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----- Original Message -----
From: IAC Boston <[email protected]>
Subject: Solidarity with Haiti and Demands on the U.S. Government
To: [email protected]
Date: Saturday, January 16, 2010, 6:30 AM
Solidarity with Haiti and Demands on the U.S. Government:
Statement from the International Action Center
The International Action Center expresses its full solidarity with the
Haitian people at this time of greatest crisis following the devastating Jan.12
earthquake. In the Haitian capital, tens of thousands of lives have been lost
and the lives of hundreds of thousands of additional people are at stake. It is
essential that there be an all-out effort for immediate and massive
humanitarian relief effort.
Tons of supplies could be parachuted to desperate people in immediate
need of food and especially water. The delivery of this essential aid, plus the
placement of rescue and medical teams must be the priority. Dozens of countries
from all over the world, rich and poor, immediately sent hundreds of doctors
and emergency medical teams and search and rescue teams and supplies. Cuba
already had 344 health workers in Haiti and is ready to send 152 more.
Because the United States is the most powerful and wealthiest country
in the world and is so near to Haiti, it is almost inevitable that many will
look to Washington to lead the rescue effort. And with all concerned for
immediate relief for the Haitians, it will be easy to ignore the political
realities both before the calamity and in its aftermath. These realities,
however, will continue to affect the future of Haiti, and all of us should keep
them in mind.
1. Haiti is the poorest and least developed country in the hemisphere,
everyone repeats. That is true, but it is because Haiti has been occupied by
U.S. imperialism again and again. Most recently a coup, planned from Washington
and supported by troops from France and Canada, kidnapped and removed President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004, a president democratically elected with over 75
% of the vote. The U.S. set up an occupation of Haiti under UN command. Six
years of this UN occupation has done nothing to develop Haiti or improve its
infrastructure. Instead it has led to still greater poverty and hunger and
higher debt.
2. The Pentagon is controlling the U.S. intervention in the disaster.
Its priority is not the rapid delivery of food and water, but the establishment
of a beachhead of 2,200 Marines and 3,500 paratroopers to police the Haitian
population. This military will have a dual role that includes delivery of aid,
but this should not obscure the fact that its main role is that of repression
and control, just as it is in Afghanistan, Iraq and other occupied countries.
3. President Barack Obama has appointed not only Bill Clinton but also
George W. Bush in charge of raising support for the U.S. relief effort. It was
Bush -- probably the most hated of U.S. presidents worldwide -- who cynically
delayed relief efforts and allowed the people of New Orleans to drown following
the Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and who presided over the kidnapping of
President Aristide.
4. The U.S. still prevents President Aristide from returning to Haiti
from South Africa, where he is exiled.
5. From 1804, when the first successful slave revolution in history
drove out the French colonialists and slavemasters, until the present,
Washington has continually intervened in an attempt to crush Haitian
independence, directly occupied the country from 1915 to 1934 and again in the
last 20 years.
6. The $100 million President Obama promised sounds like a lot of
money, but it is tiny compared to the amount the rulers of France and the
United States stole from Haiti and its people over centuries. It is a fraction
of the $1 billion that Haitian workers in the diaspora send home to their
families every year. It is less than what the U.S. spends in 5 hours for the
occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. It is far less than 1% of the $18 billion
that Goldman Sacks executives will receive in bonuses after a $700 billion
bailout of the banks.
Millions of people in solidarity with the Haitian people are making
great efforts to send emergency supplies. The Haitian people themselves are
organizing and gathering desperately needed supplies. Along with emergency
peoples relief efforts there must be peoples’ demands on the U.S. government
and the powerful corporations.
In light of the above points, the International Action Center proposes
the following demands:
a.. Immediate delivery of food, water and medical supplies;
b.. Allow the return of President Aristide to Haiti and restore his
government,
c.. Reparations from the U.S., France and Canada so that Haitians can
take charge of the relief effort and invite the international assistance of
their choice;
d.. Immediate asylum for all Haitians in the United States and cancel
the deportation orders on 30,000 Haitians;
e.. Permission for Haitian residents of the U.S. to go to Haiti to
help their families and to return to the U.S.;
f.. Self-determination for Haiti.
--
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International Action Center
Boston
617-522-6626
[email protected]
http://www.iacboston.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=57558105284
National Office
212-633-6646
http://www.iacenter.org
Troops Out Now Coalition
http://troopsoutnow.org
Stop War on Iran
http://stopwaroniran.org
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