PUB: Echoes Essay Contest

Announcement!
The Second Echoes of The Right to God Essay Contest
New: A 15-and-Under Category for Young People!
The contest: 
Adults (16 and over): Everyday Spirituality in the world today. 
The topic is wide open. We're looking for sincere thought with emphasis on inspiration. Tell us what you're thinking 
or what you've experienced.
First prize is $100 and publication in Echoes of The Right to God online magazine (and possible publication in a 
future print compilation).

New! The Contest for 15-and-Under Young People (16 and over are encouraged to enter the adult essay contest): 
We're asking for your thoughts on this topic:
 The world around you.
Tell us your thoughts on the world around you. It can be anything, but it must be true, and it must be your own 
original thought.
(See rules in blue for more information.) First prize is $50 and publication online and possible publication in a 
future print compilation.

Rules and Guidelines
1. Judging: Entries will be judged equally on "inspiration, thoughtfulness or creativity" and "quality of writing." We 
may ask for revisions of the winning entry before publication. 
2. Entries remain the intellectual property of the entrant. Non-winning entries will not be returned and will be 
destroyed. Please do not send your only copy of your work. 
3. Entries must be your original work and previously unpublished. For this contest, we're looking for essays. They 
must be true and your own thoughts. No fiction or poetry for this month's contest. We're looking for essays that 
are inspirational and thoughtful.
4. Word limit is approximately 1,000 words, but if you need more words to tell your story, there's no penalty for 
going over. There's also no harm in using very few words to tell a powerful story.
5. A co-authored entry would be unusual, because it's your personal experience, but would be eligible and any 
prize money will be sent to one person to be divided by the authors.
6. For winners under 18, a parent or guardian will be asked to authorize publication and acceptance of the prize.
7. First prize for adults is $100 and publication in Echoes of The Right to God online magazine. First prize for Young 
People is $50 and publication in Echoes of The Right to God online magazine.
 Winners are responsible for any 
taxes or fees. Winner agrees to grant exclusive first publication rights in any medium to 
Echoes of the Right to 
God
 online magazine for a period of three months and may include publication in a compilation of winning entries. 
Winner also agrees that subsequent publication will acknowledge first publication in
 Echoes of The Right to God 
online magazine. 
8. Eligibility:
 Contest opens July 1, 2010. Entry deadline is August 15, 2010Winner will be announced 
by approximately August 30, 2010. 
Immediate family members of the judges and magazine publishers (Ron 
and Jennie Dugan) are ineligible to win. No purchase is necessary. 
9. Entries may be submitted by email or postal mail. By email, include the essay in the body of your email. 
Include your name and contact information. 
10. 
Submit entries to:
Young People (15 and under)
Email: rondugan@buckeye-express.com">RonDugan@buckeye-express.com
Be sure to include your name, age and
email address.
Ask your parents for permission before
entering.
Include Echoes in the subject line.
Copy your essay into the email.
By Postal Mail:
Adults and Young People may enter via postal mail. Send your entry to:
Echoes Magazine
P.O. Box 1565
Maumee, OH 43537

 

PUB: Halfway Down the Stairs :: Submissions

Submissions

We are currently accepting submissions for our September, 2010 issue of Beginnings and Ends.

General Guidelines
  1. We are looking for serious writers with an appreciation for language and the craft of writing. We want fiction with memorable characters and realistic plots, poetry that is fresh and original, and nonfiction that is both thoughtful and entertaining.
  2. We will accept writing of any genre except erotica and children's literature. While we do consider ourselves to be a mainstream literary e-zine, we believe skillfully written genre fiction will be appreciated by people who are not educated in all things elfin or alien.
  3. We will accept only writing that has been proofread for spelling and grammar. Trust us on this one. Francesca keeps her machete very sharp for people who are grammatically challenged.
  4. People of all ages read Halfway Down the Stairs so we will not publish any pieces that contain explicit sexual content, unusually violent content, or repetitive swearing.
  5. Please do not send us any of the following: poetry that sounds like it ought to be on a Hallmark card, poetry you copied from a Hallmark card, how-to articles, first drafts of anything, fanfiction, previously published work, anything full of sentimentality, or religious and/or political propaganda disguised as fiction.
  6. This ought to be obvious, but only send us your own work. If you send us anything plagiarized, remember we have a machete.
  7. For legal reasons, we can only publish authors aged thirteen and up.
  8. The editors are all responsive to shameless flattery and to gifts of chocolate.

We regret that we cannot pay our authors as our quest for a rich and eccentric man to fund our publication proved to be an utter disaster (though we did get several nice marriage proposals).

Poetry Guidelines

We accept poetry of roughly 500 words or less, although we are not terribly strict about this guideline.  We are willing to be lenient with the theme when it comes to poetry, but only if the submission is very good.

Please note that we only accept three submissions of poetry at any one time from a single author, and we do not accept simultaneous submissions of poetry.  If you would like to submit more than the permitted maximum, please wait until you have received a response on the first three.

Fiction Guidelines

We accept fiction of roughly 5,000 words or less related to the theme of the issue.  

Nonfiction Guidelines

We accept creative nonfiction of 3,000 words or less related to the theme of the issue.  We also accept book reviews for novels, short story collections, memoirs, and poetry collections that were published within the last year.  All reviews must be for books that can be found in major bookstores.

Please submit only one piece of fiction or creative nonfiction at a time.

The Submission Process
  1. Please send all submissions to submissions @ halfwaydownthestairs . net.
  2. Your subject line should look like this: submission, genre, and title of your piece.  (Example: "Submission, Fiction, Monsoon Nights.")  If you are submitting multiple poems, state the number of poetry submissions instead of the title of the piece.  Please do not submit multiple genres in a single e-mail; if you would like to submit poetry and fiction, send us two separate e-mails.
  3. Within the body of your e-mail, give us the following information: the title(s) of your submission(s), the name under which you wish to be published, your e-mail address, if the piece you are submitting has ever been published elsewhere, if the piece you are submitting is a simultaneous submission, if you are over the age of thirteen, and a brief introduction written in the 3rd person point of view.  If you are submitting multiple poems, include these statements at the beginning of your e-mail, and follow it with the actual poems.  Example:
    Monsoon Nights.
    by William C. Fredrikson.
    crazywillie57@gmail.com.
    No, Monsoon Nights has never been published elsewhere.
    No, Monsoon Nights is not a simultaneous submission.
    Yes, I am over the age of thirteen.

    William C. Fredrikson teaches grade seven social studies in British Columbia.   His students think he looks exactly like Jack Nicholson.  In his spare time, William enjoys playing the guitar, reading Hemingway, studying World War II history, and making fun of reality television.

    If we do choose to publish your piece, we will also publish your biography. Your e-mail address is confidential, and we will never publish it or give it out.
  4. After your introduction, please post your piece within the body of your e-mail.  Please do not send your work as an attachment.  We are almost as afraid of viruses as we are of spiders, and therefore, we wont open attachments.  (We dont accept spiders either.)  Please single space your work, double spacing between paragraphs.
  5. Optional: Let us know how you found us.  Were curious as to where our readers and writers are coming from.

We will respond to all submissions within four weeks of receiving them.

Deadline for Next Issue: August 15, 2010.

Publication Details
Upon publishing your work, Halfway Down the Stairs will require exclusive electronic rights to it for 6 months, or the length of one issue.  After the six month period is over, we will request nonexclusive electronic rights so we may include it in our archives.

PUB: The First Annual Objective Standard Essay Contest


Topic for 2010:
The Moral Foundation of Capitalism

Few people who advocate capitalism know fully what this social system is, and even fewer are able to defend it on moral grounds. What is capitalism? What are its distinguishing characteristics? On what moral principles do they depend? And why are so few people able to name and uphold these principles?

Prizes

First place: $2,000 plus publication in TOS
Second place: $750
Third place: $300

Eligibility

The contest is open to anyone ages 18 to 35, excluding TOS contributors. Students and non-students alike are encouraged to enter.

Submission Deadline and Announcement of Winners

The deadline for submissions is August 15, 2010. Winners will be announced on October 15, 2010.

Specifications and Formatting

Essays must be in English, 6,000 words maximum, and submitted either electronically in Microsoft Word to essay@theobjectivestandard.com or via snail mail to The Objective Standard, P.O. Box 5274, Glen Allen, VA 23058.

All text must be 12-point Times New Roman; lines must be double spaced; and the first line of each paragraph must be indented. Citations must be placed in endnotes and formatted in accordance with The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition.

Essays must be original material written by the entrant and must not have been published elsewhere.

Essays must include a separate cover page on which the author’s name, email address, snail-mail address, and phone number are listed. Neither the author’s name nor any other identifying information should be included on any pages other than the cover page. This is crucial to the judging process.

The title of the essay (but not the author’s name) must appear at the top of the first page of the essay text.

Judging

Essays will be judged blindly by a three-judge panel. Cover sheets and all identifying information will be removed before essays are distributed to judges. Judges will look for clarity, concretization, and logical flow.

Additional Information

For more information write to essay@theobjectivestandard.com.

 

INFO: Image of the Black in Western Art Research Project and Photo Archive | W.E.B. Du Bois Institute

Image of the Black in Western Art Research Project and Photo Archive

Sheldon Cheek
Curatorial Associate

 

Karen C. C. Dalton
Editor

 

104 Mt. Auburn Street, Floor 3R
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: 617.495.1875
Fax: 617.495.8511

WEBSITE: http://dubois.fas.harvard.edu/IBWA#

Spanning nearly 5,000 years and documenting virtually all forms of media, the Image of the Black in Western Art Research Project and Photo Archive is an unprecedented research project devoted to the systematic investigation of how people of African descent have been perceived and represented in art.

 

Started in 1960 by Jean and Dominique de Mänil in reaction to the continuing existence of segregation in the United States, the Archive contains photographs of approximately 30,000 works of art, each one of which is extensively documented and categorized by the Archive's staff. For the first thirty years of the project's existence, the project focused on the production of a prize-winning, four-volume series of generously illustrated books, The Image of the Black in Western Art.

 

Since moving to Harvard in 1994, the project is focused on the production of the final volume of The Image of the Black in Western Art and expanding access to the Archive itself (prior to its arrival at Harvard, the Archive was only available to scholars working on the published volumes). The Institute hosts conferences, fellowships for scholars, seminars, and exhibitions on issues raised by the Archive, including the African American Art Conference in 2004.

 

 

 

 

INFO: New Book—Sonia Sanchez » I’m Black When I’m Singing, I’m Blue When I Ain’t and Other Plays

I’m Black When I’m Singing, I’m Blue When I Ain’t and Other Plays


Morning Haiku
$19.95 Paperback
$69.95 Hardcover

 

Available from:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Independent Bookstore

 

This collection brings together for the first time the plays of Sonia Sanchez, a prolific, award-winning poet and one of the most prominent writers in the Black Arts movement. In addition to Sanchez’s five previously published plays The Bronx Is Next (1970), Dirty Hearts (1971), Sister Son/ji (1972), Malcolm/Man Don’t Live Here No Mo (1979) Uh, Uh; But How Do It Free Us? (1975), and , the collection also includes her two unpublished plays, I’m Black When I’m Singing, I’m Blue When I Ain’t (1982) and 2 x 2 (2009). It reveals the thematic and formal exchanges between Sanchez’s poetry and dramatic works over the course of four decades. Sanchez emerged as a black nationalist poet and playwright in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Like her poetry, her dramas reflect her critique of the racism and sexism that she encountered as a young female writer in the black militant community, her ongoing concern with the well-being of the black community, and her commitment to social justice. I’m Black When I’m Singing, I’m Blue When I Ain’t and Other Plays includes three essays in which Sanchez reflects on her art and activism, and an introduction by Jacqueline Wood situating Sanchez’s plays in relation to her poetry, activism, and the feminist dramatic voice in black revolutionary art.

“Sonia Sanchez remains one of the most read, respected, and visible figures of the Black Arts Movement, as well as its most significant female figure. This volume only adds to that legacy.”—Amiri Baraka

“These seven plays by Sonia Sanchez form an emotional and historic bridge from the loud revolutionary power of the 1960s and the twentieth century to the more insidious and subtle challenges of this first decade of the twenty-first. Their power lies in their ability to present super/real snapshots of their time and circumstance with the mystic clarity that mixing poetry and drama can create. From The Bronx Is Next, where Brothers prepare to burn down Harlem tenements, to 2 X 2, where Beverly and Ramona Smith find one another, Sonia’s persistent call to Blacks—and especially to women—is to find the strength to assemble our ghosts and demons, confront them, and lay them to rest. The plays are startling and open us to a Sonia Sanchez whose vision can see the world as stage, or, perhaps, stage as the world.”—Charles Fuller

“Poet Sonia Sanchez deserves a Nobel for her lyrical representation and advocacy of the universal black woman.”—Ed Bullins

“Whether I encounter Sonia in poetry, prose, or drama, I am always struck by the fearlessness of her intellect, the effortless musicality of her language, and her commitment to putting these gifts—always—in service of the Struggle. I rejoice for those who, through this book, will encounter Sonia for the first time.”—Ruby Dee

 

HAITI: Sean Penn and Wyclef Jean: Hollywood, Hip Hop and Haiti - Ezili Danto - Open Salon

AUGUST 9, 2010 1:31AM

Sean Penn and Wyclef Jean: Hollywood, Hip Hop and Haiti

Click "Submit Abuse" if you feel this post is inappropriate. Explain why below if you wish.
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Sean Penn on Haiti, his best and worst lines on the Charlie Rose show

 

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(See also, Actor Sean Penn on his work in Haiti - the Charlie Rose interview.)

Two things we know for sure: Hollywood and Hip Hop get media attention. And, for Haiti that translates into big media hype and megaphones for actor Sean Penn and rapper-turned-presidential candidate, Wyclef Jean.

Forget that people's trust and naive responses to celebrities-turned- scholar-on-Haiti and Haiti's future are unseemly and utterly appalling.

Think: how may we use this upcoming and unprecedented 3-months media glare - the elections are scheduled for November 28, 2010 - to help the 2 million Haitians made homeless by the earthquake stay alive, sheltered, not in rotted tents but more permanent abodes, with water, food, medicine and maybe some jobs; push for the monies raised to be used for Haiti's domestic growth and the victims directly, for fair trade not sweatshops and poor Haiti subsidizing toxic Monsanto's future profits, et al and push to get rid of the poverty pimp NGOs, end the UN occupation by showing the failures, these last six-years, of the UN, the NGOs, Clinton, their repugnance? (Haiti ill-served by aid by Ezili Dantò of HLLN.)

How to use this media glare? To take away the smiley face that was put on tyranny, UN/US occupation and the benevolent face put on structural poverty, white venality and vampirism in Black Haiti? The real narrative on Haiti cannot be allowed to fall through the cracks while this PENN/WYCLEF-hype gives the US corporatocracy and Haiti oligarchy more cover to continue their pillage, plunder of Haiti's resources, impoverishment and destruction of Haiti. There's work to do, people. (See, The Slavery in Haiti the Media Won't Expose; What UN Special Envoy Bill Clinton May do to Help Haiti, 2001- outline and full text; What Haitian Americans Ask of the New US Congress and President; Haiti's Riches - expose the false stereotypes; A map of some of Haiti's mining resources; The Poverty Pimps' Masturbating on Black Pain: Monsanto joins the pack and Vision of Plantation Haiti - A White Pearl, Again!)

"As a result of these US free trade policies, over 830,000 rural Haitian jobs were lost and hundreds of thousands of Haitians were forced into the capital looking for work, where eventually they would meet up with Jan 12 at 4:53. " (Vision of Plantation Haiti - A White Pearl, Again!" ; "We accomplished our own ends in the United States on the tears of Haitian children."- Intro of the panelists at an MIT presentation on Haiti-Video.)
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WYCLEF'S RUN FOR PRESIDENT OF HAITI, SEAN PENN TAKE:

So far, the Sean Penn's script in Haiti, has been written by USAID and the US State Department as we noted back in May when he testified before the foreign relations committee. (Sean Penn, new spokesperson for Colonialism, Exclusion and Haiti's Oligarchy: he says, don't encourage Haiti's independence, that's premature and murder!)

But, the Hollywood's bad boy, one time heroin user, reputed cokehead, former husband to Lady Gaga's godmother, Madonna, who once filed assault charges against him, is starting to get a clue almost 7-months into his Haiti sojourn and the Charlie Rose interview marks that demarcation.

Still, Penn's paternalism and white privilege arrogance is so offensive that even if he's starting to see the NGO's are a business in Haiti, his notion that he's qualified to speak about Wyclef's run because of his six-months in Haiti, is blatantly offensive.

Penn is not an opportunist. I have it on good eyewitness authority that he genuinely manages the best tent camp in Port au Prince. But he seems to believe he has STANDING and legitimate media authority to say, not the Haitian people, but for HIM to say, because of his running the tent camp, that Wyclef Jean should not be running for president. There are just no words to express the temerity of these white boys sometimes. Penn is simply NOT the proper person to take this issue to - the people in Haiti are! How is it that they are being by-passed for Penn's opinions? How could Sean Penn not even get it that seven-months after the earthquake, his very presence in Haiti, still at a tent city golf RESORT, which he puts HIS name on, is merely further evidence of the Jake Sully/Tarzan messiah complex as played out in Haiti, in Africa, everywhere in Black and Brown countries, not much different from the NGO as a business issue he is denouncing. (Haiti and the Aid Racket: How NGOs are Profiting Off a Grave Situation.)

There are forces behind each of these people - Penn and Wyclef Jean, with political interests that may not be similar to what the masses in Haiti see for themselves. Forces perhaps that neither Penn nor Jean are fully aware of, and may not understand who pull the strings and manipulated them into both being stooges for empire.

For one, recall how, before the earthquake Wyclef Jean was a media darling and a US/UN/Clinton favorite in Haiti. He was Ambassador-at- Large with a security detail and VIP treatment at the airport. When the earthquake hit that favor was transferred to clueless, first-time-doing Haiti-charity-work, Sean Penn! Not the security detail, but his crew had access to the airport when regular Haitians and more veteran search and rescue and first responders were being denied; access to military logistics while Wyclef Jean's crew had to come in through the Dominican Republic! At one point in the early days, when Wyclef Jean went to the airport with a crowd of Haitians to pick up the mounds of food, water, medicines that was just piling up there, he was denied, the crowd of eager-to-help Haiti youths who had followed him witnessed this treatment of Wyclef, embarrassed and shamed and force to leave empty handed.

Meanwhile Sean Penn's star in Haiti was rising, in his safe compound on a golf resort area fully protected by the military. Nevermind that most Haitians in Kafou Fey and elsewhere outside this "green zone," had no access to medicine, water, blood transfusions, no safety or that in general, and notwithstanding Sean Penn's well run camp, many of the World Relief organizations and various other NGOS are, in the main, using aid monies for paying their high-end salaries, traveling, for shipping fees to their own companies, for attending meetings ad nausea, some buying prostitutes and living the high life in Haiti.

World Vision, among other NGOs are leasing homes in the Haiti mountains of upper Petionville for from $6,000 to 12,000 per month paying for electricity and everything else plus renting huge SUVs from the Haitian Oligarchy. While the Haitian elite are taking this opportunity to leave Haiti and rent their plush homes for big money raised for earthquake victim relief. The new ROTATIONS from the World Relief organizations and the extra UN/US deployed personnel since the earthquake have comfortably replaced those flown out as the "new foreign elite moving in."

All this is going on. But none of the top Haiti charity moneymakers’ tax returns were publicly exposed by the IRS or were dressed down by the media for their misuse of Haiti funds. NGO businesses like Red Cross, World Vision, Care International, Catholic Relief Services, UN world food programs, known charities that have been collecting on Haiti's poverty and pillaging Haiti for decades after decades, none of them were dressed down for their misuse of dollars collected in Haiti. But soon after the earthquake, ONLY Wyclef Jean's Yele foundation was singled out and uncovered to have IRS problems and a more than $410,000 questionable handling issue in his management of Yele Haiti foundation funds.

Before the earthquake, these problems were not made public or cited anywhere that we know about. Wyclef was needed then to put a smiley Haitian face to US imperialism. But he's being reigned in now and there is a reason. A black messiah who save earthquake victims, has Hollywood cache, a tent city, and who was not stopped from competing with Red Cross for donation dollars probably isn't controllable enough for the US Kingmakers in Haiti. It's no surprise to us at Ezili's HLLN that today the actor Sean Penn, the new carefully cultivated Haiti "expert," suddenly is the one 'suspicious' of Wyclef Jean's bid for Haiti president and getting a huge mainstream platform to say so. Notice, in the USA Today article photo, Sean Penn is wearing his Haiti medal. He's our new white expert on "all things Haitian!" ( See, also Sean Penn Hopes His Critics Get Rectal Cancer ; Youtube Video - Sean Penn 'suspicious' of Wyclef Jean's bid for Haiti president .) Where's Paul Farmer, ya'll?

We've gone into cartoon land. The sideshow eclipses the living, breathing, suffering Haiti people enduring over 6-nightmarish years of US/US occupation and slaughters and NGO pillage never covered by the mainstream media. The election carnival is just beginning and has reduced, for the moment, the worst disaster in recorded human history to what actor Sean Penn has to say about hip hop rapper Wyclef Jean's run to sit at the crumbled National Palace in Haiti! Elections under occupation? Neither are saying - krik, not a word, about that!


WYCLEF JEAN: Rapper turned Presidential Candidate

 

Talking about standing. Although Wyclef Jean supported the forced removal of Haiti's democratically elected president Aristide; although Wyclef Jean was part of the bicentennial boycott and one who called the murdering US-supported Guy Philippe death squads, "freedom fighters"; although Wyclef Jean used his goodwill from his music fame to open Site Soley slums up to UN guns and then left his young Black male supporters to be rounded up and imprisoned indefinitely without charges, a hearing or a trial for years and years, never saying a word to request they be tried or set free; although all this is true, we are not going to restate this case evidencing Wyclef Jean's undemocratic political leanings or, non- humanitarian interventions. Why? Because at Ezili's HLLN we try not to enter into fratricide and use our limited resources towards changing the paradigm put in place by Category One, the imperialists, not any variety of Category Zero, their Black subcontractors, manipulated or not.

 

 

Besides, Wyclef Jean has done a singularly good job in bringing a different international narrative to Haiti.

 

 

His narrative is different because when Wyclef Jean and Haiti come together it’s not about the mainstream media's usual violent-Haiti narrative, the in-fighting-Haitians narrative, nor the corrupt-Haiti narrative but a successful young man who won against all odds. That, is not to be discounted. It must be put into context. There's no justice or reason for destroying Wyclef Jean simply because he is running for President of Haiti and may also owe the IRS some taxes, or may have connection to sweatshop investors that may fleece the people's labor. On these points, Haitians will undoubtedly speak, the people may even vote or withhold their vote. They will do it, for themselves. Do Haitians need Penn to "protect them" from Wyclef Jean! No. They need Penn perhaps to go to Washington, go see his own folks and use his media and Hollywood power to get Washington's boots off their necks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wyclef Jean 's life story inspires millions upon millions of young Haitians, Black men in America and youths worldwide. It's something to be built upon, in the appropriate manner. His Foundation's funds also ought to be well managed and monies collected and disbursed readily accounted for. He has been important to Haiti and Haitians, living and home and abroad, not because of his music career success but also because he's used his success to lift up Haiti, been proud to belong to Haiti and heralds from the masses. All this has been going on long before the Haiti golf course became the tent camp of Sean Penn. Long, long before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In terms of his run for President of Haiti: Mr. Wyclef Jean, hype or not. Qualified to run a country or not, all that is BESIDES THE POINT and there's no need to opine on it right now. For, if the LAW applies, he simply has no STANDING to run for the post. Wyclef Jean does not meet the technical requirements to run for President of Haiti. To run he must, according to Article 135 of the Haiti Constitution, have LIVED in Haiti for a minimum of 5 years. Wyclef is a legal resident of New Jersey, USA. (See article 135 Haiti Constitution .)

Even if by some stretchhhhh, Mr. Wyclef Jean, should point to his 2007 appointment as Ambassador-at-large by President Preval as "residency in Haiti." He still falls short.

 

 

We await the Haiti Electoral Council (CEP)'s decision at Ezili's HLLN before making any further comments on the substance of this candidacy and that of the 33 others who have filed, if required. It must be noted that we are under occupation and the law has been destroyed in Haiti, so who knows what the CEP will rule. We remember under the Bush imposed Latortue, when Gerard Latortue didn't like a legal decision, he just fired the Supreme Court. We recall that under the puppet Preval, when that government didn't like it that a judge ordered the Fanmi Lavalas party to be included as a registered party in the elections, he just fired the judge. So who knows, the CEP may ignore the law and let Wyclef Jean run. Bush ignored the Haiti Constitution and ousted President Aristide, put in the UN/US occupation and the Obama Administration is continuing the illegal prohibition, forbids President Aristide and his family from returning home. There's no respect for the law in the Haiti that's presently being run by ex-President Clinton as UN Envoy and that's under US/UN control, so there's no standard, no justice, no peace for Haiti at the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

Our principled position at Ezili's HLLN remains that election under occupation are illegitimate. But, if the people of Haiti vote and that vote is in any way manipulated, diluted, stolen, managed, hi-jacked by the Haiti subcontractors or Internationals, HLLN shall be here to play the oversight role we did back in 2006 and support, with our advocacy and pen, whatever "Montana strategy" the people of Haiti take on to make sure their voices and vote count.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What we do know, for now, is that there are some advantages to this media coverage of Haiti, through this Wyclef Jean candidacy. It may not help Mr. Jean. But it is an OPPORTUNITY for those of us who care to bring the REAL Haiti narrative to the fore on this media frenzy. I hope Ezili Network folks will take this opportunity to write op eds and respond and comment to CNN, Larry King, New York Times, Hollywood reporter, et al...


SEAN PENN:


Sean Penn's anti-war work on Iraq did not sit well with the embedded media and US military, but he made it up with the media and US military in post earthquake Haiti.

Once, the media had labeled him, "Baghdad Sean" and accused Sean Penn of undermining American solidarity in a time of crisis. Penn's support and visits to Venezuela president, Hugo Chavez and to Cuba meeting with Raul Castro, both sworn enemies of American imperialism, also got him in trouble with the mainstream media and military. Not any more.

Today, he’s now a CNN, Larry King, Charlie Rose, et al... darling, not relentless attacked for his “anti-American stands against the war in Iraq.” No, he’s a “humanitarian” now, losing no chance to praise the US military presence in Haiti. US State Department/USAID mostly write the actor’s script in Haiti. He's palpable now. Digestible now. So, he's become a regular "go to" person whom the mainstream media will quote and consult with on the “Haiti situation.” Ahhh, the uses of Haiti! (See also, Who is Rajiv Shah, What are Haiti concerns about Shah/USAID.)

"Baghdad Sean" gets on the good side of the US military and mainstream media in Haiti. (See the May 19 Senate Hearing on Haiti. Read Sean Penn's testimony praising the US military, Preval and the NGOs and urging the militarization of aid relief efforts as well as continued US/UN occupation.) Although the UN itself has said that violent Haiti is a myth and although the statistics show that there is more violence in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Brazil and even in some places in the US, than there is in Haiti, Sean Penn, mouthing the Haiti Oligarchy, mainstream media, NGO and USAID/State Department's colonial narrative, writes and testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that:


"President Preval and his administration have proven in their pre-quake efforts the will of Haiti to overcome its devastating legacy. But to demand of them, or encourage their demand of a fractured society's independence prematurely, will be murder by another name.” -- Sean Penn, May 19 Senate Hearing on Haiti .

In fact, "Hellhole Haiti" is not as Violent as Peoria, Illinois. Haiti's homicide rate is five and a half times less than the average homicide rate in the entire Caribbean. The average for Haiti is 5.6 per 100,000 and the average for the Caribbean is 30 homicide per 100,000).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a reward, it seems to us, for following the script perhaps put in front of him by USAID, the NGO subcontractors, et al, and by the mentally colonized "schooled" Haitians he runs into who are now running Haiti through the victory of two Bush Regime changes, Sean Penn was presented with a medal from President Preval for his Haiti work on the six-months anniversary ceremony at the destroyed National Palace and was presented with a MILITARY coin and several honorary certificates of commendation for his service in Haiti by the deputy commander of the U.S. Southern Command, Lieut Gen Ken Keen.

Sean Penn’s organization appears to be trying hard in Haiti to help save the lives in his golf resort tent city. There’s no denying that his camp's efforts have helped dying earthquake victims, have given morphine to patients screaming in pain, provided medicine, blood transfusions to keep them alive. That relief work is necessary and not discounted. Still, in the long run, when seven month on, people are still in Sean Penn’s camp, living in tents, not homes, this sort of "development" may soon become dependency.

 

 

 

At the end of the day, if there's no skill transfer and permanent infrastructure change, staffed by Haitians as owners not "helpers" to the foreign saviors, it's no different than before the earthquake and Penn’s organization may end up perpetuating itself to be in Haiti for decades like the other NGOS, trying, as Spike Lee gushes to “get this country on its feet! (Spike Lee praises Sean Penn's work in Haiti ; and The Plantation called Haiti: Feudal Pillage Masking as Humanitarian Aid.)

Penn public statements are evidence that he does not clearly see the unseen hands pulling the strings, manipulating from the very beginning or that Western military power and white privilege have vied for the soul of Black folks since the days of the missionaries. Penn does not seem to question how HE came to get this privilege of his OWN tent camp in Haiti. He seems to take it for GRANTED that, with no previous Haiti experience, he actually EARNED this position to manage the camp. He doesn’t seem to see the entitlement, or the strings attached and unintended harm being done as emergency phase turns into rebuilding phase and the people's lives evidence no rebuilding. Doesn’t seem to want to know that Haitians are not children; that with the resources, access and connections made available to HIM and his foreign organization and staffers by USAID, UN, the US military, Haitians in Haiti would have done more, saved more lives, covered a wider geographical area of people. Haitians in Haiti simply know the ground better than Penn.

On the Charlie Rose show, Penn said he intends a movie on his Haiti presence in the future. He explains Haitians are like "props" in a movie set put together by NGO's. Nonetheless, he says he sees himself as a DIRECTOR in the Haiti tent camp scenario with presumably Haiti’s people as props?

Mr. Penn appears to have NO CLUE how USAID/US State Department/Pentagon, more schooled in the patterns of privilege and domination are USING him to further their "do-gooder" narrative and deflect away from 6-years of failure in Haiti since the occupation and NGO republic began in earnest.

 

 

 

Here are Mr. Sean Penn's best and worst lines on the Charlie Rose show:

As you watch the Charlie Rose interview, there's a clear picture the NGO's are a business, they are in Haiti to keep Haiti dependent, continue their business existence using the poverty for their benefit.


Penn’s best lines,
1. “the rest of the world live like this, America is the fringe..."

2. "A prominent Haitian said to me 'when the apocalypse come, the survivors will be roaches, rats and Haitians.' The Haitians will survive " (no matter what...)…

3. Penn's worst line
Recycling unfounded charges against Pres. Aristide. He says that Aristide's "rising personal power issue gave in to narco trafficking, if not personally CERTAINLY indirectly, …that gave into violence, so you didn’t have the basic security in the country, trust in the police in Haiti!" (go to 33:15) He goes on to parrot USAID/State Department about what a wonderful job Preval was doing before the earthquake ...presumably he was "DECENTRALIZING" power!!!

Someone ought to have given Sean Penn a clue. Not to say a known coke-head can't have a valid point, smoking drugs and being a heavy drinker doesn't mean one condones how drugs gets from Haiti to America. So I won't point out Sean Penn's 'old drug problem, jail time and assault charges. I think Madonna pressed charges for assault and then withdrew them for a straight divorce. So I won't go there at all. The clue Sean Penn needs to get is that to come to a nation and start impugning its legally elected President on drug charges is a bit arrogant, if not hypocritical in the altogether. Besides, he's dead wrong. Aristide didn't bring the violence to Haiti, he was raised in the poverty violence; he was raised in neo-colonial Haiti and a 30-year US-supported Duvalier dictatorship. Violence in Haiti is not only evidenced by the NGO dependency business today but is made entrenched there by the US/UN military occupation herald in by the two violent Bush Coup d'etat's that summarily disfranchised 10 million Black Haitians, killed 20,000 and subjects the masses to the unprecedented nightmare Haitians have been living under since the bicentennial coup detat and return of the Oligarchy macoutes/elites and vampire internationals back to power in Haiti.

Duvalier's macoutes and Haiti's army junta have been supplementing their income with allowing drug trafficking up from Columbia, et al... way before Aristide came to power in 1990. Many of the top army leaders, like the drug trafficker Michel Francois and coup d'etat leader, General Raoul Cedras, were on US payroll and trained at Fort Benin Georgia, way before Aristide came into office. Haiti's poor, whom Aristide was a spokesperson for, own no planes, no cocaine fields and the DEA suspected drug dealer who helped oust Aristide, Guy Philippe, was originally trained by US Special Forces and financed by US and trained by US or US proxies from the Dominican Republic to invade Haiti in 2004.

In terms of decentralization of Haiti, Aristide tried to decentralized power, empower Haiti's 565 communal sections and not just Port au Prince. That wasn't acceptable to the US and internationals because they did not want his community organizing to work, or participatory democracy in Haiti. The US and Haiti oligarchy want ELECTORAL democracy, not participatory democracy. Elections under occupation where THEY control the elections, manage them, steal them or hi-jack them. The US talks of decentralization of Port au Prince, but it was the first US occupation (1915 to 1934) that made Port au Prince the seat of power the better to run their colony. USAID/US have no intention of allowing decentralization, unless they can control all 565 sections. It's easier to just buy off the politicians in Port au Prince and be done with it.

On CNN's Larry King show, Penn criticizes Wyclef Jean because he saw him with a large entourage in Haiti. Hollywood's Sean Penn lives in Malibu where displays of wealth are taken for granted. If we look through the eyes of Haiti’s endlessly suffering youths, they see Sean Penn's entourage in Haiti is the most powerful army on planet earth, - his army, for his safety and security, not theirs. Maybe that and the constant convoy of UN/US war trucks and tanks, these last six years, and not Wyclef's "vulgar entourage of vehicles" is "the obscene demonstration of wealth" they see. Fact is, homegrown Wyclef Jean and his "vulgar entourage of vehicles" can't outgun that; but it may be a memorable treat that brings a smile in the eye of the poorest boy in tattered rags, watching this less frightening, more accessible icon pass by, and who dreams of being FREE and successful like Wyclef someday. Moreover, assuming doing roughly six-months charity work in Haiti truly earned Penn the credentials to be the media’s “go to” person to speak for Haiti's voters, then to be fair and balanced, if Penn wants to continue criticizing Wyclef Jean for supporting sweatshop investors paying slave-wages to the people, he should begin by giving up those medals he got from the US military and Haiti's President Preval. They uphold these foreign corporate interests in Haiti.

For, in 2004, the US Special Forces went into Haiti to take out, kidnap and exile to Africa, Haiti's democratically elected President Aristide eventually leading to the weaker President Rene Preval and this over six-years of UN occupation. The reason for Bush Regime change II, besides the fear Pres. Aristide would nationalize the country's oil, gold, iridium and other mining resources to help truly develop Haiti, was because President Aristide raised the minimum wage to $1.60 per day and got those sweatshop assembly plant owners hopping mad! In contrast, in 2009, US puppet President Preval vetoed a Parliament vote to increase the minimum wage saying the increase would hurt US businesses! (See, Minimum wage and maximum rage.)

If Wyclef is going to be criticized on this because he’s hobnobbing with Wall Street corporate interests to the detriment, in Sean Penn's opinion, of Haiti's people and promoting the H.O.P.E. "sweatshop" legislations, then, how much more should Penn’s media firepower be aimed, on the actual POLICYMAKERS, the architects, who push sweatshop, by force, upon Haiti's poor while fleecing the countries riches, behind UN guns?

 

 

 

The "corporate interests and individuals enamored with Wyclef" to quote Sean Penn, are, in our view, the very same folks Sean Penn hangs daily with for his organization's works in Haiti. That is, those promoting and pursuing the failed wage slavery plan today, include: USAID, the Obama Adminstration at Hillary Clinton's State Department, the UN's Ban Ki Moon, Susan Rice, US Special Envoy Bill Clinton, the Haiti Oligarchy, the US Congress who passed the two H.O.P.E "sweatshop" legislations, along with mostly the entire Congressional Black Caucus as collaborators. Low-wage assembly plant duty free jobs are Washington's vision for Haiti reconstruction. It's been their vision and failed Haiti policy for over 30-years. (See, Rebuilding Haiti - The Sweatshop Hoax; Obama's empty promises: Change did not come, 2009 ; Haiti's Holocaust and Middle Passage Continues ; Obama's offered HOPE is sweatshop slavery.)

 

 

 

Responding to Penn's criticism, Wyclef reportedly said that after president Aristide left, if he had not created his Yele Haiti charity to help stop the violence, even Sean Penn's coming to Haiti would not have been possible today.

President Aristide did not willingly leave Haiti. He was kidnapped. Wyclef remained silent, supported the violent rule-by-force rebels. Then collaborated with those who benefited from the international crime against Haiti's people - corporate interests, Haiti's Oligarchy, the UN, Clinton and the US - putting a smiley and benevolent face on occupation, never denouncing the UN slaughters of the young Black men of Site Soley. He insults the Haitian people’s intelligence. Penn patronizes them.


Ezili Dantò of HLLN
August, 2010

 

 

 

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BACKGROUND INFO
*

Recommended HLLN Link:
Sean Penn Hopes His Critics Get Rectal Cancer
http://www.dlisted.com/node/36338

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo.

 

 

 

Gonaives, Wyclef, 2008

Charlie Rose - Actor Sean Penn on his work in Haiti
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11127


Spike Lee praises Sean Penn's work in Haiti
http://bit.ly/crTbhB

Haiti’s (Would Be) Hip-Hop President
, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/07/opinion/07blow.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Wyclef Jean Seeks the Haitian Presidency: A Breath of Fresh Air — or a Dabbler who will Break Haiti’s Heart? by COHA Research Associate Alice Barrett http://bit.ly/amY0B4


The Root: Dear Wyclef, Please Don't Run! by Marjorie Valbrun
http://www.theroot.com/views/dear-wyclef-please-dont-run
(Ezili's Note: Interesting article by Ms. Valbrun. But besides this idea that Haiti needs TECHNOCRATS presumably who take their marching orders from Washington not the Haitian people, I note a statement she makes that gives pause. She writes that Haiti doesn't need Wyclef as President but someone who can: "tamp down the country's cyclical social unrest."!!!

IRS hit Wyclef w/ $2.1 million tax liens
Haitian presidential candidate owes for 1040 returns

 

 

Sean Penn: My Senate Foreign Relations Committee Testimony on Rebuilding Haiti, May 19, 2010, The Huffington Post | http://ning.it/d2qkYl

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For whose entertainment shall we sing our agony? In what hopes? That the destroyers, aspiring to extinguish us, will suffer conciliatory remorse at the sight of their own fantastic success?” – Ayi Kwei Armah, from the book Two Thousand Seasons- Go to: The Plantation called Haiti: Feudal Pillage Masking as Humanitarian Aid http://ning.it/9yEImk ; US Senate report says Haiti rebuilding has stalled -http://bit.ly/bavqRu ; and Houston businesses look to capitalize on Haiti disasters http://bit.ly/cpmzvm

Recommended Ezili Dantò/HLLN Links:

Building wealth, power and their resumes on the tears of Haiti children

 

 

 

 

The HOPE Deception of Haiti by the Haitian Blogger
http://bit.ly/cQO2Rs

Why Don’t They Spend the Money Now, When People Need It? http://bit.ly/axvFQX;

Houston businesses look to capitalize on Haiti disasters http://bit.ly/cpmzvm ;

and Following the Aid Money to Haiti http://bit.ly/9e536c ;

and Cash for Clinton — in the U.N.'s New Haiti Peacekeeping Budget http://bit.ly/dtLjQq

and With Haiti in Ruins, Some U.N. Relief Workers Live Large on 'Love Boat' http://bit.ly/bBFn4b

and U.N.'s Haiti 'Flotel' Overpriced ($72,00 per day), Says Expert
http://ning.it/9RYKqU

and Red Cross under fire! Where’s the money for Haiti?
http://bit.ly/9Q4QDq


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Author tags:

 

 

INFO: Iara Lee: Blood Gadgetry -- Why I am Going to the Congo

Cultures of Resistance:
Congo Week

Visit Friends of the Congo's website to find out ways you can take meaningful action at home and stand in solidarity with the people of the Congo.

FriendsOfTheCongo.org/

========================================
Iara Lee

Iara Lee

Activist and filmmaker

Posted: August 6, 2010 09:59 AM

Blood Gadgetry -- Why I am Going to the Congo

The Israeli government's increasingly militaristic foreign policy must remain a fundamental concern to anyone who strives for peace and justice on our planet. I am under no illusions, however, that what is happening to the Palestinians should somehow eclipse all other conflicts taking place in the world. Given recent events, and my extremely vocal response to them, I can see why some people new to me and my work might think this is the case. Those who know me even slightly better, however, understand that what is happening in the Middle East is only one facet of my work.

The war in the Congo is another. This is why, for some time now, I have been trying to enter the Congo to document the hideous crimes that are taking place there, crimes that have been largely ignored by much of the world. Since the outbreak of war 14 years ago, over 5 million people, including millions of children, have died as a result of what is now the deadliest conflict since World War II. This is a conflict where rape is used as a weapon of mass destruction, where vital rain forest ecosystems have been destroyed and water systems poisoned.

Given the enormity and brutality of the situation in the Congo, it is baffling how little we have heard about it in the last decade.

Whether it is racism, cowardice, or some combination of the two (they are not mutually exclusive) it has come to pass that what is happening in central Africa is somehow OK to accept, or even worse, to ignore here in the west as something distant and abstract. But the fact is that this is not an abstraction but a blunt reality for so many fellow human beings--and we, and in this I include myself, are complicit and in many ways responsible for what is happening in the Congo.

The conflict began when Rwanda and Uganda invaded the Congo ostensibly to pursue rebels who took refuge in the Congo in the mid-1990s. Since then, both the government forces and the rebels have grown richer by plundering the land of its vast mineral resources, while instability in the Congo has allowed for rapid deforestation of what is often referred to as "the lung of the world" (the Congo, along with the Amazon, is the world's most important "carbon sink," trapping carbon that might otherwise become carbon dioxide). Foreign corporations have also joined in the free for all plunder of the Congo's riches, which led the chief of the UNCHR, Antonio Guterres to declare in an interview with the Financial Times in 2008 that "The international community has systematically looted DRC and we should not forget that."

Among these riches is coltan- columbite tantalite- a mineral highly prized for its use in a number of consumer electronic products, among other things.

After extraction, this mineral is sold to global corporations that use them to satisfy our insatiable appetite for iPods, mobile phones, DVD players, and various other gadgets.

In other words, we are directly fueling the most heinous violence the world has seen in 65 years and subsidizing what one activist, Kambale Musavuli, has referred to as the wholesale rape of land and people.

Just recently President Obama signed into law, as an amendment to the financial reform bill, an extremely limited measure that will require U.S. companies to disclose what steps they are taking to ensure that their products don't contain "conflict minerals" from the Congo. According to the new provision, publicly traded corporations using any "conflict minerals" to make their products must file a report documenting their origins, and if they find they are supporting militant groups they must report on how they plan to stop. But that's all. In fact, corporations are free to report that they will continue to buy from murderous militias, as long as they make that public.

Some might say this is a step in the right direction. I think it is proof of how little we have accomplished so far. We need to turn the heat up on our elected officials who for too long have skirted their responsibility in pushing our African allies (Rwanda, Uganda- both top buyers of the Congolese tin and gold) to end this war, and boycott those companies who continue to profit from such atrocities. In addition, we should call on our elected officials to enforce The Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, which Obama sponsored as a senator in 2006. This law grants the Secretary of State--Hillary Clinton, who co-sponsored the bill as a senator--the authority to withhold funding to any government contributing to the destabilization of the Congo. Fully implementing this law (PL 109 - 456) would help to accelerate an end to the conflict as V-Day's Eve Ensler has exhorted.

We also need to recognize that, as the beneficiaries of this violence, each of us can and must stand in solidarity with the Congolese people.

I am a filmmaker, and so I am trying to make a film about the Congo. Take a little bit of what you do best, and do it to raise consciousness about the suffering that is occurring in the heart of Africa.

After all, it is not only the fate of the Congo or the African continent that is at stake, but also the conscience of humanity. It is unacceptable that we look back at ourselves and admit that we stood idly aside while millions of human beings perished for the comfort of our cell phones and modern gadgets.