Global Research, January 1, 2011
As the year 2010 closes the United Nations is facing a serious crisis of credibility. Whether in Ivory Coast , in the Congo or in Haiti , U.N. troops sent to “keep the peace” are repeatedly accused of perpetrating grave human rights violations, including mass murders. This note shall focus on the track record of the Mission des nations unies pour la stabilisation d’Haiti (MINUSTHA), which has been in operation in this Caribbean island nation for the past six years. We shall also see, at the end of this brief text, what all this has to do with Barack Obama."We now live in a world where powerful countries - all of them so-called democracies - manipulate multilateral bodies to the great disadvantage and suffering of the poorer developing nations". Rolihlahla (Nelson) Mandela
In a recent interview, Brazilian diplomat Ricardo Seitenfus accused the U.N. of “transforming the Haitians into prisoners on their own island”. Within a matter of hours, Seitenfus was called back to Brazil and summarily fired from his post as Special Representative of the Organization of American States in Haiti .
In recent days, former Cuban President Fidel Castro spoke publicly in support of Seitenfus. However, is there tangible evidence in support of Seitenfus’ grave assertions? American investigative journalist Kevin Pina hasjust released a powerful documentary that should help answer this specific question without ambiguity.
Pina’s We Must Kill the Bandits is 66-minutes long. Its “in your face” style is both provocative and irresistible. Packed with video evidence, "Bandits" leads the viewer to a desturbing yet unescapable conclusion: As per Patrice Lumumba’s 1960 Congo, in 2010 Haiti, the United Nations is mobilized as a deadly tool of repression in the hands of powerful countries that are bent on robbing Haitians of their right to self-governance and democratic rule.
We Must Kill the Bandits is available free over the Internet at URL: http://bit.ly/eWFDLd Please be warned! This well-researched documentary is graphic and highly disturbing. The film should not be viewed in the company of small children.
From the onset Pina makes the point that the U.N.-attributed murders documented in his film continue to occur up to the current year.
Among several powerful footages in We Must Kill the Bandits, I propose these segments, listed in chronological order, which are especially deserving of attention:
- Pina provides historical context for the term “bandits”. He uses archive footages of U.S. invasions of Haiti in 1915 and 2004 (see minutes 5:43 to 8:07)
- Pina interviews U.S. author Randall Robinson who shares specific details surrounding the ouster of President Aristide by U.S. military personnel and diplomats, the evening of the February 29, 2004 coup d’état (8:08)
- The author painstakenly documents how a campaign of military repression and psychological warfare intensified immediately following Aristide’s ouster. He illustrates this with a March 2004 incident whereby U.S. troops gunned down Spanish reporter Ricardo Ortega and maneuvred to have the latter’s killing blamed on Aristide supporters (10:09- 12:50).
- With a one-of-kind video interview of former Haitian Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, the filmmaker presents undisputable proof that Neptune knew that Haitian President Aristide was taken out of Haiti against his will and that the post-coup puppet president (Boniface Alexandre) was illegally installed by foreign diplomats (13:24-15:00).
- Convincingly, Pina describes the process by which former military tough guy and CIA-operative Herard Abraham was remobilised to orchestrate, in conjonction with Canadian special forces, a resurrection of Haiti ’s hated Forces armées d’Haiti (FadH) and its paramilitary arm FRAPH, by recycling their membership within the Haitian National Police. (15:50 – 17:55)
- The camera follows the campaign to silence popular folk artist and political activist Annette (Sò Anne) Auguste (20:15- 22:08)
- U.N. massacres which happened between September 30 and December 2004 as well as the arrest of human rights activist Father Gérard Jean-Juste are presented with graphic details (26:10- 36:00).
Particularly disturbing and graphic are the final footages of the documentary where the producers describe U.N. massacres in Cité Soleil which occurred May 31, 2005 (50:54 – 54:25), July 6, 2005 (56:11 – 1:00: 43) and December 22, 2006. In the latter piece, a blind man nursing several shot wounds grabs a guitar and offers a song to the foreigners (“blan”- “whites”) whom he accuses to have shot him and killed his two children. « blan MINUSTAH sa m genyen ak ou?” – (What have I done to you MINUSTAH foreigners?).
As we ponder the blind man’s question, I have not forgotten my promise to address your own. Indded, what does all of this have to do with Barack Obama? At the risk of confusing you even further, let me answer: “nothing whatsoever!”. In these days of hollywood-style reporting, it is apparently impossible to attract interest in the plight of millions of human beings dying at the end of U.N. guns. That the same “peacekeeping forces” supposedly mobilised to bring peace to an impoverished people has instead caused a deadly epidemic of cholera in their midst isn’t deserving of the attention of mainstream media. Even less so are the valliant efforts being deployed by Haitians to resist the incredible set of natural and man-made disasters visited upon them in 2010. They will likely never make the screens of CNN, BBC or Radio-Canada. Mindful of this sad fact, a clever producer recently titled his powerful documentary “A Marshall Plan for Haiti”. Yet, rather that daydreaming about sudden goodwill towards Haiti by its historical tormentors, this film sheds light on the existence of true transformative Haitian leadership in action. Perhaps, Pina should also change the title of his film to “Please Make Haiti a U.N. Protectorate Governed by Bill (Tarzan) Clinton ”
I apologize for the misleading title of this article. Regretably, black fratricide remains an immensely attractive theme in our hollywodized culture. So, begging your forgiveness, I invite you to partake in Haiti ’s traditional Independence Day (January 1) “soup joumou” (Pumpkin soup). And, as we do, let us remember and ponder upon the words of His Majesty Jean-Jacques Dessalines, liberator and founder of the first Republic of the Americas to have abolished racial slavery and truly embraced universal human freedom: “and those whose fathers are in Africa , will they have nothing?”
Jafrikayiti (Jean Saint-Vil) is a Haitian writer and activist based in Ottawa , Canada . His website is godisnotwhite.com
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Related:
Haiti's Elections: Illegitimately Recounting Fraud - by Stephen Lendman
