Open Letter to Chris Brown

Dear Chris:

I really did not want to write this open letter, and would have preferred to speak to you in person, in private. Indeed, ever since the domestic violence incident with Rihanna two years ago there have been attempts, by some of the women currently or formerly in your circle, women who love and care deeply about you, to bring you and I together, as they felt my own life story, my own life experiences, might be of some help in your journey. For whatever reasons, that never happened. By pure coincidence, I wound up in a Harlem recording studio with you about three months ago, as I was meeting up with R&B singer Olivia and her manager. You were hosting a listening session for your album-in-progress and the room was filled with gushing supporters, with a very large security guard outside the studio door. I was allowed in, as I assume you knew my name, and my long relationship to the music industry. I greeted you and said I would love to have a talk with you, but I am not even sure you heard a single word I said above the loud music. I gave your security person my card when I left, asked him to ask you to phone me, but you never did, for whatever reasons. And that is fine.

But I have thought of you long and hard as I’ve watched you, from a distance, as you dealt with the charges of physical violence against your then-girlfriend Rihanna, as you were being pummeled by the media and abandoned by many fans, admirers, and endorsers, and ridiculed on the social networks. You were 19 when the altercation with Rihanna occurred, and you are only 21 now. Yes, you’ve achieved both international fame and success in a way most people your age, or any age, could never imagine. But you also are at a very serious crossroads because of the dishonor of your persona derived from your beating Rihanna. There is no way to get around this, Chris. You must deal with it, as a man, now and forever. For our past can both be a prison we are locked in permanently or it can be the key to our freedom if we glean the lessons from it, and deal with it directly. All the external pressures and forces will be there, Chris, but no one can free us but ourselves. And it must start in our minds and in our souls.

That is why I was very saddened to hear about your recent appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” to promote your new cd “F.A.M.E.” The interview was embarrassing, to say the least, you slouched through the entire episode, and you were so clearly defensive as Robin Roberts, the interviewer, threw you what I thought were very easy questions about the Rihanna saga. I get that you want to move past it. But that is not going to happen, Chris, until people see real humility, real redemption, and real changes in how you conduct yourself both publicly and privately. Whether the interview and what happened at ABC studios were a publicity stunt to push your album sales is not the point (as has been suggested in some online blogs). It has been spread across the internet, and throughout the world, that you ripped off your shirt following that interview, got in the face of one of the show’s producers in a threatening manner, and that somehow the window in your dressing room was smashed with a chair. And then there are the photos of you, shirtless, walking outside the ABC studios looking, well, pissed off, immediately after. Finally, you tweeted, somewhere in the midst of that morning, Chris, “I’m so over people bring this past s**t up!! Yet we praise Charlie Sheen and other celebs for [their] bullsh**t.”

Yes, that tweet was taken down very quickly, but not before it was spread near and far also, Chris. And it was a tweet written with raw honesty and, for sure, raw emotion. Very clear to me, as it is to so many of us watching your life unfold in public, that you are deeply wounded, that you are hurt by what you have experienced the past two years. That you’ve never actually healed from what you witnessed as a child, either, of your mother being beaten savagely by your stepfather, and how that must’ve made you feel, in your bones. You’ve said in interviews, long before the Rihanna incident happened, that it made you scared, timid, and that you wet the bed because of the wild, untamed emotions that swirled in your being. I am certain you felt powerless, just as powerless as I felt as a boy when my mother, who I love dearly and have forgiven these many years later, viciously beat me, physically and emotionally, in an effort to discipline me, to prepare me, a Black man-child, for what she, a rural South Carolina-born and bred working-class woman, perceived to be a crude and racist world.

But the fact is, Chris, we cannot afford to teach children, directly or indirectly, that violence and anger in any form are the solutions for our frustrations, disagreements, or pain, and not expect that violence and anger to penetrate the psyche of that child. To be with that child as he, you, me, and countless other American males in our nation, grow from boy to teenager to early adulthood. Ultimately it will come out in some channel, either inwardly on themselves in the manner of serious self-repression, self-loathing, and fear. Or outwardly in the shape of blind rage and violence, against themselves, against others, including women and girls.

You see, Chris, I know much about you because I was you in previous chapters of my life. I am presently in my 40s, a practitioner of yoga, and someone who has spent much of the past 20 years in therapy and counseling sessions. I shudder to think who I would be today had I not made a commitment to constant self-reflection and healing. Yes, like most human beings I do get angry at times, but it is in a very different kind of way, I think long and hard about my words and actions, and if I do make a mistake and offend someone in some way verbally or emotionally, I apologize as quickly as I can. And I am proud to say I have not been involved in a violent incident in many years, that I am about love, peace, and nonviolence now, and this is my path for the rest of my life. I am not willing to go backwards, nor am I going to permit anyone or any scenario to take me backwards, either.

But, Chris, it was not always like this for me. The hurt and pain I felt as a child led to arguments and fights in my grade and high schools: arguments with teachers and principals and physical fights with my classmates. This in spite of the fact I possessed, very early on, the same kind of talents you had coming up. Mine is writing and yours is music. And because we both had gifts that people recognized, the more problematic sides of our personas were often overlooked, or ignored completely. In reality, Chris, I attended four grade schools and three high schools partly because my single mother and I (I am an only child) were very poor, and forced to move a lot; and partly because of my behavioral issues at various schools. Many adults could not understand it because I was routinely a straight-A student breezing through everything from math and science to English.

Yet I was no different than countless American children terrorized by their environments, with no true outlets to understand, and heal, what we were experiencing. That is why, Chris, I eventually was kicked out of Rutgers University, why I got into arguments with my cast mates on the first season of MTV’s “The Real World,” and why I often had beef with my co-workers, as a twenty something hot shot writer at Quincy Jones’ Vibe magazine. And why I was eventually fired from Vibe, Chris, in spite of writing more cover stories than any other writer in the magazine’s history. There was always a darkness in my life, Chris, a heavy sadness, born of years of wounds piled one on top of the other. And I did not begin to grasp this until a fateful day in July 1991 when I pushed my girlfriend at the time into a bathroom door in the middle of an argument. As I have written in other spaces, Chris, when she ran from the apartment, barefoot, it was only then that I recognized the magnitude of what I had done. Just like you I had to deal with public embarrassment and court and a restraining order. But the big difference, Chris, is that a community of people, both women and men, saw potential in me, the boy struggling to be a man, in the early 1990s, and rather than shun me or push me aside or write me off completely, they instead opted to help me.

The first step was returning to therapy, as I had done briefly in 1988 after being suspended from Rutgers for threatening a female student. The next step was my struggling to take ownership for every aspect of my life, and not just that bathroom door incident. That meant, Chris, I had to go very far into my own soul, and return, time and again, to being that little boy who had been violated and abused, and meet him, on his terms. I assure you, Chris, it was extremely difficult to do that, and I put off many issues for months, even years, unwilling or unable to look myself in the mirror. Add to that the sudden celebrity of my life on MTV and at Vibe, and I found myself around many other people who were living escapist lives, who were not bothering to deal with their demons, either. That, Chris, is a recipe for disaster, for a life stuck in a state of arrested development. The worst thing we could ever do is only be in circles of people who are wallowing in their own miseries, too, yet covering it up with fame, money, material things, sex, drugs, alcohol, and an addiction to acting out because that is much easier than actually growing up.

As a matter of fact, as I watched your “Good Morning America” interview, and read the accounts of what happened after, I thought a good deal about the late Tupac Shakur, who I interviewed more than any other journalist when he was alive. Tupac was, Chris, without question, equally the most brilliant and the most frustrating interview subject I’d ever encountered. Brilliant because his abilities as an actor (imagine what he could have been had he lived) were towering, and his writing skills instantly connected him with the man-child in so many American males, especially those of us who grew up as he did, without a consistent and available father figure or mentor, and with some form of turmoil in our lives. But, Chris, I could see the writing on the wall from the very beginning, of Tupac’s downfall, because he willingly participated in it, encouraged it, openly advertised it every single time he rhymed about dying, or spoke about a short shelf life in one of his interviews. I do believe each and every one of us human beings is given a certain amount of time on this planet. I for one feel very blessed to be here as long as I have been, especially given my past destructive paths. But I also believe, Chris, that so many of us participate in what I call self-sabotage, or slow suicide. That is, because we do not have the emotional and spiritual tools to process the many angles of our lives, we instead resort to predictable behavior that may feel empowering or liberating on the surface, but is actually damaging to us, and doing even more harm to us.

For an instance when I looked at the photo of you, shirtless, with the shiny tattoos across your chest, I saw myself, I saw Tupac Shakur, I saw all us American Black boys who so badly want to be free, who so badly want to be understood, who feel life unfair for labeling us “angry,” “difficult,” “violent,” “abusive,” “criminals,” or “cocky” or “arrogant.” Yes, Chris Brown, in spite of Barack Obama being president of the United States, America still very much has a very serious problem with race and racism, which means it still has a very serious problem with Black males who act out or behave badly, who speak their minds, who assert themselves in some way or another. I know that is what you are reacting to, Chris. And you are not wrong in tweeting that Charlie Sheen is catching a break in a way that you are not. I am very clear that Charlie Sheen’s father is Latino and his mother is White. But Charlie Sheen operates in a space of White male privilege because of his White skin and his access to White power, and thus he is given a pass for his violent, abusive, mean-spirited, and drug-addicted outbursts in a way you or I never will, Chris. Charlie Sheen, as insane as it appears, is even celebrated in many circles because of how American male (read, White male) privilege can exist while ignoring the concerns of those he has harmed, including women. That is why, Chris, I rarely discuss in public the chapter of my life that is MTV’s “The Real World.” In spite of who I am as a whole human being, my numerous interests and skill sets, the one thing that was played up were the arguments I had with my White cast mates. So I was labeled, for years and years, Chris, as “the angry Black man,” something that troubled me as deeply as you were bothered on “Good Morning America” by the Rihanna questions. And how certain media folks, including Joy Behar on “The View,” must bother you calling you a “thug,” in spite of the obvious racial overtones of such a loaded word. If you are a thug, then what is Charlie Sheen, or Mel Gibson, or John Mayer, or Jude Law, or any other famous White male who has engaged in bad behavior the past few years? Why are they often forgiven, given a pass, allowed to clean themselves up and to redeem themselves in a way Black males simply cannot, Chris? It is because, to paraphrase Tupac, we were given this world, we did not make it. And it is because of power, Chris, plain and simple. Whoever has the power to put forth images and words, to put forth definitions, to determine what is right and what is wrong, can just as easily label you a star one day and a thug and a has-been the very next day. Or make you, a Black male, the poster child, for every single bad behavior that exists in America. Just ask Black males as diverse as Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, Mike Tyson, O.J. Simpson, or Kanye West. No apologies being made by me for these men or their actions, but the chatter, always, in Black male circles is how we are treated when we do wrong as opposed to how our White brothers are treated when they do wrong. Call it racial or cultural paranoia if you’d like. We Black brothers call it a ridiculously oppressive double standard. And that is because America has historically had a very complicated and twisted relationship with Black men, ranging from slavery to the first heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson to Malcolm X and Dr. King both, and including men like Louis Armstrong, Chuck Berry, Michael Jackson, Prince, and, yes, Barack Obama. Sometimes we feel incredible love and affection, and sometimes we feel as if we are unwanted, armed, and dangerous. It is a schizophrenic existence, to say the least, and it is akin to how the character Bigger Thomas, in Richard Wright’s classic but controversial novel “Native Son,” saw his life reduced to the metaphor of a cornered black rat. Thus so many of us spend our entire lives, as Black males, navigating this tricky terrain, so few of us with the proper emotional and spiritual tools to balance our coolness with a righteous defiance that, well, will not get us killed, literally and figuratively, by each other or the police, or by the American mass media culture.

I am telling you the truth, Chris Brown, man-to-man, Black man to Black man, because you need to hear it, straight up, no chaser. If you really believe that because you are famous and successful that the same rules apply to you, you are deceiving yourself. Like many, I love people, regardless of race, gender, class, sexual orientation, disability, religion, any of that, and I believe deeply in the humanity and equality of us all. But until we have a nation, and a world, where the media places the same energy and excitement in documenting a Black man who is engaging in, say, mentoring work, as it does in a Black man smashing a window at a television station, then we are sadly fooling ourselves, Chris, that things are fair and equal in this universe. They are not. And sometimes it will be big things, like what you just experienced, Chris, at “Good Morning America,” and sometimes it will be quieter moments, far off the radar, where we Black men have to think on the fly about who we are, what we represent, how others perceive us or may want to perceive us, how we say things to people, particularly our White sisters and brothers, for fear or worry of being misunderstood and being pegged as “problematic” or a “troublemaker,” and magically navigate best we can to assert our humanity, our dignity, our leadership, our visions and ideas and dreams, and, yes, our definitions of manhood rooted in our very unique cultural journeys. Complete insanity, this emotional and spiritual juggling act, no question, and our harsh reality in this world, my friend.

So what you have to understand, Chris, and what I had to grapple with for years, is there is no escaping your past, especially if we engage in angry or violent behavior. If we do not confront it, probe and understand it, heal and learn from it, and use what we’ve learned to teach others to go a different way, then it dogs us forever, Chris, and we unwittingly become the entertainment, nonstop, for others. And that simply does not have to be the case for you, Chris. You are too much of a genius to allow this to destroy you, but your self-destruction is exactly what many of us are witnessing. I have no idea who is around you at this point, or what kind of men, specifically, are advising you, but the worst possible thing you could do is act as if what happened with Rihanna was no big deal. It was and is a major deal because women and girls, in America, and on this earth, are beaten, stabbed, shot, murdered, raped, molested, every single day. Because of your fame you have become, unfortunately, a poster child for this destructive behavior in spite of your proclaiming just a few years before, in a magazine interview, you would never do to a woman what had happened to your mother. What I gathered, very quickly, Chris, after I pushed that girlfriend back in 1991, was that I could not hide from my demons or myself. That is why I wrote an essay in Essence magazine in September 1992 entitled “The Sexist in Me.” That is why I made it a point to listen to women and girls in my travels, in my community, even within my family, tell stories of how they had been violated or abused by one man or another. And that is why, Chris, nearly twenty years later, so much of my work as a leader, as an activist, as a public speaker, is dedicated to ending violence against women and girls. In other words, I took what was a very negative and hurtful experience, for that girlfriend, and for myself, and transformed it into a life of teaching other males how to deal with their hurts without hurting others, particularly women and girls.

Tupac Shakur, Chris, never got to turn the corner, as you well know, because he was gunned down at age 25. I do not know if he actually raped or sexually assaulted the woman in that hotel room as he was charged. But one thing he did admit to me, Chris, in that famous Rikers Island interview, was that he could have stopped his male friends from coming into his hotel room and sexually exploiting his female companion that night. And he did not. You, Chris Brown, cannot turn back the hands of time to February 2009. We have seen the photos of Rihanna’s battered and bruised face. Yes, you’ve apologized, yes, you’ve done your time in court and your hours of community service, and yes, and you have been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. But it is really up to you, Chris, to decide in these tense moments, as you approach your 22nd birthday on May 5th, if you want to be a boy forever locked in the time capsule of your own battered and bruised life, or if you want to be the man so many of us are rooting for you to be, one who will take responsibility for all his actions, who will sit up in interviews and answer all questions, even the uncomfortable ones. And the kind of man who will admit, once and for all, publicly, privately, however you must do it, that you need help, that you need love, that you need to love yourself in a very different kind of way, that you no longer will hide behind an album release, music videos, dyed hair, tattoos, or even your twitter account, Chris Brown. That you will make a life-long commitment to counseling, to therapy, to healing, to alternative definitions of manhood rooted in nonviolence, love, and peace, that you will become a loud and consistent voice against all forms of violence against women and girls, wherever you go, as I do, for the rest of your life. All eyes are on you because you’ve brought the world to your doorstep, my friend. The question alas, Chris, is do you want to go forward or not? And if yes to going forward, then you must know it means going to the deepest and darkest parts of your past to heal what ails you, once and for all, for the good of yourself, and for the good of those who are watching you very closely and who may learn something from what you do. Or what you do not do. The choice is yours, Chris Brown. The choice is yours—

Godspeed,
Kevin Powell

Kevin Powell is an activist, public speaker, and award-winning author or editor of 10 books, including Open Letters to America (essays) and No Sleep Till Brooklyn (poetry). Kevin lives in Brooklyn, New York. Email him at kevin@kevinpowell.net or follow him on Twitter @kevin_powell

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Toward African freedom in Libya and beyond 

by Molefi Kete Asante  

The fundamental stimulus of the attack on Libya is greed, not the protection of the Libyan people. In fact, the people of Libya have suffered more during this bombardment by Western powers and their allies than during the entire 41 years of the leadership of Muammar al-Gaddafi.

There are several rationales that have been advanced in the public for the reason for the assault on Libya. The attackers have said that Gaddafi has used force against his own people. They say that they are trying to prevent revenge attacks on the people who have risen against the leader of Libya. They also say that Gaddafi’s government has lost its legitimacy. None of these arguments make much sense in reality, and they conceal the attempt at exploitation, appropriation of Libyan petroleum and colonial incursion to demonstrate the will of the West in Africa.

We have yet to have a clear view of the attacks made upon the Libyan people by their government. If anything, the actions of the Libyan government in Tripoli appear restrained despite the agitation caused by a vocal minority. In the United States in 1965, when I was a young college student, I witnessed the actions of the National Guard on the streets of South Central Los Angeles. Nearly 40 people were killed in a confrontation with American government authorities.

Governments fight to maintain their legitimacy; this is the law of sustaining power. When President Bush reached the lowest point of his popularity among the American people, he was still considered the president. Gaddafi has not lost any legitimacy because groups of his people, influenced by social media, went to the streets to demonstrate against him. Popularity has rarely been the standard by which governments must be overthrown.

Furthermore, there were no African mercenaries fighting against the people of Libya as reported by the media; the Black people that the Western media experts saw were Libyans.

Although we can and should argue about the need for what Ron Daniels calls the “act of internal criticism” in African governments, there can be no argument about the necessity for Africans to solve their own problems. We must be clear that the attack on Libya is an attack on Africa.

One of the reasons that the French, the Americans and the British could not reach an agreement with the African Union to bomb Libya is because the political intelligence of African leaders has grown tremendously since the crises in Sudan, Côte d’Ivoire, Tunisia and Egypt. The African Union knows that Gaddafi’s leadership on questions of African unity is among the most prominent.

Few African leaders have been as active in assisting the continent economically and administratively as Gaddafi. He has used his country’s wealth to create a strong economy in Libya as well as to support civil servants in other African nations. We must not be beguiled by the Western media in its rush to remove one of the strongest African leaders from his post.

Gaddafi has minced no words about his support for and belief in the United States of Africa. Indeed, he knows that if Africa is divided between Northern and Southern states, or if Africa keeps existing as 54 independent states, the Western nations and the North American nations of Canada and United States will eat each part of Africa alive. They will not be able to swallow a continent that is united, firm in its convictions and dedicated to the liberty of its territory.

No one has shouted any louder than Gaddafi that Africa must be for the Africans. In this he reminds us of the clarion voice of Marcus Garvey.

With the fall of Tunisia, Libya and possibly Morocco and Algeria, France will have succeeded in its major plan to bring those states, especially oil-producing Libya, into a grand Mediterranean Basin clique. In such a scenario, the northern part of Africa will be declared the southern ridge of the European nation to the north. Gaddafi has been one of the major opponents of this neo-hegemony over African territory.

A United Africa would be a step toward overcoming disease, transportation problems, famine and land disputes. In our judgment we should not be so fast to criticize Gaddafi just because Western governments call for such an action. If they say that he is punishing his people, denying them free speech and keeping them from education, this must be proven.

Furthermore, why hasn’t the Western world rolled into Israel or the West Bank and saved the Palestinian people who suffer true slaughter and discrimination at the hands of Israel? What is Gaza, if not the pits of hell? When shall we hear high-sounding words from the leaders of the Western world in support of those Arabs? Africans must beware of the gifts of Europe.

Since Kwame Nkrumah, Africa has rarely had a visionary as broad in thinking and as dedicated in commitment as Gaddafi. Perhaps in his desire to strengthen the continent and to make Africa powerful he went too far with his donations to the governments of Senegal, Chad, Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe and did not do enough for the Libyan people.

No African nation was among those who came out to attack Libya on March 19. President Sarkozy of France has reported that some Arab nations supported the campaign against Libya, but even if that proves to be so, one must not read too much into this without some appreciation of the Arab distress with Gaddafi’s pro-African stance.

Transformations are produced by those who are focused on long-term goals, not by those who make convenient alliances with the enemies of their people. As Nkrumah was fond of saying, “We face neither East nor West; we face forward.”

It has been Gaddafi who has made Nkrumah’s mantra his own: “Africa must unite or perish.” Why would this language threaten the West? The Libyan leader has encountered, and continues to encounter, attempted setbacks and hurdles.

The work of the Brother Leader, as he is sometimes called, has been to raise African consciousness to the point that some of the nations on the continent of Africa begin to reject the loyalty they hold for their colonial masters. Some African leaders seem to fear other Africans.

Gaddafi has proposed that Africa do away with travel restrictions, create a common currency and ease trade tariffs and barriers. This African solidarity is not only a threat to the West – some who identify as Arabs have a difficult time accepting the Africanity promoted by Gaddafi.

With the proper safeguards and cooperation of the African world, the Libyan people can sort out their own internal squabbles. The great danger of the attacks on Libya is that they are being used by the U.S. to test the effectiveness of AFRICOM, the African Command, and this adventure will open the door to direct military intervention in Africa. We already know that the U.S. and the former colonial powers of France and England are re-inventing Cold War policies to enlarge and protect their economic interests on the continent. 

The attack on Libya is also a challenge to Brazil, Venezuela, China, Iran and Russia for influence on the continent. However, beyond the economic argument is the moral argument for African people.

Why should a group of dissidents be able to challenge their state and cause international hegemonic forces to invade their land? Who is to blame for this political folly? We do not see the collapse of the Libyan government, and we support the masses of Libyan people against the tyranny of a minority.

When Africa needed Gaddafi, he was always present. Now that Libya needs Africa, let it be said that Africa will be present on the side of the legitimate government of the people of Libya.

Molefi Kete Asante is international representative of Afrocentricity International, professor of African American studies at Temple University, and author of “The History of Africa” and over 70 other books. He can be reached through his website, http://www.asante.net. This story previously appeared in the New York Amsterdam News, a legendary Black newspaper founded in 1909.

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Scroll down for Al Jazeera video: ‘Aristide returns to Haiti’

by Ezili Dantò

(March 18, 2011) – Aristide returned to Haiti today. I’ve not seen such genuine happiness on the faces of Haiti’s poor in over seven years.

Welcome, President Jean Bertrand Aristide and family. Today is a good day for the poorest of the poor in the Western Hemisphere. Their struggle and unimaginable sacrifices and sufferings bore fruit and it makes them smile. We thank the universal good for this moment. Blessed be the endless Haiti revolution against the organized tyranny of the “civilized” and “schooled” peoples.

Today, HLLN remembers the blessed Haiti revolution, Janjak Desalin and the indigenous Haiti army of today and yesterday.

On this day of the return, HLLN remembers the sacrifice of the warriors of Site Soley, Bel Air, Solino, Martissant who took up arms in self-defense against the occupation and coup d’etat. We remember the most hunted Black man in the Western Hemisphere, who, alone, fought the most powerful armies on earth for two long years before he was assassinated by U.N. bullets. We remember the lynching and crucifixion of Dred Wilmè.

“On July 6, 2005, … Dred Wilmè in his family were assassinated in cold blood by 1,440 heavily armed U.N./U.S. troops. With their tanks, helicopters and advanced weapons, 440 U.N./U.S. soldiers entered Site Soley in the dead of night – at 3 a.m. – while the community was asleep. One thousand more U.N./U.S. soldiers surrounded Site Soley to make sure no one could leave. Bombs where reported unleashed and dropped on the unarmed civilian community.

“According to The Site Soley Massacre Declassification Project, the U.N. fired over 22,000 rounds of ammunition into this thin-shacked, cardboard-house, poverty-stricken Black community of about 450,000 Haitians, most having been forced off their safer rural lands by U.S./USAID/WB/IMF policies in the ‘80s and ‘90s.”

All human beings have the right to life and to self-defense, including the poor in Haiti.

Today, we remember and pay honor and respect to our fallen and faceless warriors – the beleaguered poor in Site Soley, Solino, Martissant, Bel-Air, Gran Ravine et al. – ravaged by exclusion and color-coded NGO charitable distribution and allotments that slays human dignity, brings perpetual dependency. We recall the 20,000 slaughtered by the imposed Bush Boca Raton regime from 2004 to 2006, slaughtered with the complicity of U.N./U.S. firepower.

We pay tribute to Father Gerard Jean Juste, Lovinsky Pierre Antoine and all those who gave their lives for this day of return of the people’s voice. We pay tribute to the tens of thousands of unknown Haitians, in Haiti and in the Diaspora, who never wavered.

We lift up Hazel and Randall Robinson for staying true throughout this long road and always, always supporting justice for the people of Haiti against all the odds. We lift up Minister Louis Farrakhan and Danny Glover who stood with the poor majority in Haiti and advocated for the return of Aristide in Haiti when most of the U.S. Black intelligentsia turned away.

We thank all those folks, from all the races and religions, who signed letters and advocated for this return. We pay tribute to all the small Haiti radio programs abroad and in Haiti who stood for justice, Mary at SF Bay View for standing firm and resolute. We remember the unknown fanm vanyans, Haitian women like Alina Sixto who sacrificed so much for so long without accolades and recognition and who never wavered.

We share this day by lifting up the work and life of our beloved John Maxwell. We pay tribute to the Africans – in Jamaica, in South Africa – who stood in solidarity with the people of Haiti despite threats of repercussions from powerful international forces, those who this week ignored the frantic calls from Barack Obama and the U.N.’s Ban Ki-moon to again delay and destroy the will of the people of Haiti. Thank you.

This historic return belongs to the poor suffering warriors of Haiti and blesses the spirits of those who perished too soon. Indeed it belongs to Haitian men like Father Gerard Jean Juste, to all the women community leaders who were singled out and massacred at the USAID/IOM “Summer for Peace” soccer gathering on Aug. 20 and Aug. 21, 2005, where Haitian youths were lured to their slaughter while attending a soccer game sponsored by USAID. Haiti’s young were brutally chopped up by U.N./U.S.-sanctioned coup d’etat police squads, working with their Lame Ti Manchet thugs and mercenaries.

This return belongs to Esterne Bruner, assassinated Sept. 21, 2006, by members of the coup d’etat enforcers, Lame Ti Manchèt.

Before his death, the courageous Esterne Bruner provided Ezili’s HLLN with the names of the members who committed the Gran Ravine/USAID-soccer-for-peace massacres, the names of the death squad of Lame Ti Manchet. None of these pro-coup d’etat enforcers have been brought to justice in U.N.-occupied Haiti because they helped demobilize the pro-democracy Lavalas movement.

This return that eases the insult of the bicentennial coup d’etat belongs to the hundreds of Haitians, sealed in containers and dumped off the coast of Cap Haitian to drown, as U.S.-supported thugs, still roaming Haiti free behind U.N. protection today, took over the North. It belongs to those forced onto mysterious U.S. ships off the shores of Haiti, held and tortured in secrecy, some for two years, because they voted Lavalas or held positions in the popular government of President Aristide.

It belongs to Haitian men like Emmanuel Dred Wilmè who never left his people, never even left his neighborhood. He never attacked anyone; he simply defended his community from attack from the coup d’etat overseers, from U.N. and U.S. guns and sycophants who hired thugs like Labanye to kill innocent civilians simply because they voted for Jean Bertrand Aristide and advocated for their country’s own domestic interests as opposed to the interests of the internationals, their Haiti billionaire oligarchy and poverty pimping USAID-NGO subcontractors.

There will always be more Dred Wilmés, more Father Jean Justes, more Lovinsky Pierre Antoines, more Esterne Bruners in Haiti as long as there is misery and exclusion imposed on Haiti by the powerful nations.

Most of all today, we say honor and respect to the Ezili Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network members, of all the races and nationalities, a 10,000-strong network against the profit-over-people folks, reaching 3 million per post and on our blogs, who stood with the voiceless and disenfranchised in Haiti for these last seven years against all the odds, against all the naysayers.

This historic moment belongs to all of you who stood with the indigenous Haitians at HLLN who work to make a space for Haiti’s authentic voices without officialdom’s approval. It’s a harsh journey.

The return could have been a six-hour trip to Brazil and then just a few hours to Haiti. But it took 18 hours because the “benevolent internationals” interested in our “democracy and stability” wouldn’t allow former President Aristide, the symbol of the poor’s empowerment in Black Haiti, to travel through their territories.

It took 18 hours for Aristide to reach Haiti. Going from South Africa to Northern Africa in Senegal took 10 hours, while from Senegal to Haiti took another eight hours. I hear England wouldn’t allow a landing either.

That long, long road is symbolic of the Haitian struggle. That long road Ezili’s HLLN has shared with you and with your support and forbearance. Unlike colonial celebritism with Sean Penn, no one will give us accolades for a mere six months journey in Haiti. Ours is a centuries-long journey. We overstand. The struggle continues.

A new era begins for us here at HLLN. We ask you help us define it. For we know the empire will strike back. We expect it and thus avoid the surprise blow. As usual, we shall take the road less traveled towards healing Haiti’s poor majority with dignity, human rights, self-sufficiency, justice and inclusion. We won’t sell out. Haiti and indigenous Haitians want justice not charity, not Clinton/Farmer U.N./U.S. paternalism. It’s a desperately humiliating, bumpy, wholly disemboweling, wholly healing and fulfilling ride. Against all odds, Ginen poze. Kenbe la – hold on. (See “Don’t be distracted by Aristide in Haiti” by Ezili Dantò and “Avatar Haiti.”)

Pierre Labossiere, Alina Sixto, Lavarice Gaudin, Jafrikayiti, Guy Antoine, Harry Fouche, Fritz Pean, Yves Point Du Jour, Jean Ristil Jean Baptise and too many others to name, congratulations on this day. Only we know what we’ve withstood in helping to overcome not one but two Bush coup d’etats on the poor majority in Haiti.

Sometimes the fierce guilt of surviving, the endless stretch ahead, the soul and psychic wounds wrought on by the shame and humiliation of powerlessness and lack of material resources to do more are too heavy a load. It’s too ugly and desperate to articulate the bullying and blows metered out by the most educated, most wealthy and most powerful on the most defenseless and non-violent people on earth.

Their collective suffering and deaths shall not be in vain. Justice will prevail, beauty will win, eventually – if not in our lifetime, then in the next. We are the Haitians, the indigenous Haitians. From generation to generation, from the womb to the tomb, our lives are about struggle.

Today, for a moment, we’ll smile* because in this shining and eternal moment that must see us through what will come at us next, we anti-Duvalierist Haitians managed to survive whole with dignity and to witness that against all odds, we beat back the elite’s rabid rage.

Ayibobo! The Haitian resistance against the Western bicentennial re-colonization of Haiti lives on.

Aristide’s triumphant return to a celebrity welcome

At HLLN we make a point to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, AP and Miami Herald with this Aljazeera video. These mainstream papers especially, with the help of Amy Wilenz and Michael Deibert, have, these last seven years, harped on the lack of popularity of Jean Bertrand Aristide and how he was a criminal. The damage and carnage caused to Haitians by these folks is immeasurable. We circle out of this bunch Jonathan Katz, whose AP articles did not parrot the State Department/USAID propaganda as “news.” Al Jazeera, since it came on the scene after the earthquake with its Haiti correspondent, Sebastian Walker, has led the way for Haiti’s real voice to be heard.

Five to ten thousand supporters wait to greet Aristide outside his house. – Photo: Ansel Herz

HLLN is most grateful to Walker, Katz and France 24 for being the first foreign news outlets to videotape the U.N. soldiers who brought cholera to Haiti. They were the first whose work forced powerful forces to acknowledge and believe the accusations made by the people of Mirebalais and who went there to film the Nepalese base oozing its cholera-stained feces into Haiti’s waterways.

This Al Jazeera video also tells a story you won’t read in the mainstream. It shows the reason why President Aristide is beloved by the poor majority in Haiti. He’s not AFRAID of his own people. He knows who they are, their hearts of hearts.

They would not scale the walls of the National Palace or of any of the current presidential candidates’ residences to hear them speak. No. Only for Aristide. The day of the return, 5,000 to 10,000 Haitians scaled the walls of Aristide’s residence, while tens of thousands more gathered around outside, yearning to see and hear him speak to them and for them to the world as he did at the airport.

When Aristide did not come out, they eventually quietly left. This is the reality the U.S., U.N., France, Canada, Bill and Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama did not want you to see: the discipline and peacefulness of the people of Haiti when they are not being attacked and forced to defend themselves by the coup d’etat enforcers and their U.N./U.S. tanks and guns.

We post this video of the return for the mainstream media mentioned herein, for the New York Times especially, which wrote during the bicentennial that Aristide could command only a “small crowd.” Explain, New York Times, how seven years later this scene could happen?

It’s very telling how little mainstream media coverage and attention there is to Aristide’s return and the huge celebrity welcome he received from the people of Haiti. In contrast to the almost complete news blackout about Aristide’s force and power in Haiti, the bloody dictator, Baby Doc Duvalier, got much coverage and massive print and spin, misleading readers to think Haiti’s poor majority want bygones to be bygones because they’re “too young and don’t remember Duvalier’s atrocities”!

It’s also telling to know that the presidents of the U.S. and France and the secretary general of the U.N. made phone calls to South Africa in an attempt to block Aristide’s return to Haiti, despite the welcome you see and that they knew he would receive. In contrast, France allowed bloody dictator, Baby Doc Duvalier, to return to Haiti without any problems. Obama and Ban Ki-moon made no phone calls to stop it. In fact, the U.N. provided security for the brutal Duvalier from the airport to his luxurious Haiti hotel.

You will see in the video, the U.N. soldiers are nowhere visible on the trip home from the airport with Haiti’s first democratically elected president! These powerful but brutally warmongering forces are only exposing their own indefensibility as representatives of civilized peoples of the world. The world’s eyes are wide open.

Vieo: Aristide returns to Haiti http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA_Xc3t44Ko

Ezili Danto, award winning playwright, performance poet, dancer, actor and activist attorney born in Port au Prince, Haiti, founded and chairs the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (HLLN), supporting and working cooperatively with Haitian freedom fighters and grassroots organizations promoting the civil, human and cultural rights of Haitians at home and abroad. Visit her at www.ezilidanto.com, www.margueritelaurent.com or www.open.salon.com/blog/ezili_danto.

Posted by impoetryious at 11:40 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

COINTELPROs then and now  

by Mumia Abu-Jamal

Written for the People’s Hearing on Racism and Police, Oakland, California, Feb. 19 and 20, 2011

At the age of 15, Mumia was already a journalist for the Black Panther newspaper. This photo was taken in 1970. – Photo: Philadelphia Inquirer

Ona Move! Long Live John Africa! All Power to the People!

I greet you all as we look at what’s happening in the world – and try to figure out why, and how? When most people hear the acronym COINTELPRO (FBI code-speak for its COunter INTELligence PROgram), they think of the 1960s and perhaps the Black Panther Party, the Weathermen or the antiwar movement.

In fact, this government program didn’t begin in the ‘60s, nor did it end in the ‘70s – despite what newspaper accounts report, or what government PR people claim.

I know this because I did the research, read government reports, read actual files – many uncovered by the break-in of FBI field offices in Media, Penn., in the early ‘70s – and works by FBI defectors, who told the inside story.

And, of course, I wrote about it in my book, “We Want Freedom: A Life In the Black Panther Party,” which has a whole chapter on COINTELPRO.

I assure you, it didn’t begin there and didn’t end there.

Did you know that there were FBI files on Marcus Garvey, dated 1919? On Martin Luther King? On Dick Gregory? Did you know the FBI tried to get the Mafia to take out a hit on Dick Gregory – a comedian? Yes, I’ve read the file.

What activists have to understand is that the government – every government – targets activists!

When Paris was in ferment against an incompetent king and people began grumbling in taverns, secret police and informants were taking notes and naming names. How do we know this? After the French Revolution, when the king was overthrown, they found these reports – called cahiers. They can be read today in museums to show what French workers and peasants thought about Louis XVI. And that was in the 1780s!

Do you know what the primary difference between the COINTELPRO of the ‘60s and today is? Almost everything that happened in the ‘60s – the break-ins, the secret taping of activists, their targeting and their killings – including what the FBI called “black bag jobs” – were illegal, and agents were both trained and warned that if they got caught, they were on their own. They would go to jail.

What a difference a few decades make. For under the so-called Patriot Act, almost everything that was illegal then is legal now, because a Congress that admits it didn’t even read the proposed law passed it shortly after 9/11 – in fear. Oh yeah, and the Obama administration is set to reauthorize it any day now.

Secret wiretaps, black bag jobs, destabilizing movements using snitches, informants, attacks on activists and a sell-out, corporate media – these are all the features of a national security state, where the people have illusions of democracy, elections and the like, but governments snoop into every corner of personal life, wipe out people and destroy social movements, using criminal tactics.

Social movements, such as the Oscar Grant anti-police brutality movement, must study movements of the past to learn to avoid some of the traps set by the state and its corporate media arm.

But repression – state repression – has a longer history in America than the Constitution and is, therefore, something deep in this society’s psyche. If this were not so, the U.S. couldn’t have resorted to torture so readily, so quickly.

There is now, in practice if not in law, torture, secret prisons, extraordinary rendition – to countries which torture and kill on command – all in the name of the United States. It’s your tax dollars at work.

One more thing: For those who wonder if COINTELPRO was and is real: Several days ago, I watched a quirky old black and white movie on TCM [Turner Classic Movies]. It was in French with English subtitles but, oddly enough, it was about an American in Paris. It starred a beautiful young actress named Jean Seberg. I doubt that most of you will know the name, but check out “We Want Freedom,” and you’ll see how the FBI and the gossip press drove her into despair, miscarriage and suicide, simply because she was a supporter of the Black Panther Party. It’s real, y’all – and it’s up and running today.

© Copyright 2011 Mumia Abu-Jamal. Read Mumia’s latest book, “Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the U.S.A.,” available from City Lights Publishing, www.citylights.com or (415) 362-8193. Keep updated at www.freemumia.com. For Mumia’s commentaries, visit www.prisonradio.org. For recent interviews with Mumia, visit www.blockreportradio.com. Encourage the media to publish and broadcast Mumia’s commentaries and interviews. Send our brotha some love and light at: Mumia Abu-Jamal, AM 8335, SCI-Greene, 175 Progress Dr., Waynesburg PA 15370.

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Cynthia McKinney on President Obama and Libya, Japan and 9/11 truth

by Cynthia McKinney

Haitian activist Da’vid and former Congresswoman and 2008 presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney were panelists at a mid-January pan-African conference in Tripoli. – Photo: Minister of Information JR

In 2005 in the basement of the United States Capitol at a meeting convened by Congressman John Conyers on the subject of the “Downing Street Memo,” Ray McGovern uttered the following truth: He testified that “the United States went to war in Iraq for oil, Israel and military bases craved by administration neocons” so that “the United States and Israel could dominate that part of the world.” McGovern went on to testify truthfully that “Israel is not allowed to be brought up in polite conversation. The last time I did this, the previous director of Central Intelligence called me anti-Semitic.”

The routine condemnations of McGovern could be heard from all of the sources inside the U.S. political structure that has at its base finance from pro-Israel sources, including from Dr. Howard Dean, who was chair of the Democratic National Committee at the time. This finance nexus has been thoroughly identified by Dr. James Petras, for those who want to do further reading.

Condemnations, however, do not disprove McGovern’s statement but point, instead, to the political untouchability of the topic. However, if one wants to truly understand the formulation of U.S. foreign and military policies, one must carefully consider McGovern’s testimony.

On Dec. 7, 1988, Mikhail Gorbachev described the need for a “universal human consensus” and he called that a new world order. And on Sept. 11, 1990, President George Herbert Walker Bush characterized the crisis that led to his intervention in the Persian Gulf in Operation Desert Storm as an opportunity to move toward “a new world order.” Every president since Bush, including President Obama, has expressed some fealty in one way or another to the idea of a “New World Order” which represents the ultimate goal of internationalizing rule by a few oligarchs and the dissolution, by every means available, of dissent.

On March 19, 2011, exactly eight years after George W. Bush launched “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” President Obama savagely bombed Libya.

One can begin to gain an understanding of exactly who these oligarchs are by investigating the financial winners in the oligarchization of the U.S. economy, in much the same way that the Russian oligarchs were created and eventually identified.

Israel was an important beneficiary of these economic operations and Israel has been an important beneficiary of certain U.S. military operations, exactly as McGovern testified.

The clear losers in this process are the people struggling globally for truth, justice, human rights and peace. And there are clear and identifiable winners – if one dares to look.

Understanding who the winners are is necessary if one is to be able to decipher what they do and why. Therefore, it is necessary to understand that a new type of language has been adopted where war is peace, freedom is slavery, lies are truth, and ignorance is strength: We already know this as Orwell Speak. Our job is to pierce the intentional propagandistic obfuscations and expose the truth for those less aware of the modus operandi of the crafters of this new international order.

Nowhere should McGovern’s testimony be weighed more than in the context of the U.S.-led “Global War on Terror,” the more recent “revolutions” of North Africa and West Asia, and more specifically for this paper, events unfolding in Libya.

 

Initially, the U.S. effort against Qaddafi’s administration in Libya was termed a “humanitarian intervention” to protect the people. But when since Sept. 11, 1990, have U.S. troops been mobilized to innocently rescue civilians in danger? In reality, the U.S. military has been selectively called into action to cause civilian pain, suffering, destruction and death since Sept. 11, 1990, and to further unstated objectives.

The U.S. military was not called into action after its ally, Paul Kagame, oversaw the murder of two democratically elected presidents when their plane was shot from the air by a U.S. missile left over from Operation Desert Storm that found its way to Uganda and from Uganda into Kagame’s possession. The murder of the two sitting presidents by way of shooting down their plane was an act of terror.

In the human conflagration that followed, the tragedy that has become known as the Rwandan Genocide, 100,000 innocent civilians were murdered every day for the next 100 days while neither the Clinton administration, National Security Council Advisor Susan Rice, nor United Nations Ambassador Madeleine Albright did anything to provide humanitarian intervention because regime change was the accepted policy and if it meant the deaths of 1 million Africans, then so be it. 

The Clinton administration women who justified this non-intervention later had an opportunity to stop the carnage in Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast since 2000, and Sudan, yet they did nothing because what was happening in those areas, despite the tremendous human toll, was consistent with unstated U.S. policy.

 

Today, the Obama administration is responsible for its own war crimes, torture, crimes against humanity and crimes against the peace and defends in U.S. courts those from the Bush administration who bear responsibility for having approved or justified them in the past. Yet this administration will not even agree to investigate the violation of Mumia Abu Jamal’s civil rights in his first trial rife with racial innuendo, judicial misconduct and a lack of evidence. Or in the case of Troy Davis, where seven of nine witnesses recanted their testimonies and cited prosecutorial misconduct. But it did go to court to defend military commissions and insulted Native Americans in the process!

In addition, what the United States is responsible for in Afghanistan and Pakistan just since President Obama came to office is unthinkable and is despicable. And U.S. taxpayers continue to foot the financial and moral bill for the continued subjugation of Palestine, especially the people of Gaza, who are still being bombarded by Israeli warplanes, all made possible by every one of us who pays taxes. And let us not forget this administration’s efforts to quash the Goldstone Report (the United Nations Report on Israel’s Operation Cast Lead against Gaza) and criticism of Israel after nine Turkish citizens attempting to take humanitarian supplies to Gaza were brazenly murdered by Israeli forces attacking the humanitarian aid ship, Mavi Marmara. 

But, amazingly, when the Obama administration puts the U.S. war machine in action in a new front in Africa and characterizes it as a “humanitarian intervention,” the peace community seemingly accepts the obfuscation and forgets the facts.

 

But the peace community knows full well that the Obama administration is continuing the longterm U.S. policies of dismemberment, Balkanization, carefully crafted chaos, and death and destruction to achieve its unstated objectives. Every possibility of dissent is being obliterated – for a reason. The FBI raids in Minnesota, Wisconsin and elsewhere targeting activists who support peace and the human rights of Palestinians is no accident. Politically-motivated prosecutions of politically active Palestinians came first, from Sami Al-Arian and his brother-in-law to the Holy Land Five.

These raids, combined with the administration’s unstated military objectives, undergird the economic transformation to which this administration is fully committed. That is why the average taxpayer pays more taxes than General Electric or Bank of America but shouldn’t expect any kind of bailout from this administration.

Now, let’s explore Libya with respect to McGovern’s remark. Oil: Well, Libya’s got lots of it: the most on the African continent. Israel: Preparing Israel to make “a clean break” from the past and establish a new relationship with the U.S. based on “maturity” by “securing the realm,” as written by the Project for a New American Century Study Group on “A New Israeli Strategy Toward 2000” with Richard Perle as its leader.

This should be seen as the operative strategy defining events in the region: “Israel – proud, wealthy, solid and strong” can “shape its strategic environment.” France can be seen as an additional proxy for Israel in this action. France, which announced that it was taking the lead in the anti-Qaddafi operation, is led by Nicholas Sarkozy, whom the French media, Le Figaro newspaper, identified after his election as a Mossad asset.

Ninety-nine percent of the population of Libya is Muslim. As long as Muslims are fighting each other, they won’t have time to focus on Israel or Palestine. And as for logistics, AFRICOM, the United States military’s Africa Command, was not created for nothing: It was created to deepen the U.S. military presence and control over a continent rich in land, water and strategic minerals – former preserve of U.S. allies, it is now facing aggressive penetration by China. Situated on the Mediterranean littoral, with oil money and a revolutionary leader, I need not say much more about Libya and logistics useful for neocon objectives. 

The reason Muammar Qaddafi is a target is because he has been a thorn in the side of anti-revolutionary forces since he took power in Libya, overthrowing the king and nationalizing the oil industry so that the people could benefit from their oil resources.

Libya’s revolution brought free health care and education to the people and subsidized housing. In fact, students in Libya can study there or abroad and the government gives them a monthly stipend while they are in school and they pay no tuition. If a Libyan needs a surgery that must be done overseas, then the government will pay for that surgery.

That is more than the soldiers of the United States military can say. While Libyans enjoy subsidized housing, members of the U.S. military risk foreclosure while they serve their country abroad.

Money from oil is directly deposited into the accounts of every Libyan based on oil income. As one Libyan told me recently, the idea is that if people have what they need, then they don’t have to deny rights to or harm others and the revolution believes that it is the responsibility of the government to provide the basic needs of its citizens.

Now, as for democracy, a country that has never practiced it is a poor trumpet for it. From genocide of indigenous Americans to enslavement of stolen Africans to disfranchisement of women, ours has been a less than perfect union. Now, it has turned the administration of its elections over to private voting machine companies and the finance of those elections to individuals and organizations that can mobilize vast sums of money; thus the United States is not in the best position to dictate the terms of another country’s democracy.

But Libyans govern themselves by The Green Book, a form of direct democracy based on the African constitution concept that the people are the first and final source of all power. Clearly, the U.S. move is counter-revolution.  

In addition, I remember watching the proceedings of the House of Commons on television about 10 years ago and I was shocked by what I was hearing: a member of Parliament saying that the evidence in the Lockerbie bombing case was actually planted by the U.S. CIA! So, I searched for the article and there it was. A member of Parliament had done his own investigation and discovered to his satisfaction that “the [timing] device was a CIA plant.” Kind of like the investigation I did myself to conclude that the Bush administration was not telling us the truth about Sept. 11.

There is so much more on this to write. But I will leave that for another article. Let me just add this: Earl Hilliard was kicked out of Congress in 2002 by the pro-Israel lobby because he was getting close to Libya and would learn some of the secrets that have not yet been revealed. What business was it of Israel and their U.S. supporters that an African American member of Congress was reaching out to an African leader who has always been supportive of Black liberation in the United States?

Muammar Qaddafi’s daughter was murdered by U.S. bombs targeting him. I have visited the compound. Unfortunately, it has since been revealed by Victor Ostrovsky, a Mossad defector living in Canada, that the bombing took place as a result of faked intelligence and that Qaddafi was set up by Israel in Operation Trojan, which wanted him targeted.

According to Ostrovsky, Ronald Reagan was tricked into bombing Libya by means of a “radio transmitter smuggled into Tripoli by the Mossad, which broadcast messages designed to fool the United States into thinking Libya was about to launch a massive terror attack on the West. On the basis of this bogus evidence, the U.S. bombed Libya, killing Gaddafi’s daughter.” I have met with former members of MI-5 who were tasked with assassinating Qaddafi and refused.

At any rate, I must put this on the record, too. Muammar Qaddafi has long been a friend to African people. Pan-Africanists have travelled to and from Libya since the beginning of Qaddafi’s role as Libya’s leader, including Black Panther Party, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, All-African People’s Revolutionary Party and Nation of Islam members. I once defended Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in the House International Relations Committee when the late Tom Lantos – on behalf of Israel – challenged the Nation’s relationship with Libya and wanted to dash Qaddafi’s desire to give the Nation several billion dollars to help Black people.

Unfortunately, in an effort of goodwill, Mr. Qaddafi on at least one occasion, was also prepared to assist those who presented themselves as servants of the people but in fact were not: the Blackstone Rangers in Chicago.

More importantly, hundreds of unnamed Black Americans have made the sojourn to Libya – all striving for the unification of Africans in Africa and the Diaspora. Black people who would have not otherwise ever connected with one another have been able to do so for more than 40 years because of the educational and cultural conferences that Qaddafi has sponsored. The only requirement for participation was that they be willing to commit to work towards the ongoing development of Africa – all of Africa and wherever Africans are. Mr. Qaddafi to this day continues to assist Black political organizations in an effort to keep people of African descent able to exercise their right of self-determination.

Meanwhile, on the continent, Africans not ready to kowtow to France, the United States or other former colonial powers maintain their independence thanks to Qaddafi, the former head of the African Union. Qaddafi was named African Leader of the Year in 2009. Qaddafi provided the African National Congress and Nelson Mandela the wherewithal to defeat apartheid in South Africa. In short, if you want to stop Black people, then one key move is to stop Col. Qaddafi.  

Finally, I have led two delegations to Tripoli. Among those I took with me are KPFK’s Dedon Kamathi, Black Agenda Report’s Glen Ford, WBAIX.com’s Don Debar, WayneMadsenReport.com’s Wayne Madsen, National Hip Hop Political Caucus’s Troy Nkrumah, Block Report Radio’s Minister of Information JR Valrey, Bob Fitrakis of FreePress.org, Keith Harmon Snow of allthingspass.com, and Malcolm Shabazz, the grandson of Malcolm X. Chicago’s Pat Hill traveled with me twice and is in regular contact with people on the ground in Libya. You have heard them giving their impressions of what they saw and what they know on radio, television and the internet.

The information I have included in this article is public information. Therefore, I am amazed that activist “leaders” who ought to know better accept special interest propaganda as the truth and then knowingly or unwittingly become tools of the disinformation artists. Responsible news outlets will search for those who know.

I ask the readers of this article to trust no one who is merely a talking head, search for those who have experience and a track record for telling not a part of the truth, but the whole truth, and then finally do your own research and learn more about your government. And maybe, finally, then candidates who don’t deserve our votes won’t get them.

In conclusion, the United States, France and Britain together have killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan and their collective wars elsewhere without any punishment or any action from the U.N. Their action in Libya is illegal and Libya should launch a legal action in the International Court of Justice to obtain an injunction against this military action and I know just the right team of unbought international lawyers to do it. The claim that military actions against Libya protect civilians is a mockery and Presidents Obama and Sarkozy and Prime Minister Cameron should be called on it.

Interestingly, the National Front for the Salvation of Libya held its most recent meeting in the United States in July 2007. However, Libyans should be able to solve their own problems without foreign interference. Venezuela President Hugo Chavez has put forward a mediation proposal which I have endorsed.

In addition, the Hugo Chavez International Foundation for Peace, Friendship and Solidarity released a communiqué stating that the “Arab League endorsements of Al-Qaida terrorism in Libya [the U.S./NATO minus Germany and Turkey, plus the United Arab Emirates allies] is a racially-motivated hatred since the obnoxious slave trade centuries back.” The communiqué continues that opening contacts with terrorists amounts to nothing less than promoting international terrorism and characterizes the Arab League move as both anti-African and anti-Black. The Hugo Chavez Foundation communiqué concludes: Long live Muammar Al-Qathafi! Long live the African Union! Long live Pan-Africanism! Solidarity with Blacks everywhere!  

Qaddafi channels Mordecai Vanunu on Kennedy assassination

http://www.mathaba.net/news/?x=626272

Libya crisis: Gaddafi’s ‘letters’ to Obama

BBC, March 19, 2011 – “To our son, his excellency, Mr Baracka Hussein Obama: I have said to you before that even if Libya and the United States of America enter into a war, God forbid, you will always remain a son. Your picture will not be changed. I want you to remain in the same image. I have all the people of Libya with me, and I’m prepared to die and we have all the men, children and women with me. Nothing more. Al Qaeda is an armed organization, passing through Algeria, Mauritania and Mali. What would you do if you found them controlling American cities with the power of weapons? What would you do, so I can follow your example.”

April Gallop tells her story

New York, March 23, 2011, PRNewswire-USNewswire – A December 2010 poll conducted by the prestigious Emnid Institute and reported in the German magazine “Welt der Wunder” revealed that 89.5 percent of German respondents do not believe the official story of 9/11.

The issue is heating up in America as well, and will soon be heard in court.

Top Secret Military Specialist April Gallop saw disturbing things up close that have not been reported in the media.

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, she was ordered by her supervisor to go directly to work at the Pentagon, before dropping off her 10-week-old son Elisha at day care.

Amazingly, the infant was given immediate security clearance upon arrival.

 The instant Gallop turned on her computer an enormous explosion blew her out of her chair, knocking her momentarily unconscious.

Escaping through the hole reportedly made by Flight 77, she saw no signs of an aircraft – no seats, luggage, metal or human remains. Her watch (and other clocks nearby) had stopped at 9:30-9:31 a.m., seven minutes before the Pentagon was allegedly struck at 9:38 a.m.

The 9/11 Commission reported that “by no later than 9:18 a.m., FAA centers in Indianapolis, Cleveland and Washington were aware that Flight 77 was missing and that two aircraft had struck the World Trade Center.”

Why then were there no anti-aircraft defenses, Gallop asks, or alarm warnings inside the Pentagon?

Gallop was briefed by officials not to tell her story in public; she also received an email from a Fox News reporter who had been told by the Pentagon not to interview her.

Gallop now believes that officials within the Bush administration conspired to destroy the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and WTC 7 – the third building brought down at 5:20 p.m. that day – with pre-placed explosives detonated after the planes hit.

On April 5, 2011, at 11 a.m., at the Federal Courthouse at 141 Church St. in New Haven, Connecticut, the case of Gallop v. Cheney, Rumsfeld and Myers will be heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.

Gallop’s case relies on virtually all forms of evidence admissible in court but,` significantly, on published scientific evidence that residues of these explosives were found in the rubble after the attacks. In its totality, the proffered case establishes that the government hypothesis – that the buildings collapsed due to fire in combination with the airplane impacts – is scientifically untenable.

In addition, Ms. Gallop will, through photographic and other physical evidence, as well as the testimony of a multitude of military and civilian survivors, demonstrate the impossibility of her having lived through the attack on the Pentagon if it had taken place as the government and the defendants claim.

German Federal Judge Deiter Dieseroth stated in December 2009:

“No independent court has applied legal procedures to review the available evidence on who was responsible for the attacks.”

Also, “it is not acceptable for a constitutional state … to declare war, bomb a foreign country, and place it under military occupation” without first identifying suspects.

Dieseroth also said the U.S. “was under burden of proof” that Osama bin Laden was responsible for the attacks, yet the FBI admits it has no evidence presentable in court to back this up.

The stakes in this case are epic, including the possibility of an overwhelming transformation of the world’s understanding of history, not to mention American citizens’ relationship with their government.

Media contact: William Veale, centerfor911justice@gmail.com, 292929@msn.com, (510) 845-5675, (925) 212-3678

Source: Center for 9/11 Justice

Copyright 2010 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved

For news from, by and about Cynthia McKinney, former Georgia congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate, check these websites: http://dignity.ning.com/,http://www.enduswars.org, http://www.livestream.com/dignity,http://www.twitter.com/dignityaction, http://www.myspace.com/dignityaction,http://www.myspace.com/runcynthiarun, http://www.twitter.com/cynthiamckinney,http://www.facebook.com/CynthiaMcKinney and http://www.youtube.com/runcynthiarun.

Posted by impoetryious at 10:49 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Haiti: U.S. Asks South Africa to Delay Aristide’s Departure 

Written by REUTERS    Monday, 21 March

  
The Obama administration said Monday that the former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide should refrain from returning to Haiti before the presidential runoff election on Sunday. A State Department spokesman, Mark Toner, said that Mr. Aristide, above, had the right to return, but doing so this week “can only be seen as a conscious choice to impact Haiti’s elections.” A delay, Mr. Toner said, would “permit the Haitian people to cast their ballots in a peaceful atmosphere.” He said the United States was asking South Africa, where Mr. Aristide has lived in exile since 2004, to delay his departure. Mr. Aristide’s lawyer, Ira Kurzban, said the United States “should leave that decision to the democratically elected government instead of seeking to dictate the terms under which a Haitian citizen may return to his country.”

Posted by impoetryious at 10:38 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

"Teachers Ba-ad!" 

by Mumia Abu-Jamal

Have you noticed that politicians flit from boogey-man to boogey-man, a process of demonization that is usually little more than misdirection from more pressing problems?

According to a number of new governors across the country, the newest boogey-men (and I guess boogey-women) are teachers, who are portrayed as greedy, selfish, and overpaid.

Now -- honestly -- who better fits such a profile: teachers, or politicians?

But politicians control the public purse -- and the microphones of power. They are thus well-placed to scapegoat people who are often the hardest working, least thanked, least respected and poorly paid public workers of them all: teachers.

Every school year, tens of thousands of teachers dig into their own pockets to purchase pencils, markers, paper -- and sometimes books -- for other people's children.  Each year, some local government or school board slashes staff, divides a budget, or cancels a school construction contract, for they know that teachers -- being teachers -- will make do. They accept it, because many of them love teaching children, and see it as more of a mission than a job.

At bottom, this is about politics -- not economics.  It's about crushing teachers unions that trend Democratic, and donate millions to Democratic candidates.  it's also about the goal of weakening and destroying public schools, the better to promote the business of private education.

Like many political ideas, it's penny-wise and pound foolish.  For it discards the central role of every society, since antiquity, to teach the young how to survive in the world to come.

Public education is failing today not because teachers are paid too much, or educational institutions are awash in too much public money; rather, they are getting too little.

This is especially so where the need is greatest, in America's central cities, where funds are raised through property taxes and many parents dwell in rental housing.

The erection of the business model means those who can afford the luxury of education -- and only them - will be able to buy it.

It also means the further crumbling and erosion of the empire.

--(c) '11 maj

=================

The Power of Truth is Final -- Free Mumia!

Audio of most of Mumia's essays are at: http://www.prisonradio.org

http://mumiapodcast.libsyn.com/
Mumia's got a podcast! Mumia Abu-Jamal's Radio Essays - Subscribe at the website or on iTunes and get Mumia's radio commentaries online.

Mumia Abu-Jamal's new book -- JAILHOUSE LAWYERS: PRISONERS DEFENDING PRISONERS V. THE USA, featuring an introduction by Angela Y. Davis -- has been released!  It is available from City Lights Books: http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100448090

Please make a contribution to help free Mumia. Donations to the grassroots work will go to both INTERNATIONAL CONCERNED FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL and the FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL COALITION (NYC).

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Please mail donations/ checks to:
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PO BOX  16, NEW YORK,
NY 10030
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America's Secret Plan to Arm Libya's Rebels: Obama asks Saudis to airlift weapons into Benghazi 

Desperate to avoid US military involvement in Libya in the event of a prolonged struggle between the Gaddafi regime and its opponents, the Americans have asked Saudi Arabia if it can supply weapons to the rebels in
Benghazi. The Saudi Kingdom, already facing a "day of rage" from its 10 percent Shia Muslim community on Friday, with a ban on all demonstrations, has so far failed to respond to Washington's highly classified request, although King Abdullah personally loathes the Libyan leader, who tried to assassinate him just over a year ago. Washington's request is in line with other US military co-operation with the Saudis. The royal family in Jeddah, which was deeply involved in the Contra scandal during the Reagan administration, gave immediate support to American efforts to arm guerrillas fighting the Soviet army in Afghanistan in 1980 and later ­ to America's chagrin ­ also funded
and armed the Taliban.

But the Saudis remain the only US Arab ally strategically placed and capable of furnishing weapons to the guerrillas of Libya. Their assistance would allow Washington to disclaim any military involvement in the supply chain ­even though the arms would be American and paid for by the Saudis. The Saudis have been told that opponents of Gaddafi need anti-tank rockets and mortars as a first priority to hold off attacks by Gaddafi's armor, and ground-to-air missiles to shoot down his fighter-bombers. Supplies could reach Benghazi within 48 hours but they would need to be delivered to air bases in Libya or to Benghazi airport. If the guerrillas can then go on to the offensive and assault Gaddafi's strongholds in western Libya, the political pressure on America and NATO ­ not least from Republican members of Congress ­ to establish a no-fly zone would be reduced.

US military planners have already made it clear that a zone of this kind would necessitate US air attacks on Libya's functioning, if seriously depleted, anti-aircraft missile bases, thus bringing Washington directly into the war on the side of Gaddafi's opponents. For several days now, US AWACS surveillance aircraft have been flying around Libya, making constant contact with Malta air traffic control and requesting details of Libyan flight patterns, including journeys made in the past 48 hours by Gaddafi's private jet which flew to Jordan and back to Libya just before the weekend.

Officially, NATO will only describe the presence of American AWACS planes as part of its post-9/11 Operation Active Endeavor, which has broad reach to undertake aerial counter-terrorism measures in the Middle East region.

The data from the AWACS is streamed to all NATO countries under the mission's existing mandate. Now that Gaddafi has been reinstated as a super-terrorist in the West's lexicon, however, the NATO mission can easily be used to search for targets of opportunity in Libya if active military operations are undertaken. Al Jazeera English television channel last night broadcast recordings made by American aircraft to Maltese air traffic control, requesting information about Libyan flights, especially that of Gaddafi's jet. An American AWACS aircraft, tail number LX-N90442 could be heard contacting the Malta control tower on Saturday for information about a Libyan Dassault-Falcon 900 jet 5A-DCN on its way from Amman to Mitiga, Gaddafi's own VIP airport.

NATO AWACS 07 is heard to say: "Do you have information on an aircraft with the Squawk 2017 position about 85 miles east of our [sic]?" Malta air traffic control replies: "Seven, that sounds to be Falcon 900- at flight level 340, with a destination Mitiga, according to flight plan." But Saudi Arabia is already facing dangers from a co-ordinated day of protest by its own Shia Muslim citizens who, emboldened by the Shia uprising in the neighboring island of Bahrain, have called for street protests against the ruling family of al-Saud on Friday. After pouring troops and security police into the province of Qatif last week, the Saudis announced a nationwide ban on all public demonstrations.

Shia organizers claim that up to 20,000 protesters plan to demonstrate with women in the front rows to prevent the Saudi army from opening fire. If the Saudi government accedes to America's request to send guns and missiles to Libyan rebels, however, it would be almost impossible for President Barack Obama to condemn the kingdom for any violence against the Shias of the north-east provinces. Thus has the Arab awakening, the demand for democracy in North Africa, the Shia revolt and the rising against Gaddafi become
entangled in the space of just a few hours with US military priorities in the region.

©independent.co.uk

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Revolutionary and Still Grindin': an interview wit' Stic.man of dead prez   

Last year the legendary rap group dead prez celebrated 10 years since they dropped their monumental classic album "Lets Get Free". Since then, they have dropped a lot of music together, including a dead prez album that they did with the Outlawz called "Can't Sell Dope Forever", and they also have done solo albums. The group consists of Stic.man and M1, and at this point the dj is Mike Flo. They will be coming to the Bay Area to perform at Yoshi's in San Francisco, this Friday. we wanted to catch up wit' dead prez to talk a little bit about what has been going on with them lately since they dropped their free mixtape, "Revolutionary But Gangsta Grillz", which was one of the dopest albums dropped in 2010. Don't take my word for it, you can get it at deadprez.com. Here is Stic.man, one half of the revolutionary rap group in this exclusive Q&A....

M.O.I. JR: You just dropped a free mixtape called "Revolutionary But Gangsta Grillz", what inspred y'all to do this mixtape?

Stic: We were just in a creative zone, we had just redesigned deadprez.com and wanted to get something out to the people to celebrate 10 years. Since we dropped let's get free.

M.O.I. JR: How did you pick which beats you wanted, considering you used beats from Donny Hathaway, Drake, Mary Mary and more?

Stic: We picked songs that were either favorites of ours or songs that were in heavy rotation that we felt lyrically could use a "takeover". Like gucci man's wasted. Drake had used a bit of M1's flow from hip hop so Eme (M1) wanted to get some get back, too. It was all in fun, paying homage to our hip hop culture.

M.O.I. JR: Why did y'all make this album free?

Stic: It was in honor of our first album's success so we thought giving it away free would be a nice way to celebrate it.

M.O.I. JR: What are you working on? When is it planned to drop? I'm so excited and happy about

Stic: My new album  "The Workout" it's 14 new tracks self produced themed around health and fitness. No cursing, just hardcore motivation music. The Bay's very own Martin Luther is featured on guitar and Vocals on one of my favorites called "Runner's High". It will be available in April 2011 and people can get it on itunes (under stic.man) or the deluxe edition on our new community health campaign site www.rbgfitclub.com. We will be touring for "The Workout" and doing health and fitness workshops around the country. If any one is interested in bringing the workshop to their school or community organization etc, please reach out to us at Facebook.com/RBGFITCLUB.

The album is called "The Workout" and it is my favorite work to date.

Its in the vein of "50 in the Clip", "way of Life" and Be Healthy" but the lyrics are for all ages...all positive content, motivational music for our health and well being.
There's a tribute song to "Bruce Lee" on the Workout as well.

Other areas of interest touched on on the album are boxing, yoga, nutrition, vegetarianism, weightlifting, martial arts, substance abuse, running, calisthenics and much more. For me, "The Workout" is a new form of activism to encourage health and fitness in our communities. We are looking to work with other brands and companies who share the same lifestyle and I'm excited to partner our hip hop platform in numerous ways with the health and fitness community.

M.O.I. JR: Any books in the works?

Stic: Me and my wife Afya Ibomu (author of The Vegan Soulfood Guide to the Galaxy) are finishing up our book "Revolutionary Love" we've been together 18 years and our book celebrates our story and our unique non traditional philosophies on how we keep our relationship happy and strong. I'm doing a mini soundtrack album for the book as well. Stay tuned to my facebook.com/sticrbg for details.

M.O.I. JR: I know that you heard about the verdict of involutary manslaughter, in the case of Johannes Mehserle, the pig who pulled the trigger killing Oscar Grant, what are your thoughts on the situation?

Stic: My thoughts are justice was not served by that verdict. And I support the rights of Oscar Grant's family and community to be respected. I feel like the work that people like you do is key to keeping the momentum going for real justice, and in defining what that will look like, and the best ways in which to acheive it.

M.O.I. JR: Is dead prez rocking with a full band on stage at yoshis, on March 4th in San Franciso?

Stic: Top secret! Lol...Just know its gonna be revolutionary but gangsta'd up to the fullest!!! Don't miss it!

M.O.I. JR: How could people keep up with you online?

Stic: I'm always available directly at:

Facebook.com/sticrbg

Or contact my wonderful coordinator

Cynthia Charles

Source: blockreportradio

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Revolutionary and Gangsta: an interview wit Aisha Sekhmet   

by Minister of Information JR 

   

Aisha SekmetWhen I was riding in Memphis last year, my homegirl Phu’cha put me up on this revolutionary gangsta rap music by a woman I had never heard of, Aisha Sekhmet. Aisha Sekhmet was spittin fire and one of the hardest women I had ever heard in terms of the message that she was promoting. The only person that I would compare her to is Oakland’s Askari X. She captured my ear because of her boldness, her passion, as well as her intellect. Check out this fiery much needed newcomer to the rap world in her own words …

M.O.I. JR: How did you start rapping? How did you get to the point where you put your music out?

Aisha: I used to write poetry in middle school, and it evolved into music. I’ve never waited for anyone to make something happen for me, and I trust few people, so it came natural for me to put out my own music. I sell my CDs when I perform and online through my website.

M.O.I. JR: I see that you’re from the N.O. What do you think about the rap scene out there?

Aisha: The New Orleans rap scene is unique and has its own culture. I grew up listening to it. It’s called bounce music. You would have to grow up in Louisiana to understand it. It’s not about lyrics; it’s about the beat and making girls “pussy pop.”

M.O.I. JR: How did you become politically conscious? What motivates those political rhymes?

Aisha: I don’t define myself as being politically conscious. I’m motivated by everyday life. I have always been an outspoken person, so when you hear my music, you should understand that I’m thinking out loud and expressing how I view the world we live in. I think I say what most male rappers are afraid to say. They turn their anger into saying “Kill a Nigger.”

M.O.I. JR: You are probably one of the hardest female political rappers to come out. Why’d you choose to come aggressive rather than soft in most cases?

Aisha: I don’t believe in categorizing and putting a label on myself or any other rapper. Hip hop is hip hop. It just so happens all of us artists have different personalities. I’ve never been a “soft” type of person. I think I’m somewhat aggressive and it may come across as being hard, but the women who raised me didn’t believe in a lot of bullshit and tongue biting.

M.O.I. JR: Why do you ride so hard against Christianity?

Aisha: Christianity has rode hard on African people since the day of its false invention. Remember what Justinian and Theodosius did in Africa? Christianity is the cause of most of the ignorance in the Black community. The foundation of Christianity is lies. The mere fact that our ancestors were forced to believe in an imaginary friend named Jesus that would take care of their problems on Earth is the reason, today, that we won’t deal with anything going on in the physical world.

M.O.I. JR: Where do you see yourself as a musician in 10 years?

Aisha: Becoming more than I was 10 years before.

M.O.I. JR: What are you currently working on?

Aisha: I’m always working on new songs, and I’m teaching myself to make beats.

M.O.I. JR: Are you planning to come to the West Coast on your upcoming tour?

Aisha: Yes, I plan to come there. A lot of people on the West Coast like my music.

M.O.I. JR: What advice would you give to other political female MCs who are trying to do their thing independently?

Aisha: I don’t know any “political” rappers, male or female. There is no such thing. To the female MCs out there, I say this: “Know that in life you open your own doors. Don’t believe the lie that Lauryn Hill, Queen Latifah, Lil Kim and Nicki Minaj paved a way for you. Understand that they knew a Black gatekeeper who knew a powerful white owner (massa) in the music business that had the ability to get their music heard by millions.

“Even if you don’t know a gatekeeper or white massa, know yourself and focus on doing what you want to do with your music or your life. No one is stopping you but you.” Black women should understand that Black men in the entertainment industry treat us like shit because the white man treats him like shit. That won’t change until we return to the natural love we should have for one another.

M.O.I. JR: Do you run your own record company? Are you signed to an indy label?

Aisha: All independent artists are their own record label. Master P taught us well.

M.O.I. JR: How have people responded to your music?

Aisha: Some people are shocked; some people love it. I don’t expect many Black people to feel comfortable hearing my music since we depend on white people for everything from toilet paper to drinking water to paychecks.

M.O.I. JR: How could people keep up with you online?

Aisha: I’m on Facebook, YouTube and iTunes. My website is www.aishasekhmet.com.

Source: Email POCC Minister of Information JR, Bay View associate editor, at blockreportradio@gmail.com and visitwww.blockreportradio.com.

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‘NATO terrorizing and killing Libyans’

Press TV
March 28, 2011

Libya has accused the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) of terrorizing and killing its civilians as part of attacks against forces loyal to the embattled 68-year-old Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

“The terror people live in, the fear, the tension is everywhere. And these are civilians who are being terrorized every day,” Reuters quoted Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim as saying in the capital Tripoli on Sunday.

“We believe the unnecessary continuation of the air strikes is a plan to put the Libyan government in a weak negotiating position. NATO is prepared to kill people, destroy army training camps and army checkpoints and other locations,” he added.

Read entire article

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U.S. troops kept Afghan body parts as trophies

Daniel Bates
Mail Online
March 28, 2011

Shocking new details emerged today of how American soldiers formed a ‘death squad’ to randomly murder Afghan civilians and mutilate their corpses.

An investigation by Rolling Stone magazine details how senior officers failed to stop troops killing Afghans and keeping their body parts as trophies.

In one horrific episode, the magazine claims troops chopped off a dead Afghan boy’s finger and later used it as ‘gambling chip’ in a game of cards.

Read entire article

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UN alarmed at huge deline in bee numbers

AFP
March 10, 2011

The UN on Thursday expressed alarm at a huge decline in bee colonies under a multiple onslaught of pests and pollution, urging an international effort to save the pollinators that are vital for food crops.

Much of the decline, ranging up to 85 percent in some areas, is taking place in the industralised northern hemisphere due to more than a dozen factors, according to a report by the UN’s environmental agency.

They include pesticides, air pollution, a lethal parasite that only affects bee species in the northern hemisphere, mismanagement of the countryside, the loss of flowering plants and a decline in beekeepers in Europe.

Read full article

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Wyclef Jean Shot in Haiti-Aristide Returns  

With the madness going on in Japan and now Libya many of us have forgotten that neighboring Haiti is still in shambles.  First there’s an election run off for President. The last election was marred with accusations of fraud which resulted in widespread violence. The emerging candidates is Wyclef Jean‘s former rival Michel Martelly, 50, is a singer and entertainer known to his fans as “Sweet Micky“. He’s running against a 70 year old former first lady Mirlande Manigat.

Second, the election has become even more complicated because former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned to Haiti over the weekend after a 7 year exile. Why is this important? Because it marks the return of man who headed Haiti’s largest political party the Lavalas. That party has not been allowed to partake in Haiti elections primarily because they were not deemed favorable by US corporations and then George W Bush when help orchestrate a coup in 2004 which resulted in Aristide being ousted.

Folks should know Aristide was seen as a President who supported the poor and wanted to raise minimum wage. Sadly this

was a coup supported by Wyclef Jean and his ambassador uncle Raymond Joseph.

Aristide has already denounced the elections as a sham.

As for Wyclef, He’s been back in Haiti stomping for his former  rival Michael Martelly. He was shot in his guitar playing hand. He was released from the hospital and is doing well.. There’s been no word on the assailants.

For those who want more indepth understanding on Aristide’s turbulent relationship with the US particularly under Bush and Clinton.. read the following article from investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill

Bill Clinton

In September 1991, the US backed the violent overthrow of the government of Haiti’s democratically-elected leftist priest President Jean Bertrand Aristide after he was in power less than a year. Aristide had defeated a US-backed candidate in the 1990 Haitian presidential election. The military coup leaders and their paramilitary gangs of CIA-backed murderous thugs, including the notorious FRAPH paramilitary units, were known for hacking the limbs off of Aristide supporters (and others) along with an unending slew of other horrifying crimes.

When Clinton came to power, he played a vicious game with Haiti that allowed the coup regime to continue rampaging Haiti and further destabilized the country. What’s more, in the 1992 election campaign, Bill Clinton campaigned on a pledge to reverse what he called then-President George HW Bush’s “cruel policy” of holding Haitian refugees at Guantanamo with no legal rights in US courts. Upon his election, however, Clinton reversed his position and sided with the Bush administration in denying the Haitians legal rights. the Haitians were held in atrocious conditions and the new Democratic president was sued by the Center for Constitutional Rights (sound familiar?).

While Clinton and his advisers publicly expressed their dismay with the coup, they simultaneously refused to support the swift reinstatement of the country’s democratically elected leader and would, in fact, not allow Aristide’s return until Washington received guarantees that: 1. Aristide would not lay claim to the years of his presidency lost in forced exile and; 2. US neoliberal economic plans were solidified as the law of the land in Haiti.

“The Clinton administration was credited for working for the return to power of Jean Bertrand Aristide after he was overthrown in a military coup,” says author William Blum. “But, in fact, Clinton had stalled the return for as long as he could, and had instead tried his best to return anti-Aristide conservatives to a leading power role in a mixed government, because Aristide was too leftist for Washington’s tastes.” Blum’s book “Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II” includes a chapter on the history of the US role in Haiti.

The fact that the coup against the democratically-elected president of Haiti was allowed to continue unabated for three full years seemed to be less offensive to Clinton than Aristide’s progressive vision for Haiti. As Blum observed in his book, “[Clinton] was not actually repulsed by [coup leader Raoul] Cédras and company, for they posed no ideological barrier to the United States continuing the economic and strategic control of Haiti it’s maintained for most of the century.  Unlike Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a man who only a year earlier had declared: ‘I still think capitalism is a mortal sin.’”

Blum added: “Faced ultimately with Aristide returning to power, Clinton demanded and received — and then made sure to publicly announce — the Haitian president’s guarantee that he would not try to remain in office to make up for the time lost in exile. Clinton of course called this ‘democracy,’ although it represented a partial legitimization of the coup.” Indeed, Haiti experts say that Clinton could have restored Aristide to power under an almost identical arrangement years earlier than he did.

continue reading http://rebelreports.com/post/109822009/bill-clinton-named-new-un-envoy-to-stabilize-haiti-a

Source:hiphopandpolitics

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