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Dreams
Buried in Freedom’s Coffin
An Editorial By Rudolph Lewis Today,
the light of justice and democracy is slowly being extinguished
under the present occupation by soldiers of three respected
international democracies, namely, the United States, France,
and Canada. Two of these countries certainly have not had the
best interest of the Haitian people at heart, namely, the United
States and France.
From
1802-1804, the
French wasted nearly 40,000 French soldiers to restore the
enslavement of the Haitian people, and from 1825-1885 France kept the
liberated Haiti in financial chains
(90 million gold francs) demanding that
poor Haitian peasants purchase their freedom. France has resisted the
demands of $21 billion reparations
for nearly a decade. And we all know that
the U.S. government, despite its crocodile tears for the freedom
of the Iraqi people, ignores and disregards black freedom
whenever it is not under the camera’s eye.
While the Aristides languish at a residence
of Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, Haiti's new
U.S.-backed leader, interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue,
stands “shoulder to shoulder” with the so-called “rebel
commanders” (NYTimes, March 21, 2004). Mr. Latortue was flown in from Florida by the US State
Department to replace Mr. Aristide’s democratic leadership.
According to reporter Kirk Semple,
“Latortue and his retinue, dressed casually in open-necked
shirts and slacks, arrived [in Gonaives] in two United States
Army Black Hawk helicopters and a Chinook transport helicopter
flown by American troops. He was greeted by a rebel army
commander in a suit and tie who presented him a carved wooden
key to the city” (NYTimes, March 21, 2004).
Despite
claims that Haiti will be ruled by a team of “technocrats,”
Haiti will resume its rule under former Duvalierists, indicted
and convicted torturers and rapists (Read DeNeen L. Brown’s article on
“political rapes,” Washington Post, March 21, 2004).
Rebel leaders, members of the former
The
Cannibal Army, “plan to
keep their weapons” and the “personable” Guy Philippe said
“he would put his forces under the prime minister's orders.”
(NYTimes, March 21, 2004).
So Gerard Latortue and his new army
commanders – Guy Philippe, a onetime member of the army who
has previously been charged with plotting against the
government, and Louis Jodel Chamblain, another former leader of
FRAPH, convicted of murder and human rights abuses – have
become the new powerbrokers in occupied Haiti.
There is a scream
for Justice from black holes in Titanyen, a mass burial site.
Clear
as the sun rising in the east, the “authoritarian Aristide”
(with anti-imperialist policies) was the popular and legitimately elected President of Haiti
deposed by Guy Philippe and Louis Jodel Chamblain and other indicted
and convicted criminals with the assistance of the US State Department and
US Marines. The “democratic opposition” are
self-and-American appointed murderers and thugs who care little about
the massive poverty and powerlessness of the poor and especially
the poor and oppressed women in Haiti. (Read DeNeen L. Brown’s
article cited above.)
What
then is there to be done about this “regime change” – this
outrageous undermining of an elected President and the burial of
dreams in “freedom’s coffin”?
One,
CARICOM and other nations should refuse presently to recognize
the present Haitian government and should do so only after all
the provisions of the UN Security Council Resolution 1529 (2004)
of 29 February 2004 have been fully implemented and new free
open elections have taken place, which would include the Lavalas
Party.
Two,
like Amnesty
International, we “urgently calls on the international
community, through its Multinational Interim Force, to guarantee
that notorious human rights offenders with pending sentences for
human rights convictions, and those against whom there are
outstanding charges, are taken into custody and brought before
the Haitian justice system. Escapees must be returned to prison;
those perpetrators convicted in absentia have the opportunity
for a retrial, under Haitian law, and should be held in custody
until the retrial occurs.” These violators include Guy
Phillipe and Louis Jodel Chamblain.
Three,
all funds funneled through NGOs to FRAPH and other Haitian
paramilitary groups should be curtailed immediately.
Four,
the Haitian justice system should be fully defended, supported,
and reformed in defense of the rights of Haitian women (Read DeNeen L. Brown’s article on
“political rapes,” Washington Post, March 21, 2004).
Five,
the US Congressional Black Caucus along with TransAfrica should establish a permanent watchdog
committee to assure the implementation of justice for the
Haitian people.
Since
the deposing of the Aristides and the Lavalas Party, British and
American cameras have left Haiti. We cannot depend on the
right-wing owned media in Haiti to defend human rights in Haiti.
All those who truly love black freedom should not forget the
present right-wing attacks on Aristide and the Haitian people.
Nothing should stop us from speaking out against the present
repression of Haitian freedom and democracy by the United
States, France, and Canada. The Haitian poor cry out for Justice
Now!
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Note: The title of this editorial "Dreams
Buried in Freedom's Coffin" is the last line of a poem of Patrick
Silven. The last stanza of that poem "Refugees" reads:
"At nightfall, before dropping / their bodies on bare mattresses /
inside pigeon cells, they stare / at their dreams buried in freedom's
coffin." from Open
Gate An Anthology of Haitian Creole Poetry (2001)
by Paul Laraque and Jack Hirschman
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update 24 June 2008 |
