Political Prisoners

Impoortant Message from US Political Prisoner Robert Seth Hayes about his Upcoming Parole Hearing

ant — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:02:36 -0400

Dear friends, please pass this on as far as you can. Please note that
we're currently experiencing problems with Seth's website
www.sethhayes.org but we should have those fixed shortly. Please send in
letters in support of Seth's parole as soon as possible as the hearing
could happen anytime between September and December of 2008. For more
information please email torontoabcf@gmail.com

In solidarity,

the Toronto Chapter of the Anarchist Black Cross Federation

From Robert Seth Hayes
#74A2280, Wende Corr. Facility
P.O. Box 1187, Alden, NY
14004-1187, USA

September 8, 2008

Dear friends and supporters,

This brief letter wishes to update you about my strategy to gain
immediate release from confinement and return to working in the
community. Many of you know that I was expecting a parole board hearing
in September 2008. As it was, I was belatedly informed that the hearing
would commence on September 3, 2008. On the second of September I
reached out to my attorney Susan Tipograph to discuss the hearing
schedule and then learned of the passing of Comrade Bashir Hameed a.k.a.
James York. A strong and positive Brother in our struggle to free the
land, spirit and inhabitants, Bashir joined our ancestors on August 30,
2008. I ask you to join me in sending up prayers of rejoicing to a

Return to Port-au-Prince: "All the Time We are Hungry and Now We Have No One"

Anthony — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:05:03 -0400

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.

This Week in Haiti: Peter Hallward: MAKING SENSE OF THE 2004 COUP

Anthony — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 20:48:17 -0500

HAITI LIBERTE - "Justice. Verite. Independance."
* THIS WEEK IN HAITI *
December 19-24, 2007
Vol. 1, No. 22
AN INTERVIEW ON WBAI
PETER HALLWARD: MAKING SENSE OF THE 2004 COUP

Did He Jump or Was He Pushed? Aristide and the 2004 Coup in Haiti

Anthony — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 16:01:38 -0500

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

One Lavalas official freed in Haiti, second remains missing

Anthony — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:52:41 -0400

One Lavalas official freed in Haiti, second remains missing
Haiti Information Project
October 31, 2007

UN Arrested 40 Ahead of Harper's Haiti Visit

Anthony — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 15:33:44 -0400

UN Arrested 40 Ahead of Harper's Haiti Visit
Many demonstrators remain in jail
by Stuart Neatby
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
Forty Haitian demonstrators were arrested by UN soldiers hours before the arrival of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the Haitian slum neighbourhood of Cite Soleil on July 20. Haiti was the last stop for the Prime Minister's Latin American tour, which also included stops in Colombia, Chile, and Barbados. The protest had been organized by residents of Cite Soleil in response to the visit of the Canadian Prime Minister, according to Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, a protest organizer and director of the Haiti-based September 30th Foundation.

UTA #3 Adventures in Colonialism: Canadian Complicity in the Occupation of Haiti

ant — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 14:13:00 -0400

by Isabel MacDonald

Last December, I visited Annette “So Ann” Auguste, a popular Haitian folksinger, Lavalas activist, grandmother, adult educator – and, since her violent May 2004 arrest at the hands of US Marines1 – one of Haiti’s most high-profile political prisoners. Even in the overcrowded prison where she has been jailed for nearly two and a half years without charges, So Ann continues to teach literacy through informal classes with her fellow inmates. I never specifically discussed the role of education in Haiti’s democracy with So Ann. However, her patience in explaining to us blancs (as all foreigners are known in Haitian Creole) the basic principle of Haitian national sovereignty – a lesson that citizens of the world’s first black republic impressed upon world powers when they wrested France’s most prosperous colony on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola from the hands of French colonial slave holders over 202 years ago – clearly told me that she sees education as a crucial aspect of the Haitian grassroots movement for democracy. The education of Canadians, that is.

Take hard look at Haiti if you think Canada is building democracy

Anthony — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 18:33:17 -0500

Take hard look at Haiti if you think Canada is building democracy
By CHRISTIAN HEYNE
Halifax Chronicle Herald, Pg A11
http://www.halifaxherald.com/Search/548180.html
WE ALL are concerned about democracy and human rights. Especially around the time of celebration of Christmas, a time for extra compassion. When Afghanistan comes up in Canadian debate, it is the military method that is questioned by many, not the idea of helping Afghanis to have a life. Democracy we support, officially, and privately anyway. Or do we? I am afraid some Canadians at the top are speaking with "forked tongue."
There seems to be a disconnect between the leading lights of our country and the population at large. While most Canadians see themselves as peacemakers still – even the footsoldiers – there is a little problem in the real world of our actions abroad. Canadian CEOs, think tanks, fast-talking military brass, the politicians, all seem to have little respect for the Canadian majority when it comes to foreign policy actions.

Haitian Political Prisoners Released

Anthony — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 22:58:42 -0400

EXCLUSIVE: Haitian Political Prisoner So Anne Released After Over 2 Years in Haitian Jail
Democracy Now!
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/15/1326250
Popular Haitian-American folk singer and political activist Annette Auguste, has been released after spending over two years in a Haitian jail. Auguste, commonly known as So Anne, was jailed shortly after the 2004 coup that ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. So Anne was one of the most prominent Aristide supporters to be jailed under the U.S.-backed Haitian government. She lived in Brooklyn, New York for 20 years before returning in 1994 when Aristide returned to power after the first coup against him.
In May 2004, US Marines raided her home in the middle of the night, used explosives to break down her front door, killed her two pet dogs, handcuffed her 5-year-old grandson and arrested her. She has been in prison ever since. According to the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, the Haitian judge in charge of her case ruled this week that there was no evidence to hold her in prison. She was released last night.
So Anne joins us on the line from Haiti. We also speak with independent journalist Kim Ives, the former editor of the Haitian newspaper, Haiti Progres.

Ignoring murder in post-coup Haiti

Anthony — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 18:18:53 -0400

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2937&printer_friendly=1
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR)
http://www.fair.org
Extra! July/August 2006
Invisible Violence
Ignoring murder in post-coup Haiti
By Jeb Sprague
In an eight-minute report (6/5/05) in which she rode in a U.N. armored personnel carrier and extolled the bravery of U.N. soldiers, NPR correspondent Lourdes Garcia-Navarro cited "human rights organizations" as saying that "things have improved since the Aristide days." The NPR report interviewed two members of the U.N. force, one U.S. police trainer, one Haitian police official and Gerard Latortue, the head of Haiti's unelected interim government. It neglected to quote any victims of the violence perpetrated by the Latortue regime or any human rights organizations critical of the governmental-sponsored violence-perhaps because they might have pointed out that such violence actually increased dramatically during Latortue's time in power.