What makes the Black Woman Beautiful?

by Beautiful Woman

Commonwealth Short Story Competition

 

The Commonwealth Short Story Competition is an annual scheme to promote new creative writing for radio, funded and administered by the Commonwealth Foundation and the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association.

Established in 1996, the competition aims to increase understanding and appreciation of Commonwealth cultures and promote rising literary talents. The competition calls for entries that are original, unpublished, in English, no more than 600 words in length and on any subject.

The winner receives a prize of £2000 and there are four regional prizes of £500.

In 2011 there will also be two special prizes of £500 each; one for the best short story for children and the other for the best short story about this year’s Commonwealth theme, ‘Women as Agents of Change’.

The 2011 Commonwealth Short Story Competition is open for entry via this website from 15 January to 1 March 2011.

2011 competition

Deadline: 1 March 2011

Entering the Commonwealth Short Story Competition is a four-step process.

1) Read the eligibility and entry rules
All Commonwealth citizens aged 19 or over are invited to enter the 2011 Commonwealth Short Story Competition. Click here to read the full rules. 

2)  Write your short story
Click here if you would like to learn more about writing a short story for radio.

3) Complete the online entry form
Entries will only be accepted via the online entry form. If you have problems entering your story online, click here to get in touch with us.

4) Receive a confirmation email 
When you have completed the entry form, you will receive an email confirming that your entry has been received and providing a reference number. This number should be quoted in any correspondence with the Commonwealth Foundation.

2011 Passager Poetry Contest
FOR WRITERS OVER 50

Submit work: September 1, 2010 - February 15, 2011 (postmarked date)
Winner receives $500 and publication.
Honorable mentions will also be published.

• Reading fee: $20, check or money order payable to Passager
  Reading fee includes a one-year, two-issue subscription to Passager.
• Submit 5 poems, 40 lines max. per poem
• Introduce yourself with a cover letter and brief bio.
• Include name and address on every page.
• Include a Self-Addressed, Stamped Envelope (SASE) for notification of winners.
• Poems will not be returned.
• No previously published work.
• Simultaneous submissions to other journals are okay, but please notify us if the work is accepted elsewhere.
• No email submissions, please!

If you need more information, send us an email: passager@saysomethingloudly.com, or call: 410.837.6047.  

Send all submissions to:
Passager
1420 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201-5779

 

Trailer – Last Stop 174

By Tambay, on August 18th, 2009

Based on real life events which were also documented in a previous 2003 film titled Bus 174, Last Stop 174 tells the story of Sandro do Nascimento, both a criminal and victim, growing up in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. After witnessing his mother’s murder at age 10, he falls in with a gang of local homeless kids. When the gang leader threatens the police, the police kill hundreds of the homeless children in the Candelaria Massacre. Sandro is one of the few survivors, but ends up in a reformatory jail where he befriends Ale, and the two manage an escape.

 

The streets offer nothing more than a criminal life, and staying straight takes more effort than Sandro could imagine. His life is looking up, until, one day, he goes to his fiancé’s house and finds her sleeping with Ale. Sandro cracks, furiously attacks Ale, and in his despair, hijacks a municipal bus – the now well-known Bus #174, a ride that culminates in explosive consequences.

IMDB states that the film was released in limited circulation in December, here in the USA. However, I couldn’t find any further evidence of that – box office numbers, etc. It may have just been for an Oscar-qualifying run. Neither Amazon nor Netflix have it for sale nor rental.

Anyone happen to catch this on the festival circuit?

Here’s its trailer:

'I Wake Up Screaming':

A Gitmo Nightmare

By Carol Grisanti and Fakhar ur Rehman

January 19, 2011 "

NBC News" -- LAHORE, Pakistan — Saad Iqbal Madni looks decades older than his 33 years when he shuffles into the room, head down and eyes averted.

"There are a lot of times I start to cry. I still feel like I am in Guantanamo," he says, his voice cracking and hands trembling. "I have memorized the torture. I wake up in the middle of the night screaming."

 

It has been two years since the Pakistani Islamic scholar left Guantanamo Bay. After six-and-a-half years of imprisonment as a suspected enemy combatant he was released without being convicted and without an explanation. According to accounts by Madni and others, his experience involved torture, extraordinary rendition across several continents and five years at the U.S. prison in Cuba.

Mohammed Burki, Madni's physician in Pakistan, describes his patient as a deeply troubled man who is "still far far away from being normal again."

Madni now suffers from a catalogue of ailments, including migraines, paranoia, depression, panic attacks and temper tantrums, Burki told NBC News.

"Before I could treat any of those, I had to try and get him off the morphine," says Burki, who treated Madni for two years after his release. "The Americans had made an addict out of him."

The CIA and the U.S. military did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Madni's detention and subsequent release. The United States has explicitly denied torturing detainees.

While it is impossible to independently corroborate much of Madni's story, experts say it stands up to scrutiny.

"His account is so precise and so detailed and there are enough documents to back up everything he says," says Sultana Noon of Reprieve, a U.K.-based charity that represents prisoners who have been rendered and abused around the world.

Madni was part of wave of men scooped up in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. His story sheds further light on international counterterrorism efforts, when suspected terrorists were transported around the globe, held without trial and allegedly tortured at the hands of foreign intelligence agencies.

Some contend these practices continue.

"Anyone who is sporting a beard is a vulnerable target for the intelligence agencies to pick up," says Pakistani human rights activist Amina Masood. "We are talking about gross violations of human rights in this U.S. war on terror, disappearances, arrests, no courts to hear one's pleas."

"We are dealing with human beings here," she says.

Madni, who was employed to read the Koran during prayer times and religious holidays for the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, says he was picked up by Indonesian authorities during a visit to Jakarta in 2002.

Shoe bomb
Madni says he was told by the officials who detained him that they were acting on CIA instructions after he told an Islamic group that he knew how to make a shoe bomb. Madni denies the charge, saying that nobody ever even questioned him about the alleged comment during his detention.

Even American officials in Jakarta questioned the case against Madni, saying he was a braggart, a "wannabe" and should be let go, according to a New York Times article from Jan. 6, 2009.

Quoting two senior American officials, the newspaper reported there was no evidence that Madni ever met Osama bin Laden or had been to Afghanistan.

"But in the atmosphere of fear and confusion in the months after Sept. 11, 2001, Mr Iqbal (Madni) was secretly moved to Egypt for further interrogation," the newspaper reported.

Madni says he felt his life was over as soon as Indonesian intelligence officials took him from his prison cage to the airport.

"A person from Egyptian intelligence come, kicked and grabbed me and threw me against the wall," he says. "That's when I got a perforated ear drum and started bleeding from my ear, nose and throat."

Madni identified his captors as Egyptian immediately from their accents. He is fluent in nine languages, including Arabic, which he believes made him suspect.

"They stripped me naked, beat me and kicked me," Madni told NBC News. "I was shackled from my neck to my feet and taken to a plane. They put me inside a wooden box, on top of the box is a plastic sheet. My legs were up on my chest and I had to stay like that for an 18-hour flight to Diego Garcia. They didn't allow me to go to the bathroom. They put me in diapers and said, 'your bathroom is with you'."

Diego Garcia is a British territory used by the U.S. military.

Madni says he kept track of the passage of time because he recited the Koran by heart. Anyone who reads the Muslim holy book professionally knows exactly how long it takes to recite each verse.

In Egypt, Madni says his captors put him in a room that he describes as "smaller than a grave, so small I could not even lie down."

Madni says he was kept there for 92 days.

"They gave me electric shocks on my body and my head and kept asking me if I know Osama bin Laden, and have I been to Afghanistan," he says.

After three months in Egypt, he was handed over to the Americans and flown to Bagram, the U.S. military prison in Afghanistan.

Madni says he passed a polygraph test three times.

"A man from military intelligence introduced himself as Ron," he told NBC News. "He said, 'We did a mistake about you but we can't release you, we have to take you to Guantanamo and from there you will be released.'"

Madni says he was kept in Bagram for one year where he was repeatedly tortured and denied any visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which works to protect victims of armed conflict around the world.

On March 23, 2003, almost two years after he was picked up in Jakarta, Madni arrived at Guantanamo Bay.

"They put me in frequent flyer status for six months. That means no sleep. The guards came to wake me up every ten minutes. Every two hours they make me walk from camp to camp in shackles from my neck to my feet," he says. "I was in terrible pain from my ear, which was infected and bleeding. They ... wrote 'f*** you' inside the Koran and flushed pages from it down the toilet."

Madni breaks down as he recalls what was perhaps his most difficult time.

"They put me in Delta Block in a six-by-four refrigerator with just my underwear for six months. I lost my hearing and when they finally started to give me IV medication, I noticed that the labels had expired dates," he alleges. "They would keep me for 15 hours in the interrogation room with no bathroom, I had to pee and number two on myself."

After 192 days in Guantanamo, Madni tried to hang himself with a bed sheet. He later went on a hunger strike for a year and a half.

Madni also claims he was denied medical treatment for his infected eardrum. The guards told him he would be treated only after he confessed to knowing Osama bin Laden, Madni says.

Prison records later revealed that the ear infection had spread dangerously close to his brain, Burki, his doctor says.

House arrest
The International Committee of the Red Cross paid for Madni's treatment for six months after he was released.

Back home in Pakistan Madni's ordeal is still not over. He remains under house arrest and needs permission from security officials to leave home and meet with people, even with his own sister.

Madni's treatment at the hands of Pakistani authorities is not unusual, Reprieve's Noon says.

"Most Gitmo detainees are kept in jail or under house arrest when they are repatriated because the government doesn't want to be embarrassed in the media," she says.

Madni had to get official permission to meet with NBC News.

Reprieve is suing the Pakistani government on behalf of seven Pakistani prisoners who are in detention in Afghanistan's Bagram. The charity sued the government for illegal rendition and for violating the men's human and constitutional rights.

The case has been postponed until later this month.

And in November,  the British government agreed to pay seven former Guantanamo detainees millions of dollars as part of an out-of-court settlement .

The ex-detainees, Britons or British residents, were claiming damages from the government over allegations that they were mistreated during their detention abroad with the knowledge and in some cases the complicity of British security services.

Madni was released without a conviction after his lawyer Richard Cys of Davis Wright Tremaine took up the case pro bono in the U.S. courts.

"We are pleased that he was released from his imprisonment," Cys said in a written response to an interview request from NBC News.

Guantanamo Bay prison is still holding 173 detainees, according to Reprieve.

'My family won't forget'
President Barack Obama, desperate to keep his campaign promise to reduce the prison population and eventually close the facility, has strong-armed allies to take former prisoners in, according to secret diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.

In Pakistan, Asma Jehanghir, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association and a human rights lawyer, promised to fight Madni's case in the Pakistani courts in order to lift his house arrest.

But Obama closing Guantanamo and the government clearing his name won't erase the last eight years of Madni's life.

"What they did to me me and my family won't forget for 100 years," Madni says. "There are a lot of people like me that never did anything and were in Guantanamo Bay."

© 2010 msnbc.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below, an edited September 2010 interview with Dr. Matthew J. Smith, historian at Jamaica’s University of the West Indies, Mona and author of Red & Black in Haiti: Radicalism, Conflict, and Political Change, 1934-1957 – it’s the first comprehensive history of the post-occupation era, arguing that “the period (from 1934 until the rise of dictator François “Papa Doc” Duvalier to the presidency in 1957) constituted modern Haiti’s greatest moment of political promise.”

I ordered the award-winning book just in time for it to be delivered before my plane left for Haiti in September of ’09. It goes a long way towards explaining why the Duvaliers rose and clung to power for so long; I can’t recommend it highly enough. I hope other American reporters have read the book as well so we can see start to see some desperately-needed decent journalism on Haiti in the establishment media. As Gina Athena Ulysse says, “Yes, we are poor and have a history of political strife, but it’s not innate. And hell no, it’s not because we are mostly black. We are not reducible to our conditions.”

What caused you to write Red & Black in Haiti? What kind of response did it generate – both within and outside in Haiti?

Growing up in Jamaica, I had seen how intense political rivalries create dangerous problems and in many instances lead to violent solutions. I wanted to find out to what extent this history was matched in Haiti, a country which I have always considered to be incredibly similar to Jamaica. An earlier generation of scholars, such as David Nicholls, Michel Hector, and J. Michael Dash had indicated in their work that the tension between Marxists and Black Nationalists in Haiti was a defining feature of the 1930s-1950s. This intrigued me and encouraged me to go further and explore this tension.

The two decades before Duvalier were very transformative for Haiti in terms of politics, but in a much larger sense in terms of culture and history. So much happened in the postoccupation period that deserved careful attention. It was really the beginning of a modern political era in Haiti, one that was defined by an increase in popular politicization.

Yet it had not been given the attention it deserved. The possibility of great positive change seemed very real in this period and Haiti could very well have evolved differently as a result. I also wanted to write a political history of Haiti that did not reduce Haitian politics to a series of failures but to give it rigorous and fair-minded assessment and to show that the radical generation of that era had invested a great deal in improving the welfare of their country.  

The response to the book has been generally quite positive and I am grateful for the support the book has received in the Caribbean and North America. It recently was a co-winner of the Gordon K. and Sybil Lewis Book Award from the Caribbean Studies Association. In Haiti people who have read it tell me how much they appreciate it. A Haitian press will be doing a French translation of the book and making it widely available in Haiti sometime in the near future. To have the book find an audience in Haiti is for me a tremendous honor.

Why do you call the uprising that brought down Lescot’s regime a revolution? You describe it as a moment of great promise and hope. How did it unravel? Do you see parallels to the broad-based dechoukaj that pushed out Jean-Claude Duvalier at the end of the 1980s and its subsequent fragmentation?

It is important to first appreciate that moments of upheaval and overthrow have usually been referred to as revolutions in Haiti. Prior to that many of the coups were regarded as ‘revolutions’ whether or not anything revolutionary actually occurred. The events of January 1946 were for the people who experienced them indeed a revolution. For many years following 1946, the anniversary of Elie Lescot’s departure would be publicly recognized as the anniversary of the revolution. It can of course be debatable as to whether there was anything truly revolutionary that came out of it. A Haitian friend once told me it was more properly a revolutionary movement but not a revolution.

But some notable transformations that occurred in 1946 marked the period as a revolution especially when compared to other revolutionary moments before. Estimé’s presidency (1946-50) is perhaps the important. It was the first attempt to really break away from the political traditions of the past. If one measures the strength of democracy on the nation’s investment in the idea that the state acts on its behalf, then the Estimé era was really a watershed for Haiti. It was indeed a period of incredible promise unlike any the country had experienced up to that time.

But a leader with enormous expectations as Estimé had in 1946, in a country that was divided socially and politically is going to be compromised. And indeed Estimé was greatly compromised. He did try at first to find common ground among these various groups so that he could effectively lead. But when he couldn’t get the balance he needed he began to display the authoritarian tendencies of his predecessors. After a transformation as dramatic as 1946 people were intolerant of any sign that resembled dictatorship and the forces that supported him, five years later worked to overthrow him.

There are many fascinating parallels between the post-1946 political landscape and the post-1986 one. For one, consider the two leaders they produced: Estimé and Aristide. Although there is very good reason to compare Aristide with Daniel Fignolé in terms of popularity, charisma, and organization, he also shares interesting parallels with Estimé. Both men came to power on a wave of democratic appeal, had to confront the army and contend with the strong threats from various sides jostling for power, including a new political elite and an entrenched bourgeoisie. In order to save their administrations they both resorted to controversial measures.

An even more obvious parallel is the sentiment both movements evoked for people in Haiti. The dechoukaj of 1946 was seen as an uprooting of the political elite of the 1920s-1940s, and the beginning of a new era in Haiti. People genuinely believed that Haiti could transform into a strong democracy then. But it provided weak solutions for addressing the political divisions in Haiti, which eventually undermined the movement. This failing was costly as it produced François Duvalier and Duvalierism. The dechoukaj of 1986 was a means of trying to erase the system that Duvalier planted in Haiti. But as with 1946, the solutions were weak. The key difference between 1946 and 1986 was the increase in violence and brutality in the post-1986 period. This was partly due to the legacy of brutality that Duvalierism left behind, but also to the abuses of the armed forces.

In your book I was struck by Daniel Fignole‘s leadership of wide swaths of Port-au-Prince’s working class. Fignole wielded considerable political influence, yet he hardly served in any government – his presidency only lasting 19 days. Why is that? Would you characterize his quick overthrow and exile as a US-backed coup d’etat?

Daniel Fignolé was quite simply the most popular political personality of his time. He had incredible reach and a powerful charisma. He was an intelligent man with a deep conviction for his country. He was also the right man at the right time. His critics will make mention of his megalomania. Indeed there was a touch of that with Fignolé, as with many other leaders who command such massive popular support. Haiti has had no shortage of those types of personalities in its history.

But Fignolé brought something different to this history because he was able to channel popular energy into active mobilization and organization. His party MOP was quite unique in Haiti at the time in its outreach. It boasted several newspapers, union support/leadership, rural connections, headquarters, education programs, a social club, and a family paper run by his wife, Carmen.

Fignolé also did not resort to violence. As threatening as his language could be sometimes and as massive as his steam-roller support was, he never commanded it to exact violence on any sector of Haiti. But he did suffer from an enlarged sense of himself and his movement. This prevented him from allying with other radical groups in Haiti, such as the Socialist Party, that could have strengthened the radical movement. Instead, he made several miscalculations that forced him into alliances with people who were determined to bring him down.

The biggest miscalculation of his career was accepting the presidency in May 1957 which resulted in his kidnapping and exile by the army in 1957 after only 19 days in the National Palace. The United States certainly had knowledge of what the army was getting into in Haiti in 1957. And U.S. officials were indeed gravely concerned over what a Fignolé presidency meant to Haiti. But the politics on the ground had much to do with it too. Fignolé could have rejected the offer to be a provisional president and stay in the race. He could have won if he did. But his enemies recognized his weakness and offered him an option that in many ways amounted to political suicide. If he had stepped back and observed the situation more carefully, he would have seen it as a trap.

In general, how would you characterize Haiti’s relationship to its northern neighbor? Did the United States enhance or undermine Haitian democracy during this period?

Haiti and the United States have always shared a strange relationship. There have always been close ties and intersections in both histories since before the Haitian Revolution. As is well-known now, a regiment from St. Domingue fought in the American Revolution in the 1770s. Yet the U.S. was one of the last nations to recognize Haitian independence. So from the beginning there was always this interesting history of support and neglect between Haiti and the U.S. This continued during the Occupation which saw a fair amount of racism and exploitation toward Haiti.

The growth of radical currents in Haiti during the postoccupation was of great concern to the United States during a time when the U.S. was preoccupied with the containment of communism around the world. Because so much of Haiti’s politics of the period was radical (labor, black nationalism, communism etc) American policy-makers feared it would make Haiti more vulnerable to communist infiltration.

Political leaders in Haiti had to come to terms with the heavy presence of the United States in local politics (something that had been going on before and during the Occupation but increased a great deal after it) and sought to adjust their programs and strategies in order to win U.S. support. The U.S. also played a role in influencing the outcomes of the periods of crisis during the years covered in the book – 1930, 1946, 1950, 1957. This served to undermine democracy building in the country. However, while it is true that U.S. foreign policy significantly contributed to the direction that Haiti took to reach Duvalier, there are other factors that cannot be ignored. Local tensions among political actors in Haiti ultimately broke down the promise of democracy, a point the book makes clear.

Can you talk about what common threads, if any, that you see connecting the leftist opposition profiled in your book to today’s Haitian left? For example, is there a continuing disconnect between educated activists and the rural peasantry?

The situation has changed a lot in terms of urban left connections with the rural sectors. One major reason for this is that the rural sectors have become far more prominent through grassroots organizations and community development organizations than during the time covered in the book. The presence of peasant organizations and community-based organizations since the 1980s is an important development.

A major weakness of the leftists of the 1940s was their inability to develop strong regional networks. This is not to say that rural sectors were not politically involved then. They probably were. But the evidence connecting them to the larger movements in Port-au-Prince is not strong. So the fact that activists today include the rural peasantry in their focus is a major difference.

The urban situation has also changed a great deal. During the forties the population of Port-au-Prince was less than half a million people. Today it is edging closer to 3 million. This has had enormous implications for politics in the country, not to mention social and economic standards as well. One unfortunate commonality that remains is the divisions among different political sectors. We saw some of this in the 2004 coup and we are seeing it again with the presidential campaign this year.

There were encouraging signs of unity among political rivals immediately following the earthquake, but that seems to be dissolving now that we are moving closer to elections. Democracy has advanced a great deal since the forties, but the division along with current crisis produces a combustible situation.

The media often talk about Haiti as a failed state or lacking in democratic traditions. In one recent story about Wyclef Jean, the Associated Press concluded, ” Presidents have only rarely completed a constitutional five-year term — most in history have been overthrown, assassinated, declared themselves “president-for-life” or some combination of the three.” What do you make of the mainstream media’s treatment of Haitian history, to the extent that it is referenced at all?

There is a tradition of misinformation about Haiti and its history is often reduced to being simply one of chaotic politics. It is true that Haiti has had a great many short-term presidents. That is undeniable and a part of historical record. But it is easy to highlight the short rule of presidents and the weaknesses of democratic institutions in the country.

I would doubt that any of the overthrown or assassinated presidents expected to be assassinated or exiled when they took the oath of office. There are deeper issues about why democracy has not been successful in Haiti that are never really addressed in media reports. Since the earthquake there have been really abysmal treatments of Haiti’s history in the mainstream media that seems to insinuate that the Haitian Revolution was the root cause of the country’s problems, including the earthquake. I can’t think of any other country that has been subject to this sort of massive misinformation. Some will argue that it is deliberate.

But there is also an element of blatant disregard for proper contextualization when it comes to Haiti. It is almost as if the standards applicable to other countries don’t seem to matter. The Caribbean generally suffers from this but Haiti suffers most. This has come about from nearly two centuries of negative stereotyping of Haiti to the point where the negatives are accepted as part of the reality. So we get reports that fail to do the simple fact-checking on dates and names, or make easy conclusions on some very complicated situations. False information is repeated so frequently that it becomes regarded as facts.

To be fair, the mainstream media did provide a very important service in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake with its around the clock coverage. The attention to Haiti by media outlets via websites, blogs, news reports, and broadcasts was unprecedented. This had the advantage of getting more people interested and involved in offering support to this great human tragedy. But it also presented a unique opportunity for a better understanding of Haitian history. Sadly I don’t think that has been the result.

One good thing that I have noticed is the role of the alternative media. In this age of new media several alternative news sources and journalists have impressed me by including Haiti’s history in coverage of the aftermath of the earthquake. They usually tend to be more careful in avoiding the pitfalls of the mainstream by providing more details and considered assessment.

Does it appear to you that those charting Haiti’s development today understand Haitian history? Do you think the outpouring of charitable giving towards Haiti after the earthquake, most of directed at international NGOs, will have an impact?

That’s a good question. I would agree that there is a limited understanding or even engagement with Haiti’s history on the part of the people leading the recovery project. The view that Haiti is constantly in trouble suits present interests who use the moment of disaster to advance their own agendas. This has always been the case.

My concern with this is that the experiences of the past are seldom recalled in any meaningful way that examines the reasons why past solutions didn’t work. Sympathizers for Haiti’s plight are also guilty of this. There is a tendency among some to see the reasons for Haiti’s problems to be entirely a result of external forces, when the reality is always more complex. The postoccupation is a great example. I should stress, however, that Haitians have always had a very sharp sense of their history. History is everywhere in Haiti. You just have to look at the names of streets in Port-au-Prince to realize the heavy presence of history in the country.

The support for Haiti today can only have an impact with good leadership. One person cannot do this alone especially given the dire circumstances the country is in following January 12. Ideally it would be good to see a coalition of sorts among various political groups and leaders evolving out of the November elections. A leading party or president that acknowledges that the situation is so utterly overwhelming at present, that they will have to work together to ensure that the money is properly accounted for and the rebuilding will be properly monitored. To do so, however, would mean they would have to consciously work to avoid the divisiveness and corruption of the past. In this instance I sincerely hope that history will not repeat itself.

 My name is Ansel Herz. I’m a 22-year-old freelance journalist based in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Why Haiti, since September 2009? Read here.

Haitians ponder the return,

after 25 years, of Baby Doc

The motives of the notorious playboy and dictator, who was exiled in 1986, remain unclear

• Rory Carroll and Kim Willsher
• guardian.co.uk, Monday 17 January 2011 20.54 GMT

Haitian prime minister Jean-Max Bellerive, Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary general of the Organisation of American States, and former armed forces chief Jean Etainne are among those giving their views on the return of former Haitian dictator Link to this video

Earthquake, hurricanes, cholera, political crisis: it seemed Haiti's woes could not get worse. Then an Air France flight landed in Port-au-Prince and out stepped Baby Doc.

Wearing a blue suit and tie, he was older, frailer, but still recognisable all these years later as Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, once the Caribbean's most notorious playboy, dictator and kleptocrat.

"I was waiting for this moment for a long time," the 59-year-old said after arriving on Sunday night. "When I first set foot on the ground, I felt great joy."

Haiti needs lots of things, but the unexpected return of a leader who tortured, murdered and looted before fleeing in 1986 may not be one of them. The fact that his luxury Paris exile had turned to near penury put an additional question mark over the homecoming.

But it is a measure of the country's desperation that some Haitians welcomed it. Hundreds of cheering supporters greeted Duvalier at the airport and as news spread among the general population today, reaction ranged from delight and ambivalence, to concern.

"A lot of young people heard from their parents that he used to be a good president, that things weren't so expensive back then, so they're hoping he can show the politicians what to do," said Jean Daniel Delon, 27.

Exactly why Duvalier has returned, and for how long, remains unclear. "I'm not here for politics," he told Radio Caraibes. "I'm here for the reconstruction of Haiti." His longtime companion, Veronique Roy, told reporters that they planned to stay just three days. Asked why he had returned now, she replied: "Why not?"

A press conference scheduled for today was postponed until tomorrow.

"There is something going on behind this, but we don't know what it is yet," said Robert Fatton, a Haitian-born history professor at the University of Virginia and author of The Roots of Haitian Despotism.

The authorities cleared Duvalier through immigration, prompting speculation that President René Préval had orchestrated a distraction to a row over whether his favoured successor, Jude Celestin, would progress to a delayed run-off election.

Another theory linked the ex-dictator to another presidential candidate, Michel Martelly, who is also seeking a run-off spot and has senior Duvalier supporters among his entourage.

"Whatever is going on, this return isn't going to help anything," said Fatton. Younger Haitians have no direct experience of Duvalier's despotism, and living standards for most Haitians have worsened since his departure, producing dangerous nostalgia. "Everybody is fed up with the existing situation and wants change. But what type of change?"

Duvalier's reappearance also fuelled speculation that Jean-Bertrand Aristide, an exiled former president who retains strong support, may soon follow.

A 2006 US embassy cable passed to WikiLeaks said Washington and the Dominican Republic, which borders Haiti, opposed the return of either man as "provocative" and "unhelpful", a view that is unlikely to have changed.

Duvalier inherited power in 1971 aged just 19. He was one of the world's youngest heads of state and ruled as a corrupt and marginally less brutal successor to his father, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, who ruled from 1957.

When the vicious Tonton Macoute militia could no longer contain unrest, Baby Doc fled to France in 1986 – prompting dancing in the streets. Euphoria faded as the economy collapsed and political convulsions toppled one government after another, turning Haiti into an impoverished ward of the UN and foreign donors.

Last year's earthquake, followed by a cholera outbreak and a chaotic, inconclusive November election, has left a humanitarian crisis and political vacuum.

The prospect of Duvalier partly filling it has appalled many. "Duvalier's return to Haiti should be for one purpose only: to face justice," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director of Human Rights Watch.

"His time to be held accountable is long overdue." Amnesty International said he should be tried for crimes against humanity.

What passes for Haiti's government and judicial system – neither has recovered from the earthquake – gave no immediate indication of an intention to prosecute the returned exile.

Duvalier checked into the Karibe hotel in Pétionville, an upmarket district, and said he had returned to help and show solidarity with Haitians' suffering. "I am well disposed and determined to participate in the rebirth of Haiti," he said.

It was unclear who would pick up the hotel tab. Duvalier's years of living in a chateau outside Paris and a luxury Riviera villa ended in costly divorce and tax disputes, leaving him near broke.In recent years journalists tracked him down to a small, sparsely furnished two-bedroom apartment in a far from chic arrondissement. The modest rent of a few hundred euros a month was paid by supporters, including Haitian taxi-drivers and waiters living in France who propped up Duvalier morally, physically and financially.

At one point the former president was so desperate he took university classes to improve his "leadership skills" and placed an advertisement seeking work in a local paper in the south of France. However critics said he never seriously sought to earn a living.

Friends described him as lonely and deluded, dreaming of the day he would reclaim power. There are rumours he had a stroke and major surgery in 2009. He now appears convinced his moment has come. "All I know is politics," he once said.

Philippe Moreau Defarges, co-director of the French Institute for International Relations said Duvalier's return was probably a mix of nostalgia and a desire for power. "He's not an old man and he needs to find a role for himself. He is his father's son and he has gone back home."

• This article was amended on 18 January 2011. The original contained the name Jean-Baptiste Aristide. This has been corrected.

'Baby Doc' Duvalier charged with corruption in Haiti

Former dictator faces charges relating to his 15-year rule after being hauled before a judge in Port-au Prince

• 
  

• Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent
• The Guardian, Wednesday 19 January 2011
• Article history

Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier arrives at the prosecutors office in Port-au-Prince. Photograph: Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images

Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier was charged with corruption and the theft of his country's meagre funds last night after the former Haitian dictator was hauled before a judge in Port-au-Prince

Two days after his return to the country he left following a brutal 15-year rule, a noisy crowd of his supporters protested outside the state prosecutor's office while he was questioned over accusations that he stole public funds and committed human rights abuses after taking over as president from his father in 1971.

"His fate is now in the hands of the investigating judge. We have brought charges against him," said Port-au-Prince's chief prosecutor, Aristidas Auguste.

He said his office had filed charges against Duvalier, 59, of corruption, theft, misappropriation of funds and other alleged crimes committed during his period in power.

The charges must now be investigated by the judge who will decide whether a criminal case should go ahead. After several hours of questioning, Duvalier left the prosecutor's office but was ordered to remain in the country at the disposition of judicial authorities. "He doesn't have the right to go anywhere," investigating judge Carves Jean said.

Dozens of officers, including some in riot gear, had whisked him earlier from his hotel past a jeering and cheering crowd and into a 4x4 with tinted windows – a scene which his regime's victims had long dreamed of. He, who was not handcuffed, appeared calm and did not say anything. He had been due to give a press conference to explain his return from 25 years in exile.

Crowds immediately thronged the courthouse in expectation of a historic hearing.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, among others, have urged the authorities to prosecute the former dictator for jailing, torturing and murdering thousands of people during his time in power. His longtime companion, Veronique Roy, when asked whether Duvalier was being arrested, simply laughed and said nothing.

The scene evoked memories of 7 February 1986 when crowds danced in the streets after widespread revolts and international pressure led to his departure.

His Swiss-banked fortune long used up in divorce and tax disputes, Duvalier returned to Haiti without warning on Sunday on a flight from Paris, saying he wanted to help. "I'm not here for politics. I'm here for the reconstruction of Haiti."

A spokesman for the UN high commissioner for human rights said it should be easier to prosecute Duvalier in Haiti because it was where atrocities took place but that the judicial system was fragile.

It remained unclear why he returned and what impact it would have on the year-long post-quake crisis which has left a leadership vacuum and a country in ferment, with near daily street demonstrations by rival factions.

>via: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/18/haiti-baby-doc-duvalier-court?int...

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How strong are charges against Haiti's Jean-Claude Duvalier? Very, say experts.

Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier (aka 'Baby Doc') was charged in court Tuesday with embezzlement, corruption, and misappropriation of funds. 'It’s fairly easy to pursue legally,' says one expert.

• 

Haiti's ex-dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier (c.) gestures to supporters as police take him out of his hotel in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Jan. 18. Haitian police took Duvalier, who abruptly returned to Haiti on Sunday, out of his hotel to a waiting SUV without saying whether he was being detained for crimes committed under his brutal regime.

Ramon Espinosa/AP

 

Enlarge

By Alice Speri and Ezra Fieser, Correspondents / January 19, 2011

Port-au-Prince, Haiti; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

During his 15 years in power, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier is said to have brazenly robbedHaiti’s treasury of hundreds of millions of dollars.

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He is accused of going as far as stealing checks intended for the poor to help him amass hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign accounts that allowed him to live luxuriously while in exile.

But the same disregard for the law that made him a multimillionaire could make the case against him relatively easy to prosecute, observers tell the Monitor.

“He was fairly careful to hide the assets abroad, but he was not that careful to hide the way he acquired them,” says Brian Concannon, a human rights lawyer and director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH). “I am confident that this case can be prosecuted, it’s fairly easy to pursue legally because it’s been documented.”

IN PICTURES: Baby Doc returns

Dramatically detained and formally charged in court on Tuesday by Haitian authorities, just two days after unexpectedly returning from exile, Mr. Duvalier’s future is now being weighed by a judge who will decide whether to pursue the accusations of embezzlement, corruption, and misappropriation of funds, among other alleged crimes. The process could take months.

“His fate is now in the hands of the investigating judge. We have brought charges against him,” Aristidas Auguste, Port-au-Prince's chief prosecutor, told reporters Tuesday.

Supporters: Duvalier is innocent

Gervais Charles, an attorney who has represented Duvalier in the past, confirmed the case had been filed but said a statute of limitations had expired, which would make void any charges. Duvalier was freed but he had no passport to travel, Mr. Charles told reporters. Haitian officials did not address Charles’s statute of limitations claims, the Associated Press reported.

"What will happen to [Duvalier] is entirely the responsibility of [President René] Préval and his executive cabinet," Duvalier spokesman Henry Robert Sterlin told reporters Tuesday. "What those in power want is the destabilization of the country."

At the end of the day, Duvalier returned to the posh Karibe Hotel in the Petionville neighborhood, which had served as the backdrop for a dramatic scene that morning when police entered Duvalier’s room as a small contingent of his supporters gathered in front of the hotel, yelling “the revolution is going to start” and “arrest Préval,” a reference to the unpopular president.

Duvalier's return ticket to France was reportedly booked for Thursday, though he must remain in country for at least as long as the case investigation period.

His continued presence will likely be welcome news to supporters that gathered Tuesday, many who were too young to remember Duvalier in power. They seemed drawn by nostalgia and embellished memories of the Duvalier era, which lasted for nearly 30 years. “Baby Doc” Duvalier became the round-faced successor to the regime when he took over from his father at the age of 19.

“I came here for President Duvalier, who left Haiti 25 years ago and I’m happy he came back,” says Pierre Willy, a protester who gathered in downtown Port-au-Prince to support Duvalier. “All these people that were killed, it wasn’t Duvalier that did it. He was just the son of a president then.”

'Vital' case to pursue

A case against the former dictator might proceed slowly, but it's an important one to try, says Reed Brody, counsel for Human Rights Watch and a former prosecutor in Haiti. "It is vital that the Haitian authorities pursue this kind of case because it could show Haitians that the state still functions," Mr. Brody says.

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Haiti's justice system was already weak before the destructive earthquake. "Prosecuting the case could potentially be transformative" for the justice system, he says, adding that cases in the United States and Switzerland have already laid out evidence against Duvalier.

Duvalier left Haiti in 1986 after 15 tyrannical years leading the country he took over from his father in 1971. During that time, he allegedly oversaw the torture and murder of political opponents and robbed public funds.

In the late 1980s, at the behest of the Haitian government, a US accounting firm studied the government’s books and determined Duvalier stole at least $300 million. “That was a conservative estimate,” says Concannon of the Boston-based IJDH. “Nobody knows for sure how much he took. We know it was hundreds of millions.” (Editor's note: A member of IJDH's board of directors was a longtime lawyer for exiled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a political opponent of Duvalier.)

A civil case that went through Florida courts in 1998 with a judgment against Duvalier awarded Haitians $504 million. The money was never recovered.

Life of luxury in France

Duvalier landed in France in 1986 after he was overthrown and started to live the life of a wealth celebrity, says Elizabeth Abbott, author of “Haiti: The Duvaliers and Their Legacy.”

“He lived lavishly, like a really wealthy person, spending thousands for meals and clothes and other things,” Ms. Abbott says.

Duvalier had a residence outside Paris, a villa in the French Riviera, speedboats, and sports cars in the first years after he settled in France, according to Abbott and press reports. But after he and his ex-wife Michele divorced in 1992, his fortune reportedly dwindled.

He reportedly failed to pay rents, ran up a massive hotel bill, and moved to a modest two-bedroom Paris apartment paid for by loyal Duvalierists. Then, in January 2010, the Swiss government froze $4.6 million in Swiss bank accounts held by Duvalier.

“He burned through most of it and then the judgment froze the rest,” Abbott says. “He’s been living very modestly for several years now.”

Important test for Haiti's justice system

Even if the case against him can’t recover any of the money Duvalier stole, pursuing the charges represents an important step in strengthening the Haitian justice system and closing an ugly chapter in the country’s history, observers say.

When Duvalier fled to France in a US military jet in 1986, he brought to a close three decades of dictatorial rule in which tens of thousands of suspected dissidents and other innocent Haitians were murdered. Duvalier and his father, “Papa Doc,” used a secret police called the "Tonton Macoutes" to squash political movements and torture opponents.

“In a legal sense and in a political sense, it’s important that this trial against him move forward,” says Bernice Robertson, the International Crisis Group’s representative in Port-au-Prince. “What would it say if someone widely accused of these human rights violations were allowed to return freely to the country?"

IN PICTURES: Baby Doc returns

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>via: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2011/0119/How-strong-are-charges-agai...

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Duvalier's millions in Switzerland likely to return to Haiti

By Moni Basu, CNN

January 19, 2011 -- Updated 2109 GMT (0509 HKT)

Ex-dictator dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier waves from a balcony at the Hotel Karibe in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Wednesday.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Duvalier's lawyer says "all that money" has been given for Haitian relief
• A new Swiss law will ease repatriation of funds
• A government lawyer in Haiti says the money will never go back to Duvalier
• Jean-Claude Duvalier may be charged in Haiti for pillaging state coffers

(CNN) -- The sun had not risen yet on that February day in 1986 when Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier's eight-vehicle motorcade of luxury cars and jeeps arrived at the Port-au-Prince airport, then named for his father.

Surrounded by soldiers and about 100 journalists who came to witness the end of an era in Haiti, the dictator boarded a United States Air Force C-141 jet along with his glamorous wife, Michele Bennet, their two children and 20 friends and servants.

Also on the plane that day were trunks of designer clothes, gold, jewels and priceless art. What could not be seen was the hundreds of millions of dollars Haitian officials accused the Duvalier clan of stealing from state coffers.

The pillaging of Haiti's national treasury now lies at the heart of legal action against Duvalier, who stunned the world by returning to Haiti this week from some 25 years of quiet exile in France.

Attorney: Duvalier to stay in Haiti

Recalling abuses of Duvalier regime

RELATED TOPICS

• Jean-Claude Duvalier
• Haiti
• Port-au-Prince
• Switzerland

Some lawyers who have been following the Duvalier money trail for years were flabbergasted that such a man was able to enter Haiti legally, that he was not arrested right away.

"I don't know how a criminal like him goes free," said Enrico Monfrini, a Switzerland-based lawyer who has been representing the Haitian government in a long and drawn out legal battle over Duvalier's cash.

Duvalier reportedly lost a chunk of his wealth when he and Bennet divorced, but the family still has $5.7 million in assets in a frozen bank account in Switzerland that belongs to a family foundation.

Now, a Swiss law enacted specifically to help repatriate stolen funds from failing states may help return the Duvalier money to Haiti, said Daniel Thelesklaf, executive director of the International Centre for Asset Recovery in Switzerland.

"I am optimistic there will be a decision by the end of the year," he said.

The law, which goes into effect February 1, was enacted to help Switzerland overcome existing hurdles with states that have no mutual legal assistance partnership with Switzerland or with troubled nations that are incapable of dealing with such issues, according to the Swiss Foreign Ministry.

For a judge order restitution, a government must prove a discrepancy between the wealth of a "politically exposed person" and his or her earnings, along with high levels of corruption in that country.

"They managed to draft this law very quickly," Monfrini said, adding that legal proceedings in Haiti would not affect efforts at restitution.

He said $5.7 million is not a large amount compared to what Duvalier allegedly stole, but morally, repatriation of the money would be a huge victory.

But not a complete one until Duvalier is made to stand trial for his alleged crimes, said human rights lawyer Mario Joseph, who has worked in Haiti on building the legal case against Duvalier.

Joseph said no one in Haiti ever imagined that Duvalier would return to face charges. His presence in the country has enabled the court to reopen a 2008 case against the strongman, he said.

But Duvalier's lawyer, Reynold Georges, expressed confidence Wednesday that Haitian authorities have little evidence to press charges. Duvalier, said Georges, would not only remain a free man but he could decide to return to politics.

Georges later told CNN that Duvalier had given "all that money" to charity for Haitian relief after the earthquake.

"I don't know if the Swiss bank transferred that money already, so I don't have any details on that," Georges said, "but I guarantee you that that has been done."

Dismayed by the thought of the return of a brutal dictator, Monfrini pressed upon Haiti's justice system to prevail, and for the courts not to forget what Duvalier pledged in the aftermath of Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake.

He expressed "complete solidarity" with those who were suffering in "these hours of great national distress" and called on Swiss authorities to transfer all of the money from his foundation to the American Red Cross for the relief effort.

Monfrini doubted Duvalier's sincerity but not the new Swiss law.

"This money will go back to Haiti for sure," he said. "It will never go back to Duvalier."

>via: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/01/19/haiti.duvalier.assets/

Middle East:

A Closer Look at Tunisia's Uprising

Posted 19 January 2011

Written byAmira Al Hussaini

As Tunisians continue to grapple with the fast paced events of the few previous days which saw the fall of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his escape, Arab bloggers continue to share their thoughts and reflections on the Tunisian uprising and what it spells for the rest of the region.

Syrian Abu Kareem, at the Levantive Dreamhouse, explains what is ‘invigorating' about the Tunisian uprising to its Arab neighbours. He says:

It is perhaps its spontaneity, its lacks of designated leaders that give it the feel of a genuine, popular uprising and not an ideologically-driven coup destined to serve the desires of a narrow constituency. It is easy as an Arab, to resign oneself to the fact that the region's stagnant and sclerotic political systems are immovable and immutable. It is exactly this state of hopelessness and inertia that most of the region's leaders strive to instill in their people. It kills hope, prevents progress and keeps the leaders in power. So I hope that the leaders across the region take note and that a cold chill runs down their spine as they watch the events in Tunis unfold; perhaps it will make them reconsider their ways.

Bahraini Emoodz broke his blogging silence vow to chant VIVE LA TUNISIE!

He remarks:

I watched with great excitement the events as they unfolded in Tunisia; in all honesty I had very little hope that the events will evolve and reach where it reached today. No matter how much research I carry out I still can’t understand how the Tunisian were able to overthrow a regime in a month’s time.

Emoodz adds:

There is this great sense of excitement going around the Arab World over what had happened, news agencies and political analysts are all of a sudden talking about how Tunisia is just the beginning to what is expected to have a domino effect and extend to other Arab governments in the region, which I think is highly improbable…

In a post entitled Tunisia, Prove us Wrong, Saudi Hala_In_USA poses the following questions:

In the aftermath, all eyes in the Arab world is tuned to Tunisia, would this be a new beginning of unprecedented democracy in the Middle East? would it lure other countries to follow? or would it fall in the grab of Islamists or the same old Bin Ali‘s men under different labels?

She also shares her anxiety:

I have  a mixed feeling in this regards, while I share the same fears of Robert Fisk of the ugly truth, that countries in the region as well as in the West will probably never support a true democracy in Tunisia, for fear that it may bring unfavorable outcomes, that the people in power would only accept Arab state that would support Western best interests, the hate toward Iran and a tight control of their people… Yet,  I still believe that lessons of oppression and corruptions have been taken well by Tunisians, that they will not easily forget the body in flames of Bouazizi, they will always remember the days of oppression, poverty, and limited resources brought about by totalitarian regimen, I hope that Tunisia would lead the way for a new era, to see justice and experience for the first time a people government, to prove us wrong, and to prove that people do have a choice, can have a choice and can make a better future for themselves…

Algerian-American Kal, writing at The Moor Next Door, is also apprehensive. He notes:

The Tunisian case, with all its idiosyncrasies (the legacy of Bourguiba, secularism, its high rate of education and women’s rights) it represents something new in Arab politics that observers must continue to pay attention. Early on the Sidi Bouzid events were dismissed as bread riots and were not appreciated for they ended up being. This blogger was cautious, mostly for the same reason others were: things like this weren’t supposed to happen in countries like Tunisia. What was written here during the uprising happened only because it happened in the Maghreb (and because it seemed . . . strange). What should be very sad is if all the work Tunisians put into their intifada was hijacked by old party people and officers and put on course for rule by committees or strong men as has been the case following so many times before. The question remains: what will be done?

From Israel, Yael, at Life in Israel, predicts that Egypt could be next:

The events in Tunisia –the first collapse of an autocratic regime in the Arab world due to a popular uprising that has implications for the wider region –are unlikely to, at least in the immediate future, spark a domino effect of uprisings and overthrows in other countries in the region. But pretty much all the experts are saying to keep a very sharp eye on Egypt because it is quite possible that Egypt is going to be the next one to go.

She adds:

The Arab masses (not just in North Africa but the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula) have watched the fall of the Tunisian regime blow by blow, creating the possibility that the public in many countries may find inspiration in the Tunisian experience. It is too early to say how things will unfold in the Middle East and North Africa, as each state has unique circumstances that will determine its trajectory. What is certain, however, is that a regional shift is under way, at least to the extent that governments can no longer continue with business as usual.”

Syrian Qunfuz takes a closer look at whether this “domino effect” is possible in the region. He writes:

If there is a domino effect, it won’t be immediate and it won’t proceed evenly. Current conditions in Iraq obviously will not permit a unified national uprising against the government. Such language is not even relevant. In Syria the president is reasonably popular, even if the regime around him isn’t. And if the president were to fall dramatically from popular grace, Syrians fear that revolution would lead to sectarian war and Israeli intervention – both real possibilities. Saudi Arabia is too tribally divided, and many sections of society are too comfortable, for revolutionary disruption. The angriest population in the kingdom is the oppressed Shia community, but any action on their part would be fiercely opposed by the Wahhabi heartland. Bahrain, with a politicised and intelligent Shia majority facing an oppressive Sunni ruling family, is a more likely candidate for change. Egypt is the unknown quantity. On the one hand, the failure of Mubarak’s gangster regime has been resounding. On the other, very many Egyptians do not have the leisure to think about anything except their next meal. They don’t follow events on Facebook or even on al-Jazeera. And we can be almost certain that any serious attempt at popular revolution in Egypt would result in thousands of deaths. (But that can play both ways – nothing generates a revolution like a series of funerals. See Ali Farzat’s picture above.)

Perhaps in six months’ time non-Arab commentators will decide that the Tunisian revolution was a mere anomaly in an eternally stagnant Arab world. But they’ll be wrong. The revolution will exert a long-term pervasiveness throughout Arab culture, as the Iranian revolution did before it. It will change the air the Arabs breathe and the dreams the Arabs dream.

Meanwhile, back in Bahrain, Mahmood Al Yousif is worried that Tunisia will now go from one extreme - to the other. He writes:

I’m willing to bet that the pendulum now will swing from the one extreme of robbing the Tunisian people of one important element of their identity, religion – through to the other end and we’ll see the rise of Islamism and Islamist sentiments.

So who and what gets sacrificed at the alter of extremism? Common sense and moderation.

Al Yousif adds:

We have quite a lot to learn from the “Tunisian Experiment”, and the wise will benefit most if they take time to understand what transpired and why and try to enact those lessons in their own societies with the inculcation of the respect for human rights and their freedoms of faith, association, thought and speech, and not to shove one doctrine or another down people’s throats.

==========

Amira Al Hussaini

Regional Editor for the Middle East and North Africa

Former news editor of an English language daily in Bahrain. Journalist. Columnist. Blogger. Educated and raised in Bahrain. Interests include writing, the arts and human rights.

Written by Amira Al Hussaini
Posted 19 January 2011