A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
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Haiti's people don't need occupying armies; they “deserve a massive human response to their material needs, and they deserve solidarity in their struggle to regain national self-determination.” Join the Black is Back Coalition this weekend for a National Mobilization in Defense of Haiti. “A free and independent Haiti can only rise under the democratic direction of Haitians, themselves – not under the guns of U.S. neocolonialism.”
The U.S. Ain't No “Model”: Defend Haiti in Miami, February 20
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
“Make our response to Haiti’s humanitarian and political crisis a model of solidarity.”
The United States ambassador to Haiti is claiming that the U.S. military takeover of that stricken nation is a “model” for American behavior in the world. If so, then the world is in great trouble. Let’s make our response to Haiti’s humanitarian and political crisis a model of solidarity with the victims of natural and man-made catastrophe. On Saturday, February 20, join with the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, in Miami, Florida for a National Mobilization in Defense of Haiti. Haiti doesn’t need a U.S. or United Nations occupying army. Her proud and long suffering people deserve a massive human response to their material needs, and they deserve solidarity in their struggle to regain national self-determination. Haiti’s future must be shaped by her own people, not by the occupiers that stole her independence, banned her most popular political party, exiled her president, massacred her most dedicated community activists, and laid her economy naked to foreign exploitation.
Haiti's dignity must be restored, along with her ability to feed, house, clothe and govern her own people. Join with the Black is Back Coalition on Saturday, February 20, in Miami, to declare that solidarity with Haiti does not come out of the barrel of U.S. guns. Demand all U.S. troops out of Haiti, and the return of President Jean Bertrand Aristide. A free and independent Haiti can only rise under the democratic direction of Haitians, themselves – not under the guns of U.S. neocolonialism.
“Haiti’s future must be shaped by her own people, not by the occupiers.”
The Americans pile one crime against Haiti upon another, and then try to justify their illegal occupations on humanitarian grounds, while calling themselves benefactors and role models. What hypocrites and nation-stealers! The U.S. and France owe Haiti billions in reparations for their raw thievery of Haitian national resources, revenues and rights over centuries and to the present day. On February 20, in Miami, demand that the debt be paid, so that Haiti can be rebuilt along its own model, for the benefit of the Haitian people.
Washington claims to have Haitian interests at heart, but makes Haitian refugees persona non grata on U.S. soil – because they are Black and proud. The Black is Back Coalition demands that Haitians be treated the same as Cubans when seeking entrance to the United States. The U.S. pretends to be a model, but it is a model of racism. If Washington has empathy for Haitian poverty, then it should stop charging an $80 fee for Haitians to apply for Temporary Protective Status in the U.S.
Haiti owes the United States nothing, and never has. It is the U.S. and France that owe Haiti. The least that the Obama administration can do is to cause the World Bank and other financial institutions that it controls to erase Haiti's debts, and remove all restrictions on trade and aid to Haiti.
If Washington truly wants Haiti to recover from the earthquake, it must get its boot off Haiti's neck. Join the Black is Back Coalition on Saturday, February 20, in Miami, in Defense of the Haitian people. For more information, go to www.blackisbackcoalition.org.
For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford.
Contact stpeteinpdum@yahoo.com or (727) 821-6620 for information on the National Mobilization in Defense of Haiti, or go to www.blackisbackcoalition.org.
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