CANADA & HAITI
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Malaika Kambon 
To: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2004 10:20 AM
Subject: [unioNews] CANADA & HAITI


NEW AFRIKAN MILLENNIUM
11 MARCH 2004

Mr. Richmond did a Canada to Oakland, live, telephonic interview with BPP members
ERIKA HUGGINS & DAVID HILLIARD on 17 January 2004, the 35th anniversary of the
assassinations of BPP members John Huggins & ALPRENTICE 'Bunchy' Carter.

On 29 FEBRUARY 2004 Haiti's elected government was overthrown in a u.s.-French-
Canadian led coup d'etat.

Both the Black Panther Party & the democratically elected government of Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide were targeted by the combined counter-intelligence
programs of the u.s., Europe & Canada.  

m

Date:    Fri, 12 Mar 2004 02:12:19 -0500 (EST)
From:    [log in to unmask]  

OPINION
'Kick in teeth' for Haiti

CANADA & HAITI
By NORMAN (OTIS) RICHMOND

Toussaint L'OUVERTURE, Jean-Jacques DESSALINE and Henry CHRISTOPHE
must be turning over in their graves, given the current events in their beloved Haiti. The
Haitian nation is once again  feeling the thump of imperialism. This time the younger and
wilder brother of French imperialism has joined in the fray. U.S. imperialism is leading the
charge. Canada also has its hands on the knife attempting to get its slice of the Haitian pie.

Despite Canada's claim to a special relationship with Haiti through language and immigrant
family ties, Prime Minister Paul Martin acknowledged that his government had no direct
contact with President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the crucial two days before he left Haiti. 
This has left a bad taste in the mouths of many in Canada and the African world.

The African Canadian community and others have been critical of Martin because he is
perceived as moving too close to the Republican administration of U.S. President George
W. Bush. There is a long  history of Canadian Prime Ministers and U.S. Presidents clashing
over foreign policy. Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and President John F. Kennedy fought
like cats and dogs. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and President Richard Nixon locked horns
on many occasions.

Martin is perceived as moving closer to the position of Britain's Tony Blair and Australia's
John Howard. Blair and Howard are regarded as political poodles of President Bush. As Share
columnist Peter MADAKA pointed out: "Thanks to the complicity of the United States, Canada, 
The Organization of American States (OAS) and the United Nations, Haiti's democracy has been
successfully overthrown, more than 100 Haitians slaughtered and former drug dealers and death
squad commanders reinstated to power."

The leaders of the 15-nation Caribbean Community (CARICOM) who met in
Jamaica to discuss the crisis in Haiti are also questioning Martin.
Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham called his counterparts 
In the Bahamas, Jamaica and Barbados to explain Canada's position.

Pro-Aristide sentiments run high in Jamaica. The Observer, a leading
Jamaican newspaper, called Canada, the United States and France a 
"western troika" that allowed a coup to take place and gave "the democratic 
System a good, hard and painful kick in the teeth."

CARICOM has said that it won't provide troops for the U.N. peacekeeping
force to Haiti. The Caribbean countries also called for an independent
international inquiry, possibly under the auspices of the U.N., into 
The allegations that U.S. troops forced Aristide from office. Black elected
officials in the U.S. and the South African government have taken 
Similar positions.

Canada will send 450 troops to Haiti. Eleven hundred U.S. Marines, 500
French soldiers and 100 Chilean Special Forces will join these troops. 
The Canadian troops are scheduled to be in the Caribbean nation for 90 
days. There are serious concerns from many areas of the Canadian military
establishment on this issue. They feel that Canada has over-extended 
itstroops. Canada's Defence Minister David Pratt noted that Canada is 
scalingdown its presence in Bosnia and Afghanistan.

There are conflicting accounts of how Aristide ended up in the Central
African Republic. Aristide told African American leaders like Maxine
Waters, Jesse Jackson, Randall Robinson and Cynthia McKinney that he 
was kidnapped and forced out of office by the Americans and the French.
Canadian officials say they believe Washington's version of the story 
that Aristide voluntarily stepped down and left the country to head off
a bloody clash between his supporters and the rebels.

As the great New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra once said, "It's déjà 
vu all over again." Haiti's first leader Toussaint L'OUVERTURE like 
Aristide was forced/tricked into exile by his enemies. L'OUVERTURE 
was sent to France by the French and Aristide to Africa by the U.S. This
is the 33rd coup d'état in Haiti's 200-year history.

Current updates about the Haitian crisis can be found at http://www.haitiaction.net
For those who want to understand the roots of the crisis in Haiti, I recommend the
the book, Haiti A Slave Rebellion, which features writings about the Haitian 
revolution from Frederick Douglass, EDWIDGE DANTICAT, MUMIA ABU-JAMAL,
Ramsey Clark and others. This book documents 200 years of U.S. interventions, blockades,
invasions and occupations against the first successful slave revolution in history.  

Order from http://www.leftbooks.com.

Toronto-based journalist and radio producer Norman (Otis) Richmond can 
be heard on DIASPORIC Music, Thursdays 8 p.m. to 10 PM, Saturday 
morning Live, Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and From A Different Perspective,
Sundays, 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on CKLN-FM 88.1 and on the internet at
http://www.ckln.fm. He can be reached by phone at 416-595-5068 or by e-mail at
[log in to unmask] 

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-<html><A HREF="http://members.aol.com/GhanaUnion/afrohero.html">Ancestor Marcus Mosiah Garvey <i>(1887 - 1940)</i></A></html>
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