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Mercredi 20 décembre 2006

Bitter Harvest

Un article du Guardian (journal britannique) sur les conditions de vie des réfugiés en Italie Bonne lecture aux anglophones.

Bitter harvest

Tuesday December 19, 2006
The Guardian

Samia, from Ghana, tends the fire in an abandoned factory that is home to about 80 of Rosarno's migrant workers
Hard times ... Samia, from Ghana, tends the fire in an abandoned factory that is home to about 80 of Rosarno's migrant workers.

The migrants start walking up before dawn, when the town's Christmas decorations still cast a flickering light into the shadows of the main road. Soon hundreds of them have gathered, recreating a map of Africa's troubles and Eastern Europe's poverty along the litter-blown streets of Rosarno in Calabria. The town, in middle of the mafia-controlled toe of Italy, is an agricultural community of 15,000 people. It is one of the places where undocumented workers queue each morning for jobs on the Italian orange and olive harvests and in the juice and candied peel factories that supply northern Europe. About 5,000 of them live in the Rosarno area alone.

On a December morning, the Moroccan men have formed a large gang in the middle of the main street, their pale skins giving them an advantage in the brutal pecking order. Opposite, a group of Bulgarian Roma women are taking their chances, huddling a young child close to them. Chain-smoking Romanians, both men and women, have marked out their territory slightly away from the Roma, whom they say they despise; next to them is a solitary Russian. Back across the way a knot of Egyptian youths has newly arrived in Europe and is dreaming of England; and at the end of the road are the black Africans, always last to be chosen, dozens of them, from Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Mali, Togo, Eritrea and Sudan.

Then, with the full moon still up, the vehicles start arriving. A Pajero takes 10 or 12 men. A caporale, or gangmaster, arrives with a filthy minivan and picks off another 20, but 10 more climb in, determined not to be left behind. A row breaks out as the caporale tries to eject the surplus.

Suddenly violence flares - a young Moroccan hammers on the roof of another van until it drives off in a skid of dust and exhaust. He has worked for the gangmaster for a week but now the man is refusing to pay the wages he owes. His friends are all shouting - it's happened to them too, but they are illegal, so what can they do, one of them says.

Derelict

Single men arrive in cars to make offers to the Eastern European women. A few set off. One of the women is negotiating with the driver of a small red Fiat when a huge muscle-bound Romanian comes up and starts thumping the roof. "Bastardo, bastardo," he yells. The driver moves off, only to reappear up the road a few minutes later. Now all the Romanians surge around his car, threatening him until he retreats once more. A VW Golf departs with so many workers squeezed in you cannot count the bodies. The child is among them. The cab of a pick-up truck is piled high with some of the Africans.

After an hour and a half the labour market is dying down. At least half the workers have no jobs today. Gradually they melt away, back to the abandoned houses and derelict factories where many of them are squatting.

About 80 of them have taken shelter in a burned-out paper factory on the edge of town. The main hall of the building is empty by day but for a few tents patched with cardboard where a handful of men lie in a restless sleep. Shafts of light pierce the broken windows. The roof is mostly gone, though patches remain with their asbestos threads exposed to the air. Around the bare concrete floor are the remains of yesterday's fires - the migrants cut down trees to cook their one meal of the day each evening. Scavenged car seats and boxes make do for furniture. There is no sanitation. Outside, the rubbish heaps have attracted a healthy population of rats.

Samia, from Ghana, has been left behind in the factory again. He has managed to set light to a huge branch and is cooking some cheap supermarket chicken for the countrymen who are supporting him. He was in a car accident in Naples three months ago and his knee is still swollen, preventing him from getting work. It's rough at night in the factory, he says: people have arrived from Darfur. The Italian news has been carrying stories of Sudanese gangs holding other African migrants to ransom.

Up on the roof, five men appear begging for blankets. They too are from Ghana. When they work they earn €25 (£17) a day, less than €3 an hour, picking clementines and oranges, but today there is no work and they console themselves with a flagon of Calabrian wine.

Smugglers

Like many of the Africans here, they arrived in smugglers' boats via the Italian-owned island of Lampedusa off the cost of Libya. Together with the Canary Islands, Lampedusa has become one of the main points for illegal entry to Europe. Over 11,000 migrants have landed on the island from small boats in the last six months.

To cope with the numbers, the Italian authorities fly those who survive the crossing on to detention centres on the Italian mainland for processing. Most are released after a few months with deportation orders but these are not enforced. Some pay guards to let them go free sooner. Once free, the migrants make their way to the agricultural areas in the south.

Rosarno hides its wealth well. But as soon as you leave its streets of crumbling concrete tenements you pass into country of extraordinary beauty. The Aspromonte mountains form a rugged spine on the horizon, and the land between them and the sea is covered with citrus and olive groves. Baubles of bright orange fruit hang in profusion amid the glossy green foliage of the trees, and the glancing light turns even the weeds underneath them into a golden filigree.

Mafia

A few miles up the road from Rosarno is a BMW and Audi dealer and beyond that is the turning for the port of Gioia Tauro. Italian official investigators estimate that 80% of Europe's cocaine arrives from Colombia via Gioia Tauro's docks, along with regular consignments of Kalashnikov and Uzi guns. The trade, and most of the area, is controlled by the 100-200 families of the 'Ndrangheta, as the local mafia are called. The 'Ndrangheta have been described by the Italian interior minister as the "most powerful and most aggressive" of the country's criminal organisations, putting Cosa Nostra and the Camorra into the shade. The turnover of their activities has been estimated to be over £24bn a year.

But on the surface it is the agricultural harvests that form the economy, and the money has dropped out of the market. The European commission has recently frozen subsidy payments for the clementine and orange crops while it conducts an inquiry into allegations of fraudulent claims involving millions of euros. Thanks to competition from Morocco and Spain, the price of the fruit has dropped below the cost of production, even with cheap migrant workers. Some farmers have responded by cutting wages from €25 to €11 a day and charging €5 for transport, so that even those who do find work can barely survive. Other producers have given up the labour-intensive business of harvesting the oranges properly, instead paying migrants to beat them to the ground with sticks so that they can salvage some of their costs by sending them for juicing.

Recently the international charity Médecins sans Frontières became so concerned about conditions among migrants in Calabria that it sent a team to assess the situation. It found that most migrants were living in conditions that do not even meet the minimum standards set by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for refugee camps in Africa. The organisation now runs free clinics in Calabria for undocumented migrants.

The patients in the Rosarno clinic have the silent, dull look of patients in doctors' waiting rooms everywhere. Among the cases the MSF team has seen here recently has been resistant TB, infections relating to poor living conditions, many work-related injuries, and depression and anxiety. One young Bulgarian man called Vasili has both arms in plaster. He fell out of an olive tree and although he was taken to hospital by the farmer and x-rayed, no one would set his bones for three days. By the time he got himself to another hospital, the doctors had to pull the bones back into shape and he will require surgery later. A Bulgarian woman, Elena, first came to the clinic when she suffered severe allergic reaction to the pesticides in one of the factories making candied peel. She was a law graduate from Sofia but came to southern Italy on a tourist visa when she couldn't find work at home. Before the orange harvest, like many of the other migrants here, she had worked on the tomato farms in Puglia. Nine out of 10 tins of tomatoes sold in the UK come from the Puglia region.

Mustafa, from Morocco, counts himself lucky. He has a house, proper papers, and that rare thing, a contract on an orange farm. But shortly before dropping in at the clinic, he had intervened to stop a group of Italian boys beating two migrants. "There's lots of violence against migrants. One I know was attacked with a broken glass bottle and dragged unconscious along the street by a car. They point guns at you and rob you. And they have a game, called 'go for a Moroccan' where they ride together on scooters and beat you with sticks as they drive past. The police do nothing."

Desperate

In the village of San Ferdinando nearby, the Catholic charity Caritas is organising its twice-weekly feeding of some of the most desperate among the 1,000 or so Bulgarian and Romanian migrants living among the 5,000 local residents.

Antonino Perisi coordinates the efforts of 17 local volunteers who cook pasta and risotto in their own homes and bring it to the church hall in a rota. While this evening's queue of just under 200 waits patiently at the side door of the church, and Italian lads let off firecrackers a few yards away, Perisi explains that they started because "many of the migrants have no money, they can't buy food and come to the church asking for clothes or basic rations".

Most of the Eastern Europeans confirm that they live in overcrowded, over-priced houses. Vera is typical. She has come with a child who does not go to school and she can only find work intermittently. "We can't go back; there's nothing to go back to. We were hungry."

The newly-elected mayor of Rosarno, Carlo Martelli from Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, admits the migrants are "living in inhuman conditions" but says the national institutions prefer to turn a blind eye because the agricultural economy would collapse without them. "Officially I can't help them, they are here illegally and I should call the police and get them sent home. This is a European problem, we are just the new frontier." He has, however, promised MSF he will clean the rubbish from the factories and says he is considering buying the old paper factory to turn it into a hotel for migrants. "It will be completely illegal but I am prepared to do this to help."

Inhuman

At a second derelict factory near the middle of town, the MSF team visit the migrants as they return from a day in the fields. The workers go to fetch water from a standpipe up the road, using broken pushchairs to carry the load, and wash as best they can. Those who have taken over the old gatehouse live six or seven to a bare room. They have come the same route - West Africa, Libya, Lampedusa, Crotone, Calabria. One man says he waited a full year in Libya before the smugglers brought him over.

Back at the first factory as darkness falls, those who have found work are returning. From the road out of town there is the sound of tired feet being dragged and a low African chant as they keep themselves going for the last mile home. Huddles of men form round half a dozen camp fires where they are heating water in old paint pots and preparing their meals of semolina. The headlamps of a minivan bringing a gang back from the orange groves briefly throw a spotlight on the scene. Most of the men have sunk into a mood of exhausted despair, but Annan from Togo is angry. "We are too tired of this. Look at how they make us live. It's bullshit, this Europe."

Migrants' stories

Dje Bi Kouhou
Ivory Coast

When his brother died, Dje Bi Kouhou found himself the breadwinner for two families including 15 children. Unable to earn enough from his career as a dancer, he set off for Europe with 16 other migrants from his country.

He saved and bought a return flight from Ivory Coast to Paris in order to get a tourist visa for France, and then made his way down to the south of Italy. He has worked on the harvests there for the past few years.

He used to work on the tomato farms in Puglia, but police checks drove him to Calabria. "The boss would say run if the police came, and if they caught you the police would just give you an order to leave in five days, which no one took any notice of. But then they started checking documents on the street, and you have to move," he says.

Now he queues each morning by the roadside for work on the Calabrian orange harvest. He longs to go home, but his passport expired four years ago and he is now without documents.

"My wife is begging me to come back. I haven't seen my children for years," he says. "But I have just texted her. It's impossible, there's no work there. I have no money to go back."

Saha
Ghana

Saha travelled for nearly four years from Ghana to reach Europe, circling round Africa - Ivory Coast, Niger, Libya - until he had enough money to pay the smugglers to bring him from Libya to the Italian island of Lampedusa on a boat. From there, like most of the 11,000 migrants who have arrived on Lampedusa in the last six months, Saha was transferred to a detention centre, in his case at Crotone in Calabria. Last week an Italian MP spent a night undercover in the centre to protest against the conditions there.

Eventually, like thousands of others, Saha was released from Crotone with a deportation order, but no money and no papers, and made his way to Rosarno. Some of the migrants have collected 12 deportation orders, but no one enforces them. In fact, many of the migrants are desperate to return home, but without documents and money they are stuck. "I cry nearly every day now. My mother has died while I've been away and I will never see my family again," Saha confesses.

David
Ghana

David (not his real name) queues like the other men from sub-Saharan Africa each morning for work on the orange and clementine harvest. If he is lucky he can earn €25 (£17) a day in piece rates for picking fruit for eight to 10 hours. "How many hours you can do depends on your strength." But half the time there is not enough work and he passes the day instead at the derelict factory where 80 or so migrants are squatting on the outskirts of the Calabrian town of Rosarno. "We all have problems in our own country - that is why we came."

· Some names have been changed

Par Elsie HAAS
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Jeudi 28 décembre 2006

Allons, ne fais pas l'indien !

C’est ainsi que l’on parle à une personne faisant preuve d’incivilité, mal éduquée, inculte, sans goût ou un peu bourrue.
Être indien devient alors un concept qui renferme tout ce qu’il a d’indésirable dans l’être humain. L’« indien » c’est l’anti-thèse du citadin idéal et civilisé de nos -pas si- jeunes républiques américaines. C’est une expression abusive dont la signification peut varier d’une légère et fraternelle réprimande entre amis à une insulte de front, avant d’en arriver aux poings. On entend cette expression un peu partout : dans les programmes télévisés, dans la bouche des chroniqueurs de radio exaspérants, dans les transports en commun, au marché, dans la rue, dans les bureaux et les écoles. C’est une expression qui est passée dans les mœurs

« Être indien », c’est la dernière étape avant d’entrer dans le monde animal. L’Indien est en effet un être qui a toujours vécu dans l’imaginaire occidental, à la frontière entre la sauvagerie, la barbarie et la civilisation. C’est le lien entre la culture et la nature. C’est la conscience de notre animalité. Lors de l’arrivée du Conquistador, l’Indien a été endoctriné dans les mystères de la foi et a reçu son premier contact avec la société proprement dite (la société occidentale il va de soit). Ensuite, durant la Colonisation, l’Indien a appris les vertus de la discipline et du travail – on omet, pour cette seconde vertu et par commodité, l’adjectif « forcé ». Lors de l’Indépendance, on lui accorde fréquemment un peu de lucidité dans l’exaltation patriotique à venir. Et dès les débuts de la République, il semblerait que l’Indien ait cessé de se développer pour devenir un être végétatif et incapable d’emprunter le chemin de la modernité qu’ont pris nos républiques mais également incapable de revenir à l’état virginal d’avant la Conquista. Depuis lors, l’Indien est devenu dans nos imaginaires un obstacle au développement des républiques, une entité atavique incarnant la raison ultime de notre sous-développement et de notre retard économique. Il est la tête de turc idéale.

Le Musée de l’Or de Bogota

« Ne fais pas l’indien ! ». Cette expression circule dans la bouche de tous. Néanmoins, au cœur de Bogota, le Musée de l’Or fait l’orgueil de ces mêmes personnes qui utilisent à la légère cette expression. Dans les vitrines du musée sont exposées des œuvres d’art finement élaborées, en or et alliages d’une grande qualité, comme la tumbaga, qui surprennent tous les visiteurs. C’est un spectacle réellement magnifique, d’une beauté indescriptible, unique où tout scintille comme un lever de soleil éblouissant. C’est une véritable explosion de lumières. Toute cette richesse et bien plus, perdue pour toujours, a émerveillé les conquistadores avec le mythe de l’«El Dorado ».

Aujourd’hui, les musées, pour la plupart, ont le défaut de montrer une réalité statique et par conséquent déformée, dans laquelle le passé et le présent sont pratiquement dissociés.
Est-ce que les orfèvres qui réalisèrent ces œuvres d’une extraordinaire beauté ont disparu à jamais ? Leurs fils ne sont-ils pas encore parmi nous ? N’utilisent-ils plus ces objets exposés ? N’y a-t-il également pas quelque chose d’eux en chacun de nous ? Il semblerait que les chef-d’œuvres en exposition dans ce musée soient à jamais disparus.

Le musée de l’or a essayé de remédier à cela avec une exposition de photos ethnographiques actuelles sur lesquelles peuvent être observés des Indiens portant des bijoux similaires à ceux exposés dans les vitrines. Mais ces quelques photographies ne sont que des efforts minimes, presque un salut au drapeau. Celui qui visite le Musée peut toujours en ressortir avec la sensation qu’il s’agit d’une époque à jamais révolue,   que ces personnes étaient des êtres exceptionnels, comme venus de la lune, qui ne ressemblaient en aucune mesure à des « indiens ». Le visiteur qui parcourra le musée de façon superficielle pourra toujours en ressortir en imaginant la beauté d’un monde perdu et continuera d’utiliser sans réfléchir l’expression « ne fais pas l’indien ».

Mais celui qui ne se contente pas d’un simple coup d’œil superficiel sur les collections, celui qui pénètre au cœur de cette culture fragmentaire qui nous est montrée, ne peut que troquer le dédain contre de l’admiration. Il comprendra aussi que celui qui dit « ne fais pas l’indien » ne fait en fait que l’étalage de sa propre ignorance. Celui qui connaît la culture indienne, découvre en elle une source vitale, trépidante, d’une grande profondeur. Celui qui l’ignore peut persister dans le dédain. Lorsque les portes du monde indien s’ouvrent devant nous, nous découvrons un monde fascinant où une profonde spiritualité se mêle à la connaissance de l’environnement et de la réalité. Personnellement, j’ai appris bien plus auprès des Indiens qu’avec la plupart de mes professeurs, bien que beaucoup de ces Indiens ne sachent ni lire ni écrire. Je suis profondément reconnaissant d’avoir pu accéder à ce monde, le connaître et le respecter.

Ce monde que l’on veut confiner dans les vitrines des musées est, quoi qu’il en soit, extrêmement vivant. Les descendants des orfèvres Taironas, Muiscas, Nariños, etc.… continuent d’intégrer les éléments fondamentaux qui permirent aux cultures préhispaniques de se développer. Nombreux d’entre eux conservent encore leur langue, leur musique, leurs croyances qui subsistent, très souvent, de façon quasi secrète, dans un syncrétisme religieux, catholico-indien. Leur monde n’est pas seulement passé, mais également présent et futur. Ils persistent à être des Indiens et ce malgré les violences généralisées qu’ils endurent au sein du conflit colombien. Ils souffrent aujourd’hui d’une néo-conquête, puisqu’ils deviennent victimes de déplacements forcés (bien que représentant seulement 2 % de la population, ils représentent 8 % des déplacés), orchestrés par des étrangers qui leur retirent leurs terres, les dépossèdent de leurs biens, leurs volent leurs femmes, tentent d’assassiner leur culture, jusqu’à leur arracher le millénaire et sacrée feuille de coca.

En arrivant par force dans les villes, l’Indien doit faire face à la pauvreté, à l’entassement et à la discrimination, dans leur version urbaine. Il reçoit sur ses épaules une lourde charge de cinq siècles. Qu’il maîtrise moyennement ou à la perfection le castillan, le crime d’être Indien l’accompagne où qu’il aille. Je me rappelle l’acte extraordinairement difficile que peut être celui de prendre un taxi un jour de pluie à Bogota avec plusieurs Kankuamos vêtus d’habits traditionnels. Ce sont purement et simplement des personnes mal accueillies dans la civilisation, une civilisation bâtarde qui sait, mais qui ne veut pas reconnaître, tout ce qu’elle leur doit.

Colombie/Chili

La Colombie ressemble beaucoup au Chili dans le sens où il s’agit de deux pays au sein desquels la population indienne représente une minorité au niveau national. (dans le cas du Chili, environ 10 % selon les statistiques fréquemment exécutées par les institutions gouvernementales en raison du conflit mapuche), mais où cependant le métissage est très important : 50 % en Colombie, 70 % au Chili. En outre, l’influence indienne apparaît dans la vie quotidienne. De la façon de s’exprimer et des mots employés jusqu’à l’aspect physique,   l’influence est indéniable. Ces 2 % de la société colombienne ont énormément modelé la face de cette dernière, ils lui ont donné son caractère et son héritage. Ces 2 % de la société colombienne ont constitué le ciment principal sur lequel se sont greffées d’autres influences, un sang nouveau et sur lequel repose la société métisse. Retirer ces 2 % signifierait l’écroulement des fondations de cette société. Mais comme un mauvais fils qui renierait ses parents, la culture créole a persisté à nier l’influence indienne dans ses origines et l’a considérée comme une mauvaise conscience, le pêché originel ou bien l’a mystifiée.

Dans le cas chilien, la mythologie nationale différencie radicalement le « araucano » du « mapuche » : le Araucano est l’Indien guerrier, sobre et honorable qui combattit fièrement l’invasion hispanique sur le territoire actuellement occupé par l’Etat chilien depuis les débuts de la Conquista en 1536 et ce jusqu’au début du XIXe siècle. De ce personnage mythique, exalté par ses vertus dans l’œuvre « La Araucana » d’Alonso de Ercilla, se nourrit la chilénité. Le Mapuche est l’Indien actuel, un obstacle au progrès, faible, alcoolique, immonde, traître, rebelle. Il s’agirait-là de deux races différentes dont l’une d’elles, les Araucanos, aurait disparu sans laisser de traces. C’est une sorte de schizophrénie dans laquelle la culture créole a pu concilier son origine indienne indéniable avec la réalité du racisme et de la discrimination.

En Colombie, cela n’est pas très différent : le Tairona, apparaît comme un fin artisan ayant réalisé de grandes œuvres – telles que la Cité Perdue – comme artifice d’une culture noble et disparue au fil des siècles. Les motifs qu’ils dessinaient illustrent le beau passeport colombien, démontrant ainsi une certaine relation avec « cet » Indien centenaire. Les quatre peuples actuels de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (arhuacos, wiwas, koguis, kankuamos), bien qu’ils soient les descendants directs de cette culture et conservateurs de droit de ce riche patrimoine culturel, donnent l’impression d’être arrivés de la lune et ne semblent investis d’aucune de ces qualités dans l’imaginaire populaire. Tout au plus, ils peuvent être des êtres curieux pour une campagne publicitaire vantant des téléphones, ils peuvent provoquer de la pitié, poser pour des Yankees qui ramèneront de belles photos vers leur pays d’origine et les montreront à leurs amis en proclamant « very typical » ou bien ils peuvent être encore des Indiens sales et fortement dérangeants car souhaitant empêcher la réalisation de certains mégaprojets sur leurs terres. Ils peuvent être cela uniquement mais rien de plus. Il n’y a pas de sentiment de descendance directe.

Déshumanisation et racisme

Reconnaître cette descendance, reconnaître cette paternité et cette maternité des Indiens sur les populations métisses qui peuplent majoritairement Notre Amérique, reviendrait à reconnaître les terribles injustices et la discrimination dont ils sont victimes depuis le pillage d’il y a cinq siècles. Parce que sur la base de ce pillage, de la violente Conquista, se sont édifiées des sociétés sur lesquelles reposent à leur tour nos républiques. Et la Colonisation a été soutenue par la servitude forcée de l’Indien. Cette servitude ne pouvait être justifiée que par le racisme. Ou bien de quelle manière serait-il possible de piéger et de fouetter un semblable ? Aurait-on un cœur pour tuer l’Indien, voler sa femme, et ses enfants si l’humanité de ce dernier était reconnue ? Comment justifier le pillage des terres ? Comment justifier les travaux forcés dans les mines ? Comment justifier la faim de l’Indien lorsque l’hispanique amasse d’immenses fortunes ? Dans la déshumanisation de l’Indien, l’Hispanique trouvait la tranquillité lui permettant de dormir chaque nuit. Il a fallu à l’Eglise plusieurs siècles pour accorder aux Indiens le bénéfice de l’âme. Nos sociétés ne sont toujours pas capables de leur concéder le bénéfice de l’égalité.

La pigmentocratie

Le racisme est la pire conséquence du colonialisme. Il n’existe pas un pays qui, ayant été colonisé, ne présente pas un certain degré de racisme. Cela reste une réalité car sur les structures coloniales s’érige le châssis du républicanisme. Sentant toujours le colonialisme, l’aristocratie, un moderne Prométhée surgit, appelé oligarchie,   qui mélangeait les éléments du bourgeois moderne, à des formes archaïques de productions calquées sur la servitude. Ces dernières reproduisaient de vieux vices coloniaux et leur lourd legs de racisme et pigmentocratie. Le racisme est l’indicateur le plus évident du poids de la colonisation sur le développement des républiques. Plus une colonie a été importante et plus elle a tardé à se débarrasser, progressivement, de certaines tares racistes. Les centres coloniaux (Mexique, Bolivie, Pérou) présentent les exemples les plus clairs et brutaux du racisme dans notre Amérique. Dans ces pays, le Créole est venu remplacer l’Hispanique au pied de la lettre. Dans les pays périphériques, comme le Chili, ou dans ces centres secondaires, comme la Colombie, le terme créole, s’est en outre démocratisé pour inclure le métisse. Cependant, en chacun d’eux, s’érige à l’identique une certaine pigmentocratie, qui fusionne la distinction marquée par classes de ces sociétés néo-coloniales avec les lois du capitalisme du XXIe siècle.

Ces sociétés se déchirent dans leurs propres contradictions, tandis que l’Indien, le même qu’il y a cinq siècles reste soumis, étant l’ultime étape dans une chaîne rigide de commande. Le retard de nos sociétés n’est pas la faute de l’Indien, l’Indien n’est responsable en rien du sous-développement. Les vrais responsables sont les descendants des Pizarro, des Cortés, des Valdivia, des Jiménez de Quesada et leurs imitateurs modernes arrivés des Etats-Unis ou d’Europe, qui ont maintenu les républiques américaines prisonnières d’un passé colonial et ont reproduit un système économique difforme,   en retard et dépendant produisant à peine, comme à l’époque de la domination de la Couronne, des matières primaires ou des monocultures. Pays cuivre, pays palme africaine, pays café, pays étain. Qu’ont à voir les Indiens avec cela ? Mais c’est qu’il faut trouver une tête de turc parce qu’ainsi, l’oligarchie créole peut expurger son échec fracassant en deux siècles de vie républicaine. Ils prétendent de cette manière-là, retarder le jugement historique qui tôt ou tard doit arriver.

L’heure de l’Indien

Mais on ne peut pas cacher la lumière du soleil avec un doigt et il apparaît chaque fois davantage que cette bourgeoisie est celle qui véritablement s’effondre, que l’heure de l’Indien est à venir. L’esprit de l’Indien s’élève davantage chaque jour. Il arrive des Andes, de la forêt, du sud extrêmement humide est froid ou du désert. Il montre déjà certains symptômes de réveil, avec des obstacles, en Equateur, et en Bolivie. Au Pérou, au Chili, en Colombie, sa silhouette se dessine à l’horizon. Je crois que c’est dans l’Indien que sommeillent de nombreux éléments de régénération de Notre Amérique.

Il faut comprendre : je ne parle pas de tourner le dos à la « modernité » mais à l’esprit qui l’anime. Je ne parle pas non plus d’une impossible utopie archaïque de retour à un mode de vie virginal, comme si cinq cent ans ne s’étaient pas écoulés dans l’absolu. Je parle de récupérer l’esprit et les enseignements des anciens, des Indiens pour le présent et le futur. Tandis que le modèle winka, le modèle k’ara, le modèle occidental, le modèle capitaliste, comme on veut l’appeler a produit oppression et pauvreté, l’Indien nous enseigne le principe de l’ayni, de la réciprocité, du donner et du recevoir. C’est quelque chose un peu comme la Première Internationale qui essaie de synthétiser dans l’un de ses couplets « Pas de droits sans devoirs, (…) Égaux, pas de devoirs sans droits ! » ou bien ce que les anarchistes avaient défini comme leur adage « à chacun selon ses besoins, de chacun selon ses moyens ». Seulement de façon plus précise, concise et à la fois plus globale. Parce que le Ayni est une relation qui tend au maintien de l’équilibre et de l’égalité au sein de la communauté et dans la nature. Parce que le modèle d’exploitation importé depuis les époques coloniales et perfectionné avec les révolutions bourgeoises du XIXe siècle, a généré un désastre écologique aux conséquences encore non évaluées, tandis que l’Indien, dans sa relation de réciprocité avec tout ce qui vit l’entoure et constitue la nature, nous donne la clef qui nous permettrait de vivre à nouveau en harmonie avec notre environnement naturel.

Et pas seulement cela : aujourd’hui la société métisse commence à reconnaître les immenses avancées réalisées par les Indiens dans le domaine des technologies, des sciences, avancées qui pourraient aujourd’hui être de grande utilité afin de surmonter de nombreuses difficultés qui nous affectent. Pour la première fois dans le domaine de la médecine, de nombreux spécialistes commencent à s’intéresser aux savoirs traditionnels et un intérêt pour le développement de cette science durant la période préhispanique se développe : les trépanations et interventions chirurgicales crâniennes que l’on peut observer chez les momies des Andes centrales témoignent de l’excellence des médecins précolombiens. La précision dans leurs connaissances astronomiques a également étonné de nombreux scientifiques modernes. De même, les concepts utilisés reflètent l’énorme savoir de cette société. Tandis qu’Einstein recevait des ovations et le prix Nobel pour avoir démontré que le temps était indissociable de la matière, le concept quechua de pacha, utilisé de façon ancestrale par l’Indien andin, englobait dans un même terme une réalité indissoluble, à savoir temps et espace. Cette connaissance était mise en pratique quotidiennement et de façon ordinaire pour l’Indien.

Tandis que les monocultures mettent en danger la sécurité alimentaire et tandis que les méthodes de cultures modernes restent insuffisantes dans de vastes régions d’Amérique, les méthodes de cultures développées par nos ancêtres offrent une alternative de plus en plus reconnue. En bavardant au bord du lac Titicaca avec des habitants de San Pedro, nous regardions les paysages verdoyants recouvrant d’anciennes terrasses abandonnées et nous voyions qu’en elles reposait la réponse au problème de la faim dans la sierra péruvienne, non pas dans les experts agronomes que l’on fait venir à grands frais d’Allemagne, de France ou des Etats-Unis. Nous sommes habitués, depuis longtemps à tourner notre regard vers l’extérieur et nous ne nous sommes pas rendu compte que de nombreuses réponses à nos grands maux se trouvent sous nos yeux. Avec l’Indien, nous réapprenons à regarder vers l’intérieur.

Qui a visité le Machu Pichu, Moray, Tiawanaku ne peut que s’émerveiller devant la mise à profit des conditions naturelles avec lesquelles le peuple quechua a pu ériger une grande civilisation sans endommager l’écosystème. Et nous ne sommes pas devant de simples « ruines » : nous sommes devant des témoignages vivants de ce qui nous avons été et de ce que nous pouvons devenir de nouveau. Nous sommes devant une dénonciation brutale de ce que la Conquista signifiait et signifie encore pour nos villages.

Il est néanmoins clair que l’on ne peut pas idéaliser démesurément : il y avait des problèmes, il y avait des conflits, il y avait des classes et des différences sociales, il y avait des Etats, il y avait l’impérialisme. Mais sans entrer en détail dans les difficultés que ces sociétés aient pu rencontrer, ces dernières sont bien pales face au génocide et à l’holocauste des cinq siècles postérieurs à la conquête. Il est nécessaire d’insister sur le fait que nous revendiquons la communauté indienne, l’esprit de cette société - pas toutes leurs pratiques. Dans la communauté, nous rencontrons des éléments qui peuvent permettre notre régénération.

Ce réveil de l’Indien, favorise chez le métis créole le réveil dans son propre sang de ce qu’il a d’indien. Le moment est venu de sentir dans nos consciences, dans notre sang, le choc violent de ces cultures en lutte depuis cinq siècles. Telle est la pré condition pour que nos sangs soient intégrés dans une culture véritablement métissée : revendiquer notre origine indo américaine. Il n’y a pas beaucoup d’espace pour des positions intermédiaires, parce que nous sommes le fruit d’une relation violatrice et non de l’harmonie métissée que l’on prétend nous vendre. Note mère était l’Indienne et notre père le conquistador. Il s’agit de décider avec qui nous souhaitons rester. Simple choix, comme le disait mon ami Victor Colodro, qui à la Paz lutte depuis presque trente ans pour la revendication et le développement de la culture andino-américaine. Pour ma part, j’ai opté pour l’Indien. Je dis indien, parce que le mot indigène m’a toujours semblé un euphémisme, l’un de ces mots que l’on utilise pour enjoliver la réalité tandis que subsistent la discrimination et la violence. Bien qu’existe le concept d’ « indigène », le terme « indien » continuera d’être un terme abusif. Je crois qu’il est important de revendiquer, sans honte, le terme abusif pour ne rien laisser pour se faire insulter. Ainsi, la prochaine fois qu’ils entendront « ne fais pas l’indien », ces derniers se sentiront fiers. Comme le chantaient los Prisioneros, il y a vingt ans, il sera toujours préférable d’être Indien qu’Occidental de seconde main ».

José Antonio Gutierrez D.

Par Elsie HAAS
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Jeudi 28 décembre 2006

Vendetta

Depuis hier, plus de soldats étasuniens morts en Irak que de victimes des attentats du 11 septembre 2001 aux Etats-Unis ; et 600.000 victimes civiles irakiennes, au passage....
Dans les guerres de l’Antiquité le souverain vaincu était souvent tué ou se suicidait. Sa mort, cependant, ne se drapait pas de nobles raisons juridiques : il mourait parce qu’il avait perdu. Les Etats-Unis par contre ressentent le besoin de revêtir une vengeance nue du manteau de la punition méritée, laissant toujours en bouche le goût amer du droit comme « arme du plus fort contre le plus faible », et non comme « protection du plus faible contre le plus fort » (qui étaient les deux termes du débat sur le droit chez les sophistes du 4ème siècle avant JC) : au procès de Nuremberg, après la deuxième guerre mondiale, les Usa expurgèrent les bombardements sur la population civile de Londres des crimes allemands, sinon ils auraient eux aussi été jugés pour Dresde, Hiroshima et Nagasaki. Depuis lors, bombarder des civils n’est plus un crime de guerre".

Vendetta Par MARCO D’ERAMO

Hier la Cour d’appel a confirmé la condamnation à mort de Saddam Hussein qui devra être pendu dans les trente jours. Hier aussi, le nombre des soldats étasuniens morts en Irak (2.975) a dépassé le total des victimes des attentats du 11 septembre 2001 contre les Twin Towers de New York, le Pentagone et les quatre avions détournés par les terroristes de Al Qaeda (2 .973). Aux soldats Us il faudrait encore ajouter 143 étasuniens tués comme mercenaires.

La simultanéité de ces deux informations de mort est littéralement meurtrière. Personne ne doutait que la condamnation du dictateur irakien ne fut confirmée : le moins qu’on puisse dire est qu’il n’y avait pas de grand suspense autour du verdict. La peine de mort est toujours barbare, même pour un tyran sanguinaire. Dans les guerres de l’Antiquité le souverain vaincu était souvent tué ou se suicidait. Sa mort, cependant, ne se drapait pas de nobles raisons juridiques : il mourait parce qu’il avait perdu. Les Etats-Unis par contre ressentent le besoin de revêtir une vengeance nue du manteau de la punition méritée, laissant toujours en bouche le goût amer du droit comme « arme du plus fort contre le plus faible », et non comme « protection du plus faible contre le plus fort » (qui étaient les deux termes du débat sur le droit chez les sophistes du 4ème siècle avant JC) : au procès de Nuremberg, après la deuxième guerre mondiale, les Usa expurgèrent les bombardements sur la population civile de Londres des crimes allemands, sinon ils auraient eux aussi été jugés pour Dresde, Hiroshima et Nagasaki. Depuis lors, bombarder des civils n’est plus un crime de guerre.

Avec la pendaison de Saddam Hussein, vengeance sera accomplie. Si quelque chose était à venger qui ne fut le fruit des obsessions de Dick Cheney et de Georges Bush le jeune, puisque l’Irak n’avait aucun lien avec Al Qaeda et qu’il ne possédait aucune arme de destruction massive. Mais même la supposée rationalité de la vengeance, du « le leur faire payer », s’est révélée arbitraire, dénuée de toute logique. Même si c’était une rétorsion –ce qu’elle n’est pas- elle a désormais coûté plus que ce qu’elle devait venger. En vies humaines, les étasuniens ont payé en Irak (sans compter l’Afghanistan) plus que ce que leur a coûté le 11 septembre. Et, au passage, ils ont provoqué la mort de plus de 600.000 irakiens, ils ont détruit des villes, mis à genoux une économie, privé 25 millions de personnes d’eau, d’électricité et d’essence. Ils ont désintégré un pays et ont attisé un incendie qui risque de se propager dans toute la région. Nous ne savons pas comment Al Gore aurait réagi au 11 septembre, si, en 2000, l’élection ne lui avait pas été piquée par une embrouille en Floride. Mais il est certain qu’il n’aurait pas envahi l’Irak. Il y a quelque chose de tragique et d’amer à compter les centaines de milliers de morts, à voir les anciens combattants amputés sur les trottoirs des villes étasuniennes, et à penser que cette furie homicide, aveugle, dévastatrice, a pris son origine dans une fraude électorale à 12.000 kilomètres de là.

L’ironie est encore plus cruelle si on pense que la seule solution qu’il reste aux Usa pour se démêler du désastre irakien est de trouver en vitesse un autre Saddam Hussein, un autre homme fort qui se dépêche de restaurer l’ordre et d’arrêter la dérive, inexorable aujourd’hui, vers la guerre civile.

Edition de mercredi 27 décembre 2006 de il manifesto
http://www.ilmanifesto.it/Quotidiano-archivio/27-Dicembre -2006/art14.html
Traduit de l’italien par Marie-Ange Patrizio

Par Elsie HAAS
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Lundi 8 janvier 2007

Le journal Le Monde contre Chavez

Dès le deuxième jour de la nouvelle année, le journal français Le monde ne trouve pas mieux à faire que de lancer une attaque en règle contre Chavez. La corruption existe, peut-être, au Venezuela. Mais est-ce que cela méritait un titre aussi explosif et radical ? S’il s’agissait de différentes affaires de corruption bien française, celle du Crédit Lyonnais par exemple (http://www.libres.org/francais/dossiers/corruption/corruption_economie_p6.htm,)

ou celle de la vente des frégates à Taiwan (http://www.agoravox.fr/forum.php3?id_article=9908) ou du récent scandale de Clairstream, le journaliste aurait-il titré : Corruption en France ? Selon le rapport de Transparency international sur la corruption daté de 2006 , la France arriverait sur un total de 30 pays au 15ème rang des corrompus. Pas de quoi pavoiser. Le plus grave dans toute cette histoire c’est que des medias du Sud francophone vont s’empresser de reprendre cet article, de le citer sans en vérifier les sources. Comme si la parole du « Blanc » était parole divine. ( Y a-t-il quelqu’un qui se souvient des dossier étoffés dans ce même journal sur « les armes massives de destruction » de feu Saddam Hussein ?)
On peut considérer cet article comme l’avant goût d’une campagne médiatique qui devrait se dérouler contre un Chavez, réélu haut la main pour six ans, afin de discréditer son régime et provoquer une opération "à l’haïtienne" en comptant sur les bons soins de l’armada trop bien connue : ONG de la "société civile", manifestations d’étudiants, Reporters sans frontières, organisations de droits de l’Homme locales financées par des fonds internationaux, et tutti quanti. Affaire à suivre.

Corruption au Venezuela

Le quotidien « Le Monde » a publié un article peu élogieux sur la situation économique du Venezuela dans son édition du 2 janvier 2007. Le Fonds de développement national mis en place par le président CHAVEZ a été pointé du doigt, avec son budget de 22 milliards de dollars, dont l’usage dépend du président et de son ministre des finances. Un journaliste résume de manière abrupte la situation : « les lois du marché sont déterminées par la présidence de la République »...

Publié le : 05/01/2007
Source : Le Monde du 2 janvier 2007

Par Elsie HAAS
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Samedi 13 janvier 2007

M. Ban-Ki-moon , le nouveau Secrétaire général de l'ONU fait le ménage

On a appris qu' à peine arrivé à son poste, M. Ban-Ki-moon, a demandé à au moins une trentaine de hauts cadres de bien vouloir lui remettre leurs lettres de démission.
Le contrat de la plupart de ces cadres arrivaient à expiration à la fin du mois de février. Mais dans le courrier il est indiqué que Le Secrétaire général souhaiterait voir certains de ces cadres partir plus tôt. Une démarche qui devrait lui permettre de prendre rapidement le controle de l'administration.
Le Français, Jean-Marie Guehenno, Sous-secrétaire général pour les opérations de maintien de la paix, ferait partie des personnalités épargnées par cette mesure, du moins jusqu'à nouvel ordre. M. Ban, qui a succédé à Kofi Annan le 1er janvier, a comme souci de créer un équilibre dans le choix des membres permanents du Conseil de Sécurité. Il a également promis d'introduire des femmes parmi les hauts fonctionnaires, notamment au poste clef de représentant du Secrétaire Général où l'on attend une femme originaire de l'Afrique sub-saharienne dont le nom sera connu prochaînement.
Voila qui est aller vite en besogne! On sait que le changement de cadres est indispensable à l'impulsion d' une nouvelle politique. J'ai vu récemment à la télévision l'ambassadrice de Bolivie en France, une Indienne, nommée par Evo Morales. Ils sont bien heureux ces Boliviens d'avoir des représentants de leur pays à l'étranger qui correspondent au choix politique de la majorité...!

Le nouveau Secrétaire général de l'ONU, M. Ban Ki-moon

New UN Chief Speeds Plans to Reshape Bureaucracy
    By Irwin Arieff
    Reuters

    Thursday 04 January 2007

    United Nations - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday asked more than 30 top officials to offer their resignation so he can move quickly to take control of the world body's bureaucracy, aides said.

    Letters were sent out asking all officials at the assistant secretary-general level and up to submit their resignations, the aides said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    Most of the officials at the most senior levels work under contracts that expire at the end of February.

    But the letters signal that Ban wants to replace some of these even sooner, the aides said.

    Most of the officials affected by the request would be replaced in coming weeks but some would be asked to stay on, they said.

    "I can't really say this is normal," said one senior official when asked about the letters.

    "We all have contracts until the end of February, and most secretaries-general have kept on most of the top staff," said this official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    Jean-Marie Guehenno of France, the undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations, is expected to be among those spared, at least for the coming months.

    One idea under consideration, U.N. sources said, is dividing the peacekeeping department in two, with perhaps an American heading one part of it and France the other. Another possible reorganization would combine the existing disarmament and political affairs departments and put them under one undersecretary-general who would also be responsible for leading anti-terrorism programs, the sources said.

    Ban, a South Korean who succeeded Kofi Annan on January 1, has been trying to ensure balance in his choice of top aides among permanent Security Council members instrumental in his election and key developing nations.

    He has also promised to include women among his top appointees, including the key post of deputy secretary-general, which is expected to go to a woman from sub-Saharan Africa and be named next week.

    Ban to date has named only a handful of appointees, choosing veteran Indian diplomat Vijay Nambiar as his chief of staff, award-winning Haitian broadcast journalist Michele Montas as his spokeswoman, Mexican environmentalist Alicia Barcena Ibarra as undersecretary-general for administration and management, and senior British diplomat John Holmes as undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs.

    All but Holmes had been U.N. staff members. Nambiar was an adviser to Annan, Barcena was Annan's chief of staff and Montas worked in the U.N. broadcasting division.

Par Elsie HAAS
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Dimanche 21 janvier 2007

Un créateur espagnol fait défiler des immigrés sénégalais, certains sans-papiers

samedi 20 janvier 2007 (09h46) :

Le créateur de mode espagnol Antonio Miro a suscité la polémique en Espagne prenant comme mannequins des immigrants sénégalais, certains sans papiers, lors d’un défilé de mode à Barcelone.

Huit immigrants sénégalais, portant des tenues beiges et blanches, ont défilé jeudi sur le podium. Dans le décor figurait un bateau de pêche en bois blanc, du même type que les embarcations utilisées presque chaque jour par des immigrants clandestins pour gagner l’archipel espagnol des Canaries depuis l’Afrique.

Antonio Miro, qui avait fait défiler des détenus en 2006, a défendu cette nouvelle initiative en expliquant qu’il voulait montrer sa solidarité envers les immigrants africains et attirer l’attention sur le problème.

Il a précisé que certains des mannequins avaient entamé une procédure pour obtenir l’asile en Espagne, alors que les autres étaient sans papiers. Les huit mannequins d’un jour ont reçu une petite rémunération pour leur prestation.

"Chaque jour, il y a des mères qui pleurent leur fils perdu en mer", a dénoncé Abdoulaye Konate, membre d’une association d’immigrés sénégalais en Espagne. "Ce n’est pas la meilleure idée de donner du travail" à ces clandestins.

L’association espagnole de lutte contre le racisme SOS Racismo a au contraire salué l’idée. "Tant que c’est fait avec bon goût, la mode est une forme d’expression comme le cinéma ou la peinture", estimait Javier Perez. "C’est bien que ce ne soit pas que les ONG qui dénoncent la situation que les immigrants traversent lorsqu’ils gagnent l’Espagne en bateau".

Quelque 31.000 immigrants, pour la plupart africains, ont gagné les Canaries par bateau en 2006, presque autant que lors des quatre années précédentes réunies. Beaucoup périssent lors de la périlleuse traversée.

MADRID (AP)

vendredi 19 janvier 2007.

Par Elsie HAAS
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Lundi 12 février 2007

Actualité de la violence au Népal d'où nous arrivent 350 soldats supplémentaires

REUTERS/RAM SARRAF

Des manifestants madhesi réclamant l'autonomie de leur région fuient sous les tirs de la police, dimanche 4 février 2007, dans les rues de Birjung, une localité de la plaine du Sud népalais située à 300 km de Katmandou au Népal.

L'actualité du Népal à mettre en perspective avec...

Népal: Deux manifestants tués dans un affrontement avec la police
2007-02-07 18:45:53

forces de l'ordre népalaises

KATMANDOU, 7 férier (XINHUA) -- Deux manifestants ont été tués et plus de 40 autres blessés mercredi après-midi dans un affrontement avec la police dans les plaines de Terai, a rapporte le site internet du groupe des médias locaux THT Online.

Dans le district de Morang à Biratnagar, à quelque 240 Km au sud-est de Katmandou, la police a tiré des coups de feu sur une manifestation après que les protestataires du Forum des droits du peuple Madhesi (MPRF) eurent défier les ordres de couvre-feu illimité et attaqué l'équipe de policiers. Durant les tirs, deux activistes de Madhesi et trois policiers ont été tués, et au moins 37 manifestants blesséss. La situation reste tendue à Biratnagar.
Les violentes manifestations, principalement dirigées par le MPRF ont fait plus de 20 morts depuis le 19 janvier.
Les habitants de Madhesi se réfèrent toujours aux populations d'origine indienne vivant principalement dans les plaines de Terai, au sud du Népal.
http://www.french.xinhuanet.com/french/2007-02/07/content_386188.htm

Manifestants, après l'intervention des forces de l'ordre népalaise

... les propos tenus par le commandant de la Force militaire de la MINUSTAH, le Major Général Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz ;

Port-au-Prince, 29 Janvier 2007 – Les premiers éléments d’un groupe de 350 soldats de maintien de la paix des Nations Unies commencent à arriver à Port-au-Prince. Ces soldats font partie d’un second contingent népalais prévu pour un déploiement complet au début du mois de mars.

Ce bataillon d’infanterie légère va être déployé pour des opérations militaires à Port-au-Prince, dans le but d’intensifier la pression sur les criminels opérant dans la capitale haïtienne.

Le commandant de la Force militaire de la MINUSTAH, le Major Général Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz a annoncé, dimanche dernier, ce plan de déploiement du nouveau bataillon népalais qu’il a qualifié de grande opportunité. Il a ajouté que les soldats népalais sont opérationnels et prendront part, à partir de cette semaine, aux opérations se déroulant à Cité Soleil.

“Les soldats népalais sont de très bons professionnels et ils ont la réputation d’être très disciplinés” a précisé le Commandant de la Force onusienne. Le Major Général Dos Santos Cruz a, par ailleurs, annoncé aux commandants des contingents militaires déployés à Port-au-Prince qu’ils devaient se préparer à la planification de plusieurs opérations par semaine, visant à neutraliser les activités criminelles des bandits agissant dans la capitale haïtienne.

“Je suis déterminé à augmenter la pression sur les bandits qui détiennent la population innocente d’Haïti en otage depuis longtemps déjà », a déclaré le Major Dos Santos Cruz. « Nous n’allons pas donner de répit aux gangs, nous allons être plus pro-actifs ” a ajouté le responsable militaire de la MINUSTAH.

La Mission des Nations Unies pour la Stabilisation en Haïti a pour rôle de soutenir le processus politique, de promouvoir un environnement sûr et stable et de surveiller au respect des droits humains. La force militaire de la MINUSTAH est composée d’environ 7,200 militaires originaires de 17 pays.

« Notre but est d’œuvrer pour un environnement sûr et sécurisé où le peuple haïtien peut vivre sans peur » a finalement déclaré le Major Général Dos Santos Cruz. (sans commentaires)

Sources: Minustah.org) + '" >'); //--> Népal: Deux manifestants tués dans un affrontement avec la police
2007-02-07 18:45:53

Par Elsie HAAS
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Mardi 13 février 2007

Lutte antigang à Los Angeles (USA)

Le maire de Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, a lancé un appel international pour démanteler les gangs. D’après Antonio Villaraigosa, nombreux sont les gangs qui opèrent en Amérique Centrale et du Nord qui ont pris naissance dans sa ville.`
Les chefs de police de la région se sont réunis pour discuter des moyens pour combattre la montée des meurtres, viols et vols dont les gangs sont rendus responsables. Les trois jours de réunion seront consacrés à réfléchir sur les moyens d' améliorer la coopération et les échanges d’information pour arrêter la progression des gangs.
Pour le maire de Los Angeles, il y a un lien entre la pauvreté, un bas niveau d’éducation et le chômage et l’appartenance à un gang. (A l’inverse de ce que "jaquotte " certains la pauvreté ne donne pas le droit au pauvre de tout faire, mais plutôt le prive de tous ses droits- d’où l’inclinaison à devenir un hors la loi. Eh oui c’est comme ça mon p’tit père)
Ce sont des problèmes fondamentaux auxquels il faut répondre dans le cadre de la lutte contre les gangs aux Etats-Unis et ailleurs. Quand les gangs sont nombreux dans un quartier, ils en prennent la direction et vous poussent à en faire partie.
« Le problème de la violence des gangs est international et nous devons y faire face à une échelle internationale. Nous devons collaborer avec nos collègues étrangers d’une manière intelligente et efficace."
M. Villaraigosa a déclaré que la ville de Los Angeles avait un véritable problème à cause de la poussée des gangs. Pourtant c’est la -seconde grande ville des Etats-Unis la plus sûre- le crime violent est en baisse depuis 5 ans.
Les chefs de la police nationale de plusieurs pays où les gangs sont très présents dont le Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize et le Mexique vont avoir des rencontres avec les officiels de l’agence pour combattre la drogue et le FBI.
Certains pays d’Amérique Centrale se sont montrés préoccupés par les déportations de membres des gangs dans leur pays d’origine où il n’est pas possible de les arrêter puisqu’ils n’y ont commis aucun crime.
Sur les 120 personnes arrêtées récemment au Salvador, lors d’une opération anti-gangs, 40 d’entre elles avaient été déportées des USA.a déclaré le chef de la police du Salvador, Rodrigo Avila Aviles. Il a ajouté : « Je ne peux pas reprocher aux USA ces déportations..Cependant il faudra trouver de nouveaux mécanismes qui nous permettent de mieux contrôler ce personnes."
Pour le maire de Los Angeles une augmentation des budgets et une plus grande volonté politique seraient nécessaires pour réaliser un travail à long terme contre les gangs.

Article en anglais

Plea for gang violence crackdown
Published by the BBC, 2/8/07

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6338609.stm

The mayor of the US city of Los Angeles has called for international efforts to deal with gang crime, saying his city was "ground zero" for Latino gangs.
Antonio Villaraigosa told the BBC that many gangs across North and Central America were started from his city.
Regional police chiefs are in LA to discuss fighting the gangs, blamed for a spree of murder, rape and robbery.
The three-day meeting will focus on improving co-operation and intelligence sharing to stop the gangs.

Rising gang crime

Mr Villaraigosa said there was a connection between poverty, low education levels, lack of job opportunities and gang membership.
These root issues needed to be addressed as part of a solution to gang violence in the United States and elsewhere, he said.

HAVE YOUR SAY
Where gangs are prevalent they run the neighbourhood and challenge you to join
Maureen , Florida

"Gang violence is a problem of international scope, and we must face it on a international scale," he said, quoted by AFP news agency.

"We must coordinate with our international counterparts in a smart and effective way."

In an interview for the BBC World Service Newshour programme, Mr Villaraigosa said that gang crime had risen in Los Angeles despite a drop in overall crime rates.

"This is a city that has a real problem," he said.

"And yet, this is the second-safest big city in America - violent crime is down five years running".

On Tuesday, the US Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, announced the state department would fund a new transnational anti-gang unit for Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Belize.

Until now, the gangs have mostly been tackled on a country-by-country basis.

The heads of the national police forces of several countries where gangs are prevalent, including El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico are meeting officials from US drug enforcement agencies and the FBI.

Some Central American officials have expressed concern about US methods of deporting gang members to countries where local authorities are unable to arrest them because they have committed no crime in their country of origin.

Of the 120 people arrested in a recent anti-gang raid in El Salvador, 40 had been deported from the US at least once, the country's police chief Rodrigo Avila-Aviles said.

"I cannot blame the United States for deporting them," he added. "However... we need to look out for new mechanisms so we have more control over these guys."

Mayor Villaraigosa said increased funds and greater political will were needed to ensure gangs were tackled in the region in the long term.

This article was originally published by the sources above and is copyrighted by the sources above. We offer it here as an educational tool to increase understanding of global economics and social justice issues. We believe this is 'fair use' of copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. AMERICAS.ORG is a nonprofit Web site with the goal of educating and informing.

Par Elsie HAAS
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Lundi 19 février 2007

The Rules of Imperial Management.Liban, Rwanda, Kosovo, République démocratique du Congo, Soudan, Haiti

Pas le temps de faire la traduction de cert article pourtant hyper intéressant. Il s'agit d'une analyse du rôle joués par les Casques bleus dans le conflits armés. L'argument de l'auteur qui s'appuie sur des exemples : Liban, Rwanda, Kosovo, République démocratique du Congo, Soudan, Haiti

An account of other failed "peacekeeping" missions is reviewed after an overview of the UN, its founding purpose and how the US dominates and undermines the world body for its own interests.

By Stephen Lendman
PalestineChronicle.com

The world community calls them "Blue Helmets" or "peacekeepers," and the UN defines their mission as "a way to help countries torn by conflict create conditions for sustainable peace" by implementing and monitoring post-conflict peace processes former combatants have agreed to under provisions of the UN Charter. The Charter empowers the Security Council to take collective action to maintain international peace and security that includes authorizing peacekeeping operations provided a host country agrees to have them under Rules of Engagement developed and approved by all parties. At that point, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations enlists member nations to provide force contingents to be deployed once the Security Council gives final approval.

Once in place, Blue Helmets are supposed to help in various ways including monitoring the withdrawal of combatants, building confidence, enforcing power-sharing agreements, providing electoral support, aiding reconstruction, upholding the rule of law, maintaining order, and helping efforts toward economic and social development. Above all, "peacekeeping" missions are supposed to be benevolent interventions. They're sent to conflict areas to restore order, maintain peace and security and provide for the needs of people during a transitional period until a local government takes over on its own.

Far too often, however, things don't turn out that way, and Blue Helmets end up either creating more conflict than its resolution or being counterproductive or ineffective. In the first instance, peacekeepers become paramilitary enforcers for an outside authority. In the second, they do more harm than good because they've done nothing to ameliorate conditions or improve the situation on the ground and end up more a hindrance than a help. This article focuses mostly on the former using Haiti as the primary case study example after reviewing peacekeeping operations briefly in six other countries. In each case, the examples chosen show people on the ground as helpless victims of imperial exploitation (usually US-directed) with UN Blue Helmets used by outside powers for social control and domination, not keeping the peace.

First, a brief account of other failed "peacekeeping" missions is reviewed after an overview of the UN, its founding purpose and how the US dominates and undermines the world body for its own interests.

The UN - Its Founding Purpose and Mission

The UN was established in 1945 after WW II when 50 original member countries signed its Charter in San Francisco. Today 192 nations are member states. Its founding Charter states its purpose and mandate is: "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war....reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights....(support) equal rights of men and women....of nations large and small....establish conditions under which justice....can be maintained....promote social progress....practice tolerance and live in peace (and promote) economic and social advancement of all peoples." From its founding date till now, the world body failed on all counts even though some of its agencies (like UNICEF, WFP, UNHCR and UNESCO) have a history of providing important services in areas of health, education, food assistance, aiding refugees, social development and more.

Nonetheless, the UN is hamstrung by a serious obstacle. Its dominant member is the US that undermines the world body's authority and effectiveness for its own imperial interests. It does it through its Security Council veto power, by withholding dues, disengaging from UN activities or just muscling or bribing member states to get its way. It gets away with it by being the world's leading economic, political and military superpower beholden to no interests but its own. It takes full advantage, and for over half a century used the UN as its foreign policy instrument or rendered it ineffective by inaction or obstruction. If allowed to be a voice for all member states, the UN could be a powerful one for global democratic governance and promotion of social equity and equal justice. Instead one dominant nation's veto power trumped the will of all others causing a shameful history of UN failure and ineffectiveness. As long as a single nation's monkey wrench can jam its works, the UN will never fulfill its founding purpose.

It's apparent in its Charter-mandated peacekeeping role. If the UN functioned as a neutral international body pursuing its founding mission, it would always act to establish and maintain peace in every conflict area. It doesn't because its dominant member won't let it. So it failed to act when Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 slaughtering hundreds of thousands in a secretly US-authorized aggression including the arming and supporting of Indonesian military TNI forces. It stood by again after the East Timorese voted by referendum for independence in 1999 after which TNI forces attacked and slaughtered thousands more.

The UN did nothing during South Africa's border wars and invasion of Namibia in the 1960s and 70s and allowed a 36 year civil war to go on in Guatemala following the CIA fomented coup in 1954 ousting the country's democratically elected leader Jacobo Arbenz Guzman. It ignored a succession of oppressive military and civilian governments still ruling the country. It allowed them to compile the hemisphere's worst human rights record even after the UN brokered a Peace Accord formally ending the civil conflict mainly against the country's indigenous Mayan majority slaughtering 200,000 of them. It still ignores the government's shameless human rights abuses in a country Amnesty International calls a "land of injustice." But it happens to be one the US considers a close ally, and that's all that counts as Washington has the final say on most everything at the UN.

These are a few of the many examples of UN failures to address injustice throughout the world on every continent. It belies discredited former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's standing up for the Security Council claiming it has primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. It can't even prevent human rights abuses because it's mostly a talking shop, and the world body overall is a wholly owned subsidiary of the nation where its headquartered. It uses it to pursue its imperial agenda knowing no nation will dare try stopping it most often. And when the threat arises, Washington ignores it to do what it pleases like attacking Iraq without required Security Council approval and threatening now to extend the conflict to Iran on blatantly false cooked up charges that smell as bad as the WMD ones about its occupied neighbor.

UN Peacekeeping Operations

UN peacekeeping operations began in 1948 with its first one ever UNTSO mission to monitor the Arab-Israeli first of two brief failed truces in Israel's "War of Independence" beginning in June, 1948. The operation is still ongoing, peace was never achieved, the UN plays no active role, and UNTSO wastes money and takes up space observing and reporting what it wishes selectively while Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have total control of everything on the ground. UNTSO ineffectiveness shows in the way the IDF continues repressing and assaulting defenseless Palestinians while the UN gets out of their way functioning as little more than worthless window dressing. In 2006 it had a meager staff of 371 military and civilian observers and a budget of $30 million, all of which could have been better spent elsewhere on a real mission for a real purpose if there are any.

That inauspicious start was symbolic of what lay ahead in 61 total peacekeeping missions undertaken to date ignoring all the other conflicts it should have intervened in but didn't. Currently 16 missions are ongoing as of year end 2006 plus two other small special political and/or peacebuilding ones with 113 countries contributing 99,817 military troops, observers, police and civilians budgeted for the 12 months through June, 2007 at $4.75 billion under names like UNIFIL in Lebanon created in 1978 for the same purpose it's still there for and now enlarged following Israel's withdrawal from the country last summer after its horrific invasion and assault weeks earlier.

UNIFIL Blue Helmets in Lebanon

Israel attacked and invaded Lebanon last July 12 following Hezbollah's cross-border incursion that was used as a pretext to ignite pre-planned aggression against the country and its people. The result was mass killing, crippling destruction, and a huge refugee problem all without Israel achieving its planned aim - to destroy Hezbollah resistance in South Lebanon. It proved too much for the world's fifth most powerful military equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry courtesy of the most powerful Washington-based one.

UNIFIL was established to restore and maintain peace in South Lebanon one week after Israel's invasion of the country in March, 1978. It's been there since including throughout the period from 1982 when Israel again invaded and remained until withdrawing its forces in May, 2000. Despite its mandate, UNIFIL never established peace and security and did little more than take up space allowing the IDF free reign to control everything on the ground along with its proxy Christian South Lebanon Army acting as paramilitary enforcer thugs of a largely Shia Muslim population.

"Proxy" describes UNIFIL's current role in Lebanon that has little to do with keeping peace and everything to do with being NATO's Israel enforcer. In that role, it can engage Hezbollah in confrontation if it chooses and do Israel's fighting and dying for it. It also represents a continuation of nearly three decades of "peacekeeping" failure in South Lebanon. The current one won't work any better than all efforts preceding it because UNIFIL is beholden to Israel, the US and NATO and will follow their mandate having nothing to do with peace and stability and everything to do with imperial control and dominance. The people of South Lebanon know all about UNIFIL's "benefits," but you won't hear them say thank you.

UNAMIR in Rwanda

UNAMIR was set up to help implement the Arusha Accords in 1993 to ease tensions, secure the capital, and monitor a ceasefire and security agreement prior to the outbreak of ethnic slaughter that began after CIA surface-to-air missiles shot down the aircraft carrying Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundi President Cyprien Ntaryamira in April, 1994. That "unfortunate" plane accident made way for US-trained Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) Major-General Paul Kagame to take power so Washington could use the country as a base to pursue its greater prize in resource-rich Congo (DRC). It didn't matter that hundreds of thousands died and millions in Congo where war subsided, but instability remains because warring sides and Western interests still contest for control of the country's immense resources.

Canadian General Romeo Dallaire led a UN 400 troop contingent in Rwanda, got no additional force help, mostly stood aside as thousands were slaughtered, and was only authorized to act in self-defense meaning his orders were do nothing. He left the country in August, 1994 followed by the departure of his replacements when UNAMIR's mandate ended in 1996 long after the damage was done. The result - a dismal mission failure in UN peacekeeping with hundreds of thousands dead because Blue Helmets were told to ignore it.

UNIMIK in Kosovo

UNMIK was created in 1999 for war-torn Kosovo as an interim civilian administration to remain in place until the Serbian province's fate is decided. Its stated mission includes maintaining the rule of law, protecting human rights, coordinating humanitarian and disaster relief, supporting reconstruction efforts, and assuring refugees and displaced persons can return to their homes. As always, stated goals are noble, but results shameful - another mission failure staying longer will just exacerbate, not ameliorate.

The mission language hides the grim history of the 1990s Balkan wars. They destroyed a nation making its new pieces easy pickings for US and Western imperial exploitation and control. It had nothing to do with removing a "bad guy" Serbian leader and everything to do with installing new leadership more responsive to Western interests - meaning unconditional surrender to imperial authority. The US-led 1999 NATO assault was called an humanitarian intervention. It's real aim was to finish breaking one nation into six more easily handled ones plus deciding the fate of Serbia's Kosovo province to be dealt with later.

In Kosovo, Washington and NATO collaborated with Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) paramilitary thugs ignoring their connection to organized crime. They got free reign to commit terrorist attacks including ethnic cleansing of Serbs and other minorities in the province. The US-led war caused massive population displacement, not the other way around as news reports claimed. Nor did the war bring Kosovo peace and stability. Far from it. The province is part of Serbia, and Serbs want to keep it that way. But it looks like they won't as Albanians in the majority have other ideas with assurance their US ally will help them.

After the war, the former Serbian province got semi-autonomy as a UN protectorate with its final status nearly decided by the world body intending to make Kosovo semi-independent because the US wants it that way. It doesn't matter what Serbs want for territory they're about to lose. The scheme was unveiled on January 26 to the six-member contact group of major powers including the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy and Russia all of whom approve except Russia that remains skeptical enough to try to scuttle the plan. It supports Serbia that rejects the deal but has little power to stop it unless Russia vetoes it in the Security Council with final say on the matter.

That verdict isn't in yet, but some things are clear. Whatever Kosovo's nominal disposition, Serbs will be losers and US and Western imperial control will continue by virtue of a proxy repressive UNIMIK/NATO Blue Helmet contingent remaining in place for an indefinite time likely to be lengthy. It's how imperial management works. People lose out so hegemons can win, and when it involves the US the price paid is big and painful.

MONUC in the Democratic Republic of Congo

MONUC began its operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 1999 and is the largest peacekeeping force now in place but one hardly adequate (if it mattered) for a country the size of Western Europe. MONUC was authorized to monitor a ceasefire agreement between waring sides as well as be involved in the usual kinds of things peacekeeping entails. After years of unresolved conflict, few places anywhere need peace and stability more than DRC in the wake of the country's long-running war taking 4 million or more lives causing immeasurable human misery and harm.

All along, the UN was inept, counterproductive and out of the loop. It was more part of the problem than its solution. It knew all about legal and illegal arms trading fueling conflict but didn't stop it because its controlling members did the selling like they always do in war zones everywhere. In addition, Blue Helmets weren't where most needed and didn't help when able because direct orders said not to. Kofi Annan was part of the problem as he was as UN head of peacekeeping in 1994 allowing Rwandans to be slaughtered when his efforts at least might have ameliorated conditions. Instead, he kept his mouth shut and head down, refusing to act as he later did as Secretary-General serving imperial interests he was beholden to. That meant ignoring desperate people in Congo and all other warring regions.

The DRC is a major one even though things are mostly quieted down - for now. The country's cursed by being the likely most resource-rich piece of real estate in the world (except for not having large oil reserves). That makes it a key target for imperial exploitation and control with Congo's people suffering just by being there. Sending Blue Helmets to keep peace is just a fig leaf hiding the dark side of the conflict and who stands to gain with US interests always topping the list and acting as guarantor nothing interferes with what Washington has in mind.

So all parties ignore the situation on the ground, and Blue Helmets just make it worse. The evidence shows UN forces engaged in sex trafficking, using children as prostitutes. They abused young girls and got away with it because MONUC officials took no preventive action in spite of pious claims decrying it. What's common in Congo happens everywhere with so-called "peacekeepers" acting as thuggish enforcers for imperial powers. Their mission is "keeping the rabble in line" with free reign to do it harshly as long as it's kept under wraps. What happens in Congo goes on in Kosovo, Liberia, Sudan (discussed below) and Haiti also discussed in detail shortly. It's an ugly story of crackdown, repression or indifference hidden under the cover of "peacekeeping."

UNMIS in Sudan

UNMIS was established in 2005 to implement the January, 2005 Comprehensive Peace Treaty between the Sudanese government and Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army. It ended the protracted North-South 22 year civil war killing and uprooting millions in one of the continent's most costly wars, but not freeing the nation from conflict still ongoing in Darfur. UNMIS has authority to administer there once hostilities subside, waring sides allow them entry and agree to cooperate, and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir decides if he's willing to risk a regional occupying force hostile to his interests. Currently a 7,000 force African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) operates in Darfur that's pathetically slim for an area the size of France in a country the size of Western Europe.

The Sudanese government is justifiably reluctant for Blue Helmets to come knowing how they behave elsewhere. It also knows what fuels the conflict and what interests the US and West in the area. Like most everywhere, it's about valuable resources, and in Darfur it's mainly oil as it is in Somalia where Washington is involved in another proxy war with US supportive air and ground involvement this time using an Ethiopian force to be supplemented or replaced by other regional country contingent "peacekeepers."

The Darfur conflict is falsely portrayed in Western media reports as atrocities committed by Arab Jan jawid militias supported by the Khartoum government against black African people. The truth is all parties involved are indigenous Arabic-speaking black Sunni Muslims involved in intertribal fighting over increasingly scare water and grazing rights in an area hard hit by draught and famine. If Blue Helmets come in, they'll make things worse because they'll be sent for imperial control further harming the people enduring more than they can already handle.

MINUSTAH in Haiti - Our Main Focus

Since European settlers first arrived in Haiti 500 years ago, this nation experienced an almost unparalleled legacy of colonial violence and exploitation. Even when the country gained freedom from France on January 1, 1804, it lay in ruins. Its plantations and sugar works were burned and large parts of its cities were rubble from many years of conflict. It cost the nation half its population of former slaves on top of its indigenous population nearly exterminated by Spanish Conquistadors beginning with the arrival of Columbus.

Things got no better when Spain kept the Eastern two-thirds of the island in what's now the Dominican Republic leaving the Western third for French colonization beginning in the early 1600s. France brought over black African slaves controlling it till after the 1789 French Revolution that inspired Haitians to wage theirs for the same freedoms French people got briefly. Led by Toussaint L'Ouverture, they prevailed establishing the first free independent black republic anywhere on their New Years liberation day in 1804.

It was short-lived as France regained control holding it till America took over later solidifying its regional lock when Woodrow Wilson sent in Marines in 1915 to protect US investments, doing it in typical US fashion - at the barrel of a gun. Nineteen years of brutal exploitation followed with massacres like the kinds seen in Haiti today. The worst of them was in 1929 when US Marines slaughtered 264 protesting peasants in Les Cayes. There were also smaller incursions, forced labor, and aerial bombing years before the Nazis' infamous attack on Spain's Republican government at Guernica supporting opposition fascist dictator, Francisco Franco.

Except for a decade of relief under Jean-Bertand Aristide and Rene Preval, nothing improved for Haitians after US occupiers left in 1934. Aristide and Preval brought hope in spite of great Western constraint imposed on them. It didn't last courtesy of US Marines again ending a brief grace period of relief and deliverance for people having precious little of it for 500 years.

In its wake, MINUSTAH was established by UN Security Council vote on April 30, 2004 two months after the US-led coup ousted President Aristide now in forced exile in South Africa. From inception, it's mission was flawed as it had no right being there in the first place. Blue Helmets, in principle, are deployed for peace and stability even though they seldom bring it. In this case, peacekeepers have may been illegally sent for the first time ever supporting and enforcing a coup d'etat against a democratically elected president instead of staying out of it or coming to back his right to office.

Soldat de la Minustah en train de nettoyer son arme pendant une pause entre deux raids sur Cité Soleil

The US runs everything in Haiti, and MINUSTAH became its repressive arm against Haitian people wanting their President back and their freedoms under him restored. The result is no surprise. MINUSTAH's mission is disastrous, disgraceful and in violation of the rule of law including UN's own Charter as explained below.

Before it began, the UN lied claiming Aristide was less than democratically reelected in 2000 with under 10% of Haitians participating. UN officials further implied his Fanmi Lavalas party manipulated results allowing him to win. The truth was otherwise showing Aristide won with a 92% majority and a turnout of around 62% of eligible voters or a figure exceeding that in most US elections. The International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) suggested turnout was even higher, but mainstream reporting never lets facts conflict with official US government versions of truth that hide it when it isn't the kind it wants.

The line on Haiti came from the US State Department's affiliated Agency for International Development (USAID) claiming the opposition boycotted the election and Aristide won by default with a low voter turnout. This got reported as anti-Aristide black propaganda contradicting mass-Haitian support for a beloved leader twice elected the country's President. Haitians demand his return but won't get it as long as the US remains in charge. Washington will ignite a firestorm if he tries coming setting off the kind of ugliness leading to what happened in February, 2004 that repeated similar events in September, 1991 after Aristide's first election. The result for Haitians is nightmarish courtesy of the Bush administration with complicit Security Council support in the form of Blue Helmet "peacekeepers" enforcing their kind of peace.

They're on the ground along with mobilized death squads, otherwise known as the hated Haitian National Police (PNH), acting as a main duel proxy force serving their masters in Washington. They've done it by destroying all democratic freedoms in a country subjugated for 500 years under outside authority or one imposed on them from within. In 1990, Haitians hoped it ended when they elected Jean-Bertrand Aristide President with 67% of the vote. He took office in February, 1991, but his tenure was short-lived. It ended in September by the first of two US-instigated coups removing him from office for a more compliant military ruler beholden to Washington and its capital interests.

Aristide returned to Haiti in 1994 regaining nominal power through a deal Clinton officials arranged. It included a largely US-led UN peacekeeping force remaining until 1999 to assure political and economic continuity by IMF-imposed neoliberal structural adjustment policy diktats of privatizations, debt serving and cuts in vitally needed social services. Under these conditions and with little financial support when he tried going around them, Aristide governed like a social democrat compiling an impressive record given the constraints on him. Under Haitian law, he was unable to succeed himself in 1996, but his ally Rene Preval ran for President and won with an 88% majority. Aristide then ran again in 2000 winning big as explained above.

From then until 2004, Aristide instituted a host of important programs in areas of health, education, justice and human rights. He did it by maneuvering around the kinds of harsh dictates imposed on him out of Washington. It led to his second ouster reinstituting a US-directed reign of terror with MINUSTAH Blue Helmet proxies in the lead implementing harsh repression still ongoing and unaddressed by a world community mindful of conditions but turning a blind eye or playing a supportive role. Blue Helmets do this everywhere, but it gets no worse than in Haiti. It's the poorest country in the hemisphere, conditions continue getting worse, people are suffering, and MINUSTAH is there to keep it that way, not bring peace, security, stability or freedom to people desperately needing it.

It's all about the rules of imperial management Washington forces on all nations but especially ones with strategically important resources, markets or in the case of Haiti cheap labor. Haiti has lots of it, and it's some of the cheapest in the world. It's an offshore US manufacturer's paradise where many garment and other workers earn as little as 12 cents an hour or near-slave wages. It's far below the poverty level even in Haiti, and after transportation and other expenses an average Haitian worker earns around $6 a week for those able to get any work in a country plagued by high unemployment running as high as 50% and at times much higher. During his tenure, President Aristide alleviated this and much more in spite of great constraints on him. He did it with scant outside help in spite of overwhelming pressures from Washington not to do anything affecting capital interests.

With him gone and reelected President Rene Preval hamstrung under foreign occupation masquerading as "peacekeepers," Haitians have lost everything. Conditions have never been worse, and it goes on daily in Haiti's bloodstained streets patrolled by MINUSTAH, PNH and militarized gangs of enforcers with license to kill and brutalize freely. The Western media ignore it in a country the US controls as a de facto colony using violence for social control just like in Iraq with its own and proxy Iraqi forces.

Le Guatémaltèque, Représentant civil de l'ONU en Haïti, Edmond Mulet, en conversation enjouée avec ses collègues de la Minustah en Haïti

Guatemalan UN Special Envoy Edmond Mulet calls it needing to "liberate" neighborhoods from "thugs, criminals, gangs (and) drug dealers." He characterizes indiscriminate killing of unarmed civilians as "collateral damage" with UN forces coming "under attack (from gangs in Cite Soleil)." What he won't address is MINUSTAH'S role as enforcer to make Haiti safe for predatory capitalism with harsh repression the method of choice to do it. It's aim is to destroy all vestiges of democratic Lavalas and Jean-Bertrand Aristide's influence, but it resulted in mass-people resistance on the streets protesting their plight and demanding restitution of their rights as free people. Their answer is armed attacks and regular assaults.

It goes on daily with punishing effects against helpless people. They're led by Blue Helmet thugs attacking Haitians in impoverished areas like Cite Soleil, Bel Air, Solino and elsewhere indiscriminately killing men, women and children. They work with PNH enforcers incarcerating or murdering Aristide supporters and advocates for freedom and justice, forcing many others underground or to flee the country even after Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas party was effectively destroyed.

Before Preval's reelection last February, MINUSTAH helped reinstitute Haiti's brutal and hated former military that Aristide disbanded and put Haiti again at the mercy of predatory international lending agencies. It also worked with the so-called Interim Government of Haiti (IGH) under US-installed puppet prime minister Gerard Latortue ending Aristide's social programs and returning the country to capital interests with lots of infused cash ending up in the pockets of the interim government Transparency International (TI) called the most corrupt in the world, but not enough to bother its US boss looking the other way and ignoring it. The IGH even locked up dissenters and emptied prisons of real criminals for service in the PNH. It also reconstituted Haiti's military and allowed private paramilitary gangs to operate as brutish enforcers of their own defenseless people.

It's gone on since the 2004 coup in splendid fashion through bloody street crackdowns including massacres against people protesting their plight in a country returned to serfdom under repressive overlords. Haiti is short on law, order, justice and freedom and long on paramilitary thuggishness keeping things that way including the private paramilitary ones like the Little Machete Army that was implicated in the July 6, 2006 Grand Ravine massacre of more than 20 people along with burning scores of houses in an act of pure savagery. It was after the August 21, 2005 slaughter in a Grand Ravine soccer field in front of 5000 fans when as many as 50 people were shot or hacked to death with machetes by PNH thugs and red-shirted killers.

A recent horrific incident happened in the early morning hours of December 22, 2006 in Cite Soleil when UN Blue Helmets assaulted the community killing more than 30 people with some reports claiming much higher numbers. It happened in random mass shooting striking people everywhere including in their homes with bullets easily penetrating paper-thin walls. The UN claimed it was after a young man named Belony, supposedly the head of a kidnapping gang, but the story is pure "baloney" like all other MINUSTAH ones. It's UN's way to justify repression and killings saying it's targeting bandits that are really ordinary Haitians protesting their misery or who happen to be in the line of fire that's deliberately indiscriminate as an added form of terror.

Disturbingly, President Rene Preval apparently approved the December 22 operation and now has blood on his hands to answer for. He likely knew it's purpose was to punish an impoverished community that put 10,000 people on the streets a few days earlier demonstrating for the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide and condemning a US-directed militarized occupation of their country. Video footage and eye witnesses captured and verified the retaliatory response on the streets with unarmed civilians shot by random gunfire including from helicopter gunships. At first the UN denied it but finally admitted what video footage and digital photos showed conclusively. They also showed wounded and dying with no medical help on the scene and people left to bleed to death on the streets or in their homes.

This assault was like an earlier one against Cite Soleil on July 6, 2005 when UN forces attacked the city with hundreds of heavily armed troops using M-50s and 60s mounted on armored personnel vehicles. It also used high-powered telescopic rifles for accuracy in singling out targeted dissenters for assassination and a type of gattling gun firing armor-piercing bullets believed to be depleted uranium tipped to slice through metal like butter. This time about 70 people were shot indiscriminately from thousands of rounds of ammunition fired. Again those hit were left to bleed to death unattended on the streets or in their homes.

A more recent documented incident happened in Cite Soleil on January 23, 2007 with MINUSTAH forces again randomly shooting for hours including from helicopters while people ran for their lives or were gunned down indiscriminately as they did. No accurate count of casualties is known so far, and the number killed may never be known as Blue Helmets often remove bodies to conceal the extent of their handiwork. Another attack followed on January 24 with MINUSTAH acknowledging it killed six people and wounded others in the same targeted community. Haitians won't ever be free of this until peacekeepers leave, Blue Helmet terrorism ends and people can choose their own leaders, free from outside control, or not live under ones imposed on them.

For now, that seems light years away, and all reports out of Haiti are grim including a January 23 one by the National Bishops' Justice and Peace Commission (JILAP), a human rights commission of Haiti's Roman Catholic church. It reported at least 539 people died violently in Port-au-Prince alone in the three month period ending December 31, 2006 with the true number likely higher as it only counted dead bodies on the streets. Most of the victims were in impoverished communities like Cite Soleil, Grand Ravine, Martissant and Bolosse, and the main cause of death was from gunshot wounds. JILAP also attributed most of the violence to MINUSTAH and PNH with most deaths just local residents in targeted areas. Other violence was blamed on street gangs like the one led by the Little Machete Army that may have murdered Haitian independent journalist Jean Remy Badiau in Martissant because he "dared practice journalism in a country where the press (today) is never free."

La Minustah à Cité Soleil

Sadly, Haitians have no freedom because the extent of occupation-led terror is greater than Haiti's ever had in its 200 year history as a sovereign state. It amounts to collective punishment of an impoverished people living under US-imposed police state type daily killings, massacres, rapes, arbitrary arrests, mass incarcerations, beatings and horrific immiseration of millions of people defenseless against it. It also includes human trafficking of women and children for forced prostitution and men and women for forced labor amounting to chattel slavery. Additional thousands of men have been forcibly taken to the Dominican Republic and other regional countries to work for wages so low they're called "sugar slaves."

Still more abuse came out in the September, 2006 Lancet reported study conducted by Wayne State University, School of Social Work researchers Athena Kolbe and Dr. Royce Hutson. They exposed and documented massive human rights violations in Haiti under the puppet Latortue government using random Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinate sampling of 1260 households and 5720 individuals. 90.7% of them were interviewed using a structured questionnaire by trained interviewers to learn about their experiences since Aristide's ouster.

The study findings estimated 8,000 people were murdered and about 35,000 women (over half under 18) sexually assaulted in the greater Port-au-Prince area between February, 2004 and December, 2005. 21% of killings were attributed to the PNH, 13% to the demobilized army and another 13% to anti-Aristide paramilitary gangs like the Little Machete Army. Known criminals were the worst sex offenders, but officers from the HNP accounted for 13.8% of assaults and armed anti-Lavalas groups another 10.6%. The report also documented kidnappings, extrajudicial detentions, physical assaults other than rape, death threats, physical threats and threats of sexual violence against helpless people.

The report concluded that "crime and systematic abuse of human rights were common in Port-au-Prince" involving criminals but also "political actors and UN (Blue Helmet) soldiers." It also stressed an overwhelming need on the ground for attention to "legal, medical, psychological, and economic consequences of widespread human rights abuses and crime."

The study ended in December, 2005, but the same abuses go on daily in Haitian communities around Port-au-Prince and elsewhere in the country. It's a picture of UN failure and its top officials and Secretary-General corrupted and criminally complicit with its authorized missions' worst crimes and abuses going on everywhere. It also shows the world body as a servant of power, defiling its founding mandate and damning the poor and weak to pay for its failure to protect them. Nowhere are things worse than in Haiti, and nowhere are UN representatives more culpable starting at the top where the buck stops with its former Secretary-General Kofi Annan. His tenure ended in December as it began - in disgrace but whose record went unreported because he served power interests well who'll now reward him in his new endeavors.

Haitians hoped things might not be this way last February 7 when they reelected Rene Preval their President in an electoral process orchestrated, controlled and rigged by the US-installed puppet government but not enough to override the will of the people. For the first time in two years, desperate Haitians had reason to celebrate with a leader again in charge who once served their needs as President. But nothing is ever simple in Haiti, and long knives in Washington were out to undermine and destabilize Preval's rule from its outset or simply work around him and ignore it. The result to date is capital rules the country, and Rene Preval has little to show for his first year in office. Haitians continue suffering, and 9,000 repressive Blue Helmets, PNH and other paramilitaries are on the ground keeping it that way.

La Minustah, en bloquant à Cité Soleil les points d'accès à l'eau, contrôle la distribution de l'eau. Une technique bien rodée pour forcer la population à dépendre de l'international pour quelque chose aussi vitale que l'eau.

It affects the lives of helpless people in ways beyond brute force and economic depravation. Blue Helmet attacks in Cite Soleil severely damaged the community's public water system as random gunfire hit pipelines and a water tower. It forced area residents to walk long distances with heavy buckets for what's unavailable close by while private speculators truck in drinking water for sale at prices Cite Soleil's half million residents can't afford. It's one more part of marketplace rule leaving most Haitians out of it with no resources to participate.

The UN peacekeeping mandate expires on February 15, but Haitians won't see the end of it. The Security Council is about to extend the mission with disagreement over its length that comes up for review every six months. Before leaving office, Kofi Annan recommended a year's extension, but unanimity hasn't yet been reached by Security Council members. When it is, it won't reflect the peoples' will demanding Blue Helmets leave that's loudly heard on the streets and ignored as it always is.

Manifestation du 7 février 2007 à Port-au-Prince

Protests and demonstrations are on the capital's streets all the time, but a major one happened on February 7 as well as in six other Haitian cities and many around the world in solidarity. They dramatically dispelled the UN's false assertions that Lavalas is dead. It lives, it's vibrant, and it puts a lie to UN Envoy Edmond Mulet's claim that "the issue of former President Aristide is not present anymore....in Haiti....and his (Fanmi Lavalas) movement is very much divided, weakened."

The date marked the 16th anniversary of Jean-Bertrand Aristide's first inauguration as Haiti's first elected President in 1991 and 21st anniversary of the end of the hated Duvalier father-son dictatorship in 1986. Tens of thousands of Fanmi Lavalas supporters took to the streets peacefully to protest their occupation and violence from it. They called for the release of all political prisoners and demanded return of those in forced exile starting with their former President deposed on February 29, 2004.

Manifestation en Irlande de solidarité avec Haïti, le 7 février 2007

Protestors joined with them in solidarity in 53 cities around the world on five continents against Blue Helmet massacres in an "International Day in Solidarity with the Haitian People." On the same day, protesters went to Haiti's UN heavily guarded Port-au-Prince military headquarters demanding Aristide's return and confronting soldiers with shouts of "Down with the UN." Hundreds were back the following day repeating their chants and risking the kind of retaliation they've come to expect before.

They got their answer on February 9 when hundreds of UN peacekeepers again raided Cite Soleil before dawn continuing their ritualized crackdown and retaliation against courageous people resistance. It's made Blue Helmets a hated symbol of imperial repression and all the terror from it. For Haitian people, it's just the latest chapter in their 500 year struggle never losing hope one day they'll be free at last. No people deserve it more than do Haitians.

-Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and tune in online to hear The Steve Lendman News and Information Hour on The Micro Effect.com each Saturday at noon US central time. Mr.Lendman contributes articles to PalestineChroncile.com

Sources:The Palestine Chronicle

Par Elsie HAAS
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Lundi 26 février 2007

Le pouvoir grandissant des gangs au Nigéria

L'information, comme vous ne l'ignorez pas, est un élément fondamental pour comprendre le monde et tout particulièrement ce qui se passe dans votre propre environnement. En effet, à l'heure de la mondialisation et de la communication audiovisuelle, chacun peut se rendre compte des convergences de problèmes entre des pays qui sont éloignés par des milliers de kilomètres. Partout la pauvreté, l'injustice et la violence qui en découle se déclinent plus ou moins selon des modes similaires. Au Nigéria , qui est un des pays parmi les grands producteurs de pétrole, la population ne profite pas des revenus de cette production et s'enlise dans la pauvreté en même temps que les plus riches deviennent de plus en plus riches. Cette inégalité est sensible dans l'ensemble des pays du Sud et apparaît comme particulièrement révoltante dans ceux qui ont des ressources minières importantes et qui les bradent au profit des entreprises étrangères et de leurs intérêts personnels. Les populations de ces pays réclament une plus juste répartition des richesses et faute d'être entendues par les politiciens locaux et leurs alliés étrangers adoptent les moyens forts, c'est-à-dire l'organisation en bandes armées dont l'objectif est de faire plier le gouvernement en utilisant la violence. comme dit l'un des chefs de gang, Soboma George, dans l'article qui suit: "If you feed a lion he won't bite, if you don't feed a lion, the lion will be hungry and he will be angry. " ce qui peut être traduit ainsi : " Si vous donnez à manger à un lion, il ne vous mordra pas, si vous ne lui donnez pas à manger, il aura faim et se mettra en colère". Ce Soboma George du Nigéria, n'est pas différent d'un Evans à Cité Soleil, en Haîti, ou d'un Garcia à Cali, en Colombie etc. Ce à quoi il faut réfléchir c'est aux moyens politiques et économiques pour empêcher qu'il y ait une prolifération de Soboma Georges et d'Evans. Les tuer, ne mettra pas fin à la violence puisque les mêmes causes produisant les mêms effets,( ou alors il faudrait une solution finale qui élimine tous les pauvres de la terre) d'autres Soboma Georges et Evans viendront prendre la relève. Tant que la résolution de la pauvreté, du chômage et de l'inégale répartition des richesses, ne seront pas au centre des préoccupations des dirigeants de ces pays du Sud, les pauvres acculés à vivre dans des conditions infrahumaines, n'auront pas d'autre choix que de répondre à la violence structurelle par la violence des armes.
Lequel d'entre nous accepterait de vivre avec moins d'un dollar , de cinquante centimes parfois, par jour ?

The growing power of Nigeria's gangs

As Nigeria prepares for April's general elections, fears are growing about the rise of armed gangs in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

The BBC's Alex Last braves the slums of Port Harcourt to find powerful militant commander Soboma George, who tells him that they, not the politicians, will be calling the shots.

Analysts say armed groups are contributing to lawlessness

Around eight o'clock at night, a car with blacked out windows pulled up near the hotel - our escort to meet Soboma George, once described as one of the most powerful gang leaders in the rundown oil city of Port Harcourt.

A city where kidnappings, crime and militancy have spiralled out of control - where foreign oil workers live almost under siege in their compounds. A city in the heart of the Niger Delta, where decades of poverty and neglect have left anger and violence.

Soboma George hit the headlines recently when some 60 militants wielding heavy machine guns marched through the centre of the city, fought off the police and the army, and retrieved him from a police station.

The main militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which is demanding greater local control of the oil wealth, claimed responsibility, announcing for the first time that Soboma was one of its senior commanders in the city.

He had been detained for a traffic violation, the police simply didn't recognise him. One officer said privately that, if they had, they wouldn't have dared to hold him.

Broken promises

Police say Soboma George first became known not as a political militant, but as a powerful member of an all-male gang called the Icelanders. Its membership is said to number in the thousands and it's just one of several gangs or "confraternities" - with names like the KKK, Greenlanders and Vikings, that operate in the city and further afield.

In the last elections in 2003 these gangs were hired and armed by politicians to fight their political opponents, steal ballot boxes, and generally rig the vote. As one local resident said: "it was less of an election, more of a low-intensity armed struggle." In Nigeria and particularly in the Delta, political office means access to the huge oil revenues - so the stakes are high.

After the elections, the politicians' promises of jobs for gang members often failed to materialise. But the gangs had been given weapons, and had grown stronger. Over the years, some moved into the creeks of the Delta. Some factionalised. Some stayed put in the cities, where the police say they are involved in criminal rackets. At times they all fought each other.

On the whole, they remained largely separate from the more political militant groups, like the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta which emerged in 2006, though sometimes the line has blurred.

Nigeria goes to the polls again in April. Everyone says the politicians are looking for armed support, except for the politicians themselves. In this climate, the gangs seem to operate with impunity.

'Conniving and colluding'

In Port Harcourt, kidnappings of foreigners have reached new levels. Most are carried out by armed gangs demanding a ransom - and it's becoming a booming business.

With these elections, with a lot of guns around I am very concerned - these gangs are here, they will be hired by desperate politicians who want to win elections at all costs

Patrick Naagbanton
Delta activist

The military says that ultimately the solution to the violence is political - and says both it and the federal government are trying to have dialogue with all sides to calm the situation.

But clearly the political will to find a solution is compromised by politicians' links to the gangs. Brig Gen Samuel Salihu , a senior commander in the Delta told me: "There are some in the political elite who are criminalising, conniving and colluding. It makes my job difficult."

Patrick Naagbanton, a researcher and activist in the Delta is more forthright: "With these elections, with a lot of guns around I am very concerned. These gangs are here, they will be hired by desperate politicians who want to win elections at all costs. These politicians are not democrats, they are just interested in getting political power so they have access to loot more state funds."

We drove to a township on the edge of the city. It was late, but still hot and humid. We drank beer as we waited to meet Soboma George.

Then we were led through a maze of run-down shacks, and dusty narrow alleys to a patch of waste ground near a creek. Soboma George bounded out of the darkness to meet us. Wearing a sleeveless black T-shirt emblazoned with the Statue of Liberty and a woolly hat, he looked young and fit.

Tables turned

He sat on a unfinished brick wall, occasionally slapping a mosquito as cicadas chirped all around. He refused to talk about the gang , the Icelanders, saying he was simply a guy who was well-liked, and that as a Niger Delta man he did of course support those fighting for local resource control and development for the Delta.

He said he expected the politicians to try to use the armed gangs in the elections as they had in the past. But, he said, this time the gangs had become powerful enough to use the politicians. I asked him if he thought the violence would be as bad as 2003.

"Bloodier," he said, "if the person we want is not the right person there. This time around it's we who will say this person is good, this person can work."

This time around it's we who will say this person is good, this person can work

Soboma George

He said they wanted someone who would actually address the widespread poverty and unemployment. "If you feed a lion he won't bite, if you don't feed a lion, the lion will be hungry and he will be angry. "

The more political militants traditionally have their strongholds among the forested creeks and waterways, which weave through the delta, an area about the size of Scotland. Terrain where the military is ill-equipped to operate. Local activists say the sophisticated, billion-dollar business of smuggling crude oil, known as bunkering, provides many militants with money to buy more powerful weapons.

Now, they say they want to extend their influence into the cities. Hence, the need to recruit a city-based commander like Soboma.

The last election in Nigeria accelerated the development of armed gangs in the Delta. The groups moved one stage further away from control. Many are now wondering what will happen when the armed class of 2007 finally graduates.

Par Elsie HAAS
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