Haitians Speak Out in D.C. on June 5

By G. Dunkel
Washington, D.C.

June 10, 2004--Haitian organizations enthusiastically joined the June 5 demonstrations to "End the Colonial Occupation in Iraq, Palestine, Haiti and Everywhere" called by the ANSWER coalition. These organizations came to express their opposition to the U.S. and French troops that are propping up the government of former Macoute death squads, ex-army officers and well-off U.S.-based businessmen now running their country.

But the groups showed a broader interest when a bus organized by the Brooklyn-based Coalition to Resist the Feb. 29th Coup d'etat in Haiti pulled up to the rally site. The people getting off the bus ran into a small band of right-wingers chanting "Palestine doesn't exist." The Haitian contingent's response was immediate, in English, French and Creole: "Long live Palestine!" "Vive la Palestine!" "Viv Palestin!" When the right-wingers fell silent, the contingent moved into the crowd waiting for the speeches to start.

Yves Alcindor of the New England Human Rights Organization for Haiti, one of the first speakers, pointed out, "Supporting the resistance in Iraq was to support the resistance in Haiti."

Serge Lilavois, representing the Coalition to Resist the Feb. 29th Coup d'etat in Haiti, also spoke. He said that the resistance in Haiti has not been defeated, it is just lying low and gathering strength. Big demon strations on May 18 in Port-au-Prince had brought out tens of thousands of demonstrators, who stayed in the streets all day, even after the cops, backed up by U.S. Marines, killed at least two protesters. A major slogan, according to Lilavois, was "The only solution is revolution!"

He ended his talk with these words: "Haitians are opposed to the suffering of the Palestinians, Iraqis, and all other oppressed people, as well as the suffering of their own people."

In a message to the demonstration that Jill Ives of the Haiti Support Network read, Ben Dupuy, secretary general of the National Popular Party (PPN), said that "U.S. military forces are stretched thin by resistance to U.S. occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan. And that resistance is growing in Haiti too."

He continued: "Now the U.S. is trying to pit Third World peoples against each other. It has convinced the governments of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile ... and others to send so-called 'peace keeping' troops to Haiti. Even the corporate press has had to admit that the people of these countries don't support this mission."

He went on to say that even though a Brazilian has been named commander, the Pentagon would still be in charge of the military forces in Haiti. "But using troops from the Third World better disguises U.S. imperialism's moves."

WHY THEY CAME

Asked why he came to Washington, Menouch Lambert, who is a backer of Fanmi Lavalas, Aristide's party, in Brooklyn, said: "I came to support our sisters and brothers in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan and especially Haiti, suffering under occupation. We want Bush to stop oppressing Haitians."

Pierre-Antoine Lovinsky, who was carrying a sign reading "George Bush fascist--stop killing Haitians" with a Haitian flag taped to the top of his pole, said in Creole he came to "denounce the criminal policies of Bush and to demand the physical return of Aristide to Haiti."

Jean-Claude Monastime, who also comes from Brooklyn, where he is active in the struggles of the Haitian community, said, "My country has been invaded like Iraq and Afghanistan. I am marching with my sisters and brothers to end this madness."

Larry Holmes, a member of the steering committee of the ANSWER coalition, said: "It appears that there has been a significant turnout from the Haitian community today. It is an important obligation of the anti-war movement to ensure that their contributions and their struggles are recognized."