[Peace-discuss] On the Haitian elections, and beyond

[Ricky Baldwin]

It appears that Haitian elections may actually proceed
this time, beginning tomorrow, though the process may
continue for several weeks with multiple rounds and
the outcome may not be settled for awhile.  

Here are some thoughts from Haiti on the elections to
mull over before Wednesday nite's preview of "The
Agronomist", which Karen has arranged for 2109 Zuppke
(off of George Huff) in Urbana at 7pm.  We may agree
or disagree, but we should listen.

Ricky

 
> Haiti Support Group press release: On the Haitian
> elections, and beyond - 6 February 2006 
>  
> In common with many others concerned with the
> elections to be held in Haiti 
> on Tuesday, 7th February 2006, the British
> solidarity organisation, the Haiti 
> Support Group hopes that fears of election-day
> violence will prove to be 
> unfounded. 
>  
> We note the words of Helen Spraos, Christian Aid's
> country representative, 
> who said: "All it will take is for a few people to
> start shooting into the air 
> in certain places, and people will not risk coming
> out to vote." 
>  
> Yolette Etienne, Oxfam's Country Programme Manager
> for Haiti, shares these 
> fears, "Many residents of Port-au-Prince have told
> us they are too scared to 
> make the journey to vote on Tuesday. Innocent people
> in Haiti have endured a wave 
> of violence in the last two years. Rape is common in
> Port-au-Prince and this 
> is directly linked to the proliferation of arms." 
>  
> Etienne's comment about the proliferation of small
> arms and the link to 
> sexual violence and other types of violence in
> Port-au-Prince over the last two 
> years highlights one of the very great failures of
> the so-called 'transition' in 
> Haiti, and that is the miserable failure of the
> interim government and the UN 
> peacekeeping mission (the MINUSTAH) to implement a
> disarmament programme. 
>  
> The Haiti Support Group is staggered to read a
> recent report revealing that, 
> while similar UN-run disarmament and demobilisation
> programmes have helped 
> disband guerrilla and other armed factions in Sierra
> Leone, Mozambique and El 
> Salvador, the UN programme in Haiti has so far has
> managed to collect just 30 
> weapons! The MINUSTAH force currently composed of
> some 7,000 troops and nearly 
> 2,000 police has been in Haiti since June 2004. 
> 
> Once the elections are over and international
> attention rapidly fades, the 
> issues of the widespread availability of small arms
> and armed violence will 
> remain. 
>  
> While realising that what happens in the capital,
> Port-au-Prince, has a big 
> impact on attitudes outside the city, the Haiti
> Support Group is keen to stress 
> that the rest of the country, where three-quarters
> of the population lives, 
> is relatively calm and free of violence. Cite Soleil
> is not Port-au-Prince, and 
> Port-au-Prince is not Haiti. 
>  
> We should also add that elections are not the be-all
> and end-all of 
> democracy. 
>  
> Hervens Jeanty, the coordinator of KORAL, a small
> projects fund, supported by 
> Christian Aid, commented, "The candidates are more
> interested in sloganeering 
> than attacking the real social problems.
> Nonetheless, most Haitians are fed 
> up with suffering from disunity, poverty and
> insecurity. That's why many people 
> think that the elections are a necessary step
> towards building a nation and 
> fighting against poverty." 
>  
> Haitian organisations involved in the long-term and
> very necessary work of 
> re-buliding a vibrant civil society movement for
> fundamental change in the 
> country are wary about the expectations raised by
> the elections. 
>  
> Batay Ouvriye, the popular organisation working with
> newly-organised unions, 
> is clear that, as far as it is concerned, "these
> elections are a way for the 
> ruling class to rearrange their affairs on the backs
> of the poor majority." The 
> organisation is calling for activists and militants
> to try and preserve their 
> independence from the political parties because,
> while controlled by the 
> ruling class and the imperialist powers, "the
> elections will not provide any 
> solution to the profound crisis afflicting the
> working people of Haiti."
> 
> Joseph Georges, the coordinator of SAKS, a
> non-governmental organisation 
> working in support of the community radio network,
> expressed similar scepticism 
> about the elections, questioning their value in a
> society where impunity for 
> crimes remains unchallenged.
> 
> In an article entitled, "Elections in a climate of
> impunity: what can 
> change?". Georges wrote, "We see the elections
> taking place in the country with many 
> presidential candidates who are people with serious
> records, people accused of 
> involvement in crimes, in corruption and in
> drug-trafficking, etc...The state 
> accepts these people as candidates. Society accepts
> them as candidates. What 
> examples are we giving our children and youth to
> look up to?"
> 
> 
> Charles Arthur 
> Haiti Support Group 
> haitisupport at gn.apc.org 
> www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org 
>  
>  
> ------------------------------ 
> Forwarded by the Haiti Support Group - solidarity
> with the Haitian people's 
> struggle for human rights, participatory democracy
> and equitable development - 
> since 1992 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com