Haitian PM Lamothe & Sean Penn do NOT Speak for the Haitian Majority

Prime Minister Lamothe & Sean Penn do NOT Speak for the Haitian Majority
Protest the Lies about Haiti | 10 steps to Dictatorship:
Why the grassroots movement in Haiti is taking to the streets against President Michel Martelly

via Ezili Dantò
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HAITI ACTION COMMITEE NOVEMBER 19TH ACTION ALERT!

Stand up for the TRUTH about Haiti!

Prime Minister Lamothe & Sean Penn do NOT Speak for the Haitian Majority
Protest the Lies about Haiti in SF
TUESDAY, Nov. 19 – 1:30 PM
Yerba Buena Gardens – San Francisco (3rd and Mission)

On Tuesday, November 19 in San Francisco, Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and actor Sean Penn (named “Ambassador at Large for Haiti”by Michel Martelly), will spread the false message of the fraudulent Martelly government. Join Haiti Action Committee to protest against these lies, as well the corruption and repression of the Martelly/Lamothe government.

The people of Haiti are still in the midst of an occupation instigated by the United States and United Nations in 2004. As supporters of the Martelly government, which is in the process of bringing back dictatorship to Haiti, Prime Minister Lamothe and actor Sean Penn DO NOT speak in the interests of the Haitian majority.

Come stand in solidarity with the Haitian grassroots, who will be demonstrating the day before in Haiti, on the 210th anniversary of the Battle of Vertières (one of the last battles that sealed the victory of the Haitian Revolution).
Come stand in solidarity, to echo the demands of the Haitian majority:

• To protest the CORRUPTION and ILLEGALITY of the Martelly/Lamothe government.
• To protest the government’s widespread repression of the poor.
• To protest the INJUSTICE of the nearly 10-year-old US/UN occupation and the suffering it inflicts on the Haitian people.
• To support the right of the Haitian majority to fully participate in the running of their country, FREE from repression and terror.
• To support the right of Haitian children, women, and men, to have free access to education, food, jobs, housing, and healthcare.

Much valuable background information is available in Ten Steps to Dictatorship: Why the Grassroots Movement is Taking to the Streets Against President Michel Martelly by Charlie Hinton

*This shameful event is part of the Dreamforce Conference, an annual event of the cloud computing company Salesforce.com.

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Forwarded by Ezili's Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network
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HAITI ACTION COMMITEE NOVEMBER 19TH ACTION ALERT!

How NOT to Steal Haiti's Sovereignty and Independence (Q&A)

Original post: How to Steal Haiti's Sovereignty and Independence

What is the take away after reading this story for us non-Haitians who sincerely want to give what we can to add something positive to the situation?

Non-Haitians need to pressure the U.S. government to change their foreign policy towards Haiti. It's clear that the IMF, World Bank, IDB et al's structural readjustment programs haven't worked. Haiti is destroyed. It's clear that "free-trade," privatization and other neoliberal measures have killed the local industries and destroyed food production in Haiti.

While some priorities have changed (the top priority is rebuilding) and TPS has been granted to Haitian immigrants (for now). The list of priorities from this report by Haitian Lawyer's Leadership Network (HLLN) remains relevant: What Haitian-Americans are asking of the next US president

Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.

--Martin Luther King, Jr.

Are our voices as important as our house plans?

Non-Haitian voices are best used when raised in support of Haitian voices and Haiti. Although corruption, injustice and other violations of human rights must be addressed and are top priorities, perspective, sensitivity and context would go a long way in assuring Haitians that there is good will and Haiti's best interest at heart behind calls for transparency, integrity and accountability.

The international community needs to do more listening. The time to have raised Cain was during the political interventions, coups, and the repression. The complicit silence of most of the corporate media, NGOs, religious community and people of conscience in the international community is part of the reason Haiti was mired in political chaos, death and destruction for the majority of these past ten years and beyond. Building infrastructure, institutions and social services was not a priority for the "international community." Evidently, most were in Haiti to make a quick buck -- the Haitian people's welfare was not on the agenda.

And since when does it make sense to dispense democracy from behind the butt of a gun? Pointing guns at hungry, dispossessed and destitute people is criminal. Why fire shots into a crowd of mourners at the funeral of a hero priest Father Gerry - killing one young man? Haitians don't want the UN military occupation. Abuses by MINUSTAH are growing, yet not one blue helmet has ever been held accountable. MINUSTAH either puts away the tanks and guns for tractors and construction equipment or they must all go home.


Or should we with particular skills that are necessary right now be apolitical?

POLITICS: Haitians have been struggling for autonomy and independence for 200 years. The main issue Haiti has faced vis-a-vie the international community has been a lack of respect for Haiti's sovereignty, Constitution, laws, government and people. A lot of it has to do with racism and white supremacy. This also explains the paternalistic nature inherent in the "aid" that Haiti receives.

Point of fact, this Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission is anathema to most Haitians because half of it consists of foreigners and its Chair is Bill Clinton. Haitians see this as a violation of their Constitution and a loss of sovereignty. This is a major issue, which doesn't seem to be permeating the consciousness of the collective "international community."

SKILLS: The problem with the NGOs in Haiti is that they're not building permanent, long-lasting structures or institutions. They're building flimsy ones that will not hold up to the test of time. The fact is, permanent structures would put them out of business and that's not the plan for most.

Questions for you: Are you guys building permanent infrastructures and institutions in Haiti? Ones that you would live in and be governed by?

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you
feed him for a lifetime."

--Old Chinese proverb

MSM: Wake Up & Smell the Misinformation

Chinese President Hu Jintao(R) meets with visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, on Sept. 24, 2008.(Xinhua/Liu Weibing) The US mainstream media (MSM) never delves into or outlines the role of the US government in the escalation of tensions in Latin America and in particular in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador. The long history of US interventions and destabilizations of Latin American countries and the current "with us or against us" policy of the Bush administration should be cited as a part of any discourse or news that purports to shed light on the events occurring seemingly in a vacuum in this hemisphere, for they explain the fear and suspicion with which the US government is regarded in Latin America and beyond. Last April the US announced that it was reviving its fourth fleet in the Caribbean, a move that Evo Morales of Bolivia called "the Fourth Fleet of intervention." Hugo Chavez is continuing to seek bilateral partnerships to safeguard his country's sovereignty in the face of US covert and overt interventions and aggression. This month Venezuela announced joint Naval exercises in the Caribbean with Russia. Also, Mr. Chavez is in China this week to "push China-Venezuela strategic partnership of common development to a higher level." This month, members of the Venezuelan military were exposed on a tape plotting a coup and citing US tacit approval. Subsequently, Hugo Chavez announced the expulsion of the US Ambassador to Venezuela, Patrick Duddy; the ambassador is expelled, Chavez said, in solidarity with the expulsion of the US Ambassador to Bolivia, Philip Goldberg just a day earlier. After handily winning a referendum in Bolivia, President Evo Morales faced violent reprisals from the right-wing opposition. Evidence later emerged that Ambassador Goldberg had met with opposition leaders during the violent upheavals that left eight people dead. In the middle of this tense scenario, last Thursday in Venezuela, Americas Director José Miguel Vivanco and his colleague Americas Director Daniel Wilkinson of Human Rights Watch (HRW) held a press conference to present their report (not due for five months) harshly criticizing the Chavez government, entitled “A Decade Under Chávez: Political Intolerance and Lost Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela.” The next day, Vivanco and Wilkinson were accused of "meddling illegally" in Venezuelan affairs and unceremoniously escorted to a plane out of the country. In a press release, the Venezuelan Foreign Relations Ministry said Vivanco and Wilkinson "have done violence to the constitution" and "assaulted the institutions" of Venezuela by "meddling illegally in the internal affairs of our country." The ministry also said the HRW report is linked to the "unacceptable strategy of aggression" of the United States government. The ministry said the expulsion of Vivanco and Wilkinson was in the interest of "national sovereignty" and "the defense of the people against aggressions by international factors." James Suggett, writing in Venezuela Analysis points out that: "HRW has issued reports that are [sic] critical of the Chávez administration in the months leading up to crucial Venezuelan elections in the past, raising suspicion that the reports seek to sway Venezuelan voters against the president." In the days following the report, the Venezuelan government and its allies have responded to the report and in an article in OpEdNews.com, Elizabeth Ferrari explains the circumstances surrounding the expulsions and infuses some perspective into the situation that dispels some of the propaganda that has characterized coverage of this volatile situation: "...the American press seems to trust the Bush government and its adjuncts with all things Venezuelan and has once again simply passed on and proliferated the official story. I wish my betters in the press corpse would wake up and smell the disinformation." If you've read John Perkins' book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" then you know about the symbiotic relationship between non-governmental agencies (NGOs) and intelligence services. Is it any wonder than that Human Rights Watch and its pronouncements are viewed with justifiable suspicion? Elizabeth Ferrari sums it up in this way: "And then, there’s the matter of our intelligence services hanging out in NGOs. (I suppose, our overseas operatives can’t all work at the local embassy.) A friend of mine from El Salvador reminds me that during the war, a planeful of “humanitarian workers” was shot down and apparently, somehow it was full of US government operatives instead. It was shot down close to the capital and Rolando believes it was the government, not the guerillas, that shot it down. The government had had enough of the “Peace Corps” meddling with their affairs, allies or not. The few survivors of the crash were executed on the spot, it was later determined. Guerillas didn’t operate that close to San Salvador during the war, so this was a terrible case of a US client state sending back a message to Washington. More recently, as Amy Goodman has reported, arriving Peace Corps volunteers and young visiting scholars were solicited to spy for our government when they went to be briefed at our embassy in Bolivia. They were there for a welcome to the country and instead, they were told to spy on Venezuelans and on Cubans. It must be very upsetting to believe you are in Bolivia to work on hunger or to write a study on literacy and then to have your own Ambassador direct you to violate the trust of the very people you look forward to working with. These kids hadn’t even unpacked before they were enlisted to violate international law."