Post by JW MoorePost by Padraig L HenryOn Wed, 21 Apr 2004 01:55:33 GMT, "Magic7Ball"
Post by Magic7BallPost by Padraig L HenryCharming that some of you here - the predictable rump - take the word
of a trolling sociopathic hate-monger and Zionist-funded propagandist
at knee-jerk face value and proceed to jump on the band wagon ... ... A
predictable lot ...
The way I see it, you still owe David Mullen, Katharina Kubrick,
They owe me one hell of a lot more than some sickly Hollywood
confectionery ...
Post by Magic7Balland every
peaceful American on this newsgroup one jelly doughnut.
Given that I have yet to witness a "peaceful American" on this
newsgroup [not ONE American here has genuinely condemned America's
current - and past - murderous foreign policy], the jelly doughnuts
are now on consignment to Haiti, where they will come in real handy
for those resisting the recent illegal and bloody US-orchestrated coup
d'etat ...
Y'know Padraig it would be easier to take your bilious rantings seriously if they were in
any way coherent. As is they are just laughable, in a self-caricature kind of way. I can
see your fondness for Aristide -- he would fit right in with the IRA.
~~Jack
The fact that you attempt to equate the democratically-elected leader
of Haiti [even Clinton welcomed his election] with a terrorist
organisation like the Provisional IRA (there is no organisation called
the "IRA", numbnut, but many offshoots of the P-IRA: Offical IRA, Real
IRA [responsible for the Omagh bombing]. INLA etc] draws our attention
once again to your own incoherence and breathtaking geopolitical
ignorance. It is the US-sponsored thugs who ousted Aristide who can be
properly compared with the Provos, prior to the latter's cessation of
violence 8 years ago. The "like, real horrorshow" here is that it is
your own government who is engaging in terrorism in Haiti, still
ongoing ...
Padraig
"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he
could only do a little": Edmund Burke
The following was written just prior to the US-planned coup:
Haiti - Insurrection in the Making
by Yifat Susskind
February 25, 2004 (A MADRE Backgrounder) A political crisis that has
been brewing in Haiti since 2000 exploded during the second week of
February 2004. Members of an armed movement seeking to overthrow
Haiti's President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, went on a rampage in a
dozen Haitian towns, killing more than 60 people. The towns remain
under siege by criminal gangs led by former paramilitary members.
There is great concern for the families in these areas, since the
armed vigilantes have cut road and telephone access to communities,
emptied prisons and blocked convoys of food aid from reaching
impoverished areas.
The blockade of food aid is particularly worrisome since, according to
the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, nearly half of all Haitians
lack access to even minimum food requirements. Hospitals, schools,
police stations and other government buildings have been burned and
looted. Meanwhile, the US Department of Homeland Security has begun
preparations for the internment of up to 50,000 Haitian refugees at
the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, signaling that the US
expects a much greater escalation of violence in Haiti.
What is the Political Backdrop to the Conflict? The crisis dates back
to a political stalemate stemming from a contested election. In
2000-the same year that George Bush stole the US presidency-Haiti held
elections for 7,500 positions nationwide. Election observers contested
the winners of seven senate seats.
President Aristide balked at first, but eventually yielded and the
seven senators resigned. Members of Haiti's elite, long hostile to
Aristide's progressive economic agenda, saw the controversy as an
opportunity to derail his government.
Since 2001, human rights activists and humanitarian workers in Haiti
have documented numerous cases of opposition vigilantes killing
government officials and bystanders in attacks on the state power
station, health clinics, police stations and government vehicles. The
US government did not condemn any of these killings.
In January 2004, the opposition escalated its protests. At some
demonstrations, government supporters, who represent Haiti's poorest
sectors, attacked opposition activists. Only then did US Secretary of
State Powell issue a one-sided condemnation of 'militant Aristide
supporters.'
In a country as poor as Haiti, control over the institutions of the
state is one of the only sources of wealth, making national politics
an arena of violent competition. Similarly, in an environment of 70
percent unemployment, the prospect of long-term work as a paramilitary
fighter leads many young men to join these forces.
Who is the Opposition? Like the so-called opposition to the Chavez
government of Venezuela, Haiti's opposition represents only a small
minority (8 percent of the population according to a 2000 poll). With
no chance of winning through democratic elections, they rely instead
on armed violence to foment a political crisis that will lead to the
fall of the government. Using their international business
connections, especially ties to the corporate media, the opposition
has manufactured an image of itself as the true champion of democracy
in Haiti.
The gangs that have placed thousands of Haitians under siege are
reportedly armed with US-made M-16s, recently sent by the US to the
government of the Dominican Republic [from where the March 2004 coup
was launched]..
The gangs are directly linked to two groups financed by the Bush
Administration: the right-wing Convergence for Democracy and the
pro-business Group of 184.
The Convergence is a coalition of about two dozen groups, ranging from
neo-Duvalierists (named for the Duvaliers' dictatorship that ruled
Haiti from 1957-1986) to former Aristide supporters. These groups have
little in common except their desire to see Aristide overthrown.
According to the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, the opposition's
'only policy goal seems to be reconstituting the army and the
implementation of rigorous Structural Adjustment Programs.'
The Convergence is led by former FRAPH paramilitary leaders (including
Louis Chamblain, Guy Phillipe and Jean Pierre Baptiste) who carried
out the bloody 1991 coup d'etat, in which the CIA-trained and -funded
FRAPH overthrew Aristide, killed 5,000 civilians and terrorized Haiti
for four years.
The Convergence is supported by the Haitian elite and the leadership
of the US Republican Party (through the National Endowment for
Democracy and the International Republican Institute).
The Group of 184 is represented by Andy Apaid, a Duvalier supporter
and US citizen who obtained a Haitian passport by fraudulently
claiming to have been born in Haiti. Apaid owns 15 factories in Haiti
and was the main foe of Aristide's 2003 campaign to raise the minimum
wage (which, at $1.60 a day, was lower than what it had been 10 years
earlier).
By demanding that the opposition be included in any resolution of
Haiti's political impasse, the US has greatly empowered these forces.
While the opposition perpetuates Haiti's political deadlock, the US
embargo (see below) guarantees the island's economic strangulation.
Aristide's opponents hope that these combined tactics will achieve
what they cannot win through democratic elections: the ouster of
Aristide.
Why is it so hard to get a clear picture of what's happening in Haiti?
Media Manipulation
-> One reason is that the opposition has succeeded in mobilizing the
mainstream media to create an image of Aristide as a tyrant and the
opposition as democratic freedom fighters. For example, international
media have run several stories comparing the opposition to the
movement to overthrow Haiti's long-time Duvalier dictatorship.
Although the Haitian government has condemned attacks by its
supporters on opposition forces, mainstream media did not report the
condemnations
-> Most international coverage of the crisis in Haiti comes from the
large wire services, Reuters and the Associated Press. These wire
services rely almost exclusively on Haiti's elite-owned media (Radio
Metropole, Tele-Haiti, Radio Caraibe, Radio Vision 2000 and Radio
Kiskeya) for their stories. The outlets are owned and operated by the
opposition. For example, Andy Apaid, spokesman for the Group of 184,
is the founder of Tele-Haiti.
-> Progressive journalists have accused these stations of exaggerating
reports of violence by government supporters and ignoring violence by
opposition forces. These stations air commercials inciting Haitians to
overthrow the government.
US Double-Speak
-> Another reason for confusion is that the Bush Administration is
upholding a long US tradition of talking about respect for democracy
in Haiti while supporting the country's most anti-democratic, pro-
business forces. The US has encouraged the opposition to refuse to
participate in elections and, at the same time, declared that
elections in Haiti will only be considered legitimate if the
opposition participates.
-> Powell says that the US is 'not interested in regime change.' But
the Administration is supporting a disinformation campaign in the US
media, maintaining an embargo that is intensifying hunger and disease
amongst Haiti's poorest and supporting the sponsors of armed,
vigilante violence that has already killed scores of people.
What is the role of the US in Haiti? The US was the main supporter of
the Duvalier dictatorship. In 1986, when Haiti's pro-democracy
movement finally succeeded in overthrowing the hated dictator, he was
ferried to safety by the Reagan Administration.
Only with the rise of Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected
president, did US support shift from the Haitian leadership to those
who orchestrated the 1991 coup d'etat.
In 1994, public pressure and fear of an influx of Haitian 'boat
people' led the Clinton Administration to reverse the coup d'etat and
restore Aristide to power.
The Republican leadership strongly opposed the intervention. In 1995,
when Republicans took control of Congress, they pushed to cancel US
aid to Haiti and to finance the opposition by reallocating federal
funds to Haitian non-governmental organizations opposed to Aristide.
In 2000, the Republicans exploited Haiti's electoral controversy as an
opportunity to discredit Aristide. The Bush Administration pressured
the Inter-American Development Bank to cancel more than $650 million
in development assistance and approved loans to Haiti -- money that
was slated to pay for safe drinking water, literacy programs and
health services.
The seven contested senators are long gone, but the embargo remains in
place, denying critical services to the poorest people in the
hemisphere.
What is Aristide's record? The US allowed Aristide to be reinstated on
the condition that he implement a neoliberal economic agenda.
Aristide complied with some US demands, including a reduction of
tariffs on US-grown rice that bankrupted thousands of Haitian farmers
and maintenance of a below- subsistence-level minimum wage.
But Aristide resisted privatizing state-owned resources, because of
protests from his political base and because he was reluctant to
relinquish control over these sources of wealth.
Aristide eventually doubled the minimum wage and -- despite the
embargo -- prioritized education and healthcare: he built schools and
renovated public hospitals; established new HIV-testing centers and
doctor-training programs; and introduced a program to subsidize
schoolbooks and uniforms and expand school lunch and bussing services.
Aristide has tried to walk a line between US demands for neoliberal
reforms and his own commitment to a progressive economic agenda. As a
result, he has lost favor with parts of his own political base and
Haitian and US elites.
Aristide has also been criticized for turning a blind eye to human
rights abuses committed by his supporters and by advocates of good
governance for rewarding loyalists with government posts regardless of
their qualifications. (a patronage system even more extensive than the
one that has filled the Bush Administration with former CEOs and
corporate lobbyists.)
So Should Progressives Support Aristide? The current crisis is not
about supporting or opposing Aristide the man, but about defending
constitutional democracy in Haiti. In a democracy, elections-and not
vigilante violence-should be the measure of 'the will of the people.'
Aristide has repeatedly invited the opposition to participate in
elections and they have refused, knowing that they cannot win at the
polls.