For Independence, Democracy, Justice The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, in cooperation with the Haiti Support Network and other progressive forces inside the Haitian community, is initiating an emergency campaign in support of the Haitian people’s struggle for sovereignty and democracy, and in opposition to foreign occupation.
We urge you to join us in showing your support for the Haitian people. We must act now to show concrete expressions of solidarity. We will be sending urgently needed medicines to Haiti. The long-term need in Haiti is for the social and economic transformation of the island and for the Haitian people to be able to reclaim political and economic sovereignty over their country. People in the United States are making it crystal clear that the Haitian people do not stand alone. Two hundred years ago the Haitian people created what is now the second oldest republic in the Americas and the first free Black republic in the western hemisphere following the only successful slave insurrection in history.
The humanitarian catastrophe facing the Haitian people from Hurricane Jeanne
can only be understood in the political and social reality caused by IMF neo-liberal policies and the anti-people policies flowing from the U.S. coup that overthrew the democratically-elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Cuba, by contrast, because it has sovereign control over its economy and resources, has been directly hit by hurricanes in recent years but has prevented any major loss of life.
The Emergency Campaign to Support the Haitian People will include support for both political/educational mobilizations and for the shipment of urgently needed medicines to Haiti. It will also publicize the struggle of those in Haiti who are the victims of repression. The Emergency Campaign to Support the Haitian People (ECSHP) will act in solidarity with those in Haiti who are heroically building opposition to the foreign occupation and its proxy government. The Haitian people are refusing to return to colonial servitude and we must support their right to be the masters of their own destiny.
We urge everyone to support the Emergency Campaign by helping to organize
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank are also to blame for
accelerating the deforestation which contributed to the flood’s severity. For three decades, they have forced Port-au-Prince governments to follow neoliberal dictates to lower tariff barriers and grow cash crops.
These policies have ruined hundreds of thousands of Haitian farmers who have then migrated to the cities. They cook with charbon, or charcoal, which is half the weight and efficiency of wood. Peasants remaining on the land have turned to cutting down trees for charbon to fuel the growing cities.
These are the root causes of the disaster in Haiti, and in the weeks ahead we intend not just to send medicine but to organize events to make these root causes known and to support the democratic forces in Haiti working to change this status quo. Haiti’s rain-induced floods were devastating because the country has been already ravaged by a flood of cheap imports, weakened by coups and despair, and neglected by a greedy bourgeoisie intent only on its own enrichment, not its compatriots welfare.
Democracy is a prerequisite for the development that can result in better infrastructure, housing, irrigation, reforestation, and governmental disaster preparation and relief. By overthrowing the popularly elected government, Washington, Paris and the Haitian ruling class made this year’s disasters worse.
The Emergency Campaign to Support the Haitian People is an urgent effort to bring humanitarian relief, specifically medicine, to Haiti. Recognizing that today’s crisis in Haiti is the consequence of politics and policy, the Emergency Campaign to Support the Haitian People is also working to support those struggling for democracy and social justice.
Join in this effort in solidarity with the people of Haiti today. Mark your calendars for the December 5th rally in Solidarity in Haiti, and please help with urgently needed support by clicking here to make a donation today.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
http://www.ANSWERcoalition.com
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-533-0417
Los Angeles: 323-464-1636
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
For media inquiries, call 202-544-3389.
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