Open World Conference of Workers

In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights

International Liaison Committee for a Workers International (ILC)
P.O. Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140.
Tel. (415) 641-8616; fax: (415) 824-1027.
Email: ilcinfo@earthlink.net
website: ILC section in www.owcinfo.org
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1) Call for Third Caribbean Conference (Port au Prince, Haiti -- Dec. 12-13, 2008)

2) Open Letter from Activists in HAITI to Barack Obama (Oct. 31, 2008)

3) On Eve of UN Security Council Vote, Haitians Demand International Aid, Not Tanks and Occupation!

4) Letter from CATH union federation inviting to Dec. 12-13 Conference in Haiti

5) Haiti After 4 Hurricanes: International Solidarity Appeal from the CATH union federation (with intro by OWC co-coordinators)

6) HAITI / Oct. 10 Actions: YES to International Assistance, NO to Occupation! (with intro by OWC co-coordinators)

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1) Appeal for the Third Caribbean Conference
December 12-13, 2008
in Port au Prince, Haiti

"To Defend HAITI is to Defend Ourselves!"

The sovereignty of nations and the peoples' struggle for peace against wars and military occupations, the catastrophic consequences of "free trade" agreements, and the question of trade union independence have all taken center stage in the past few years on the American continent as on other continents.

In the Americas, U.S. imperialist policy manifests itself through the increasing number of U.S. bases, the support given to intolerable interventions such as the attack against Ecuador led by the Colombian government and the attempts at destabilizing nations by mounting coups against their governments.

This U.S. imperialist policy is carried out for the benefit of multinational corporations and is aimed at thwarting by force the fight put up by the workers and the peoples who, as in Venezuela, Bolivia or Mexico, are struggling to keep under their control their production, resources and national wealth, particularly their oil.

In the Caribbean, this policy, which is implemented with the sole purpose of boosting the profits of the capitalists and the big multinational corporations entails:

- restrictions on the free movement of workers and peoples from one country of the Caribbean to another country in the Caribbean;

-l the enforcement of "free trade" agreements and the adoption by the U.S. Congress of laws that ruin countries, such as the Hope Law, in countries such as the Dominican Republic and Haiti; Š

- the continuation of the U.S. embargo and attempts at destabilizing Cuba;

- the preservation of French domination and colonial oppression in Guadeloupe and Martinique, and the interference of the European Union, in particular, to destroy agricultural production in these countries;

- the attempts at subjugating the workers by means of class collaboration involving the labor unions, especially through the Caribbean Social Forum, and also by resorting to repression (police custody, trials, imprisonments) against the activists, trade unions and political organizations defending the workers.

There is, however, one country that has to suffer this aggressive imperialist policy which destroys nations, ruthlessly exploits workers and seeks to starve the whole people in an utterly ignominious manner, with the complicity of a 9,000 strong foreign army of occupation called MINUSTAH. This country is Haiti.

In this country, as in 37 other countries, a few months ago, hundreds of thousands of men and women who had nothing left to eat took to the streets and took part in what has been called starvation riots. The occupying forces did not hesitate to shoot at the crowd: six people were killed and hundreds of demonstrators were wounded.

This country is Haiti, with its 8 million inhabitants, where 60% of active workers are unemployed, where 80% of the population live below the poverty line, where life expectancy has now fallen to 50 years of age, where the infant mortality rate is 80 deaths per 1,000 live births, while it is 4 per 1,000 in France and 7 per 1,000 in Cuba, the island next door.

This country is Haiti, where corruption, violence, abductions are to be found everywhere, at every moment.

This country is Haiti, where the people not only have to put up with low wages, privatizations, and barely any public services, etc Š but also have to suffer the pillage of the scarce resources of the country, organized by the IMF and the World Bank, demanding the payment of the foreign debt, which was contracted by Duvalier and other dictators like him, and by them alone. The Haitian State will have to pay back US$58.2 million in 2008, $9 million in 2009, which means that $1 million go up in smoke each week while the people are dying of starvation.

In consequence, confronted with this situation, with the Caribbean Workers and People's Alliance [ATPC, by its French acronym], the organizations that endorse this appeal put forward the following statement:

- Confronted with the "Free Trade" agreements, which continue to privatize and plunder industries and have dealt a fatal blow to agriculture, which resulted in the extinction of the Creole Pig,

- Confronted with the shameful and ruthless exploitation of workers in free zone areas, which was made possible by the Hope Law, passed by the U.S. Congress in order to maximize the profits of the multinationals,

- Confronted with the liquidation of the remnants of public services, the healthcare system, transport, education, by the SAPs (Structural Adjustment Plans),

- Confronted with the UN military occupation (MINUSTAH) by the UN and its troops, who do not hesitate to shoot at the people, steal and rape,

- Confronted with the shameful repayment of the foreign debt to international lenders,

- Confronted with the exile of more than 3 million Haitian brothers and sisters, most of whom had to flee from the country because of extreme poverty, violence and repression,

- Confronted with the fact that on the other side of the border, in the Dominican Republic, hundreds of thousands of Haitian brothers and sisters are subjected to racism, and can only manage to survive by working like slaves in the bateys,

Confronted with this situation, the Haitian people, the people that for the first time freed themselves from the shackles of slavery, conducted the 1804 Revolution and created the first Black Republic, today proclaim to the whole world that they can't take it any longer, that they have had enough, demanding:

- Freedom, peace and sovereignty now for the Haitian people!
- Down with occupation! Long live democracy!
- Haiti has been wounded and laid to waste, it must now be rebuilt!

Indeed, the Haitian people, like all the peoples in the Caribbean, must enjoy the inalienable right to self-determination, without any interference from any foreign army or power whatsoever, from any government in the service of the multinationals and imperialism. The Haitian people must have the right to take into their own hands the introduction of the emergency measures needed to save the country from poverty and violence and to begin the reconstruction.

In this situation, the Haitian people only need union and fraternal assistance from sister countries and the democratic, popular and working-class organizations of the Caribbean and the entire Western Hemisphere.

"To defend HAITI is to defend ourselves!"
That is the theme of the Third Caribbean Conference
to be held on December 12-13, 2008 in Port au Prince, Haiti

This conference is about taking another step to help the workers and the people of Haiti in a practical manner.

This conference is about furthering the fight for national independence for the peoples of the Caribbean who are still under colonial rule.

This conference is about working for the unity of the peoples of the Caribbean and their organizations so as to take steps towards a Caribbean of free and fraternal nations and peoples, liberated from racism, colonialism and capitalist exploitation.

List of the initial organizations from the Caribbean that have endorsed this appeal calling for the preparation of the Third Caribbean Conference in Port au Prince, Haiti:

Dominica: (NWU, DTU)
Guadeloupe: (TéP, UGTG, Mouvman NONM)
Martinique: (AOP)
Dominican Republic:( OSTI)
Haiti: (CATH, POS)

(Most of the organizations are members of ATPC and have been asked to be the first endorsers)

This appeal and the Third Caribbean Conference have the support of the International Liaison Committee of Workers and peoples (ILC).

Activists, organizations: If you wish to endorse this appeal and prepare the Third Caribbean Conference, please send in your endorsement and this form to the address below:

ENDORSEMENT COUPON

Name:

Union/Org & Title:

City & State:

Country:

E-Mail:

[ ] I give my endorsement: in my personal capacity

[ ] On behalf of my organization

To be sent to: ATPC, 25 rue Clara Bourgarel 97 190 Pointe à Pitre
Email :atpc-caraibe@orange.fr

Please send a copy of your endorsement to <ilcinfo@earthlink.net>.

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2) Open Letter to Barack Obama
(Candidate for President of the United States)

Port-au-Prince, Haiti
October 31, 2008

From Unions, Political and Grassroots Organizations in Haiti

Dear Mr. Obama,

We -- citizens of Haiti, political militants and unionists of the grassroots movement for democracy in our country -- solemnly address ourselves to you on the eve of the election that will most likely make you the next president of the United States.

The millions of workers and youth, and great majority of Blacks, in voting for you will express their demand for a change from the policies pursued over the past many years that have plunged millions of workers into misery and increased social differences -- including those of race -- making the United States appear to be an enemy of all peoples of the world.

In Haiti today, these policies are having the following results: 60% unemployment rate of the active population; 80% of the population lives below the poverty level; life expectancy has fallen below 50 years; and, the infant mortality rate is 80 per 1000, while on the neighboring island of Cuba it is only 7 per 1000.

Our people, in addition to facing low salaries, privatizations, quasi-absence of public services, jobs cuts, etc., must also see the meager resources of their country pillaged by the IMF and World Bank. These organizations demand the payment of the external debt, a debt incurred by Duvalier and other dictators: the Haitian state will pay US$58.2 million in 2008 and $50 million in 2009 -- that is, $1 million a week that disappears in smoke while people are dying of hunger.

Our country is living through an extraordinary catastrophe. According to official reports, Haiti is the poorest country of the continent. In fact, however, it is not true that our country is poor; it has been impoverished by the policies followed for the past many decades by the various governments acting against the interests of the nation.

Our country has been even further humiliated by another military invasion over the past four years. Last April these soldiers, which the UN says are sent in peace, opened fire on people protesting the brutal increase in the prices of products for basic needs, leaving six dead and 190 wounded.

On top of all this, we must add the consequences of four hurricanes that have plunged the country into a state of misery and unimaginable destitution -- while the MINUSTAH troops occupying our country and controlling the wheels of the administration and police say that they are not there for humanitarian purposes.

Any Haitian citizen can answer that the result of four years of MINUSTAH occupation is a considerable retreat in terms of national sovereignty, most notably from the point of view of reconstruction of the State institutions that would allow Haitians to live a secure life with the possibility of a future.

Not long ago Président Préval accused the U.S. occupation of 1915-1935 and colonialism itself of being responsible for the situation in Haiti.

Dear Mr. Obama,

We are Haitians. Our country is part of the Great Antilles of the Caribbean. It was the first country to liberate itself from slavery and to have proclaimed itself, on January 1, 1804, to be the first Black Republic.

You understand that we cannot be indifferent to the fact that a Black man might become president of the United States. We have had a large Haitian community in the United States since 1960, and we estimate that there are now more than 1 million Haitian immigrants in the United States, constituting a social, economic and electoral force. Many of them, like thousands of young people and workers, in voting for you will be expressing their desire for the policy change vis-à-vis our country that you announced in your electoral campaign. Still to this day the cases of violence perpetrated by the MINUSTAH troops are known, public and indexed, and on October 14 the UN Security Council renewed the MINUSTAH's mandate.

Dear Mr. Obama,

In the coming weeks, you will most likely take over the reins of the State. You have just declared that the policies of the U.S. government must change towards Haiti. The U.S. government sits as a permanent member of the Security Council, with the right of veto. You therefore have the enormous responsibility of having the power to modify the policies of the previous administrations.

The Haitian people, strong in their traditions and in their struggle for sovereignty, are steadfast supporters of the establishment of relationships based on equality and of cooperation between nations. Relationships based on submission can only lead to more conflicts and wars.

We -- the undersigned citizens and militants, all of us supporters of democracy, the sovereignty of nations, and the establishment of a world without oppression or exploitation where peoples and nations can cooperate in peace and equality -- are paying close attention to the changes under way in the United States.

With this letter we inform you that on December 12 and 13 we are organizing in our country, in Port-au-Prince, a conference of militants and citizens of our country to discuss together the ways and means for us to recover the sovereignty of our country -- which is incompatible, in our eyes, with the maintenance of MINUSTAH troops.

We are launching a veritable emergency appeal to re-establish cooperation between peoples.

We thank you, Mr. Obama, for the attention you will give to this issue.

October 31, 2008

The following Haitian organizations have endorsed this Open Letter to Barack Obama (names and acronyms listed in French original):

CATH : Centrale autonome des travailleurs haïtiens, Louis Fignolé St Cyr, Secrétaire Général
POS : Parti ouvrier socialiste haïtien, Marc Antoine Poinson, Secrétaire à l'organisation des départements
FESTREDH : Fédération syndicale de l'électricité d'Haïti, Dukens Raphaél, Porte parole
KORTA : Fednel Monchery, Coordinateur Général
GIEL : Groupe d'Initiative des enseignants de lycées, Léonel Pierre, Secrétaire Général
ADFEMTRAH : Section des femmes de la CATH, Julie Génélus, Secrétaire Générale
GRAHLIB : Grand rassemblement pour une Haïti libre et démocratique, Ludy Lapointe Coordonateur Général
FOS : Fédération des ouvriers syndiqués, Raymond Dalvius, Responsable des relations publiques
GRAMA : Groupe de réflexion en action pour une meilleure alternative, Coordinateur général, Joseph Varnel
KONOSPOL : Kolektif oganizasyon sosyopolitik , Lukem Royel
CONAFTAV : Coalition nationale des femmes travailleuses, D. Benoit
KJKFF : Konbit Jen K. fou fey, Jonh Laurenvil
Zafé Fanm : Darline Sensuel
KOSEFANM : Elisabeth Augustin
KOPDA : Konbit peyizan pou developman, Ansajo Réginal Legerme
FANM GRAMA : Caroline Gaspard
AJAM/A : Association des jeunes avancés de Marmelade, Fénélus Sinel, Trésorier général
CONAREM : Coordination nationale citoyenne pour la revendication de masse, Jean Lesly Préval, Secrétaire à l'organisation
ANAMMAPME : Jean Oscalhome Florvil
MPPG : Jean Phalière Rezil

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3) On Eve of UN Security Council Vote, Haitians Demand
International Aid, Not Tanks and Occupation!

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Two days ago, on October 8, U.N. Special Representative Hedi Annabi, who heads the four-year-old UN "peacekeeping" mission in Haiti, announced that the U.N. Security Council will "likely" keep its 9,151 occupation troops in Haiti for another year, but will not heed the call from the Haitian people to shift their focus to economic development in the storm-ravaged nation. The U.N. is scheduled to vote on this mission re-authorization on October 14.

Annabi was responding directly to Haitian President Rene Preval, who had called on the U.N. force to provide long-term assistance with "fewer tanks and more tractors."

Annabi said he would not request a shift to development work this year because it is not the council's mission. "I'm not going to ask for something that will never happen," Annabi told the Associated Press as he entered the council chamber.

"We try on the margins of the mandate to do what we can, to do simple things for people to meet emergency needs ... but we don't have a development mandate and never will," Annabi said. (AP, Oct. 9, 2008)

There you have it, straight from the horse's mouth: The UN mission does not have, and never will have, a mandate to help the Haitian people develop their economy -- and only "on the margins" does it "try" to meet some of the Haitian people's emergency needs.

Across the globe, the UN mission in Haiti is presented as a "peacekeeping" mission aimed at "stabilizing" Haiti. But can there be stability when there is almost no food or drinking water for the overwhelming majority of the people, when only 2% of the international aid promised by governments around the world has actually reached the people, when 1 million people have been left homeless after the devastation wrought by four hurricanes, when the foreign debt of the Duvaliers continues to be paid religiously to U.S. and other foreign banks, and when the country continues to be looted by multinational corporations under the aegis of the IMF and World Bank?

In their appeal to working people across the Americas to mobilize on October 10 for the withdrawal of UN-MINUSTAH troops from their country, 20 organizations in Haiti ask a rhetorical question:

"Is it because of the ravages of these hurricanes and their role in distributing emergency supplies that these UN occupation have suddenly been transformed into saviors and benefactors of the Haitian people?"

No, the "relief" work done "on the margins" by the U.N. does not change one iota the repressive character of these occupation forces.

The true face of the MINUSTAH forces could be seen in the raids on July 6 and December 22, 2006, on the seaside shantytown of Cite Soleil, where rounds of ammunition penetrated many buildings, striking unintended targets. Although many were likely killed behind thin walls, the video evidence of the disproportionate number of victims felled by single shots to the head from high-powered rifles lends credence to the testimony of survivors following the deadly raid.

Following a press conference at the Brecht Forum in New York City earlier today, a letter by the press conference organizers was sent to the UN Secretary General and to the heads of government of the 40 countries with MINUSTAH troops in Haiti.

The letter [see copy below] calls for international aid to Haiti, not tanks and UN occupation

Also attached below is the statement sent to the press conference by Professor James Petras -- Bartle Professor Emeritus of Latin American Studies, Binghamton University (NY).

In the coming days, we will inform our supporters of the actions undertaken on October 10 in Haiti, across the continent, and in Europe in support of the Haitian people's right to self-determination.

We will also transcribe the moving statement demanding international assistance to Haiti presented at the press conference in New York City by Haitian activist Irlande Fenélus.

Eduardo Rosario and Alan Benjamin,
Co-Coordinators,
Open World Conference Continuations Committee

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Letter to UN Secretary General and to
Governments with MINUSTAH Forces in Haiti:

We, the undersigned supporters of democratic and human rights, join our voices to those of the 20 trade union, political and grassroots organizations in Haiti that issued an international appeal to support the Haitian people's right to live in peace and to exercise their right to self-determination -- without any foreign intervention.

Haiti has been devastated by four hurricanes. According to the most recent reports, 1,500 Haitian people have died, hundreds have disappeared, and one million have been left homeless.
The Haitian organizations that have issued this appeal are demanding international aid and solidarity -- not tanks and occupation.

They write:

"If the governments of the 40 countries with occupation forces in Haiti really want to help the Haitian people, they should withdraw their soldiers and take the US$540 million that are paid collectively to finance this occupation -- and replace their soldiers with firefighters, doctors, civil security personnel, technicians, and workers who can help us rebuild all the roads and infrastructure that have been destroyed!"

They are also demanding the cancellation of Haiti's foreign debt - which is not the people's debt, as it was contracted by Papa Doc and Baby Doc to enrich themselves and to finance an army and paramilitary force to massacre the Haitian people. The $1 million that is paid each week by the Preval government to the bankers on this debt should go to rebuilding Haiti.

We support these demands.

On October 14, the U.N. Security Council will be voting on a resolution to renew the occupation mandate. We call on the members of the U.N. Security Council and on all the governments of the 40 countries with "peacekeeping" forces in Haiti to vote against this mandate renewal and to withdraw, immediately, all their troops from the MINUSTAH force in Haiti.

Let true international humanitarian aid and development occur!

Respect the right of the Haitian people to live in true peace and to exercise their right to self-determination!

- New York City, October 10, 2008

Signed/

Rosa Clemente,
Vice presidential candidate of the
Power to the People Committee / Green Party

Colia Clark,
President of the New York City Green Party
and Coordinator of the Richard Wright Centennial

Eduardo Rosario,
Co-convener, Open World Conference
Continuations Committee

Alberto Dos Santos,
Brazilian student activist

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Haiti: In Solidarity with its Five Freedoms

By James Petras

(Statement for October 10, 2008 Press Conference in New York City)

Today the acid test for all democrats in North and South America is the issue of the military occupation of Haiti ,the economic pillage and denial of elementary political and human rights of the Haitian people.

In 2004 a US-led invasion force overthrew the democratically elected government of Jean Bertrand Aristide and subsequently promoted and organized an occupation army. This colonial military force has repeatedly violently repressed popular demonstrations, violently raided the neighborhoods of the poor and killed, wounded and arrested Haitians who were affirming their rights of self-determination and an end to foreign occupation.

Since the United States bears major responsibility for the invasion, occupation and subsequent pillage and privatization of essential public services, we have a special responsibility to speak out clearly and forcefully to the United Nations (UN) in support of Haiti's Five Freedoms:

1. The UN must end its military presence of Haiti through its occupation army (MINUSTAH), action contrary to the very founding principles of the organization. Haiti must recover the right of self-determination and the freedom to govern itself.

2. The Haitian people demand the end of the pillage of its national treasury by official and private banks extracting payments of $1 million USD a week for illegitimate debts contracted by past corrupt dictatorial regimes. Haitians demand freedom from illegitimate elite debts in order to finance basic life-sustaining programs for the 80% of the population living in extreme poverty.

3. Every country, which has suffered massive natural disasters, as the hurricanes that recently devastated Haiti, is entitled to large-scale, long-term humanitarian aid with no strings attached. Haitians demand the immediate fulfilling of aid pledged and its allocation according to needs without MINUSTAH manipulation to perpetuate its occupation.

4. The collapse of the free market model today highlights the disastrous consequences of the IMF-World Bank policies of privatization of public services in Haiti, where 'private health and education' effectively excludes the vast majority of Haitians. Haitians must regain the right to re-nationalize public services and all other strategic economic sectors necessary for their well-being.

5. Free elections means the return of deposed, exiled and persecuted political leaders and the end of foreign military occupation and repression of anti-colonial movements. Elections with occupation guns pointed at the heads of the electors and candidates have no legitimacy. We, the American people in North, South and Central America, have a responsibility to demand the end of MINUSTAH and the return national sovereignty to the Haitian people. No government no matter what its political claims and rhetoric can justify its democratic credentials when it acts as a colonial gendarme.

-- Professor James Petras
Bartle Professor Emeritus of Latin American Studies, Binghamton University (NY)

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4) Letter from CATH union federation inviting to Dec. 12-13 Conference in Haiti

To the popular, democratic and worker organizations of the Americas:

Dear comrades,

At the end of last May, before the worsening situation of misery and repression imposed upon the workers and the people of Haiti, the Autonomous Central of Haitian workers (CATH), with the comrades of the Association of the Workers and Peoples of the Caribbean (ATPC), took the initiative to convene a conference for the sovereignty of Haiti with the theme: "Defending Haiti is to Defend Ourselves.

This conference will take place on December 12 and 13, 2008 in Port au Prince in Haiti.

The call for this conference says, among other things:

"The sovereignty of the nations and the fight of the peoples for peace against the wars and the military occupations, the disastrous consequences of the free trade agreements, and the matter of union independence, have been the questions of the day during recent years in most countries of the American continent as well as on other continents."

These questions have been at the center of the debates during the 5th Convention of CATH on March 28-29, 2008.

The appeal to the conference continues:

"On the American continent, the policy of U.S. Imperialism is seen in the growth of its military bases, through the support of the intolerable interventions such as the aggression against Ecuador by the Colombian government, by the embargo against Cuba and the attempts to destabilize and bring about coups against the governments. These are governments which, through the struggles of the workers and the peoples, reject the policy of U.S. Imperialism and are fighting, as in Venezuela, Bolivia and Mexico, to maintain control of their national resources, especially oil.

"In the Caribbean, this policy leads entirely to profit for the capitalists and the large multinational companies and is seen in:
- Restrictions to the free movement of the workers and the people from one country to another;
- Implementation of free trade agreements which are devastating the countries such as the Hope Law (Dominican Republic, Haiti);
- Maintaining the domination of French colonialist oppression in Guadeloupe and Martinique;
- Attempts to undermine the workers by imposing class collaboration through the forced participation of the workers union;

"But there is one country in the Caribbean where this policy of national destruction and of super-exploitation of the workers, a policy that seeks to starve the people while it goes further into dishonor, is taking place with the complicity of a strong army of occupation of 9,000 men. This country is Haiti."

We remind everyone that it costs US$540 million per year to maintain these troops, a third of the budget of the Haitian nation.

The call for the conference adds:

"This country, where some months ago, hundreds of thousands of men and women who had nothing to eat came into the streets and participated in what we call a hunger riot. The occupation forces of Minustah did not hesitate to shoot into the crowd, killing six people and wounding hundreds of others.
This country, Haiti, with 8 million inhabitants where 60% of the population is unemployed; where 80% of the population lives below the poverty line; where the average life declined to 51 years old, where the infant mortality rate is 80 per 1000, while it is 4 in France and 7 in Cuba, the neighboring island.

"This country, Haiti, where the corruption, the violence, the kidnappings are present everywhere. This country ,Haiti, where the people put up with very low wages, the privatizations, the near absence of public services, the layoffs and must face the pillaging of their meager resources organized by the IMF and the World Bank which demands the payment of the foreign debt, a debt which the Duvaliers and the other dictators had contracted. The Haitian government would pay $58.2 million dollars in 2008 and $50.9 million in 2009, or 1 million dollars each week that goes up in smoke while the people are dying of hunger.

"This situation led 20 organizations of workers, the general working class, and the youth of Haiti with CATH, to protest this past October 10 in Port au Prince.

Today, with the global crisis that is ravaging and leading to the destruction of nations, and with the four hurricanes that passed through Haiti, the situation has gotten worse.

The town of Gonaives, one of the towns most affected by the hurricanes, collapsed under the hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of mud. While the French television shows the Haitian infants eating dirt cookies, the imperialist governments that are occupying the country or have supported this occupation send two trillion dollars to the banks while no more than 30 billion is needed to eradicate the malnutrition that is experienced by 923 million human beings around the world.

As you know, the UN Security Council just finished renewing the mandate for MINUSTAH and the UN. The UN seems to regret the slow pace of the humanitarian assistance for Haiti while the occupation forces, which cost $543 million dollars each year, state that they are not there for humanitarian work.

With this new situation, we expect the multinationals and the capitalists, in order to save their system that is in crisis, to put in place their plans, their "free trade" agreements, the Hope Law voted by the U.S. congress, with even greater ferocity. We expect that the occupation forces will not hesitate to shoot, once again, into the crowd because the workers and the people of Haiti will have no other choice but that of rising up against this situation.

The union organizations, like CATH, as your own organization, has the duty to defend the interests and demands of the working people with complete independence from the political powers and the governments in place, in total independence from the employers, the multinational companies, the international financial institutions, the NGO's.

We know that the unity of the workers, their citizens and their organizations is indispensable for leading the struggles with any chance of success. Within this framework, we believe that mutual aid, solidarity and common action on a continental and world scale by the union organizations is also indispensable in order to confront this terrible and general decline that the capitalists organize in our country. Their own system is in crisis and they are trying to exploit the workers and the people even more.

In Haiti, one of the poorest countries on the planet, the response to this policy has become a question of survival.

The conference that we are organizing will be an important moment for the Haitian organizations to organize a way to respond on behalf of our people.

With the union organizations from other countries of the continent which we are inviting, and with your presence and support, it will be a strong moment for our right as a people to regain our national sovereignty.

The Haitian people need fraternal solidarity and support from all the union and democratic organizations of the continent. We hope to be able to count on the effective participation of your union organization and that you send us the form that is attached so that we may register your support.

We are available for any needed information. Please receive, dear comrades, our fraternal greetings.
Port au Prince, October 28, 2008

For the CATH,
Fignolé Saint-Cyr
General Secretary

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5) Haiti After 4 Hurricanes: International Solidarity Appeal from the CATH union federation

Introduction by OWC Continuations Committee Co-Coordinators

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

We are reprinting below from the ILC International Newsletter No. 302 (Sept. 9, 2008) an appeal for international solidarity issued by the 30,000-member Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers (CATH). This text is followed by an appeal by the ILC international Newsletter editors to help the families of the CATH trade unionists who died in the hurricane and to help their union members meet their most urgent needs.

We urge all unionists and activists in the United States to send financial donations to:

- Via Western Union to Louis Fignolé SaintCyr, 7, rue Babiole N° 26 - Port au Prince (Haiti)

- Or send checks payable to CMO, indicating "Haiti" to Entente International de Travailleurs et des Peuples, 87 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis - 75010 - Paris, France.

Solidarity messages can be mailed to eit.ilc@oleane.com, which will relay them to CATH as soon as links are restored.

We thank you in advance for your attention to these pressing issues and for your solidarity with these Haitian unionists and activists,

In solidarity,

Eduardo Rosario and Alan Benjamin
Continuations Committee,
Open World Conference

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HAITI

An appeal to international solidarity

My name is Fignolé Saint Cyr, general secretary of the CATH [Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers]. Our union is affiliated to the ATPC (Association of Caribbean Workers and Peoples) on the Caribbean level as well as to the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples. As trade unionists, we are facing difficult challenges.

As you know, Haiti is a country that is occupied by the MINUSTAH troops. That foreign army in our land is present just to protect the representatives and the interests of the Bretton-Woods institutions, the IMF, the World Bank, embassies and government members. The presence of MINUSTAH causes many problems. It prevents workers and people from organising. This occupation army mainly comprises troops from Latin American countries: Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay and others. And even if it is formally militarily headed in the name of the United Nations by Brazil, politically, it is the USA, Canada and France that pull the strings.

Our chosen stand as an independent, class struggle trade union, we the CATH state that MINUSTAH must depart straightaway and, on the other hand we stand for compliance with ILO (International Labour Organisation) conventions. In Haiti our government whose social, political and economic agenda we condemn, has entirely caved in to the 3 major powers I have just mentioned. Our own agenda is to denounce and mobilise on the national, regional and also international scale to secure the withdrawal of MINUSTAH; such is the pre-condition for changes for workers in this country.

While President Préval claims that the State cannot do much as there is no money, here are a few figures: the country spends US$ 198 million a year for MINUSTAH. Every single day, US$500 are spent for each United Nation soldier when a national Haitian policemen is paid less than US$ 200 a month! The government sticks to an ultra-liberal political agenda, the mere interests of the foreign debt it pays to foreign banks amount to US$1 million a week, wrenched from the country's meagre resources. The debt is not the debt of the Haitian people; it is the debt of dictators such as the Duvalliers who, when they were in power, usually set there by the US government, created the debt and, on top of it, robbed the people. Why does the present Haitian government not request payment of the money embezzled by Baby Doc, the blood-thirsty dictator who has been hosted by France in his golden exile with US$800 million that he stole from the people?

France should also give back the money it demanded back in 1825 from our young Republic as compensation for the slave-owner colonists who had been thrown out of the country. 150 million gold Francs, amounting to today's US$22 billion; that is how Haiti had to pay a high price for its independence right from the start and was sent down on its knees under the threat of being invaded by French troops. Most Haitian labour and popular organisations demand that the French State return that money and, for our own part, we demand that the $1.3 billion foreign debt be simply written off. Let that money, as well as the money that should be returned by France, be used for the most urgent social needs, for education and other public services that are practically non-existent.

Whenever international media mention Haiti -- about once every 6 months -- they show pictures of violence and delinquency and they claim that MINUSTAH is there for peace.

But that serves only to justify the continued presence of MINUSTAH. Haiti is usually portrayed as a gang-ridden country, where abduction and violence are rife. But our comrades and friends who come to Haiti on solidarity trips such as ATPC and ILC can testify to the true situation: we are hospitable people, despite poverty, violence and delinquency are not more prevalent than is rich countries coined as great democracies. True, MINUSTAH forces are said to be peace-keepers. But Haiti has waged war on no country! It was the same with Iraq. The country had to be occupied to get to the oil resources; that is why Iraq was accused of wanting to start a nuclear war. The truth is that MINUSTAH is in Haiti to plunder, rape and protect the exploiters.

That is why, with Haiti's trade unions, political and popular organisations among which the CATH, with the support of ATPC and the ILC, an appeal has been launched for demonstrations on October 10th. After our latest Congress, last March, we toured the communes and départements to campaign for the withdrawal of MINUSTAH.

October 17th is our national day, the anniversary of the assassination of Jean Jacques Dessalines, the founding father of Haiti's sovereign Republic. But a few days before, the issue will be taken up by the UN to renew MINUSTAH mandate for one year. We decided to react, to address all the people and call them to flood the streets and march to the President's palace and government's headquarters on October 10th to say: "We have had enough of the occupation, foreign troops out of the country, sovereignty for our country and our people."

Numerous organisations have declared they agreed on the principle of such an action day, public sector unions, POS, youth organisations, people's organisations. With the help of ATPC and ILC we are going to address the workers and organisations of the countries of the continent, especially those who have troops in Haiti: Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay, Ecuador, Argentina and others. We are going to tell our sister organisations:

"Take to the streets on October 10th, call on your governments, ask the Presidents of your countries, Bachelet, Correa, Kirchner, Lula, Morales, Vasquez not to renew the mandate of their country's troops and to immediately withdraw their troops from Haiti and let us together make that October 10th a continent-wide day of mobilisation for the right of the peoples of the American continent to self-determination, to live in peace in sovereign nations."

At the same time we invite all the continent's organisation to the third Caribbean Conference that will meet in Haiti on December 12th and 13th on the initiative of ATPC, the ILC, with the CATH, the POS and numerous other Haitian organisations. The theme of the Conference will be "To defend Haiti is to defend ourselves!"

* * *

About the situation of employment in Haiti, I wish to bring attention to the fact that 80% of the working age population is jobless but that there are several Special Export Zones in our country. In Nounaminte, we have a special export zone where workers are paid a pittance. The SEZ is administered under the control of a U.S. law, the Hope law, voted by the US Congress to liberalise exchanges and practically get rid of all customs duties for the sole benefit of the US multinational companies that have settled there. The daily pay is 70 gourdes, half the minimum wages, i.e. under US$1.5. For those workers, commuting and food expenses are higher so that they have to resort to usurers to get loans in order to retain their jobs. Those workers are banned from organising in trade unions; bosses only hire women as it is said that in Haiti, women put up fewer demands than men. As a trade union, we are fighting with our women's section for training and education so these women can help themselves and defend themselves.

* * *

School was to resume on September 8th but the situation is catastrophic. MPs have asked the government to decide to postpone school resumption to mid-October. Institutions are non existent. The early April riots toppled the government and we had to wait till July -- more than three months -- for a new Prime Minister to be appointed. They do not know how to face the situation, they fear a general upheaval as parents cannot even buy the bare minimum to send their kids to school. Our women's section is starting a campaign addressing trade unions in Europe, in the USA, and in Guadeloupe and so on that share our objectives to ask them for international solidarity and, in that framework, help 200/300 families send their children to school. With the disaster caused by the first hurricanes, the situation has gone from bad to worse. Hundreds of our comrades and sympathisers are utterly down and out.

That is the general backdrop of our fight. The CATH numbers 7 federations in the country and 5 trade union organisations across the country; the women's organisation is very important, the section of human and union rights. We are present in several sectors of activity: informal sector, subcontracting in Special Export Zones, rural workers, commerce and, as of now, hotels and restaurants. There are 30,000 members, 25,000 paying the inexpensive 10 gourdes monthly dues (0.20 ¤). The federation cannot function unless our members pay their dues, they are our only resources but they are not sufficient. You have to realise that we are only one hour and a half from the USA, our country is teeming with NGOs and therefore a class struggle union that fights imperialism and neo-colonialism undergoes much pressure, but we have to carry on our fight on our own guidelines. Haiti is a country where the people fight everyday to survive and feed their families.

As a trade union, we are determined to be independent from the power, from the NGOS, churches and parties. In Haiti, there are unions that have no members. Those leaders, the group of the 13, are daily negotiating with President Préval. They endorsed a common document that accepts the rise of the price of petrol.

For its own part, the CATH, as other trade unions, is determined to remain a central totally independent from the power. We have just adopted the idea of a raffle to get some money. Our comrades of Travayé é Péyizan from Guadeloupe, an organisation affiliated to the ATPC and to the ILC, have printed 10,000 raffle tickets that we are going to sell in Haiti and elsewhere. Our comrades of the UTHTR-UGTG are also organising solidarity with us. We need that solidarity, we need bi-lateral agreements with those trade union organisations that have the same purposes as we have.

I wish to launch an appeal and tell all our comrades on the international level, especially our comrades of the ILC and the ATPC that we need their help and international labour solidarity to help us in our fight to regain our sovereignty so Haiti can get out of that trap in which it has been caught. Those of you who can, come and visit us, come and take an hand in our struggle. And for all the ILC and ATPC comrades, help us publicise the truth on those who are responsible for the situation in which we find ourselves, that is, the exploiting capitalists. Say far and wide than we are not barbarians, that the barbarians are those who want to bring us back to the slave conditions in which our forbears lived. Long live international labour solidarity!

Fignolé Saint Cyr,
General Secretary of the CATH
Port au Prince, August 23rd 2008

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Haiti: Urgent! Solidarity!

After the three first hurricanes, the situation is tragic.
The CATH (Autonomous Central of Haitian Workers) appeals to international solidarity.

On September 5th, Louis Fignolé Saint Cyr, General secretary of the Autonomous Central of Haitian Workers (CATH), informed us on the awful situation after Hanna, the third hurricane hit his country. In the name of his 30,000-member federation, he asks that this information and his plea for solidarity be relayed to trade unions worldwide.

"Officially, the Haitian government announces at least 500 dead, hundreds of thousands made homeless. Several of the country's départements (Gonaïves, Artibonite and so on) have been utterly laid waste, plantations have been destroyed. Most refugees have gone without any food or drinkable water. The amount of international aid announced by the USA and EU countries is minimal considering the situation and also compared with the money they have been capable of disbursing to maintain a 9,000-strong army for four years!

"Our trade union, which does not have much money, helps its members and the people at large to face this terrible situation as best it can. We already know that several of our members have died in Gonaïves. We will have to help their families and that unfortunately is not the end of it. Then school was due to resume on September 8th but it will not be possible. Families were not even able to meet the expenses so now Š. Moreover, two other hurricanes are announced in the coming days.

"In this situation, as you well know, we need you and, through you, your organisations to extend full-scale solidarity. Please, relay the appeal of the CATH and of the Association of Haitian Women; tell them that we are not NGOs and that we are not beggars; let them know that, in our poverty-stricken, ravaged and occupied country, there are militants, trade unions, workers' and people's organisations that fight alongside our people to try and face that terrible situation."

To help the families of trade unionists who died in the hurricane, to help workers meet the most urgent needs please send your contribution:

- Via Western Union to Louis Fignolé SaintCyr, 7, rue Babiole N° 26 - Port au Prince (Haiti)
- Or send cheques payable to CMO, indicating "Haiti" to Entente International de Travailleurs et des Peuples, 87 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis - 75010 - Paris.

Solidarity messages can be mailed to eit.ilc@oleane.com which will relay them to CATH as soon as links are restored.

To inform on the situation of the trade union movement in Haiti, you can read overleaf the interview with Julie Génelus, member of the CATH executive bureau and secretary of the Democratic association of Haitian women, given in Port-au-Prince on August 29th a few days before the first hurricane struck.

* * *

Interview with Julie Génelus, member of the CATH Executive Bureau and secretary of ADFEMTRAH (Democratic association of Haitian working women)

Julie, can you introduce yourself?

I serve as secretary of ADFEMTRAH, an association of Haitian women. I am also a member of the CATH executive bureau; it is a trade union defending workers, it is independent and regroups 30,000 trade union members. Our women's association is a member of CATH.

What is the social situation in the country?

It is a very difficult situation. There are no jobs, 80% of the working-age population is unemployed and we do not have an unemployment benefit system as you have. As for the remaining 20% who have jobs, wages are very low compared with living costs. The minimum daily wage is 135 gourdes (less than 3¤). A bank worker, a middle-of-the-range civil servant takes home the equivalent of 100¤ a month. Living costs are very high: the price of rice, which is the Haitian staple food, has tripled and is now more than one euro a kilo, which caused food riots last April when people took to the streets and were shot at by MINUSTAH troops, leaving 6 dead and 190 with bullet wounds. [MINUSTAH is the United Nations Mission for the Stabilisation of Haiti, the United Nations occupation troops that have been detailed since April 2004, comprising 9,000 troops from 40 countries under Brazilian command - Ed. N.]

In this difficult situation, what is the specific fight of women trade unionists within the association and the union?

We are organising and trying to help women in the informal sector. Just like the rest of the population, 80% of Haitian women are without jobs. To survive, they try to sell things in the streets, on the pavements, everything they find and can sell. We also try to organise women in rural areas and also those who work in the few factories especially those who work in special export zones where trade unions are practically banned and where they are over-exploited and have no rights. One of the major problems for those who work either in public or private enterprises is harassment. But today, mothers have to face the fact that kids are back to school. In their vast majority they cannot send their children to school as they do not have the money.

Why should families have to pay for school when Haiti's 1987 Constitution, still in force today, affirms that school is public, free and compulsory?

The government does not comply with the Constitution concerning education as well as the rest. It does not do anything, does not face its responsibilities as it is hand and feet in the pay of the foreign powers that have destroyed and robbed our country. But, it is quite capable of ordering MINUSTAH to shoot at starving people.

School should resume a fortnight from now but the government lets out that it will be postponed for a month to find solutions as it fears the anger of those families who will not be able to send their kids to school. They do not have the money for shoes, pencils, copy-books. An average family usually has five or six kids but, because of poverty, only one or two go to school. And there are not enough public schools; you will sometimes see 100 or 150 kids attending one lesson with a single teacher. It is very difficult for kids to learn something in such conditions.

On the other hand, there are many private, mainly religious schools?

Yes, that is right. Only 10% are public schools, the remaining ones are private and of course those schools ask for tuition fees from families. In our poverty stricken situation you can imagine the serious problem it causes.

In that situation, what does your association do and what does the CATH do at this "back-to-school" time?

Today, as a trade union, we are trying to help a few hundred women, our members, so they have enough money to buy the minimum school things. But the union does not have much money, monthly union dues for those who have jobs are only 10 gourdes (0.20 ¤). CATH has to organise a raffle and plans to sell 10,000 tickets to try and raise some money to function, especially to try and find headquarters to meet and organise our activities. As for school, for the women's association where I serve as secretary, we are calling on the solidarity of trade union comrades across the world to try and give whatever help is possible to at least 300 families so they can send their kids to school and buy some school things. We are not like those hundreds of NGOs who drive their brand new, tinted-glass, air-conditioned four wheel drivers. We are an association and a trade union and we are independent from those GNOs and from the government. We are not begging either. As you could see for yourself, even though food is scarce and despite poverty, you won't see many pan-handing in the streets; the Haitian people are proud because of their history; the history of the slaves who revolted, who freed themselves from slavery and who, in 1804, constituted the first black republic in the world, which we were made to suffer for with a vengeance afterwards.

Haitians are not beggars; they are trying to survive, to fight and manage by every means. I am calling on all the trade union women workers, and men too, on all the unions who are fighting just like us, in France, in Guadeloupe, in Martinique, in the Dominican Republic and everywhere else to improve workers' living conditions and this is what I am telling them: help us, help free and independent trade unions in Haiti and our women comrades so a few hundreds of them can send their children to school; those at least won't be left wandering in the streets and made to carry weapons and go peddling all sorts of stuff.

I am quite certain that your call will be heard. Do you want to say something more?

With the women's association, we are organising our first congress of women trade union members on December 11th and 12th. Of course we will account for whatever help we will have received and how we will have used it. I take the opportunity of the present interview to invite all the trade unions in various countries that are fighting alongside workers for better wages, for jobs, against high living costs, for free and public education. As an occupied country fighting to have this foreign army leave the country, for the right to be a free and sovereign nation, I also invite all the workers' organisations that, like us, are fighting for their national sovereignty to our December 10th and 11th Congress.

Thank you.

********************

6) HAITI / Oct. 10 Actions: YES to International Assistance, NO to Occupation! (new appeal following ravages by 4 hurricanes, plus intro by OWC co-coordinators)

Introduction by OWC Co-Coordinators

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

Please find below a new appeal issued by 20 Haitian trade union, political and community organizations that have joined together to call on working people and activists across the Americas to mobilize on October 10 -- as they will be doing in Haiti itself -- in support of Haitian sovereignty and for the immediate withdrawal of all the MINUSTAH (UN) occupation forces from Haiti.

On October 15, 2008, the UN Security Council -- with the participation of all the governments with contingents in the MINUSTAH force -- will vote whether or not to extend for one year the mandate of these occupation forces.

This new appeal was issued on Friday, Sept. 25. Over the weekend, the signatories of the appeal met in Port au Prince with a number of additional Haitian grassroots organizations that agreed to endorse, and urge support, for this international appeal. An updated list of Haitian endorsing organizations will be available shortly.

Support for this call is growing across the continent.

In Brazil, for example, demonstrations will be organized in 19 cities, including the capital city of Brasilia, to demand the withdrawal of Brazilian troops from Haiti. The demonstrations have been endorsed by unions affiliated with the CUT trade union federation, local branches of the Workers Party (PT), the Landless Peasants Movement (MST), the majority of the Black organizations in Brazil, and countless youth committees against the occupation of Haiti.

We in the United States have a particular duty to respond "Presente!" to the October 10 call from our sisters and brothers in Haiti. It was our own government which instigated the coup d'etat of February 29, 2004, that toppled the democratically elected government of Bertrand Aristide, later kidnapping Aristide and exiling both him and some of his close supporters from Haiti.

Hence, as we express our support for the demands contained in the appeal from Haiti below, we will want to add our own demands from within the belly of the beast:

- All Haiti's foreign debt to U.S. banks and financial institutions must be cancelled immediately!

- Grant a Permanent Stay on Deportation for all Haitian refugees fleeing the horrendous situation facing their already devastated and impoverished country.

- Stop the implementation of all IMF and World Bank Structural Adjustment Plans in Haiti!

- Stop the so-called Hope Law (which is another "free trade" law to super-exploit Haitian workers); for the full respect of ILO Conventions in Haiti!

- The MINUSTAH occupation must end NOW, all exiled leaders and activists should be allowed to return to Haiti immediately, and new elections must be held so that the Haitian people can decide for themselves, without any outside interference, their own destiny.

At this writing, Haitian activists and their supporters are discussing what kind of action will be organized in New York (and possibly other cities) on Friday, October 10th. If you are interested in supporting this initiative, please contact us at <ilcinfo@earthlink.net> or at 415-641-8616. We need your help!

Thanks in advance for your support,

In Solidarity,

Ed Rosario and Alan Benjamin
Co-Coordinators,
Open World Conference Continuations Committee

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APPEAL from 20 Haitian Organizations

- To our Sister and Brother Workers and Peoples;
- To the Popular. Democratic and Workers' Organizations of the Caribbean, the Americas and the World

After the devastation of four hurricanes on Haiti:
- YES to international assistance and solidarity,
- NO to the military occupation of Haiti and the attacks on our sovereignty!

To all of our comrades, brothers and sisters of the continent and other countries:

As you know, we have seen Hurricanes Fray, Gustav, Hanna and Ike tear through our country in less than two weeks. All the departments of our country have suffered, and some of them have been completely devastated with an official toll of 600 deaths, 50 disappeared and 800,000 people affected by the disaster.

This situation is aggravated by the fact that the remaining public services that have not been privatized or liquidated by the IMF/World Bank Structural Adjustment Plans are totally incapable of rendering assistance of the great majority of the population.

Our people therefore confront this terrible situation where each day is a struggle for survival to find drinking water, food and relief supplies. Only a paltry supply of such assistance has made it to our people, despite all the proclamations of the heads of the international organizations. The United Nations announced three weeks ago that US$198 million in assistance was being released for Haiti, but the UN went on to announce "with great regrets" that in spite of the pledges issued by the governments Š only 2% of the promised assistance had actually arrived in Haiti!

As for Mr. Preval, president of Haiti, who from the moment he took office has continued to implement the privatization of public services and enterprises, he is paralyzed and is proving himself totally incapable of implementing the urgent measures that the situation requires.

You need to know that even in this alarming situation -- where the most basic staples are lacking and where the population lives in extremely difficult conditions -- Preval continues to pay Haiti's foreign debt to the international banks. That's right: US $1 million is paid faithfully each week in debt repayment -- even though 80% of this debt was contracted by the hated regimes of Pap Doc and Baby Doc! This is $1 million per week that could permit the purchase and distribution of tons of rice, water, medicine, etcŠ

This foreign debt is not the Haitian people's debt. We demand that not one more dollar should leave the country to go to the coffers of the banks and international financial institutions. The money of the Haitian people should stay with the people of Haiti -- who need it now more than ever. We, Haitian organizations, address ourselves to the government and demand the pure, simple and definitive cancellation of this debt of US$1.3 billion.

The president, in his paralysis and negligence, hides behind the presence of the humanitarian organizations and, above all, of the soldiers of MINUSTAH [UN Mission for the Stabilization of Haiti], charging them with transporting food and relief supplies. We must recall that it was George W. Bush and the U.S. government which decided and organized four years ago this new occupation of Haiti for which the UN serves now as a front by imposing upon Haiti this army of 9,000 soldiers.

Is it because of the ravages of these hurricanes and their role in distributing emergency supplies that these UN occupation have suddenly been transformed into saviors and benefactors of the Haitian people?

We are call on the worker and popular organizations the world over, on all the peoples of the world, to demonstrate actively their solidarity and assistance to the Haitian people, but we ask nothing of those who are today occupying our country -- even though they may be carrying bags of rice on their shoulders.

Haiti is at war with no one. If the governments of the 40 countries with occupation forces in Haiti really want to help the Haitian people, they should withdraw their soldiers and take the US$540 million that are paid collectively to finance this occupation and replace their soldiers with firefighters, doctors, civil security personnel, technicians, and workers who can help us rebuild all the roads and infrastructure that have been destroyed, etc.

We, the undersigned trade union, political and popular organizations in Haiti, address this urgent and vibrant appeal for solidarity to all our sisters and brothers internationally. Let us join our efforts in common actions and solidarity with the Haitian people, so that we can undertake the Reconstruction of our country in peace -- freed from any and all forms of military occupation -- and with our full sovereignty.

Our people at one time provided refuge to Simon Bolivar and to countless other fighters against Spanish colonialism. This coming October 17, we are going to commemorate National Jacques Dessalines Day. Dessalines was a founding father of the Haitian nation. It is this very week -- in fact, the date is October 15 -- when the governments of your countries and of all other countries with MINUSTAH troops in Haiti -- will be called upon to vote on whether or not to renew the mandate of the MINUSTAH occupation and troops on Haitian soil for one more year, at the minimum.

For our part, we the Haitian organizations will assemble on October 10 in a rally in front of building of the Presidency of the Republic in Port au Prince [Haiti] to demand:

- the cancellation of the debt! Not one more penny to the international banks. All funds should be directed to the Reconstruction of our country.

- Peace, democracy and the respect of the sovereignty of the Haitian nation: For the immediate withdrawal of the foreign MINUSTAH troops. President Preval must not request again the renewal of the MINUSTAH mandate.

To all the sisters and brothers in Brazil, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay and the other countries on the continent -- to all the workers', popular and democratic organizations of these countries, of the Caribbean and of the entire Western Hemisphere, we issue this vibrant and urgent appeal:

Call upon your governments -- call upon the presidents of your countries, upon Lula, Bachelet, Corea, Kirchner, Morales, Tabaré Vasquez -- that they not renew their own commitment to the MINUSTAH troops and occupation and that they withdraw immediately their soldiers from Haitian soil -- and that they replace them with civil security personnel, healthcare workers, communications specialists, construction workers, etc. -- so that they can truly assist the Haitian people to rebuild our country.

Let us join together this coming October 10 in an International of Action of Aid and Solidarity with the Haitian people, for the rights of all oppressed peoples and nations on the continent to self-determination, for their right to live in peace among sovereign nations.

Port au Prince, Haiti
September 25, 2008

The following Haitian organizations have endorsed this appeal (listed in French original):

----------

All financial donations should be sent to:

- Via Western Union to Louis Fignolé SaintCyr, 7, rue Babiole N° 26 - Port au Prince (Haiti)

- Or send checks payable to CMO, indicating "Haiti" to Entente International de Travailleurs et des Peuples, 87 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis - 75010 - Paris, France.

All the organizations listed above pledge to report in detail on the use that was made of the financial support that is received.

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Call to the workers', people's, and democratic organizations of the Caribbean and the Americas

"For the sovereignty of Haiti and the immediate withdrawal of the occupation troops of MINUSTAH (UN)

Let us protest on October 10!

To all comrades, brothers and sisters on the continent:

We -- the undersigned Haitian trade unions, political organizations, and popular organizations -- are sending you all an urgent call for help and solidarity. You may not know this, but our country has been militarily occupied since April 30, 2004 by a coalition of foreign forces operating under the guise of the United Nations in an operation known as MINUSTAH.

Placed under Brazilian command, there are 9,000 troops from 40 countries on Haitian soil. This includes 1,208 troops from Brazil, 560 from Argentina, 503 from Chile, 218 from Bolivia, 67 from Ecuador, etc. Š

In 1804, our country was the first across the continent to build an independent nation, to liberate ourselves from slavery, to build the first Black Republic in the world. But for the last 200 years, the major powers have aimed to make the Haitian people pay for that act:

- Through the debt of 150 million gold francs demanded by France in 1825 to compensate the slave settlers; 90 million have been paid, which is equivalent to three times the value of the colony;

- Through the occupation of the country, such as the U.S. occupation from 1915 to 1934;

- Through the installation and support for many dictatorships;

- Through structural adjustment plans that have destroyed our agriculture, privatized our industries and utilities, piling up the debt to the IMF and the World Bank, reaching a cost of US$1.3 billion (that is, a weekly debt repayment of US$1 million). Eighty percent of this debt was created under the Duvalier dictatorship of father and son, Papa Doc and Baby Doc.

These attacks were carried out without interruption for more than two centuries by the governments of the major imperialist powers against the first Black Republic -- making our nation, which was known in the early 19th century as the "pearl of the Antilles," a ravaged, looted, and destroyed country.

The nation of Haiti, with 8 million people, is the poorest country in the Americas: 60% of the active population is unemployed, 80% of the population lives below the poverty line, life expectancy has now dropped to 50 years of age, the infant mortality rate is 80 per 1,000 compared to 4 per 1,000 in France and 7 per 1,000 in Cuba, the nearby island.

Our country of Haiti has once again been occupied military for the past four years by forces belonging among others to many countries in Latin America. Don't let them tell you that these soldiers have been sent for peacekeeping purposes! These past four years have witnessed many atrocities in the poor neighborhoods. Occupation soldiers and entire regiments have been charged with crimes, robbery and rape.

When rice and grain prices doubled last April as a result of international speculation and our people descended into the streets to protest, as they did in 40 other countries around the world, occupation troops of MINUSTAH cracked down on the protests, firing upon the hungry people, killing six and wounding 190.

Why should we accept these abuses and the military occupation that continues to trample on our integrity, our sovereignty and the very Constitution of our nation?

The Haitian Constitution of 1987 draws on the thinking of the founders of the country: Toussaint Louverture and Jean Jacques Dessalines. It states in its first article: "Haiti is a indivisible, sovereign, independent, free, democratic and social republic." In Article 8-1, it also states: "The territory of the Republic of Haiti is inviolable and can not be alienated in any or in part, by any treaty or convention."

Our country gave asylum and assistance to Simon Bolivar and many other leaders of the struggle against the Spanish colonization. We will commemorate on October 17 the National Day of Jean Jacques Dessalines, one of the founding fathers of the Haitian nation. This is the same week that the governments of the countries comprising the UN Security Council and of the countries that have troops in the MINUSTAH forces will decide whether to extend for one year the mandate and the presence of these troops on the soil of Haiti.

We -- the undersigned Haitian trade unions, political organizations, and popular organizations -- call on workers and the Haitian people to gather, demonstrate, to strike on October 10:

"For the sovereignty of Haiti and the immediate withdrawal of the Haitian occupation troops!"

To our brothers and sisters from Brazil, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay and the other countries on the continent; to all workers', popular, and democratic organizations countries in the Caribbean and the Americas, we send you this urgent appeal:

Call on your governments, on all the presidents of your countries, on Bachelet, Correa, Kirchner, Lula, Morales, and Tabaré Vasquez NOT TO RENEW THE MANDATE of their troops, and to immediately withdraw their soldiers from Haitian soil. Let us protest together on October 10 for the right of peoples of the continent to self-determination, to live in peace as sovereign nations.

Port au Prince, August 24, 2008

Centrale autonome des travailleurs haïtiens (CATH), membre de l'Entente internationale des travailleurs et des peuples : Louis Fignolé Saint-Cyr, secrétaire général ; Parti ouvrier socialiste haïtien (POS), membre de l'Entente internationale : Marc An_toine Poinson, secrétaire à l'organisation des départements ; Fédération syndicale de l'électricité d'Haïti (FESTREDH) : Dukens Raphaël, porte-parole ; KORTA : Fednel Monchery, coordinateur général ; Groupe d'initiative des enseignants de lycées (GIEL) : Léonel Pierre, secrétaire général ; ADFEMTRAH : section des femmes de la CATH : Julie Génélus, secrétaire générale ; Grand rassemblement pour une Haïti libre et démocratique (GRAHLIB) : Ludy Lapointe, coordinateur général ;Fé_dération des ouvriers syndiqués (FOS) : Raymond Dalvius, responsable des relations publiques ; Groupe de réflexion en action pour une meilleure alternative (GRAMA) : Joseph Varnel, coordinateur général ; Kolektif oganizasyon sosyopolitik (KONOSPOL) : Lukem Royel ; Coalition nationale des femmes travail_leuses (CONAFTAV) : D. Benoit ; Konbit Jen K. fou fey (KJKFF) : Jonh Laurenvil ; Zafé Fanm : Darline Sensuel ; KOSEFANM : Elisabeth Augustin ; Konbit peyizan pou develop-man (KOPDA) : Ansajo Réginal Legerme ; FANM GRAMA : Caroline Gaspard ; Association des jeunes avancés de Marmelade (AJAM/A) : Fénélus Sinel, trésorier général ; Coordination nationale citoyenne pour la revendication de masse (CONAREM) : Jean Lesly Préval, secrétaire à l'organisation ; ANAMMAPME : Jean Oscalhome Florvil ; MPPG (membre guadeloupéen de l'Entente internationale) : Jean Phalière Rezil

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