[WW] San Francisco Labor Council salutes Haiti Revolution

[wwnews]

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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 8, 2004
issue of Workers World newspaper
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SAN FRANCISCO LABOR COUNCIL SALUTES HAITI REVOLUTION

Special to Workers World

The San Francisco Labor Council voted in early December to send "warm
greetings of solidarity to the working people and government of Haiti on
the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Haitian Revolution, which
abolished slavery and ended colonial rule."
The resolution by the council, introduced by delegate Dave Welsh and
adopted unanimously, hailed the 13-year rebellion that threw off the
yoke of slavery and French rule as "an earth-shattering development in
the struggle for the emancipation of labor all over the world."
The Labor Council represents over 80,000 members in 141 affiliated
unions. It is part of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of
Industrial Organiz a tions. Its resolution noted that the United Nations
has declared 2004 the "Year of the Abolition of Slavery" on the occasion
of Haiti's bicentennial and "to honor the Haitian people as valiant
pioneers in the struggle for the emancipation of labor."
It was a general strike in 1791, by the enslaved labor force in Haiti,
that set in motion the "armed rebellion that defeated the pro-slavery
French army of Napoleon Bonaparte at a time when the trans-Atlan tic
slave trade was at its height," according to the Labor Council
statement. "The Haitian people on Jan. 1, 1804, victoriously declared
their independence; abolished the slave system; renamed the country
Haiti in honor of the original indigenous population of the island; and
declared Haiti as the first free republic in the Americas."
The council, the voice of organized labor in San Francisco, had earlier
passed a resolution calling for an end to the current U.S. government-
led embargo on international financial aid to Haiti, and demanding
release of the approximately $500 million in blocked humanitarian and
developmental aid.
The earlier resolution, "Let Haiti Live!" went on to be adopted last
year by the 2-million-member California Labor Federation, as well as by
the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement and A. Philip Randolph
Institute, San Francisco chapters. The 2002 resolution noted that
Secretary of State Colin Powell had vowed the U.S. would "continue to
embargo these funds in order to leverage a 'political outcome' in
Haiti," adding: "It is appalling that the U.S. is using humanitarian aid
as a political weapon."
The heroic Haitian people deserve support and solidarity, not sabotage
and interference.
- END -

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