Churches, Development Advocates Praise Congress’ Passage of Legislation for Expanded International Debt Cancellation

Jubilee USA Network

 

www.jubileeusa.org

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

 

Contact: Eleiza Braun, Massey Media, 415-420-4059

 

Neil Watkins, Jubilee USA, 202-783-0129, 202-421-1023 (c)

 

Churches, Development Advocates Praise Congress’ Passage of Legislation for Expanded International Debt Cancellation 

 

 

Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation Passes House of Representatives with Bi-Partisan Support; Senate Panel to Consider Issue April 24

 

 

WASHINGTON – Leaders of churches, development agencies, civil rights, labor, and human rights groups today praised the passage by the US House of Representatives by a vote of 285-132 of the Jubilee Act (HR 2634). The legislation calls the US Treasury Department to negotiate a multilateral agreement for debt cancellation for up to 24 additional poor countries that need cancellation to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Jubilee USA Network is an alliance of 80 organizations that has been leading the advocacy for the legislation. “We commend the US Congress for its bold step in passing the Jubilee Act and listening to the people of the impoverished nations who have borne the burden of unjust debt for far too long,” said Patricia Rumer, co-chair of the Board of Jubilee USA Network.  “We hope that House passage will inspire the US Senate to move quickly to also pass the Jubilee Act and send it to the President for immediate action.”

 

“As Pope Benedict XVI makes his first Apostolic Visit to the United States, it is fitting that Congress show support for this important initiative that would help alleviate the debt burden of some of our poorest brothers and sisters around the world,” wrote Reverend Thomas G. Wenski, Bishop of Orlando and Chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops in a letter to Congress.

 

The legislation was introduced by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Spencer Bachus (R-AL) in June 2007 and enjoyed the support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. A letter from leading Congressional supporters of the bill was circulated in Congress on Monday by Waters, Bachus, Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL). Jubilee USA is looking into the impact of an amendment that was attached to the bill in the final minutes of the floor debate which prohibits eligibility for countries with business interests in Iran.

   

In addition to authorizing broader debt cancellation, the bill seeks to reform current IMF/World Bank policies and other global lending practices by:

 

• Urging that more resources be devoted to grants for the world’s poorest countries;
• Requiring greater transparency at the IFIs, including a policy of maximum disclosure in project and loan documents;
• Urging the development of a binding framework for more responsible lending practices in the future;
• Limiting the conditions that may be required of countries going through the debt relief process to those ensuring that money released by debt relief is used transparently and accountably to address poverty; and
• Directing the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to undertake an audit of “odious, onerous, or illegal” lending by the World Bank, IMF, and US government in specific countries.

 

Companion legislation has been introduced in the Senate (S. 2166), where the bill enjoys strong bi-partisan support and 26 co-sponsors. A hearing on the Senate companion to the Jubilee Act will be held in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday, April 24 at 2 p.m. in Dirksen Senate Office Building Rm. 419. More information on debt and the legislation is available at www.jubileeusa.org.                      

 

Statements from Religious, Development, Civil Rights, Worker Rights, and Human Rights Leaders Following Passage of the Jubilee Act:

 

“We applaud the House of Representatives for its bi-partisan commitment to God’s children suffering from overwhelming debt burdens and extreme poverty by passing the Jubilee Act.” said Rev. Peter Rogness, Bishop of St. Paul, Minnesota and chair of the International Policy Committee of the Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. “Too many suffer under crushing burdens of debt that bury them in poverty.  The Biblical vision of Jubilee is one that brings hope for the future for all of God’s children.  This legislation will help achieve that vision.”

 

"We congratulate the House of Representatives for passing this important bill today, and urge the Senate to follow suit.  Debt relief for the world's poorest countries is an essential building block for sustainable, equitable, and democratic development -- and also for a global economy that works for working families, here and around the world," said John J. Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO.

 

“The passage of the Jubilee Act by the House of Representatives is an important step towards building a world in which deadly poverty no longer stands in the way of the full flourishing of all God’s people,” said Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.)

 

"The NAACP was pleased and encouraged to see the Jubilee Act pass the House of Representatives with such strong bi-partisan support," said Hilary O. Shelton, the Director of the NAACP Washington Bureau. "The United States must work to help the poorest countries throughout the world eliminate debilitating debt which undermines their ability to provide basic human needs such food, housing, education, health care and infrastructure development for their people now more than ever. We must now work hard to see the Senate act as quickly and as positively as the House so that this legislation can soon become the law of the land."

 

"American Jewish World Service applauds the House for passing the Jubilee Act,” said Ruth Messinger, President of American Jewish World Service. “Funds going from poor countries to well-heeled financial institutions to service debt should instead be used to improve education, provide better healthcare for all people, and increase food security for the poorest.  The House has spoken and the Senate must now take action to ensure that our prosperity is not a reward for exploiting developing nations."

 

“We have been hoping and praying that the Jubilee Act is passed by Congress,” said Jim Winkler, top executive of the United Methodist Church Board of Church and Society. “We’re excited they’ve recognized that we must to do more to relieve the unbelievable burden that is preventing struggling countries from advancing. It is a justice issue, pure and simple.”

 

“The passage of the Jubilee Act in the House of Representatives represents a major milestone in the movement for debt cancellation,” said Adam Taylor, Senior Political Director of Sojourners. “Thanks to the Jubilee campaign, debt cancellation has become a bipartisan cause and a moral imperative.  Sojourners now calls on the Senate to provide the bold and immediate leadership necessary to pass the Jubilee Act so that we can move a major step closer to restoring right relationships and achieving the Millennium Development Goals.”

 

“The passage of the Jubilee Act is another great milestone in the effort to remove the burden of unpayable debt that’s slowing the pace of development in the world’s poorest countries.  The Jubilee coalition continues to be an effective voice for poor people around the world,” said Rev. David Beckmann, President of Bread for the World.

 

“Passing the Jubilee Act is a leap forward for the U.S. in living up to its promises to fight global poverty,” said Gerald LeMelle, Executive Director of Africa Action. “For years, the chains of illegitimate debt have crippled the ability of African countries to provide healthcare and education for their citizens. I applaud the House of Representatives for passing this bill, and urge the Senate to demonstrate a similar commitment to smart, people-driven development policy.”

 

“Passage of the Jubilee Act in the U.S. House of Representatives is welcome news to the people of Haiti. Meanwhile, Haitians are drinking dangerous water, eating mud cakes and dying of easily treatable diseases as the Haitian government weekly sends more than $1 million to development banks, repaying loans made to corrupt regimes like the decades-long Duvalier dictatorship,” said Brian Concannon, director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. “The $71.7 million Haiti will send to the World Bank and the Inter-American Bank this year alone could be better spent feeding Haitian citizens and stimulating Haiti’s economy. IJDH strongly urges the Senate to pass the Jubilee Act and give Haiti’s troubled democracy a chance to work.”

 

“It is incumbent upon the Senate to pass the Jubilee Act if there is to be any chance of fulfilling the promises made in the Millennium Development Goals.   Wipe out debt, wipe out poverty!” said Kim Nichols, co-Executive Director of New York-based African Services Committee.

 

“The Jubilee Act is essential to pave the path to debt cancellation for those poor countries that have not gotten debt relief and to help prevent countries that have already benefited from sliding back into further indebtedness and from being subjected to harmful conditionalities from the International Financial institutions,” said Katherine Hoyt, National Co-Coordinator, Nicaragua Network

Comments

[RDNP_Ottawa- RDNP_Canada]

“To think another Haiti for tomorrow”
(English translation of the original text)

Conference given by Mirlande H. Manigat (July, 2008), RDNP General Secretary, in her July 2008 North-American series of conferences under the invitation of Regional Branches of the RDNP (including the Chicago Branch).

First of all, allow me to cordially thank the Regional Branch of the RDNP in Chicago, that has invited me to stay in this city that I had not revisited since good dozen of years, I believe, and that I find with a pleasure that I do not seek to dissimulate.

Because it is always a great happiness for me to meet my compatriots of the Diaspora and to exchange with them ideas, projects, concerns about our Haiti. Haiti of which I like to say that the physical core is in the Caribbean Sea, extending on 27.500 km2. On this space rather reduced on the' universal scale live a few 8 million inhabitants. But there is another one, spangled could one say, of which the segments stretch in priority towards the American cities of New York, Boston, Chicago, Miami; are prolonged towards North to fix itself at Montreal and Ottawa, North and the North-East in the Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, in the Dominican Republic, then continue towards South-east to touch the French Departments of Martinique, Guadeloupe and, especially on the South-American continent, took root in French Guiana, in Surinam and Venezuela.

We have a “voyageuse” Haiti thus and, wherever they are, the Haitians share our tasty Creole, the Cuban practices that those acquired in the countries of they have adopted do not abolish (like the hamburger, or Fried Chicken, and rice djon djon?). We still quiver by listening to the “Dessalinienne” and we keep in our collective memory l' epopee of our ancestors, because we are legitimately proud to have made 1804 which symbolizes a double revolution; social (the end of slavery); and political (our independence).

Many among you, by need or family choice, acquired a foreign citizenship. I know that this thus evokes a point, which touches closely my compatriots of the Diaspora that I would not want to elude. Better, I will approach frankly with you because this is a question, which had set up a psychological barrier between the two Haiti.

First of all, allow me to fix a capital element and to dissipate a misunderstanding.

Some have tried, particularly at the time of the last elections, to establish a distinction between citizenship and nationality.

Let us say immediately that, from the strict legal point of view, the two terms are identical and one can employ them alternatively. One can say: “I am an Haitian citizen” and “I enjoy the dual nationality”.

Specificities are at the level of sociology, the feelings, and the behaviors. Citizenship comes from “CIVIS” the Rumanian city, which also gave us “citizen”. At all times, it evokes the legal tie, which exists between an individual and a given ground: this place exists since the birth and it is consigned in the records of the civil register. It is the first document that a State must give to its citizens and it is painful to stress that nearly 40% of Haitians did not receive this civil act, which means that the State does not recognize them; they are "not-people" who live for example, in the Dominican Republic, who are suffering the double tragedy of not holding a residence permit (they are “indocumentados”) nor, before illegally crossing the border, a recognition of their own country, allowing the Dominican authorities to take pretext of this deficiency for their children born there not to benefit from the advantages of the juice soli, the right of the ground, which would confer Dominican nationality to them.

Later, Haitians receive another document, which attests of their identity the passport, but only those who travel need it, need it-to say a negligible minority.

Nationality comes, also, from a Latin word charged of symbolism “nascere”, to be born. It connects the individual, in an almost carnal way to the ground that saw him or her being born. Our Creole gave to this an expression that reminds us our practices of the “KOTE KOD LONBRIT OU ANTERE”. Modernization tends to erase this practice. It is inevitable: the childbirth in an hospital involves a hygienic treatment of the umbilical cord destined to destruction. Mine is buried in Miragoâne in my grandmother's garden, and I had the happiness to recover and to bury that of my last grandson, however born in a private clinic of Togo, in the garden of a friend of my daughter who planted a tree there. These are symbols.

Nationality includes all that makes us who we are as Haitians: race, colors, languages, religions, our manner of celebrating holydays and deaths, our life of the fears, anguishes which defy reason and even prejudices. Our relationship with life, the illnesses and death, the mysteries, the universe, with God and the gods. A love of life and the manner to face life and its problems. In a recent article published as an homage to the 100th anniversary of the newspaper "Le Nouvelliste", the Professor Leslie F. MANIGAT delivered to us a penetrating analysis of Haitian collective psychology, “our misadventures, our weaknesses, our strong points” in which he had dissected the material elements, the psychological and even pathological traits that we share, the Haitian such as in himself, while taking into account individualities forged by the diversity of the destinies, the level of education and social establishment.

So one can understand that someone can affirm, with conviction, that he changed citizenship but not nationality, and can become American, Canadian or Turk while remaining Haitian. But, I repeat it, the problem is not at the level of the feelings and does not concern the attachment with the country.

Article 15 of the Constitution of 1987 is formal and concise: “Haitian and foreign dual nationality is not allowed in any case”.

This is a lock bolt which excludes not only those who as adults, took a foreign nationality, but also those who, before 1987, had the dual nationality at birth. These three words “in any case” thus have a globalazing range and an excluding effect; “san pas pou ki” like one says in Creole. This article, is undoubtedly the most known in the Diaspora (in Haiti it was Article 291 which become null and void since 1997) and it was received like a slap in the face by our compatriots of the Diaspora who legitimately interpreted it like a rejection, and a banishment from the national community.

But, for the discharge of the legislators of 1987, it is advisable to raise an ambiguity. They did not innovate by refusing the dual nationality. They made that to prolong a tradition that goes back to the beginnings of our independence.

Indeed, as of the Imperial Constitution of 1805, an Haitian lost his nationality “by emigration and by naturalization in a foreign country” (Article 7).

However, in the same text, it was indicated that white women and their children, and some useful foreigners such as some Germans and some Polish who had joined the indigenous army, were recognized as Haitians (Article 13).

This warning about the loss of nationality was included in all of our Constitutions. Better: until 1860, marriages with foreigners were prohibited; after the lifting of this prohibition, our Constitutions (1874, 1879,1889) and the great Law of August 1907 specified that a foreign woman who married an Haitian became Haitian; but Haitian women which married a foreigner lost their original identity and if they had owned property, they were held to sell them. They could recover their quality of Haitian only if they became widowed or divorced. These provisions were maintained until 1942.

This constancy concerning the conservation or the loss of nationality, is related to the conditions of independence, with a cold and jealous perception of nationality as being a dearly acquired privilege, and a severity towards citizens who, during the 19th century, did not hesitate to take foreign citizenship while residing in Haiti and especially did not hesitate to utilize the military and diplomatic power of their countries of adoption in the event of disorders and political unrest in Haiti. That is what one called in Haiti “the Gun-Boat diplomacy” and the Haitians preserve in their collective memory, even in a vague and fuzzy manner, the wound of the ' German Businessman" Luders (September - December 1897), the humiliating requirements of Germany which caused the heroic sinking of the admiral-boat “ La-Crete-a-Pierrot” by Admiral Killick.

The Constitutional provisions were lock bolts drawn up to protect sovereignty and Haitian identity even against its own sons. And legislators of 1986 - 87 did not dare or did not want to draw aside from this tradition.

All this introduction constitutes better than a simple introduction. It was desired to approach the various components contained in the topic of the conference.

“To think another Haiti for tomorrow”. This sentence concentrates a certain number of concerns and it appears convenient to me and useful to detach three (3) words:

First "to think". The infinitive form is not generic and does not refer to the faculty to think in the sense bequeathed by Descartes: “I think, therefore I am”. It is indeed one of the attributes of the human nature that someone is equipped with a certain intelligence. Anthropological research confirmed that any individual receives this attribute, in an unequal way at birth, and that this can be developed by education or shrink. We humans, believed that we had its; exclusiveness; but some of the specialists in the animal world proved the opposite, and undoubtedly teach us that animals also think, not like us. The more recent investigations lead to believe than some plants may also think.

Let me reassure you, I do not have necessary competence to endeavor adventurously into such highly philosophical and scientific debate! I wanted simply to stress that this thought, I see it, I conceive it, I defend it as being Haitian. It is our privilege and our responsibility to think on the problems that concern us, you living in Chicago and me coming from Haiti. There exists, between us, channels of communication animated by our common concern.

I believe, in parenthesis, that you must be also concerned by the American elections that relate to your destiny and as a blacks from Haiti, you are undoubtedly sensitized on the trajectory of this Illinois Senator who already made history in the United States and humanity. Perhaps, the women present here were attracted by the combat of Mrs. Clinton. Myself also, to a lesser degree, I am watching since the beginning the evolution of this campaign, unique in the world. But, you are also Haitians and so you could not be indifferent to becoming of your common motherland.

The second word that challenges, rather three associated words are: “another Haiti”.

If the focal point, the essential object is Haiti, the dynamics is revealed by the “another” adjective. Another Haiti. Means that that the one we have now is not appropriate to us, we do not like it, it presents too many negative aspects that we must be aware of, these do not prevent us from putting forward and magnify some positive assets and points.

Haiti in 2008 is the result of more than two (2) centuries of national life, marked by up and downs, projections and retreats, promising achievements and misadventures. This is normal and the evolution of the life of all the States of the world has been marked by this succession of achievements and of reverses. And for each period, it is advisable to make an assessment, and sometimes, according to the bottom line, the balance is positive, other times, it is a negative verdict that impose itself.

How does this affects you? Our country is afflicted by a series of evils that we cannot but indicate to you, in an no exhaustive way because the objective is not to overpower you but to strengthen your clearness.

I have selected for you three revealing fields of Haitian reality that I propose to develop briefly: the economic and social situation and; the problems of education and finally the political crisis of a society in an evil transition to democratization.

The Economic and social situation

I would not like to overpower you with figures, but it appears essential to me to underline the most essential indicators. Globally, our country is placed in the category of the poorest on the planet and the international analyses stress that, according to the classification of the United Nations, Haiti is the only country of the continent pertaining to the group of the least advanced Countries (LAC).

The UNDP publishes, since the last twenty years, a report which offers a comparative panorama of the development of countries by using three criteria of appreciation and thus of classification: life expectancy at birth, the rate of elimination of illiteracy of the adults and the Gross domestic product per capita. With the passing of years, the mechanisms of accumulation and interpretation of the data were specified. The result is the calculation of the IHD, the Index of Human Development. The relative data with 177 countries considered in the 2008 report give us the measurement of our backwardness, especially compared to Caribbean economy and Latin America.

The countries are gathered in 3 categories:

70 having a high Human development. At the top of the list we find

Iceland IDH (2005) 0,968. But also Barbados 31e (0,892); The Bahamas 49e (0,845); Cuba 51e (0,838); St Kitts Nevis 54e (0,821); Antigua Barbuda 57e (0,815); Trinidad and Tobago 59e (0,814).

84 countries enjoy an average Human development

1- Dominique 71e (0,798)
2. - St. Lucie 72e (0,795)
3. - Dominican Republic 79e (0,779)
4. - Belize 80e (0,778)
5. - Grenade 82e (0,777)
6. - Surinam 85e (0,774)
7. - St Vincent and Grenade 93e (0,761)
8. - Guyana 97e (0,750)
9. - Jamaica 101e (0,736)
10. - Haiti 146e (0,529). In 1980 (0,442); 1985 (0,462); 1990 (0,472); 1995 (0,487). No data for year 2000.

Lastly, 21 are found at the bottom of the scale, all are African countries, and at the bottom of the scale we find the Sierra Leone 177e (0,336).

Thus, Haiti is last among the Member States of the CARICOM.

The variation of our insufficiencies will make it possible to better seize the situation.

A 59,5 years life expectancy
A GDP per capita of $ 1663,
46% of the population without access to drinking water.

Population evaluated to 9,3 million in 2005 with a projection of 10,8 by 2015 of which 21,7% live in the cities because of internal migration which carried the peasants to flee the communal sections to install themselves in the underprivileged zones of the cities, in particular Port-au-Prince which saw its population increasing from 200.000 50 years ago to more than 2 million currently without the basic services (hospital, water, electricity, roadway system, schools, etc..) knowing a corresponding increase.

Haiti counts 25 doctors for 100.000 inhabitants and the women still die in labor (630 per 100.000) and death rate at birth is of 84 per thousand and children of less than 5 years 120 per 1000. Other indicators supplement this afflicting table.

GDP per head around $500 per capita; the balance of payments is negative (we export for 400 million US dollars and our imports reach 1.5 billion dollars US thus a deficit of 1 billion dollars US. We have an economy in suspension of production what accentuates the food dependence towards foreign countries.

A few 20 years ago, we had obtain a document drawn up by the Dominican council of Exports defining a plan of conquest of the Haitian market.

So the Dominican Republic dispatches us a variety of product 30 million of eggs per annum, but also of bananas, pieces of chicken, agro-alimentary products such as tomato paste.

Many Haitian businesses men have transported their activities in the close republic. According to the estimates provided by the Dominican ambassador in Haiti, the Haitian origin investments had reached 1 billion dollars US in 2007!

In addition to hemorrhage of currencies and reduction of economic activities and employment in a country where unemployment reaches 60% (by leaving aside informal commerce), this initiative further digs imbalance in our relationships with the Dominican Republic, especially while considering, what remains one of the main issues, the fate of our emigrated compatriots. There are perhaps 800.000 people working in the bateys, primarily for the harvest of the cane, the “ZAFRA”, but also in the construction industry, tourism.

And it is not without interest to underline that approximately 15.000 young people study in the various Dominican universities and better, some of them are developing, at the border, some French programs targeted to Haitian students. This initiative is still limited but it is significant.

Recently baptized agitations “riot of the hunger” highlighted this food dependence.

Indeed, the national rice consumption is of 450.000 tons per annum and we barely produce 110.000 t. A food consumption psycho - shift has happened in the country because rice was consumed by the stripped classes on Sundays and at the time of the occasions like a first communion and a baptism; currently, all the population eats rice every day, the traditional cornmeal ‘mayi moulin’ is perceived like food of the poor and, although it has become in any case, more expensive currently than rice.

You learned what happened: the hunger riots. According to the forecasts, they can still occur because appropriate solutions are not applied.

The National budget of 77 billion gourds is an average of 9625 gourds per person. But 40% of the Haitians, particularly those which live in the campaigns and in the shantytowns of the big cities must be satisfied with less than a dollar per day the currency exchange rate is 35 gourds for a dollar $US on average. The budget allocation underlines the precariousness of the living conditions and the treatment reserved by the State to certain problems. For example, the share of health in the budget fell from 8.09% 2 years ago by 2,62%. So death rate of nursery school children has passed from 523 per 100.000 to 630.

Allocated resources to education also regressed from 8,86% to 8,61%: thus, the objective of the millennium approved by the United Nations of universal schooling by 2015 will not be achieved.

Reserved appropriations to agriculture dropped by 3,8 billion gourds to 2,7 billion.

Haiti is not so much engulfed in debt like other countries of the Third world and its slate are of 1,37 billion dollars (the principal creditors are the World Bank and the Inter-American Bank of Development, but owe bilateral debts of 70 million to international institutions, 65 million to France, 15 million to the United States and 2 million to Canada); but the debt servicing represents 58,2 million dollars for 2008. The reduction or even the suppression of this debt claimed by various associations as those from the civil society of the Member States of G-8 to their French ministers either by the States Linked, or by the International institutions would represent, certainly a reduction, but this is a natural paradox; that needs to be solved, the problem is not located at the level of the debt itself because the internal economy cannot as for present, generate the financing for the necessary development, but rather with the procedures and conditions brought forward by the financial instances. It is a fact: the foreigners, “the white” as one likes to say in Haiti, are more generous than it is commonly believed and more understanding than a current propaganda is affirming.

But on one hand, an even poor country preserves a certain capacity of negotiation conditional upon it is serious, professional and worthy; of the other, our destitution should not make us accept anything.

Problems of the education

I grant a special treatment to the education of the young generation, not only because I work in the field of teaching at the university level, but also because the system forms a chain, and one could not conceive an analysis of the university situation without connecting it to the secondary which it feeds upon, which is in turn dependent on the primary education system. Education is a whole it is necessary to seize like as is.

I finally adds that the connection of education with a development strategy “s' impose”: the country will continue its descent if the related questions with the formation in all the fields and all the levels are not taken with seriousness and especially by not treating them in the light of modern teaching technology and tools to adapt to our conditions and our means.

The situation in this field is particularly afflicting. The Haitian present education system has accumulated deficiencies, which have worsened these last years in a manner, one could say exponentially.

I would not like to insist too much on the statistical data, but some of them are essential for a good comprehension of the problem.

Overall, the country attests an high rate of illiteracy, 55% of the adult population that various programs of elimination of illiteracy set up since 25 years ago did not succeed in solving. And this is without taking account of the phenomenon of illiteracy, observed and analyzed in developed countries, which indicates that if acquisition of instruction by elimination of illiteracy and even schooling, is not maintained, it is progressively lost.

An effort was carried out on the level of schooling of the children, in an unequal way, according to what one observes the provisions taken in the metropolitan zone or the provincial towns, and especially comparison between the latter and the communal sections the schooling offer is sharply differentiated. The deficiencies are shouting.

All the children do not integrate the cycle at 5 years of age, sometimes not until they are 9-10 years old, thus not ending at 18 years which mark, at the universal level, the term of school apprenticeship, on our premises, it is lengthened until 22 - 23 years. Because it is necessary, moreover to take into account the redoubling which is taking frightening proportions.

But another statistical indicator is even more negatively revealing: of 100 children who have the chance to integrate school at a reasonable age, 60 will manage to cross the stage of the 6th fundamental year (the certificate); 40 that the 9th year (the old “brevet”) and some 30 the “baccalaureate” of which the contents has impoverished considerably. This is the phenomenon of the “children left behind”.

Teaching is ensured, at the primary and secondary education levels 80% by private schools. And you know that the popular mischievousness calls a good number of them of the “schools borlette”, be-with-to say delivered randomly.

My firm conviction, which is also, an citizenly engagement, is that these schools must disappear one day. But if they are brutally closed, a social injustice would be created because they correspond to an education need and so they fulfill a social function.

I say it with sadness but in all clearness, it is better to have these schools, although defective than rather no schools at all. But it will rest on a responsible government to make so that the State commits to engage to renovate its own establishments, to fix reasonable criteria which must be met to allow one opening a school, to control their operation to taken care of the respect of the academic standards, the qualification of the teachers, by granting to these “borlette schools” a reasonable delay and control them to respect these established criteria.

Because no serious development can be under consideration without one reforms our education system. It is a question, which requires responsible direction and a realistic project for the country and its future.

On this subject, allow me to reproduce two sentences, already admirable when they are cited out individually, but are highly symbolic when one brings them closer in an association of thought, a vision, when spoken about education.

The first is a thought of the great French poet, Victor Hugo, who wrote in the 19th century and for his country.

“When one opens a school, one closes a prison”.

The second was emitted at the 20th century, by the Malian poet TINDER HAMPÂTÉ BA “In Africa, any old man who dies is a library which is consumed”.

All separates them, the moment, the geography and the concerns. However, I find in the symbolic system of this association an element that enables me to combine the pessimism of analyzes and clearness with the optimism of the will and our engagement.

And also to project in the future a policy aiming at opening more schools because those will make it possible for our young fellow-citizens to abandon the prison of ignorance, at the same time than they will be given the chance to re-discover, and develop, the empirical knowledge of our elders “Les Anciens”, before it is not absorbed in the flames of negligence, disinterest and the collective destruction.

Political dead end of a society in an evil transition to democratization

There exists a necessary connection between the objectives of sustainable development and the elaboration of politics defined here as the art of posing the problems and to find appropriate solutions to them. In this case one can speak about the primacy of politics, which maps and directs the apprehension and correct analysis of these problems, directs the research then the implementation of appropriate solutions, lucidly conceived, and according to precise and flexible mechanisms in order to modulate their adaptation according to the evolution of the socioeconomic climate. Because no method could be fixed for always and unexpected problem emerge as in much of the history of the country, since a score of years, was sown disorders and at the current hour, the country is plunged in a climate of uncertainty.

It appears convenient and useful to me to fix my position and that of my party before any analysis.

Indeed, my angle of observation is dependent from my academic formation which gives me the instruments of objective analysis; in the second place I am observing and commenting starting from my position of chief of an opposition party; finally, I must stress that I am placed in a situation of an absolute observer because first of all, before during and after the unfolding of the last events, we were not consulted, not to say even remotely associated with the initiatives adopted by the Executive and by the Parliament. I kept myself from publicly stating this fact so that no one does misinterprets my remarks as a request. But it is conceivable that in a crisis situation, in any country of the world, that the political sectors, associated or not with the Government is at least consulted, on in the conjecture. The silence of the decision makers in this connection is convenient because it releases us to hold, and we thus preserve the total control of our critical observations and the solutions which we consider possible.

The political situation of the country is the result of a combination of structural and conjectural problems in which mix, beside the economic situation, noxious effects of a deeply uneven social reality, obstacles coming from and unsuited and difficultly applicable Constitution as a regulatory instrument of control of the political action, and of course, the action of the men in power and the ‘democraticidal plays’ that they stubbornly continue to pursue.

The social inequalities spread out in a series of dichotomies of which some are manifest since the beginnings of our independence and were encrusted in the structures and mentalities throughout our national history, creating a scale of superiority among the various segments of the population.

The principal lines of cleavage are like they were admirably analyzed by Professor MANIGAT in his book on “the contemporary Haitian crisis”, published a few years ago, now exhausted and fortunately in the course of reprinting. And it is enough within the framework of this talk, to mention them, even if each one would have deserved a moderate analysis:

Languages because if all the population is “créolophone”, only a minority of 15% control French through the three uses of the language, speaking, reading and writing. In the social relations and mentalities, the French speech is synonymous with privilege, prestige and superiority.

Three (3) religions: Catholicism, Protestantism and voodoo. Even by taking account of the syncretism practiced by the Haitians, there exists between them a certain tension, and third is perceived through a negative prism though hypocritical.

The color of the skin that plays a dividing part, since our independence that had however marked an exceptional moment of solidarity between the vast majority of the black slaves and the mulatto minority. The distinctions remain, often dangerously poked for reasons of opportunity, as has just done President Préval who estimated that the opposition to Robert Manuel, Prime Minister presented, was due to the fact that he is a mulatto. The social prejudices exist in the country and they marry readily the differences in colouring of the skin. And while combatting them, it is appropriate to recognize the harmfulness of their natural action and especially of their exploitation.

Of course, it is necessary to mention the inequalities between men and the women who account for 52% of the population. They do not appear any more at the legal level because the Constitutions, since 1950, proclaimed equality of the sexes, recognized the women's right to be eligible then electors, replaced the supremacy of the father by the shared parental authority, removed the defamatory distinction between legitimate, natural, and adulterous children. Much remains to be made, in particular to resorb the noxious effects of two family realities: those made up according to the Civil code and which account for 20% of them and the others which remain in a legal situation of deficiency which does not take account of their diversity and does not protect the women: placed, FANM SOU KOTE, MANMAN PITIT, household heads composed of single-parent without a regular father etc… This is a delicate matter to treat with precaution. The bill in this direction has not been even discussed yet at the Parliament but some highly significant and sensitive aspects are approached there. It is enough to mention some key questions: is it necessary to legalize free union for example in integrating it in the civil code? Is it necessary to admit the duality of the matrimonial conditions? What do the women want themselves? Other questions retain their attention elsewhere: marital violence, early maternities, and equal professional treatment.

Lastly, a special attention must be granted to the dichotomy: cities – rural areas which opposes those which live in the cities and those which are wedged in the communal sections, in spite of a strong movement of internal migration of the latter towards the urban centers, particularly Port-au-Prince, in a disorder which create spaces for “shanty-townization”, and introducing the countryside practices in the cities which were not prepared to receive and integrate a continuous flood of citizens who cruelly miss essential services such as drinking water, electricity supply, schools, health centers.

This phenomenon has created, within the national space a cohabitation between two Haiti’s and exacerbated the social differentiations. The political answer has been the “CHIMERISATION” of the disadvantaged layers, the exploitation of their miseries to selfishly confiscate the political power, without bringing any solutions to their problems.

It is necessary to go to the obvious: the citizens who are thus massed under revolting conditions that challenge the human conscience and political duty will not go back to the countryside which is not idyllic as the townsmen believe, but are rather inhospitable. An adapted policy will have, certainly, to encourage them to regain the communal sections, but it will not be enough to bugle that it is a necessity, it will be necessary to create, on the spot, for their benefit, the means to a decent existence. And in this direction, decentralization such as it is conceived in the Constitution of 1987 and badly applied until now, does not help to solve the problems of the population, and is rather the intellectual mask which dissimulates the splitting up of misery.

In this context solidified by archaism charged with the explosive virtualities of the social struggle, the evolution of the political game does not contribute to forge any optimism.

Admittedly, it is true that the Constitution of 1987 present some serious deficiencies and I endeavored myself to expose them, going even further to recommend 13 years ago the drafting of a new Constitution. I did not change my opinion but I have estimated that the moment is not favorable for helding a Constituent Assembly. Consequently, I recommend to resort to its amendment, even if the procedure envisaged is sterile and is likely to remain sterile instead of helping to solve the problems.

Having said that, paradoxically, the Constitution, though abused, represents a guarantee against the will and omnipotence of the Executive power. But not only this parapet is fragile, and risks of being swept, we do not have a political culture able to carry the Haitians masses to defend the Constitution.

We are dealing with men in power who do not respect the standards and who resort more readily to corruption, intimidation, tricks, programmed agitations to face political problems. However, apparently the constitutional requirements were complied with: a Prime Minister in function was relieved due to incompetence, two who had a presentiment of Prime Ministers did not pass the test of the application of Article 157.

But, according to astutely filtered information, we know, or we suspect, which politically are the same, that negotiations were held at the cost of hard cash and enticing promises, which overcame many hesitations. And these more or less verifiable insinuations have created in the conscience of citizens, insidiously, that the political decisions do not obey to the constitutional standards, look even for a certain decency in behavior, but with sordid bargaining in which the one who wins is the one who pays more!

And popular mischievousness not remaining silent has introduced amusing matters in a context that is not. The newspaper “le Nouvelliste” reports in its edition of June 12, 2008 that the figure 12 could be regarded as being malefic.

April 12: censorship vote against Jacques Edouard Alexis.
May 12: rejection of the candidate PM; Erick Pierre at the post of Prime Minister.
June 12: rejection of Robert Manuel.

And what “does not reassure” is that the President of the Charged commission to study the file of the last proposed Prime Minister is ' call Gasner ..... TWELVE!

Definitely, the superstitious ones think, figure 12 carries misfortune. What will thus occur on July 12 or on August 12…?

But, many political problems remain outstanding: no constitutional or legal text specifies the contents and the duration of the “current affairs” that a relieved Government is supposed to dispatch. What is the extent of its capacity with regards to the control of the international relations and engagement of the State near the financial backers?

It is still not known when the elections for one third of the Senate will take place and one suspects that the intention of the executive is to organize them at the same time as those that will have to decide of the composition of the second third of the Senate next year, and to renew the House of Commons.

At the same time there are rumors that circulate about the resignation of Rene Garcia Préval who would suffer a certain lassitude, whereas others quite as persistent lend to the contrary that he intends to hang to power, to dissolve the Parliament and to govern by decrees.

All this creates a noxious faintness and to think another Haiti, to believe it to be possible and effective is not an easy thing.

However, such is our mission and such is our responsibilities. It is imprudent to hope that a salutary brush blow will come to cleanse the situation and to create the conditions of a revival. There is, unfortunately, strong presumptions for a worsening of the conjecture and we better prepare us for it.

That is what I came to say to you in this day. It is my condition. It is my combat. Yes, another Haiti is possible!

Thank you!!!

[Pat Stephenson]

Communications Request

Dear friends,

Mrs. Mirlande H. Manigat vice-rector of the Quisqueya University will be of passage in the National Capital at the beginning of
June.

A mini-symposium is considered between Friday June 8, 2008, and Sunday June 10 or from June 13 to June 15, 2008.

The topics tentatively selected will be "Education, Démocratisation, globalisation, Good Governance and the Hunger Riots".

Of a multidisciplinary nature, this mini-symposium will explore the socio-economic reality of the young and the ` plus grand nombre' in their geopolitical context and the economic situation of ` Provoqued-Famine' by the North-South néo-liberal policies.

Those whom the question interests, PLEASE forward your proposals for communications to the following address: RDNP_Ottawa-owner@yahoogroups.com

[Pat Stephenson]

Demande de communications

Chers Amis ,Mme Mirlande H. Manigat vice-rectrice de l'Université Quisqueya sera de passage dans la Capitale Nationale début Juin.

Un mini-symposium est envisagé entre le vendredi 8 Juin 2008, au dimanche 10 Juin ou du 13 au 15 Juin 2008.

Les thèmes tentativement retenus seront « Éducation, Démocratisation, Globalisation, Bonne Gouvernance et Émeutes de la Faim».

De nature multidisciplinaire, ce mini-symposium explorera la réalité socioéconomique des jeunes et du ‘plus grand nombre’ dans leur contexte géopolitique et la conjoncture de ‘Famine-provoquée’ par les politiques néo-libérales Nord-Sud.

Ceux que la question intéresse, faites SVP parvenir vos propositions de communications a l'adresse suivante:
RDNP_Ottawa-owner@yahoogroups.com