Canada - As seen From Abroad

[CHIMO]

Today, we watch as the United States leads its partners France and Canada, in an adventure in Haiti which already resembles King Leopold's so-called "humanitarian" incursion into the Congo over a century ago. That enterprise, described by the King of the Belgians as rather like "a Red Cross scheme" left between ten million and twenty million Congolese dead or with their hands and feet chopped off for misbehaviour. Four of them went to university.
In the meantime, however, it is clear that the intervention has had some catastrophic consequences. The bandits let loose and sanctioned by the Americans, French and Canadians, have destroyed the health, educational and democratic systems of Haiti - such as they were. More important for the latest disaster, they destroyed the Civil Defence structure, the network which would have warned Haitians of impending disaster and which would have at least attempted to rescue those worst affected. It is likely that had this organisation been in existence instead of in hiding from the interim government's murderous heroes, so many would not have died.

But it is also clear that the Americans, Canadians and French do not believe that the Haitians are entitled to the same rights as other human beings. Perhaps, using their renowned scientific expertise and prowess, they have once again figured out what precise degree of humanity is possessed by each Haitian, and perhaps by each Jamaican and Trinidadian also.


http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/html/20040926T060000-0500_66621_OBS_THE_HAPLESS_AND_THE_WRETCHED_OF_THE_EARTH_.asp

And we can't afford to help.

[billbuckhead]

1. So far from God

and so close to the United States.

[Maple]

2. Canadians went home long ago

All we did was protect our embassy.

The future of Haiti is up to Haitians.

[CHIMO]

3. Canada and Haiti - A Pawn in Their Coup?

Does the new Canadian Prime Minister support democracy in the Americas or U.S. orchestrated coups?

In his first major foreign policy move Paul Martin's government faithfully followed the U.S. (and French) lead in removing the legally elected president of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, from power. Contrast this with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) whose chairperson, Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, said in a statement that CARICOM deplored "the removal of President Aristide " from office, as setting "a dangerous precedent for democratically-elected governments anywhere and everywhere." In other words, Canada has sided with the two "colonial" powers with a centuries-old tradition of meddling (to put it mildly) in Haitian affairs, instead of with the Caribbean nations which have endured a shared history of slavery and other forms of exploitation.

Three weeks into an armed insurrection that left the country in turmoil and Aristide gone Martin said that he hoped "all parties ...respect constitutional order and the rule of law." Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham did no better with his comment that a "constitutional transition " was underway.

http://www.counterpunch.org/engler03052004.html

You "Broke it - you own it."

[Canadian_moderate]

4. No offence to Jamaica

But Patterson hasn't exactly done well to control things in his country either. Jamaica is a country over-run by murderous thugs.

I feel for the Haitians and their losses, but Aristide didn't exactly do well either during his time in power. There were reasons for his unpopularity and he had proven himself as just another corrupted thug.
.
Let's hope things can get sorted out in Haiti

[CHIMO]

5. Rep. Barbara Lee Criticizes U.S. "Systematic Destabilization and Undermini

Rep. Barbara Lee Criticizes U.S. "Systematic Destabilization and Undermining of Democracy in Haiti"

AMY GOODMAN: Hmm.

REP. BARBARA LEE: I am very concerned. So, one, the safety and security and health and well-being of the president and his family, and secondly, the Haitian people because certainly the conditions there and the situation is very unstable. The Haitian people deserve a life that they have never had as a result of our policy. I have witnessed systematic, and I think all of us know there has been systematic destabilization, systematic undermining of democracy in Haiti. Systematic embargo and the disallowance of funding for humanitarian projects, for clean water efforts, for health education efforts. Haiti has the largest HIV/AIDS rate in the Caribbean. It's unconscionable that our country, because they - for whatever reason - did not like President Aristide, tried to not only destroy President Aristide, but also the entire country.

JUAN GONZALES: And in the hearings yesterday you made some comparisons to the situation in Iraq, with Haiti. Could you review some of those for our viewers and listeners?

REP. BARBARA LEE: Well, you know, I think what we have to really understand is that this country continues to talk about democracy throughout the world and promote democracy. It will invade countries, and kill people - such as in Iraq - to establish its form of democracy. I think what I have learned and continue to believe is that it's only democracy where the United States can have some form of control. We spent $87 billion-plus in Iraq, not to mention the money that’s going to be appropriated later this year in Iraq in terms of reconstruction efforts and in terms of really fending off this guerrilla war. But yet, here in the western hemisphere, in a black nation, the poorest in the western hemisphere of 8 million people, we can’t support democracy and cannot allow the country to participate in the democratic process. Rather, we support and engage in and give a wink and a nod to thugs and murderers who want to overthrow the government. In essence, what I think we have done is supported a coup d’etat in Haiti, and turned our back on democracy. I think that's a shame.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/04/1554231