Wednesday, March 3, 2004

Tonton MacShrub FEATURED ARTICLES - NAACP IGNORED BY BUSH - US troops 'made Aristide leave', News Limited Australia, - President Aristide: 'I Was Kidnapped',  'Tell The World It Is A Coup', Democracy Now!, - The Fire This Time in Haiti was US-Fueled, Taipei Times , - Why They Had to Crush Aristide, Guardian/UK, - Whacking the Hornet's Nest, By Molly Ivins, QUOTE OF THE DAY "Jesse Helms always did think Aristide was another Fidel, not being able to distinguish between a Catholic and a communist. We know the main armed opposition group is a bunch of thugs and that they have been joined by old Duvalierists, including members of the Tonton Macoutes, the infamous torturers. The Bush administration wanted this to happen." - - Molly Ivins KNOW YOUR HISTORY - MARCH 3rd 1871 -- Reacting strongly to charges of corruption, the US Congress establishes a Commission on Civil Service Reform. In four years, however, it fails to appropriate a single penny for the Commission, which as a result, is forced to disband. Sound familiar? That's what they're doing to the "No Child Left Behind" Act. 1913 -- Over 5,000 women march on Washington DC to demand The right to vote. In early guerrilla theatre: women & children stage "Suffrage Tableau" on the Capitol steps. HBO is currently showing a great new movie on the suffragette movement called, "Iron Jawed Angels." 1953 -- Jacobo Arbenz, the democratically-elected, reformist president of Guatemala (from 1951 till 54), declares the nationalization of idle lands held by the United Fruit Company. United Fruit & the US Government both go bananas. In order to protect its interest in the country, the UFC and its banking supporters convinced the CIA to sponsor a coup d'état. In the frenzy of McCarthyism and Red Scare in the US, Arbenz was deemed a dangerous Socialist & under the catch phrase "defending freedom & democracy" the Arbenz government was toppled forcing Arbenz to flee. He initially sought exile in Cuba, and died in Mexico in 1971. His democratically elected administration was replaced by a brutal dictatorship - one of the bloodiest in the region. The killing of Guatemala's impoverished Mayan communities lasts 30 years. Sound familiar? Can you say, HAITI? RHINO HERE: Today the BOTTOM LINE is the coup in Haiti. The entire blog offers coup coverage from a variety of international sources. The Rhino wants to hear Senator Kerry speak out loud a& clearly about this throwback to the 50's CIA orchestrated, bloody political manipulation for the pocketbooks of the rich & powerful.   The NAACP's demand that the US support the regime of the democratically elected leader of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was ignored by the shrub gang. In fact, shrub has snubbed the NAACP by pretending they don't exist. He has refused to meet even once with its leaders. Not only did the gang not support the poorest democracy in its own hemisphere, it has blatantly overthrown it. What's next? Cuba? Venezuela? Columbia? Canada? NAACP RENEWS CALL FOR IMMEDIATE INTERVENTION IN HAITI National Association for the Advancement of Colored People , February 28, 2004 Steps should be taken to prevent a repeat of boat people desperate to escape the fighting Kweisi Mfume, President & CEO, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) continues his call for the United States and the United Nations to take steps immediate steps to prevent further bloodshed and loss of life in Haiti. Mfume said: "The Bush administration cannot continue to stand idly by while armed thugs roam the streets of Haiti and threaten the democratically elected government of Haitian president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. President Bush either in conjunction with the U.N. or unilaterally, must act now. .... There is no difference between violence in Haiti and violence in Iraq. President Bush must end the double standard," Mfume said... MORE: http://www.naacp.org/news/releases/Haiti022804.shtml US troops 'made Aristide leave' News Limited Australia, March 1, 2004 HAITIAN leader Jean Bertrand Aristide was taken away from his home by US soldiers, it was claimed today. A man who said he was a caretaker for the now exiled president told France's RTL radio station the troops forced Aristide out." The American army came to take him away at two in the morning," the man said. "The Americans forced him out with weapons." It was American soldiers. They came with a helicopter and they took the security guards." (Aristide) was not happy. He did not want to be taken away. He did not want to leave. He was not able to fight against the Americans." MORE: US Troops President Aristide: 'I Was Kidnapped',  'Tell The World It Is A Coup' Democracy Now!,   01 March 2004 Multiple sources that just spoke with Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide told Democracy Now! that Aristide says he was "kidnapped" and taken by force to the Central African Republic. Congressmember Maxine Waters said she received a call from Aristide at 9am EST. "He's surrounded by military. It's like he is in jail, he said. He says he was kidnapped," said Waters. She said he had been threatened by what he called US diplomats. According to Waters, the diplomats reportedly told the Haitian president that if he did not leave Haiti, paramilitary leader Guy Philippe would storm the palace and Aristide would be killed. According to Waters, Aristide was told by the US that they were withdrawing Aristide's US security. TransAfrica founder and close Aristide family friend Randall Robinson also received a call from the Haitian president early this morning and confirmed Waters account. Robinson said that Aristide "emphatically" denied that he had resigned. "He did not resign," he said. "He was abducted by the United States in the commission of a coup." Robinson says he spoke to Aristide on a cell phone that was smuggled to the Haitian president... MORE: http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/030204B.shtml The Fire This Time in Haiti was US-Fueled The Bush Administration Appears to have Succeeded in its Long-Time Goal of Toppling Aristide Through Years of Blocking International Aid to his Impoverished Nation by Jeffrey Sachs, Taipei Times , 3/1/04 Haiti, once again, is ablaze. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is widely blamed, and he may be toppled soon. Almost nobody, however, understands that today's chaos was made in Washington -- deliberately, cynically and steadfastly. History will bear this out. In the meantime, political, social, and economic chaos will deepen, and Haiti's impoverished people will suffer. The Bush administration has been pursuing policies likely to topple Aristide since 2001. The hatred began when Aristide, then a parish priest and democracy campaigner against Haiti's ruthless Duvalier dictatorship, preached liberation theology in the 1980s. Aristide's attacks led US conservatives to brand him as the next Fidel Castro.?... MORE: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0301-10.htm Why They Had to Crush Aristide Haiti's Elected Leader was Regarded as a Threat by France and the US by Peter Hallward, Guardian/UK, March 2, 2004 Jean-Bertrand Aristide was re-elected president of Haiti in November 2000 with more than 90% of the vote. He was elected by people who approved his courageous dissolution, in 1995, of the armed forces that had long terrorized Haiti and had overthrown his first administration. He was elected by people who supported his tentative efforts, made with virtually no resources or revenue, to invest in education and health. He was elected by people who shared his determination, in the face of crippling US opposition, to improve the conditions of the most poorly paid workers in the western hemisphere. Aristide was forced from office on Sunday by people who have little in common except their opposition to his progressive policies and their refusal of the democratic process. With the enthusiastic backing of Haiti's former colonial master, a leader elected with overwhelming popular support has been driven from office by a loose association of convicted human rights abusers, seditious former army officers and pro-American business leaders.... MORE: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0302-08.htm 7:44:44 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - Whacking the Hornet's Nest Whacking the Hornet's Nest By Molly Ivins, AlterNet , March 2, 2004 Anyone see any reason to think Haiti will be better off without Jean-Bertrand Aristide? Just another little gift from the Bush foreign policy team, straight out of the whacko-right playbook. Jesse Helms always did think Aristide was another Fidel, not being able to distinguish between a Catholic and a communist. We know the main armed opposition group is a bunch of thugs and that they have been joined by old Duvalierists, including members of the Tonton Macoutes, the infamous torturers. The Bush administration wanted this to happen - it held up $500 million worth of humanitarian aid from the United States, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and International Monetary Fund. Without U.S. or multilateral help, the country spiraled downward. MORE: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18003 "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. (rhino@kifaru.com) Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT: http://www.rhinosblog.info RHINO'S OTHER WEB SITES: http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html All copyrights belong to original publisher. Tell a friend about Rhino's Blog 6:17:41 AM    comment

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