Here are some other sources which will help you to "tune in" to the current situation in Haiti:
Organizations
The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (also known as IJDH)
The Association of University Graduates Motivated For A Haiti With Rights ("AUMOHD") AUMOHD is the Haitian Lawyers Leadership's Legal Partners in Haiti
Haiti and the USA by the Haiti Program at Trinity College
Jubilee Inter-Faith Organizing Project (JIO) is a grassroots organization of religious congregations, community and labor organizations concerned about the economic, social and human costs of the growing disparities in the northern New Jersey region (Essex, Hudson, Union, Passaic, Morris and Bergen Counties). Meetings are held the first Tuesday of the month at Grace Community Church, Ferry and Wilson Ave. Newark, N.J.
JIO is affiliated with Gamaliel Foundation, a network of grassroots interfaith, interracial, multi-issue organizations working together to create a more just and more democratic society.
Pax Christi USA is the national Catholic peace movement in the United States. One of its projects is the Haiti Task Force (HTF), which focuses on the "changing political and socio-economic situation in Haiti" and develops "resource materials for prayer, study and action."
HSNNE is a member of Let Haiti Live Coalition, and shares with organizations such as:
- Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
- EPICA (Ecumenical Program in Central America and the Caribbean)
- Fondasyon Mapou
- Fondasyon Trant Septamn
- Pax Christi USA Haiti Task Force
- April VT Citizen’s Lobby
- Haitian Lawyers Leadership
- Jubilee Interfaith Organizing Project links HSNNE with different church groups and union members to address immigrant issues and poverty at home (Jubliee is affiliated with Gamaliel Foundation, a network of grassroots interfaith, interracial, multi-issue organizations working together to create a more just and more democratic society)
Recent Documentaries
Brian Concannon of IJDH brought this information to our attention:
If you like films, two excellent films on Haiti have been released recently. Both are receiving rave reviews, but because they challenge the foreign policy of wealthy countries, both are having trouble getting into theaters. They need your help, so try to organize a showing, for your community or your church, solidarity or school group. It is not necessary to attract a huge crowd to each showing (although it would help), it is important that there be a lot of showings. As they say in Haiti, men anpil, chay pa lou ("many hands makes the load light").
Haiti: The Untold Story by Kevin Pina, chronicles the brutal daily human rights violations committed against democracy supporters in Haiti since the February 2004 coup d'etat. The film focuses on abuses in poor urban neighborhoods by the Haitian National Police and United Nations Stabilization Mission (MINUSTAH) troops in Haiti, especially the July 6, 2005 Cite Soleil massacre. It was produced at great personal risk by journalist/filmmaker Pina, who has covered the grassroots democracy movement in Haiti for the past ten years. It contains stunning footage not available elsewhere. For more information, or to view a trailer, see http://www.teledyol.net/KP/HUS/HUS.html.
Aristide and the Endless Revolution by Nicolas Rossier (Baraka Productions): An hour south of Miami, the elected president of the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation has twice been forced from office with the complicity of the international community. Aristide and the Endless Revolution investigates the tragic events that led to the second violent expulsion of Jean Bertrand Aristide from Haiti. This documentary reveals the tangled web of hope, deceit, and political violence that has brought the world's first black republic to its knees. For more information or to view a trailer, see http://www.aristidethefilm.com. The film will be shown in New York from November 17-23.
A third film, Pote Mak Sonje: the Raboteau Massacre Trial (Christine Cynn and Harriet Hirshorn) is a few years old, but is an important reminder of the possibilities of democracy in Haiti. The film chronicles the tenacious, non-violent and ultimately (but temporarily) successful fight for justice by the victims of the 1994 Raboteau Massacre. The victims took risks for justice, because they saw it as a way of breaking Haiti's cycle of violence and transforming the justice system from an instrument of repression into an instrument of liberation. They succeeded in convicting the top paramilitary and military leadership of murder in a trial hailed as a landmark in the fight against impunity. After the film's release, all those convicted were freed following the February 2004 coup d'etat. For more information, see http://www.ijdh.org/articles/article_raboteau-4.htm.
Terms
Fonkoze: Fonkoze is Haiti's Alternative Bank for the Organized Poor. It is the largest micro-finance institution offering a full range of financial services to the rural-based poor in Haiti.
The word Fonkoze is a Haitian Creole acronym for Fondasyon Kole Zepòl, which means, "The Shoulder-to-Shoulder Foundation". The word itself conveys the meaning, "in the midst of sharing".
Restavèk: A restavèk is a Haitian person, usually a young orphan, who serves a family as an unpaid servant. The term derives from the French phrase reste avec, meaning "stay with". In Haiti today, it has come to mean a child who becomes a house slave when s/he is turned over by his/her parents to a family that promises to care for the child, provide food, clothing, shelter, schooling and health care in exchange for domestic labor. For further information, see the Restavek Fact Sheet and the article Life Is Tough - Children in Domestic Labor in Haiti", an article by Barbara McClatchie Andrews
ti machanns: "Small market traders" who are funded by Fonkoze.