Danny Glover Joins Global Voices Denouncing Persecution Against Aristide

As former Haitian President Aristide is placed on house arrest, supporters worldwide demand immediate halt to attacks on him and Lavalas Movement
by the Haiti Action Committee, September 13, 2014


See:
http://sfbayview.com/2014/09/as-former-haitian-president-aristide-is-placed-on-house-arrest-supporters-worldwide-demand-immediate-halt-to-attacks-on-him-and-lavalas-movement/#.VBbUp1NIrjk.facebook


On Aug. 21, Haitian police wearing black masks and carrying heavy arms appeared in front of the home of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide as a Haitian judge issued calls to arrest him. Hundreds of people courageously surrounded the house to protect him.
The vast majority of Haitians are well aware that support of President Aristide and Lavalas is in their best interest.

One week before, President Aristide was summoned to court on false corruption charges. On Sept. 10, he was placed on house arrest and barred from leaving the country.

This is the fourth time since his return to Haiti in 2011 that he has been the target of a politically motivated legal case. Previous charges were dropped before he could even challenge them in court.

The judge in this case, Lamarre Bélizaire, has been suspended for 10 years from practicing the law by the Port-au-Prince Bar Association for using the court to persecute opponents of the present regime. His suspension is due to begin once he steps down as judge.

President Aristide, a former priest, was Haiti’s first democratically elected president. He is loved and trusted by the majority of Haitians. While in office he built schools and hospitals, encouraged agriculture and doubled the minimum wage.

He was removed and forced into exile with his family in 2004 by a U.S.-backed military coup. Thousands of members of his Lavalas movement were killed, raped or falsely imprisoned in the aftermath of the coup.

In 2011, after seven years of grassroots organizing in Haiti backed up by an international campaign, President Aristide and his family returned home. Tens of thousands of people welcomed him.
President Aristide, a former priest, was Haiti’s first democratically elected president. He is loved and trusted by the majority of Haitians. While in office he built schools and hospitals, encouraged agriculture and doubled the minimum wage.

He promised to work for education and the inclusion of all Haitians in the democratic process. He has done just that – reopening the Aristide Foundation’s university, UNIFA, where today over 900 students from all sectors of society, including those who cannot afford higher education, are training to become doctors, nurses and lawyers.

Legislative elections due to take place in Haiti in October are triggering a new chilling wave of repression aimed at President Aristide and his supporters. Lavalas has overwhelmingly won every election in which it has participated, but since the 2004 coup the party has been barred from elections.

As a result, fewer than 20 percent of Haitians turned out for the flawed election that brought the current President Michel Martelly to power in 2011. The Martelly government has not held an election since, and legislative elections are now three years overdue.

Determined to consolidate dictatorial power, the Martelly government has systematically attempted to defame Lavalas, making one set of accusations after another against President Aristide and other respected Lavalas leaders such as former Sen. Myrlande Liberis-Pavert.

While President Aristide is being threatened with arrest, former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier – who is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Haitians during his rule – is living freely in Haiti and has been openly embraced by Martelly.
Enough is enough. It is time for food, housing, health care and education. It is time for free, fair and inclusive elections in Haiti, not dictatorship, so the urgent needs of the population can be addressed. The arrest warrant and other false charges aimed at President Aristide and his supporters should be dropped once and for all.

Since the devastating earthquake and the cholera epidemic, doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals training at UNIFA are needed more than ever. President Aristide must be able to carry on with his vital work as an educator.

The last time President Aristide was summoned, thousands of people surrounded the courthouse, chanting, “If they call our brother, they call all of us.” We echo their voices.

Enough is enough. It is time for food, housing, health care and education. It is time for free, fair and inclusive elections in Haiti, not dictatorship, so the urgent needs of the population can be addressed. The arrest warrant and other false charges aimed at President Aristide and his supporters should be dropped once and for all.
Signers

Danny Glover, Actor and Human Rights Activist
Selma James, Author and International Coordinator, Global Women’s Strike (GWS),U.K.
Pierre Labossiere, Co-founder, Haiti Action Committee
Mumia Abu-Jamal, Journalist and Death Row Prisoner
Jerry Acosta, Senior National Representative, Utility Workers Union of America
Dr. Adrianne Aron, Liberation Psychologist
Kali Akuno, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM)
ALBATV, Venezuela
Alexandria House, Los Angeles, California
Bilal Mafundi Ali, Organization of African American Unity
Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at, Founder, Africans Deserve Reparations
Akubundu Amazu-Lott, Central Committee AAPRP
Jack Albert, Windsor Peace Coalition, Windsor, Ontario
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (U.S.)
Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC)
Ayuko Babu, Pan African Film Festival
Michael Bass, School of the Americas Watch
Bay Area Latin America Solidarity Committee (BALASC)
Richard Becker, A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, U.S.
Dennis J. Bernstein, Executive Producer KPFA/Flashpoints
Johanna Berrigan, House of Grace Catholic Worker, Philadelphia, Pa.
Diana Block, California Coalition for Women Prisoners
Diana Bohn, Nicaragua Center for Community Action, Berkeley, Calif.
Blase and Theresa Bonpane, Directors, Office of the Americas
Richard Brown, San Francisco 8, Committee for Defense of Human Rights
Dr. Siri Brown, Chair of Ethnic Studies, Merritt College
Mark Burton, Visiting Professor, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, U.K.
Reverend Richard Meri Ka Ra Byrd
Joey Cain, SF LGBT Pride Celebration Committee Board Member
Rossana Cambron, Military Families Speak Out
Dolores Canales, Organizer and Activist
Laura Carlsen
Andrea Casher, PsyD, ABPP
Chiapas Support Committee, Los Angeles
CIP Americas Program
Terry Collins, KPOO
Brian Concannon, Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH)
Shandre Delaney, Human Rights Coalition-Fed Up and Abolitionist Law Center, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Jacques Depelchin, Historian
Dignity and Power Now, Los Angeles
Emory Douglas, former Minister of Culture, Black Panther Party
Sister Maureen Duignan, Executive Director, East Bay Sanctuary Covenant
Carolina Dutton, Bay Area Latin America Solidarity Coalition (BALASC)
Derethia DuVal, PhD, MFT, SFSU Director of Counseling & Psychological Services Center
Mia Engberg, Documentary Filmmaker, Sweden
Ecumenical Peace Institute/CALC
Linda Evans, Organizer, All of Us or None
Leslie Fleming, Director, Anthropology Program, Merritt College, Oakland, Calif.
Laura Flynn, Author
FMLN, Northern California
Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular, Honduras
Cindy Forster, Professor, Scripps College, California
Tova Fry, Workers World Party
Mattias Gardell, Professor Comparative Religion, Uppsala University, Sweden
Anna-Maria Gentili, Professor History and Politics, Bologna University, Italy, retired
David Gespass, former President, National Lawyers Guild
David Gibson, Peacehome Campaigns
Eric Gjertsen and Dean Kendall, Payday Men’s Network
Andy Griggs, LA Laborfest
Deeg Gold, LAGAI Queer Insurrection
Sister Stella Marie Goodpasture, OP, Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose, Calif.
Guerilla Food Not Bombs
Ben Guillory
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Archdiocese of Detroit
Professor Shadrack Gutto, PhD, University of South Africa
Daletha Hayden, RN and Activist
Genesy Hernandez, Union Salvadorena de Estudiantes Universitarios, UC Berkeley
Charles Hinton, Inkworks Press, Worker-Owned Collective
Marcus Holder, ILWU Local 10 Delegate to San Francisco Labor Council
Hondurans in Resistance, NorCal
Gerald Horne, Historian
Phil Hutchings, Civil Rights Activist (SNCC)
Nehanda Imara, AAPRP Organizer & Faculty at AFRAM Merritt College
Dr. Nia Imara, Harvard University
International Action Center
Kokayi Kwa Jitahidi, Campaign Director LAANE (Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy)
Sister Gloria Marie Jones, OP, Congregational Prioress Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose
Hank Jones, Committee for the Defense of Human Rights
Phoebe Jones, PhD, Quaker, Global Women’s Strike
James Jordan and Chuck Kaufman, National Co-Coordinators, Alliance for Global Justice
William Joyce, Chair, Fr. Bill O’Donnell Social Justice Committee
Malaika Kambon, Photojournalist
Sara Kershnar, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
Nadine Khoury-Quesada, RN, Trauma Nurse, San Francisco General Hospital
Nunu Kidane, Director, Priority Africa Network
Marcus Kryshka, Executive Vice President, National Lawyers Guild
Eusi Kwayana, Caribbean Activist Without Borders
Tchaiko Kwayana, Educator
Labor Community Strategy Center, Los Angeles
Regina Day Langhout, PhD, Provost, Oakes College, University of California at Santa Cruz
Marilyn Langlois, Richmond Calif. Planning Commissioner
Gloria La Riva, National Committee to Free the Cuban Five
Rev. Dr. Phil Lawson, Pastor Emeritus, Easter Hill United Methodist Church
Richard Lichtman, Professor Emeritus, Philosophy, The Wright Institute, Berkeley, Calif.
George Lippman, Vice-Chair, Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission
Rev. Dr. Lewis E. Logan, II
Jose Lopez, Executive Director, Puerto Rican Cultural Center, Chicago
Nina Lopez, Coordinator Latin America Working Group GWS, Argentina, U.K.
Jacqui Lovell, PhD Candidate, York St. John University, U.K.
Barbara Lubin, Director Middle East Children’s Alliance
Brinton Lykes, Associate Director, Center for Human Rights & International Justice, Boston College
Robert Majzler, University of California at Santa Cruz
Claude Marks, Freedom Archives
Gayle McLaughlin, Mayor, City of Richmond, Calif.
Anita Schrader McMillan, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, U.K.
David McPhail, Ruling Elder, St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, CA
Judith Mirkinson, San Francisco Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Wazir Mohamed, Associate Professor, Sociology
Alejandro Molina, National Boricua Human Rights Network
Movimiento Cumbe Afrosalud Barlovento, Venezuela
Leslie Mullin, San Francisco Women in Black
Michael Neocosmos, Director UHURU program, Rhodes University, South Africa
Robert Nixon, School of the Americas Watch, Oakland, East Bay
Kwazi Nkrumah, Co-Chair, Martin Luther King Coalition of Greater Los Angeles
Kiilu Nyasha, Host, Freedom Is a Constant Struggle
Oakland-Santiago de Cuba Sister Cities Association
Ofraneh, Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña, Honduras
Catherine Owen, Human Rights Committee & District Labor Council, Windsor, Ontario
Tanalis Padilla, Professor of History, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, U.S.
Rosa Peñate, FMLN, Northern California
Peter Phillips, PhD, President Media Freedom Foundation, Project Censored
Kevin Pina, Documentary Filmmaker
Richard Pithouse, Professor Politics and International Studies, Rhodes University
Suyapa Portillo, Comité Solidario Graciela Garcia
Margaret Power, Professor of History, Illinois Institute of Technology
Margaret Prescod, Host “Sojourner Truth,” Pacifica Radio & Women of Color, GWS, U.S.
Porfirio Quintano, Coordinator, Honduran Resistance FNRP Northern California
James Quesada, PhD, Chair and Professor, Department of Anthropology, San Francisco State University (SFSU)
Kate Raphael, Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT), KPFA Women’s Magazine
Mary Ratcliff, Editor, San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper
Dr. Willie Ratcliff, Publisher, San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper
Barbara Rhine, Attorney
Wilson Riles, Oakland C.A.N.
Walter Riley, Attorney, Chair of Board, Haiti Emergency Relief Fund
William I. Robinson, Professor of Sociology, University of California-Santa Barbara
Robert Roth, Co-founder, Haiti Action Committee
Alex Sanchez, Executive Director, Homies Unidos
Carolyn Scarr, Ecumenical Peace Institute/CALC
Azadeh Shahshahani, President, National Lawyers Guild
Dan Siegel, Attorney, Oakland, Calif.
Dr. Vito Signorile, Professor Emeritus, Windsor, Ontario
Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons, National Council of Elders
AJ Smith, Artist, Windsor, Ontario
Bob Smith, Brandywine Peace Community
Susan Gold Smith, Professor Emerita, Windsor, Ontario
Dale Sorensen, Director, Marin Interfaith Task force on the Americas
Jeb Sprague, Author and Instructor, UCSB
Patricia St. Onge, Seven Generations, Nafsi ya Jamii: The Soul Community
Ruth Todasco, Every Mother is a Working Mother Network
Clarence Thomas, Member ILWU Local 10
Willie Thompson, Professor Emeritus Sociology, City College of San Francisco
Walter Turner, President, Board of Directors, Global Exchange
Akinyele Umoja, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of African American Studies, Georgia State University
Lisa Valenti, US Cuba Sister City Association
Sister Judy Vaughan, CSJ
Gloria Verdieu
Margaret Villamizar, Chair, Windsor Peace Coalition, Windsor, Ontario
Ernest Wamba dia Wamba, Congolese Historian, Philosopher
Kristin Wartman, Author and Journalist
Tom Webb, Oakland Catholic Worker
David Welsh, Delegate, San Francisco Labor Council
Michel Wenzer, Documentary Filmmaker, Sweden
Laura Whitehorn, Former Political Prisoner
Witness for Peace Southwest
Michael Wong
Workers World Party
Pauline Wynter
Mario Zelaya, Father Bill O’Donnell Social Justice Committee, Berkeley, Calif.

Affiliations listed for identification purposes only. Contact the Haiti Action Committee at www.haitisolidarity.net and on Facebook. Bay View staff contributed to this story.

DANNY GLOVER does not lecture or intellectualize about Haiti. His deep analysis is based on first hand experience.

Here is another of his close encounters with Haiti's infamous rich landowners:
https://youtu.be/IVvMucqp18Y


Back in 2011, I wrote:

"There are many things in this video exchange that summarizes the various conflicts that plague Haiti today. Notice how this Haitian landowner is virulent against Danny Glover yet, he seems willing to listen to the white foreigners. When Haitian journalist Etant Dupain reminds him that they know each other and counsel him to continue the dialogue with his fellow Haitians to find a way out of the difficult situation he blasts again complaining about his great losses.

Unfortunately this behaviour is too typical.

These folks, born and raised in Haiti, behave as if they are alien in their own communities. He keeps repeating the threat of coming out with bulldozers to raize the place....totally stupid! This would only increase tensions and make more victims among the most vulnerable who live on his land and it will fragilize his ability to conduct his economic activities in peace in the future because the community will not forget.

His situation is not rosy. Thieves have stolen his goods...the State and the foreign thieves of the UN system are useless and oblivious to these problems.

The solution is for this white rich Haitian to commit race and class suicide and realize he belongs to a nation of 10 million refugees. He needs to learn a new way to dialogue with his neighbors and to win peace not with a bulldozer and guns but with other power weapons that he also has at his disposal such as mastering of the Kreyol language....knowing many of the people on a personal basis whom he now sees as threats....

Will he be smart and brave enough to choose this path? Time only will tell!"

Now, in September 2014, it seems Haiti's imprudent right wing clan has opted for all-out confrontation with the impoverished majority. The puppet regime the U.S. (notably the CIA) et. al. helped them establish through rigged elections, is making repeated threats against former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the most respected black leader of the island.

"As former Haitian President Aristide is placed on house arrest, supporters worldwide demand immediate halt to attacks on him and Lavalas Movement"

See:
http://sfbayview.com/2014/09/as-former-haitian-president-aristide-is-placed-on-house-arrest-supporters-worldwide-demand-immediate-halt-to-attacks-on-him-and-lavalas-movement/#.VBbUp1NIrjk.facebook

San Francisco Bay View[/b]

DÈNYE KOMINIKE ""HAITI ACTION COMMITTEE "" AN BON KREYÒL AYISYEN



SISPANN ATAK sou ANSYEN PREZIDAN JEAN BERTRAND ARISTIDE ak MOUVMAN LAVALAS lan


Sispann Atak sou Ansyen Prezidan Jean Bertrand Aristide ak Mouvman Lavalas lan

Nan jou kite 21 daout lan, nan kad yon manda arestasyon yon jij te mete sou tèt li, ofisye lapolis ak mask nwa nan figi yo epitou chaje ak zam fann fwa, te debake devan pòt kay ansyen Prezidan Aristide. Yon bann ak yon pakèt gason ak fanm vanyan te ansèkle kay lan pou pwoteje ansyen presidan an.

Semèn anvan an, yo te rele Prezidan Aristide nan pakè, sou pretèks fo chaj koripson. Sa fè katriyèm fwa depi li tounen ann Ayiti an 2011, ka ki gen rasin yo nan manigans politik sible l. (Oparavan, yo te sispann rapouswiv ka yo menm anvan li te ka fè faskare ak yo.) Baro Pètoprens pini jij Lamarre Belizaire pratike metye avoka a pou 10 zan, pase li te itilize otorite pozisyon jij li an pou l pèsekite opozan rejim lan. Pinga sila dwe koumanse jou jij lan sispan fonksyone kòm jij.

Prezidan Aristide, yon ansyen pè, te premye prezidan eli nan yon eleksyon demokratik nan peyi d’Ayiti. Pifò pèp lan renmen l epi fè l konfyans. Pandan l te prezidan, li te konstwi lekòl ak lopital, fè pwomosyon agrikilti, epitou double salè minimòm lan. Yon koudeta militè meriken te dechouke l sou pouvwa a an 2004, epi voye li ak tout fanmi l an ekzil. Plisyè milye manm mouvman lavalas li a te mouri, vikitim kadejak, oubyen al nan prison sou fo dosye, nan jou ki te swiv koudeta a.

An 2011, apre 7 lane mouvman popilè a t ap òganize, ansanm ak yon kanpay entènasyonal djanm, Prezidan Aristide ak fanmi l tounen nan peyi d’Ayiti. Dè santèn milye moun te vin resevwa l. Li te pwomèt travay pou edikasyon ak enklizyon tout Ayisyen nan pwosesis demokratik lan. Se ekzakteman sa l fè – li relouvri pòt inivèsite fondasyon Aristide pou demokrasi a, UNIFA, kote jodi a gen plis pase 900 elèv ki soti nan tout kouch soyal, espesyalman sila yo ki pa ka peye pou etid inivèsitè, ap etidye pou yo vin doktè lamedsin, enfimyè, ak avoka.

Eleksyon lejislatif yo, ki dwe fèt nan mwa oktòb, deklannche yon vag represyon madichon kont Prezidan Aristide ak patizan l yo. Lavalas genyen an radmare tout eleksyon kote l patisipe, men depi koudeta 2004 lan, yo derefize kite l patisipe. Se sa k fè pipiti pase 20 pousan Ayisyen te al vote nan eleksyon fo mamit 2011 yo ki mete prezidan jodi a, Michel Martelly, alatèt peyi a. Depi lò sa a, gouvèlman Martelly a pa fè eleksyon, epitou gen plis pase 3 lane depi eleksyon lejislatif te dwe fèt. Nan volonte pou l etabli yon pouvwa dictatè, gouvèlman Martelly a pa sispan difame lavalas, nan voye monte yon bann ak yon pakèt akizasyon, youn apre lòt sou Prezidan Aristide ak divès lidè lavalas respektab tankou Myrlande Liberis-Pavert.

Pandan ya p menase pou yo arete Prezidan Aristide, ansyen dictatè Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier – ki responsab lanmò plizyè milye Ayisyen pandan rejim li an – ap viv libelibè ann Ayiti, epitou rejim Martelly a anbrase li gwo jounen.

Depi goudougoudou an ak epidemi kolera a, doctè, enfimyè ak tout lòt pwofesyonèl sante UNIFA ap fòme yo enpòtan anpil. Prezidan Aritide dwe gen dwa kontinye travay enpòtan l ap fè nan edikasyon an.

Dènye fwa yo te voye manda bay Prezidan Aristide, plizyè milye moun te antoure pakè a, pandan yo t ap chante: “si yo rele frè nou an, yo rele nou tout.” Nou bay vwa sila yo echo. Ase atò a. Lè a rive pou manje, lojman, swen sante, lekòl. Lè a rive pou eleksyon lib, onèt ak enklizif ann Ayiti, non pa yon diktati, pou travay preseprese koumanse sou bezwen ijan pèp lan. Manda arestasyon ak tout lòt chaj fabrike ki sible Prezidan Aristide ak tout sipòtè l yo dwe sispann yon fwa pou tout.

Siye:

Danny Glover, actor and human rights activist ak anpil lot pesonalite ak oganizasyon aletranje ki lan lis ki an angle a

Selma James, Author and International Coordinator, Global Women’s Strike (GWS)/UK
Pierre Labossiere, Co-founder, Haiti Action Committee

Mumia Abu-Jamal

Rev. Francis Ackroyd, Minister of Vine Reformed Church, Ilford, UK

Jerry Acosta, Senior National Representative, Utility Workers Union of America

Kali Akuno, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM)

ALBATV (Venezuela)

Jack Albert, Windsor Peace Coalition, Windsor, Ontario

Alexandria House, Los Angeles, CA

Bilal Mafundi Ali, Organization of African American Unity

Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma'at, Founder, Africans Deserve Reparations

Tayo Aluko, Playwright, actor, singer

Akubundu Amazu-Lott, Central Committee AAPRP

A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition - Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (U.S.)

Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC)

Dr. Adrianne Aron, Liberation Psychologist

Dr. Nancy Arvold

Dr. Andrew Asibong, Author & lecturer in French studies, UK

Ayuko Babu, Pan African Film Festival

Patricia Barthaud, Ed.D candidate, University of San Francisco

Michael Bass, School of the Americas Watch

BAYAN-USA

Bay Area Latin America Solidarity Committee (BALASC)

Richard Becker, A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition - (U.S.)

Professor Joel Beinin, Stanford University, Department of History

Herman Bell, US political prisoner

Miranda Bergman, Artist and educator

Lincoln Bergman, Educator and poet

Dennis J. Bernstein, Executive Producer KPFA/Flashpoints

Johanna Berrigan, House of Grace Catholic Worker, Philadelphia, Pa.

Roy Birchard

Diana Block, California Coalition for Women Prisoners

Diana Bohn, Nicaragua Center for Community Action, Berkeley, CA

Blase and Theresa Bonpane, Directors, Office of the Americas

China Brotsky and Dan Roth

Richard Brown, San Francisco 8/Committee for Defense of Human Rights

Dr. Siri Brown, Chair of Ethnic Studies, Merritt College

Paul Burke, Filmmaker

Peter Burke, Esalen Institute, Big Sur, California

Mark Burton, Visiting Professor, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK

Reverend Richard Meri Ka Ra Byrd

Joey Cain, SF LGBT Pride Celebration Committee Board Member

Sara Callaway, Women of Colour Global Women’s Strike, UK

Rossana Cambron, member of Military Families Speak Out

Theresa Cameranesi, SOAWatch SF

Graham Campbell, Convener, Africans for an Independent Scotland

Dolores Canales, Organizer and activist

Jean Candio

Laura Carlsen

Pedro Pla Casaldáliga, Bishop Emeritus of São Félix do Araguaia - MT

Andrea Casher, PsyD, ABPP

Chiapas Support Committee – Los Angeles

Claudio Chipana G, Encuentros Latinoamericanos, London, UK

CIP Americas Program

Terry Collins, KPOO

Comite Oscar Romero - Sicsal Chile

Brian Concannon, Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH)

David A. Coolidge, Lay Servant, United Methodist Church

William Crossman

Robert Cruise, Unifor Local 195 Human Rights Committee, Windsor

Luke Daniels, President of Caribbean Labour Solidarity, UK

Shandre Delaney, Human Rights Coalition-Fed Up and Abolitionist Law Center, Pittsburgh, PA

Susan Dembowski

Manuel De Paz, East Bay Sanctuary Covenant

Jacques Depelchin, Historian

Dignity and Power Now – Los Angeles

John and Sara Donnelly, Sonoma, CA

Seth Donnelly, Teacher, Los Altos High School

Emory Douglas, former Minister of Culture, Black Panther Party

Helen Duffy and William Chorneau, Oakland, CA

Sister Maureen Duignan, Executive Director, East Bay Sanctuary Covenant

Carolina Dutton, Bay Area Latin America Solidarity Coalition (BALASC)

Derethia DuVal, PhD, MFT, SFSU Director of Counseling & Psychological Services Center

Ecumenical Peace Institute/CALC

Joe Emersberger, Writer

Mia Engberg, Documentary Filmmaker, Sweden

Yves Engler, Author and activist

Linda Evans, Organizer, All Of Us Or None

Leslie Fleming, Director, Anthropology Program, Merritt College, Oakland, CA

Laura Flynn, Author

FMLN - Northern California

Adrienne Fong

Terry Forman, Artist

Cindy Forster, Professor, Scripps College, California

Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular (Honduras)

Jose Frias, Comite Oscar Romero de Chile

Tova Fry, Workers World Party

Cynthia Fuentes, Educator

GABRIELA Philippines

Julisa Garcia

Mattias Gardell, Professor Comparative Religion, Uppsala University, Sweden

Anna-Maria Gentili, Professor History and Politics, Bologna University, Italy, retired

David Gespass, former President, National Lawyers Guild

David Gibson, Peacehome Campaigns

Eric Gjertsen and Dean Kendall, Payday men’s network

Andy Griggs, LA Laborfest

Deeg Gold, LAGAI Queer Insurrection

Sister Stella Marie Goodpasture, OP, Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose, CA

Guerilla Food Not Bombs

Ben Guillory

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Archdiocese of Detroit

Professor Shadrack Gutto, PhD, University of South Africa

Peter Hallward, Professor of Modern European Philosophy, Kingston University, UK

Johanna Harman, Artist

Sue Harris, Co-Director, Peoples Video Network

Roxana Hart, Berkeley Women in Black

Maureen Hartmann

David Hartsough, Director, PEACEWORKERS, San Francisco

Daletha Hayden, RN and activist

Genesy Hernandez, Union Salvadorena de Estudiantes Universitarios, UC Berkeley

Charles Hinton, Inkworks Press, worker-owned collective

Marcus Holder, ILWU Local 10 delegate to San Francisco Labor Council

Hondurans in Resistance – NorCal

Julie H. Hoover

Gerald Horne, Historian

Phil Hutchings, Civil Rights activist (SNCC)

Nehanda Imara, AAPRP Organizer & Faculty at AFRAM Merritt College

Dr. Nia Imara, Harvard University

International Action Center

Carolyn Trupti Israel, Santa Cruz WILPF

Timoteo Jeffries

Kokayi Kwa Jitahidi, Campaign Director LAANE (Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy)

Sister Gloria Marie Jones, OP, Congregational Prioress Dominican Sisters of Mission, San Jose

Hank Jones, Committee for the Defense of Human Rights

Phoebe Jones, PhD, Quaker, Global Women’s Strike

James Jordan and Chuck Kaufman, National Co-Coordinators, Alliance for Global Justice

William Joyce, Chair, Fr. Bill O'Donnell Social Justice Committee

Malaika Kambon, Photojournalist

Michelle Karshan, Haiti Dream Keeper Archives

Susan Roberta Katz, Professor, International and Multicultural Education, University of San Francisco

Willow Katz, Sin Barras; Santa Cruz, CA Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

Kathy Kelly, Co-Coordinator, Voices for Creative Nonviolence

Sara Kershnar, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

Nadine Khoury-Quesada, RN, Trauma Nurse, San Francisco General Hospital

Nunu Kidane, Director, Priority Africa Network

Marcus Kryshka, Executive Vice President, National Lawyers Guild

Julian Kunnie

Eusi Kwayana, Caribbean Activist Without Borders

Tchaiko Kwayana, Educator

Labor Community Strategy Center (Los Angeles)

Michael Ladson, Auckland, New Zealand

Regina Day Langhout, PhD, Provost, Oakes College, University of California at Santa Cruz

Marilyn Langlois, Richmond CA Planning Commissioner

Gloria La Riva, National Committee to Free the Cuban Five

Rev. Dr. Phil Lawson, Pastor Emeritus, Easter Hill United Methodist Church

Carlos Manuel Alejos Levano, Callao, Peru

Richard Lichtman, Professor Emeritus, Philosophy, The Wright Institute, Berkeley, CA

George Lippman, Vice-Chair, Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission [for identification only]

Rev. Dr. Lewis E. Logan, II

Jose Lopez, Executive Director, Puerto Rican Cultural Center, Chicago

Nina Lopez, Coordinator Latin America working group GWS/Argentina, UK

Jean Robert Pierre Louis, Miami, Florida

Jacqui Lovell, PhD Candidate, York St. John University, U.K

Barbara Lubin, Director, Middle East Children’s Alliance

M. Brinton Lykes, Associate Director, Center for Human Rights & International Justice, Boston College

Robert Majzler, University of California at Santa Cruz

Claude Marks, Freedom Archives

May 1st Coalition for Worker & Immigrant Rights, NYC

John McDonnell, Member of Parliament, UK

Gayle McLaughlin, Mayor, City of Richmond, CA

Anita Schrader McMillan, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, UK

David McPhail, Ruling Elder, St. John's Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, CA

Judith Mirkinson, San Francisco Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

Wazir Mohamed, Associate Professor, Sociology

Alejandro Molina, National Boricua Human Rights Network

Movimiento Cumbe Afrosalud Barlovento (Venezuela)

Leslie Mullin, Co-founder, San Francisco Dyke March

Michael Neocosmos, Director UHURU program, Rhodes University, South Africa

Robert Nixon, School of the Americas Watch – Oakland, East Bay

Kwazi Nkrumah, Co-Chair, Martin Luther King Coalition of Greater Los Angeles

Carlie Numi

Kiilu Nyasha, Host/Freedom is a Constant Struggle

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Tanalis Padilla, Professor of History, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, U.S.

Rosa Peñate, FMLN – Northern California

Peter Phillips, PhD, President Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored

Kevin Pina, Documentary Filmmaker

Richard Pithouse, Professor Politics and International Studies, Rhodes University

Suyapa Portillo, Comité Solidario Graciela Garcia

Randall Potter

Margaret Power, Professor of History, Illinois Institute of Technology

Margaret Prescod, Host “Sojourner Truth,” Pacifica Radio & Women of Color/GWS/US

Myra Quadros, Principal, Sutro Elementary School, San Francisco

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Porfirio Quintano, Coordinator, Honduran Resistance FNRP Northern California

Kate Raphael, Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT), KPFA Women's Magazine

Mary Ratcliff, Editor, San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper

Dr. Willie Ratcliff, Publisher, San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper

Michael Ratner, President Emeritus Center for Constitutional Rights

Barbara Rhine, Attorney

Aimee Riechel, Teacher, Mission High School, San Francisco

Wilson Riles, Oakland C.A.N.

Walter Riley, Attorney, Chair of Board, Haiti Emergency Relief Fund

William I. Robinson, Professor of Sociology, University of California-Santa Barbara

Marvin Roman, Windsor Peace Committee

Susan Rosenberg, former US political prisoner

Didi Rossi, Queer Strike

Robert Roth, Co-founder, Haiti Action Committee

Alex Sanchez, Executive Director, Homies Unidos

Carolyn Scarr, Ecumenical Peace Institute/CALC

Laurence Schechtman, The Neighborhood Village, Berkeley, CA

Peter Schey, President and Executive Director, Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law

Jane Segal

Suzanne Seitz

Azadeh Shahshahani, President, National Lawyers Guild

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Sin Barras, Santa Cruz

Kevin Skerrett, Trade unionist and member, Canada Haiti Action Network (CHAN)

AJ Smith, Artist, Windsor, Ontario

Bob Smith, Brandywine Peace Community

Susan Gold Smith, Professor Emerita, Windsor, Ontario

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SOA Watch – San Francisco

Dale Sorensen, Director, Marin Interfaith Task force on the Americas

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The website of Haiti Action Committee.


www.haitisolidarity.net/article.php?id=609

Se sa li ye wi! Fòk Ayisyen konnen nou gen bon zanmi tout bon vre sou planèt la ki pap rete bèkèkè devan tout abi sa yo. Mwen fenk ajoute vwa mwen pami moun k ap rale zòrèy Obama ak madanm li ki gen lontan y ap fè lèd nan dosye Ayiti a.

Amandla! Ayibobo!

http://www.godisnotwhite.com/open-letter-to-mrs-obama-from-a-son-of-haiti/

Radyo KPFA ak PACIFICA RADIO ak EMISYON DENNIS BERSNTEIN ""FLASHPOINTS"" ki gen preske 40 AN yo lan LÈ lan 8 PI GWO VIL OZETAZINI yo,deklare PÈMANANS sou ka ARISTID lan.
DENNIS BERNSTEIN se yon VYE RAT ki tankou yon "'pit bull"" kote l kwoke an ,li pa p lage!
Li pa t lage lè se te AMERIK SANTRAL kounye an ,yo adopte AYITI!

Yon ATIK pa pwofesè LAUREN KARASIK sou KA ARISTID lan.
Espesyalizasyon yo se etidye lè LA LWA ap itilize lan FEN POLITIK ,lan kelkelanswa peyi an.



Haiti's Fragile Democracy
Sunday 31 August 2014 at 7:58 PM ET edited by Maria Coladonato
JURIST Guest Columnist Lauren Carasik of Western New England University School of Law discusses what appears to be the politically motivated charges against former president Jean Bertrand Aristide of Haiti ... Jean Bertrand Aristide
©  WikiMedia (user)
The latest chapter in a long series of preliminary legal actions against Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has generated a series of standoffs. Outside Aristide's house in the suburb of Tabarre, his supporters have gathered several times in the past weeks to protest announced efforts to arrest him and have usually been dispersed with tear gas by Haitian police and UN soldiers. Inside the Courthouse Judge Lamarre Belizaire insists that the police execute an arrest warrant he issued on August 14, while his chief judge issues contradictory statements about whether the effort to have him recused—now before Haiti's Cour de Cassation (Supreme Court)—affects the warrant's validity. In the court of public opinion, Aristide's lawyers—who have not been allowed any hearings or access to the case file—argue that the Judge Belizaire is an illegally-appointed judge following a deeply flawed process to harass an opponent of the government that named him.

Judge Lamarre Belizaire issued the August 14 arrest warrant after Aristide failed to appear to answer a summons issued the day before, on what Aristide's lawyers contend are politically-motivated, time-barred charges. Mario Joseph, head of the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, claims the summons was never properly served and that Aristide never received it. The criminal investigation centers on allegations of corruption, criminal conspiracy, money laundering and misappropriation of funds during Aristide's presidency that ended with a US-backed coup more than a decade ago.

This is not the first time that Aristide has been the target of charges that are brought with public fanfare and then dropped before Aristide has an opportunity to challenge the allegations. Aristide's supporters claim the repeated legal actions are aimed at discrediting him and Fanmi Lavalas, the country's most popular political party, that he founded, and intended to undermine a free and fair electoral process in Haiti.

Aristide's lawyers Mario Joseph and Ira Kurzban claim the charges are wholly fabricated and reflect Belizaire's bias. Belizaire, who was appointed by President Michel Martelly, has a history of using his judicial role to pursue Martelly's political enemies. This practice led the country's Bar Association to suspend him for ten years, starting when he steps down from the bench. Joseph and Kurzban echo the concerns of others who suggest that the meritless charges were manufactured to hinder elections scheduled that have been overdue since 2011, when Martelly became president. Joseph also believes the reports were calculated to distract the public from the jailbreak of over 300 prisoners, including Clifford Brandt—a member of one of Haiti's wealthiest families with ties to the government, who is suspected in a number of high profile kidnappings—from a maximum security facility outside of Port-au-Prince on August 10; he has since been recaptured. Others have suggested that sullying Aristide's reputation diverts attention from the prosecution of former dictator Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier for financial malfeasance and crimes against humanity. Aristide's lawyers have also filed a precautionary measures (injunctive relief) petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, seeking to protect Aristide from the abuse of state power.

Aristide, the country's first democratically-elected president, has maintained a low profile since returning to Haiti from forced exile in 2011, focusing on education and health care for the country's impoverished masses. Yet he symbolizes a popular grassroots mobilization that those with a tight grip on the reins of power appear to find threatening.  

Haiti has seen more than its share of hardship and deprivation. The 2010 earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people and the cholera epidemic that followed on its heels continue to ravage the country, compounding endemic poverty and corruption. The 2011 election that brought Martelly into power was held less than a year after the catastrophic quake, in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. The voting process was widely contested: Martelly, who has ties to Duvalier, only triumphed after an unprecedented intervention by the Organization of American States (OAS) (more specifically, by the US, France and Canada) and with Fanmi Lavalas barred from participating, in an election that was widely boycotted by political parties and voters.

Legislative elections had been scheduled for October 26 of this year, but Haiti's electoral authority announced on August 11—two days before the Arsitide summons—that they will now need to be delayed yet again. Since the 2011 elections, the terms for elected local officials and one-third of senators' seats have already expired. The shortage of seated senators has paralyzed the legislative process since the open seats allow a small number of senators to defeat a quorum. Martelly has appointed "municipal agents" to fill the vacant mayoral seats.

Another third of the Senate seats and the 99-member House of Deputies will be vacant next year if elections are not held this fall. The process of implementing the constitutionally-mandated Permanent Electoral Council tasked with overseeing elections has been fraught with delays and controversy. Various civic groups point out that Martelly has benefitted from missteps in setting up the council. Without elections this year, Martelly will further consolidate his grip on power, and with only a third of the senate remaining, the legislative process would grind to a standstill.

The investigation into alleged wrongdoing by Aristide follows an all-too familiar pattern. The Haitian government first filed a civil suit against Aristide and several co-defendants in the US District Court of the Southern District of Florida in November 2005. The Haitian government, which had come into power following the 2004 coup, and the US government held a series of press conferences and briefings about the case, generating extensive media attention. Yet despite the apparent enthusiasm for, and investment in, the case, Haitian authorities never served the complaint on Aristide or any of the other defendants. Aristide was in South Africa at the time, complicating the process of serving him with the complaint, but other defendants were living openly in Florida. The Haitian government sought one extension to serve the defendants, but declined to seek another, eventually requesting that the case be dismissed just before the service deadline. This was more than six months after the initial filing and the Haitian government retained the right to re-file the complaint. After the enthusiastic media campaign to publicize the suit, critics questioned the government's motivation in bringing and then dismissing the case. Charges brought in Haiti against Aristide in 2005 on the same charges were dismissed in April 2006, after a judge found that the government failed to submit the case to the appropriate court.  

The current investigation is the third time the Haitian government has pursued a criminal complaint against Aristide in 20 months. Each time, the warrant was leaked to the press before being served on the former president. The first time, in January 2013, the charges were so patently unjustified that when Aristide's lawyers pushed back, the prosecutor dropped the case after trying to save face by canceling the formal hearing and conducting an informal interview at Aristide's house. The case backfired politically, as the informal interview was seen as an embarrassing capitulation. Aristide was targeted a second time for investigation, in May 2013, in the investigation of the April 2000 murder of journalist Jean-Dominique. Aristide was properly summoned, and attended the hearing, as 10,000 of his supporters protested outside. Lacking any merit to the allegations, the prosecutor let that case drop as well.

Mention of Aristide's imminent arrest engenders widespread media attention. Yet the press reports on these events uncritically: the stories neglect to mention the past initiatives that were summarily abandoned, give scant attention to the procedural irregularities that taint the charges and fail to contextualize the judge's documented history of partisan behavior. This is not a new tactic for the Haitian government. US State Department cables released by Wikileaks suggest that previous arrest warrants for Aristide were also politically motivated—and supported by top UN officials—aimed at dampening support for the deposed leader. International meddling in Haitian politics reinforces the entrenched power structure. A statistical analysis of the 2011 election by the Center for Economic and Policy Research demonstrated that the OAS intervention on behalf of Michel Martelly was unwarranted.

Given the Haitian government's pattern of charging Aristide when it is politically expedient to do so, the decade old allegations are likely to resurface even if the current investigation is not pursued. Until Haiti's government fosters the conditions for a free and fair democracy, the descendants of the first country to throw off the shackles of slavery will continue to face bleak conditions.


Lauren Carasik is a Clinical Professor of Law, and Director of the International Human Rights Clinic at Western New England School of Law. She received her JD from Northeastern University School of Law. Prior to joining the faculty of Western New England School of Law, Professor Carasik opened a solo practice, concentrating in disability rights and mental health law.

Suggested Citation: Lauren Carasik, Haiti's Fragile Democracy, JURIST - Forum, August 31, 2014, http://jurist.org/forum/2014/08/lauren-carasik-haiti-democracy.php



This article was prepared for publication by Maria Coladonato, a Section Editor for JURIST's Commentary service. Please direct any questions or comments to her at academiccommentary@jurist.org
Posted in Academic Commentary
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JURIST Guest Columnist Lauren Carasik of Western New England University School of Law discusses what appears to be the politically motivated charges against former president Jean Bertrand Aristide of Haiti ... Jean Bertrand Aristide...

Se sa li ye wi Joel! Gen je toupatou k ap gade e plis enbesil yo ap pèsikite doktè a, se plis lèdè yo ap parèt aklè!

Souple ajoute URL la pou nou.

Anfòm!

URL lan deja lan atik lan ,sou SIT the Jurist lan ,se pou sa mwen pa t mete l.Se :

http://jurist.org/forum/2014/08/lauren-carasik-haiti-democracy.php

Lan ki sa LAMARRE BELIZAIRE mete kò l la a?

Wifout!
Men HUFFINGTON POST pibliye PETISYON DANNY GLOVER an pou mande pou yo RETE PÈSEKISYON kont ARISTID ak LAVALAS lan.
Se pa tankou yon ""INSERTION PAYÉE"" non ,se tankou nouvèl.
Pou MOUN ki pa konnen ,HUFFINGTON POST gen yon asosyasyon ak JOUNAL FRANSE ""LE MONDE"" ki pibliye atik li yo an FRANSE ki lan plis benefis LE MONDE.
Nou pa espere wè ATIK GLOVER an lan LE MONDE .
Antouka pou MONN ki pale ANGLE se yon ""game changer"' paske HUFFINGTON POST se youn lan SIT ki pi frekante sou NÈT lan:

www.huffingtonpost.com/danny-glover/aristide-fanmi-lavalas-political-persecution_b_5852006.html