On the Intimidation of MINUSTAH at the State University Faculty for Social Sciences

central america / caribbean | imperialism / war | non-anarchist press Friday June 22, 2012 00:49 by Collective Mobilization for Reparations for Cholera Victims komodevik at yahoo dot fr 509-3407-0761, 3310-5763, 3400-6415

June 18, 2012

It is with great anger, broken hearts and indignation that the Collective Mobilization for Reparations for Cholera Victims learned about the arrival, intervention and intimidation of MINUSTAH (United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti) at the State University Faculty for Social Sciences this past Friday, June 15, 2012. Yet again, the MINUSTAH demonstrated to all that didn’t already believe it that they are a force of occupation and repression. We see again that our Constitution, our laws and the right to not have our university space violated, are nothing but words on paper to the MINUSTAH.

After various acts of repression, the rapes and assaults carried out by MINUSTAH soldiers on our people, and the cholera they unleashed to kill people in all four corners of our country, this occupation force is showing us they have not decided to back off on their ongoing disrespect of our laws. With the cholera epidemic alone, MINUSTAH has already killed more than 7,000 people and contaminated more than 500,000 others. The unmerited intervention at the Faculty for Social Sciences took place in a moment when those in power are using MINUSTAH to repress those sectors of the population that would advocate for their rights from Haiti’s coastlines to its border. Let’s not forget that this is not the first time that MINUSTAH have attempted to intimidate us without provocation into the university.

 On January 20, 2009, the day the American president took office, the MINUSTAH-cholera soldiers arrived to intimidate those at the ENARTS where they beat the student and artist Don Camelo.
 On January 21, 2009, one day later, these cholera-soldiers arrived art the L’Ecole Normal Superieur where they beat student Jean Willy Belfleur, who is a member of UNNOH (the teacher’s union).
 On May 24, 2010, MINUSTAH intervened without reason at the State University’s Facult of Ethnology, where they arrested and mistreated student Frantz Mathieu Junior.
 Friday, June 15, 2012 is the day MINUSTAH soldiers came to the Faculty of Social Sciences carrying heavy weapons to act aggressively and intimidate students and professors.
What is the next institution MINUSTAH will attack tomorrow? Is it the Parliament? Is it the media? Is it the human rights organizations? Will we sit and wait until MINUSTAH comes after us? If we don’t want to regret even more later, this is the time for us to stand up.

We cannot continue to wait and watch as MINUSTAH humiliates, aggresses and kills us, whether through repression or cholera. It is time for us to show that we have dignity. If the executive power, bourgeoisie and parliamentarians who are dilettantes with MINUSTAH, don’t have enough dignity to make the MINUSTAH go, we the victims of MINUSTAH must pull together our character to send this force of occupation packing. In this way, our ancestors, especially Dessalines, Boukman, Sesil Fatima, Katrin Flon, Charlemagne Peralt and Benoit Batravil, will be happy to see there are valiant men and women who have the pride to gather all their dignity to continue the work they began.

It is in this sense that the Collective will continue to take initiative to support all the movements that stand up as we must in the days to come in order to stop our leaders from renewing the mandate of MINUSTAH this October. There is no law or Constitution that can stop the MINUSTAH from continuing to humiliate us. It is only if we stand up to the dominant class with progressive consequences that we can make the MINUSTAH go.

Long Live a Sovereign Haiti!

Down with MINUSTAH! Down with Occupation! Down with all colonizers, black and white!

For the Collective:

Jean Willy Belfleur
James Beltis
Siméon Wisly