No Disaster Tourism for Haiti

A compilation of Haiti and world news.
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Photo by KeelyKernan at Flickr.com

The kid goes to Haiti the week of the US Open", and wins it all...
Defend Haiti | Sports | Monday, 20 June 2011

Rory McIlroy's visit to Haiti as UNICEF's "Irish Goodwill Ambassador" may have just been a humanitarian visit, and not the design of an agent or public relations firm. However, some have cried foul, saying this is more of the type of "disaster tourism" Haiti has seen since the devastating January 12, 2010 earthquake.

It's very heart-warming that so many generous and beautiful souls have taken an interest in Haiti. Many ordinary people around the world have given to Haiti relief. Most common folks and some celebrities do not support Haiti for the attention or accolades – Haitians are grateful to them for their humanity and goodwill.

However, what Haiti needs is sustainable development and political pressure on Washington from U.S. citizens asking that the U.S. support sustainable development, not sweatshops and disaster capitalism. Washington's neoliberal policies and counterproductive actions are keeping Haiti poor and underdeveloped.

It's unfortunate that some actors, musicians, entertainers, athletes, political players and any number of folks are able to raise their public profile with a "goodwill" trip to pose with the children and people of "the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere." Want to raise money for your personal or favorite NGO? Are you planning to run for political office or to make a bucket load of money by NOT running? Have you just been involved in an embarrassing, high profile scandal? If that describes you, then Haiti is the place to go for a disaster tourism tour of the rubble, illness and misery! And don't worry, the same conditions will exist for years to come, so just keep on sustaining the republic of NGOs to remain in Haiti indefinitely.

Haiti does not need more TOURISTAHs! Haiti has the hated MINUSTAH occupying force to fill that role.

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Making Sense of Martelly's National Fund for Education

Defend Haiti | Economy | Monday, 20 June 2011

It's despicable that the poor are now being taxed via their cell phones and wire transfers. Of course, Martelly has no intention of taxing the leeching multinational corporations, repugnant rich elite, and others who do not invest or support Haiti's human and infrastructure development.

If this new education program, which is mired in controversy and mistrust from Haitian in and out of the country ever gets off the ground, since the Haitian diaspora are the guarantors of this latest stalled IDB loan, we should at least have a say in the curriculum.

For instance, in what language will schools be taught -- some prefer French, many support Kreyol--both? What about culture and history? Will Haitian and African culture be given priority -- they should? Also, math, science and technology should prepare the students for highly-skilled careers. Will they get music, health and physical education? Show us the curriculum!

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Arcade Fire in Haiti: "So much joy..."

The Observer | World News, Haiti | Sunday 19 June 201

Arcade Fire's Régine Chassagne tells a moving story about a concert her group held in the remote mountain village of Cange. The charming story hit a sour note for me when Régine talked of being the opening act for RAM. Folks outside of the Haiti and the Haitian diaspora may not be aware that RAM leader Richard Morse supported the 2004 coup which ousted Haiti's first democratically elected government.

The rock band has attached their name to Partners & Health (PiH), a worthwhile, sustainable and effective NGO with medical projects in Cange and other remote areas of Haiti. Unfortunately, Mr. Paul Farmer, PiH's founder, once a promoter of democracy in Haiti, has become part of Haiti's myriad problems since he joined the UN occupying force as their "special envoy" to Haiti. Since then, Farmer's not (to my knowledge) shared his opinions on fraudulent elections, the barring of Aristide's party Fanmi Lavalas from elections, and the stagnant progress rebuilding Haiti by his pal William Jefferson Clinton, who heads the IHRC. To his credit, Farmer did speak out about the imported UN cholera. Farmer voiced the necessity of finding the origins of the disease when his UN colleagues were against naming the source. As we know, that trail lead back to the UN.

Wikileaks Cables Reveal: After Quake, a “Gold Rush” for Haiti Contracts

HaitiAnalysis.com | Politics | June 16th, 2011

War and disasters are seen as opportunities for some. Naomi Klein calls it "disaster capitalism."

THE GOLD RUSH IS ON!” [U.S. Ambassador] Merten headlined a section of his 6 p.m. situation report – or Sitrep – back to Washington."

Lucke, for one, justifies making money off of disasters. “It’s kind of the American way,” he told Haïti Liberté. “Just because you’re trying to do business doesn’t mean you’re trying to be rapacious. There’s nothing insidious about that... It wasn’t worse than Iraq."

More on Disaster Capitalism from Truthout...

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Attacking Libya - and the Dictionary

Truth-out.org | Politics | Tuesday 21 June 2011

The Obama administration's rush for oil in Libya has them redefining war.

American and NATO planes are violating Libyan air space, they are finding targets, dropping bombs, and the bombs are killing and maiming innocent people and destroying civilian buildings and other "soft" and "hard" targets. It is a war, but according to an Obama administration 32 page report titled "United States Activities in Libya," it is NOT war.

"War is only war, it seems, when Americans are dying, when we die. When only they, the Libyans, die, it is something else for which there is as yet apparently no name."

According to Reporter Kevin Hall of MacClatchy, the Libyan war ties to development of oil in the Caspian region and other oil rich regions. It marks a scramble for oil and controlling Europe's energy supply. Read his article: Wikileaks cables show it was all about the oil.

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Haiti Housing Plans: BBBC vs Kay Pam

Defend Haiti | Thursday, 16 June 2011

A lot of distrust for Michel Martelly and his plans for Haiti is manifested in his adoption of a René Preval mortgage plan called Kay Pam. President Martelly has been disingenuous in presenting the plan has his own.

Without question, more suspicions about Haiti's first ever mortgage program are raise by the untimely death of Guiteau Toussaint, the President of National Credit Bank (BNC), who had partnered with Preval on the mortgage plan and who was to launch the project just before his untimely death. Toussaint was murdered at home In Petion-Ville, Haiti during an armed robbery on June 12, 2011. The death is being called an assassination and some suspect a political motive. The police are questioning suspects.

Perhaps not coincidentally, given Martelly's hatred of Aristide and Lavalas, some suspects are said to be Fanmi Lavalas political activists, including former Bush 2004 coup era political prisoner, Yvon Antoine aka Yvon ZapZap -- though it was later reported that his detention was unrelated to the death of Toussaint. No word yet on why Yvon Antoine is being detained. Also detained for questioning and conditionally released was a prominent businessman named Franck Ciné.

As for the mortgage program, many details need to be revealed and are missing from the discussion. The new president still has not been able to get his government appointments approved by Parliament, including his Vice President designate, Daniel-Gerard Rouzier. Rouzier committed a misstep by announcing his intention to disband the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (IHRC), but hours later Martelly subsequently promised to work with the IHRC to make it more "efficient."

Martelly's mortgage program is troubling. Martelly says in a video on YouTube that the interest rate on these mortgages will be fixed at 8%. This sounds exorbitantly high for what amounts to public housing projects.

The mortgage plan is very optimistic, but unrealistic, given the high unemployment rate in Haiti. How will people be able to pay this mortgage? The sewing factories and other sweatshops that are planned or operating in Haiti do not and evidently will not provide Haitians, who work without unions or benefits, with a living wage. The new Haitian presidential administration's first priority should be sustainable Haitian jobs, not enslavement to a high-interest mortgage.

It doesn't recommend Martelly's new mortgage plan that he himself ended up in foreclosure on three of his properties in South Florida.

In Haiti, A 7 Year Nightmare Continues as Duvalierist Clamour for "Reconciliation" & for Aristide's Condemnation

A Swat team escorts Jean-Claude Duvalier after his arrest. Duvalier is released before the day is over. Photo by Susan Phillips

These coup d'etat people have cognitive dissonance. They want Aristide "condemned" for crimes, but they don't seem to have an understanding of what constitutes "crimes against humanity."

Crimes against humanity are particularly heinous offenses that are not isolated or sporadic events, but are part either of a government policy or of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or a de facto authority. They include, murder; extermination; torture; rape; political, racial, or religious persecution and other inhumane acts and only reach the threshold of crimes against humanity if they are part of a widespread or systematic practice. Isolated inhumane acts of this nature may constitute grave infringements of human rights, or depending on the circumstances, war crimes, but would most likely fall short of being in the category of crimes against humanity.

"... after scouring Amnesty International reports, Peter Hallward, a UK based researcher, wrote “Amnesty International’s reports covering the years 2000-03 attribute a total of around 20 to 30 killings to the police and supporters of the FL [Aristide’s party] — a far cry from the 5,000 committed by the junta and its supporters in 1991-94, let alone the 50,000 usually attributed to the Duvalier dictatorships.”

-- "The Council on Hemispheric Affairs Deserves an F for Article on Haiti" by Joe Emersberger

The coup d'etat folks never fail to point out the death of Journalist Jean Dominique as one ordered by Aristide. A fact they choose to ignore or omit from the accusation is that Aristide was not president during the time of Jean Dominique's murder. Jean Dominique was assassinated under René Preval's first term.

Aristide was in office 7 months and then 1 year after his 1994 return, during which he put together elections. Also, since Aristide demobilized the military during his first term, he can hardly be said to have been in charge of the military apparatus of Haiti.

Aristide was duly re-elected in 2001, but the Duvalierist set up a parallel un-elected government. He was allowed 3 years in office before a second coup on February 29, 2004.

Who committed crimes against humanity in Haiti?

Crimes Against Humanity occurred under the Duvaliers from 1957 to 1986, when between 60,000 to 100,000 Haitians were assassinated, disappeared, jailed, tortured, raped...

Crimes Against Humanity occurred under the Raoul Cedras/Michel "Sweet Mickey" Francois/FRAPH death squads of the George H. W. Bush Sr sponsored 1991 coup, when 5,000 to 8,000 Haitians were slaughtered.

Crimes Against Humanity occurred under George W. Bush Jr. Haiti regime change. The crimes were perpetrated by the U.S. supported Group 184, the GNBist (gren nan bounda), Lame Timanchet, under the U.S. installed puppet government of Boca Raton native Gerard Latortue. All these atrocities occurring with firepower cover of US Marines first, then under the UN/MINUSTAH occupation, which began in June 2004. The 2004 coup d'etat resulted in the worst human rights violations in the Western Hemisphere, with between 14,000 to 20,000 innocent Haitians slaughtered.

For 7 years now, the Duvalierists and neo-Duvalierists have brought Haiti an unbroken nightmare, starting with kidnappings, which began after the kidnapping of President Aristide by U.S. forces out of Haiti.

7 years of apartheid, famine, exclusion; a slaughtering rampage; with no development, as the UN/MINUSTAH make a staggering $800 million plus a year in Haiti for 2010. The UN requested an additional 164 million for the cholera outbreak they imported into Haiti!

A 7 year nightmare as over 200,000 Haitians got infected and as 4,000 plus have died from MINUSTAH/UN imported cholera.

By the way, is the "international community" really interested in protecting "democracy" in Haiti? They cynically brought in a majority COMMUNIST country's military (Nepal), with similar infrastructure, educational and political issues to occupy Haiti where the democratic government was removed illegally.

Haiti has been made over into a training ground for the world's military forces and for the burgeoning mercenary military industry.

A 7 year nightmare continues for Haitians equal only to the time of Duvalier as USAID's NGOs reign; laundering public donation funds into private profit.

7 year nightmare while Eurasian Mines and Majesco, et al.. pillage and plunder Haiti's gold and copper resources in the North.

7 year nightmare as the people die of famine from Bill Clinton's food aid and subsidies for Arkansas farmers, which had all but destroyed Haiti's breadbasket even before the cholera was unleashed in the rural area by UN Nepalese military waste matter dumped into the Artibonite.

A 7 year nightmare as the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) do nothing to advance real development, but propose HOPE sweatshops, THEIR idea of "development" for Haiti.

A 7 year nightmare as rigged elections or elections-without-an-electorate ("selections") have been the norm.

A 7 year nightmare as almost 4,000 Haitians are indefinitely detained in prisons under MINUSTAH/UN occupied Haiti without EVER being charged for a crime, seeing a lawyer or any kind of due process at all.

Seven years of destabilizing Haiti to exclude the people, to pursue foreign profits and geopolitical interests and culminating in this attempt to bring back the pre-1986 dictatorship era of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier.

Radyo Kiskeya Journalist: Jean Richard Louis-Charles: Executed 02.09.2011

Dr Aristide returning home is a start on the road to a sovereign Haiti, but be prepared for the Western countries who armed Guy Philippe and Jodel Chamblain to block his return.

Already the brutality has escalated and a young, promising journalist was executed today by someone on a motorcycle in broad daylight in front of school children.

Jean Richard Louis-Charles of Radyo Kiskeya was only 29 years old. He and a companion died today in a hail of bullets. RIP. He leaves behind a girlfriend and two daughters, Cynthia and Shelsy. His traumatized colleagues at Radyo Kiskeya put out a statement, which read in part:

"This sudden and tragic disappearance of a young man as promising as Jean Louis Charles Richard is a real disaster for the station, the press and the country. He has worked at the station since 2005. Next May would have been sevent anniversary of the collaboration.

Radio Kiskeya thanks all those in the press and all other sectors who expressed their sympathy during this extremely difficult time."

Aristide's passport was issued on Tuesday, February 8, 2011 and is in the hands of his lawyer Ira Kurzban.

Preval government in Haiti and it's Foreign Ministry abroad have failed since 2006 to answer the constant requests of Aristide and his supporters to allow his return by issuing a diplomatic passport. Now that the passport has finally been issued, Mr. P.J. Crowley of the U.S. State Department has declared that Aristide's return would be an "unfortunate distraction" and potentially divisive.

Is it up to the U.S. to decide which Haitian citizen can return home and which cannot? Foreigners must stop violating Haiti's constitution by butting into Haiti's sovereign affairs!

Not surprisingly, the U.S. had no such objection to the return of the brutal dictator "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who is accused of crimes against humanity, charged with corruption for stealing millions from the state before he was ousted by the people in 1986.

What a laughing stock the U.S. is making of itself this month because of their evident hypocrisy! In Haiti, in Egypt, and other locales where autocrats are part of their "client state" empire.

As David Sirota said in a recent article: "Just as you cannot be sorta pregnant, you cannot kinda support democracy, and only when it does what you want. That's not "supporting democracy"; that's imperialism. Indeed, the ideal of self-governance is as uncompromising as America's views on terrorism: You're either with democracy, or you're against it -- and as Martin Luther King noted, we are too often against it."

It's been 7 years since the 2004 Bush regime change in Haiti. Seven years of struggle for a real democracy is ENOUGH!

Preval's government has done the right thing in finally issuing the diplomatic passport to Dr. Aristide. Preval's government must show true courage now and annul the fraudulent elections in order to save Haiti's sovereignty.

HatTip to Ezili Danto of HLLN

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BACKGROUND:

• Political Fallacies: Aristide is as bad as or worse than the Duvaliers
  by Harry Comeau


• For what became of the charge that Aristide was part of drug trafficking in Haiti read this: Haiti: The Politics of Drugs | The Dominion

UPDATE -- Friday, Feb. 11 2011
According to Radyo Kiskeya: The radio's journalist, Jean Richard Louis-Charles, who was killed on Wednesday, was apparently the victim of an attempted robbery. Louis-Charles is the first journalist to be killed in the Western Hemisphere this year according to Reporters Without Borders. RWB said they are "troubled" by the circumstances of Louis-Charles death and await the conclusions of the investigation. The other man killed at the scene was Jean Wilner Duperval, one of the three suspected robbers. The two accomplices are still being sought. Police are deploying undercover police to try to curb crime in the area.

Father of two children, Jean-Louis Richard Charles was shot twice in the head and neck Wednesday at noon at the Capois Street (downtown Port-au-Prince) shortly after completing a transaction in a commercial bank.

His alleged killer, was identified as Jean Wilner Duperval, a prison escapee, who was immediately shot down by a plainclothes policeman.

According to the spokesman of the National Police, Frantz Lerebours, the man, who was actively sought, had escaped from the National Penitentiary, the civil prison in the capital, along with nearly 5,000 other prisoners in the minutes that followed the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010."

Poor Haiti! After the earthquake, cholera, now Babydoc

by Elsie. Original French version posted at http://elsie-news.over-blog

Just released... An unpublished document from Haiti's past. The texts of Roland Paret and Frantz Voltaire accompanied with photographs of the epoch. Visit Elsie's blog for purchase info.

The French government offers a gift to the Haitians: the dictator Jean Claude Duvalier. It is symbolic of the contempt that the International community has for Haiti that at the same moment when Tunisia is delighted by the departure of Ben Ali, France sends to Haiti the dictator Jean Claude Duvalier. What a shame!

When are the Macoutes returning?

It appears that the assassins always return to the scene of their crimes.

Since 2004, with the boycott of the commemoration of the bicentenary of Haiti's Independence, one knew that the extreme right had orchestrated this great chaos, the purpose of which was to gain back its power.

It was known that the far right, lead by the voice of the writer Lyonel Trouillot, leader of the Collective Against the Commemoration of the Bicentenary of Independence hoped, and worked for the return of Jean-Claude Duvalier.

Latortue, the interim Prime Minister in 2004, was charged with giving power to the far right - the man who criss-crossed Haiti with two Lexus brand cars, had granted a diplomatic passport to Jean-Claude Duvalier. Yuk!

Elsewhere all these zentellectuels were preceded, supplemented, compromised, rewarded by France and are obligated in one manner or another (family, clans, businesses) to the 2 Duvaliers.

It isn't for naught that all the bands of "foreign travelers " talk on Mediapart, Le Point, L'Humanité and other publications. They repeat on the airwaves of all the programs of France Inter, RFI, etc that Aristide was worse than Duvalier.

These irresponsible zentellectuels have committed a tremendous number of evils in Haiti. All this in exchange for some glass jewelry. Yuk!

The far right is delighted, after the visit of Palin with the visit of Duvalier.

It is Préval, who took Jean-Robert Estimé, ancient minister of Foreign Affairs of Duvalier to recommend economic policies and nowadays as the head of plan WINNER for USAID which works with Monsanto, who receives Jean Claude Duvalier now.

At a time when Tunisia is trying to set-up a "clean" government, Haiti swims in its smut.

It is a bunch of riffraffs who, since 2004, gather in Haiti, which has become "the resort of the neo-bloody idiots."

Préval, who will complete his mandate which runs from 2006 to 2011, has betrayed the aspirations of the Haitian people. Now he organizes the return of a dictator who should be judged for his crimes. Yuk!

But what can one expect from a country the intellectuals of which boycotted the commemoration of the bicentennial of its independence?

That they are obligated by France, history will remember. As a friend said to me, who called me brewing with the news of this "return": who could have dreamed that we would live to see this day, when the moron son of the Martiniquais Papa Doc, charged with making zombis out of Haitians would come back to the scene of their crimes.

This year, in April, 2011, it will make 50 years since our dear Jacques Stephen Alexis will have been tortured and slaughtered by the Macoutes of 2 Duvalier.

Eh yes, as I said, papa Préval, what a good boy. Yuk!

Note: Translated from French. Apologies for any omissions or errors.

More on Duvalier's return at AlterPresse:

Haïti : Révolte et interrogations après le retour de Duvalier

Rene Preval: "Embarassment?"Worry about his arrogance and contempt for his people.

The opinion piece entitled "Embarassment" by Jocelyn refers to this photo of President Preval at the 5th Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain where he is the only one not in a suit. A small furor was stirred by this photo as Haitian media and Haitian Internet forums opined on the "embarrassment" this protocol mistep is for the country with comments along the lines of "WOW... WOW ... WOW ... God help us. That is all I am going to say." Jocelyn's response goes beyond the shallow, advises against mental colonization and is worthy of note for other reasons. HLLN, May 4, 2009

"Embarrassment"
by Jocelyn, May 4, 2009 1:31 PM (Via email)

Come on ladies and gentlemen;

Could you please stop making a mountain out of a molehill! The man was not naked, had mud on his face and smelled like a sewer as far as we knew. Actually, we shouldhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif have a national costume that is elegant so we stand out when we go into these ceremonious meetings or summits.

I would be more interested in what Rene Preval is selling for nothing from the country. I don't know why you are so "shocked" by Rene Preval's behavior at this point. He displayed his arrogance and contempt for his people since he was named Prime Minister under President Aristide's first term. When he became president himself because he took a ride on the Lavalas movement, he didn't express any love for his people then either. Remember, his political motto was: 'Naje pou soti" [swim to get out], meaning that he was just there taking care of his own business, you better take care of yours. Remember during the boating accident how he acted with total indifference by urinating nearby (even with prostate problem that was unwarranted to do this in such a public manner). He again kept on reminding the Haitian people when he was called to participate in the last presidential election, after Aristide received another coup and we had the horror of the "tecknocrap" Latortue, he kept on saying that he was having a grand time at Marmelade and that he was "forced" to run for president. His attitude since then has not improved and his total contempt for his people has become even more apparent.

Just remember the virulent hatred manifested against Aristide by people who look like him and come from his social class. Preval was supposedly more acceptable (Li pa gen gwo bouch, gwo nen, li gen yon ti kob, e li bay franse plis enpotans pase kreyol) [he doesn't have big lips, big nose, he has a little money, and he gives French more importance than Kreyol]. We have to look at our inner pathologies and try, try, try to correct them first. Otherwise, we will keep on putting, at the head of Haiti, children of Haiti who hate their mothers maybe because she is not an aristocrat and wears jewelry all over her. The same way we treat our most destitute citizens who through no fault of their own don't have much clutter to call their own, but have values of loving their fellow citizens, would welcome them and share with them the little that they have at their own expense, the same way we treat the country called Ayiti, Boyio, Kiskeya.

We have to start really loving ourselves. See beauty when we look at ourselves in the mirror. Be proud that we have created a language that allowed us to maneuver and organize against our slave masters to get out of physical slavery at least. However, we've allowed ourselves to be placed in serious mental shackles and it seems harder to get out of that state of being.

Speaking any language well is not necessarily a sign of high intelligence. I worked with the mentally retarded for 16 years and have encountered wonderful people in that situation who have a great command of the English language verbally, but can't write it as well. Mentally retarded French people speak French too because they were born listening to it. We have to stop appreciating ourselves through THE EYES OF OUR SLAVE MASTERS. We sometimes keep on producing their creations so we can please the slave masters first instead of our own people.

All the slave master countries who come to us want to take our well prepared brains to use them for their own purposes. They all have had electricity for more than a century and they absolutely refuse to allow Ayiti to have it too. They could electrify all of Ayiti in one year or less. Ayiti is smaller than any of their provinces. They don't want to do it, along with their sewer representatives in the country, because with light a lot of the ignorance, superstition, time wasted, dependence on the exterior, will be GONE, GONE, GONE.

If we are not desperate enough, we can't be cheap labor, prostitutes, guinea pigs for any kind of toxic medication test, garbage disposal for any toxic waste, stupid enough to give our lands, our treasures in art and material goods.

Let's not worry much about Preval's appearance. Let's examine his substance. He is tolerating the presence of MINUSTAH [United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti] in the country and that stinks! He is wasting money on non-consequential issues leaving Ayiti in more debts for the future. In 4 words: He does not care!

Let's concentrate on how to prevent our people from eating mud. Let's teach them that most of the leaves in Haiti are edible. That's where all herbivores get their proteins and look how big they are. We have zepina, mazoumbel, lam veritab, fey zanmann, fey kann to name only a few. They are all edible. Legim tout jan! [foliage everywhere!] We don't have to eat meat which is putting a cadaver into our system anyway (and we know that cadaver do nothing but rot - decompose, decay - inside our bodies).

LET'S CONCENTRATE ON BUILDING! ENOUGH MENTAL MASTURBATION! ENOUGH DISTRUSTING OF EACH OTHER!

THE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO DESTROY US, ORGANIZE QUIETLY AGAINST US. LET'S TAKE A LEAF OUT OF THEIR BOOKS FOR A CHANGE!

By the way, anybody remember what Jesus used to wear, (Not the CRAP dished out by Michelangelo and Hollywood)? What Karl Marx used to wear? Anybody cares about what Castro wears? He was always in an army uniform, but the presidents in civilian uniforms killed their own people more than he will ever do. However his vision for his country is enduring.

Anybody cares about what Mother Teresa wore? She could have been in shorts like quite a few nuns in the Caribbean countries (which makes sense in a warm climate instead of that off-putting habit). Contrary to the media in this country, I am more interested in what the Obamas are up to than what they wear. I don't know of anyone who wants to come close to you and do you hard that will dress like a stinking bum.

I'll tell you a real story told to me by a Jewish female nurse. She was in a hair studio and this attractive white male dressed in a suit rang the bell. The salon owner and everyone present thought that it was one of these people selling beauty products since he had a suitcase. As soon as the door opened, he pulled a gun and told everybody to give their money and jewelry. After he cleaned out everybody, he calmly left the salon, got in his car and took off. Even after the incident and the report to the police, the women kept on repeating "but he looked so nice and well dressed". Remember: "L'habit ne fait pas le moine" [The habit does not make the Monk]. Even though we were raised with that saying, we still give more importance to appearance than substance.

Nobody cares either about what Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Sanite Belair, Defile, La Folle Bazile, Malcolm X and so many who have been courageous enough to show love to their fellow human beings, wore. Their actions, however, stay vividly in our collective memories even though we were not present when they acted.

My verbosity comes out of love. I would not give that much time to hateful people.

HatTip to HLLN for permission to post this here. I took the liberty of adding the emphasis in bold, translations and links.

Scenes from a Disaster La Promesse School | Petion-Ville, Haiti

This is my attempt to bring some perspective to the La Promesse school disaster in Petion-Ville. I've paraphrased some remarks made at the scene by a government official, neighborhood people and rescuers and President Rene Preval. Also I've included the latest news from Ezili Danto of Haitian Lawyer's Leadership Network (HLLN) and reflections on what should happen next from Haitian activist Jean Saint-Vil.

"The situation is bad for the kids. There are some who are on top of those that are still alive. They are blocking us from rescuing the ones beneath. "

"When a person is in shock, when a person is bleeding, they need medicine. We need medicine! We've been working here all night pulling people out of the building. We need medicine! We don't have medicine!"

-- Rescuers

I have the identifications of some children, I found their telephones. The parents should call me to check the list I have, to see if they're child's names are on it. My number is... I've lived in this area for 25 years. It's a catastrophe. When they did the construction they did not analyze the area to see if it would support this sort of construction.

-- Joyzil Smith - Area resident

A government official says the school's collapse is the result of the builder's failure to comply with building regulations.

It's all of us who are responsible. In this country. We took measures. What measures are we to take? We asked these people to not construct on a hill. We asked them to take precautions during construction. They did not conform. It's your country's image. Take precautions. Unfortunately, I don't know how many children are in there.

-- Government Official

Haitian President René Preval arrives on the scene and attempts to clear the area for rescuers and emergency vehicles.

We need a radio to send an urgent message to tell the people to leave this area so that the rescuers can come and go freely. Secondly, if you look at the school, its an edifice with practically no cement to support it, that's why it fell. What's important for the families to know who have lost children–to bring help to them we must clear this alley of the cars and people. We need space so that the engineers and rescuers can work. This would be best for people under the rubble, who are suffering. Let's not invite another disaster. We have people from Canada and Washington asking; how can we help? Evaluations are going on right now to find out if they have specialist they can send from Canada and the United States.

-- Rene Preval

Ezili Danto's Witness Project reported on the heart-wrenching suffering and agony at the scene. The frantic search in the rubble for survivors by rescuers who managed to find survivors early on, but were not equipped to save the ones buried deep under heavy rubble. It was a "perfect storm" of circumstances that included hospital strikes and government regulation failures.

On Friday, May 7, 2008, the three-story La Promesse school building in Petionville, Haiti, collapsed while class was in session with more than 500 to 700 students inside. The bodies of at least 93 children killed have been recovered so far, over 200 injured have been either treated or admitted for care; as the death toll is expected to reach in the hundreds. Trinite Hospital is the only working hospital open in Port-au-Prince. The other two, General Hospital and Hospital de la Paix, are closed by strikes. Mothers of the school children and neighbors who live around the school that our Haiti correspondents spoke to late yesterday evening say the screams and moans of more students, buried in the rubble of the concrete building, can still be heard throughout the night.

*By the time international rescue teams with specialized equipment from the US and France arrived to help on Saturday, a day after the collapse, it was too late. Only four survivors were pulled from the ruins on Saturday, and no other survivors had been found since. Fortin Augustin, the Protestant minister who owns the school and church, was arrested on Saturday as authorities investigated him on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter. Fortin Augustin was denied a permit to build the school in the 1990s but went ahead with the project during the coup d'etat years of rebellion and government upheaval and anarchy that followed.

By Tuesday, Nov. 11, AP Reported "Nearly all other survivors were found in the frantic first hours by neighbors who leaped on the rubble and dug with their bare hands, sometimes with the help of U.N. peacekeepers. No survivors have been found since the U.S. and French teams arrived Saturday."

Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, Ezili Danto Witness Project, 11.11.08, 8:08 am.

I am sick and tired of the cowardice displayed by the Haitian leaders. Kote moun yo?
Jafrikayiti a Haitian activist, performer and educator laments the lack of courage of the Preval administration in knuckling under to the demands of the colonial powers who hold the purse strings, who have refused to give Haiti debt relief.

Is there a President in Haiti?

Is there a Parliament in Haiti?

Kote moun yo? (Where are these people?)

Are there men and women with courage and decency in this country to finally do the right thing:

1. Declare Haiti to be in a state of EMERGENCY - therefore...
2. DEBT payments are to stop immediately
3. Investment in the nation's infrastructure to begin on a priority basis

How can it not be obvious, that Haiti cannot afford to be financing the World Bank and its blood-suckers international associates to the tune of $1 million a week !!!!!

When there is not even one good General Hospital on the 27 750 KM2 of the country

When there is a whole school system to rebuild from scratch

When there is a road network to be build.

When the farmers cannot expect the basics they deserve and need from their State to produce food for the nation.

It is criminal for the Haitian government to be so coward in its discussions with the former colonial powers (who now like to be called international community - in order to hide their RESPONSIBILITY in the mess nations like Haiti, the Congo etc... are living today).

Jean Saint-Vil (Jafrikayiti)

UPDATE: 11.13.08
More details have surfaced about the troubled history of La Promesse school. The former major of Petion-Ville had stopped the construction during her term in office. The turmoil and chaos of the U.S. gov't sponsored coup d'etat of 2004 has claimed these children as its latest victims.

By the time international rescue teams arrived (from Martinique and Virginia) with floodlights and with search dogs wearing huge "USAID" signs around their torso for the requisite publicity shots, by the time trucks carried oxygen and medical supplies down the mountain road, by the time international rescue teams arrived to help on Saturday, the day after the collapse, it was too late. The crane, sonar, cameras and USAID rescue dogs were too late. Only four survivors - two girls, ages three and five, and two boys, a seven-year-old and a teenager - were pulled alive from the ruins on Saturday, and no other survivors have been found since.

Fortin Augustin, the Protestant minister who owns the school and church, was arrested on Saturday as authorities investigated him on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter. Fortin Augustin was denied a permit to build the school in the 1990s, but went ahead with the project during the coup d'etat years of rebellion and government upheaval and anarchy that followed.

The mayor of Petionville has told local Haitian radio that during her previous term as mayor she had stopped construction on the school, but it resumed sometime between 2004 and 2006 when Bush regime change's Boca Raton interim government was imposed on Haiti. (See, No more victims found in collapsed Haitian school by Jacqueline Charles, Nov. 9, 2008 Miami Herald; See also, I am sick and tired of the cowardice displayed by the Haitian leaders. Kote moun yo?; Hope Fades, Grief Sets in Near Fallen Haiti School; and Haitian Families Furious Over School Collapse).

By Tuesday, Nov. 11, AP Reported "Nearly all other survivors were found in the frantic first hours by neighbors who leaped on the rubble and dug with their bare hands, sometimes with the help of U.N. peacekeepers. No survivors have been found since the U.S. and French teams arrived Saturday." (Girl, 8, recalls 12-hour Haitian school collapse ordeal)...

(HLLN Report on the School Collapse, Nov 7, 2008)