http://www.counterpunch.org/terrall08282008.html
Counterpunch.com
August 28, 2008
"All the Time We are Hungry and Now We Have No One"
Return to Port-au-Prince
By BEN TERRALL

As I flew from JFK to Port-au-Prince Airport on August 11, a fellow journalist handed me the front section of that day’s New York Times with a laugh. My friend pointed to a passage in an article about Russia’s war with Georgia that had prompted her bitter chuckling.

The piece quoted Ambassador Zalmay Khalizad of the United States, who charged that the Russian foreign minister had told Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice “that the democratically elected president of Georgia ‘must go.’” Khalizad described the Russian’s comment as “completely unacceptable.”

Of course, Washington’s posturing as a beacon of peace and freedom has become increasingly more ludicrous as wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue with no end in sight and Bush explains that we do not torture while testimony to the contrary accumulates around the globe. But the U.S. role in supporting the February 29, 2004 rightist coup in Haiti makes the hypocrisy of Khalizad’s statement especially galling.

By Yves Engler

Over the past century, a line has divided the left around the world. On one side sit “progressive forces” willing to support imperialism and war, usually in return for a “seat at the table” or some other perk of power. The most discussed example of Left support for imperialism was at the beginning of the First World War when most parties of the Second International sided with their own ruling class and governments in the slaughter that followed. On the other side of the Left divide, are those individuals and organizations that take a principled position in favour of real democracy for all the world’s people and oppose imperialism and colonialism in all its forms, especially when it is their ruling class involved. Some might say the former is the “pretend Left” and the later the “authentic Left.”

So what sort of Left is there left in Québec? To help answer this question the case of Haiti is instructive.

Haitian solidarity: Local group strives to draw attention to Canada's role in the country's grief
Sarelle Azuelos
Gauntlet News
February 28, 2008
http://gauntlet.ucalgary.ca/story/12221
Haitian people have suffered a history of almost constant violence and strife. Four years ago Canadian, French and U.S. forces, with support of the UN, held a military coup against the democratically elected then-leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Great debate surrounded the continuing involvement of foreign influences in Haiti's government.

The Canada Haiti Action Network is hosting a solidarity demonstration on Fri., Feb. 29 to raise awareness of Haiti's plight and hopefully encourage the Canadian government to respect the country's sovereignty.

HAITI LIBERTE
"Justice. Verite. Independance
* THIS WEEK IN HAITI *
February 20 - 26, 2008
Vol. 1, No. 31
FEBRUARY 29TH ACTIONS PLANNED WORLDWIDE
by Kim Ives
Thousands around the world will mark the fourth anniversary of Haiti's
February 29, 2004 coup d'etat and foreign military invasion with picket
lines, marches and conferences.

"Four years after US Marines seized control of Haiti's capital and installed
a US-appointed coup regime, Haiti is still under foreign military
occupation, by a UN force that replaced the Marines in June 2004," writes
the "Feb. 29th Organizing Committee" in a call to action for the Third
International Day in Solidarity with the People of Haiti. "It is an
occupation marked by rapes and wanton killings of the poor."

The "Feb. 29th Organizing Committee" proposes united actions for a "single
worldwide mobilization" around seven demands: 1) End the US/UN Occupation -
Respect Haiti's sovereignty; 2) Free the political prisoners - No more

Peter Hallward Untangles the Truth About Haiti From a Web of Lies
By: Joe Emersberger - HaitiAnalysis.com
In "Damning the Flood: Haiti, Aristide, and the Politics of Containment" Peter Hallward meticulously explains how, on February 29 of 2004, the U.S. managed to "topple one of the most popular governments in Latin America but it managed to topple it in a manner that wasn't widely criticized or even recognized as a coup at all." Imperial powers do not reinvent the wheel when it comes to undermining democracy in poor countries. Hallward identifies valuable lessons for people who wish to limit the damage that powerful countries inflict on the weak.
The narrative he presents is not complicated, but to present it he must expose countless lies and half truths and brilliantly explore many simple questions that corporate journalists invariably failed to ask.

UN Troops Accused of Human Rights Violations in Haiti
by Maria Luisa Mendonça | January 21, 2008
Americas Program, Center for International Policy (CIP)
http://americas.irc-online.org/
The UN Security Council decided in October 2007 to extend the mandate of the MINUSTAH (United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti) through Oct. 15, 2008. The Brazilian Government is responsible for coordinating the MINUSTAH forces that include approximately 9,000 troops. Yet there is very little discussion in Brazil about the country's role in the occupation of Haiti, and especially, about the accusations leveled against the UN troops for their participation in human rights violations.

'Hands off Haiti' CD release party
featuring
The IMF & Rez Villain
Friday, Jan 25th @ Ginger's Tavern, Halifax
$5 at the door, or free if you buy a CD.
The show is a release party for the 'Hands off Haiti' hip-hop CD compilation. The CD is a project of the Canada Haiti Action Network and features some of the top hip-hop and urban artists in Canada including DL Incognito, Mood Ruff, LAL, the Dope Poet Society, EMC and the Legendary Haitian Folk singer, So Ann Auguste.

Funds raised from the CD will go to support human rights organizations working in Haiti.

This event is brought to you by Haiti Action Halifax with much support from CKDU Radio

More info:
www.myspace.com/handsoffhaiti
www.thac.ca
www.canadahaitiaction.ca

Haiti's Debt
http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/emersberger040108.html
by Joe Emersberger
Despite being the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti
lags behind many countries in the Americas in obtaining debt relief through
a program run by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

Did He Jump or Was He Pushed? Aristide and the 2004 Coup in Haiti
by Peter Hallward
December 15, 2007
haitianalysis.com

HAITI LIBERTE
"Justice. Verite. Independence."
* THIS WEEK IN HAITI *
September 5-11, 2007
Vol. 1, No. 7
ANOTHER OCCUPATION EXTENSION LOOMS
by Kim Ives
The United Nations Security Council mandate for the UN's military occupation of Haiti runs out on October 15, 2007. Now the UN has cranked up its public relations machinery, generating a flurry of conferences, declarations, and appointments, all aimed at selling the longest possible mandate extension to the Haitian and world public.
The campaign to prolong the occupation was kicked off by none other than Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General, during a visit to Haiti on Aug. 2 (see Haiti Liberte, Vol. 1, No. 3, Aug. 8, 2007). During his visit, he declared that the United Nations Mission to Stabilize Haiti (MINUSTAH) "will not leave until Haiti's future is assured," saying that would require "at least another year."