at his residence. "If he does perform, nobody will remember it."

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Link.

Not too different from the situation in Iraq, where the US has also been opposed to democracy. Today's story about the US ambassador telling Iraqis what sort of government they have to form:

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BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Amid growing tensions between U.S. officials and Iraq's pro-Iranian Shiite political parties, the U.S. ambassador warned yesterday that unless Iraq's factions unite to form a nonsectarian government free from ties to militias, the United States will withdraw funding for the nation's security forces.

[snip]

"Ministers, particularly the security ministers, have to be people who are nonsectarian and are broadly acceptable and do not have links or ties to militias.

[snip]

"We will have to look at what we do if they don't make the right decisions," he said.

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Like Henry Ford, offering you any colour of car so long as it's black, the US and other big 'democracy promoters' are happy to offer you the vote, as long as it goes for the candidate who is 'broadly acceptable' (i.e. to Washington).

quote:

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Originally posted by swallow:
[...] an organization whose founding head iwas Ed Broadbent and whose current head Jean-Louis Roy is a remarkable man (with politics more PQ than Liberal) carrying on in the same mandate. Does one bad article (if it is a bad one) mean it's time to haul out the pitchforks and start demanding they be burned at the stake?

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You know, swallow, I think one bad article can show the true character of an organization. I went to their site and picked another one at pure random. Here's what it says:

"Development of trade policy, emerging market strategies and a bilateral investment agreement with China should not be divorced from Canada's human rights strategy. Common objectives of transparency, coherent legal structures and effective remedies for violations should be considered within Canada's "whole-of-government" approach."

The full article is full of more of the same. It is the really kind and gentle version of the White Man's Burden -- using trade and investment to help China be more like us. Not much different from the article where we tell René Preval how to act civilized.

I didn't realize Ed Broadbent was the founding head. I'm sure he could lecture China and Haiti much more gently than the current gang.

quote:

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Originally posted by swallow:
I'm not informed enough on Haiti to comment on the article. But Rights & Democracy does some great work on Asia, all of it informed by a deep commitment to NGO partners on the ground there. They've been highly critical of any number of Canadian government follies, as befits an organization whose founding head iwas Ed Broadbent and whose current head Jean-Louis Roy is a remarkable man (with politics more PQ than Liberal) carrying on in the same mandate. Does one bad article (if it is a bad one) mean it's time to haul out the pitchforks and start demanding they be burned at the stake? Do we really want rabble to start censoring what the OneWorld network members say?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Cueball:
I thought it was great. It was also diverse as it is essays.

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Thanks. I'll definitely try to find a copy.

The issues are a matter of constant debate within the international development community. They are not simple issues, and I doubt whether there is a single correct answer which applies in every situation. I think we are at least learning from our mistakes, but at the same time we are also living in a world in which the power imbalances tend to increase and the resources available for development tend to decrease. It's very frustrating, and at times very confusing.

One thing that I have learned is to appreciate the wisdom of people like Amartya Sen. I was lucky enough to be at a workshop he was present at a few years ago, and I asked him a question about a theoretical/philosophical issue that was floating about at the time (and still is) about the moral basis of development work. His response was to ask me whether the answer would make any difference to the concrete actions I took and how I worked with colleagues and the communities in which we work. I said, no, for now it makes no difference, although it may affect our eventual strategies. In that case, he said, you should continue to work together in the same way until you find that it makes a practical difference, and perhaps it will be clearer then.

quote:

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Originally posted by skdadl:
I understand that Stephen Harper - who had no kind of majority at all - is soon going to form a government of national reconciliation in Canada.

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But no, Canada doesn't need a government of "national reconciliation", luckily. Some countries do until their political system is settled - Huntington used the two peaceful transitions of power guideline for a reaon.

I suppose Bush smirking and bragging about "political capital" in 2004 pissed people off around here, and for good reason, yet Preval is expected to do the exact same thing?

quote:

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Originally posted by Transplant:
You mean the thugs that stuffed all those blank ballots into the ballot boxes?

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quote:

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Originally posted by sgm:
Well, Preval already seems to be doing some symbolic things to reconcile divisions within Haiti.

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quote:

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Originally posted by swallow:
I'm not informed enough on Haiti to comment on the article. But Rights & Democracy does some great work on Asia, all of it informed by a deep commitment to NGO partners on the ground there. They've been highly critical of any number of Canadian government follies, as befits an organization whose founding head iwas Ed Broadbent and whose current head Jean-Louis Roy is a remarkable man (with politics more PQ than Liberal) carrying on in the same mandate.

---

I confess that I don't know anything about Rights & Democracy (nor all that much about Haiti, for that matter), but I guess what might be bothering some of us who've been trying to follow the Haitian situation is the manner in which the statement thwap cited addressed the post-vote circumstances in that country.

As I read the statement, it includes imperatives, directions and cues for Haitians--Preval in particular, though his opponents are also mentioned. These are set against a backdrop of historical Haitian social and political dysfunction: the 'winner-take-all' attitude that has dominated 'in recent history,' for one, but also the more positive sign of a desire among the people for a 'sustainable democracy.'

There are imperatives, too, for the international community, including Canada, but here is where one of the major problems arises: the statement seems not to acknowledge that international actors, including Canada, have played any role in creating the current bad situation it addresses.

Take the statement's closing imperative, for example: 'Canada must now make sure that its efforts are sustainable by continuing to provide consistent and adequate assistance for the strengthening of Haitian institutions.'

This sounds fine on the surface, but--to speak only for myself--I think any future action by Canada in Haiti needs to begin with serious reflection on our own government's conduct towards that country, including an admission that we have done specific things to undermine and weaken the very institutions and political culture we claim (and the Rights & Democracy statement reinforces that claim) to have been strengthening all along.

In other words, the tone of the statement emphasizes Haitian dysfunction while ignoring our own. It doesn't acknowledge that Canada, France and the US have themselves exploited the 'winner take all attitude' among some Haitian factions for their own purposes, often with disastrous results for the Haitian people.

Andrew Jay: I"m NOT saying Preval should use his "semi-official-the-election-was-a-travesty" slight majority to run roughshod over his opponents.

As sgm says; "Rights and Democracy" should look at OUR own rule in destabilizing Haiti before we presume to lecture Preval on proper behaviour.

"R & D" should look at the attitude of Preval's (and Aristide's) opposition before lecturing Preval about a "winner take all" attitude. For the opposition (representing the privileged, their goons, the intimidated, and the imaginary) Aristide and Preval's victories are to be met with a "winner take nothing" attitude.

It is the opposition and the Canadian government (and the French and the United States) that "Rights and Democracy" so wishes would stay in the country and continue its work, that have been the causes of the majority of Haiti's trauma.

For us to lecture Preval, and to presume that we have the keys to help these "poor people" learn the skills to be able to actually govern themselves is highly insulting to them.

My partner ephemeral was surprised about "Rights & Democracy." She's subscribed to their newsletter for a couple of years now and she says that they've said good, no-nonsense stuff about South Asia and Western policy there.

Either they've taken their cues from too many official sources on Haiti, or they are part of the deliberate co-optation of NGOs by the Canadian government looking for ideological allies in Haiti.

quote:

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Originally posted by Andrew_Jay:
But should the other parties here, who received even less of the vote - the Liberals, the NDP, the Bloc, be completely shut out of any say in government?

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They can't be since the Cons are sitting in minority, but if they were in majority I have no doubt that would be the case.

quote:

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Like I said, the "official" results give him a slim majority. You could probably say he rightly had closer to three-quarters of the vote. That still leaves a significant minority who can not simply be ignored if the new government wants to make any real progress.

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quote:

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Originally posted by sgm:
Take the statement's closing imperative, for example: 'Canada must now make sure that its efforts are sustainable by continuing to provide consistent and adequate assistance for the strengthening of Haitian institutions.'

This sounds fine on the surface, but--to speak only for myself--I think any future action by Canada in Haiti needs to begin with serious reflection on our own government's conduct towards that country, including an admission that we have done specific things to undermine and weaken the very institutions and political culture we claim (and the Rights & Democracy statement reinforces that claim) to have been strengthening all along.

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Hi sgm. Those are wise words, as always. There's a good point Noam Chomsky used to make when interviewed on CBC, about how Canadians loved him when he criticized US foreign policy, but the official media clammed shut when he added Canada to the critique. Even the left here is often better at blaming Washington than we are on reflecting about our own complicity.

I've heard a number of Rights & Democracy people talk about how Canada abandoned Aristide unjustly (before the overthrow, when we were supposed to be aiding his government). I know they work with Haitian activist groups in Montreal and partners on the ground in Haiti, and their advocacy often reflects the wishes of partner groups. How much the article (which i agree misses that central issue of reflecting on our own role) is a reflection of ignorance, and how much of pandering to government language in the hopes of being listened to in Ottawa, is one question i'm wondering about. Next time i speak with some R&D people i'll ask.

quote:

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Originally posted by Andrew_Jay:
No one is suggesting that he hand over power, but that a "winner-take-all" mentality be abandoned - and that those who did not win, co-operate with Preval's government and work with it. According to the "official" count, he only has a very slim majority - ruling without any regard for Haiti's minorities is going to cause nothing but trouble.

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Here in Canada, thanks to FPTP, it has encouraged winner-take-all mentalities among the governing parties. If the last Parliament was any indication, the political parties still haven't learned to play nicely together.

quote:

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Originally posted by Aristotleded24:
Don't you think it might be wise to address the shortcomings with our own party system before telling someone else that theirs needs fixing?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Aristotleded24:
If the last Parliament was any indication, the political parties still haven't learned to play nicely together.
. . .
Don't you think it might be wise to address the shortcomings with our own party system before telling someone else that theirs needs fixing?

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Because that is what's at issue here. During the Liberal majorities of the 1990's, did the PC's, the Bloc, the NDP or anyone else say that they could not work with the system, and refuse to compete within the limits of formal, peaceful, government?

The worry in Haiti is over whether:

A: Preval will be at least mindful of the fact that a significant number of people did not vote for him, and not use this victory as an opportunity to attack them (but it doesn't look like this is going to happen - i.e. Rights & Democracy is not making any wild suggestions here).

B: Those who did not vote for him choose to continue to use the political system, or choose defect from it. Will they have the opportunity to simply look towards the next election, or declare that there is absolutely nothing for them in Haitian politics, and go back to using violence?

It doesn't matter what you think about the non-Preval candidates and voters in Haiti, it is important that they be able to use the political system.

quote:

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Originally posted by Andrew_Jay:

B: Those who did not vote for him choose to continue to use the political system, or choose defect from it.

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Continue? Wouldn't they have had to start? They only engaged in elections this time because they thought that between them and the UN they could suppress any government the actual people wanted. Now that they turn out to have been wrong, and know that under the best possible conditions of intimidating, killing and jailing opposition politicians and activists, stuffing ballots etc. they *still* can't come close to winning an election, there's no way they'll consider competing in any elections that are part of a normal electoral process. So I'm assuming it'll be back to the violence.

quote:

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Originally posted by Andrew_Jay:
It doesn't matter what you think about the non-Preval candidates and voters in Haiti, it is important that they be able to use the political system.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Aristotleded24:
The issue in question is that the people of Haiti chose Preval as their leader, that's their choice to make, and we have to accept that.

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Only question to me now is whether the left wants to do something about it, or just stage more protests. The next logical step would be to put together the most compelling evidence (and there's lots of good leads leading in lots of potentially incriminating directions, at minimum) and then see if it's enough to charge some of these characters for violations of international law. Even if it's not enough to ultimately convict, it would put a broader spotlight on the whole disgusting conspiracy. I doubt most citizens would be impressed by the two faced rhetoric if they knew some of the real facts. I still have a lot of material from the time of the original coup, including one article which claims that the weapons used by the anti-Aristide 'rebels' were in fact *shown* to be supplied by pro-US Dominican forces (only real explanation for it, but needs to be documented) but alas it doesn't supply the actual sources or details.

I haven't kept up on this lately as well as others obviously have, though, so can someone here tell us if any evidence, witnesses, pictures or leaked documents have been reported in fairly independent sources yet ( ones preferably picked up by a couple others) and if so, where? That would be the smoking gun that's needed to move forward.

[ 23 February 2006: Message edited by: EriKtheHalfaRed ]

I'm going to ask about that tomorrow.

International Criminal Court

Procedure

quote:

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Procedure
The Chief Prosecutor may start an investigation upon referral of situations in which there is a reasonable basis to believe that crimes have been or are being committed. Such referrals must be made by a State Party or the Security Council of the United Nations, acting to address a threat to international peace and security. In accordance with the Statute and the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, the Chief Prosecutor must evaluate the material submitted to him before making the decision on whether to proceed.

In addition to State Party and Security Council referrals, the Chief Prosecutor may also receive information on crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court provided by other sources, such as individuals or non-governmental organisations. The Chief Prosecutor conducts a preliminary examination of this information in every case. If the Chief Prosecutor then decides that there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation, he will request the Pre-Trial Chamber to authorise an investigation.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Aristotleded24:
The issue in question is that the people of Haiti chose Preval as their leader, that's their choice to make, and we have to accept that.

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quote:

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Originally posted by thwap:
Andrew has consistently missed the point of this thread so it's best we leave him in peace.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Andrew_Jay:
Oh, I've understood the point of the thread all along - it appears to be to kick up a fuss over a complete non-issue.

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quote:

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posted 24 February 2006 12:23 PM

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quote:

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Group 184 partisan and well-known Haiti Democracy Project board member, Lionel Delatour:

"If he does try to bring Aristide back, Preval will NOT FINISH his presidency," Delatour predicted." (Go to: "Aristide's Former Ally May Be Turning Away by Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 20, 2006 ) http://www.haitiforever.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=14221#14221

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quote:

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I left on February 21 and arrived in Montreal in time for an event at Concordia University. But when I got to Customs I was detained and searched. All my papers were examined – I’m talking about personal papers, and notes, agenda and everything. These were even taken away from me. I insisted on being present when they were going to examine these papers, but they refused. I had a TV camera and they insisted on viewing the film that was in it. They took my laptop. All kinds of stupidity. And of course they couldn’t have anything against me, so then the supervisor of Customs came and told me I was cleared but now CSIS wanted to talk to me.

O’Keefe: How long did CSIS take with you and what was their attitude towards you?

Elie: It was an attitude that was not aggressive, I would say. But they wanted to know a bunch of things that were none of their business. They wanted to know who invited me, who my contacts were in Montreal, etc. They also wanted to know where I was staying in Montreal and what was my phone number. I said it’s none of your business. They also, and this is even more interesting, asked me about the content of my private conversations with President Aristide since his exile. So after about a half an hour I told them, ‘I’m tired of this, I’m already late. So unless you’re going to arrest me I’m going.’ So I just picked up my luggage and I left.

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The announcement came hours after the U.N. Security Council urged Haiti to stick "as closely as possible" to its schedule for elections, which it said were crucial to the Caribbean nation's fledgling democracy.

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Even now, residents of both Bel Air and Cite Soleil claim that they still experience intimidation by UN forces, one month after the elections. Batiste claimed that Brazilian MINUSTAH troops were still regularly firing upon the neighborhood of Pele, which adjoins Cite Soleil. One Cite Soleil resident claimed that MINUSTAH forces had inexplicably begun firing upon the community last Sunday, while another resident of Bel Air told us that MINUSTAH forces continued to harass residents and confiscate property.
.....
Haiti is emerging from two lost years in terms of social development. Few new social programs have been implemented by the US, Canadian, and France-imposed Interim Government of Haiti. By contrast, during the Presidency of Aristide, several programs and initiatives were implemented particularly in the areas of education. The years of 2000-2004 witnessed the construction of hundreds of new primary schools throughout the country, the establishment of thousands of alpha-resto community literacy and meal programs for adults, and the founding of Haiti’s largest medical school, the Universite Fondacion Aristide. Now, after two years of an unelected government buttressed by the UN and the international community, the alpha-resto programs have disappeared, primary and secondary schools are so strapped for funds that they are turning away poor children in greater numbers, and the Universite Fondacion Aristide has been occupied and turned into a military base for MINUSTAH forces. More than half of the population remains illiterate.

---

quote:

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The third session of the International Tribunal on Haiti will be held on March 11, 2006 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Florida International University in Miami.

Witnesses at the Tribunal will include recently released political prisoner Father Gérard Jean-Juste, who will testify about his ordeal in Haiti's jails; Duclos Benissoit, former head of the taxi drivers union; Agnes Mentor, a former Presidential security officer who witnessed hooded Haitian policemen massacre over a dozen people on Oct. 26, 2004; and Dr. Evan Lyon, a colleague of Dr. Paul Farmer in Partners in Health.

Members of a blue-ribbon Commission of Inquiry will also testify. Led by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, the Commission traveled to Haiti last October and gathered evidence of and testimony about new massacres and other crimes against humanity. Commission members Tom Griffin, John Parker and Dave Welsh will present videotaped testimony from victims and witnesses of massacres in Haiti.

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quote:

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On the heels of a private meeting yesterday with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Haiti's unelected prime minister, Gerard Latortue, is to meet today with Quebec Premier Jean Charest.

News of the two visits outraged anti-Latortue activists, who say the 71-year-old politician is guilty of crimes against humanity for arbitrary jailings and killings by police and paramilitary forces under his watch.

Bused in from Montreal, opponents picketed a diplomatic event Latortue attended last night at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

[snip]

Details of the meetings are being kept private, but may be linked to a proposal to have Canada and Quebec involved in governing Haiti's environmental activities and and education system, the activists suspect.

The proposal came in an April 2004 report titled The Role for Canada in Post-Aristide Haiti. The report was requested by the House of Commons foreign affairs committee and written by the Canadian Foundation for the Americas, an Ottawa-based think-tank.

In it, the foundation suggested Quebec's Education Department delegate one of its officials, preferably one of Haitian origin, to become a deputy minister in Haiti's education department.

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quote:

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"It's disgusting that the premier of Quebec and the prime minister of Canada would provide further legitimacy for an unelected, brutal politician who should be brought before the International Criminal Court," said Yves Engler, a Haiti Action Montreal activist.

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SJC: What do people in Bel Air think of Canada, considering that Canada was a supporter of the return of Aristide after the first coup, and a supporter of the interim government after the second coup?

SM: All over the country here, people know that Canada is an example of democracy to the world, and that Canada contributed a lot in planting democracy after the first coup. That’s why the people here were really surprised to see that the government of Canada was behind the coup of February 29th and also supporting the interim government that was supporting so much violence. It surprises the people to see such a transformation from the Canadian government about its policy in Haiti.

But we always like to establish the big difference between bon blans and mauvais blans [good white people and bad white people]. We know that the people in Canada have been in solidarity with us, contrary to the Foreign Affairs ministry of Canada who said that people in poor neighbourhoods have made it a no-man’s land, and are perpetrating different kinds of crime in Haiti.

There is one last example of clear evidence that the people of Canada are in solidarity with the people of Haiti, because the way that the people of Canada voted is like a response to the last government who supported the interim government in Haiti. When we talk, we are talking about the people of Canada who are in solidarity with Haiti. We will not say that the last government of Canada was bad and that the new one will be better because we don’t know if the policy will change. We don’t want to decide who is the worst and who is the best, we just hope that the people of Canada will open their eyes so that they know what the Canadian policy is in Haiti and so they know what is going on, so they can stop it when it is something bad.

---

I don't think I can buy his analysis of the outcome of the last Canadian election, but the interview is still worth a read.

quote:

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"Brazil will stay as long as the Haitian government sees it necessary," he said in his fortnightly radio address. "When they say 'we don't want you any more,' we will leave in the knowledge we have completed our task."

Haitian President-elect Rene Preval said in Brasilia on Friday there was more optimism and security in Haiti after the Feb. 7 presidential election, but the country's police and judiciary were still weak and it would be irresponsible to withdraw U.N. forces.

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quote:

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RA: What is your message to the Canadian government? Recently, after the February 7 election, it hosted an official visit by the unelected prime minister Gerard Latortue. He went on to visit Quebec Premier Jean Charest. Meanwhile, you faced interrogation and harassment from CSIS, Canada’s spy agency, when you arrived in Canada for your speaking tour.

PE: My travel problem is an annoyance, a nuisance, but it pales in comparison to the harm that the latest policy initiative toward Haiti has caused for Canada. The Canadian government’s support to the coup has really damaged its image, both in Haiti and in the region.

It could have welcomed a visit from the newly elected president, as even the U.S. seems prepared to do. Instead, it hosted a visit from Mr. Latortue, the representative of an unelected and illegitimate government. This is a very bad sign.

We call on the Canadian government to stop imposing a regime on the Haitian people. It’s obvious that this will not work. Our message to the Canadian government is the same as to the Haitian elite. There is a new reality in Haiti as of February 7, and it would be best for you to adapt to it and seek to work with the Haitian people and its elected leadership, rather than try, once again, to disrupt the country’s progress. If the elite and their foreign backers persist in obstructing democracy, the result can only be disastrous for the country as a whole.

We are calling on the Canadian government to use its influence to pressure for the release of the hundreds of political prisoners. There has been no motion on this since February 7, and this is scandalous.

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[ 29 March 2006: Message edited by: sgm ]

He told us about the passion for democracy in Haiti. One example was the first free elections after the Duvaliers. The military and their pay-masters did not want any choice of the people to be in charge. The leading candidate for president was an unassuming, middle-of-the-road lawyer, but he represented something the elites could not control.

Elie told us how the soldiers would drive up to lines of people waiting to vote and shoot at them. The voters would flee, and then get back into line when the soldiers drove off. One group of citizens running from the soldiers got caught in an alley behind a school and there was a massacre of around thirty people. But the Haitian people were determined to vote.

He presented the recent vote as yet another triumph of the people's faith in democracy against all adversity, but he cautioned that the demonstrations against a recount were backed by evidence that the patience of the Haitian people was limited.

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Since Aristide was ousted in a de facto coup in February 2004, Haiti’s turn towards an unconstitutional, if widely recognized, government has presented the international community with a grave crisis. Among the handful of nations who are now involved in a high profile effort to help Haiti attain stability, Canada is perhaps the most frequently passed over. Yet this omission belies the fact that Ottawa has long played an active role on the island, and now may be Haiti’s best hope for moving forward. Yet, this seemingly constructive role is marred by the disturbing recent history of Canadian-Haitian relations in which Ottawa played a shameful role. Under Liberal Party rule, Canada joined with co-conspirators, the U.S., France, and Kofi Annan of the UN, to approve Washington’s extra-constitutional action against President Aristide, which sent him into exile.

[snip]

While Canada’s current reconstruction plan for Haiti appears to be both comprehensive and responsive to the struggling nation’s needs, it must not be forgotten that Canada has a highly compromised recent history of interference in Haitian internal affairs during the Aristide era, but has barely uttered a word again the interim Latortue administration’s ineptitude and caricaturing of good government. But, as the developing world has focused its attention elsewhere, and as Haiti eventually falls off the international agenda, Canada’s substantial aid commitment, coupled with the two countries’ rich history of mutual exchange, may prove to be in Haiti’s best interest this time around.

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Further to this report's point about the LaTortue government:

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, April 6 (Reuters) — The director of the United Nations' human rights office in Haiti accused judicial officials and the American-backed interim government on Thursday of illegally detaining most of the 4,000 people in jail.

The official, Thierry Fagart, said most of the inmates had not been formally charged or put on trial by the interim authorities who replaced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was ousted two years ago.

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - Amid fears of political violence, Haiti prepares to vote in legislative elections that will determine if President-elect Rene Preval has enough support to govern the poorest country in the Americas.

The parliamentary run-off election will determine whether Preval will have an ally in the Caribbean country's next prime minister, who will be picked by parliament.

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Right now President Preval does not even know when his new job starts. Although the Constitution called for the inauguration of a new President on February 7, and the latest electoral decree scheduled it for March 29, the inauguration is now held hostage to the second round of legislative elections. The Constitution requires the President to take his oath of office in front of Parliament. The IGH, which was itself installed without Parliament and which ignored constitutional election deadlines in June 2004 and November 2005 as well as the February 7 inauguration deadline, is insisting that it needs a parliament to hand over power. The best likely scenario has the inauguration in early May, three months late and 5% through the Constitutional term. Source

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United Nations troops in Haiti opened fire last week on a poor neighborhood outside of Cite Soleil. We show footage of the raid, speak with a writer and activist who witnessed the raid and hear from the mother of a nineteen year-old who was killed in the raid. [includes rush transcript]
....
[excerpt]

So the UN, they’re -- basically the UN is operating without oversight. They're operating with impunity. They're going in, and they're just, quote/unquote, "securing" these neighborhoods at the behest of the ultra-rightwing small elite in Haiti that want to kill as many people as possible in these areas. They're not going after death squads. They're not disarming the rightist-backed forces and the holdover forces from the coup, which unfortunately are still controlling the judiciary. They're controlling much of the Haitian government.

And though there have been a small number of high-profile political prisoners released, as well they've been targeting people. So this week I spoke with an incredible Lavalas organizer who’s very close to Aristide. He had been with Lavalas from their early years. They come back from exile. His name is Rene Civil. He had come back from exile, and he was picked up for what looks to be a completely bogus charge. His lawyers denounced the charges on the radio. And I spoke to him, and it just looked completely ridiculous. He left his car in Haiti. He went to the D.R. They're charging him with crimes committed by the police, when they had his car when he was in exile.

So this guy spoke to us earlier in the week about a program he was running, which was getting scholarships to poor kids. He's working with the poorest of the poor, as the Lavalas movement is all about. I mean, their motto was “From misery to poverty with dignity.” And apparently, the U.S. continues to just feel -- clearly the U.S., France, and Canada continues to not be willing to accept that. And their friends who are still in power there just want to target these people as much as possible and kill people and do all the things that we heard of in the Lancet reports.

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quote:

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Our findings suggested that 8000 individuals were murdered in the greater Port-au-Prince area during the 22-month period assessed. Almost half of the identified perpetrators were government forces or outside political actors. Sexual assault of women and girls was common, with findings suggesting that 35 000 women were victimised in the area; more than half of all female victims were younger than 18 years. Criminals were the most identified perpetrators, but officers from the Haitian National Police accounted for 13·8% and armed anti-Lavalas groups accounted for 10·6% of identified perpetrators of sexual assault. Kidnappings and extrajudicial detentions, physical assaults, death threats, physical threats, and threats of sexual violence were also common.

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Link.

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...the survey findings suggest 8,000 Haitians were murdered since Aristide's overthrow - about 12 a day.

Almost half of them were killed by government forces or "outside political actors" - mostly armed gangs opposed to Aristide and his Lavalas political party.

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Here's the link to listen to the show: Sep 5.

[ 05 September 2006: Message edited by: sgm ]

Among other things, elie reflects on Canada's role in Haiti:

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RL: But the U.S. hasn’t been the only first world country to play a major role in Haiti in recent years. What about France and Canada?

PE: France’s role in Haiti is a direct result of the demand for reparation that President Aristide put forward. Also, I think France could never get over the defeat of 1804. In all of Haitian history, never has a French president set foot in Haiti. And Santo Domingue is probably the French colony that played the greatest role in French history. It was the richest colony by far, and caused them to lose Louisiana.

With Canada, I can point to a number of reasons why they have switched directions in Haitian policy. One is that Canada is aligning its policy with that of the U.S. more and more after Iraq where they refused to participate because the Chretien government would have been defeated if Canada had gone into Iraq. Haiti was an easy way to please the U.S. Haiti’s a country with no army and no possibility to resist regime change.

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On the Canadian government's two major foreign policy files--Haiti and Afghanistan, according to DFAIT--our government was in absolute lock-step with the Bush administration, and not to our credit.

The Globe reported in late February of 2004 that Bill Graham was echoing, nearly word for word, Colin Powell's calls for Aristide to 'examine his position' (France's de Villepin was singing from the same choirbook as well): these were thinly veiled statements of support for Aristide's ouster.

And what was the result for Canada in the region? It would seem that Elie's harsh judgment of our government's policy was shared by many in the region, for the Globe also reported, after the removal of Aristide that

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Canada's reputation as a mediator in the Caribbean [was] in tatters, with PM Paul Martin's government accused of standing by while the US and French governments helped remove Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide from office in what he has angrily called 'a modern kidnapping.'

Diplomatic sources said yesterday that caribbean leaders were furious at Washington and Paris for refusing to help the democratically elected Aristide, They also have accused Canada, a traditional power broker in the Caribbean, of complicity in his downfall.

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quote:

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Originally posted by sgm:
Lancet report on violence Haiti:

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The Lancet, a prestigious British medical journal, has cleared the author of a study on Haiti of systemic bias, and reaffirmed the findings of her report.

Athena Kolbe's report concluded that widespread human-rights violations in Haiti have occurred, despite the presence of a Canadian-led United Nations police force and Brazilian-led peacekeeping mission.

The Lancet investigation was launched after a British-based Haiti Support Group complained she wasn't objective.

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[ 09 February 2007: Message edited by: M. Spector ]