Israeli Forces Kidnap Cynthia McKinney

Israeli forces boarded a ship carrying Cynthia McKinney and 20 others and took them all into custody. The ship was in international waters. It was on a humanitarian mission to Gaza.

In 2008, the ship carrying Cynthia was rammed by Israeli forces.

Her boat was carrying crayons, paint, coloring books, pencils and paint brushes.

22nd June 2009 Video Free Gaza News Press Conference

Two of the organizers, Huwaida Arraf and Greta Berlin, as well as the Honorable Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. Congresswoman from Georgia, held a press conference yesterday in Doha, Qatar. All three called on the world to recognize Palestinian human and civil rightsrights that have been denied for 61 years.

In three days, the Free Gaza movement sails 240 miles from Cyprus to Gaza, its eighth mission to break Israels draconian siege on 1.5 million Palestinians there. In the holds of the FREE GAZA and the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY will be tons of cement, and suitcases full of toys, crayons and coloring books for the children, all items banned by Israels government.

Speaking to Al Jazeera and eight other news organizations, Ms Arraf emphasized, International donors pledged over $4bn to rebuild Gaza, yet none of them are doing a thing about the fact that Israel allows no building supplies into the territory. So 36 of us from 16 countries are leaving on Thursday to tell the world to do something.

The group intends to go at least three times over the summer; June 25th, July 14th, and August 16th, near the anniversary of the first successful voyage.

– Gaza Friends

Spirit of Humanity left Cyprus on June, the 29th to bring to Gaza medical supplies and cement. Mission updates at freegaza.org/live

Update: 07.02.09

Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire Speaks from Israeli Jail Cell After Arrest on Boat Delivering Humanitarian Aid to Gaza

VIEW VIDEO HERE

Irish Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire speaks to us from her jail cell in Israel. She was taken into custody along with twenty others, including former US Congress member Cynthia McKinney, when the Israeli military boarded their ship in international waters as it tried to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. -- DemocracyNow.org

Cynthia McKinney calls WBAIX from Israeli prison

The latest news:

"Israel on Wednesday reportedly sent home two of the 21 people taken aboard a ship that attempted to break through a blockade and deliver supplies to Gaza.

Authorities released an American filmmaker and a Danish human rights activist, according to freegaza.org, the web site of the Free Gaza Movement, which organized the voyage opposing the blockade."

-- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

___________________

CYNTHIA MCKINNEY--GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES--PRESS RELEASE

Green Party: President Obama and the US State Dept. must demand release of Cynthia McKinney and 20 other human rights activists on Free Gaza relief boat seized by Israeli gunboats

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org

READ PRESS RELEASE HERE.

Update 07.02.09 6:57pm

Kidnapped Passengers from the Spirit of Humanity include:
Khalad Abdelkader, Bahrain
Khalad is an engineer representing the Islamic Charitable Association of Bahrain.

Othman Abufalah, Jordan
Othman is a world-renowned journalist with al-Jazeera TV.

Khaled Al-Shenoo, Bahrain
Khaled is a lecturer with the University of Bahrain.

Mansour Al-Abi, Yemen
Mansour is a cameraman with Al-Jazeera TV.

Fatima Al-Attawi, Bahrain
Fatima is a relief worker and community activist from Bahrain.

Juhaina Alqaed, Bahrain
Juhaina is a journalist & human rights activist.

Huwaida Arraf, US
Huwaida is the Chair of the Free Gaza Movement and delegation co-coordinator for this voyage.

Ishmahil Blagrove, UK
Ishmahil is a Jamaican-born journalist, documentary film maker and founder of the Rice & Peas film production company. His documentaries focus on international struggles for social justice.

Kaltham Ghloom, Bahrain
Kaltham is a community activist.

Derek Graham, Ireland
Derek Graham is an electrician, Free Gaza organizer, and first mate aboard the Spirit of Humanity.

Alex Harrison, UK
Alex is a solidarity worker from Britain. She is traveling to Gaza to do long-term human rights monitoring.

Denis Healey, UK
Denis is Captain of the Spirit of Humanity. This will be his fifth voyage to Gaza.

Fathi Jaouadi, UK
Fathi is a British journalist, Free Gaza organizer, and delegation co-coordinator for this voyage.

Mairead Maguire, Ireland
Mairead is a Nobel laureate and renowned peace activist.

Lubna Masarwa, Palestine/Israel
Lubna is a Palestinian human rights activist and Free Gaza organizer.

Theresa McDermott, Scotland
Theresa is a solidarity worker from Scotland. She is traveling to Gaza to do long-term human rights monitoring.

Cynthia McKinney, US
Cynthia McKinney is an outspoken advocate for human rights and social justice issues, as well as a former U.S. congressperson and presidential candidate.

Adnan Mormesh, UK
Adnan is a solidarity worker from Britain. He is traveling to Gaza to do long-term human rights monitoring.

Adam Qvist, Denmark
Adam is a solidarity worker from Denmark. He is traveling to Gaza to do human rights monitoring.

Adam Shapiro, US
Adam is an American documentary film maker and human rights activist.

Kathy Sheetz, US
Kathy is a nurse and film maker, traveling to Gaza to do human rights monitoring.

Mourner Shot dead at Funeral in Haiti (*graphic image*)

"UN provoke mourners, gun down the unarmed, blames the killing on the crowd of mourners at Father Jean Juste's Haiti funeral"
-- Ezili Danto

Photo Credit: Haiti Information Project

Is this the *Face of the Revolution*? Unbelievable! A man is killed on the streets of Port-au-Prince during Father Jean-Juste's funeral march. The head shot is a favorite shot of the UN occupying force in Haiti. It is used as a deterent of sorts -- want to protest the occupation or any other injustice, this could happen to you. More details on the shooting here and here.

The UN is attributing the shooting to a Haitian. This attempt to blame a Haitian among the mourners gathered at Father Jean Juste's funeral is not credible. These UN soldiers have a history in Haiti. They have committed massacres, rapes (more), murders and other crimes during their brutal occupation since the US sponsored coup of the democratically elected president (Aristide).

Photo Credit: Haiti Information Project

The MSM in the US turn deaf ears and blind eyes to Haitians suffering these kinds of indignities and injustices just miles from their unfriendly shores.

These Black voices are not heard. All eyes and ears are fixed on what is happening many thousands of miles away in Iran.

Haitians Under Constant Surveillance

This photo was taken on August 15th, 2007, across from the Presidential Palace during a demonstration calling for the safe return of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine. These UN soldiers were among a group who were surrounding the presidential palace, photographing the demonstrators.

How many are dead from this UN occupation? Many thousands now since the US sponsored coup of Aristide in 2004. The Lancet reports over 8,000 murdered and over 35,000 raped -- but that is just the conservative estimate. Note: the US also sponsored a coup in 1991.

Once again the criminal(s) walk away free with the blood of a Haitian on their hands.

"Why are the missiles called peace keepers
When they're aimed to kill...

Love is hate
War is peace
No is yes
And we're all free

But somebody's gonna have to answer
The time is coming soon
When the blind remove their blinders
And the speechless speak the truth"

-- Tracy Chapman

HatTip: Ezili Danto

UPDATE 06.25.09 : 6:07 pm:

Video Footage of shooting: Cue the video to 1:19 for the shot fired by the UN at the crowd level from the back of a small pickup truck.

Radio Tele Ginen Video Footage:

Find more videos like this on Radio Tele Ginen

Edner Paul, Haitian immigrant and MIT, Class of 2013

Photo: The Boston Globe Edner Paul is a 16 year old from Haiti who will be entering MIT this fall on a fall scholarship. A Boston Globe article describes how "MIT was Paul's first choice" and "his scholarship is valued at $50,000 a year." "He arrived in Boston barely able to speak or write in English, but Edner Paul did not allow that to stand in his way. In his four short years in the United States, this 16-year-old whiz kid from Haiti accomplished one feat after another. He mastered the English language within months and soon after passed a rigorous admission exam to the John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science. On Friday, he will graduate as valedictorian with a full scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His success is as much a story about new immigrants as it is a tale about the re-emergence of the O'Bryant. Paul's admission to MIT follows that of two O'Bryant graduates last year. They are the first crop of students from that school to attend MIT in recent memory, said MIT and Boston school officials." Edner grew up in St. Marc, Haiti. He is the first from his family to finish High School. He decided at an early age to devote himself to school. Edner's mother never graduated from high school and she wanted better for Edner, so he studied very hard in order to succeed in school.

Photo: questbridge.org Edner's profile on Questbridge (a non-profit program that links students with some of the nation's best colleges) states that "He and his family came to the United States in March 2005 with the hope of having a better life. Adjusting to a new environment has been difficult, but Edner constantly tries to expand his knowledge and has now developed a passion for poetry and tries to connect with nature in particular."

Wake and Funeral of Father Jean Juste - Photos

Gade Sa Neg D'Ayiti fè Mwen! -
Look at What Haiti's Tyrants Did To Me!

Ezili Danto has written an account of the trials of Father Jean Juste in seeking medical attention in a Miami hospital. Father Jean Juste endured cruel treatment when he was ill and dependent. It is indicative of the manner that the poor are treated in general in this world. A sad and last irony that he was not afforded the dignity to die in peace. He fought against ill treatment of the poor only to have the same treatment visited on him in his last days. Father Jean Juste first contracted Leukemia while held for seven months as a political prisoner by the US appointed de facto government of Gerard LaTortue in Haiti.

"During his last hospitalization in Miami, in January of 2009, when the hospital insisted Father Jean Juste had to give up the hospital bed and leave without the medication he couldn't afford, even though he was almost at death's door unable to breathe with a respiratory problem, these women of Veye Yo, who sat with him, took turns sleeping in the hospital to comfort him, relayed this to be close to his very last words, said with some strength before he would fall into semi-consciousness. Jean Juste, a fighter to the end, told the Miami hospital that was refusing him medical care that he could not leave without three things - he asked for a wheelchair, medication for the pain and gas for his respiratory tank. The hospital refused because they said he owed too much money already and needed to pay at least half of "perhaps more than $60,000, I am not sure but he owed a lot" recalls Veronique Fleurime of Veye Yo. No Church official was there. Father Jean Juste had been fighting for human rights and equal treatment in Miami for Haitians since before 1979 when he headed Miami's Haitian Refugee Center. Ultimately it was "Ben" from Veye Yo who would hurry and apply for Medicaid to stop Jyeri from being thrown out of the hospital without any medication while so ill. Reportedly, the hospital's social worker, charged to do this task, never put the Medicaid papers through." Read more.

The article also blasts the uneven and biased coverage by the Miami Herald of the Father's death. Ezili points out that, "For every good word they are forced to say about him, there's an awful jagged-edged pen-knife-stabbing ahead or below it. To wit: ''The jail time, the illness brought a lot of wisdom,'' Jean-Mary of Notre Dame said. ``I wish he had developed it earlier. At the same time, you have to respect his convictions. He was a fighter.'' (Miami Herald, June 7, 2009)"

The Funeral Walk and Memorial Service demanding justice for Pere Gerard Jean Juste

The Funeral Walk demanding justice for Jean Juste
June 6, 2009 during final walk, after Church memorial,
to Veye Yo behind hearse that carried Father Jean Juste's body.
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________

Father Jean Juste's family mourns. An inconsolable Lavarice Gaudin,
head of Veye Yo, Father Jean Juste's grassroots Miami organization
struggling for human rights for Haitian in the US and in Haiti is seated with the family,
third from right. June 6, 2009 at Church memorial for Father Jean Juste
Photo Credit: Didi Crevecoeur
____________________

Mourners listening to service under tent outside crowded church.
June 6, 2009 at Church memorial for Father Jean Juste.
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________

A mourner outside the crowded church
June 6, 2009 at Church memorial for Father Jean Juste
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________
The final walk, after Church memorial, to Veye Yo behind
hearse that carried Father Jean Juste's body.
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________
The funeral walk. The casket that carried Father Jean Juste's body.
Photo Credit: Didi Crevecoeur
____________________
The Funeral Walk
Signs display displeasure with the Catholic Church for
its treatment of Father Gerard Jean Juste
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________
Sign displays displeasure with the Catholic Church and the Haitian Oligarchy.
Placards read "Revolution is the only solution for the liberation of Haitians." "Judas betrayed Jesus, the Catholic Church with Group 184 steals, sacrificed Father Jean Juste." "Down with the collaborators and imperialists for liberation"
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________
The Funeral Walk
Father Reginald, far right, (holding the arm of a parishioner) gave the only
memorable Church sermon during the wake, on Friday, June 5, 2009, about the hypocrisy of those who persecuted Father Jean Juste, yet now can't rush to the frontlines fast enough to praise him at his funeral in order to leverage his reputation in the community for their own political capital.
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________

The Funeral Walk in traditional Haitian Karabela dress
with a button on her headress for Jean Juste.
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________
Crowd is watching funeral on-screen outside Church, some in traditional
Karabela Haitian dress proclaiming Father Jean Juste a Haitian Hero.
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________

A Haitian woman in traditional karabela Haitian dress
with a Zaka hat waiving the Haitian flag, remembering Father Jean Juste.
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________

Wall Memorial
Mesi Anpil - Thank you much
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________
The Funeral Walk - Sign displays displeasure with
President Preval and with the Coup D'etat folks of Haiti
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________

Sign accuse Coup D'etat folks in death of Father Jean Juste -

Andre Apaid, Charles Baker, Lilliane Pierre Paul, Herve St. Hilus and de facto Culture Minister, Magalie Comeau-Denis whose false accusations imprisoned Jean Juste and who, speaking during the funeral for Jacques Roche, wrongly pretended Jean Juste had something to do with Roche's death, going as far as to call Jean-Juste "a symbol of the reign of violence in Haiti."
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange

____________________

Placards accuse Coup D'etat folks/Group 184 and
Church of crucifying Father Jean Juste.
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________
Katherine Kean, documentary filmmaker, owner of the
Tap Tap Haitian Restaurant in Miami and Crowing Rooster Arts.
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________
Gathering at Veye Yo
June 6, 2009 the gathering at Veye Yo, Father Jean Juste's
grassroots organization on 54th Street.
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________

Gathering at Veye Yo
June 6, 2009 the gathering at Veye Yo, Father Jean Juste's
grassroots organization on 54th Street.
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________
Veye Yo's - Farah Juste, Lucie Tondreau, Lavarice Gaudin - address the crowd
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________
Veye Yo. June 6, 2009 memorial procession gathers
at Veye Yo on 54 Street, Miami, Florida.
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________
Veye Yo. June 6, 2009 memorial procession gathers
at Veye Yo on 54 Street, Miami, Florida.
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________
A final farewell at Veye Yo
June 6, 2009 memorial procession's gathering at Veye Yo,
Father Jean Juste's grassroots organization on 54th Street.
Photo Credit: Norluck Dorange
____________________

Jean Juste of Haiti – Cause of Death: Indefinite Detention

Father Jean Juste – Father of the Just
by Professor Bell Angelot
May 27, 2009

"Like Jeremiah the prophet, he knew the inside of a prison. Like Martin Luther King, Jr. he preached love. Like Mahatma Gandhi he lived non-violence and overcame violence. Just as Moses never reached the Promised Land, he too, did not see the day of the complete liberation of the Haitian people."

Father Jean Juste was always coupled to what’s just and morally right.

A powerful spirit has left this earth, and our mourning darkens the whole city. A griot left for eternity and the whole tribe is in tears. But though the prophet is gone, his light remains. The Haitian community of Miami has just rung the toll to announce in pain, and in a flood of tears the departure from this planet of Reverend Father Gérard Jean-Juste. Father Jean-Juste was one of the pioneers of Liberation Theology alongside Jean Bertrand Aristide of Haiti, Leonardo Boff of Nicaragua and Oscar Romero of Salvador.

Father Jean Juste was the spoke-person of the poor, the homeless, and for all who thirst for justice. Father Jean Juste was a megaphone for the victims of exclusion, those hungry for love, those suffering from the selfishness of others and inequalities of all sorts. Father Jean Juste was the flag bearer for Haitian immigrant rights, for those without papers, for those who braved the shark-infested seas and for whom Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is still denied. Father Jean Juste was a man of justice, his very name called forth what’s just.

One can well compare the struggle of Father Jean Juste to that of the biblical Moses who delivered his people from the persecution of slavery. ("Let my people go!" Moses said to the Pharaoh of his time). This cry of Moses came often of the lips of Father Jean Juste, the Prophet from Petite Place Cazeau, Haiti: “I have certainly seen the affliction of my people, I have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows.” (Exodus 3:7).



Father Jean Juste was a martyr. While distributing food to hungry children, he was arrested and tortured by the political dictators in 2005. Some months later, even in the deepest bowels of a church, The Sacred Heart Church of Turgeau, the very same church where Izmery was assassinated, draped in his priest cassock, Father Jean Juste was brutally beaten almost to unconsciousness, manhandled and humiliated, afterwards waking up in prison.

Like Jeremiah the prophet, he knew the inside of a prison. Like Martin Luther King, Jr. he preached love. Like Mahatma Gandhi he lived non-violence and overcame violence. Just as Moses never reached the Promised Land, he too, did not see the day of the complete liberation of the Haitian people. The passing of Father Jean Juste brings us tears, this is a painful severance for us. Of course, the lost of Father Jean Juste brings us grief, but we believe that Father Jean Juste lives on.

Again in the years to come, we shall hear, all across Little Haiti in Miami, the echo of his voice denouncing discriminatory immigration laws. Through time, his voice shall still wholly resound on Haiti, saying no to violence, no to exile, no to arbitrary arrests, indefinite detentions, no to Coup D’etats. Jean Juste lives on and it is now that his butchers will tremble. For without confessing their wrongs and without altering their ways they allowed their victim to die, a man whose heart was filled only with compassion and tolerance.

Father Jean Juste left us on an assignment to meet up with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to whom he shall say that love amongst the races and race equality is still a dream; to meet up with John Fitzgerald Kennedy to whom he will say that Democracy and Peace are still the big challenges of our peoples; to meet up with Father Jean Marie Vincent, to whom he shall say that the movement to bring literacy to our people has fallen by the waste side; to meet up with (Haiti’s founding father) Jean Jacques Dessalines to tell him that our country has been sold, it’s been torn apart, its been bloodied - peyi a vann, peyi a fann, peyi a tonbe nan sann - and we’ve been divided. He is not dead/He lives on! His body succumbed to the vicissitudes: to pains that even defied science, to evil his heart and his brain could no longer bring order to, to political shocks that his conviction and his morale could no longer endure.

In the name of the larger Lavalas Movement, we bid farewell to Father Gerard Jean Juste and wish him a good journey. In the name of all the cadres, the grassroots/popular organizations, in the name of the Lavalas vision of inclusion, we say thank you Father Jean Juste. Thank you very much brother/compatriot, we shall continue to be the Sentinels – (to watch out - veye yo - look out for the enemy).

The Haitian Center of Research and Social Science Investigations, bows in great reverence, before the remains of the greatest tree (Mapou) to be cut down in the forest of the just. May your demonstrations of faith, lessons in courage, messages of patriotism, forever be the oil that lights our lamps to bring the light in the darkness of realms, serve us all as the chorus of hope, songs of resistances, hymn of love and friendship. For, as the (Haitian author, Jacques) Roumain said in his book, Governors of the Dew - "The fruit that rots nourishes the hope of the new tree."


Professeur Bell Angelot
Directeur du Centre Haïtien
De Recherches et d'Investigations
En Sciences Sociales

Translated into English by Ezili Danto

YON SÈL NOU FÈB, ANSANM NOU FÒ, ANSANM, ANSANM NOU SE LAVALAS.
"Alone we are weak, together we're strong, together, together we are Lavalas (the flood)"
www.fanmilavalas.net 954-670-9209
PO BOX 2252 FORT PIERCE, FLORIDA 34954

IMF vs The Bank of the South - IMF to Clean Up Its Act?

At the Group of 20 summit in London last month, President Obama pledged to boost IMF funding to "help countries weather the global economic crisis." On Thursday, May 21st, the Senate approved the IMF funding as a part of the $91 billion funding bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This seems appropriate somehow, since international banking institutions like the IMF have laid waste to the economies of poor countries of the global south.

The IMF, World Bank and International Development Bank (IDB) have similar stated missions: "working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world." However, a 2000 internal World Bank report concluded that poor countries are better off without structural adjustment and that some of their policies do not work. Almost a decade later no significant reforms to these antiquated policies have been made, not at the World Bank, not at the IMF nor at the IDB.

Some of the general issues that are of great concern to countries who have been burned by these institutions are outlined below. Additionally, the human rights abuses perpetrated against Haiti by the IDB are also explained. Unfortunately, when these human rights abuses were happening in Haiti, calls for accountability fell on Congress' deaf ears.

Is the global economic crisis enough to spur legislators in Washington to look into past abuses in order to avoid future missteps by these antiquated institutions? Not likely. Washington's modus operandi is to *move on* from crisis to crisis with no accountability for past abuses. When a crisis results from bad policies, the mantra from Washington is predictable; *we must look forward, and not backward*.

While it's clear that international banking institutions, sorely need to have "pre-conditions" for any new funding, what is not clear is whether the Congress has the will to impose or enforce any existing or new standards. Particularly, if it would require reform of the existing policies of these institutions.

The world banking system has virtually collapsed from greed and corruption, yet aside from show hearings, no real reform or accountability for Wall Street and banks has taken place in Congress. Also, to date the particularly predatory, criminal practices of the IMF, World Bank and IDB have not come under any substantive scrutiny from the mainstream media.

For instance, the IDB is accused of human rights violations in Haiti. An expose in 2008 by the RFK Center's Human Rights Director Monika Kalra Varma and the Director of Zamni Lasante, Loune Viaud sites internal emails at the IDB:

"In 2001, US officials threatened to use their influence to stop previously-approved IDB funding unless Haiti's majority political party submitted to political demands to accept a particular apportionment of seats in a Haitian electoral oversight body. Soon after, at the behest of the US, instead of disbursing the loans as planned, the IDB and its members took the unprecedented step of implicitly adding conditions to require political action by Haiti before the funds would be released. These actions violated the IDB's own charter, which strictly prohibits the bank and its members from interfering in the internal political affairs of member states."

... The results have been devastating. The town of Port-de-Paix, selected 10 years ago by the IDB as the first project site due to its particularly deplorable water situation, has yet to see the implementation of any water projects. A study conducted by Zanmi Lasante, Partners In Health, the Robert F Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, and New York University's Center for Human Rights and Global Justice found no functioning public water sources in the city.

Researchers found three-quarters of water sources in the city contained high levels of coliform bacteria, a key indicator of contamination with faecal matter. A frightening 15% of households reported symptoms likely related to typhoid.

If the US and other member states join the IDB and take on the responsibility to improve conditions in the Americas, they cannot then use their membership to undermine the basic rights of the people they claim to serve simply to advance their own political agenda.

The IDB and the US government must take responsibility for their actions and implement the necessary transparency mechanisms to ensure that such abuses do not recur. Congressional inquiries and annual reviews of the Treasury by the Government Accountability Office could provide the oversight necessary to prevent future political misuse of the IDB and its funds. The people of Haiti, as well as US taxpayers, deserve a system that makes public the status of IDB loans and projects in Haiti in order to ensure that the US and IDB member states uphold their commitments to development and human rights."

The IMF is often criticized for undermining the basic rights of the people they claim to serve.The onerous pre-conditions they impose on poor countries for *development* loans, more often than not perpetuate poverty, underdevelopment and exploitation.

"Some IMF conditions that countries have been forced to comply with can only be described as harsh and undemocratic. Often the devaluation of a nation’s currency has been a precondition for IMF assistance. In order to qualify for IMF loans, some nations have also been forced to lower tariffs, restrict governmental subsidies and spending, balance budgets, as well as sell-off state institutions to foreign interests. In some cases, the IMF has even prohibited wage increases as some countries have tried to do so, in order to compensate for a sharp rise in food prices and other commodities. Environmental and labor rights have also taken a hit as a result of IMF policies. Under the guise of helping economic distraught countries, the IMF is really bailing out foreign investors and multinational corporations. They have further fueled chaos and instability in some of the poorest regions in the world."

-- The IMF: Raping The World, One Poor Nation at a Time

Admittedly, these international banking institutions will most likely never be held accountable for their greed and inhumanity. We have only to look at the bailout of the Wall Street speculators for confirmation of this fact.

A most significant and positive development on the global stage has been the founding of The Bank of the South by Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and his allies in May 2007. The bank is intended as an alternative to the IMF and The World Bank and intends to remedy what some perceive as "a double standard which allows richer countries to use fiscal expansion in the face of recession while poorer nations are forced into stricter economic restraints."

In fact, there has been a significant decrease in "Latin America's dependence on the IMF between 2005 and 2008, with outstanding loans falling from 80% of the IMF's $81bn loan portfolio, to 1% of the IMF's $17bn of outstanding loans.

"In April [2007], Venezuela announced that it was paying off all its outstanding debt with the World Bank—totaling $3.3 billion and dating from before President Hugo Chavez took office in (1999)—five years ahead of schedule. Venezuelan Minister of Finance Rodrigo Cabezas said that because of this, “Venezuela is free ... and thank God, neither today’s Venezuelans nor children yet to be born will owe one single cent to those organizations.” Later that month, in the wake of the Wolfowitz scandal, President Chavez declared that Venezuela was withdrawing its membership in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. "

The Bank of the South has been heralded as a step in the formation of a unified Latin America. As Nadia Martinez of TomPaine.com puts it: Adios, World Bank! Also, the formation of this alternative bank could be effective in pushing the IMF to reform its ways. Free market competition for development funding from The Bank of The South, is more likely than any proposed Congressional oversight to motivate reform at the IMF, World Bank and IDB. Hopefully, this will mean that poor and developing countries can say, adios/goodbye to the antiquated politicies of the World Bank, IMF and IDB.

Interestingly, an article on the IMF website from February 2009 claims that it is focused on "...Bank Clean Up." Of course, they mean the clean up of banks "damaged" by the global economic crisis, but they should examine the IMF banking system itself for reform and "clean up."

Most Religious Practices Originate from Vodun

The Vodun religion is practiced by over 60 million people worldwide. "Today, there are two virtually unrelated forms of the religion:
• An actual religion, Vodun practiced in Benin, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Haiti, Togo and various centers in the US - largely where Haitian refugees have settled.

• An evil, imaginary religion, which we will call Voodoo. It has been created for Hollywood movies, complete with violence, bizarre rituals, etc. It does not exist in reality."¹

Vodun's roots trace back 6000 years directly to the Yoruba people of sub-saharan Africa. They lived in Western Africa in The Kingdom of Dahomey from 1690 - 1901. Dahomey occupied parts of today's Togo, Benin and Nigeria. Enslaved Africans brought the Yoruba religion or Vodun with them when they were forcibly shipped to Haiti and other islands in the West Indies.

The Nok: Vodun's ancient practitioners
"In 1928, archaeologists unearthed artifacts from an amazing culture that flourished from about 500BC to AD200. The archaeologists referred to the ancient culture as the Nok, the name of a modern Nigerian village where they made their discovery."²

The Nok was the first known iron-smelting civilization in West Africa, and
the first known art-producing civilization in sub-saharan Africa.

This video is a "summary of all the essential information concerning the geography,
history, culture, technique and aesthetics of the Nok civilization." – mémoire d'afrique

How the Nok are connected to Ancient Egypt.
Sub-Saharan Africa's [Nok] relation to ancient Egypt can be substantiated [for one] via sociological means such as: "religion, which reveals the Egyptian/Nubian pantheon replicated in Benin, Togo and Nigeria from the Fon, Ewé and Yoruba cultures."³ The Nok culture predates Ancient Egyptian, and evidence from artifacts of Nok civilization shows "that a shamanic religion was established in the Nok society. Certain representations of bird-men, half-sphinx and half-sphinge can be linked to the animism of ancient Egypt."⁴ Also, "archeology, with the excavations carried out in Upper Egypt and Sudan, highlight[ing] the southernmost origin of Egyptian civilization."³

How Vodun/The Ancient Egyptian Cult of Isis connect to Christianity's Cult of the Virgin Mary.

There are a number of points of similarity between Roman Catholicism and Vodun:

• Both believe in a supreme being.

• The Loa [Lwa] resemble Christian Saints, in that they were once people who led exceptional lives, and are usually given a single responsibility or special attribute.

• Both believe in an afterlife.

• Both have, as the centerpiece of some of their ceremonies, a ritual sacrifice and consumption of flesh and blood.

• Both believe in the existence of invisible evil spirits or demons.

• Followers of Vodun believe that each person has a met tet (master of the head) which corresponds to a Christian's patron saint.¹

There is little doubt that early images of the Madonna & Child are based on that of Horus & Isis. "In addition to being the fertile wife of Osiris, Isis is honored for her role as the mother of Horus, one of Egypt's most powerful gods. She was also the divine mother of every pharoah of Egypt, and ultimately of Egypt itself. She assimilated with Hathor, another goddess of fertility, and is often depicted nursing her son Horus. There is a wide belief that this image served as inspiration for the classic Christian portrait of the Madonna and Child."⁵

(left) A bronze statue of Isis nursing Horus from Ptolemaic Egypt;
(right) A famous mediaeval icon of Mary and Jesus.

"In the Roman Empire, the cult of Isis was very popular throughout the Mediterranean area. It focused on the celebration of the mysteries of the death and the resurrection of Osiris. Isis, had been the consort of Osiris, and after his murder she recovered the scattered parts of his body and restored them to life. Osiris then became king of the dead and his son Horus became king of the living. The story of Isis, Osiris and Horus parallels the Christian mysteries of the virgin birth and the resurrection. It is also the origin of the certain [sic] Christian symbol of the Madonna and Child."⁶

Hadrian's Roman coin honoring Isis.

Also indicative of the African influence on Christianity is the fact that there are numerous sites dedicated to the Black Virgin Mary in France, Spain and Italy. The Cult of the Black Virgin reflected the "deeper senses and beliefs of newly Christianized Western Europe at the end of the Roman Period." The Black Madonna of Czestochova, the "queen" of Poland, is a well known religious icon representative of this widespread & dense network of shrines dedicated to the Black Madonna/Virgin Mary.

The Black Virgin Mary of Poland

Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Judaism and many other monotheistic religions (a single omnipotent creator-god rules over the universe along with several hundred lower gods [saints]), can trace their origins back to the religion of Vodun. This is because Vodun is a religion of a single creator-god [Olorun/God] and lesser "spirits" [lwas/saints] that promises eternal life through worship and has many other similar religious traditions reflective of the modern religions that developed later. It is therefore possible to conclude that most major religions are generally derived from Vodun.

Mounted by the spirit of the Lwa.

Mounted by the spirit of the Lord.