Hosted by Justin Podur
If it weren’t such serious business, the Committee for the Protection of Journalists’s little bulletin on Kevin Pina would elicit a wry chuckle.
It goes like this:
Editor’s note: The original text of this alert has been changed to clarify Pina’s relationship with Lavalas.
New York, September 12, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed concern at the arrest on Friday of a U.S. filmmaker and a Haitian reporter who were covering a police search in the capital
AP Reports that a Haitian judge ordered Kevin Pina and Jean Ristil released today without being charged.
Consider writing letters, though it might well be a ‘fool’s call’ as the writer of the alert (Marguerite Laurent I think) says. It’s a ‘fool’s call’ but there’s no alternative. And a lot of attention quickly does help…
———————————
Urgent Action Alert
(Please distribute widely)
Masked Haitian police took Kevin Pina and Jean Ristil away today.
Demand immediate release of Kevin Pina and Jean Ristil
Around 5:15 this afternoon the Haitian Lawyers Leadership received a call from Haiti telling us that Haitian police, from the Delma police station, in a car marked with licensed plate # 0879, had entered Father Jean Juste’s presbytery, and was searching it, “destroying the place and generally creating trauma” to the people who were at the church at the time of the police invasion. Apparently, the men had black masks on and were accompanied by an investigative judge to give the exercise a semblance of legality.
The people from the Church and in the area of the Church, fearing the police would plant some evidence against Father Jean Juste to justify his continued imprisonment, alerted us and as many journalists as they could reach.
A half-hour later, we got a call that Kevin Pina and Haitian journalist Jean Ristil where inside the presbytery, asking questions and recording event as they were unfolding. We listened to a recording made by a journalist inside the presbytery and beamed out for broadcast to Haitian radio in the Diaspora as the search and rampage was taking place and learned, practically as it was happening, that the Haitian police had put Kevin Pina under arrest. There were other journalist there but Kevin Pina was placed under arrest. We don’t know the charges.
Later, we learned that after their rampage through the church, both Kevin Pina and Haitian journalist Jean Ristil were put in the police car, both under arrest, taken away by the Haitian police.
Please sound the alarm. We all know that UN soldiers arrested Father Jean Juste. We know that the Haitian police are under the supervision of the UN soldiers in Haiti. More importantly, we know that the grassroots in Haiti, with their leadership dead, in prison or in exile, have declared the people of Haiti, of Site Soley, Bel Air, Cap Haitien, St. Marc, and throughout Haiti, will only go to these sham elections if the killings and arbitrary arrests stop, the political prisoners released, Latortue government resigns and the people in exile return. Obviously, the Coup D’etat contingent can’t allow Father Jean
Juste out of prison, and certainly the UN have shown how cheap Black Haitian life is.
Frankly, it’s a fool’s call to go to the UN for help to release Kevin Pina and Jean Ristil or any of the political prisoners being held by the government the UN helped to bring to power, supports and helps to carry out its repressions, killings and arbitrary arrests. There’s enough evidence and U.N. history in Haiti, since the Coup D’etat, that underlines the U.N. are indeed complicit in the arrests and mayhem in Haiti. (See, the Harvard Report, Small Arms report, Miami Law Center Report, Amnesty International Reports) however, what’s the choice? UN talking heads, like Juan Valdes and Kofi-(n) Annan, say publicly they are in Haiti to bring peace and security. Let them know we know that they know the only way to bring more peace and security to Haiti is to stop the killings, to stop all arbitrary arrests including the current arrests of white American journalist, Kevin Pina and Haitian journalist Jean Ristil, to release the political prisoners including Father Gerard Jean Juste, to facilitate the departure of the Latortue government and the return of the Haitians in exile – those would be concrete and positive UN actions in accordance with international laws of justice, the UN charter, OAS Charter, the Haitian Constitution and the Geneva Convention, all of which acknowledges a nations right to sovereignty, self-reliance, dignity and self-determination.
Call, fax and write MINUSTHA in Haiti and the UN headquarters in NY and
in Geneva. Remind them of their legal duties as a world body for peace,
justice and human rights. Remind them of the people of Haiti’s 5-points: the only real foundation for the restoration of peace and security to Haiti.
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/law/5_pointsgrassroots.html
Sound the alarm to stop the arrest, torture or even murder of
journalists Kevin Pina and Jean Ristil by this UN/US death regime
brought to Haiti.
Contact information is below and on our website at
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/contactinformation/un-intl-contacts.html
Marguerite Laurent, Esq.
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network
September 9, 2005
Dear U.N. officials and Amnesty International
To: pereira17@un.org, kongo-doudou@un.org, beer@un.org,
cisse-gouro@un.org, fagart@un.org, inquiries@un.org, BanksD@state.gov,
presidentga58@un.org, president@whitehouse.gov, ngochr@ohchr.org
CC: louborda@delbrasonu.org, argentina@un.int, chile@un.int,
chinamission_un@fmprc.gov.cn, france@un.int, canada@un.int,
prnce@international.gc.ca, puechguirbal@un.org,
KonareAO@africa-union.org, embassy@haiti.org, kerryp@state.gov
Subject: Urgent: Release journalist Kevin Pina and Jean Ristil
(Fax and telephone numbers of UN representative in Haiti are on our
website at: )
*
For CANADA: Contact information for UN Officials and Canadian Members
of Parliament
Urgent: Help Prevent Further Massacres in Haiti! – Letter to UN
officials
Dear U.N. officials and Canadian Members of Parliament
To: valdesj@un.org, suzukia@un.org, inquiries@un.org,
urgent-action@ohchr.org, pereira17@un.org, Martin.P@parl.gc.ca,
mcdonough.a@parl.gc.ca, Pettigrew.P@parl.gc.ca, laytoj@parl.gc.ca,
Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca
CC: medili@un.org, christian.do.rosario@undp.org,
amadou.kamara@fao.org, agonzalezregueral@unicef.org,
bonnevaubea@hai.ops-oms.org, Mamadou.mbaye@wfp.org,
kizito.bishikwabo.nsarhaza@undp.org, clavijo@unfpa.org,
marched@imf.org, roelandk@unopsmail.org, allenc@un.org, andy@acn2.net,
szejnera@un.org, banciu@un.org, bmalebranche@unicef.org,
buescher@un.org, bonnevauxbea@hai.ops-oms.org, cecchinir@un.org,
duvalrobert2003@yahoo.fr, elise.benoit@wfp.org, emilioc@iadb.org,
fanfanmel@yahoo.fr, fondpaixdev@hotmail.com, girardengo@un.org,
glherisson@yahoo.fr, goodsamtan@hotmail.com, ji.espinal@unesco.org,
joclau61@hotmail.com, machieng@iom.int, marcher@usaid.gov,
mouillefarine@un.org, msff-port-aux-princes@paris.msf.org,
myrlandeplb@yahoo.fr, paulgmagloire@aol.com, pccraig2004@yahoo.com,
rune.skinnebach@cec.eu.int
Subject: Urgent: Release journalist Kevin Pina and Jean Ristil
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Call and write the United Nations: 212-963-4879, presidentga58@un.org
*
UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
PHONE: 011.509.244.9650.9660
FAX: 011.509.244.9366/67
Or, Fax, Office of General Secretary (New York) – 212.963.4879
Hon. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General
United Nations
United Nations Headquarters
First Avenue at 46th Street
New York, NY 10017
inquiries@un.org; press office: (509) 510-2563 ext. : 6343
Ambassador Anne Patterson
Acting Permanent U.S. representative to the United Nations:
212-415-4050 or Peggy Kerry: kerryp@state.gov
Bacre Waly Ndiaye
Director-New York Office of the UN Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights
ph: 212-963-1583 or 212-963-5930
fax: 212-963-3463
Louise Arbour
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
ph: 41-22-917-9000
fax: 41-22-917-9011
email: ngochr@ohchr.org
Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Fax: 41 22 917 9006
email: urgent-action@ohchr.org
*
Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General
Juan Gabriel Valdés
United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
385, Ave. John Brown, Bourdon, B.P. 557,
Port-au-Prince, Haiti (W.I.)
Fax: +509 244 3512
Special Representative Valdés
Head of Human Rights Division
Thierry Fagart
Human Rights Division, MINUSTAH
385, Ave. John Brown, Bourdon, B.P. 557
Port-au-Prince, Haiti (W.I.)
Fax: +509 244 9366
+509 244 9367
*
Fax No. (212) 963-4879
Hon. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General
United Nations
United Nations Headquarters
First Avenue at 46th Street
New York, NY 10017
*************************************
Additional contact information:
Ambassador
Embassy of the Republic of Haiti
2311 Massachusetts Ave.NW.
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 745 7215
Email: embassy@haiti.org
U.S. Charge D’affairs, Timothy Carney
United States Embassy
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Telephones: 011-509-223-4711, or 222-0200 or 0354
Fax: 011-509-223-1641 or 9038
Email to Dana Banks, Human Rights Officer:
BanksD@state.gov
___________
Canadian Ambassador to Haiti, Claude Boucher
Embassy of Canada
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Telephone: 011-509- 249-9000
Fax: 011-509-249-9920
Email: prnce@international.gc.ca
________________________________________________
Ambassador of France in Haiti, M. Yves GAUDEUL
Embassy of France
51 place des Héros de l’Indépendance – BP 312
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Telephone: 011-509-222-0952
Fax : 011-509-223 5675
cc: Fax or send copies to:
Fax. No. 011-509-245-0474
Me. Henri Dorlèans
Ministre de la Justice et de la Sècuritè Publique
Ministère de la Justice
19 Avenue Charles Sumner
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
*
General Director of the Haiti National Police
Mario Andresol
Directeur Général de la Police Nationale d’Haïti
Grand Quartier Générale la Police
12 rue Oscar Pacot, Port-au-Prince, Haiti (W.I.)
Fax: 011-509 245 7374
*
Prime Minister
Gérard Latortue
Ministère de l’Intérieure, Villa d’Accueil, Delmas 60
Musseau, Port-au-Prince, HAITI (W.I.)
Fax: +509 298 3901
Salutation: Monsieur le Premier Ministre/Dear Prime Minister
Minister of Justice and Public Security
I just posted this piece to ZNet:
Jesse Jackson and Bruce Gordon are just two of many high-profile Black leaders who have expressed indignation at the description of those displaced by Hurricane Katrina as ‘refugees’. ‘It is just wrong’, Jackson said, ‘they are citizens displaced by a disaster’.
After 9/11, 2001, some victims of war and of bombing campaigns wondered, in writing, whether the experience of being bombed would increase America’s empathy towards the rest of the world.
There was, of course, no single response of America to 9/11. It did increase the empathy of some Americans and caused many to question the relationship of the US to the rest of the world. But the net effect was to accelerate the march towards militarism and to strengthen, rather than weaken, the idea that America was different from the rest of the world. The ‘War on Terror’ was launched, and it featured bombing Afghanistan, a country full of internally displaced people long before 2001 – those people were referred to as ‘refugees’ in the media. It featured domestic legislation that tightened borders and deported international migrants – some of whom were referred to as ‘immigrants’, others as ‘refugees’. It featured support for Israel in its own military campaigns against the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza, many of whom were refugees, though they weren’t referred to that way. And ultimately, it featured the invasion and occupation of Iraq, which turned much of the population of Fallujah, among other places, into internally displaced people who, when they are referred to at all, are referred to as ‘refugees’.
Nationalism in America did not come from 9/11. It was forged over hundreds of years of conquest of indigenous territories, a process of growth into the greatest power on the continent and then in the world. Racism was built into the ideology from the start, but it was complex as well. Within America, there was a hierarchy that left Black people at the bottom – first slaves, then second- or third-class citizens. But there were also those who were outside America: non-citizens, or to use the legal term, aliens. These people too were victimized by racism, of a xenophobic sort. So there have been two different kinds of racism, and they play out differently. Tragedies bring out the best and the worst in communities. After 9/11 there were many tales of heroism and self-sacrifice in saving lives, and there are countless such tales about Katrina as well. But after 9/11 elites sponsored a cruel nationalism, an impulse first to blame foreigners, and then to strike out at them, expel them, and bomb them. With Katrina, there was no foreigner to blame, only poor and Black people who needed evacuation, water, food, and resources to repair their lives. The government’s response to Katrina was a different kind of racism: not hatred of foreigners, but contempt and utter disregard for Black people’s lives, and for the extraordinary city they had made.
If 9/11 showed Americans the horrors of being bombed, after Katrina many Americans have the experience of being displaced. The horrific scenes of refugee camps that are the lot of millions of people in different parts of the world are on display in America. Americans also have the experience of a government that is unable or unwilling to help them or protect them, a government that is arbitrary and violent and unresponsive. For Black Americans this isn’t new, but it is also much more stark than it has been in a very long time. It seems that the American government is treating Black Americans on the Gulf Coast with the contempt that it normally reserves for the citizens of other countries. After decades of struggle and sacrifice for the right to be full American citizens, Black people are being treated like the rest of the world is treated – as problems to be solved as cheaply as possible, not fellow citizens and human beings with dignity.
Are Jackson and Brown right, then, in bristling when they hear Black Americans referred to as ‘refugees’?
The reason the term ‘refugee’ has a stigma attached is not because of what the refugee is – it isn’t like the label ‘criminal’, for example – but because of how the refugee is treated. A refugee is someone who is kicked around, disregarded, made invisible, someone with no protection and nowhere to go for help. Someone who, in other words, is being treated as those who have been displaced by Katrina have been treated. Calling them ‘refugees’ is accurate: treating them that way – or treating any human being that way – is unconscionable.
The idea that America is unable to bring its awesome wealth and power to bear to save its own citizens or one of its major cities is one that is shocking to the rest of the world. But beneath that shock there is also a glimmer of hope – hope that, before it is too late for all of us, the idea that Americans rate more than non-Americans will disappear.
Hope that the idea might arise that ‘citizens’ and ‘refugees’ deserve the same treatment.
Jesse Jackson and Bruce Gordon are just two of many high-profile Black leaders who have expressed indignation at the description of those displaced by Hurricane Katrina as ‘refugees’. ‘It is just wrong’, Jackson said, ‘they are citizens displaced by a disaster’.
After 9/11, 2001, some victims of war and of bombing campaigns wondered, in writing, whether the experience of being bombed would increase America’s empathy towards the rest of the world.
The Green Day video, ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’, is on heavy rotation on MuchMusic (Canada’s music video channel). I suppose we all see in these things what we want to, but I find it a very compelling little story about the evil nature of the occupation of Iraq from the point of view of a typical US recruit, and the song is playing in my head…
An amazing piece by Jordan Flaherty of Left Turn.
[GUEST BLOG BY MANDISI MAJAVU]
The other night, the KZN Society of the Arts Gallery invited me to share a panel with Thembinkosi Goniwe — one of the foremost leading art curators in the country, to discuss art and activism in South Africa. It was an exciting exchange.
Below are some of the points that I argued around that night.
As we celebrate 10 years of democracy in South Africa, mainstream intellectuals and critics constantly reminds everyone that we now need to move away from the race question. We are told class analysis is the useful intellectual tool if one is serious about understanding South African society.
In the “art-world”, as Goniwe has argued somewhere, critics dismiss black artist’s work as predictable, monotonous, exhausted, and that black artists are accused of not wanting to go beyond the “comfort zone” of what they have explored over the past ten years.
What is it that makes economists and white critics who can be categorized as progressive not want to acknowledge, and therefore, give legitimacy to the continuing and the necessary race struggle in South Africa?
bell books, an African-American feminist, has this to say about this phenomenon: “Critics who passively absorb white supremacist thinking, and therefore never notice or look at black people on the streets, at their jobs, who render us invisible with their gaze in all areas of daily life, are not likely to produce liberatory theory that will challenge racist domination, or to promote a breakdown in traditional ways of seeing and thinking about reality.”
What bell hooks is saying is that it is silly of us black people to expect white critics to compliment us on “subject-matters” we decide to explore. Instead, we should expect the kind of debilitating criticism that white critics are ever ready to dish out every time we mention race.
If one looks at the South African social movements today, one finds that the word racism to the people in these movements is a taboo. There are a lot of reasons behind this. One reason is ideology. Another reason is the factor of donors. In most cases, donors and ideology tend to go hand-in-hand.
The same logic applies to artists. Artists find themselves compelled to produce what sells. Economic pressure is real for artists, especially black artists in South Africa. As a result of these economic pressures, most artists are forced to make sure that their way of looking at reality corresponds with market forces. And right now the market forces do not really appreciate anything that explores the social construction of race in the new South Africa. This is why we have to applaud those artists who continue to explore this terrain in spite of economic pressures.
In the South African context, it would be foolish of us to ignore race. Given our economic present situation which is informed and shaped by race, it is only honest and it is necessary to address race issues.
I am appalled by what is happening in the South, but I am also surprised. I have always believed that states do well during emergencies. Day-to-day, they maintain an order based on injustice and exclusion, but during urgent crises, I assume they act to restore that order. I also assumed that an empire has difficulty bringing its brand of order to colonies because it is difficult when the population is against you, but at home, where there is legitimacy, such efforts are easier.
How not to cheapen the impact of the calamities by adding words? A horrible day in which a mortar attack on a religious procession led to hundreds of deaths, days in which hurricanes and floods led to hundreds of deaths.