[News] Support Haitian Women Appeal

[Anti-Imperialist News]

From: Global Women's Strike/SF Bay Area <sf at crossroadswomen.net>

Dear Friends,

Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his wife and colleague 
Mildred Trouillot and their children are due to 
return back to Haiti this week. Women in Haiti, 
and the Haitian grassroots generally, have been 
calling for their return for seven long years, 
but obstacles are still being thrown in their way.

Please sign TODAY in support of the right of the 
Haitian people to the leadership of their choice. 
All women and men are welcome to sign.


To Mark International Women’s Month 2011
AN APPEAL FROM HAITIAN GRASSROOTS WOMEN
FOR THE RETURN OF JEAN-BERTRAND AND MILDRED ARISTIDE

On March 8th 2011, the centenary of International 
Women’s Day, thousands of Haitian women 
‘reflected on this day’, once again calling for 
the return of former president Jean-Bertrand 
Aristide and his wife Mildred Trouillot. They said:


WOMEN ARE THE MAIN PILLARS

In Haiti, we see how women are despised, without 
resources and structures for our well-being.

Since 2004, women have been facing increasing 
hardship, terrible living conditions, verbal 
abuse, lack of shelter, and then a devastating 
earthquake and no assistance from the government.

We women have decided that we have to come out 
from behind the curtain because we are the main 
pillars of society and without us nothing works. 
Yet they take away all our rights: 1) our right 
to housing; 2) our right to send our children to 
school; 3) our right to work; 4) our right to vote.

That’s why we, the women of OFAV, declare that 
others cannot choose for us. We have to make our 
own choices through just and fair elections, not 
through an undemocratic fraudulent selection 
process designed to put in power whoever those already in power happen to like.

Sisters, we have had to manage for many years 
without Titid, without Mildred and without 
Senator Mirlande Liberus. We need them now so 
that together we can look for solutions.

We, the women in tent cities, the women in 
sweatshops, the market women and small vendors, 
join our voices to thank you for your support and solidarity.

Women are the main pillars.

Women are the source of life.

Women are the salt of the communal meal.


OGANIZASYON FANM VANYAN – OFAV (Brave Women’s Organization)

As the Aristide family, which has been in forced 
exile in South Africa for seven years, gets ready 
to return to Haiti, the US State Department 
issued another statement pressuring the South 
African government to stop them from returning. It reads:

“We would urge former President Aristide to delay 
his return until after the electoral process has 
concluded, to permit the Haitian people to cast 
their ballots in a peaceful atmosphere. A return 
prior to the election may potentially be 
destabilizing to the political process. The 
government of South Africa has generously hosted 
former President Aristide and his family since he 
voluntary departed Haiti in 2004. We encourage 
the South African government, as a committed 
partner to Haiti's stability, to urge former 
President Aristide to delay his return until after the elections.”

This is how Hillary Clinton responds to the 
demands of the women of Haiti. This is how she 
dismisses their democratic vote cast 
overwhelmingly for President Aristide in 2000. 
This is how she endorses George Bush’s coup which 
removed President Aristide in 2004. Her 
intervention does a disservice to women and to 
pro-democracy people everywhere.

We support the right of Jean-Bertrand Aristide 
and his family to return to Haiti immediately, 
the right of the women who have called for their 
return to welcome the Aristides home, and the 
right of the sovereign government of South Africa 
to respect the wishes of the Haitian people.



Andaiye, Red Thread, Guyana
Selma James, Global Women’s Strike (GWS), UK
Nina López, Global Women’s Strike, UK
Margaret Prescod, Women of Clolor/GWS, US




We the undersigned support this call from
OGANIZASYON FANM VANYAN – OFAV (Brave Women’s Organization)

Name

Organization
(if any)

Email/Phone

City/Country


Call issued by OGANIZASYON FANM VANYAN – OFAV (Brave Women’s Organization)

Endorsement call issued by: Global Women Strike 
(GWS) and Women of Color in the GWS
<http://www.globalwomenstrike.net/>www.globalwomenstrike.net

Email: 
<mailto:la at crossroadswomen.net>la at crossroadswomen.net   Tel: 323-276-9833

Information: 
<http://www.Haitisolidarity.net>www.haitisolidarity.net 
Email: <mailto:info at haitiAction.org>info at haitiaction.org




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