[R-G] Half-Hour for Haiti: Keep Fighting For Lovinsky’s Return!

[Anthony Fenton]

January 26, 2008

Half-Hour for Haiti: Keep Fighting For Lovinsky’s Return!

Update:  Some good news:  former death squad leader Emmanuel Constant  
will face trial in February for mortgage fraud in New York (see press  
release from the Center for Constitutional rights). Thanks to  
everyone who contacted Judge Gerges in response to our November 29  
alert. If Mr. Constant is effectively prosecuted and sentenced to a  
just prison term, the Haitian justice system will have more time to  
recover and to prepare its case against him for the murders and rapes  
committed by his FRAPH death squad.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to IJDH’s end-of-the-year  
fundraiser. You helped us meet the $30,000 match challenge by IJDH’s  
Board of Directors, which went a long ways towards ensuring that IJDH  
and the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux continue to stand up for  
the human rights of Haiti’s poorest. We did not, unfortunately, meet  
our total fundraiser goal of $100,000, so if you have not yet  
contributed, we still need the help. To contribute, send a tax- 
deductible check to IJDH, PO Box 745, Joseph, OR, 97846, or  
contribute online by clicking the “click to contribute online” button  
on the top right-hand corner of our website.


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Damming the Flood: Thanks to everyone who ordered Peter Hallward’s  
Damming the Flood: Haiti and the Politics of Containment. We have had  
trouble keeping them in stock, but have mailed all orders we received  
through January 10. Let us know if you did not receive your shipment.  
We have more books on the way, so we are still taking orders.  
Consider asking your local library to order it, it is a great way to  
promote the book while making balanced information about Haiti  
available to a broad audience. If you want to place an order, click  
here for prices and ordering information. You can pay by sending us a  
check, made out to IJDH, PO Box 745, Joseph, OR, 97846, or pay online  
by clicking the “click to contribute online” button on the top right- 
hand corner of our website. That’s our ordinary donations page- if it  
is a book order we can tell from the amount, but to make sure we  
don’t miss it, send us an email at info at ijdh.org to let us know  
you’ve purchased books (we don’t treat book purchases as charitable  
contributions). If you have any problems, call us at 541-432-0597.   
Damming the Flood will be available in bookstores in North America in  
April.

Human rights activist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, abducted on August 12,  
is still missing. For many of us, the holiday celebrations with  
family and friends were tempered by Lovinsky’s absence, from his  
family and from our midst (see the January 13 message from Lovinsky’s  
wife Michele). But the fight for Lovinsky’s safe return continues.  
Haiti’s Embassy in Washington reported receiving over 500 letters in  
response to Amnesty International's Action Alert for Lovinsky and his  
colleague, Wilson Mesilien. The Petition to Save Lovinsky now has  
1803 signatories. This week Vanessa Redgrave signed onto the Free  
Lovinsky! movement, joining a host of celebrities including Danny  
Glover, Martin Sheen and Selma James.
This week’s action: Yesterday, United for Peace and Justice, a  
coalition of over 1,300 groups that came together to oppose the Iraq  
War, issued an alert for Lovinsky that was drafted by the


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Haiti Action Committee. The letters generated by UFPJ, on top of the  
letters for Amnesty International and all the other alerts, could  
make a turning point in this case. If you have not yet urged the  
Haitian government to investigate Lovinsky’s disappearance, now is  
the time:

Demand the safe return of Haitian human rights activist Lovinsky  
Pierre-Antoine.

Lovinsky was kidnapped on August 12th, 2007 after meeting with a U.S.  
human rights delegation. He is a member of Fanmi Lavalas and a  
founding member of September 30th Foundation. He is a psychologist  
who works with victims of torture, and a fierce activist who stands  
with his people in the streets.

Shamefully, the United Nations helped legitimize the Bush  
Administration-backed coup that forced out the democratically elected  
government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. That coup reversed  
Haiti's ten years of grassroots democracy, and in its aftermath, as  
documented by reports from the University of Miami, Harvard Law  
School, and other organizations, UN "peacekeepers" backed up Haitian  
police as they cracked down on activists with the pro-Aristide  
Lavalas movement. Lovinsky was among those who worked ceaselessly  
against all that the 2004 coup brought: killing, torture and exile of  
thousands; the destruction of schools, health services, markets - the  
infrastructure which served Haiti's poor; sex trafficking and rape of  
Haitian women and girls by UN troops and Haitian rightists.

Lovinsky's kidnapping serves to warn Haitian's poor majority that  
powerful forces can and will do whatever it takes to crush resistance.

Haiti Action Committee joins with organizations and individuals  
across the globe that are working to keep the pressure on those who  
hold the power in Haiti - the U.S. and the UN occupying forces - to  
demand the safe return of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine.

A petition for Lovinsky has been signed by over 1600 organizations  
and public figures, including actor/activist Danny Glover, Selma  
James, actor Martin Sheen, Andaiye, writer George Lamming, playwright  
John Arden, former Labour Minister Tony Benn, John McDonnell MP,  
journalist Rickey Singh, Madaraka Nyerere (son of the late Tanzanian  
president Julius Nyerere), the Walter Rodney Commemorative Committee  
and many more. To sign the on-line petition, click here http:// 
www.petitiononline.com/august/petition.html

Haiti Action Committee members are fasting on Wednesdays as part of  
an ongoing rolling fast to highlight the Haiti-based campaign for  
Lovinsky's safe return. Solidarity activities have been taking place  
in Los Angeles, London, Boston, San Francisco and Benton Harbor, MI,  
as well as in the Caribbean.

Support for Haitian democracy in the U.S. Congress has been led by  
notable progressive Democrats including Representatives Maxine  
Waters, Barbara Lee, and Jan Schakowsky.  Much work needs to be done  
to pressure other Congresspeople to support Haiti's poor majority,  
rather than Bush-backed elites.

Join the campaign, and open a discussion with your friends and co- 
workers about Haiti (learn more at www.haitisolidarity.net and  
www.haitiaction.net) and about taking action to save Lovinsky's life.

Haitian president René Preval's 2006 election was a victory for the  
country's poor, but pro-democracy activists maintain that government  
ministries remain dominated by coup forces, which also control the  
Haitian police.  The Haitian government is also receiving enormous  
pressure from the Bush Administration to privatize state companies  
and to pursue even more draconian "free trade" (pro-rich, anti-poor)  
policies.

Preval needs to hear from supporters of Haiti's pro-democracy  
movement about the importance of the safe return of Lovinsky, the  
release of remaining political prisoners, the return of Jean-Bertrand  
Aristide and ending the occupation.

Please send a letter to Haiti's President René Préval, urging him to  
ensure that his government does everything it can to investigate  
Lovinsky's disappearance and ensure his safe return to his family and  
his community. A sample letter is below, please customize and  
personalize it if you can.

You may send your letter directly to President Préval by regular mail  
(.69 postage in U.S., $1.55 in Canada), or by fax: (206) 350-7986 (a  
U.S. number) or email: avokahaiti at aol.com, and they will be delivered.

Thanks for your support and your solidarity in helping us save our  
brother Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine.

Haiti Action Committee
_____________________________________________________________

January __, 2008
His Excellency René Préval
President of the Republic of Haiti
Palais National
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Re: Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine's Disappearance

Your Excellency:

I am writing because I am extremely concerned about Lovinsky Pierre- 
Antoine, the human rights activist kidnapped last summer. I sincerely  
request that you do everything in your power to ensure that your  
government takes every possible step to ensure Mr. Pierre-Antoine's  
safe return to his family.

Mr. Pierre-Antoine is important to people all over the world that  
care about Haiti. His safe return is essential to show that Haitians  
can participate effectively and lawfully in Haiti's democratic  
process, without fear.

I am also concerned about reports from Haitian grassroots human  
rights activists that the Haitian police are not zealously  
investigating this case. Please demand that everyone working for your  
government- from the Ministry of Justice to police leadership to  
investigators- immediately take every possible lawful step to  
investigate Mr. Pierre-Antoine's disappearance, pursue the  
perpetrators and return Mr. Pierre-Antoine safely.

Sincerely,

_____________________

For more information about the Half-Hour for Haiti Program, the  
Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, or human rights in Haiti,  
see http://www.HaitiJustice.org. To receive Half-Hour for Haiti  
Action Alerts once per week, send an email to HalfHour4Haiti at ijdh.org.