May 28
We representatives from more than 50 [internally displaced persons] camps from Port-au-Prince, Delmas, Carrefour, Pétion-ville, Tabard, Croix-des-Bouquets, Petit-Goave, Grand Goave, Las Cahobas, and Jacmel, who have united together in Haiti from May 19-21, 2011 under the initiative of the Force for Reflection and Action on Housing (FRAKKA), together with other partners… We from camp committees, grassroots groups, and non-governmental organizations… We committed citizens, plus comrades from other countries who participated in the International Forum on the Crisis of Housing in Haiti… We denounce with all our might the acts of violence that are taking place in many camps to force residents to leave, without having anyplace else to go…
May 28
Hundreds of Internally Displaced Persons from at least 40 grassroots and non-governmental organizations and at least 35 IDP camp committees assembled on May 19-21 in Port-au-Prince to reflect on the problem of housing within Haiti’s longstanding crisis, have adopted the following resolution. It is a powerful and informative statement. Help give a voice to the Haitian people by circulating it.
1. We commend the initiative taken by FRAKKA [the Force for Reflection and Action in Housing] and other partners to host this forum, which allowed us to hear the testimonies of many camp residents and to exchange views on housing and other issues being faced in the camps. This exchange allowed us to better understand the root of the problems we face and to issue resolutions and an action plan that will guide our efforts during 2011 - 2012.
May 27
An agreement brokered by the presidents of Colombia and Venezuela has paved the way for ousted President Manuel Zelaya to return to Honduras and for that country to be reincorporated into the OAS. Two articles analyse the agreement and the current political situation.
Zelaya has sought to return to Honduras ever since the military coup that expelled him, but was prevented by criminal charges filed in Honduras’ corrupt and internationally condemned ‘justice’ system. Undoubtedly, he is interested in returning for the June 28, 2011 launch of the constitutional convention process by the National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP)…
May 26
There are none so blind as those who will not see
On May 13, Miami newspaper headlines and TV leads should have said: “Obama makes fool of himself.” The “leads” would have referred to his statement: “I would welcome real change from the Cuban government.” Obama’s conditions? “For us to have the kind of normal relations we have with other countries, we’ve got to see significant changes from the Cuban government and we just have not seen that yet.”…
May 20
For two hundred years, the peoples of Haiti have been struggling to reconstruct their society. Before the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) could be consolidated, the French and other imperial powers worked to isolate the revolution for fear that the ideas of freedom would be contagious and spread… Despite this, the fears of the imperial west that the Haitian Revolution would inspire other slaves in Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States came to fruition. …
May 18
The following letter has been sent to the Chairman of the Board of Governors of London Metropolitan University in protest against the impending closure of the Caribbean Studies programme.
It is with shock and great dismay that I have learnt of the decision to eliminate Caribbean Studies from the programme at London Metropolitan University. When I was conferred with the degree of Doctor of the University Honoris Causa in 2002, I said that I accepted the honour not for myself but as a symbol of the University’s recognition of the enormous contribution that Caribbeans and persons of Caribbean descent have made to British life and to world affairs in fields as varied as literature, the arts, politics, humanities and the social sciences, sports, music, health and education. ..
Continue reading
If you wish to join in the protest , write Mr Clive Jones, CBE, Chairman of the LondonMet Boad of Governors at clivew.jones@btinternet.com
copied to Vice Chancellor Malcolm Gillies at m.gillies@londonmet.ac.uk and acting Dean of HALE John Gabriel at j.gabriel@londonmet.ac.uk and sign the petition at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/nocaribbeanclosure/signatures
May 18
On May 11, 2011 it was thirty years since Bob Marley joined the ancestors. Bob Marley was a cultural artist who became internationally known as a defender of love, freedom and emancipation. This week we remember him, his songs and his contributions to both revolutionary consciousness and his call for us to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery…
May 17
In my C.L.R. James Memorial Lecture, I recall his arguments for Federation in 1958 and reason that they hold good for regional integration today. I argue that ‘insular independence’ has run its course; and that the regional option is both a survival imperative and the only means of realising the ‘national project’ as understood by those who dreamed and conceptualised it throughout our history.
May 16
LAST WEEK, while the United Nations humanitarian aid chief, Baroness Valerie Amos, was pleading for at least a pause in hostilities in Libya to help “ease the humanitarian crisis”, NATO’s Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, was arrogantly boasting - amid continuing bombing strikes - that President Moammar Gadaffi’s “days are numbered… There is no future for him or his regime…” ..
The Battle for Libya: Up in Smoke Larbi Sadiki, Al-Jazeera
The Libyan War that should not have been Thomas Walcom, thestar.com
May 12
C.L.R. James Memorial Lecture of the OWTU, Trinidad, 12 May 2011
CLR James was arguably, one of the outstanding personalities of the 20th century. In a life that spanned nine of the century’s decades he embraced most of its great social movements with passion, eloquence, and brilliant insights. His impact extended far beyond his native Trinidad and Tobago to the entire Caribbean, Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States and Africa…
