Haiti in Venezuela: Solidarity at WSF: Dispatch #1

Debates Rage at the World Social Forum--Dispatch #2.
Thursday, January 26, 2006

(CHAN) CARACAS--Yesterday and today, the first public forums on Haiti took place at the World Social Forum.

Eighty people attended the first of two forums being organized by CHAN. The meeting featured presentations by five of the members of the delegation from Haiti. They were: Euvonie Georges-Auguste, a womens rights and political leader currently living in exile in St. Lucia; Paul Loulou Chery, Secretary General of the Confederation of Haitian Workers (CATH); Mario Joseph, lawyer and defender of political prisoners, including Father Gerard Jean-Juste; Gladice DeLouis-Simon, journalist and co-organizer of the youth organization MOJESHA on the Haitian island of Gonave, living in exile in St. Vincent; Lovinsky Pierrre Antoine, leader of the political rights organization September 30 Foundation and living in exile in Washington DC.

The delegation also includes union leader Ginette Apollon, New York-based Lavalas founding leader Jean Yvon Kernizan, and a journalist from the Port au Prince daily Le Matin.

Chairperson of the forum was Jean St-Vil of the Ottawa Haiti Solidarity Committee. Translation was provided from Creole into three other languages--Spanish, English, French. Delegates attended from scores of countries , including Venezuela, Columbia, Brazil, Canada, the U.S., Britain, and Ivory Coast. American sociologist William Robinson, author of Promoting Polyarchy and other writings, also spoke on the panel.

Presentations by the panelists covered the range of political and social issues facing the Haitian people--the foreign occupation, prospects for a truly free election, the ongoing repression and situation of the hundreds of political prisoners, social conditions among the population, and the situation of Haitian workers, including those working under slave-like conditions in the Dominican Republic. One interesting fact reported was that only 25% of the adult population earns a formal salary or wage.

During the discussion period, several apologists for the 2004 coup from non-governmental organizations criticized the views of the panelists. A representative from Canadian government-funded NGO Development and Peace defended the work of non-governmental organizations working in Haiti, but did not answer to the charge that such organizations have not spoken out against the coup and the thousands that have perished in its wake. Yanette ???? of Kay Fanm (funded by D & P and Rights and Democracy) argued forcefully that the 2004 coup against President Aristide and his government is of no consequence for the Haitian people. "We are in solidarity with the Haitian people," she said, "not with one man. He does not represent that people."

Another forum on Haiti ran parallel with the CHAN forum. It was organized by Plateforme Haitienne de Plaidoyer pour un Developpement Alternatif (PAPDA), one of the generously-funded NGO's in Haiti. That meeting featured PAPDA leader Camille Chambers. PAPDA is an organization that has a partnership with Alternatives and several other Canadian funded "progressive" Haitian NGOs.

Chambers was a guest speaker at the rally of tens of thousands that opened the World Social Forum on January 24. He told that rally, "The countries present in Haiti are merely performing a service for the United States." Agencia Brasil reported that "Chalmers called the mission "shameful" and called on the "solidarity of the Latin American nations to denounce it."

The PAPDA forum, which was presented as a dicsussion about the "imperialist intervention in Haiti" was attended by approximately 20 people including two CHAN activists. Chalmers made a lengthy presentation during which he criticized Aristide as well as providing a general but vague criticism of neoliberalism. Chalmers made no mention of the human rights situation, the political prisoners, or the actual nature of the military occupation. CHAN activists pointed out Chalmers omissions and challenged him to speak out against the repression and situation that finds an estimated 1,000 political prisoners. Chalmers could not bring himself to denounce the repression or affirm the high number of Lavalas political prisoners.

Chalmers was further pressed about the existing funding relationship between his and partner organizations with Canadian government-funded NGOs. He claimed that PAPDA doed not receive any funding from any foreign governments. CHAN activists reiterated the connection between CIDA funds that go to Canadian NGOs that are specifically earmarked for organizations like his. He would not concede the point, even though, as it was pointed out, he was flown to Canada by one of these organizations to legitimize Canada's role in the occupation which he claims to be opposed to.

During his presentation, Chalmers mentioned the role played by such organizations as the National Endowment for Democracy in playing a subversive anti-democratic role in Haiti. On this point, CHAN activists pointed out that a NED program officer said that the "problem" with Aristide and Lavalas was similar to the "problem" with Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, that Aristide had to go because he enjoyed so much popular support and that the opposition was small and fractured.

Since he had earlier claimed that the U.S. led intervention in 2004 came at a time when there was a "popular movement" to remove Aristide (which he, presumably, was a part of), Chalmers appeared disturbed to hear the NED's on-the-record clarification of their pre-coup activities in Haiti. All told, the CHAN activists made a useful intervention in the PAPDA panel, and they were not alone in denouncing the true nature of the occupation. A Uruguayan speaker denounced the role that her government and military are playing in Haiti, and several other speakers challenged Chalmers' contradictory position.

This morning, Thursday, January 26, a forum featuring a number of Haitians from Haiti and the diaspora was organized by Haiti Action Committee of San Francisco, the September 30 Foundation, the Haitian Initiative for Democracy, and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. About 125 people attended. Among them was a delegation of 15 or so from Global Womens' Strike, comprising delegates from many countries.

Margaret Prescod, a leader of Global Womens Strike, gave an inspiring guest talk to the meeting, as did Jean St-Vil and several Haitian women leaders, including an activist from Cite Soleil. Jean Yvon Kernizan moderated and Pierre-Antoine Lovinsky spoke as well.

The next CHAN forum takes place on January 28, at 12 noon. Tomorrow, a rally will take place at the Brazilian embassy in Caracas, demanding the withdrawal of Brazilian troops from Haiti. The rally is being organized by a section of the Brazilian delegation, from whom CHAN received an invitation to participate in. Time and logistics permitting, the Haiti solidairty contingent will proceed to the Canadian embassy to demand that Canadian police and military withdraw from Haiti, and that no further troops be deployed by the new Prime Minister Stephen Harper.


In solidarity,

CHAN delegation
Haiti Action delegation