[A-List] Haiti -- Wyclef Jean candidacy

Sat Aug 7 14:33:36 MDT 2010

Tony,
I knew Aristide's  ambassador who was later the main editor for Haiti Progress.He came to the first conference about Yugoslavia and he was brilliant.Have no idea what happened to him.
Nadja

----------------------------------------
> From: tal1 at cogeco.ca
> To: a-list at lists.econ.utah.edu
> Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2010 15:32:11 -0400
> Subject: Re: [A-List] Haiti -- Wyclef Jean candidacy
>
> I saw Sean Penn 'debating' Jean on CNN yesterday....Kudos to Penn.
> Unfortunately, Sean is no intellectual and, as per usual for such occasions,
> his critique was so milquetoast-like that he may just as well not have
> showed up.
>
> T.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "james daly" 
> To: 
> Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2010 12:52 PM
> Subject: [A-List] Haiti -- Wyclef Jean candidacy
>
>
> >
> >
> > To cut to the chase, no election in Haiti, and no candidate in those
> > elections, will be considered legitimate by the majority of Haiti's
> > population, unless it includes the full and fair participation of the
> > Fanmi
> > Lavalas Party of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Fanmi Lavalas is
> > unquestionably the most popular party in the country, yet the
> > "international
> > community," led by the United States, France and Canada, has done
> > everything
> > possible to undermine Aristide and Lavalas, overthrowing him twice by
> > military coups in 1991 and 2004 and banishing Aristide, who now lives in
> > South Africa with his family, from the Americas.
> >
> > United Nations army, led by Brazil, still occupies Haiti six years after
> > the coup. Their unstated mission, under the name of "peacekeeping," is to
> > suppress the popular movement and prevent the return to power of
> > Aristide's
> > Lavalas Party. One must understand a Wyclef Jean candidacy, first of all,
> > in
> > this context.
> >
> > Every election since a 67 percent majority first brought Aristide to power
> > in 1990 has demonstrated the enormous popularity of the Lavalas movement.
> > When Lavalas could run, they won overwhelmingly. In 2006, when security
> > conditions did not permit them to run candidates, they voted and
> > demonstrated to make sure Rene Preval, a former Lavalas president, was
> > re-elected.
> >
> > Preval, however, turned against those who voted for him. He scheduled
> > elections for 12 Senate seats in 2009 and supported the Electoral
> > Council's
> > rejection of all Lavalas candidates. Lavalas called for a boycott, and as
> > few as 3 percent of Haitians voted, with fewer than 1 percent voting in
> > the
> > runoff, once again demonstrating the people's love and respect for
> > President
> > Aristide.
> >
> >
> > When Lavalas candidates were barred from the ballot for the Senate
> > election
> > of April 19, 2009, almost no one voted; even some poll workers refused to
> > vote. That's how loyal Haitians are to the Lavalas Party. - Photo: Alice
> > SmeetsFanmi Lavalas has already been banned from the next round of
> > elections, so enter Wyclef Jean. Jean comes from a prominent Haitian
> > family
> > that has virulently opposed Lavalas since the 1990 elections. His uncle is
> > Raymond Joseph - also a rumored presidential candidate - who became
> > Haitian
> > ambassador to the United States under the coup government and remains so
> > today. Kevin Pina writes in "It's not all about that! Wyclef Jean is
> > fronting in Haiti," Joseph is "the co-publisher of Haiti Observateur, a
> > right-wing rag that has been an apologist for the killers in the Haitian
> > military going back as far as the brutal coup against Aristide in 1991.
> >
> >
> > "On Oct. 26 [2004] Haitian police entered the pro-Aristide slum of Fort
> > Nationale and summarily executed 13 young men. Wyclef Jean said nothing.
> > On
> > Oct. 28 the Haitian police executed five young men, babies really, in the
> > pro-Aristide slum of Bel Air. Wyclef said nothing. If Wyclef really wants
> > to
> > be part of Haiti's political dialogue, he would acknowledge these facts.
> > Unfortunately, Wyclef is fronting."
> >
> > As if to prove it, the Miami Herald reported on Feb. 28, 2010, "Secret
> > polling by foreign powers in search of a new face to lead Haiti's
> > reconstruction ." might favor Jean's candidacy, as someone with sufficient
> > name recognition who could draw enough votes to overcome another Lavalas
> > electoral boycott.
> >
> > Wyclef Jean supported the 2004 coup. When gun-running former army and
> > death
> > squad members trained by the CIA were overrunning Haiti's north on Feb.
> > 25,
> > 2004, MTV's Gideon Yago wrote, "Wyclef Jean voiced his support for Haitian
> > rebels on Wednesday, calling on embattled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand
> > Aristide to step down and telling his fans in Haiti to 'keep their head
> > up'
> > as the country braces itself for possible civil war."
> >
> > During the Obama inaugural celebration, Jean famously and perversely
> > serenaded Colin Powell, the Bush administration secretary of state during
> > the U.S. destabilization campaign and eventual coup against Aristide, with
> > Bob Marley's "Redemption Song."
> >
> > Jean also produced the movie, "The Ghosts of Cite Soleil," an
> > anti-Aristide
> > and Lavalas hit piece, which tells us that President Aristide left
> > voluntarily, without mention of his kidnapping by the U.S. military, and
> > presents the main coup leaders in a favorable light. It features
> > interviews
> > with sweatshop owners Andy Apaid and Charles Henry Baker without telling
> > us
> > they hate Aristide because he raised the minimum wage and sought to give
> > all
> > Haitians a seat at the table by democratizing Haiti's economy, a program
> > opposed by the rich in Haiti.
> >
> > It uncritically interviews coup leader Louis Jodel Chamblain, without
> > telling us he worked with the Duvalier dictatorship's brutal militia, the
> > Tonton Macoutes, in the 1980s; that following the coup against Aristide in
> > 1991, he was the "operations guy" for the FRAPH paramilitary death squad,
> > accused of murdering uncounted numbers of Aristide supporters and
> > introducing gang rape into Haiti as a military weapon.
> >
> > Wyclef Jean's movie, "The Ghosts of Cite Soleil," an anti-Aristide and
> > Lavalas hit piece, features interviews with sweatshop owners Andy Apaid
> > and
> > Charles Henry Baker without telling us they hate Aristide because he
> > raised
> > the minimum wage and sought to give all Haitians a seat at the table by
> > democratizing Haiti's economy, a program opposed by the rich in Haiti.
> > It uncritically interviews coup leader Guy Phillipe, without telling us
> > he's
> > a former Haitian police chief who was trained by U.S. Special Forces in
> > Ecuador in the early 1990s or that the U.S. embassy admitted that Phillipe
> > was involved in the transhipment of narcotics, one of the key sources of
> > funds for paramilitary attacks on the poor in Haiti.
> >
> > Wyclef runs the Yele Haiti Foundation, which the Washington Post reported
> > on
> > Jan. 16, 2010, is under fiscal scrutiny because "(i)t seems clear that a
> > significant amount of the monies that this charity raises go for costs
> > other
> > than providing benefits to Haitians in need . In 2006, Yele Haiti had
> > about
> > $1 million in revenue, according to tax documents. More than a third of
> > the
> > money went to payments to related parties, said lawyer James Joseph .
> > (T)he
> > charity recorded a payment of $250,000 to Telemax, a TV station and
> > production company in Haiti in which Jean and Jerry Duplessis, both
> > members
> > of Yele Haiti's board of directors, had a controlling interest. The
> > charity
> > paid about $31,000 in rent to Platinum Sound, a Manhattan recording studio
> > owned by Jean and Duplessis. And it spent an additional $100,000 for
> > Jean's
> > performance at a benefit concert in Monaco." A foundation spokesperson
> > "said
> > the group hopes to spend a higher percentage of its budget on services as
> > it
> > gains experience."
> >
> > PLEASE SPREAD THE NEWS: "WYCLEF JEAN IS NOT A FRIEND OF THE PEOPLE'S
> > DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT OF HAITI." The floating of his candidacy is just one
> > more effort by the international forces, desperate to put a smiley face on
> > a
> > murderous military occupation, to undermine the will of the Haitian
> > majority
> > by making Wyclef Jean the Ronald Reagan of Haiti.
> >
> > The floating of his candidacy is just one more effort by the international
> > forces, desperate to put a smiley face on a murderous military occupation,
> > to undermine the will of the Haitian majority by making Wyclef Jean the
> > Ronald Reagan of Haiti.
> > Let us be clear. Jean and his uncle, the Haitian ambassador to the U.S.,
> > are
> > both cozy with the self-appointed czar of Haiti, Bill Clinton, whose plans
> > for the Caribbean nation are to make it a neo-colony for a reconstructed
> > tourist industry and a pool of cheap labor for U.S. factories. Wyclef Jean
> > is the perfect front man. The Haitian elite and its U.S./U.N. sponsors are
> > counting on his appeal to the youth to derail the people's movement for
> > democracy and their call for the return of President Aristide. Most
> > Haitians
> > will not be hoodwinked by the likes of Wyclef Jean.
> >
> > Charlie Hinton is a member of the Haiti Action Committee and works at
> > Inkworks Press, a worker owned and managed printing company in Berkeley.
> > He
> > may be reached at ch_lifewish at yahoo.com.
> >
> > On Aug 4, 2010, at 4:49 PM, Brian O'Connell wrote:
> >
> >
> > This definitely takes the cake as most interesting story of the day:
> >
> >
> > Musician Wyclef Jean to run for Haiti president
> > Wyclef is a popular figure in his home countryHaitian-born musician Wyclef
> > Jean has said he will run for president of the earthquake-hit Caribbean
> > country.
> > The Fugees star will officially announce his candidacy on Larry King's CNN
> > show on Thursday, media reports say.
> > Haiti is scheduled to elect a new leader on 28 November.
> > The country was hit by a devastating earthquake in January which killed
> > more
> > than 250,000 people.
> > Wyclef, who is ambassador-at-large of Haiti, told Time magazine that the
> > devastation that followed the earthquake had motivated him to make a bid
> > for
> > the leadership.
> > "If not for the earthquake, I probably would have waited another 10 years
> > before doing this," Jean said.
> > "The quake drove home to me that Haiti can't wait another 10 years for us
> > to
> > bring it into the 21st Century."
> >
> >
> >
> > Wyclef, who lives in New York, is founder of the humanitarian Yele Haiti
> > Foundation, and has played a prominent role in securing aid since the
> > earthquake that left 1.5 million people homeless.
> > The singer and producer, who left Haiti as a child and grew up in
> > Brooklyn,
> > also plans to build a bridge between the Haiti and the Haitian diaspora in
> > the US.
> > 'Secret weapon' Wyclef is hugely popular in Haiti where half of the
> > population is under 21-years-old.
> > He told Time his secret weapon in the election campaign would be that
> > Haiti's "enormous youth population doesn't believe in politicians any
> > more".
> > Others who have declared their candidacy include the former diplomat
> > Garaudy
> > Laguerre and Raymond Joseph, Haiti's current ambassador to the US and
> > Wyclef's uncle.
> > Other likely candidates include former prime ministers and another popular
> > Haitian musician, Michel Martelly, also known as "Sweet Micky".
> > Candidates have until 7 August to register.
> > Current President Rene Preval is barred by the constitution from seeking a
> > new term
> >
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> >
> >
> >
> >
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