The DISH

Unbossed and unbought news and information you can use

Vol. 12 Issue 9…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…March 1, 2009

Intuit's Vibe

Haiti the Rebel

By Michel Sanon

Who is to tell me when to celebrate my history?

Who is to tell me when to dress my wounds

And to reminisce my trials, my sorrow

When to shed tears over my brave children

And to glorify their names?

They suffered and died every bloody month

Of the bloody year.

I was born of abject inhumanity

with the noble destiny

Of carrying the sword of precious humanity

In a New World cursed by the West Storm

And raped by the powers of greed,

wickedness, and death.

I am the mother of martyrs

of survivors and overcomers.

Alone, I faced the wrath of this world's powers

In March of 1802.
Their mighty venom could not cripple me.

I stepped on the snake's head

In May of 1803 and created forever

the symbol of my pride.

How many now really know my history?

How many care?

Alone, with my hurting hands I broke the first link

Of the mighty chain of human curse called slavery.

Alone on the traitorous hill of the New World

I carried the cross of a race

into this century of furious revolution

And industrialization

Refusing to get crucified.

I''ve been chained; I've been robbed

I've been raped and stabbed and I have fought back
Fearlessly, continuously.

Alone I have paid and paid.

I have paid the senseless price

I have paid the endless price for my vital exploits.

Humanity at large enjoys the benefits

Gracelessly, pompously.

Every bloody month of every bloody year

I have fought constantly with a burning spear

Stuck in my chest.

Sometimes it weakens me but I always rise

High above the pain and the wickedness

Of powerful forces from near and far

To claim my dignity.

I have friends who suck up my blood

When tired I fall asleep.

They set my house ablaze to scare my children away

From my wounded heart.

Though today I choose to stand

And stand in pride and love with my dear family

To celebrate in harmony our common history

In the month of February, I was alone when in Vertières

I rose to face the Devil when hell broke loose

Unleashing its fire storm with waves of flame rushing

To engulf me whole...

Alone in the vast universe

I froze hell over and walked on its ashes

To create my own history.

Nobody stood by my side. I alone remember.

It was the eighteenth day of a month called November.

Comments from the Bat Cave

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro recently got a lecture on education, health and sundry other topics from his pediatrician following a routine examination. Just out of curiosity, the physician posed the question, "What is the source of fiber in your diet?" To his horrified grandfather's surprise, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro replied, "Hamburger!"

Bit of History

Jean-Jacques Dessalines (1758-1806)

Born into slavery in 1758, either in Guinea and transported to Saint-Domingue as popularly held by Haitian tradition or on a plantation in the Plaine du Nord in Cormiers (now known as Cormier), near the town of Grande-Rivière-du-Nord, Jean-Jacques Duclos, the name of his father, who adopted it from his proprietor Henry Duclos, spent thirty (30) years working in the sugar cane fields. During this time, he rose to the rank of commandeur or foreman. Duclos was purchased by a free black man named Dessalines, from whom he received the surname he retained in freedom. For about three years, Jean-Jacques Dessalines worked for his new master, who treated him well.

Embittered towards whites and gens de couleur, Dessalines eagerly joined the slave uprising of 1791, which spread across the Plaine du Nord. Led by Jean François Papillon and Georges Biassou, this rebellion was the first action of what would become the Haitian Revolution. Dessalines became a lieutenant in Papillon's army and followed him to Santo Domingo, where he enlisted in Spain's military forces against the French colony of Saint-Domingue. During this period, Dessalines met Toussaint Bréda (later known as Toussaint Louverture), who was fighting with Spanish forces on Hispaniola. United in their desire to defeat slavery, they switched allegiances from Spain to France after the French declared an end to slavery in 1794. They also fought for the French against the British. Dessalines became a chief lieutenant to Louverture, rising to the rank of brigadier general by 1799. Dessalines commanded many successful engagements, gaining a reputation for his "take no prisoners" policy, and for burning homes and entire villages to the ground.

The rebellious former slaves restored most of Saint-Domingue to France, with Louverture in control and finally appointed by the French as Governor General of the colony. However, under Napoleon I, the government sought to reimpose slavery in Saint-Domingue. An expeditionary force led by General Charles Leclerc was dispatched to the island to restore French rule. Louverture and Dessalines fought against the invading French forces, with Dessalines defeating them at the battle for which he is most famous, Crête-à-Pierrot.

After Toussaint's capture on June 7, 1802, Dessalines became leader of the Revolution. His forces achieved a series of victories against the French, culminating in the last major battle of the revolution, the Battle of Vertières. On November 18, 1803, black and mulatto forces under Dessalines and Alexandre Pétion attacked the fort of Vertière near Cap François. The French surrendered the next day. On December 4, 1803, the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte surrendered its remaining territory to Dessalines' forces.

On January 1, 1804, Dessalines officially declared the former colony's independence and renamed it "Haiti" after the indigenous Arawak name. After the declaration of independence, Dessalines named himself Governor-General-for-life and served in that role until September 22, 1804, when he proclaimed himself Emperor of Haiti. He was crowned Emperor Jacques I in a coronation ceremony on October 6. On May 20, 1805, his government released the Imperial Constitution, naming Jean-Jacques Dessalines emperor for life with the right to name his successor.

Distrustful of white French people, Dessalines declared Haiti an all-black nation and forbade whites from owning property or land there. He tried to keep the sugar industry and plantations running and producing without slavery by enforcing a harsh regimen of plantation labor. He demanded that all blacks either served as soldiers to protect the nation or as laborers on the plantations to generate crops. The strict enforcement of this regimen made some blacks feel enslaved again.

Reviled for his autocratic ways, disaffected members of Dessalines' administration were successful in a conspiracy to overthrow him. Dessalines was assassinated north of the capital city, Port-au-Prince, at Pont Larnage, (now known as Pont-Rouge) on October 17, 1806.

A monument at the northern entrance of the Haitian capital marks the place where the Emperor was killed. The national anthem of Haiti, La Dessalinienne, is named in his honor, as is the city of Dessalines.

Haiti: Let Them Eat Cake

By John Burl Smith

One of the few things all Haitians can agree on is their pride in Toussaint L'Ouverture, who led the slave rebellion in Haiti that established the world's first black republic. The transformation of slaves, trembling in hundreds before a single white man, into a people able to organize themselves and defeat the most powerful European nations of their day, is one of the great epics of revolutionary struggle and achievement.... C.L.R. James

As civil war encroaches, civil society implodes and civil political discourse evaporates, the transformation of Haiti into a nation riven by political violence, ravaged by AIDS and devastated by poverty is a tragedy of epic proportions. Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (1789- 1792), referring to the poor starving French masses, uttered the words "Let they eat cake!" Her words, according to historians, were a catalyst for the Revolution that followed. Some 210 years later, another French ruler, Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy, see France's former colony of Haiti similarly, "Let them eat mud cakes!"

In 1697 following the Treaty of Ryswick, Saint-Domingue was given to France, but after revolution (1793), a new nation, Haiti, was declared on January 1, 1804. The first country in the Western Hemisphere to abolish slavery, Haiti's independence denied wealthy French slave owners billions of francs for which Haiti suffers retribution today.

The French government and the rest of the civilized world today sit idly by while millions of Haitian children starve. Frenchmen watch as Haitians whose poverty has reduced them to eating mud made into patties with oil and sugar. Hunger resulting from surging food prices, an 80 percent poverty rate and 3/4 of its citizens surviving on less than $2 a day, the sweeten mud patties are not French pastry but are a staple for many. "It's salty sweet and buttery, so it does not taste like you're eating dirt. It makes the stomach quiet down." Ravaging storms last August and September (2008) have exacerbated the deteriorating conditions and the resulting food crisis has yield malnourishment for an estimated one-fourth of Haiti's chronically hungry children, whose mortality increases daily.

The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) of the United States (US) pressed former Pres. George W. Bush to take immediate action in 2008 to aid Haiti as it does other nations during economic crises and natural disasters. Also the US House unanimously adopted an amendment asking Pres. Bush to seek cancellation of Haiti's international debt, but the Bush administration continued its double standard on immigration and international debt relief.

US Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-FL., CBC member, authored the Haitian Protection Act, which would make Haitian nationals in the United States eligible for temporary protective status so they would not be deported. Moreover, he voiced the CBC's plea, "How desperate must the humanitarian crisis in Haiti become before the United States is willing to offer this deserving nation the compassion and generosity that it has bestowed upon other countries?" Hastings also wrote a letter to Pres. Bush on behalf of the CBC. "Haitians, both in Haiti and in our own country, have long suffered through natural destruction, persistent poverty, repressive regimes and the inequitable policies of the United States. It is now our moral obligation to help Haitians sustain and rebuild their country by alleviating their nation's debt, as well as grant Haitian immigrants already residing in the United States temporary protective status."

Another CBC member, Rep. Kendrick B. Meek, D-FL., the first member of Congress to travel to Haiti following riots over skyrocketing food prices is pushing for a bill to open up U.S. markets to Haitian textile products -- a move that could boost employment. Furthermore, Rep. Eliot L. Engel, D-N.Y., chairman of the House of Representatives Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, sent a letter signed by 22 other members of Congress to Bush urging him to provide emergency food aid for Haiti but got no response.

The director of Haiti's national migration office, Jeanne Bernard Pierre, said since the food crisis (4/2008), her agency has received more repatriated Haitian boat people in a week than it used to receive in a month or more. "We received 212 repatriates last week, 227 this week and we are expecting 114 tomorrow." Interceptions have more than double according to the US Coast Guard, "Last week we intercepted and turned back 247 Haitians who were risking their lives to flee the country by boat. We have intercepted 972 Haitian migrants at sea since October 1, 2008 compared with 376 during the same period last year."

Bob Marley became a national hero of Jamaica by trying to unite his people. Why are Haiti’s rock stars partying with Sarkozy while their people eat mud cakes? (Sources: http://blog.syracuse.com, www.commondreams.org, http://cpj.org, and www.haitiaction.net)

Hood Notes

Does America have the Courage of Bolivia?

By John Burl Smith

Evo Morales Ayma, President of Bolivia named Pablo César Groux Canedo Ministry of Cultures on February 10, 2009. The newly created Ministry will have two Vice-ministries. One dedicated to Decolonisation, which will "decolonize public institutions with a head-on confrontation against racism," and Interculturalism, which will be "a tool of unity, harmony and integration among Bolivians' cultures, artistic expressions and cultural heritage. The aim of both is to "help heal the wounds left by the difficult process we are currently facing."

The process began in December 2005 and was socialized at the Cultural Symposiums carried out in 2008 that resulted in the Regional Culture Councils. He added also that they will "work hard to identify the country's native nations and peoples. There is an ongoing research project that aims to classify 36 native nations as well as their cultural heritage, in order to make it an element of development and wealth generation."

Accepting his position at the Presidential Palace, César Groux explained "This new Ministry is established 33 years after the creation of Bolivia's Culture Institute (1975), which later became the National Secretariat for Culture. It later evolved into the Vice-ministry of Culture and subsequently, in 2006, into the Vice-ministry of Cultures Development. Finally, today 2009, through President Morales' mandate, it is promoted to the rank of Ministry. Minister César Groux concluded by saying, "The State should be an active protagonist in the development of a new conception of cultural heritage and understood as a component of development and integration in Bolivia."

A former colonial possession and slave nation with the same cultural and heritage problem that Bolivia experienced, even though it is a for more affluent country, the United States of America would do well to follow Bolivia's example as it attempts to reinvent itself. Overcoming its racist past will require an extended process led by government institutions as we evolve into a nation of one people with many cultural heritages.

Politics Y2K9

Haiti: The Lost Promise of Freedom

By John Burl Smith

During its occupation from 1915-1934, the United States of American built the Haitian National Guard, an army of killers trained at the infamous U.S. military "School of the Americas." Haiti suffered under this brutal occupation for 19 years, then the US' trained gendarmerie propped up Haitian dictators "Papa Doc" Duvalier and "Baby Doc, his son" who killed an estimated 50,000 Haitians during their reign of terror.

Haiti was in desperate straits when Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a parish priest, preaching liberation theology in the 1980s, began a democracy campaign against the ruthless Duvalier dictatorship. A ray of hope for the most impoverished Western Hemisphere nation, Aristide evoked thoughts of revolutionary hero Toussaint L'Ouverture.

Vowing to reverse the staggering poverty which resulted in a life expectancy of 52 years for adults, while one in ten children died by age 5 and most others lived on the verge of starvation, Aristide campaigned against Haiti's collapsing health system. Moreover, Haiti was gripped by an AIDS epidemic that raged unchecked as the worst in the Caribbean. Fearing unrest, tourists and foreign investors stayed away, fueling skyrocketing unemployment.

Riding a wave of popular support, Aristide came to power in 1990-91. Initially, he irked the Western powers by resisting the economic diktats of Paris, Washington, Wall Street, the IMF and World Bank. He further irritated the US by establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba. Through that alliance, Haiti received 500 badly needed doctors and nurses from Cuba for its provinces, where most Haitians resided. Cuban doctors and nurses outnumbered Haitian medical personnel in those areas. These crucial medical teams infuriated the US, which demanded they be thrown out of the country, while not promising to replace them.

The CIA tapped Lieutenant-General Raoul Cédras (a graduate of the "School of the Americas") to lead a coup that ousted Aristide in 1991. Accused of being a communist, Aristide was portrayed as mentally unstable and immoral. However, the coup led to a huge exodus of Haitians. Some 70,000 desperate Haitians fled the island in rickety boats, while several thousands were killed in the streets by the Cédras Junta. Pres. George H. W. Bush viewed Haitians as economic migrants rather than political refugees and ordered the U.S. Coast Guard to arrest flotilla refugees and imprison them at the U.S. military base in Guantánamo, Cuba or in centers in the U.S., then deport them back to Haiti. No huddled, desperate black masses yearning to be free were permitted to come ashore in Bush's America.

President Bill Clinton launched Operation Uphold Democracy in September 1994 and U.S. forces occupied Haiti once more. The Clinton Administration admitted later that Haitian generals that plotted the overthrow of Aristide were on the CIA's payroll. Fearing Aristide might be the next Fidel Castro, US conservatives pushed the CIA to topple the only democratically elected President of Haiti. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was whisked out of Haiti to the Central African Republic under U.S. military escort.

Although Pres. Clinton sent former JCS Chairman Colin Powell, Georgia Senator Sam Nunn and former President Jimmy Carter to negotiate Cédras' exit and Aristide's return, the cost to Haiti was devastating. US officials demanded that the Haitian army be retrained and left intact. Insisting U.S. Marines invaded to restore "law and order, a multinational "peacekeeping" force, spearheaded by France, under the aegis of the United Nations became the new occupiers over the desperately poor Haitian masses.

All of Haiti's economic problems can be laid at the doorstep of the US and France. During the first 58 years of independence, the US refused to recognize Haiti's existence. Using claims of internal strife in 1915, the US invaded Haiti and occupied it until 1934. Synchronously, France, backed by the US, demanded Haiti pay former plantation and slave owners 150m francs in gold as reparations and the revolutionary war (1791-1804) debt in return for international recognition. In today's dollars that would amount to more than $800 billion. Today Haiti is paying 80% of its national budget in interest and loans on that debt.

After 200 years, Haitians can look back on 13 coups and 19 years of US occupation. Looking forward, the prospect of more bloodshed and instability make planting a stable political culture in Haiti's barren soil of economic impoverishment, military siege and international isolation a doubtful proposition. Western powers, particularly France and the United States, bear full responsibility for how Haiti arrived at such a parlous place.

The reality is, in return for personal and political freedom for Haiti, Aristide was compelled to return Haiti to economic enslavement at the hands of the IMF and the World Bank. Post-colonial military aggression rigged world markets through brutal globalization demands. Rice is a case in point. Forced by the IMF and World Bank to lower import tariffs, Haiti found itself flooded with subsidized US rice, which drove Haitian rice growers out of business and forced the country to import a product that it once produced. When Haiti fined US rice merchants $1.4m for evading customs duties, the US retaliated by withholding $30m in aid.

Aristide was returned to power by a U.S. invasion in 1994, only to be removed from power by the U.S. in 2004. Aristide, as well as the butchers who preceded and succeeded him, were puppets of Wall Street, Washington, Paris, the IMF and World Bank. George W. Bush resumed attacks on Aristide as soon as he took office. Citing election fraud in Haiti in 2000 (remember the Florida "chads" and Bush's election fraud 2000), they drastically slashed foreign aid to Haiti and blocked previously approved loans from the Inter-American Development Bank for improvements in education, roads, health care and water purification. In short, the Bush administration plunged what was already the poorest country in the Western hemisphere and one of the most malnourished populations in the world into today's living hell.

Haiti has incurred the wrath of the colonial powers for 200 years. The Haitian people have paid in blood for their successful slave revolt and the defeat of Napoleon's army. In Napoleon Bonaparte's own words: "The freedom of the Negroes, if recognized in St. Domingue [as Haiti was then known] and legalized by France, would at all times be a rallying point for freedom-seekers of the New World." The French imperialists, who first enslaved the Haitian people, then gave asylum to the hated Duvaliers and demanded the ouster of Aristide, posture as "saviors" of Haiti, while saying "Let they eat mud cakes." (Sources: www.icl-fi.org, www.guardian.co.uk, http://everything2.com, and www.shss.montclair.edu)

News You Use

Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami

Marleine Bastien is founder of Haitian Women of Miami (known colloquially as FANM, which stands for the Haitian Creole translation of Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami). Early last year, the Miami activist and a group of clergy toured the island nation and surveyed the wreckage of years of poverty and neglect.

More determined than ever to change US policy toward Haiti, Bastien and other organizations are calling on the US government to grant the island nation much-needed debt relief, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for those who have fled Haiti and reside primarily in Miami-Dade County, Florida, and an overall change in the US government's attitude toward Haitians.

According to FAMN's full-time lawyer, Steven Forester, who has practiced immigration law for thirty years, an estimated 20,000 Haitians already in the U.S. and who lack resident status, should be allowed to remain until the dangers back home created by natural disasters, political instability, food shortages and violence subside. "The U.S., Canada, France and Britain all say it's not safe to travel to Haiti. So why is it safe to deport people to Haiti?"

The Florida congressional delegation - Republicans and Democrats -- supports TPS, which has been conferred and renewed multiple times for people from countries such as Honduras and Nicaragua, Burundi, El Salvador, Somalia, Sudan and Liberia. Forester, who is white, believes, "Our policy vis-à-vis Haitians is discriminatory. It's based on racism. And until the policy changes, FAMN will continue to "raise hell!"

To learn how you can join the hell raisers at Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami (FANM) or Haitian Women of Miami, Inc. call 305-756-8050 or email info@fanm.org. To learn more about the organization, log on to http://fanm.org.

Disgruntled wants to know: In June 2008, when the price of a barrel of oil rose to $140, there were speculative news articles about oil in Haiti. Some surmised this was the reason for the huge US embassy in the Western Hemisphere's most impoverished nation. In addition, at least four oil companies were vying for the right to drill for oil on Haitian soil. Now that oil has tumbled to a more reasonable price per barrel coupled with a global decline in demand, one wonders is there oil in Haiti, and if so, will native Haitians realize any benefit from its black gold reserves?

Disgruntled says: With a population of about 12,000, Los Alamitos is a small town located in Orange County, California. The town's newly elected mayor recently came under a firestorm of criticism for sending an email to a small group of friends with a picture that depicted the White House lawn as a watermelon patch. The caption of the picture read "No Easter egg hunt this year." A black local businesswoman and city volunteer, Keyanus Price did not think the depiction was funny. In fact, she felt it was downright racist and demanded an apology from the mayor. Grose admitted the email was in poor taste; he also decided to step down as mayor because the incident had affected his ability to lead the city. Grose claims he did not mean to offend anyone and was unaware of the racial stereotype linking blacks and eating watermelons. Under the circumstances, if what Grose claims is true, he did the right thing in removing himself from office. In this day and age, anyone over thirty who is unaware of the racial stereotypes used about blacks is ill-prepared to lead a diverse community.

Disgruntled feels: Capsized! An award winning playwright, performance poet, political and social commentator, author and human rights attorney, Marguerite Laurent is a Haitian woman inspired, guided, and directed by the strength, legacy and visions of the Haitian warrior goddess, Ezili Dantò, the black Madonna. In 1997-98, Laurent created the performance piece "Capsized" in an effort to awaken Americans out of their apathy about what drives Haitians to embark on the perilous sea journey as "boat people." When the suffering and apathy towards the situation in Haiti continued unabated, she began performing "Capsized" again ten years later in May 2007. For more about "Capsized" this amazing artists and her work, log on to www.margueritelaurent.com.

Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and Telephone Calls

Email seanderson@mail.com NOTE: Another reminder of the imperial and white supremacist nature of the US government- in spite of a Blackface in the highest place. And note how the Times calls a conference AGAINST racism a "racism" conference....US to Boycott UN Racism Conference ...By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS...WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration said Friday that the United States will boycott an upcoming U.N. conference on racism unless its final document is changed to drop all references to Israel and the defamation of religion. At the same time, it said the U.S. would participate as an observer in meetings of the U.N. Human Rights Council, a body that was shunned by the Bush administration for anti-Israel statements and failing to act on abuses in Sudan and other states. The racism conference is a follow-up to the contentious 2001 meeting in the South African city of Durban that was dominated by clashes over the Middle East and the legacy of slavery. The U.S. and Israel walked out midway through that meeting over a draft resolution that singled out Israel for criticism and likened Zionism -- the movement to establish and maintain a Jewish state -- to racism. Israel and Canada had already announced they would boycott the next World Conference Against Racism in Geneva from April 20-25, known as Durban II, but the Obama administration decided it wanted to assess the negotiations before making a decision on U.S. participation.

Email theradioactivist@prodigy.net...Building a Constituency for Haiti in the U.S....By Dr. Ron Daniels...Black History Month should never pass without people of African descent remembering the amazing Haitian Revolution which produced the first Black Republic in the world. While historians herald the contributions to humanity of the American and French Revolutions, I believe the Haitian Revolution was at least as significant in terms of advancing the concepts of human rights and equality. We must never forget that this improbable Revolution was consummated at a time when the holocaust of enslavement was wreaking havoc on Africa. Though the trans-Atlantic slave trade was initiated as an economic enterprise, it would not be long before the horrors of this genocidal undertaking would be rationalized by theories of "race" that designated Africans inferior beings. Pseudo-scientific theories gave birth to the myth of white supremacy. ...Despite the righteous platitudes of the American and French Revolutions, the idea of an independent Black Republic created through force of arms did not sit well with the powers that be in the Capitols of Europe and America. There was virtually universal agreement among the European/White leaders of the time, including President Thomas Jefferson, that the example of Haiti was a threat to their national interests - profiting from the slave trade and/or colonialism in Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America. Therefore, it was imperative that Haiti be isolated, marginalized and rendered weak as a "Black nation."

Email www.IHT.com ...U.S. criticized over funds for Haiti...By Marc Lacey...An array of rights groups strongly criticized the U.S. government for withholding money meant to provide clean drinking water to Haiti, charging that the action is meant to be leverage for political change in the country. In a report made public in June, activists called the delay of $54 million in international loans to the Haitian government "one of the most egregious examples of malfeasance by the United States in recent years." The loans from the Inter-American Development Bank were intended to revamp the water and sanitation systems in Les Cayes and Port-de-Paix. In Haiti, close to 70 percent of the population lacks regular and direct access to potable water, experts said. The lack of clean water contributes to intestinal parasites and amoebic dysentery. The development bank, over which the U.S. Treasury Department holds significant influence, approved the loans in 1998.