A Batay Ouvriye quer comunicar a todos que, desde a visita de uma delegacao de sindicalistas brasileiros convidados por nos para que conhecessemos amplamente suas posicoes sobre a ocupacao, a exploracao e a dominacao vigentes em nosso pais, tem sido proferidas ameacas e intimidacoes contra nossa organizacao.

De fato, mesmo antes da saida da delegacao, em Cap-Haitien, no dia seguinte a recepcao destes camaradas e amigos do Brasil pelos trabalhadores da cidade do Norte, um grupo de aproximadamente dez bandidos, certamente enviados, armados com facoes, cacetetes e pistolas, chegaram, tarde da noite, em nosso local para nos insultar. Trataram de adentrar no local, o que claramente parecia ser um ataque aos camaradas que estavam ali. Como nao conseguiram seu objetivo, formaram uma confusao para nos intimidar e nos ameacaram com represalias.

Em Porto Principe, na manha que seguiu ao encontro organizado em Cite Soleil, com os mesmos fins, pelos trabalhadores de Batay Ouvriye da regiao, dois carros da Minustah estacionaram em frente a nossa sede ali localizada.

Responsabilizamos tanto as autoridades desta forca de ocupacao – a Minustah – como as autoridades haitianas, as duas em estreita coordenacao com estas forcas obscuras e que, tendo nos recebido, estavam perfeitamente a par de nossas atividades com a delegacao brasileira.

Yannick Etienne, da Batay Ouvriye, do Haiti

In the morning, the encounter with the ambassador of Brazil, Paulo Cordeiro de Andrade, and with the commander in chief of the UN forces, General Carlos Alberto Santos Cruz. The head of the diplomatic corpse is much more than just an ambassador in Haiti: he is in charge of the government tasks. It is said here that he has more power than president himself. (.)

The meeting is a confrontation. Torinho explains our position and hands in the letter we had brought from Brazil demanding withdrawal of troops. The ambassador and the general respond in a way that proves they are prepared for it. Other members of our team attack occupation. Our journalist. broadcasts the debate through the Conlutas blog. The ambassador’s argument is crafty: today things are much calmer in Haiti thanks to Brazilian troops and the troops of other countries as well, because the activity of the armed band of Lavalas (military group responding to Aristide, the deposed president) relented. It is a «necessary» action. What the ambassador does not reveal is whom this «tranquillity» is meant to benefit. (.) It was necessary to attract «investments» and to apply an extremely tough neoliberal economic plan in the country.

This means to guarantee a plan of privatisations announced by president Preval: telephones, health and airport and a nearly 40% increase in fuel. The Brazilian troops are trying to secure «tranquillity» for the bourgeoisie and for the imperialists. At the same time they repress strikes, as the Larsco, where soldiers entered the factory to attack workers. The meeting finished and no agreement was reached. (.). Local press begins to speak about us.

In the afternoon we hold a meeting with Haiti University students. Yesterday there was a confrontation between the students and the local police and five demonstrators were injured. The university was almost empty and activity jeopardised. The classroom bears the name of Alexandra Kollontai (famous Russian revolutionary of the 1917). Student started arriving. There were over two hundred. Toninho explains the aim of the reason for our presence there and is eagerly applauded. Janita of the Conlutas and militant PSOL describes this morning’s meeting with the ambassador. Soto, a student leader of Conlute and PSTU militant, a good agitator, infuses zeal into the audience and harvests the best applause.

On our way back to the hotel, there is an incredible scene: a TV set on the terrace of a house was transmitting the Brazil-Mexico football match. Some three hundred people crowd the sidewalks and force the cars to hoot their way through the throng. We decided to see the last part of the match with the Haitians. The buzz is incredible even if our team does not help to make things better (.). None of them has as much as a mug of beer in their hand, because there is no much poverty. Finally they grumble at Dunga. Seeing this enthusiasm, those fans, stronger than the Brazilian ones, we can understand the criminal trick played by Lula: in order to bless the military occupation he brought a Brazilian team to play in Haiti. In this way he manipulated the strong cultural and racial identity of the Haitians and Brazilian placing it in the service of a reactionary policy. And yet, the BO comrades say that there have been some graffiti saying «Adriano, yes. Ribeiro, no.» Adriano is a player of a previous Brazilian football team. Ribeiro was the general commanding the troops.

MEETING THE PRESIDENT

Today we have been to see President Rene Preval. On arriving we see all the surface and formalities of power: a luxurious palace, all white, decorated with busts of heroes of independence, metal detectors and thorough policemen. Nothing but the outer shell. The president is a dummy, upheld by UN troops, controlled from the Brazilian embassy.

We sat down and Preval came in almost immediately, kind and gentle. Toninho hands in the letter. Preval responds thanking for the solidarity. He says that he agrees that the troops must leave soon, but not quite yet. He quotes Mao: «It is necessary to understand which is the principal contradiction and which one is secondary in each moment». The armed bands of drug dealers are still strong and the Haiti state does not even have a police force. This is therefore supposed to be the main contradiction and not the foreign troops. The troops will go home as soon as possible. I responded and said we regretted that he should defend the occupation. that the polarisation does not take place between the troops and armed drug dealing bands sit between the troops and the struggles of Haitian workers, that we were not here to offer our solidarity to him but to Haitian people who were fighting against the troops and against him.

All kindness vanished at once: he accused us of being «left wingers», he was most upset but he did not answer a word. Anderson, representative of the Order of Barristers of Brazil, said he was there to make a report for the OBB on the situation of human rights in Haiti and that he had witnessed abuse committed by the troops. Then something very strange happened: Preval suddenly sank under the table. Some people thought he had fainted; others that there was some kind of security problem. Some thirty seconds passed by when he emerged once more once more and smiled. As far as we could make it out, it was all a joke to represent that he could not stand listening to what he was being told. He looked ridiculous and pathetic: a president squatting under the table.! The meeting went on for another hour or so with the entire team challenging the occupation, but he did not say a word. an indication of the fragility of the government: and our under our assail, without answering anything but unable to have us thrown us away.

Another part of our team went to see the minister of labour and the person responsible for the free zones. These meetings were important so that the BO could present the government with a list of demands, but they were also useful to show the attitude of the government. One of the officials defended the repression saying that Haitians were «lazy and lacking discipline». Another official – a woman – said that one could not «get sentimental» about pregnant women if they did not comply with the rules of work. She said it because of a disgraceful thing that had happened: a pregnant woman was beaten and shoved into the mud because she was taking part in a demonstration. The court admitted that it was an offence but did not administer any punishment for fear of «harming investors».

The streets of Port au Prince are always full: with 80% unemployment, people get busy selling things in the streets. Cars hoot their way along the streets making dreadful noise. The people, black and astoundingly beautiful, get mixed with evident signs of poverty. Rubbish is heaped all over the place.

We travelled to Cap-Haitien (Le Cap, as the Haitians call it). It is the economically most important city in the country and it was one of the centre of the slaves evolution. The road is winding and full of pothole. After seven hours we reach our destination and are welcomed to a BO office.

Joining the rally brings tears to the eyes of many of us: wearing their blue BO shirts. Four hundred people were singing in Creole in an African type rhythm . the music echoes in the ample hall: «Greetings, greetings, there are no bourgeois here, there are no bosses here, greetings.»

Sitting on the stage, they keep on singing: «we learned that the bourgeoisie has set up an ambush to kill some of us. Let them come, we are bulls, we are strong». (.) The reference to the ambush set up by the bourgeoisie is due to the presence of landless workers, two of whom had been killed by the repression unleashed by the Aristide administration to suppress land occupation in 2002.

Toninho introduces the members of the Brazilian representation. They also introduce themselves: trade unions of the industry of soft drinks, o beer, rural workers, landless workers, neighbourhood associations and students. Batay Ouvriye is quite strong in this region. One of the leaders tells us that every First of May they demonstrate marching into all the working class neighbourhoods and often gather as many as ten thousand people. (.)

Toninho reads the letter and speaks of the identity of the struggles theirs and ours; Janira speaks of the struggle of the Landless movement, Land and Liberty; Dayse refers to the racial and class identity in the Haitian and Brazilian struggle. I deliver a memorial contribution for their two people killed here and also to the PSTU martyr (Ze Luis, Rosa and Gildo). Anderson says that the struggle against the troops will make headway now after this visit. Several regional leaders take the floor. One of them says that it is necessary «to fight against the opportunists who pretend to speak in the name of the people», such as Lula and Aristide, and how they betrayed the hopes of the workers. The rally ends with a dance and Creole singing «Be strong heart!».

This morning we got to know a marvel of world architecture: a great fortress built by the Negro emancipated slaves and not by Europeans in the colonies (.) The Citadel, in the outskirts of Ca-Haitien, is a showcase of uneven and combines development applied to architecture and military engineering. Built a short time after the independence of Haiti, in 1804, it was part of a series of defence fortifications in case the metropolis tried a new invasion. It was planned by a Haitian military engineer, who had studied in France and learned the latest European military engineering. with 375 guns, it was built by thousands of Haitians during seven years. It is an expression of the power of the revolution and of the most advanced technology of those days. (.)

European did not regard slaves as people but as thing, possessions or animals. But the Black Haitians defeated the armies of the main powers on earth in those days: France, Spain, and England. The great Negro generals equalled and surpassed the greatest strategists of that time, including Napoleon. Imperial arrogance with respect the Haitians proved to be historic folly. (.) 

We are on our way to Ouanaminthe, where the first Free Zone in Haiti is to be found. Those free zones began in the days of Aristide. Codevi is emblematic or the zone: jeans are produced there for famous trade marks, such as Levis and Wrangler; it is part of a Dominican conglomerate linked to Chase Manhattan. Workers are paid 46 dollars a month and they work under the watchful eye of armed foremen, the trade union reports. In 2003, a short time after production started, a trade union was organised to fight against all this abuse. The immediate reaction was to fire 34 activists. A two-day strike made the employers recoil and employ the fired workers back. Immediately, 370 workers joined the trade union. A short time after that the employers dismissed the 370 and another struggle started that lasted over a year with strikes and an international campaign that reached the USA. An alliance with New York and Los Angeles university students made a boycott of jeans of this trade mark possible. Finally the company had to recoil and readmit the dismissed workers.

On our arrival we were taken to the BO office. After lunch, there was a meeting attended by about a hundred people of the region, among them other men and women workers of Codevi and the trade union of the factory. A young woman workers tells us that they are fighting again against the layoff of 42 workers because of a spontaneous strike for better wages. We went to the factory. By the entrance we saw five miserable huts without walls, that would make the worst Brazilian shanty town look like a palace. Six thousand workers eat there remembering a lot of the days of slavery. We crossed a bridge over a river significantly dubbed Massacre and we bumped into armed watchmen blocking the gate leading to Codevi.

This is the economic explanation to all the occupation: the troops are here to guarantee an economic plan that includes bio diesel in the countryside and 18 free zones. They want to take advantage of semi-slave labour to produce for the USA market, very near Miami. Again, violent exploitation combines with the military occupation in Haiti. Once again, imperial arrogance and violence unleashed against workers are the rule of this country.

Yesterday, the road was flooded by a river after a storm. Eight hours more on the road and we are back in Port au Prince. Our faces show signs of fatigue. The last activity together with the Haitian workers is a very significant place: Cite Soleil, the greatest shanty town in Haiti. It is the most violent place in the city, where Minustah carried out several extremely tough raids. As usual the excuse is «repression of the bands». Troops get in and shoot against the homes of the workers. During the latest invasion, a member of the regional BO tells us, they came with helicopters and tanks. he reckons that about 150 people died. This region has also been chosen to set up another free zone. Violent repression has an explicitly economic explanation.

We enter Cite. Marrom, leader of an occupation in Pinheirunho of Sao Jose dos Campos wants to know some hoses. He comes back impressed: they use rudimentary latrines and have tombs in their backyards. The bus stops in from of the school where the rally is to be held. The hall is large and about 250 people crowd into it in spite of the time: there was a football match Brazil against Chile.

The faces are congenial and kind and they welcome us with the usual camaraderie. A comrade of the BO greets us and asks us to feel at home. We actually do feel surrounded by friends, as if we were with Brazilian workers. I cannot help pondering on how the common struggle breaks the barriers: we are at home in Cite Soleil in a way that no other foreigner could ever be. The attendants are introduced in the customary way. Toninho speaks of the letter. In the middle of his speech he declares that he loves his country and his loves football and that he knows that so do the Haitians. But if they burned a Brazilian flag as a part of demonstration against the presence of the troops, we would all be in favour of that. There is an outburst of applause. Olair, a representative of the Sindef of Sao Paulo, about his black skin and of how he felt identified with the Haitian people. his voice denotes emotion and he passes this feeling to the rest of us.

In the audience there is a representation of Hanes, a leading American T-shirt producer. They have just dismissed 60 workers to close the plant here. Moreover, they refuse to pay indemnity. The workers came to the rally to discuss a joint plan of action with us, not only against the occupation but also against the company. One of the women workers speaks and her anger swells. She tells us of how they work 12 hour with no lunch break or permission to go to the bathroom for some 55 dollars a month. They chained the doors to prevent people from going to the bathroom. Now they are firing everybody and refuse to pay anything. She finishes with a fair comparison: «we are the modern slaves». At the end of the rally we are all glad to have seen Cite the rebel. I can no longer seen signs of fatigue on the faces of the people.

We are going back to Brazil tomorrow. BO has planned some activity with human rights organisation for this afternoon. They warn us that there may be some groups here who are for the occupation and they would want to discuss with us. The discussion was held in a large school in Port au Prince. (.) About a hundred people listened as Toninho read the letter once more. Padre Joseph discussed with those who stand for the presence of Minustah «to fight violence». He said that the first violence was to have no food, and that the neoliberal plan sustained by Minustah fomented violence. A peasant exposed the massacre of 139 people committed by a large estate owner in 1987, which has never been looked into. (.)

Several speakers raided the troops. We waited for those who would defend the occupation, but they did not turn up. Finally a historian spoke, one of the founders of the Haitian CP and she defended the presence of the troops «until conditions are met for the reorganisation of the armed forces». Toninho answers that if occupation helped improvement in the country, Haiti would be the most developed country on earth. The opposite is true: the disaster is the outcome of occupations and pro imperialist dictatorships governing all these years.

We left in a hurry for we had a top-of-the-list cultural commitment: we wanted to know the voodoo. The father of Raquel Dominique, the representative of BO who has recently been to Brazil, is the head voodoo priest. That is where the dance and the music come from as well as an important part of their cultural traditions. Religion is just a part of it as everything else is the base for Haitian culture. It has been an important part of the Negro resistance in the days of struggle against slavery and for independence. Meetings to organise struggle were camouflaged with religious celebrations, as was when the first big Negro revolt was organised in 1791, led by Burcman, a gigantic Negro from the whereabouts of Le Cap (—)-

Max Boudoir has white hair, proud bearing and charming style. Gege, teacher at Sao Paulo and also Negro, asks about the most widespread image of voodoo, with dolls pricked with needles to hurt somebody. Max laughs and says that this exists only in Hollywood and that it is an invention of imperialism. I checked on that: there is nothing in the voodoo that has anything to do with it. It is a coarse lie meant to demonise Haitian Negro culture.

The totally white clothes are clearly reminiscent of candomble of Brazil. Around a great tree – as for all the voodoo ceremonies – drums are beaten at a fast rhythm. The singing and the dance begin to honour Simbi Ogun, the divinity of the waters. The song tells the story that  comes from Africa, it describes the crossing of the sea on the slave boats and their arrival and then the slave work. They sing in Creole: «I cannot understand how God cannot understand how they humiliate us». That is when something happens that in candomble we know as the «incorporation of a spirit». In voodoo, the «spirit is the waking of the awareness, the birth of a leader for the struggle. A woman rolls around the tree. They tie handkerchiefs round their arms and hold large knives in their hands.

Now we can see the voodoo in a completely different form. Down came the white man’s mystification in the service of domination. The voodoo is rich culture and it is once again used as a tool of resistance of a nation.. Rachel, a leader of the BO, dances amidst the women in white. She invites us to dance as well. All of a sudden our entire team is dancing. After the dance, Gege makes an emotional thank-you speech in the name of all of us. Max Bouvouir hugs him and sings «ibose» (brothers). Men and women in white come to hug us singing «ibose»

The car is crossing Port au Prince and heading towards the airport. (.) I gaze once more, already with some longing. The poverty in the overcrowded streets in contradiction with the palaces on top of this hills. Unlike in Rio de Janeiro, the bourgeoisie liven on top of the hills here. In just a week our team did a lot: we spoke to the leading institutions of the country (the president, the Brazilian ambassador, the commander-in-chief of the Minustah); we were in close contact with the working class, their struggles and with the trade unions of Le Ca. We talked to peasants’ organisations, such as Heads Together and the organisation of Le Cap, where the two peasants were murdered. We spoke to sectors of the popular movement as in Cite Soleil. Se talked to students and human rights organisations. Apart from all that we even had a revealing contact with Haitian culture, with the architecture of the Citadel and with voodoo.

About 1200 people gathered with us. (.) It looks like we did stir up some ado and the reaction was already there. The Brazilian ambassador was very annoyed about the repercussions and told the Batay Ouvriye not to welcome us any more and suspended the meeting we had scheduled for yesterday with Latin American ambassadors. The Chilean ambassador, who disputes the command of the Minustah, kept the appointment with us. While we were talking to him the Brazilian ambassador turned up all of a sudden apparently to «control» the conversation.

This does not bother us, but there are other reactions: the evening we left Le cap, a group of armed men tried to invade the Batay Ouvriye office but were stopped by the workers of the region. Since very early yesterday a tank and another Minustah car parked in front of the BO office and stayed there the whole day in an evident attempt at intimidating them. At a press conference that ended our visit, we exposed these repressive manipulations. We made the Brazilian ambassador and president Preval personally responsible for any repression against BO (.)

The image we take with us of the Haitians belies the colonial ideology of the occupants. That is so, because the occupation has an economic strategy (the free zones and bio diesel) , a military phase (the Minustah) and an ideology: «It is necessary for the troops to stay, because these people do not know how to govern themselves». There is nothing new about this. It is but an update of the colonial ideology meant to embellish slavery, because «Negroes are not fit» for anything except to submit themselves to the white. The Haitian elite and the multinationals do not fear the «bands» but they quake at the thought of a new rebellion that would now take the shape of a revolution. The history of these people has already shown that this is possible and may be replayed.

The farewell at the airport is moving. We have not only got to know a nation. We have made friends. Brazil once more crops up in our concern. The people of BO will make a statement of solidarity with eh people of the Morro del Aleman in Rio de Janeiro, where police killed at least 19 people. On the other hand, the Rio police say they are using the tactics that Brazilian troops have learned here. At the end of the day, Haiti is here. and there.

After the visit of the Brazilian representation

BO wishes to inform everybody that after the visit of the Brazilian trade unionists whom we had invited so that we could be fully acquainted with their positions on the occupation, exploitation and domination reigning today in our country, our organisations have been threatened and bullied. Actually, even before our guests had left, in cap-Haiten, on the day after these comrades and friends from Brazil had been hosted by workers of that city from the North, a group of approximately ten bandits, armed with knives, sticks and pistols, turned up late at night at our office in order to insult us. They tired to enter the site, something that clearly looked like an attack against our comrades gathered there. As they did not reach their aim, they staged up a row in order to frighten us and threatened with reprisals.

In Port au Prince, the following morning after the encounter organised in Cite Soleil by workers of Batay Ouvriye of the region and with the same purpose, two Minustah cars parked in front of our local office. We hold both, the authorities of this occupation force (the Minustah) and the Haitian authorities, responsible for both events carried out in strict co-ordination with the darks forces, which – as they have received us – were perfectly informed of our activities with the Brazilian representation.

YANNICK ETIENNE, DE BATAY OUVRIYE, DE HAITI  

RENCONTRE AVEC LE PRESIDENT

Aujourd’hui, nous sommes alles parler avec le president Rene Preval. En arrivant, il y a toutes les apparences et formalites du pouvoir : un palais luxueux, tout blanc, decore avec des bustes en bronze des heros de la liberation du pays et les fouilles avec detecteur de metaux et policiers meticuleux. Rien qu’une apparence : le president est un fantoche, soutenu par les troupes de l’ONU, dirige par l’ambassade bresilienne.

Nous nous asseyons et Preval entre immediatement, attentif et gentil. (…) Toninho presente la lettre. Preval repond en remerciant pour la solidarite. Il dit qu’il est d’accord que les troupes doivent partir, mais pas maintenant. Citation de Mao : «Il faut comprendre quelle est la contradiction principale et quelle est la secondaire a chaque moment ». Les bandes armees du trafic de drogues sont encore fortes et l’Etat haitien n’a meme pas de police. Ces bandes seraient donc la contradiction principale, non les troupes etrangeres. Des que possible, les troupes seraient retirees. Je lui reponds que nous deplorons qu’il defende l’occupation, que la polarisation n’est pas entre les troupes et les bandes armees du trafic de drogues, mais entre les troupes et les luttes des travailleurs de Haiti, et que nous n’etions pas la pour etre solidaire avec lui mais avec le peuple haitien qui combat contre les troupes et contre lui.

La gentillesse a pris fin immediatement : il nous a attaque comme « gauchistes », il est devenu nerveux, mais il n’a rien repondu. Aderson, representant de l’Ordre des Avocats du Bresil, a dit qu’il etait la pour preparer un rapport pour l’OAB sur la situation des droits de l’homme a Haiti et qu’il voyait des abus des troupes. A ce moment-la, il y a eu quelque chose de tres etonnant. Tout a coup, Preval, s’est mis sous la table. Il y en a qui pensaient qu’il s’etait evanoui, d’autres, qu’il y avait un certain probleme de securite. Apres trente secondes, il est apparu de nouveau, en souriant. Selon ce que nous avons compris, c’etait une plaisanterie, pour feindre qu’il ne pouvait pas entendre ce qu’on lui disait. Il a ete ridicule et pathetique : un president accroupi sous la table ! La reunion a dure encore presque une heure, toute la delegation mettant en question l’occupation, mais il n’a repondu a rien. Voila un indice de fragilite du gouvernement : pendant une heure, il est durement mis en question par nous, ne repondant a rien, mais sans nous jeter dehors.

Une autre partie de la delegation est allee parler avec le ministre du travail et la responsable des zones franches. Ces reunions etaient importantes pour que Batay Ouvriye presente au gouvernement une liste d’exigences, mais elles ont aussi servi a montrer l’attitude de ce gouvernement. Un des fonctionnaires a defendu la repression en disant que les haitiens « etaient paresseux et sans discipline ». Un autre fonctionnaire a dit qu’il ne pouvait pas etre « sentimental » avec les femmes enceintes si elles ne repondaient pas aux regles du travail. Il l’a dit a cause d’un fait honteux : une travailleuse enceinte a ete frappee et a ete jetee dans la boue parce qu’elle participait a une mobilisation. La justice a reconnu le fait comme un « delit » mais n’a decide aucune punition afin de « ne pas nuire aux investissements ».