Friday, December 26, 2008

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.

Monday, August 11, 2008

One Year Since the Disappearance of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine

I just received this in an email.


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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.


Thursday, April 24, 2008

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.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

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.

Monday, March 3, 2008

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.