MalarkyNews » Haiti

Marleine Bastien: Community to Congress

newsreader89 — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:00:06 +0000

"Community organizer" was Sarah Palin's favorite slur on the campaign trail, but grassroots organizers have been fighting for the rights of marginalized people, often without recognition, for longer than Palin has been around. Marleine Bastien has been an organizer in the Haitian-American community in Miami for 30 years, and is now running for Congress.

She joins guest host Esther Armah via Skype to talk about shifting from organizing to campaigning, and what can be accomplished in elected office that can't be accomplished on the streets.

Article from GRITtv read more here

Marleine Bastien: Community to Congress

newsreader89 — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:00:06 +0000

She joins guest host Esther Armah via Skype to talk about shifting from organizing to campaigning, and what can be accomplished in elected office that can't be accomplished on the streets.

Article from GRITtv read more here

Marleine Bastien, Midnight on the Mavi Marmara, and Green for Buffalo

newsreader89 — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:12:16 +0000

She joins guest host Esther Armah via Skype to talk about shifting from organizing to campaigning, and what can be accomplished in elected office that can't be accomplished on the streets.

"The fastest way to stop a bullet is to give someone a job, and what better job to give them than the one that transforms where they live?" That's the question for Buffalo, New York, as People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH) leads the community's struggle for better, greener jobs for everyone--and to improve the food supply and surroundings for the community as well.

Less than four months ago, Israeli commandoes boarded the boats in the Freedom Flotilla headed for Gaza and killed nine peace activists. Investigations are underway into just what happened the night of May 31st, but just a few months after the attacks, a new anthology collects eyewitness testimony, analyses and thought pieces, and responses from artists and poets into a "people's record" of what happened that night--and how it just might be a turning point for the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Moustafa Bayoumi is the editor of Midnight on the Mavi Marmara, available now from OR Books, and Huwaida Arraf was on the flotilla that night. They join us to discuss what happened, what role the book can play, and how it was able to come about so quickly.

Article from GRITtv read more here

France Urged to Repay Haiti Billions Paid for Its Independence

Syndicated News — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:24:42 +0000

by Kim Willsher in Paris

A group of international academics and authors has written to Nicolas Sarkozy calling on France to reimburse the crushing "independence debt" it imposed on Haiti nearly 200 years ago.

The open letter to the French president says the debt, now worth more than €17bn (£14bn), would cover the rebuilding of the country after a devastating earthquake that killed more than 250,000 people seven months ago.

Article from CommonDreams.org Headlines read more here

Haiti 6 Months Post-Quake; Attention to Despair

newsreader89 — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:00:58 +0000

The aftermath of the earthquake that rocked Haiti six months ago had faded from the headlines when Haitian-American hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean announced that he would run for president of the country. Meanwhile, most Haitians are still struggling to rebuild, lacking basic necessities and sometimes succumbing to despair.

Marie St. Cyr and Rodney Leon have both been working to help rebuild Haiti; St. Cyr with MADRE and the Lambi Fund of Haiti and Leon as an architect, designing and helping to implement "soft houses" as interim solutions for those left homeless by the quake. They both returned to our studio to discuss the ongoing need for attention to Haiti's problems, and whether Wyclef's campaign will help or hurt.

Article from GRITtv read more here

Proposition 8, Haiti 6 Months After, and the 14th Amendment

newsreader89 — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:00:36 +0000

In the nearly two years since Proposition 8 passed in California, putting a blot on the progressive victories of Election Day 2008 by taking marriage rights away from gay and lesbian citizens, there have been plenty of protests, arguments, and court cases. But when a judge appointed by George H.W. Bush struck down the law as unconstitutional on August 4, citing the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, celebration broke out around the country.

The fight is, of course, far from over--the decision was stayed in expectation of inevitable appeal, and will probably end up before a conservative Supreme Court. But New York Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell and comedian Kate Clinton are optimistic about eventual victory. Clinton joins us via Skype and O'Donnell in studio to discuss the victory, the decision, and the country's evolving view of equality.

Article from GRITtv read more here

French Foreign Ministry Probes Fake Website

Syndicated News — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 12:48:32 +0000

PARIS - The French foreign ministry said Thursday it was considering taking legal action after a mystery group launched an online copy of its official website carrying fake news.

The site at www.diplomatiegov.fr is a close copy of the ministry's own at www.diplomatie.gouv.fr and includes accurate links and pirated versions of real videos and news releases from Bernard Kouchner's ministry.

Article from CommonDreams.org Headlines read more here

REFRAKA: Giving Haitian Women A Voice

newsreader89 — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:00:06 +0000

REFRAKA, a Creole acronym for Women’s Community Radio Network, was founded in Haiti in 2001 as a way to make women’s voices heard around the country. On January 12, it took on a new meaning as, like many other organizations in Haiti, it suffered from the earthquake. Nevertheless, REFRAKA has continued to not only restructure Haiti’s patriarchal society, but now integrates rural women’s opinions on this historical tragedy as well as the reconstruction process into the media.

Article from GRITtv read more here

Little Improvement at Haiti’s Epicentre

Syndicated News — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:29:32 +0000

by Rob Reynolds

If you ask, where did all the money for Haiti go, one answer is: not here.

When the earthquake rumbled up from the earth directly below Leogane, 20,000-30,000 people were killed, and 80 to 90 per cent of the town's concrete buildings were reduced to rubble.

And, chunk by chunk, shovelful by shovelful, that's some of the rubble that Saint-Fort Mackenson and the other members of his work crew are clearing away.

Mackenson, a thin young man with a mop of plaited hair, pauses to lean on his shovel and wipe the sweat from his face.

Article from CommonDreams.org Headlines read more here

Haitians Wait in Tents for a Recovery that has Still Barely Begun

Syndicated News — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 15:58:54 +0000

by Guy Adams

They're still bringing victims to the Grand Cimitière in Port au Prince, a few blocks from the ruined Presidential Palace, which remains a globally recognised symbol of a crippled nation.

But almost six months after the worst natural disaster in modern history, the flood of new arrivals has slowed to a trickle. Oginel Pinchinat, a caretaker who mans the main gate of the 10-acre site, reckons on having to find burial spots for roughly a dozen new earthquake victims each day, a number he calls a relative trifle.

Article from CommonDreams.org Headlines read more here