Haitians are Beautiful X

Haitians are Beautiful IX

Haitians are Beautiful VIII

Haitians are Beautiful VII

Haitians are Beautiful VI

Haitians are Beautiful V

Haitians are Beautiful IV

Haitians are Beautiful III

Haitians are Beautiful II

Haitians are Beautiful I

Haiti's Suffering, Washington's Shame

Ben Terrall wrote a superb article regarding Haiti's latest woes. A UN soldier referred to Haiti's biggest enemy as "poverty" and said that only the fight against that will bring peace.

In this article Mr. Terrall quotes from an e mail he received from Father Gerry Jean-Juste:

"Some Haitians and foreigners are swimming in wealth while the poor ones are down deep in the pit of misery. A near famine situation reduces many people in skin and bone. As thousands of needy ones could not take it anymore they took the streets and let out their anger. I wish the wealthy ones in Haiti could accept to share and stop looking down at the lowly ones. We are all God's children. Exclusion of a majority in dire need is not the answer. A policy of inclusion and sharing is the answer."

Is Starvation Contagious?

Is Starvation Contagious?

John Maxwell

Few people, much less their governments, appear to be concerned about what
is happening in Haiti, next to Cuba our nearest neighbour and, in historical
terms, the people who paved the way for our freedom from slavery and
implemented for the first time anywhere in the world, the idea of universal
human rights.

Yet, today, while Haiti suffocates in poverty, hunger and dirt, her
neighbours in the Caribbean, with the exception of Cuba, pass by on the other
side of the road where Haiti lies in pain and anguish, ignoring the
brutalisation of the poorest people in this hemisphere by the richest nations
in the world.

Four years ago the Americans and Canadians with the backing of the French,
decapitated Haitian human rights, kidnapping her President and instituting
fascist rule by a combination of some of the greediest businessmen in the world
and the murderous thugs they hired in an attempt to depose the overwhelmingly
popular president of the Haitians, Jean Bertrand Aristide.

Mr Bush and Mr Colin Powell and a mixed gaggle of French and Canadian
politicians had decided that freedom and independence were too good for the
black people of Haiti. Lest you think I am being racist there is abundant
evidence that the conspiracy against Haiti was inspired by racial hatred and
prejudice.

I have gone into this before and I will not return to it today. Suffice it
to say that the US, Canada and France, acting on behalf of the so-called
‘civilised world’, decided on the basis of lies that, as in the case of
Iraq, a free and independent people had no business being free and independent
when their freedom and independence was seen to threaten the economic interest
of the richest people in Haiti and, by extension, the wealthiest countries in
the world.

Today, and especially for the last few weeks, the starving people in Haiti
have been trying to get the world to listen to their anguish and misery. Along
with some other poor people in other countries the Haitians have been driven to
desperation and the edge of starvation by the rapidly increasing price of food.
Unlike all the others the Haitians are over the edge, they are starving,
refugees in their own proud country, many forced to eat dirt to survive,
however tenuously.

Only the Cubans, the Venezuelans and the Vietnamese appear to care about
what is happening in Haiti. The rest of us are too concerned with ‘wealth
management’ and the prospects of foreign investors with bursting wallets
floating down from the sky to make us all rich.

But if one listens to people on the Jamaican street it is obvious that we
too are in the early stages of the same curse of the globalisation which makes
Haitians expendable and assesses their value at well under the price of one
Jamaican patty per day.

So, the Haitians have taken to the streets and more than half a dozen
starvelings have already been shot dead by the armed forces of civilisation, by
the satraps and surrogates of George Bush and his Canadian and French
accomplices.

The World Food Programme has appealed to the world for help for the
Haitians. So has the Vietnamese representative on the UN Security Council.
Venezuela has given Haiti money and supplied them with cheap oil. Cuba, among
other things, is training nearly 500 Haitians to be doctors, about half in Cuba
and the rest in Haiti.

The Golding government, like its predecessors, pays no attention to our
suffering neighbour languishing and dying because of the explicit actions and
strategies of the United States of America and its President, George Bush.

Which is why after Aristide, Haitians died like flies because of hurricanes
and rainstorms: their local democracy and their early warning systems had been
destroyed by the criminal gangsters who Bush put in charge of 8 million
Haitians. And when the situation became too noisome even for Bush and the
Republican party, Haitians were allowed to vote but not allowed to vote for the
man they wanted, so they voted for a surrogate. This meant that the Haitian
elite friends of Bush, the Chalabis of our hemisphere, were back in charge and
the primacy of the light-skinned minority re-established, just as it was in the
eighteenth century, before the American, French and Haitian revolutions.

It is possible that Haiti may not even be Bush's worst crime. In Haiti he
destroyed nearly 300 years of History and the Rights of Man. In Iraq he
obliterated much of the record of the last 8,000 years of civilisation and set
the people at each other’s throats

Many Haitians were killed by the American-paid assassins who inherited
military power from the American and Canadian Marines. More were murdered
because they were community leaders and allies of Aristide. Even more died from
unnatural disasters precipitated by the decapitation of democracy. And many,
many more will die from the effects of eating dirt for the greater glory of
George Bush and because they have had enough of Bush’s modern version of
slavery.

I told you so

Just to be tiresome I want to remind you of a column published in this paper
on Sunday, December 10, 2000, my 240th column for this paper. It was published
just as the Republican party was prepping the US Supreme Court to appoint
George Bush President of the US.

I wrote, inter alia

"The approaching triumph of Greenspan/Ayn Rand capitalism may just be slowed
down by the latest developments in the US economy, but that is not cooling down
the ardour of the “Cognitive Elite” to gain a handle on the whole business
of corporate control of the economies and governance of the world. The
Americans a few days ago, chastised Haiti for electoral defects which, compared
to Florida, were child’s play and did not really affect anything very much
more than the letter of the law.

“… George Bush, if he is appointed President, will use his time to
destroy the integrity of the country he rules, starting with the Supreme Court.
Then he can start on dealing with the rest of us. That’s his job, and as the
American Press has made plain, nothing needs to be known about him and his
multifarious incapacities because Big Brother in the giant corporations will
tell him what to do.

We are all in a for a very rough ride."

That was published before Bush became president, before Enron, before 9/1,
before the invasion of Iraq and before the rape of Haiti.

Today when the world faces climatic, ecological and economic meltdown we in
Jamaica are as far away from reality as ever.

We persist in our suicidal pursuit of unsustainable development-by-gimmick,
heading for disaster like the Haitians but of our own free will, unlike the
powerless Haitians. We are determined to grow sugar cane until it destroys our
society, watching helplessly and cluelessly as food prices rise out of our
reach and unwilling to even try to save ourselves by growing more food and
putting idle hands and idle lands to work, and unwilling to face the elemental
truths about this slave society.

We can’t afford rice or cooking oil, or bread or Lexuses.

Where, one wonders, is our Marie Antoinette to advise us to eat Johnnycake?

More than sixty years ago when we were faced with the (for us) less dire
crisis of the Second World War our British governors forced all landowners to
plant at least ten percent of their land in food crops. Sugar estates began to
produce food for the first time in 300 years and our unemployment and
malnutrition rates plummeted.

Today we face our unreality bravely, encouraging the most backward among us
to sing songs of hate against homosexuals, denying Amnesty’s findings about
our internecine violence although they are merely echoing what people like me
were writing forty years ago. We are going to grow food for cars while our
people starve

We know what’s wrong but resolutely refuse to face reality. In the
struggle for survival we say, along with George Bush, every man for himself and
let the devil take the hindmost.

The title of my 2000 column I quoted earlier could serve as our epitaph.

It was:

“Democracy? Enough already!”

I told you so.

Copyright ©2008 John Maxwell

jankunnu@gmail.com

Jhiny and Cristelle

Jhiny and Cristelle both had successful surgery at Cardinal Glennon in Saint Louis. Both will be headed back to their families in Haiti soon.

Everyone Needs to Come Together

"Haiti is populated by some of the more resourceful, hard-working and decent people in the world, despite the face the political culture presents, but they cannot change the country on their own."

Michael Deibert

Class Struggle

"I did not invent class struggle any more than Karl Marx did. But who can avoid encountering class struggle in the heart of Port-au-Prince? It is not a subject of controversy, but a fact, a given."

Jean-Bertrand Aristide

Word from the Ground in Haiti

Here is an e mail received today from Frandy in Carrefour describing this week in Haiti.

Also, Haiti's Prime Minister was "ousted" today.

Frandy's e mail:

The situation is better today.Yesterday i went out cuz i was really in needed.I walked along side Carrefour Boulevard by looking for a Western Union bureau, just to pick up some money from my dear friend Helen Quade who lives in St Louis (Missouri).Therefore i was also a witness of what was happening in Carrefour especially on the Boulevard way.It was very riscked for me, but i was obliged because i did not have nothing to eat at home.I tchecked up 9 Western Union offices infact all of them were closed.The streets were stuffed with a lot of people and the majority of them was young.They manifested against the rising of the prices (Expensive life) and placed some baricades, they even reposted to the UN forces, because UN troops attacked them before by shooting tear gas and plastic boullets.The demonstrators thrown stones and bottles on the UN forces.For the demonstrators UN and the Governement are their worst enemy of the moment, MINUSTAH transformed the situation as bottlefield by using weapon against the people.The situation was awful yesterday.I am not agaist the strike, so i rather dislike some of the demonstraters who looted the Stores, Banks and gasoline stations etc. Although the Nation is suffering, the governement does not care about us.I tried to understand the speech of the president, i think a national production program would be better for the country, but when it will start Mr President? and what do you pretend to do as an emergency plan in this famine situation? I heard the demonstrators saying "We are hungry, if they shoot us we will put fire".UN are not a force of peacekeepers, they are a group of criminal.Now the situation is calm, there is circulation of cars and people are able to move.Most of the businesses are working.I hope to go back to school next week "Monday".I have a program to follow at school, i am praying just to have chance to attend my school.The hunger pains name clorox.The rise of the prices cause me hungry, i want to have a low price for the groceries.The country is needing an emergency plan not promess.I am asking everyone a hand for this beautiful Nation, Haiti needs the world now.There are thousands children who are suffering with sicknesses and starving problems.Thanks for all who are helping Haiti.

Carrefour,
Frandy

Haiti Starves While OSF Continues Hypocrisy

In todays Peoria Journal Star on page A8 is an article with a title "Haitians' Struggles for Food Worsen". Immediately below this article is an advertisement by OSF with the title "85 Doctors Redefining Healthcare".

This past week in Haiti has been terrible. Food riots gripped Haiti. There were strikes, violence, and chaos. The Haitian people are very hungry. Can you imagine how Americans would act under similar circumstances?

As the Journal reports, "Hunger has long been a fact of life in the overcrowded slums that rim the Haitian capital, but soaring food prices have made the struggles of Haiti's poor unbearable. The price of rice has doubled and the violence has only made things worse.

"Globally, food prices have risen 40 percent since mid-2007. Haiti, where most people live on less than $2 a day, is particularly affected because it imports nearly all of its food, including more than 80 percent of its rice.

"Much of Haiti's once-productive farmland has been abandonded as farmers struggle to grow crops in soil decimated by erosion, deforestation, flooding and tropical storms. To make a profit, the farms that remain often price their crops sharply higher than imported American products, which benefit from generous U.S. government subsidies".

And OSF's advertisement is an embarrasment. It states "one patient at a time" and calls itself an "outstanding healthcare system dedicated on one thing...serving you with the greatest care and love."

In a society that can't feed its population, safe heart surgery is impossible.
Jackson and Maxime are both dead. They were not taken care of with "the greatest care and love". Other Haitian Hearts patients are slowly dying as OSF builds new multi-million dollar buildings and looks the other way. These Haitians are being neglected by OSF when they need OSF's skilled doctors and nurses to stay alive.

Haiti is suffering through its worst days in its history. And so is OSF in Peoria.

We are Spending 10 Billion Dollars Each Month in Iraq

E-mail received today from a friend in Haiti describing the situation and how their patient population is affected. The real problem is not enough food in peoples' stomachs have pushed them to this madness.

April 7, 2008

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Please pray for us today. There have been widespread rioting in Haiti as
well as all major and many minor roads blocked with burning tires, broken
glass, etc. Yesterday, there were armed men at the gas station so that no
one could fill up. The demonstrations all broke up around 4-5 pm so we were
able to get a gravely ill man to Port au Prince after that and fortunately
fill our gas tank which was near empty.

There is no diesel for the generator today so unless God provides a miracle
we may not have electric in the clinic.

Jim had no docs yesterday because they live in Port and could not get
through. We had 4 other patients besides the one that should have been
hospitalized but were unable to. One motorcycle accident included in that
bunch. We worked late and finally got all but 5 seen. Mary (name changed by me)
arrived here to go to Jacmel early this AM but the roads were all blocked by
6:30 AM. So she will be joining us in the clinic today.

This morning we have a woman in active labor at the clinic awaiting us
because her car was bombarded by rocks when she tried to get to the
hospital.

Things should clear up tomorrow as the nation really cannot afford to not
work for many more days.

Thank you for your prayers for us today.

Striking for Food in Haiti

I received this e mail a few minutes ago from a Haitian Hearts patient. Frandy is 19 years old and lives with his mom and brothers. He describes the dire situation in Haiti this morning (April 6, 2008).

His ideas are his ideas and every "expert" on Haiti may not agree with everything Frandy writes. But Frandy is the hungry one, living in Carrefour, and trying to survive each day.

See Brian Concannon's excellent article regarding Haiti's food situation.

Date: Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 10:32 AM
Subject: strike in Haiti, thousands people are walking on food

Hello,

How are you doing? I hope that everything is fine with you.Today we wake up with a strike in our country, and there are a lots of people who walk on foot in the streets because there are no cars.People are protested against the expensive life.This is a hunger crisis, the activities are paralised.I don't go to school today from that protestation fact, my school does work and it is the same thing for the others.

Currently i should get $ 225 HT to buy a bag of Rice that contains 8 canisters of Rice and the other stuffs are very expensive, the governement does not care about us, this morning there was an exchange between police and people.Some of the people who protest were thrown stones on a group of police officers and they reposted to the people with guns and gas.

I am not against the strike, we need an answer from our governement because food is unaccessible to buy such as it is expensive.We are having an expensive life, the president is remaining unmobil without saying what he's going to do or pretend to do.

Our goverment is not a serious gov and rather be a group of stealers.We are sufferring with an expensive life since a long while and we don't know how long we are going to stay with this problem.This is a worse period for this country that called during a certain time Beauty Of the West Indies ( the caraibe).

The prices are raised up everyday, we don't know what to do as a solution.We have different bad stuff in our system.If i had power to get the Media, i would talk against of this crazy governement cuz in this case i am very radical.I am working hard just to get out of this country, i beleive the solution of Haiti depends on God not Human being.I don't know for tomorrow if i will go to church, i hope all the students will have chance to go to school tomorrow.Things are fuzy to see.

My mom said hello to you.
Thank you very much.
Talk to you soon.
God bless you.

Haiti,

Frandy

----------------------------


1 Killed in Haiti Food Protests
By JONATHAN M. KATZ – April 6, 2008

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Protesters angered by high food prices flooded the streets of Haiti's capital Monday, forcing businesses and schools to close as unrest spread from the countryside.

Witnesses said at least one person was killed by hotel security guards during a protest in the southern city of Les Cayes, where at least three people were killed Friday in food riots and clashes with U.N. peacekeepers. Police said they were investigating.

Thousands of people marched mostly peacefully past the National Palace in Port-au-Prince. "We're hungry," some called out. Others carried posters reading "Down with the expensive life!"

Haitians are particularly affected by food prices that are rising worldwide. Eighty percent of the population lives on less than US$2 (euro1.27) a day. The cost of staples such as rice, beans, fruit and condensed milk has gone up 50 percent in the past year, while the cost of pasta has doubled.

"Some can't take the hunger anymore," the Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste told The Associated Press. "As a priest, I encourage all government officials to do their best to find ways to solve the near-famine situation."

The U.N. World Food Program made an urgent appeal for donations Monday to support its operations in Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned last week that the food crisis could threaten Haiti's already fragile security.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Abundance

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have little."

Franklin D. Roosevelt