Another Haiti is Possible

"Three years after the earthquake of January 12, 2010, Haiti paused last month to remember and reflect."

Tèt Kole Ti Peyizan Ayisyen (Heads Together Small Producers of Haiti), Pati KAN Pep la (the People’s Camp Party), MODEP, FRAKKA, SEK GRAMSCI, FDDPA, RPS, FGPB, GREPS *

Port-au-Prince, February 18^th, 2013

Buenos Aires

January 28, 2013

Argentine Workers’ Central Union(CTA)

Press Release

In the framework of the People’s Summit [Cumbre de los Pueblos], which took place in Santiago, Chile from January 25-27, social movements and organizations, among them the CTA, called on the governments that are part of the Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) to remove all of MINUSTAH’s [The United Nations Mission for the Stabilization of Haiti] military troops from Haiti.

A delegation representing the Dominican organizations COOPHABITAT, CODECOC, and the Red Urbana Popular spent a week in Haiti on a solidarity visit for exchange, discussion, and to help further propel the Haitian right to housing movement towards a viable alternative. During their stay, the delegation met with various Haitian organizations including the Collective to Defend the Right to Housing, and visited Grace Village and Mega 4, two displacement camps in Port-au-Prince. The delegation was lead by Pedro Franco, the Coordinator of the International Alliance of Inhabitants for Latin America and the Caribbean, Coordinator of the Zero Evictions Campaign and director of COOPHabitat (the Cooperative for Social Housing and Habitat Production) in the Dominican Republic. On January 12, 2013, the anniversary of the Haiti earthquake, the delegation celebrated a Bi-National Day of Solidarity and Struggle with displaced Haitians and grassroots groups.

Today, February 7th, 2013, marks the anniversary of the fall of the brutal Duvalier regime in 1986. Former dictator, "Baby Doc" Jean-Claude Duvalier, who for 15 years succeeded his father "Papa Doc" Duvalier, returned to Haiti in January 2011 and was promptly charged with corruption, embezzlement, murder, torture, exile, arbitrary detention and destruction of private property.

In January 2012, a judge ruled that Duvalier would not face charges of crimes against humanity and would stand trial only for financial crimes. Survivors and victim's families' formally requested for that decision to be overturned, and a court hearing today will determine whether or not Duvalier will indeed face trial for the crimes against humanity committed during his dictatorship.

With the following appeal to mobilize, Haitian social movements plan to protest in front of the courthouse

Today, the Haitian Collective to Defend the Right to Housing commemorates the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Titanyen, the site of the earthquake’s mass graves.

January 11, 2013
Haitian Collective to Defend the Right to Housing

It has been three years since falling rubble, bits of concrete, iron bars, and collapsing walls killed countless courageous women and men while they were at work, at school, in their homes or on the streets. In less than one minute, we lost many beautiful people – people filled with love, whose hearts were filled with hope. We lost elders, children, youth, academics, professionals, factory workers, peasants, and vendors. They were lost. We lost them.

Today, we have come to Titanyen where so many of their bodies lay in mass graves, to ask ‘Where have they gone?’ What have we done with their memories, their stories, their suffering?

Cross-posted from the Canada Haiti Action Network

Statement by the Canada Haiti Action Network, January 7, 2013

Billions of dollars of aid to Haiti have been pledged or spent following the devastating earthquake on January 12, 2010. Yet three years later, life remains very harsh for many of the country’s ten million people. Haiti’s prospects for post-earthquake progress remain exceptionally challenging.

December 10, 2012

On the 64^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we call on the international community to act against the human rights abuses taking place in Haiti in the form of arbitrary and illegal forced evictions.

Cross-Referenced from potofi.org

A comprehensive field progress report, “Beyond Shock: Charting the Post-Quake Landscape of Sexual Violence in Haiti – Progress, Challenge and Emerging Trends,’ is being presented today in Haiti by the PotoFanm+Fi Haiti post-quake coalition (Women and Girls Pillar inKreyol). The Beyond Shock report charts advances in addressing gender-based violence (GBV) and providing services to sexual violence victims across key sectors of the reconstruction. It provides updates from over 60 agencies and field providers, and offers profiles of grassroots leaders. It was written by author and journalist Anne-christine d’Adesky and includes a foreword by Haitian author Edwidge Danticat and a visual essay on Girls in Haiti by photographer Nadia Todres.

The report is attached in pdf form at the bottom of this article. 

Cross-posted from the Institute for Public Accuracy

by Brian Concannon [email], via Nicole Phillips [email], and our own Alexis Erkert, [in Haiti] [email]

Our own Alexis Erkert gives a detalied response to the question: Over 50 Dead in Haiti from Hurricane; Nearly 400,000 in Tents — Why?