Haiti In Crisis - USA Involvement May Be Bringing Further Harm Not Democracy

[Compare Pacifica's Reporting to the mainstream's agenda including the 
media report below.]


Pacifica Radio Special Broadcast - Haiti in Crisis
Co-produced by Democracy Now!, the WBAI Haiti Show and Flashpoints

Sunday, Feb. 29, 2004 7-9 PM EST (see broadcast schedule below)

With the resignation of Haitian President Aristide, the order of US 
Marines to Haiti, protests in the US and allegations of US involvement 
in what some call a coup, Pacifica Radio continues its special coverage 
of the crisis in Haiti.

Live Real Audio Stream (of the first hour) will be available - see
http://www.democracynow.org/
Click on the Live Stream link or Haiti Under Siege in the left column
Both hours can be streamed from http://www.kpfa.org

(Archived MP3, Real Audio and Ogg Vorbis formats of the first hour will 
also be linked from theHaiti Under Siege page:
http://www.democracynow.org/static/haiti.shtml )

The program will be produced live from 7-9 PM Eastern US Time, and will 
be carried live on the following Pacifica Stations:
WBAI 99.5 FM New York 7-9 PM EST
KPFT 90.1 FM Houston 89.5 FM Galveston (6-8 PM Central Time)
KPFA 94.1 FM Berkeley  (4-6 PM Pacific Time)
KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles (4-6 PM Pacific Time)

The show will be broadcast later on
WPFW 89.3 FM Washington, DC 10 PM - Midnight EST

Any Pacifica Affiliate station is welcome to carry this program live or 
to record it or take the mp3 for later rebroadcast.  Contact your local 
station and tell them that the broadcast will occur from 7 - 9 pm EST, 
on the Pacifica K-U satellite, Left Channel, and that the 
broadcast-quality MP3 (of the first hour) will also be available.  Also 
note that the programs are two STAND-ALONE hours.

===
United States, France ... violate one ... international norm ... invoke 
... humanitarian intervention in a sovereign nation.

the US and other nations must bear the burden ... to put Haiti right.

France and the United States ... work together ... Both are former 
masters of Haiti, and can take ... historical responsibility for not 
leaving behind a civic-minded society.

+++

    


Who Failed Haiti, Who Builds It

Commentary > The Christian Science Monitor's View
from the March 01, 2004 edition
http://www.csmonitor.com/commentary/index.html

Helping to shoo a duly elected president from his country doesn't always 
support the global expansion of democracy.

But then, by diplomatically nudging Haitian President Jean-Bertrand 
Aristide into exile, the United States, France, and other nations had to 
violate one old international norm in order in invoke a relatively new 
one: humanitarian intervention in a sovereign nation.

The big nudge to oust Mr. Aristide on Sunday helped avoid a potential 
blood bath in Latin America's poorest and most troubled nation. Rebels 
with nasty human rights records were poised to take over the capital, 
while the elected opposition was united in seeking his removal. It 
appeared that the elected leader the US militarily put back in power a 
decade ago after a military coup would soon be out of power one way or 
another. By not rescuing him and saying his time was up, the US 
essentially gave a green light to toppling him. Aristide then cut, and 
cut cleanly.

Now, having taken this drastic step, the US and other nations must bear 
the burden of trying to put Haiti right. The task could make 
nation-building in Iraq seem like a Caribbean breeze. During much of the 
20th century, Haitians defied most outside reform.

And since the politically paranoid Aristide filled almost every 
government post with ardent supporters who've also probably bolted, the 
country is in a political vacuum and needs order, fast.

The good news is that France and the United States seemed to work 
together on this latest global trouble spot, despite their differences 
over Iraq that split the United Nations. Both are former masters of 
Haiti, and can take some historical responsibility for not leaving 
behind a civic-minded society.

But the biggest blame for this crisis lies with Aristide himself who, 
despite his populist rhetoric of uplifting Haiti's poor, let them down 
by his inability to share power and to bring about reforms. In the end, 
he overthrew himself by not living up to his professed ideals.




"[C]apital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and 
dirt."
--Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, Chapter 31

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