Cash for… What?

Do cash-for-work programs help “the recovery”? Is it a good thing that the sidewalks are jammed with people selling mostly imported goods and cast-off clothing and shoes from overseas? And what lurks behind the comments of Clinton and Ban?

by Ayiti Kale Je/Haiti Grassroots Watch/Haïti Veedor
November 8, 2010

Since the January 12 earthquake, multilateral agencies and humanitarian organizations have deployed across Haiti with “cash-for-work” programs, employing tens of thousands.

Taken together, these agencies and “non-governmental organizations” or NGOs – the term is a misnomer, since many are direct subcontractors of the US and other governments – are likely Haiti’s largest employer. [...]

Read the report and watch the video:
http://haitigrassrootswatch.squarespace.com/haiti-grassroots-watch-engli/2010/11/8/cash-for-what.html

NYC, 11/20: U.S. Out of Haiti – Clinton Out of Harlem

Join us for a Day of Outrage in Harlem

PROTEST RALLY, MARCH ACROSS 125TH STREET, TEACH-IN, FILM & PANEL:
“VOICES OF HAITIANS ON FUTURE OF HAITI”

WHERE IS THE MONEY FOR HAITI? Under US military occupation former President Bill Clinton serves as Special UN Envoy to Haiti and co-chair of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC): Life and death struggles intensify for millions of Haitians: cholera epidemic & 1.5 million still homeless!! And in Harlem Clinton Renews Lease for penthouse office in 55 W. 125th St: More Predatory Real Estate, Gentrification & Displacement!

Schedule of Activities
12 Noon to 1:30 PM: Rally Against former President Bill Clinton directly across from penthouse office 55 West 125th St. (Between Lenox & 5th Avenues.)

1:30 - 2 PM: March across 125th to Old Broadway: St. Mary's Church: 516 West 126th Street (Amsterdam & Old Broadway)

2 - 5 PM: Teach-in on Haiti at St. Mary's : Speakers include Omali Yeshitela (Chair of Black is Back); Glen Ford (Executive Editor of Black Agenda Report); Nellie Hester Bailey (Harlem Tenants Council); Ashley Smith (International Socialist Review); Kim Ives (Editor of Haiti Liberte: Back from Haiti Report); Activist/Organizer Ray LaForest; others to be announced.

7 – 9 PM: EVENING ACTIVITY: Maysles Cinema: 343 Lenox Avenue (128th & 127th): Film & “Voices of Haitians on the Future of Haiti” with Roger Leduc ( KAKOLA: Haitian Coalition to Support the Struggle in Haiti); Marquez Osson (WBAI Radio, "Haiti: The Struggle Continues"); Activist/Organizer Ray LaForest; Colette Pean (December 12th Movement); other TBA. Reception to follow.

For more information contact Harlem Tenants Council: email: harlemtenants@gmail.com or 646-812-5188 or visit website: http://harlemtenantscouncil.org or http://blackisbackcoalition.org (Telephone:202-681-7040 )

Petition to End Violence Against Students and Teachers in Haiti

This petition is in response to a call for international solidarity sent out by the executive committee of a coalition of education organizations in Haiti after the police killing of a protesting teacher, and signed on Oct. 11, 2010, by the coordinators of the coalition François Mario, CNEH (teachers' union), Eugène Jean, UPEPH (parents' organization), and Josué Mérilien, UNNOH (teachers' union).

In signing, you will be standing in solidarity with teachers, students, and parents in Port-au-Prince who are organizing for schooling for Haitian children abandoned by the education system, and for decent living and working conditions for teachers and students.

"WE DEMAND AN END TO THE VIOLENCE AGAINST TEACHERS AND STUDENTS IN HAITI!"
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/haitisolidarity/

Citizen Protests, Government Repression Mount in Haiti

by Beverly Bell, Huffington Post
October 19, 2010

"I came to protest so we can find a solution. Misery is killing me," said Mascarie Sainte-Anne, 70, at the edge of a rally in front of Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive's office on October 12.

Haitians have been taking to the streets with increasing frequency since August in calls for redress of the economic and social crisis which has followed the earthquake. The social movements' demands of the government include the right of those living in internally displaced people's camps to permanent, humane housing; accessible education; and an increase in minimum wage. Rallies have also protested the continued presence of the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti, or MINUSTAH. [...]

Read the full article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beverly-bell/citizen-protests-governme_b_766360.html

Beyond Wyclef: What Haitians Want From Elections

“I see the elections of November 28 as an injustice to the population who are victims of the earthquake of January 12. This money [from the campaign] could be used to help people who are in difficulty."

Beverly Bell, Toward Freedom
October 18, 2010

We asked dozens of Haitians from different social sectors how they felt about the November 28 elections, and what they want or expect from a new government. Here are some of their responses. [...]

Read the full article:
http://www.towardfreedom.com/home/americas/2147-beyond-wyclef-what-haitians-want-from-electio

Equality and Rights for All Workers – The Key to Organizing Unions

Organizing immigrant workers is not a matter of taking pity on the downtrodden. It requires us to understand what is necessary for the survival of our communities, of our labor movement.

by David Bacon, Monthly Review and Americas Program
October 11, 2010

When I was a union organizer, I had an experience that dramatized for me the importance of the cultural and historical traditions that immigrants from Mexico bring with them when they come to the United States, and how they affect the way people organize.

I was working for the United Electrical Workers, one of the most progressive U.S. unions. We were contacted by workers at a huge sweatshop, Cal Spas. Unhappy with low wages and abusive conditions, they began to organize a union. Then the head of the workers’ organizing committee was beaten up in the middle of the street in front of the plant. It was an obvious effort to scare the workers and make them stop organizing. [...]

Read the full article:
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/3319

Food Shortage in Haiti

CNN
August 16, 2010

TV Link's Claire Doole visits Haiti's drought-stricken Central Plateau, where farmers struggle to feed more mouths.

Watch the video:
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/international/2010/08/16/wv.haiti.food.security.cnn