CEPR - Was the Iranian Election Stolen? Does It Matter?
By Mark Weisbrot
June 26, 2009, PostGlobal (Washington Post)
Shared via AddThis
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Official Website of Sydney Guillaume - Composer | SydneyGuillaume.com Homepage
Official Website of Sydney Guillaume - Composer SydneyGuillaume.com Homepage
Choral music in Kreyol! CLICK ON CONCERT WORKS to hear various pieces all sung in Kreyol!
And, if you click on LINKS on his page you can view performances on youtube.com
From website:
"Sydney takes great pride in his Haitian roots. He hopes that his music will serve as an ambassador for his country and create an awareness of the beautiful culture that exists amidst the economic and political turmoil. Sydney is an active member of the choral community both as a composer and singer. He has been commissioned by renowned choirs such as The University of Miami Frost Chorale, Seraphic Fire, The Young New Yorkers Chorus, The Miami Children's Chorus and Kokopelli Choir. He is in high demand for commissioned works and his music has been performed at ACDA, All-State conventions and abroad. Sydney resides in Los Angeles, California, where he is also pursuing a career in film music."
Choral music in Kreyol! CLICK ON CONCERT WORKS to hear various pieces all sung in Kreyol!
And, if you click on LINKS on his page you can view performances on youtube.com
From website:
"Sydney takes great pride in his Haitian roots. He hopes that his music will serve as an ambassador for his country and create an awareness of the beautiful culture that exists amidst the economic and political turmoil. Sydney is an active member of the choral community both as a composer and singer. He has been commissioned by renowned choirs such as The University of Miami Frost Chorale, Seraphic Fire, The Young New Yorkers Chorus, The Miami Children's Chorus and Kokopelli Choir. He is in high demand for commissioned works and his music has been performed at ACDA, All-State conventions and abroad. Sydney resides in Los Angeles, California, where he is also pursuing a career in film music."
Homeland Guantanamo
Homeland Guantanamo
The Untold Story of Immigrant Detention in the US. Facts and stats on all aspects of Immigration detention!
The Untold Story of Immigrant Detention in the US. Facts and stats on all aspects of Immigration detention!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Living With Music: Madison Smartt Bell (NYT)
Madison Smartt Bell (Jerome De Perlinghi)
New York Times
January 7, 2009, 7:00 am — Updated: 11:31 am -->
Madison Smartt Bell is the author of numerous books, including a recent biography of Toussaint Louverture.
Rebel Music Old and New
I started listening to most of this music in the early 1990s, as I was finishing the first of what would be three long novels about revolutionary events a long time ago in a small obscure place that few people in the United States had heard of and fewer cared about. What’s different now? At least a few more people are aware that Haiti, and the conditions of living in Haiti, are closer to us here than we used to like to think. …
1) President, Wyclef Jean. One of the few English-language tracks on Wyclef’s astounding “Welcome to Haiti: Creole 101″ — an album I’ve used for a language and cultural primer (exactly as advertised) since it came out in 2004. When I first heard this song I associated it with Haitian elections, and with a comment by a Haitian academic friend of mine who’d been invited to serve in the government and declined, with some regret, but firmly. It’s difficult, he explained to me, to find enough people who are capable and competent, whose probity is beyond question and who don’t object to the strong possibility of assassination. …
2) Revolution, Bob Marley. I first heard this one when “Natty Dread” broke on college campuses in the late 1970s. While writing “All Souls’ Rising,” I wore out the first two Wailers records. Marley’s is more tenacious than most other rebel music because the political message is so deeply rooted in religion — because the singer locates revolution in revelation with the first breath of this song.
See rest of article and comments at http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/living-with-music-madison-smartt-bell/?scp=3&sq=Madison%20Smartt%20Bell&st=cse
10 News photos that took retouching too far
10 News photos that took retouching too farThursday, May 21, 2009
Many news photographs are Photoshopped here and there to increase clarity or to optimize for print or online display. But there have been several instances where retouching has been pushed too far, changing the original intent or accuracy of the photo.
Retouching may seem innocent, but can have a profound effect on the way we remember an event, according to a 2007 study published in Applied Cognitive Psychology.
See article on the before and after photos! http://www.10000words.net/2009/05/10-news-photos-that-took-photoshop-too.html
Revolutionary Haitian priest Gerard Jean-Juste, presente! (BayView)
Jesus-like revolutionary priest Father Gerard Jean-Juste “suffered the little children to come unto him,” tending to their needs, body and soul, and fighting for their future and for justice in Haiti. May 30, 2009
Revolutionary Haitian priest Gerard Jean-Juste, presente!
by Bill Quigley
BayView National Black Newspaper
Though Haitian priest Father Gerard Jean-Juste died May 27, 2009, at age 62 in Miami from a stroke and breathing problems, he remains present to millions. Justice-loving people worldwide mourn his death and celebrate his life. Pere Jean-Juste worked uncompromisingly for justice for Haitians and the poor, both in Haiti and in the U.S.
Pere Jean-Juste was a Jesus-like revolutionary. In jail and out, he preached liberation of the poor, release of prisoners, human rights for all and a fair distribution of wealth. A big, muscular man with a booming voice and a frequent deep laugh, he wore a brightly colored plastic rosary around his neck and carried another in his pocket. When he was jailed for nearly a year in Haiti by the U.S.-supported coup government which was trying to silence him, Amnesty International called him a Prisoner of Conscience.
Jean-Juste was a scourge to the unelected coup governments of Haiti, who served at the pleasure - and usually the direction - of the U.S. government. He constantly challenged both the powers of Haiti and the U.S. to stop killing and starving and imprisoning the poor. In the U.S., he fought against government actions which deported Black Haitians while welcoming Cubans and Nicaraguans and others. In Haiti, he called for democracy and respect and human rights for the poor.
Pere Jean-Juste was sometimes called the most dangerous man in Haiti. That was because he was not afraid to die. His computer screen saver was a big blue picture of Mary, the mother of Jesus. “Every day I am ready to meet her,” he once told me, when death threats came again. “I will not stop working for justice because of their threats. I am looking forward to heaven.”
For rest of article: http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/revolutionary-haitian-priest-gerard-jean-juste-presente/
Trance, Sodo Waterfall, Haiti by Christian Cravo (Verve Photo)
Trance, Sodo Waterfall, Haiti by Christian Cravo
FROM VERVE PHOTO WEBSITE: http://vervephoto.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/christian-cravo/ for bio of photographer and description of photo.
Shell settles Nigeria killings (Al Jazeera English)
News Americas
Shell settles Nigeria killings suit
Shell was accused of colluding with Nigeria's government to silence rights activists [GALLO/GETTY]
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to settle a lawsuit accusing the firm of complicity in the executions of human rights activists in Nigeria for $15.5m, the families of those killed have said.
The settlement agreement came on Monday as the more than decade-long dispute was due to go to trial in a district court in New York.
The lawsuit accused Shell of human rights abuses, including violations in relation to the hangings in 1995 of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a well-known rights activist, and eight other protesters by Nigeria's then-military government.
Shell, which still operates in Nigeria, said it had agreed to settle the lawsuit in the hope of aiding the "process of reconciliation", but acknowledged no wrongdoing in the case.
"This gesture also acknowledges that, even though Shell had no part in the violence that took place, the plaintiffs and others have suffered,'' Malcolm Brinded, Shell's executive director for exploration and production, said in a statement on Monday.
See rest of story http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=117758085408&h=khKfY&u=qpIx6&ref=nf
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Obama Flinches on Immigration
THE NEW YORK TIMES
March 24, 2009
EDITORIAL
Obama Flinches on Immigration
In a little-noticed act of political faintheartedness, the Obama administration has pulled back from nominating Thomas Saenz, a highly regarded civil-rights lawyer and counsel to the mayor of Los Angeles, to run the Justice Department’s civil rights division.
Mr. Saenz, the former top litigator in Los Angeles for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or Maldef, was privately offered the job in January. The floating of his name led to fierce outbursts from anti-immigrant groups and blogs, which detest him for being so good at what he does.
He was a leader of the successful fight to block California’s Proposition 187, an unconstitutional effort to deny social services and schooling to illegal immigrants. He has defended Latino day laborers who were targets of misguided local crackdowns, from illegal police stings to unconstitutional anti-solicitation ordinances. An editorial in Investor’s Business Daily slimed Mr. Saenz by calling him “an open-borders extremist” and said Maldef wanted to give California back to Mexico.
None of it was true, but it was apparently too much for the White House. Mr. Saenz was ditched in favor of Maryland’s labor secretary, Thomas Perez, who has a solid record but is not as closely tied to immigrant rights.
Immigrant advocates are stuck with the sinking feeling that Mr. Obama’s supposed enthusiasm for immigration reform will wilt under pressure and heat. Representative Luis Gutiérrez of Illinois, a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, found it sadly unsurprising that a lawyer could be rejected for the nation’s top civil-rights job because he had stood up for civil rights. “In what other position do you find that your life experience, your educational knowledge and commitment to an issue actually hurts you?” he asked.
Mr. Obama may have avoided a nasty fight this time. But if he is ever going to win the battle to put 12 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship, he will to have to confront and dismantle the core restrictionist argument: that being an illegal immigrant is an unpardonable crime, one that strips away fundamental protections and forgives all manner of indecent treatment.
The Constitution’s bedrock protections do not apply to just the native-born. The suffering that illegal immigrants endure — from raids to workplace exploitation to mistreatment in detention — is a civil-rights crisis. It cannot be left to fester while we wait for the big immigration bill that may or may not arrive under this president.
Mr. Saenz would have been an ideal candidate to reaffirm values that have been lost in the poisoned immigration debate, had Mr. Obama dared to nominate him.
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
March 24, 2009
EDITORIAL
Obama Flinches on Immigration
In a little-noticed act of political faintheartedness, the Obama administration has pulled back from nominating Thomas Saenz, a highly regarded civil-rights lawyer and counsel to the mayor of Los Angeles, to run the Justice Department’s civil rights division.
Mr. Saenz, the former top litigator in Los Angeles for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or Maldef, was privately offered the job in January. The floating of his name led to fierce outbursts from anti-immigrant groups and blogs, which detest him for being so good at what he does.
He was a leader of the successful fight to block California’s Proposition 187, an unconstitutional effort to deny social services and schooling to illegal immigrants. He has defended Latino day laborers who were targets of misguided local crackdowns, from illegal police stings to unconstitutional anti-solicitation ordinances. An editorial in Investor’s Business Daily slimed Mr. Saenz by calling him “an open-borders extremist” and said Maldef wanted to give California back to Mexico.
None of it was true, but it was apparently too much for the White House. Mr. Saenz was ditched in favor of Maryland’s labor secretary, Thomas Perez, who has a solid record but is not as closely tied to immigrant rights.
Immigrant advocates are stuck with the sinking feeling that Mr. Obama’s supposed enthusiasm for immigration reform will wilt under pressure and heat. Representative Luis Gutiérrez of Illinois, a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, found it sadly unsurprising that a lawyer could be rejected for the nation’s top civil-rights job because he had stood up for civil rights. “In what other position do you find that your life experience, your educational knowledge and commitment to an issue actually hurts you?” he asked.
Mr. Obama may have avoided a nasty fight this time. But if he is ever going to win the battle to put 12 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship, he will to have to confront and dismantle the core restrictionist argument: that being an illegal immigrant is an unpardonable crime, one that strips away fundamental protections and forgives all manner of indecent treatment.
The Constitution’s bedrock protections do not apply to just the native-born. The suffering that illegal immigrants endure — from raids to workplace exploitation to mistreatment in detention — is a civil-rights crisis. It cannot be left to fester while we wait for the big immigration bill that may or may not arrive under this president.
Mr. Saenz would have been an ideal candidate to reaffirm values that have been lost in the poisoned immigration debate, had Mr. Obama dared to nominate him.
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Diverse organizations demonstrate for TPS for Haiti on March 20, 2009 outside Federal Plaza, New York
Photos by Michelle Karshan
NAACP Action Alert Kit for TPS for Haiti
NAACP Action Alert Kit for TPS for Haiti
http://www.naacp.org/get-involved/activism/alerts/111thaa-2009-03-19-2/HAITIAN.pdf
(includes summary of issue, list of suggested actions to take. summary of the message to get across, and a sample letter to President Obama)
http://www.naacp.org/get-involved/activism/alerts/111thaa-2009-03-19-2/HAITIAN.pdf
(includes summary of issue, list of suggested actions to take. summary of the message to get across, and a sample letter to President Obama)
Friday, March 20, 2009
President of US Conference of Catholic Bishops for TPS for Haitians
UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS
Office of the President
3211 Fourth Street NE
Washington DC 20017-1194
Cardinal Francis George, OMI
Archibishop of Chicago
May 19, 2009
Honorable Barack Obama
President
United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
On behalf of the Catholic Bishops of the United States, I write to ask you to designate the country of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for a period of eighteen months. The United States Catholic Bishops Conference (USCCB) has a long history of serving the Haitian community, both in the United States and in Haiti, and has first-hand knowledge of the great humanitarian challenges facing the Haitian people.
As you know, a designation of TPS permits nationals of a designated nation living in the United States to reside here legally and qualify for work authorization. A designation of TPS is based upon a determination that armed conflict, political unrest, environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions exist in a nation and that the return of that country’s nationals would further destabilize the nation and potentially bring harm to those returned.
Haiti meets the standard for TPS because it has experienced political tumult, four natural disasters, and severe food shortages in the last year, not to mention the devastation of Hurricane Jeanne in 2004. In April 2008, starving citizens took to the streets to protest rising food prices, causing political instability.
In August and September 2008, Hurricanes Gustav and Ike and Tropical Storms Fay and Hanna passed through Haiti, causing severe damage and the death of close to 700 persons. Massive flooding from the storms has destroyed homes, crops, roads, and bridges, and largely rendered areas like Gonaives inaccessible to relief workers. Over 90 percent of Haiti has been impacted. Tens of thousands have been displaced, and the fate of thousands more is unknown. More than 300,000 children have been affected.
In addition, the conditions in Haiti are at least as bad, if not worse, than those in nations which recently received an extension of TPS. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced late last year that it was extending TPS for El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras because of “lingering effects” from the earthquakes in 2001 and from Hurricane Mitch in 2004. These effects included destroyed roads and bridges, high unemployment, and incomplete international development efforts.
We agree wholeheartedly with DHS’ decision to extend TPS to these countries. However, if “lingering effects” in these countries merit a grant of TPS, then so do the conditions in Haiti, where multiple disasters this year have left immediate and devastating effects.
Some observers argue that granting TPS to Haiti would cause a massive “boatlift” that would bring thousands of Haitians to the United States. In our view, this argument holds little merit, since TPS is only available to Haitian nationals already in the United States at the time of the designation. No such boatlift occurred in 1997, when President Clinton granted Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) to Haiti, or in subsequent years when Haiti experienced increased political violence and civil unrest. Additionally, few Haitian water craft currently exist, having been destroyed by the recent storms.
Another consideration is that designating TPS to Haiti would allow Haitian nationals already in the United States to work and send much-needed remittances back to their poverty-stricken homeland. The Inter-American Development Bank reports that Haitians abroad sent close to $1.83 billion home in 2007, which equals about 35% of the country’s gross domestic product. It is critical that this life-blood of the fragile Haitian economy be sustained.
Mr. President, by any measure, the conditions in Haiti meet the statutory requirements for TPS. There has been “substantial disruption” in living conditions and Haiti is “unable to handle adequately” the return of its citizens abroad. Extending this mantle of protection to struggling Haiti is a just, compassionate, and concrete step the United States can take toward alleviating the human suffering of the Haitian people.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely yours,
Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago
President
Office of the President
3211 Fourth Street NE
Washington DC 20017-1194
Cardinal Francis George, OMI
Archibishop of Chicago
May 19, 2009
Honorable Barack Obama
President
United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
On behalf of the Catholic Bishops of the United States, I write to ask you to designate the country of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for a period of eighteen months. The United States Catholic Bishops Conference (USCCB) has a long history of serving the Haitian community, both in the United States and in Haiti, and has first-hand knowledge of the great humanitarian challenges facing the Haitian people.
As you know, a designation of TPS permits nationals of a designated nation living in the United States to reside here legally and qualify for work authorization. A designation of TPS is based upon a determination that armed conflict, political unrest, environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions exist in a nation and that the return of that country’s nationals would further destabilize the nation and potentially bring harm to those returned.
Haiti meets the standard for TPS because it has experienced political tumult, four natural disasters, and severe food shortages in the last year, not to mention the devastation of Hurricane Jeanne in 2004. In April 2008, starving citizens took to the streets to protest rising food prices, causing political instability.
In August and September 2008, Hurricanes Gustav and Ike and Tropical Storms Fay and Hanna passed through Haiti, causing severe damage and the death of close to 700 persons. Massive flooding from the storms has destroyed homes, crops, roads, and bridges, and largely rendered areas like Gonaives inaccessible to relief workers. Over 90 percent of Haiti has been impacted. Tens of thousands have been displaced, and the fate of thousands more is unknown. More than 300,000 children have been affected.
In addition, the conditions in Haiti are at least as bad, if not worse, than those in nations which recently received an extension of TPS. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced late last year that it was extending TPS for El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras because of “lingering effects” from the earthquakes in 2001 and from Hurricane Mitch in 2004. These effects included destroyed roads and bridges, high unemployment, and incomplete international development efforts.
We agree wholeheartedly with DHS’ decision to extend TPS to these countries. However, if “lingering effects” in these countries merit a grant of TPS, then so do the conditions in Haiti, where multiple disasters this year have left immediate and devastating effects.
Some observers argue that granting TPS to Haiti would cause a massive “boatlift” that would bring thousands of Haitians to the United States. In our view, this argument holds little merit, since TPS is only available to Haitian nationals already in the United States at the time of the designation. No such boatlift occurred in 1997, when President Clinton granted Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) to Haiti, or in subsequent years when Haiti experienced increased political violence and civil unrest. Additionally, few Haitian water craft currently exist, having been destroyed by the recent storms.
Another consideration is that designating TPS to Haiti would allow Haitian nationals already in the United States to work and send much-needed remittances back to their poverty-stricken homeland. The Inter-American Development Bank reports that Haitians abroad sent close to $1.83 billion home in 2007, which equals about 35% of the country’s gross domestic product. It is critical that this life-blood of the fragile Haitian economy be sustained.
Mr. President, by any measure, the conditions in Haiti meet the statutory requirements for TPS. There has been “substantial disruption” in living conditions and Haiti is “unable to handle adequately” the return of its citizens abroad. Extending this mantle of protection to struggling Haiti is a just, compassionate, and concrete step the United States can take toward alleviating the human suffering of the Haitian people.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely yours,
Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago
President
Thursday, March 19, 2009
NAACP Urges TPS for Haitian Refugees
NAACP Urges President Obama to Grant Temporary Safe Haven to Haitian Refugees Already In The U.S.
March 19, 2009 (from NAACP website)
The Issue:
Temporary protected status (TPS) grants temporary protection from deportation to nationals of a country in which environmental or political events have occurred which make it temporarily unsafe to deport them or when armed conflict poses a serious threat to public safety. TPS has been granted to nationals of many countries including those of Nicaragua and Honduras in 1999 following Hurricane Mitch, and of El Salvador in 2001 following severe earthquakes.
Recent devastating environmental disasters from which Haiti has not recovered, continuing violence, and unstable political conditions pose a serious threat at this time to the personal safety of anyone forcibly repatriated to Haiti. Last year's storms and hurricanes killed hundreds and rendered hundreds of thousands homeless. Fifteen percent of Haiti's already fragile economy was destroyed, the equivalent of eight to ten Hurricane Katrinas hitting the United States in the same month. Haitian deportees face hunger, homelessness, and grave threats to their security. The Haitian government's ability to provide basic governmental services--clean water, education, passable road and basic healthcare--has been severely compromised by the natural disasters and food crisis in 2008. Repatriating Haitians exposes them to these dangerous conditions, while imposing an additional burden on government resources that are already stretched too thin.
Furthermore, granting TPS to Haitian refugees would help Haiti recover, as Haitians in the United States could obtain work permits and would increase the already significant flow of remittances to their family and friends back home. Haitians who receive that aid are more likely to stay and rebuild Haiti. Many depend on those remittances for their very survival. That flow of dollars is among the best foreign aid that the United States can provide, and it costs taxpayers nothing. Strengthening Haiti’s economy will be the only sure way to ensure that more Haitians will not risk their lives on a perilous oversea journey to the United States. Granting Haitians TPS would also directly assist Haiti's nascent democracy in its efforts to recover from these conditions, stabilize the country's economy, rebuild its political and economic institutions, and provide a future of hope for Haiti's people. TPS would be extended only to those Haitians currently residing in the United States, so any concerns about a mass exodus to the US are unfounded.
Haiti is the hemispheres oldest democracy, and has always had a special relationship to the United States. Haitian immigrants have long contributed to America’s diverse and vibrant culture. The current plight of Haitians in their homeland clearly qualifies them for TPS here in the United States, and thus the NAACP strongly urges President Obama to grant TPS to Haitian refugees. Furthermore, the NAACP strongly supports legislation introduced by Congressman Alcee Hastings (FL) to grant TPS to Haitians (H.R. 144).
March 19, 2009 (from NAACP website)
The Issue:
Temporary protected status (TPS) grants temporary protection from deportation to nationals of a country in which environmental or political events have occurred which make it temporarily unsafe to deport them or when armed conflict poses a serious threat to public safety. TPS has been granted to nationals of many countries including those of Nicaragua and Honduras in 1999 following Hurricane Mitch, and of El Salvador in 2001 following severe earthquakes.
Recent devastating environmental disasters from which Haiti has not recovered, continuing violence, and unstable political conditions pose a serious threat at this time to the personal safety of anyone forcibly repatriated to Haiti. Last year's storms and hurricanes killed hundreds and rendered hundreds of thousands homeless. Fifteen percent of Haiti's already fragile economy was destroyed, the equivalent of eight to ten Hurricane Katrinas hitting the United States in the same month. Haitian deportees face hunger, homelessness, and grave threats to their security. The Haitian government's ability to provide basic governmental services--clean water, education, passable road and basic healthcare--has been severely compromised by the natural disasters and food crisis in 2008. Repatriating Haitians exposes them to these dangerous conditions, while imposing an additional burden on government resources that are already stretched too thin.
Furthermore, granting TPS to Haitian refugees would help Haiti recover, as Haitians in the United States could obtain work permits and would increase the already significant flow of remittances to their family and friends back home. Haitians who receive that aid are more likely to stay and rebuild Haiti. Many depend on those remittances for their very survival. That flow of dollars is among the best foreign aid that the United States can provide, and it costs taxpayers nothing. Strengthening Haiti’s economy will be the only sure way to ensure that more Haitians will not risk their lives on a perilous oversea journey to the United States. Granting Haitians TPS would also directly assist Haiti's nascent democracy in its efforts to recover from these conditions, stabilize the country's economy, rebuild its political and economic institutions, and provide a future of hope for Haiti's people. TPS would be extended only to those Haitians currently residing in the United States, so any concerns about a mass exodus to the US are unfounded.
Haiti is the hemispheres oldest democracy, and has always had a special relationship to the United States. Haitian immigrants have long contributed to America’s diverse and vibrant culture. The current plight of Haitians in their homeland clearly qualifies them for TPS here in the United States, and thus the NAACP strongly urges President Obama to grant TPS to Haitian refugees. Furthermore, the NAACP strongly supports legislation introduced by Congressman Alcee Hastings (FL) to grant TPS to Haitians (H.R. 144).
Cynthia McKinney on Obama boycott of Durban conference
http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/despite-obama-boycott-black-caucus-should-attend-durban-racism-conference/
San Francisco Bayview
Despite Obama boycott, Black Caucus should attend Durban racism conference
March 17, 2009 In Africa and the World |
by Cynthia McKinney
...This morning, I sent the following message to the White House:
“Mr. President, it was with great disappointment that I read of your decision to pull out of Durban II. Even the Bush administration, under pressure from the Congressional Black Caucus, provided some funding for the United Nations effort and sent staff to support the Congressional delegation that attended the conference. I was there. I was head of the Congressional Black Caucus Task Force that negotiated Congressional and administration engagement on this issue. There is still time for the U.S. to participate. Your decision is not irrevocable. I would encourage you to please reconsider this decision and not only attend the conference, but also provide funding to ensure its success.”
Dignity will not come without first an acknowledgment of the truth: With truth we can have justice; and with justice we can have peace; and it is only with peace that we can truly have dignity.
I implore the members of the Congressional Black Caucus to spearhead the participation of the United States in the United Nation’s World Conference Against Racism: to boldly go where we have gone before. Dr. King reminded us that “the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” On this issue, President Obama has shown us his measure. I hope that the Congressional Black Caucus and the Progressive Caucus and the Democratic Caucus can show us, oh, so much more.
TO READ FULL TEXT: http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/despite-obama-boycott-black-caucus-should-attend-durban-racism-conference/ OR CLICK IN TITLE ABOVE
San Francisco Bayview
Despite Obama boycott, Black Caucus should attend Durban racism conference
March 17, 2009 In Africa and the World |
And now that I am as completely in the middle of the marsh as I was as completely in the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea when my boat was rammed by the Israelis, let me make an observation about one aspect of marshes. I have witnessed the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets on the Savannah, Georgia, marshland. And the most beautiful rainbows. Being away from the glass and concrete can give one a better perspective.
by Cynthia McKinney
...This morning, I sent the following message to the White House:
“Mr. President, it was with great disappointment that I read of your decision to pull out of Durban II. Even the Bush administration, under pressure from the Congressional Black Caucus, provided some funding for the United Nations effort and sent staff to support the Congressional delegation that attended the conference. I was there. I was head of the Congressional Black Caucus Task Force that negotiated Congressional and administration engagement on this issue. There is still time for the U.S. to participate. Your decision is not irrevocable. I would encourage you to please reconsider this decision and not only attend the conference, but also provide funding to ensure its success.”
Dignity will not come without first an acknowledgment of the truth: With truth we can have justice; and with justice we can have peace; and it is only with peace that we can truly have dignity.
I implore the members of the Congressional Black Caucus to spearhead the participation of the United States in the United Nation’s World Conference Against Racism: to boldly go where we have gone before. Dr. King reminded us that “the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” On this issue, President Obama has shown us his measure. I hope that the Congressional Black Caucus and the Progressive Caucus and the Democratic Caucus can show us, oh, so much more.
TO READ FULL TEXT: http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/despite-obama-boycott-black-caucus-should-attend-durban-racism-conference/ OR CLICK IN TITLE ABOVE
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Haiti's Quiet Corner
The Basin Bleu offers secluded waters for bathing outside of Jacmel. Luke Jerod Kummer / The NationalHaiti's Quiet Corner by Luke Jerod Kummer
The National Newspaper, December 20. 2008
Before I landed in Port au Prince I knew I didn’t want to stay there long. A generation of news footage had convinced me that Haiti’s capital was a city of unrest, despair and no place to holiday. When I left the airport I found the chaotic scenes I had imagined – city streets on fire with burning rubbish and UN vehicles patrolling shanty neighborhoods – as the recently elected president Rene Preval tried to find his footing in yet another of the Caribbean country’s uneasy political transitions. I was keen to escape and so the next morning Hattie, a friend from New York who had been interpreting at a medical conference, hired a driver with a 4x4 and we headed south for more tranquil grounds. Read article and see photos at http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081220/TRAVEL/788392063/-1/OPINION
Half-Hour for Haiti: Invest in Hope and Justice for Haiti
Half-Hour for Haiti: Invest in Hope and Justice for Haiti
December 10, 2008
This end of the year wrap up piece contains very good update on the work of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti and various justice issues. Click here for full report:
http://blog.ijdh.org/haiti_justiceblog/2008/12/half-hour-for-haiti-invest-in-hope-and-justice-for-haiti.html
December 10, 2008
This end of the year wrap up piece contains very good update on the work of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti and various justice issues. Click here for full report:
http://blog.ijdh.org/haiti_justiceblog/2008/12/half-hour-for-haiti-invest-in-hope-and-justice-for-haiti.html
Birth, not ancestry, relevant to citizenship by Sonia Pierre
Photo borrowed from Robert F. Kennedy Memorial website page onSonia Pierre. Go here: http://www.rfkmemorial.org/legacyinaction/2006_pierre/ for speeches by Sonia Pierre, press releases, biography, and the RFK Human Rights Award 2006 awarded to Sonia PierreDOMINICAN REPUBLIC
from Miami Herald, Opinion
SANTO DOMINGO -- I am a native-born citizen of the Dominican Republic. I grew up, went to school, started a family and raised my children on Dominican soil. This is the only place I have ever called home. Yet, after more than 45 years in this country, my nationality -- along with that of thousands of other Dominicans -- is being called into question.
Like many Dominicans, I am of Haitian ancestry. My family came to the Dominican Republic from neighboring Haiti to find work. Their journey was not uncommon, nor was it discouraged. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians came to work in this country with the express permission of the Dominican government.
But Dominicans like me have always paid a price for our ancestry.
For more than a century, the government has promoted a policy of state-sponsored racial discrimination. We have been used as scapegoats to shift the focus away from the country's economic and political problems.
Even so, one lesson I learned growing up was that any person born in the Dominican Republic is a Dominican citizen. This no one questioned. This no one doubted. The Dominican Republic's constitution says explicitly that anyone born on the country's territory, except infants born to parents who happen to be diplomats or foreigners ''in transit'' -- understood for decades to mean in the country for fewer than 10 days -- is a Dominican citizen. Because of this, I never worried that my status as a citizen would ever be in doubt. I was wrong.
For rest of article: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/801626.html
Five Bailout Lessons From Katrina
Hurricane Katrina victim, Lewis Reddick, stands in the FEMA Diamond travel trailer park in May of 2008. (Photo: Getty Images)FIVE BAILOUT LESSONS FROM KATRINA
by Bill Quigley,
t r u t h o u t Perspective
The US has committed nearly three trillion dollars to the financial bailout so far. The Federal Reserve has made more than $2 trillion in emergency loans and another $700 billion has been pledged through Congressional action. Much more money is coming.
Things better for your community? I didn't think so.
Welcome to Katrina world. Despite pledges of a hundred billion dollars, we are still in deep pain along the Gulf Coast. What happened?
Unless citizens are vigilant and demanding, the entire US will be subjected to the same forces that swept through the Gulf Coast after Katrina - spending huge amounts of money and leaving a second disaster behind. Read rest of article: http://www.truthout.org/122408A
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Demonstrations in Haiti
The Freeport News
Demonstrations in Haiti
December 18, 2008
Major demonstrations that took place in Haiti earlier this week could signal the beginning of another chapter in that troubled nation's history of political violence and instability.
Thousands of Haitians marched through the streets of Port-au-Prince and several other cities on Tuesday calling for the return of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide from exile in South Africa and demanding that President Rene Preval keep a promise he supposedly made two years ago to let Aristide return to Haiti.
"We voted for Preval because he promised to bring back Aristide," one demonstrator shouted, according to one wire service report on the demonstration.
What is most significant about these demonstrations is that they come at a time when the United States is about to swear in a new president, and there is every reason for supporters of Aristide to believe that the new Democratic administration may not be as anti-Aristide as the former Republican administration headed by President George W. Bush. Indeed, Aristide supporters are convinced that the armed uprising that forced him to resign the presidency early in 2004 and leave Haiti was supported by President Bush's administration. They also strongly believe that the administration of George Bush Sr., 13 years earlier, supported the military coup that deposed Aristide in 1991, just eight months after he won election.
For most of the time between 1991 and 1994, Aristide lived in the United States and generated strong support among the Congressional Black Caucus, which wields tremendous power within the Democratic Party. It was, therefore, not surprising that his return to power in Haiti in 1994 with strong backing from the U.S. military was during the first term of Democratic President Bill Clinton.
Undoubtedly, this fact is what has Aristide supporters now believing that history may repeat itself under the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama, who will be sworn in on January 20. Their optimism may very well be buttressed by the fact that one of Aristide's strongest supporters during his tenure as president was Congresswoman Maxine Waters, a democratic representative from the state of California, who had very strong ties to President Clinton.
Waters was quite outspoken in denouncing reported U.S. involvement in the uprising that forced Aristide to flee Haiti on February 29, 2004, for the Central African Republic, and she was said to be instrumental in arranging for then Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson to invite Aristide in March of that year to spend some time in Jamaica. After spending several weeks in Jamaica, Aristide left for exile in South Africa.
Obviously, supporters of Aristide are hoping that Waters and the Congressional Black Caucus will have some influence on the first elected black President of the United States, and that influence will translate into support for Aristide's return to Haiti. But very little has changed in Haiti with regard to the seemingly equal amount of love and hate that Aristide generates among the Haitian people. Therefore, his return to Haiti could very well trigger a new round of violence in that country that would certainly not be in the best interest of The Bahamas, which has had a very serious illegal Haitian immigrant problem for decades.
Minister of State for Immigration Branville McCartney, who is doing a remarkable job addressing the illegal immigrant problem, should brace himself to deal with a substantially increased influx of illegal Haitians if sustained violence were to erupt in Haiti should Aristide be allowed to return.
Actually, he would be wise to start preparing for that eventuality because the possibility of that happening now appears to be quite likely.
Demonstrations in Haiti
December 18, 2008
Major demonstrations that took place in Haiti earlier this week could signal the beginning of another chapter in that troubled nation's history of political violence and instability.
Thousands of Haitians marched through the streets of Port-au-Prince and several other cities on Tuesday calling for the return of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide from exile in South Africa and demanding that President Rene Preval keep a promise he supposedly made two years ago to let Aristide return to Haiti.
"We voted for Preval because he promised to bring back Aristide," one demonstrator shouted, according to one wire service report on the demonstration.
What is most significant about these demonstrations is that they come at a time when the United States is about to swear in a new president, and there is every reason for supporters of Aristide to believe that the new Democratic administration may not be as anti-Aristide as the former Republican administration headed by President George W. Bush. Indeed, Aristide supporters are convinced that the armed uprising that forced him to resign the presidency early in 2004 and leave Haiti was supported by President Bush's administration. They also strongly believe that the administration of George Bush Sr., 13 years earlier, supported the military coup that deposed Aristide in 1991, just eight months after he won election.
For most of the time between 1991 and 1994, Aristide lived in the United States and generated strong support among the Congressional Black Caucus, which wields tremendous power within the Democratic Party. It was, therefore, not surprising that his return to power in Haiti in 1994 with strong backing from the U.S. military was during the first term of Democratic President Bill Clinton.
Undoubtedly, this fact is what has Aristide supporters now believing that history may repeat itself under the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama, who will be sworn in on January 20. Their optimism may very well be buttressed by the fact that one of Aristide's strongest supporters during his tenure as president was Congresswoman Maxine Waters, a democratic representative from the state of California, who had very strong ties to President Clinton.
Waters was quite outspoken in denouncing reported U.S. involvement in the uprising that forced Aristide to flee Haiti on February 29, 2004, for the Central African Republic, and she was said to be instrumental in arranging for then Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson to invite Aristide in March of that year to spend some time in Jamaica. After spending several weeks in Jamaica, Aristide left for exile in South Africa.
Obviously, supporters of Aristide are hoping that Waters and the Congressional Black Caucus will have some influence on the first elected black President of the United States, and that influence will translate into support for Aristide's return to Haiti. But very little has changed in Haiti with regard to the seemingly equal amount of love and hate that Aristide generates among the Haitian people. Therefore, his return to Haiti could very well trigger a new round of violence in that country that would certainly not be in the best interest of The Bahamas, which has had a very serious illegal Haitian immigrant problem for decades.
Minister of State for Immigration Branville McCartney, who is doing a remarkable job addressing the illegal immigrant problem, should brace himself to deal with a substantially increased influx of illegal Haitians if sustained violence were to erupt in Haiti should Aristide be allowed to return.
Actually, he would be wise to start preparing for that eventuality because the possibility of that happening now appears to be quite likely.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Little Haiti, photography by stefano Giovannini
American Journal
Frame by Frame
Little Haiti
Photography by Stefano Giovannini
Music: Generation X by Wyclef Jean
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Haitian refugees fleeing Francois Duvalier's military dictatorship began arriving in Miami and settling in the neigborhoods of Lemon City, Little River and Buena Vista.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTO SLIDESHOW
http://www.american-journal.org/issue11/framebyframe.html
Frame by Frame
Little Haiti
Photography by Stefano Giovannini
Music: Generation X by Wyclef Jean
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Haitian refugees fleeing Francois Duvalier's military dictatorship began arriving in Miami and settling in the neigborhoods of Lemon City, Little River and Buena Vista.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTO SLIDESHOW
http://www.american-journal.org/issue11/framebyframe.html
Anger & Hope: Haitian Families Furious Over School Collapse
Photo borrowed from media (not from this article)Anger & Hope: Haitian Families Furious Over School Collapse
November, 11 2008 By Bill Quigley
"No one cares about the children, living or dead," one furious father of children in the collapsed school outside of Port au Prince Haiti swore Sunday in an interview. "No one has come to provide any counseling to the children and families who survived. Nothing has been done for the families whose children died. The children now have no school and no books. They are sick and have nightmares. Government officials and people from all the NGOs, they all come, take pictures, make speeches and they leave us with nothing. We need action!"
Reports of the deaths caused by the collapse of the school on Friday continue to climb, reaching nearly 100 on Sunday. Several hundred other children escaped or were rescued. Many are still missing.
"The families of the victims are mad," the father said. "But it is not just the families who are mad. All the people know the government is not making good decisions. We do not trust that the government will help us. No doctors have come. Nobody comes except those who want to take pictures, make reports, and make money. We have been promised everything, but we have received nothing. Watch," he said. "After fifteen days, no one is even going to be talking about this. Only the victims and the families will be talking about it. The government and some other people will get some money out of the disaster and the children and their families and the community will see none of it."
Haiti has been plagued by a string of disasters this year with over 800 dead from four hurricanes that raked the island nation; many of those dead were also children. Rest of article at http://zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticlePrint/19582
Monday, November 10, 2008
Florida fireman Nathaniel Lasseur part of rescue teams in Haiti
Fireman Nathaniel Lasseur carries a child who was rescued from under the rubble of a school that collapsed in Petionville, Haiti, Friday, Nov. 7, 2008. The 'La Promesse' school, where roughly 500 students crowded into several floors, collapsed during classes killing at least 47 people and injuring many more.
(AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
GOOD WORK NATE!
I KNOW YOUR HEART MUST BE BREAKING FOR ALL THE CHILDREN LOST AND THEIR GRIEVING FAMILIES. BUT I KNOW YOU COULD NOT STAND STILL IN FLORIDA IN THE FACE OF THIS TRAGIC DISASTER.
Haiti School Collapses...OCHA Situation Report No. 4
Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Date: 09 Nov 2008
Haiti: School Collapses in Port au Prince OCHA Situation Report No. 4
Search and rescue operations are on-going conducted by Haitian, French and American rescue teams that are working by shift through the debris of the La Promesse school that collapsed last Friday morning in Nerette, Petion ville commune, Port-au-Prince.
Teams identified the location of four dead bodies trapped beneath the concrete; however the precarious safety conditions of the collapsed building only allowed removing one corpse.
At this time chances to find survivors are very little. Nevertheless search and rescue teams are not giving up and they agreed that the demolition phase of the building starts in 2 hours - Haitian and the French teams will try to turn around the last step of concrete (about 800 Kg) - then allowing the three teams to continue search operations. Operations are expected to pursue until Tuesday.
Official information provided by the Haitian Civil Protection Unit shows that: 89 victims are reported dead; 150 wounded persons have been transferred to hospitals.
It is still unknown how many children attended school last Friday morning. The La Promesse school had capacity for 700 students in two shits. It is estimated that 250-260 children were in school when it crumbled, leaving students, teachers and some street vendors under the concrete.
The Government is preparing a plan to support the families of the victims.
Date: 09 Nov 2008
Haiti: School Collapses in Port au Prince OCHA Situation Report No. 4
Search and rescue operations are on-going conducted by Haitian, French and American rescue teams that are working by shift through the debris of the La Promesse school that collapsed last Friday morning in Nerette, Petion ville commune, Port-au-Prince.
Teams identified the location of four dead bodies trapped beneath the concrete; however the precarious safety conditions of the collapsed building only allowed removing one corpse.
At this time chances to find survivors are very little. Nevertheless search and rescue teams are not giving up and they agreed that the demolition phase of the building starts in 2 hours - Haitian and the French teams will try to turn around the last step of concrete (about 800 Kg) - then allowing the three teams to continue search operations. Operations are expected to pursue until Tuesday.
Official information provided by the Haitian Civil Protection Unit shows that: 89 victims are reported dead; 150 wounded persons have been transferred to hospitals.
It is still unknown how many children attended school last Friday morning. The La Promesse school had capacity for 700 students in two shits. It is estimated that 250-260 children were in school when it crumbled, leaving students, teachers and some street vendors under the concrete.
The Government is preparing a plan to support the families of the victims.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Mia Farrow's Photostream/Slideshow
CLICK LINK BELOW TO VIEW MIA FARROW'S PHOTOS FROM HER SEPTEMBER 2008 TRIP TO CITE SOLEIL & THE CITY OF GONAIVES WHILE IT WAS UNDER WATER AND MUD. GOOD AERIAL SHOTS OF GONAIVES. Click on options and check option to have descriptions on the screen. Following Haiti slides are photos from her trip to Africa.In Focus Haiti: House Call in Hell by Antigone Barton
In Focus Haiti: House Call in Hell
Learn more about this video at: http://pulitzercenter.org/showproject.cfm?id=51 This video takes you inside the walls of one of the worst prisons in the Western hemisphere. Overcrowding, poor sanitation, and a general lack of funding in Haiti's National Penitentiary have led to exorbitant HIV and Tuberculosis rates. Reporter Antigone Barton and videographer Stephen Sapienza take a first-hand look at these conditions and an American doctor working to correct them. After this video was taken, USAID authorized $200,000 in emergency funding for health and sanitation improvements. Visit the interactive narrative at: www.palmbeachpost.com/heroes
Haiti's Separate Worlds for Rich and Poor (Al Jazeera)
Haiti's Separate Worlds for Rich and Poor - 19 Oct 08 -
Haiti may be one of the poorest countries in the world, but it's also home to some very wealthy communities. It's a situation that's creating a significant divide between the haves and the have-nots. Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo reports from the capital Port au Prince on the huge disparity between rich and poor.
NOTE: Man identified in video as Harry Desire is actually Harry's brother, Harres Désiré.
Friday, November 7, 2008
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