La impunidad de los grandes terratenientes

Por Joe Emersberger y Jeb Sprague

America latina en movimiento

En esta artículo, Joe Emersberger y Jeb Sprague discuten el documental del cineasta Edward Ellis '"Tierras Libres". El documental explora los asesinatos de campesinos y activistas asesinados por sicarios para tratar de implementar el proyecto de la reforma agraria del gobierno de Venezuela y la búsqueda de sus familias por la justicia dentro de un sistema judicial que aún está controlado en gran parte por la elite nacional.

Interview on Anti-War Radio (this Tuesday)

I will be talking about U.S. foreign policy and my forthcoming book (on Haiti) this Tuesday (at 12:30 in the afternoon east coast time) on Anti-War Radio aired in the U.S. states of Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Texas.

Interview on KPFT

Here is the interview I did on KPFT's Human Rights Show, this last Friday (November 25th). This show airs on 90.1 FM in the greater Houston, Galveston, and upper Texas Gulf Coast (and affiliates). 

Interview on KPFK

I was interviewed about my forthcoming book on Haiti on the Sojourner Truth (with Margaret Prescod) radio show on KPFK (independent/listener sponsored radio in Los Angeles and Southern California). The interview can be heard here, it begins at 37 minutes into the show.

New piece on Al Jazeera

Joe Emersberger and I have a new co-authored op-ed article:  "Impunity for Venezuela's Big Landlords." It is published here on Al Jazeera. We have a spanish version and will hopefully be published soon.

Interviewed on KPFA

See here for an interview of Haitian journalist Wadner Pierre and myself on Pacifica Radio's KPFA 94.1FM. We spoke on the Morning Mix Project Censored show which is hosted by Peter Philipps, Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University, and Mickey 

Huff, Associate Professor of history at Diablo Valley College. 

Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Humanity

Here is the keynote talk (that I recorded on my computer) of Professor William I. Robinson at the 1st "Global Capitalism and Transnational Class Formation" conference in Prague, Czech Republic in September of 2011.


Watch William I. Robinson "Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Humanity in Educational & How-To  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Empire, Global Capitalism, and Theory

I have a new article here looking at Hardt and Negri's theory of empire and in relation to other works of the 'global capitalism school'. It is published in the journal Current Perspectives in Social Theory. You can read the 20 page PDF of the article by clicking here.

Emergence of the Iraqi Transnational Capitalist Class (TCC)

Here is a three part video I have put together of Yousef Baker speaking about his research on the emergence of a fraction of the transnational capitalist class in Iraq. He will have a forthcoming article on this topic and see here more on his recent MA thesis titled: Beyond the US Empire: The Political Economy of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq.


Part One

Participation active des responsables américains et onusiens quant à l'intégration de puchistes à la PNH, selon WikiLeaks (Haïti).

Par Jeb Sprague

Haiti Liberté: Édition du 10 Août au 16 Août 2011 & CHAN.

Tout au long de 2004 et 2005, les autorités non élues de facto d’Haïti, aux côtés de fonctionnaires étrangers, ont intégré au moins 400 paramilitaires de l’ancienne Armée dans la force de police du pays, selon ce que révèlent des câbles secrets de l’ambassade américaine.

Pendant un an et demi après le renversement du gouvernement élu d’Haïti, le 29 février 2004, l’ONU, l’OEA et des responsables américains, en conjonction avec les autorités haïtiennes de l’après-coup, ont passé au crible la nouvelle force de la police du pays - agent par agent - et ont intégré des paramilitaires dans le but de renforcer à la fois le corps policier et en fournissant une «carrière» alternative aux paramilitaires.

WBAI Interview

Interviewed on the radio station WBAI, New York (99.5 FM) on US/UN supervision of ex-army paramilitary integration into Haiti's police force: begins at 15mins & 30secs.
http://archive.wbai.org/files/mp3/wbai_110811_210038thurs9pm10pm.mp3

WikiLeaks revela: Funcionarios de EE.UU. y la ONU supervisaron la incorporación de paramilitares a la policía de Haití

por Jeb Sprague

contra injerencia

 A lo largo de 2004 y 2005, las autoridades de Haiti, en colaboración con funcionarios extranjeros, incorporaron a por lo menos 400 paramilitares a la policía, según cables secretos de la embajada de los EE.UU. .

             Después del derrocamiento del Presidente Jean-Bertrand Aristide en febrero de 2004, la ONU, la OEA y funcionarios de EE.UU., en colaboración con el nuevo gobierno haitiano , aprobaron —uno por uno— la incorporación de dichos paramilitares con el objetivo de fortalecer a la policía y suministrar trabajo a los efectivos que habían llevado a cabo el golpe de estado.

             Al mismo tiempo, fueron purgados cientos de policías considerados leales al gobierno del ex-presidente . Algunos fueron encarcelados y otros asesinados, segun numerosas fuentes entrevistadas.

             Aristide fue elegido por primera vez en 1991, pero el primer gobierno democrático de Haití sólo duró siete meses antes de ser derrocado en un golpe de estado militar. El ejército masacró a cerca de 3.000 personas y fueron desplazados alrededor de 300.000 antes de que el gobierno de Clinton restituyó a Aristide a la presidencia en 1994.

            En 1995, Aristide abolió el ejército de Haití para prevenir más golpes y parar los abusos que seguían cometiendo los militares. Pero cuando Aristide volvió a ganar la presidencia en 2001 los élites haitianos reunieron a muchos de los ex-soldados en grupos paramilitares para ejecutar otro golpe de estado.

            Después de este golpe, los paramilitares establecieron bases militares —oficial y extraoficialmente— en varias ciudades del país. Desde estas bases se desató otra oleada de represión contra los simpatizantes del partido de Aristide, Fanmi Lavalas. Los paramilitares mataran aproximadamente 7.000 personas y cometieron otros abusos, como la violación sexual a miles de mujeres y niñas. Son estos mismos individuos que fueron incorporados a la policía nacional.

             Los detalles sobre la "reforma" a la policía se encuentran en los 1.918 documentos (cables de la embajada de EE.UU.) relacionados a Haití obtenidos por WikiLeaks y después entregados a Haití Liberté.

WikiLeaks Reveal: U.S. and UN Officials Oversaw Integration of Ex-Army Paramilitaries into Haiti’s Police Force

by Jeb Sprague

[This article will appear this week in the newspaper Haiti Liberté]

Throughout 2004 and 2005, Haiti’s unelected de facto authorities, working alongside foreign officials, integrated at least 400 ex-army paramilitaries into the country’s police force, secret U.S. Embassy cables reveal.

            For a year and a half following the ouster of Haiti’s elected government on Feb. 29, 2004, UN, OAS, and U.S. officials, in conjunction with post-coup Haitian authorities, vetted the country’s police force – officer by officer – integrating paramilitaries with the goal of both strengthening the force and providing an alternative “career path” for paramilitaries.

Letter to the Guardian Regarding its Venezuela Coverage

See here a letter that myself and others have published in The Guardian calling for more attention on the hundreds of Venezuelan peasants that have been murdered by right wing paramilitaries and gunmen hired by wealthy land owners. Read the entire letter here.   The full letter with additional signatures is published on Venezuelanalysis.

A Review of Sociologist Robyn Magalit Rodriguez's NEW BOOK Migrants For Export

Jeb Sprague
Science & Society

Migrants for Export: How the Philippine State Brokers Labor to the World, by Robyn Magalit Rodriguez. Minneapolis, Minnesota/London: University of Minnesota Press, 2010. $67.00; paper, $19.00. Pp. 208.
 

From government-sponsored nursing classes in Manila to crushed labor strikes at garment factories in southeast Asia, a variety of mechanisms have been developed to manage, promote and coerce Filipino workers as a readily available cheap source of labor around the world. A book of interest for scholars or students of global migration or of the contemporary Filipino/ Filipina experience, Migrants for Export should also be of interest to those studying the state in globalization and in relation to the changing practices and ideologies of state elites.
 

Rodriguez starts by considering some theoretical issues behind the state and its interaction with migrants, and the historical roots of the novel processes of today’s global market and political economy. She explains how the modern Philippine state developed, first tightly bound to the United States as a colony and later as a component within a global system (yet, still closely aligned with the United States). It is in today’s era of global capitalism that Rodriguez seeks to understand, by way of the Philippines, the exploitive and contradictory nature of the state’s role in migration.

The book’s central argument is that the Philippine state has become actively involved in marketing its citizens to companies and labor-receiving governments around the world for low-wage and closely watched temporary jobs. The practices and ideologies of state elites have become rooted in this process — becoming active migration promoters and managers, such that the “orientation of Philippine officials and government agencies toward overseas employment reveals the extent to which Philippine citizens have become reduced to mere commodities to be bartered and traded globally”(27). 

A Review of Sociologist Peter Dicken's Global Shift: Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy, 5th Edition

Jeb Sprague

Journal of Sociology

Widely cited and read by scholars and students of globalization, Peter Dicken’s Global Shift is best known for its concise examination of structures of the global economy. Now in its 5th edition with over 250 newly designed figures and graphs, few texts are as effective in showing the incontrovertible changes undergone in production, distribution and consumption. Written prior to the crisis of recent years, it remains a useful guide for understanding the truly global nature of today’s world economy. However, where Dicken does a remarkable job in dissecting the structure of the global economy, he has little or nothing to say about how the state and economic structure are grounded in broader class and social relations.

 

Dicken starts, in Parts 1 and 2, by laying out distinct ways in which scholars conceptualize globalization and the importance of technological and networked development, as well as the role of transnational corporations (TNCs) and national states. Part 3 describes shifting economic sectors in the real economy: agriculture, autos, computers, textiles and logistical infrastructure. Included within Part 3 is a chapter on finance, but this is just 29 pages in a 599-page book. This chapter covers the spread of financial services but has little discussion of derivatives (p. 386) and nothing on the role of central banks or stock markets. Most importantly though, for the purposes of this review, how does Global Shift treat the role of social agency?

New Article on Al Jazeera and teleSUR

Please read my new article "Haiti's Movement from Below Endures" on Al Jazeera.  Mi nuevo artículo también está disponible en español en teleSUR y Rebelión.

Ex-FAd’H Camp near Port-au-Prince (March, 2011)

Ex-FAd'H LT Jeune Aduen Moniteur stands in front of a Duvalierist flag.

(Photos: Jeb Sprague,2011)

In March of 2011, Isabeau Doucet (a journalist writing for the Guardian & the Christian Science Monitor) and I located the ex-FAd’H (Forces armées d'Haïti--Haiti's former military) camp that was recently covered in an article by the Associated Press.  Below I describe some of what I found and related information:

On Martissant, Gran Ravine, and Missing the Proportionality and Chief Sources of Political Violence

Above: Commemoration of the first anniversary of Gran Ravine's Massacre.
The parents and friends of victims of the July 7, 2006 massacre walked
with tears on the one year anniversary. Photo by Wadner Pierre

Below is a response to a note posted by Michael Deibert (on the Haiti corbett listserv, post 41330) and in regard to some of the misleading reports that he authored looking at political violence in the communities of Martissant and Gran Ravine in the years following the 2004 overthrow of Haiti's elected government. It also responds to an anonymously posted criticism (on the Haiti Corbet Listserv) of the work of human rights investigators Evel Fanfan (AUMOHD) and Tom Luce (HURAH) who have been highly active in Haiti's slums of Martissant and Gran Ravine since 2005.

More on Gran Ravine and Martissant.. The 2005 HNP Report on Lame Ti Manchet and the Involvement of Officers Within HNP Ranks

I am posting here a report that was put together by Haiti's National Police (HNP) on the involvement of some of its officers with Lame Ti Manchèt (the Little Machete Army) during the time of the Latortue interim government in Haiti. 

This report, put together by HNP officials, sheds some little light on one attack that was part of a much wider campaign of continual violent joint-paramilitary/police operations conducted throughout much of 2004 and part of 2005 (as a good deal of film evidence and testimonials by witnesses and victims attest). During this time period, following the 2004 coup, an unelected "interim" government worked with sectors of Haiti's elite and security force to crackdown on communities where support for ousted elected government remained strong in the slums of Port-au-Prince. This resulted in the killing, wounding, firing from jobs, imprisonment, and exile of thousands. Numerous studies provided detail on this campaign of violence but focused mainly on what happened in Bel Air and Cité Soleil (Lawyers Guild, Harvard study, University of Miami Study, Lancet, etc).

Petition in the Guardian: Haiti needs the world's support

Myself and many others have signed this letter to call for an end to the political exclusion of Haiti's movement from below. It is published here in The Guardian.

End Forced Exile

See here for a petition that was published today in the Miami Herald calling for the Haitian government, the United States, France, Canada, and the United Nations to stop blocking the return of Haiti's first democratically elected president.

Elite Lobbyist Groups Influence Policies in Washington D.C. on Latin America and the Caribbean

I was briefly on this RTTV piece that aired on January 13, 2011.

Qui est le candidat Michel Martelly ?

Par Jeb Sprague
Haïti Liberté

[Ndlr.] Le texte qui suit est une traduction modifi ée de la version anglaise parue dans l’édition de la semaine dernière (Haiti Liberte V.4. No. 22. Michel Martelly, Stealth Duvalierist. P.9). Il est présenté sous un autre titre.

Dans la presse couvrant la crise électorale en cours en Haïti, le candidat à la présidence Michel « Sweet Micky » Martelly, que le candidat du Parti dirigeant Unité Jude Célestin a dépassé avec moins de 1% des votes avec qualifi cation pour le deuxième tour le 16 janvier, a été dépeint comme une victime de fraude électorale et comme le chef d’un soulèvement populiste contre le Conseil électoral provisoire (CEP) corrompu d'Haïti.

Certains ont mis en question son aptitude à devenir président en montrant du doigt ses bouffonneries vulgaires en tant que musicien konpa au cours des deux dernières décennies, lorsqu'il faisait des remarques avilissantes à l'endroit des femmes et périodiquement, baissait ses pantalons pour exhiber ses fesses.

Cependant, le vrai problème avec Martelly n’est pas sa morale lubrique, mais son histoire odieuse en politique et une étroite affi liation avec les «forces des ténèbres» réactionnaires, comme on les appelle en Haïti, qui ont étouffé chaque véritable tentative que les Haïtiens ont faite au cours des 20 dernières années, pour élire un gouvernement démocratique. Loin d’être un champion de la démocratie, Martelly a été une majorette au service de sanglants coups d’Etat et de régimes militaires auxquels il a peut-être même participé.

Stealth Duvalierism

Haiti, Michel Martelly, and the Presidential Selection of 2010
Znet and Haiti Liberte


December 20, 2010
By Jeb Sprague


In the media coverage of Haiti's ongoing electoral crisis, presidential candidate Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, whom ruling Unity party candidate Jude Célestin edged out of Haiti's Jan. 16 run-off by less than 1%, has been portrayed as the victim of voting fraud and the leader of a populist upsurge against Haiti’s crooked Provisional Electoral Council (CEP).


Some have questioned his presidential suitability by pointing to his vulgar antics as a konpa musician over the last two decades, where he often made demeaning comments about women and periodically dropped his trousers to bare his backside.


The real problem with Martelly, however, is not his perceived immorality, but his heinous political history and close affi liation with the reactionary “forces of darkness," as they are called in Haiti, which have snuffed out each genuine attempt Haitians have made over the past 20 years to elect a democratic government. Far from a champion of democracy, Martelly has been a cheerleader for, and perhaps even a participant in, bloody coups d'état and military rule.

Statecraft in the Global Financial Crisis: An Interview with Kanishka Jayasuriya

By: Jeb Sprague
Journal of Critical Globalisation Studies

Kanishka Jayasuriya

Kanishka Jayasuriya, Professor of Political Science at the University of Adelaide, Australia and author of two monographs – Reconstituting the Global Liberal Order: Legitimacy and Regulation (2005) and Statecraft, Welfare and the Politics of Inclusion (2006) – argues that changing forms of governance and new regulative laws are enabling the transnationalization of institutions within national states. He also interprets these changes as giving rise to a new type of institutional struggle unique to globalisation. For social scientists in general and political economists in particular, Jayasuriya’s work provides a useful lens through which to understand intra-state transformation in the global epoch. By rejecting Realist/Weberian conceptions of the state and drawing inspiration instead from materialist state theory, he understands state transformation as a reflection of ongoing processes linked to socio-economic forces that are novel to the historical present. And in the wake of the global financial crisis, he argues, we should not see the state as either disappearing or returning, for it is continuing to transform in ways peculiar to the age of globalism. The real question is for whom states will act in the future. In order to answer this, Jayasuriya suggests that we must look to transformations occurring within the national state, for it is these that are changing statecraft as we know it.

In this interview, Jayasuriya discusses some of his main concepts and theories, such as the regulatory state; meta-governance; the transition from ‘social constitutionalism’ to ‘economic constitutionalism’; and describes how each of these relate to the ongoing crisis of global capitalism. He clarifies his views on the idea of a transnational capitalist class, arguing that there must be “different fractions within it”; and goes on to discuss the connection of his theories on state-transformation with the related works of William Robinson and Martin Shaw. Finally, he discusses some of the theorists that have influenced his work – such as Nicos Poulantzas, Carl Schmitt, Franz Neumann, and Amartya Sen – and briefly describes his areas of ongoing research.

Repay historic debt to Haiti: An open letter to French President Nicolas Sarkozy

Myself and many others have published a petition calling on the French government to repay it's historic debt to Haiti, which today is valued at over 17 billion euros. View the petition on the website Rabble.ca

Pétition: M. Sarkozy, rendez à Haïti son argent extorqué

Moi-même et beaucoup d'autres ont signé une pétition demandant au gouvernement françaispour rembourser la dette c'est à Haïti. Cette dette s'élève à 17 mil-liards d'euros. Lire la pétition sur le journal Libération.  

全球化的双重危机：从墨西哥湾到亚利桑那

Wu You Zhi Xiang （Utopia）
杰布 斯普拉格（Jeb Sprague）& 西赛尔 罗德里格斯（Cesar Rodriguez) 。

从漂浮着絮状原油的墨西哥湾，到发生针对移民袭击事件的亚利桑那，如今我们的国家似乎正处于一种持续的紧张状态。而对于在全球化进程中居于核心地位的我们来说，这两则事件都能在我们社会的基本结构中找到其更为深刻的原因。

四月二十日，距离路易斯安那海岸五十英里远的英国石油公司（BP）海上钻井平台发生了爆炸事故，从而导致十一名工人丧生并引发大量原油从海底喷涌而出，这次原油泄漏事件是美国历史上最为严重的一次。而仅仅在三天后，亚利桑那州州长简•布鲁尔就签署了针对非法移民的第1070号新决议法案，要求州警核查一切有非法移民嫌疑的移民的法律地位。尽管这两件事看似毫无关联，但是在一个认为资本的积累远比人的生计和生存环境更为重要的价值体系内，考虑这两者如何复杂的进行相互作用就显得极为重要。

La doble crisis de la globalización: el Golfo de México y Arizona

Transnational Institute
Jeb Sprague y Cesar Rodriguez

Desde el derrame de petróleo crudo en el Golfo de México hasta los ultrajes perpetrados contra los inmigrantes en Arizona, el gobierno de los Estados Unidos parece estar sumido en una emergencia tras otra. Pero las dos crisis tienen sus raíces en las estructuras fundamentales de nuestra sociedad, estructuras que han sido transformadas por la globalización.

La explosión de una plataforma de perforación submarina, que ocurrió el 20 de abril a unas 80 kilómetros de la costa de Luisiana, ocasionó el peor derrame de petróleo de la historia de los Estados Unidos. Unos tres días antes, la gobernadora del estado de Arizona, Jan Brewer, firmó el proyecto de ley SB 1070, la cual dispone que los policías locales deben pedir documentos de residencia a cualquier persona que ellos sospechen de ser indocumentada. Aunque parezcan ser hechos no relacionados, es importante considerar la manera cómo los dos están intrínsicamente conectados en un sistema que valora la acumulación del capital por encima del sustento y la sobrevivencia del pueblo y el medio ambiente.

Dual Crises of Globalization: Arizona and the Gulf of Mexico

Transnational Institute
Jeb Sprague and Cesar Rodriguez

From the plumes of corporate crude in the Gulf of Mexico, to the assault on migrants in Arizona, the U.S. appears locked in a continual state of emergency. However, both crises have their roots in fundamental structures of our society that are at the core of globalization today.

The explosion on April 20th at BP’s offshore drilling rig fifty miles off the coast of Louisiana led to the worst oil spill in the country’s history, killing 11 workers and unplugging an oil gushing vein in the sea floor. Just three days later, Arizona governor Jan Brewer signed into Law SB 1070, which requires state police there to check the legal status of anyone suspected of being undocumented. While seemingly unrelated events, it is important that we consider how the two are intricately connected within a system that values the accumulation of capital over the livelihoods and survival of people and the environment.

Sociologist Leslie Sklair has described two central crises in the era of globalization: (1) a class polarization crisis with the “creation of increasing poverty and increasing wealth within and between communities and societies;” and (2) an ecological crisis with “the unsustainability of the system.”

Inmigrantes se juegan la vida en el desierto de Arizona

Por Jeb Sprague

Muro fronterizo entre México y Estados Unidos en paso Mariposa

Crédito: Jeb Sprague/IPS


NOGALES, México, 23 abr (IPS) - "Tengo que volver a Arizona, es mi hogar", dice el mexicano Sergio, de 26 años, mientras coloca su última pastilla purificadora en un cubo de agua turbia. Su hijo vive en ese estado de Estados Unidos donde él mismo pasó la mayor parte de su vida.

Sin documentos, Sergio, como otros inmigrantes, no puede obtener una licencia de conducir. Cuando usaba una identificación falsa, lo detuvieron en un control de tráfico de rutina y, tras hacerle pasar cuatro meses en la cárcel, lo deportaron a México.

Migrants Risk Everything in Arizona Desert Crossing

By Jeb Sprague
INTER PRESS SERVICE (IPS)

Photo of: Border leading into the desert at the Mariposa port-of-entry.

NOGALES, Mexico, Apr 17, 2010 (IPS) - As he drops his last purification tablet into a pail of swirling, murky water, Sergio, 26, stares out toward the desert. Recently deported from Arizona, where he has a young child and where he has lived for the majority of his life, he explains, "I have to return, it's my home."

Lacking official U.S. documentation, Sergio, like other undocumented migrants is unable to get a driver's license. Using a fake ID, he was originally deported to Mexico after being pulled over in a routine traffic stop and jailed for four months.

Dr. William I. Robinson: "Understanding Global Capitalism"

An excellent talk here by Professor William I. Robinson titled "Understanding Global Capitalism." He gave this talk in 2008 in the Philippines.

Haití, un desastre clasista

Rebelion
Jeb Sprague

Sólo cinco días antes del terremoto que destrozó Puerto Príncipe el 12 de enero, el Consejo de Modernización de las Empresas Públicas (CMEP) del gobierno haitiano anunció la privatización del 70% de Teleco, la compañía estatal de teléfono de Haití.

Hoy Puerto Príncipe está en ruinas con miles, posiblemente cientos de miles de muertos, barrios enteros destrozados, muchas personas enterradas vivas. De pueblos de toda la península del sur, como Léogâne, se dice que están en la ruina total, con un número de víctimas incalculable. El presidente de Haití, René Préval, y su administración se han revelado ineptos, ausentes y ni siquiera se les oye en la radio local.

Haiti's Classquake

Znet
Jeb Sprague

Just five days prior to the 7.0 earthquake that shattered Port-au-Prince on January 12th, the Haitian government's Council of Modernisation of Public Enterprises (CMEP) announced the planned 70% privatization of Teleco, Haiti's public telephone company.

Today Port-au-Prince lies in ruins, with thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands dead, entire neighborhoods cut off, many buried alive. Towns across the southern peninsula, such as Léogâne, are said to be in total ruin with an untold number of victims. Haiti's president, René Préval, and his administration remain largely inept, absent from Port-au-Prince and even the local radio.

Transnational Capitalist Class in the Global Financial Crisis: A Discussion with Leslie Sklair

JEB SPRAGUE
Globalizations


ABSTRACT In an interview, Leslie Sklair, author of The Transnational Capitalist Class (2001) and Professor Emeritus in Sociology at the London School of Economics, discusses his thoughts on today’s global financial crisis, its connections to a globally dominant social class—the transnational capitalist class—as well as his views on the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, and clarifications on his theoretical approach.

En una entrevista, Leslie Sklair, autor de La clase capitalista trasnacional (2001) y profesor eme´rito en sociologı´a de la Facultad de Economı´a de Londres, discute tanto sus pensamientos sobre la crisis financiera global actual, y sus conexiones con una clase social global dominante—la clase capitalista trasnacional—como sobre su punto de vista sobre la invasio´n y ocupacio´n de Iraq por los E.E.U.U., y las aclaraciones sobre su enfoque teo´rico.

Haiti and the Jean Dominique Investigation: An Interview with Mario Joseph and Brian Concannon

Jeb Sprague
Journal of Haitian Studies

On April 3, 2000, Jean Dominique, Haiti’s most popular journalist, was shot four times in the chest as he arrived for work at Radio Haïti. The station’s security guard Jean-Claude Louissant was also killed in the attack. The President of Haiti, René Préval, ordered three days of official mourning and 16,000 people reportedly attended his funeral. A documentary film released in 2003, The Agronomist, by Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme featured Dominique’s inspiring life. However, since Dominique’s death the investigation into his murder has sparked a constant point of controversy.1
Attorneys Mario Joseph and Brian Concannon worked for the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI), a human rights lawyer’s office supported by both the Préval and Aristide governments. The BAI was tasked with helping to investigate the killings. A discussion with the two attorneys reveals the unpublished perspective of former government insiders who worked on the case and their thoughts on the role of former Senator Dany Toussaint, the investigation headed by Judge Claudy Gassant, the mobilization around the case, and recent revelations made by Guy Philippe, a leader of the ex-military organization Front pour la Libération et la Réconstruction Nationales (FLRN).
This interview was conducted over the telephone and by e-mail during April and May of 2007.

Globalization of Capitalism: A Talk by Jerry Harris

Pittsburgh G20: 3rd Video

Pittsburgh G20: 2nd Video

Pittsburgh G20: 1st Video

FINANZAS Choque a la vista en cumbre del G-20

por Jeb Sprague
IPS

PITTSBURGH, Estados Unidos, 21 sep (IPS) - Miles de manifestantes de todo Estados Unidos se congregarán en esta ciudad para protestar contra la cumbre del Grupo de los 20 (G-20) esta semana, que contará con 4.000 policías para proteger a los delegados de los respectivos países.

Los gobernantes del G-20, conformado por los ocho países más industrializados y economías emergentes, se reunirán este jueves y el viernes para examinar el cumplimiento de sus objetivos de restaurar el crecimiento de la economía mundial y reformar los sistemas financieros multilaterales.

Activists, Big Business Converge on G20 Meet

By Jeb Sprague
INTER PRESS SERVICE (IPS)

Local activists say development has been an undemocratic process geared toward the beautiful downtown.


PITTSBURGH, Sep 20, 2009 (IPS) - As media and government delegates prepare for the G20 Summit to be held Sep. 24-25 in Pittsburgh, local business and activist groups are promoting clashing visions of days to come.

Hit hard over the last quarter of the twentieth century with a collapsing steel industry, recession and falling population, Pittsburgh is still a decent place to live - often highly rated because of low housing costs.

Haiti: Calls Mount to Free Lavalas Activist

By Wadner Pierre and Jeb Sprague

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Aug 20, 2009 (IPS) - Government authorities in Haiti face recent criticism over allegations that they continue to jail political dissidents.

On Aug. 7, Amnesty International called for the release of Ronald Dauphin, a Haitian political prisoner. Dauphin is an activist with the Fanmi Lavalas movement of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He was seized by armed paramilitaries on Mar. 1, 2004 - the day after Aristide's government was ousted in a coup d'état.

Book Review of 'The Dialectics of Globalization'

The Dialectics of Globalization: Economic and Political Conflict in a Transnational World
Jerry Harris
Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008, 2nd edition. 285 pp.
Globalizations

Jerry Harris has provided a wide-ranging yet detailed investigation into the unfolding of global capitalism. The book, Dialectics of Globalization, published (2006, 2008) in the years leading up to the ongoing global financial crisis, illuminates the hyper-intensification of political and economic changes leading us to where we are today. Made up of a collection of updated journal articles, it amasses an impressive body of work conceptually rooted in an understanding of globalization in its entirety.

Key for accepting the approach in his book, Harris argues that class relations in globalization must be reconceptualized beyond the confines of the nation-state. The rapid changes in production, technology, finance/capital accumulation have transformed the international economy into a global economy, creating consensus among corporate elites that barriers to investment and trade must be removed. A transnational capitalist class (TCC), promoting this project and directly involved in the accumulation of global capital, is now the dominant socio-economic group. Harris takes his readers through the maturing of this process, providing fascinating insight on the technological and financial engines propelling its expansion, as well as case studies that examine the process of global capitalism in countries ranging from Germany to Brazil and India.

HAITÍ Comicios con exclusiones avalados por la ONU

Por Jeb Sprague*

NUEVA YORK, 17 abr (IPS) - Las elecciones legislativas de este domingo en Haití están marcadas por la proscripción del partido centroizquierdista Fanmi Lavalas (FL), que cuenta con gran respaldo entre la mayoría pobre.

Y, a medida que avanza la crisis económica mundial, funcionarios de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU) en Nueva York y en Puerto Príncipe se la ven en figurillas para defender un problemático proceso electoral al mismo tiempo que ruegan por la ayuda de los donantes.

Haiti: Fanmi Lavalas Banned, Voter Apprehension Widespread

By Jeb Sprague*
INTER PRESS SERVICE

NEW YORK, Apr 17, 2009 (IPS) - Weekend senatorial elections in Haiti are mired in controversy as Fanmi Lavalas (FL), the political party widely backed by the poor majority, has been disqualified.

As the global financial crisis unfolds, U.N. officials in New York City and Port-au-Prince are struggling to defend a troubled electoral process while gathering donor aid.

Meanwhile, a recent study by the Florida-based advocacy organisation Haiti Priorities Project (HPP) has found widespread popular apprehension and disaffection among Haitians ahead of the upcoming senatorial elections.

A Review of Three Recent Books on Haiti

by Jeb Sprague
NACLA


The ProPheT and Power: Jean-BerTrand arisTide, The inTernaTional CommuniTy, and haiTi by Alex Dupuy, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006,
258 pp., $30.95

An unBroken agony: From revoluTion To The kidnaPPing oF a PresidenT by Randal Robinson, Basic Civitas Books, 2007, 304 pp., $16.95

Damming The Flood: haiTi, arisTide, and The PoliTiCs oF ConTainmenT by Peter Hallward, Verso, 2008, 442 pp., $29.95

Four years after the second ouster of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti’s first democratically elected presi- dent, three books exploring the 2004 coup have appeared, ranging widely in their interpretations of events.

One Year Since the Disappearance of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine

I just received this in an email.


------



Open letter to Haitian authorities, on the occasion of the first anniversary
disappearance of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine



Dear Ladies and Gentlemen Officials.

A year ago to date, on August 12, 2007, my husband, Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine,
returning from an out-of-city stay, hurryingly left his place of residence to go to an
appointment scheduled by phone by individuals who likely meant to entrap him. It was the
last time, up to now while I am writing to you, that he was seen by the members of his
family. It was also the beginning of a crescendo agony for his Loved Ones as well as for
his friends and allies.

Anti-Hunger Protests Rock Haiti

Apr 25 2008
by Nazaire St. Fort and Jeb Sprague
NACLA

Demonstrations that started in Le Cayes on Thursday, April 3rd, against soaring food prices spread across Haiti to Petit-Goagve, Gonaïves, Aquin and, by April 7, to the capital, Port-au-Prince. Anger over rising prices has been building for many months with basic food stuffs increasingly out of reach for the poor. Tires were set ablaze in the streets and thrown together to form barricades that paralyzed traffic for days.
Numerous businesses were vandalized and looted, especially those selling food, as crowds vented their anger at the perceived indifference to their plight by the nation's elite, including the René Préval /Jacques Edouard Alexis administration. Broken glass on the streets near targeted buildings and cars became a common sight.

New Piece with Nazaire St Forte on Hunger Protests in Haiti

Demonstrations that started in Le Cayes on Thursday, April 3rd, against soaring food prices spread across Haiti to Petit-Goagve, Gonaïves, Aquin and, by April 7, to the capital, Port-au-Prince. Anger over rising prices has been building for many months with basic food stuffs increasingly out of reach for the poor. Tires were set ablaze in the streets and thrown together to form barricades that paralyzed traffic for days.

Read the entire article by Nazaire and myself here at Upside Down World.



This photo above is by Nazaire St. Fort.

Haiti: Once-Vibrant Farming Sector in Dire Straits

By Nazaire St. Fort and Jeb Sprague*

Stanley Belizaire (holding microphone) says that Haiti's agronomy students will keep track of the promises made by the agriculture ministry.

Credit:Nazaire St. Fort/IPS

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Mar 4, 2008 (IPS) - Student activists in Haiti are calling for an overhaul of the nation's agriculture policies, which they say have resulted in Haiti importing more than half of its food while local farmers are mired in poverty.

A petition recently submitted to the René Préval government by students of the Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine (FAMV) department at Haiti's State University calls for a programme spanning the country's 10 departments to increase technical and expert assistance, give subsidies to the agriculture and fishing sector, promote egg and chicken-farming projects to ease reliance on Dominican imports, a nationwide campaign to provide agricultural credits to peasants and an incremental raising of tariffs on foreign agricultural products to benefit Haitian farmers.

Transnational Institute on Bolivia

Here is an excellent piece from June 2007 that I just now got around to reading.

Jean-Juste is ½ free

Wadner snapped this photo of Father Gerard Jean-Juste at his recent hearing in front of a Haitian court. Jean-Juste was held as a political prisoner by the former interim government in Haiti and has recently been undergoing medical care in south florida. Pooja Bhatia, Esq, a lawyer and Harvard Law School Satter Human Rights Fellow, has an excellent piece here. Liz Pierre Pierre, a close friend of the former Minister of Justice Bernard Gousse under the unelected Boniface / Latorture government, is the presiding judge with
her assistant judge and the Commissaire of the Government (Government Prosecutor) in the Court d’Appel. When Judge Liz Pierre Pierre brought up one of the two bogus charges against Jean-Juste (that have never been presented with any evidence), he responded, "My Bible and my rosary are my guns." Both in the courtroom and outside crowds gathered to cheer the persecuted priest.