Call to Action: 3rd International Day in Solidarity with the People of Haiti

Call to Action – 3rd International Day in Solidarity with the People of Haiti!

Coordinated International Protests – Feb. 29, 2008 on the 4th anniversary of the US/French/Canadian Coup against Haiti

Issued by the Haiti Action Committee.

Ø 4 years after the Feb. 29, 2004 coup d’etat that overthrew the democratically-elected government of President Aristide…

Ø 4 years after US Special Forces kidnapped the President at gunpoint from his home, late at night, and flew him on a military plane to exile in Africa…

Ø 4 years after US Marines seized control of Haiti’s capital and installed a US-appointed coup regime…

** Haiti is still under foreign military occupation, by a UN force that replaced the Marines in June 2004. It is an occupation marked by rapes and wanton killings of the poor.

** Haiti faces hunger…unemployment…lack of public services – The situation, imposed by IMF/World Bank policies, has steadily worsened since the coup and occupation.

** Haiti’s jails are still filled with political prisoners – The poor majority still face political persecution, while the coup plotters & paramilitary death squads enjoy impunity.

Dear Sisters and Brothers, Friends of Haiti:

The United Nations forces in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and Haiti’s tiny elite – backed to the hilt by the US, France and Canada – continue their repression of the poor majority, targeting especially supporters of the Lavalas grassroots democracy movement. Although a new President Rene Preval was elected in 2006, most functionaries from the US-installed coup regime of 2004-06 remain in office today. And the reins of power remain effectively in the hands of the US Embassy and other foreign occupation forces.

Let us not forget that 200 years before the 2004 coup, Haitians rose up and overthrew both slavery and colonial rule. The Haitian Revolution was an earth-shattering development in the struggle for the emancipation of labor all over the world, and remains our shining example.

Now, when the enemies of freedom and sovereignty are attempting to re-colonize and re-enslave Haiti, we need to act in solidarity with our Haitian brothers and sisters, in the spirit of their resistance.

Call to Action – for each city to organize its own Haiti solidarity activity on or around Friday, February 29, 2008 – to be coordinated as a SINGLE WORLDWIDE MOBILIZATION. It could be a march, rally, public meeting, film showing, vigil, house meeting or civil disobedience in your town – whatever you are able to do – in support of the following demands.

We Demand:

* End the US/UN Occupation – Respect Haiti’s sovereignty
* Free the political prisoners – No more illegal arrests or prolonged detention without charges
* No more killings and sexual abuse of the poor by UN troops, police and paramilitaries under police control
* President Aristide must be free to return to Haiti – Respect the Haitian Constitution
* No more ‘disappearances’ – Work for the rule of law and the safe return of kidnapped Haitian human rights advocate Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine
* Launch an independent inquiry into the February 29, 2004 coup and forced removal of President Aristide
* Perpetrators of the coup and massacres of the poor must be brought to justice – Reparations for the victims

With your participation, we know we can make the 3rd Haiti Solidarity Day a success. This year’s call is being initiated by the Haiti Action Committee. Last year, on February 7th, the 2nd International Day in Solidarity with Haiti saw 75 actions in 62 cities on 5 continents – from South Africa, the Philippines, South America, to the Caribbean, Europe and North America, to Haiti, where nearly 200,000 took to the streets in 10 cities, demanding that Haiti’s sovereignty and democracy be respected. Let us make February 29th, 2008 even bigger.

Please tell us what activity you are planning for Friday, February 29, 2008 [or that weekend] in support of the people of Haiti, as part of Coordinated International Protests on the 4th anniversary of the 2004 coup in Haiti.

In Solidarity,

The February 29th Organizing Committee

Contact the Feb. 29th Organizing Committee at 510-847-8657 feb29@sonic.net

o Contact us if you would like to receive a DVD about Haiti under US/UN Occupation – including footage of UN massacres in Cite Soleil.

o Contact us if you would like to order some ‘3rd International Day in Solidarity with the Haitian People’ buttons (2-inch round).

o For more information, and for complete city-by-city reports on the 1st and 2nd International Days in Solidarity with the Haitian People on September 30, 2005 and February 7, 2007, go to the website of the Haiti Action Committee at www.haitisolidarity.net . More Haiti news and information can be found at www.haitiaction.net .

o Here are some of the cities that answered the Call for the 1st & 2nd International Days in Solidarity with Haiti, September 2005 and February 2007: Durban, South Africa…Rio de Janeiro, Brazil…Montreal, Quebec…Port-au-Prince, Haiti…San Francisco, Calif…Manila, Philippines…Mexico City…Miami, Florida…Georgetown, Guyana…Dublin, Ireland…Los Angeles, CA…Cap Haitien, Haiti…Boston, Mass…Cordoba & Buenos Aires in Argentina… Johannesburg, South Africa…New York City…Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic… Tuscon, Arizona…Vancouver, BC…Washington, DC…Puerto Cabello, Venezuela… Central Florida…Cochabamba, Bolivia…Detroit, Michigan…Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta…Lima, Peru…Jacksonville, Fla…London, England…Milwaukee, Wis…Atlanta, Ga…Point-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe…Fort de France, Martinique…Trinidad…Philadelphia, Pa…Ottawa, Canada… Minneapolis/St.Paul…Sacramento, Calif…Santiago, Chile…Tampa, Fla…Houston, Texas… Kinshasa, Congo…Sao Paulo and Brasilia in Brazil…Benin, West Africa…Les Cayes, Hinche and St. Marc in Haiti…Oslo, Norway…San Jose, Costa Rica…Newark, NJ…Joint statement of Haiti committees in France, Belgium and Switzerland…Dominica…Toronto and Windsor in Ontario…Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada…Portland, Oregon…Sydney, Tatamagouche, New Glasgow and Antigonish in Nova Scotia…San Diego, San Rafael, Richmond and San Jose in California…Portland, Maine…Huddleston, Virginia…Amherst and Greenfield, Mass…Gonaives and Port-de-Paix in Haiti…Columbus, Indiana…Columbia, Maryland…Fredericton, New Brunswick… Enterprise, Oregon… Halifax, Nova Scotia… Miragoane, Leogane and Jacmel in Haiti… Ekurhuleni in South Africa.

Add your city’s name to this growing circle of solidarity, by joining this 3rd International Day in Solidarity with the Haitian People on February 29, 2008.

Click here to see pictures of the event organised in solidarity with Haiti by Abahlali last year, here to read an interview with Jean-Bertrand Aristide, here to read Who Removed Aristide? by Paul Farmer and here to read Haitian Inspiration by Peter Hallward.