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26714: Ives: (reply) Re: 26712: Simidor (comment): Re 26669: This Week in Haiti (fwd)




From: K. M. Ives <kives@toast.net>

I knew it was only a matter of time before Daniel Simidor would come to the defense of his friends in Batay Ouvriye, USAID, the Solidarity Center and Washington. He presents us with classic ultra-"leftism": talk left, walk right. Rather than the usual gossip, rumor, and "zen" that the likes of Simidor deal in, Sprague offers a researched and reasoned piece that tears away the sheeps' clothing on the ultra-"left" wolves.

I should also respond to Simidor's predictable attack on Haiti Progres. After Dorismond's killing, the Rev. Al Sharpton proposed that the NYPD reach out, through community newspapers and radio, to hire more minority police officers. Haiti Progres, like ALL the Haitian radios, newspapers, and all the Caribbean and African-American media too, ran ads where the NYPD appealed for Haitians and African-Americans to join the force. A less racist, more culturally sensitive NYPD is not in itself a bad thing. After all, we were fighting police brutality, not the police as an institution.

Ultra-"leftists" in the Haitian Coalition for Justice seized on the publication of the ads to wage their usual guerilla war against Haiti Progres and Ben Dupuy (whom they hate almost as much as Aristide). Of course, they never raised the issue with any of the other Haitian media which also ran the ad. Disgusted with such infantile sectarian tantrums, I left the Haitian Coalition for Justice, which never did much after that, becoming a shell of an organization until it dissolved entirely several months later. They never got a chance to "throw me out," although they made plenty of face-saving declarations.

Simidor also talks about a "well-funded" International Tribunal on Haiti. Where does he get that? The usual ultra-"left" gossip parlors, of course. Two sessions of the Tribunal have been held, in Washington on Sep. 23 and Boston on Nov. 19, thanks to the support of grassroots contributions that have come through CISPES and Nicaragua Network following funding appeals (Internet & mailing) sent out by the groups and individuals collaborating on the Tribunal, which includes a wide range of Latin American and Haitian solidarity and human rights groups, as well as the support of International A.N.S.W.E.R. and the International Action Center (IAC). (Still, we need support to continue the work of the Tribunal, which has a large deficit, particularly after the Oct. 6-11 Commission of Inquiry led by Ramsey Clark).

It seems Daniel was impressed with the 5 x 7 glossy color cards we printed to publicize the Tribunal's sessions. A colleague of mine overheard him exclaiming that "this must have cost a lot of money." Pity he doesn't try to organize something himself someday so he could discover that such glossy cards (used by Caribbean entertainment producers throughout Queens, Brooklyn, & Miami) are much more economical (and durable!) than paper flyers. But then the ultra-"left" has no real clientele to distribute such flyers to, having garnered the universal disdain of New York's Haitian community.

As for his charge that the Lavalas Family party has accepted "millions of dollars, yes millions,... from the National Democratic Institute and other State Department-funded institutions over the years," perhaps he could tell us all how many millions the FL has accepted, when and how they did so, and what HIS sources are.

Simidor also asserts that "aside from Haiti-Progres' owner, the Lyndon Larouche-like Ben Dupuy and his virtual National People Party (PPN), the Haitian left universally rejected the greedy Lavalas Family leader." This is patently false. One has only look at the size of the rallies organized by the Left groups opposing the coup against Aristide in Haiti versus those of he ultra-"left" grouplets supporting the coup. It's thousands versus a handful. (It would also be interesting to see the day when Simidor or any of his ultra-"left" friends could bring out thousands for a demonstration or a Congress as the PPN has done repeatedly over the years).

Finally, Simidor promotes Michael Deibert's "Notes from the Last Testament," one of the most ignorant and arrogant books ever written on Haiti. Deibert, a right-wing hack and gung-ho supporter of the Bush Administration's wars of aggression following 9/11, has woven a tapesty of gossip, inaccuracies and lies, much like Simidor does. Birds of the feather....

Kim Ives