30284: Pierre (Reply) Re: 30269: Laborsoul (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Kawonabo1500@aol.com


‘Batay Ouvriye is the  only Independent Workers Movement created and
controlled by Workers on the  ground in Haiti today’ is a reality as we 
speak. You
seem to be a person who has been watching a debate from afar with  absolutely 
no
knowledge of what is happening on the ground. I would advise you  to go to
Haiti and see for yourself instead of  basing your conclusions on what you read
merely on websites. I met with the  workers personally in Haiti and had a feel
of their  everyday struggles. In July 2003, as I was visiting the workers
meeting space in  Port-Au-Prince,  about 30 workers came because they were beat
up by lavalas chimeres from the  Delmas Police Precinct called on by the bosses
at the Wilbes factory at the  Industrial Parc. The workers are struggling
against great odds. That’s why  people like you, if you are honest, need to
really find out more before you  simply scapegoat the workers.
Now about US State  Department funding: the detractors of Batay Ouvriye are
constantly using this  issue of US State Department funding as a whipping flag
to try to silence the  workers. It is to no avail. The workers do not have a
relationship with the US  State Department. In June-July 2004, they were
approached by the AFL-CIO’s  Solidarity Center for assistance because 400 
workers
were fired  at the Ouanaminthe Free Trade Zone on the border of Haiti and the
Dominican  Republic. From there, the Solidarity Center promised the workers to
do some  International fundraising to support the workers’ work in 
Ouanaminthe.
The  workers in the Batay Ouvriye Movement discussed the issue, the pros and
cons,  and even the possibility of smear campaigns etc. They decided to accept
any  support the Solidarity Center can provide to them. This was not a
decision that came from a handful of individuals. It was a decision of the 
workers
movement itself. They really didn’t care where the Solidarity Center would
get the funds. Is that a  mistake? Only history will tell.
A couple of words  about those who love to raise this funding issue about
Batay Ouvriye: Most of  those who are doing this are hypocrites because if the
funds went to the lavalas  Gran Manjè (Big Eaters), they would have no 
problems
with that, and also, they  are the very ones who supported Aristide’s 
betrayal
of Haiti’s Sovereignty  returning to Haiti under US/UN occupation on the
backs of  25,000 imperialist soldiers in  1994-1995. They still support 
Aristide
and his neo-macoute gangs who came on  television and called for the recent
occupation together with the opposition in  late 2003 and early 2004.
Unfortunately, he was  not the beneficiary of the occupation this time around. 
In other
words, when the  occupation is good for them, it’s simply a good thing. When 
it
turns bad for  them, they cry foul. That’s the essence of opportunism.
Furthermore, they have  not come out to say who's funding their media outlets, 
their
newspapers, and  their travels to South Africa, and all over the place to
promote their  propaganda against Batay Ouvriye.
You said, “Haitain trade unionists  have been violently targeted for
supporting democracy.” 1) That’s another  version of the opportunism, 
speaking of
democracy in general. Democracy for  whom? You cannot have true democracy under
foreign imperialist occupation. Are  you talking about bourgeois democracy?
Whose democracy? The lavalas  populist-opportunists and reactionary leadership
are all on the bandwagon of  democracy in general creating illusions on the
minds of the Haitian Masses about  the very concept of democracy. 2) Batay 
Ouvriye
always denounced all types of  repression against workers and the popular
masses by any government whether it  is lavalas or Latortue-Boniface or the
Haitian army. 3) As a matter of fact, the  whole Haitian Left and the 
international
Left have joined the Right in promoting  democracy in general. That’s why I
say both the left and the right are the two  poles of reaction today. The
workers have to face both as enemies of the people.
What is necessary in  Haiti and pretty much around the  world are not trade
unionists supporting democracy but Workers who are taking  matters into their
own hands in their independent struggles throughout the  world.
As for the websites  you mentioned, they are very biased in their treatment
of the Haitian Workers.  They are not the most reliable sources today. At this
point, the best and most  reliable thing anyone can do to get reliable
information concerning the  struggles of workers is to go to Haiti with an open 
mind
and see for  yourself. Don’t just rely on what you see on websites or the
mercenary media.
Again, stop trying to  demean my statements to the level of ‘assertions’,
because they are not. They  are facts on the ground in Haiti. If you don’t 
want
to believe  me, it’s your right. But the best way to test it is to go on the
ground in  Haiti and meet with Batay  Ouvriye.




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