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Book by John Maxwell
How to Make Our Own News: A Primer for Environmentalist and Journalists
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Sold Down the River
By John Maxwell
When
I discovered a few years ago, that Colin Powell’s roots were
in St. Elizabeth parish, I had already remarked his resemblance
to my stepfather and to my Uncle Harry, my mother’s brother.
Since the parents of all three were born within five miles
of each other I wondered if they were related, since, the
scientists say, people who resemble each other are likely to be
kin.
I
never pursued the inquiry and I now know I never will.
Brothers
& Sisters from all over
A
few columns ago I mentioned meeting some former Haitian students
of mine at the Quebec Summit of the Americas. In four
weeks it will be two years since I walked down
from the Heights of Abraham where the summit was, having been
turned back at the checkpoint by soldiers goggled and suited
like creatures from Star Wars.
My
former students, now practicing journalists, were
accredited to the summit and passed through the checkpoint with
no problem. When they recognised me they mobbed me, wanting to
know why I wasn't inside with them.
I
was one of perhaps 200,000 demonstrators - miners, nuns,
“Raging Grannies”, school teachers, maquiladora workers from
Mexican sweatshops, French farmers and all kinds of people from
all over. As I got to the bottom of the hill I heard the
whoomp, whoomp of exploding tear gas canisters. The first volley
was directed at anarchists who were trying to tear down a fence
between them and the summit.
But
it soon became apparent that we were all targets – saints,
sinners and anarchists alike were all soon enveloped in an
acrid miasma of ‘tear-smoke’ and CS gas. It drifted
across the whole quarter, engulfing people who were perfectly
peaceful. We were the overwhelming majority, despite what
the kennelled press claimed. At the bottom of the hill I
ran into a melee of Haitians, mainly older people in their
Sunday best come to greet their President “Titid” as they
called him – two bus-loads of them, in various stages of respiratory
distress, gasping for breath on the pavement, some retching,
others in a state of collapse.
They
came to greet Aristide and met Democracy masked, goggled and
jack-booted.
They
had intruded unknowingly into what the Canadian government had
decided was to be a cordon sanitaire – a democracy-free zone
– round the summit. The purpose of the summit, of course,
was to lock the countries of the Western hemisphere into the
famous Free Trade Area of the Americas – a monolithic
construction which promised to impoverish the hemisphere’s
workers in the interest of multinational corporations.
Now,
two years later, the Americans themselves are waking up to the
fact that Free Trade is destroying their own economy, taking
away well-paying jobs from Americans and decimating the middle
class.
The
jobs exported from the United States end up in some of the
poorest quarters of the world – in Bangladesh, in Indonesia,
in China and even in Haiti.
There,
the leading Haitian Opposition spokesman, the multi-millionaire
Andy Apaid, operates factories making goods for American
multinationals with famous brand names like Walmart, in
factories which pay their workers less than a dollar (US) a day
or about one tenth the Jamaican minimum wage.
Suffer
the Little Children …
In
my email on Friday morning was a report made by a former youth
reporter with the Haitian Children’s Radio station, Radyo
Timoun.
Here
is part of it:
“I
was living in the gutter, dressing in old clothes and begging at
the airport when President Aristide took office in 1990. One of
the first things Titid did when he moved into the National
Palace was invite a group of children who sleep in the streets
to visit the palace and speak out about the conditions of the
street children.
“
…When Titid became president he told the world that we street
children were people, we had value, that we were human beings.
“ Many
adults didn't like this message. They said we were dirty and
should be thrown out like the trash that we are. But Titid loved
us and when I met him, he kissed me and put his hand on my face
and told me he loved me. And they were not the empty words of a
politician.
“During
the first coup in 1991 the street kids were attacked and Lafanmi
Selavi [a shelter for homeless children started by Aristide when
he was a parish priest] was burned.
“
…I was just a little child at that time but with Titid I felt
important. We went to Titid and told him that we wanted to have
a voice in democracy, to have a voice for children and he gave
us Radyo Timoun. We were the first children's radio station in
the world, run by children and promoting the human rights of all
Haitians. … Adults all over the country heard our voices and
were forced to accept that we children are people too.
“
… Yesterday at the [Aristide] Foundation I saw gangsters and
criminals in army uniforms destroy the hopes and dreams of the
Haitian people. They destroyed the building, burned books and
killed many people. A new government run by these people will
surely be bad not only for the children but for all the people
of Haiti.
“…I
do not believe that President Aristide has abandoned us to this
misery. …He would never leave us willingly. Last week Titid
said on the radio he would die before he would give up the
struggle for democracy in Haiti.
“…We
are fearful of the old army because they are those who killed
the street children of Lafanmi Selavi. They killed the peasants
in the North who wanted to have democracy and supported
Aristide.
“…
A new government has no hope for the children of Haiti. I am
scared, I think the criminals will try to kill me too because I
am one of Titid's boys. But I am not just scared for myself. I
am scared for all the children of Haiti. And today I
cannot stop crying. “
As
they did in Baghdad, one of the first buildings pillaged by the
terrorists in Haiti was a museum – the brand new Museum
of Haitian culture. As it burned a fundamentalist preacher
danced round the flames, denouncing the priceless collection as
the work of the devil.
The
sell-out
I
should have known better.
Last
week I congratulated Patterson and Caricom for their principled
stand on Haiti, which seemed to redeem much of their earlier
stupidity.
I
spoke too soon.
As
the Most Honourable Prime Minister of Jamaica announced on
Thursday in not so many words, Aristide and the people of Haiti
have been samfied, mugged and sold-out.
It
doesn’t matter that the US government and the French have
several different stories about the kidnapping of Aristide, it
doesn't matter that the Lima and Santiago Declarations and
CARICOM itself proclaimed that we will not recognise usurpers,
people who overthrow democratic governments. Of course, this
“new” Haitian government can claim that it is not a usurper;
it was installed by the Bush Administration, itself installed by
the Supreme Court of United States of America. How much
more legitimacy do you need?
If
Patterson speaks about the “new President” and the “new
Prime Minister” and says the new Prime Minister is to visit
him before the next Caricom meeting, it means that Patterson and
Caricom have decided to de-legitimise Aristide. And they have
told him so.
Patterson
said: “I want to emphasise that Mr. Aristide is not seeking
political asylum in Jamaica. His stay in Jamaica is not expected
to be in excess of eight to ten weeks. He is engaged in
finalising arrangements for permanent residence outside of the
region” (my emphasis).
Clearly
the powers-that-be have made Aristide an offer he can’t
refuse. I suspect that unless Aristide accepted that offer,
whatever it was, he would find himself a man without friends, at
least without anyone to stand up for him except of course, Cuba.
And, if he accepted any Cuban offer of asylum and help that
would of course give Mr Bush even more propaganda to use to
discredit him.
“See!
He’s a Communist! Just like I told you!!”
And
that would be that.
Of
course, Cuba was the only country to offer Haiti any assistance
when the Americans, the Canadians, the Europeans and the
multilateral institutions were starving Haiti in order to smoke
out Aristide.
Be
careful what you wish for
I
can imagine the arguments that persuaded Patterson. Perhaps it
was a telephone call from Colin Powell–
Powell:
P.J. me ol' mate, the President and I need your help.
Haiti is a disaster about to happen. The international community
needs to get in there fast and heavy to avoid a real catastrophe
[not to mention an immigration disaster in Florida] We can’t
allow this to happen. Unless we straighten out this Aristide
thing we’re going to have hundreds of thousands of deaths on
our hands. And it will be all because of Aristide’s
non-cooperation. and your supporting him. France, Canada
and ourselves are prepared to pump in ship loads of
supplies, food, medicine, water purification kits, you name it.
But we can’t do that if you guys don't cooperate.
“And
you know what? We’ll need your guys to do the administration
– we’ll need all sorts of people, security, nurses,
teachers, the works, and you can supply them I understand you
have a bunch of unemployed skilled people in Jamaica. This will
ramp up your remittances and everybody will come out smelling
like roses. And you won’t have any problem with a fifth
term!!!
“And
if you don’t support Aristide in the UN, nobody else will. So
that solves THAT problem. Trust me; we’ve worked out all the
angles; you can’t lose
“Okay
compadre? …… by the way, I’m thinking of spending a
little time in Treasure Beach, this year …that sound good ?
Amy and I would love to see you … Ciao”
Copyright©2004John Maxwell
maxinf@cwjamaica.com
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The Impact of the
Haitian Revolution in the Atlantic World
Reviewed by Mimi Sheller
Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, 1789-1804
A Brief History with Documents
By Laurent Dubois and John D.
Garrigus
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Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
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The New Jim Crow
Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness
By Michele Alexander
Contrary to the
rosy picture of race embodied in Barack
Obama's political success and Oprah
Winfrey's financial success, legal
scholar Alexander argues vigorously and
persuasively that [w]e have not ended
racial caste in America; we have merely
redesigned it. Jim Crow and legal racial
segregation has been replaced by mass
incarceration as a system of social
control (More African Americans are
under correctional control today... than
were enslaved in 1850). Alexander
reviews American racial history from the
colonies to the Clinton administration,
delineating its transformation into the
war on drugs. She offers an acute
analysis of the effect of this mass
incarceration upon former inmates who
will be discriminated against, legally,
for the rest of their lives, denied
employment, housing, education, and
public benefits. Most provocatively, she
reveals how both the move toward
colorblindness and affirmative action
may blur our vision of injustice: most
Americans know and don't know the truth
about mass incarceration—but her
carefully researched, deeply engaging,
and thoroughly readable book should
change that.—Publishers
Weekly |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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If you like this page consider making a donation
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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