U.S. Imperialist Role In Haiti In 1970s

In 1982, Under the Eagle: U.S. Intervention in Central America And The Caribbean by Jenny Pearce described some of the historical effects of U.S. manipulation of Haitian domestsic politics during the 1970s:

"Papa Doc [Duvalier] had come to power in 1957 with the help of the American-trained army...Between 1971 and 1976 Haiti received over $4 million in military arms and training. A new elite corps, the Leopards, were created at Washington's instigation...The Leopards were trained and equipped by former marines, employed by a Miami-based front company, Aerotrade.

"This attempt to reassert United States military influences in this country was followed by renewed economic penetration. The United States controls four out of Haiti's five main exports: sugar, bauxite, sisal and light manufacturers...Between 1970 and 1976 American companies installed 230 new industrial plants in the country attracted by the exceptionally cheap labor. By 1978 United States investment in Haiti was...three times what it was in 1975...At least 70 percent of the population is unemployed..."

And as late as Oct. 3, 1994, the CIA's station chief in Haiti, John Kambourian, apparently met secretly with right-wing FRAPH para-military leader Emannuel Constant to discuss Haiti's political situation at that time, according to the October 31, 1994 issue of The Nation.

(Downtown 11/9/94)

U.S. State Department's Historic Goal in Haiti

Since World War II, the U.S. State Department has apparently been very interested in making sure that Haiti's constitution benefits U.S. special business interests more than the people of Haiti. In a confidential Aug. 18, 1946 message to the U.S. Secretary of State, for example, then-U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Orme Wilson wrote the following:

"I have the honor to report that President Dumarsais Estine requested me to call upon him this evening at the National Palace...

"This discussion furnished me an opportunity to tell the President that while the United States Government was inspired to the kindliest sentiments towards Haiti and desire to relieve the economic status of the peasant...I felt that it could not view with satisfaction such attempts as are apparently being made by means of the proposed new constitution too destroy or injure American business interests legally established in the country. I referred in particular to Article 6, which would appear to occasion severe injury to American capital invested in agricultural enterprises...I pointed out...I felt a distinct anxiety, since Article 6 definitely limits the land holdings of foreigners and that, in the case of one company, the Haitian-American Sugar Company, this would appear to occasion immense damage, since the latter's real property amounted to about 9,000 acres..."

(Downtown 11/23/94)

Sec. of State Clinton's Mevs Family Haiti Connection Historically

As the Wall Street Journal (9/16/94) noted in 1994, the Mevs clan is "one of the most powerful of Haiti's business families" and "since 1992, lawyers at the...law firm of Williams & Connolly have been lobbying the U.S. government on Haiti issues on behalf of the Mevses, who just in 1993 paid the firm $145,281 for its efforts." It also revealed that "the Mevses' chief Washington contact, Gregory Craig, is a law-school classmate of [former] President Clinton and a former senior aide to [now-deceased] Sen. Edward Kennedy," "the Mevses have cultivated contacts in Congress as well as in the State Department and the National Security Council," and in 1993 "held a dinner for about 100 people..."

In Haiti, the Mevs family owns "shoe and soap factories" and controls "most of Haiti's sugar imports," "are worth between $15 million and $50 million," owns much of Downtown Port-au-Prince and may have "profited from their cozy ties to the Duvaliers," according to the Wall Street Journal.

Secretary of State Clinton's husband was recently working with the Mevs family in Haiti,prior to the tragic earthquake disaster, to set up some kind of business deal/economic development project which was going to be partially financed with some of billionaire speculator George Soros's surplus capital.

Black Jobless Rate Jumps To 16.2 Percent Under Obama

The official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for all African-American workers—youth, male and female--jumped from 15.6 to 16.2 percent between November and December 2009 under the Democratic Obama Regime; while the unemployment rate for African-American female workers over 20 years-of-age jumped from 11.7 to 13.1 percent between November and December 2009, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for African-American male workers over 20 years-of-age also increased from 16.1 to 16.7 percent between November and December 2009; while the “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for African-American youth between 16 and 19 years of age was still 48.4 percent in December 2009.

The number of African-American workers with jobs also dropped by 146,000 between November and December 2009, according to “seasonally adjusted” figures. In addition, the number of African-American workers in the U.S. labor force decreased by 60,000 between November and December 2009.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Hispanic or Latino male workers over 20 years of age also jumped from 11.6 to 12.8 percent between November and December 2009. For all Hispanic or Latino workers over 16 years of age (which takes into account the 35.5 percent “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Latino youth), the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate increased to 12.9 percent in December 2009.

The number of Hispanic or Latino workers with jobs also dropped by 206,000 between November and December 2009, according to “not seasonally adjusted” figures. In addition, the number of Hispanic or Latino workers in the U.S. labor force decreased by 141,000 between November and December 2009.

For white male workers in the United States over 20 years of age, the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate increased from 9 to 9.6 percent between November and December 2009, while the “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for white female workers over 20 years of age decreased from 6.9 to 6.8 percent between November and December 2009. But the “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for white youth between 16 and 19 years of age increased from 23 to 23.6 percent between November and December 2009.

The number of white workers with jobs in the United States also dropped by 330,000 between November and December 2009, according to “seasonally adjusted” figures.

The “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Asian-American workers increased from 7.3 to 8.4 percent between November and December 2009, while the official “seasonally adjusted” national jobless rate for all U.S. workers was still 10 percent in December 2009.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ January 8, 2009 press release:

“Nonfarm payroll employment edged down...in December…Employment fell in construction, manufacturing and wholesale trade…,

“In December, both the number of unemployed persons, at 15.3 million, and the unemployment rate, at 10.0 percent, were unchanged...

“Among the unemployed, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) continued to trend up, reaching 6.1 million. In December, 4 in 10 unemployed workers were jobless for 27 weeks or longer…

“The civilian labor force participation rate fell to 64.6 percent in December…

“The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was…9.2 million… These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.

“About 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in December…These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey…

“Among the marginally attached, there were 929,000 discouraged workers in December…Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them…

“Construction employment declined by 53,000 in December…

“In December, employment in manufacturing decreased by 27,000…

“Wholesale trade employment declined by 18,000 in December, with the majority of the decline occurring among durable goods wholesalers…General merchandise stores lost 15,000 jobs…”

20th Anniversary of U.S. Invasion of Panama

December 20, 2009 marked the 20th Anniversary of the 1989 invasion of Panama by 24,000 Pentagon troops.

In The U.S. Invasion of Panama: The Truth Behind Operation `Just Cause,’ an Independent Commission of Inquiry described what happened in Panama during the Pentagon’s 1989 invasion:

“Thousands of Panamanians were killed and wounded during the invasion. The bulk of these casualties were civilians. Estimates of the numbers killed range from over 1,000 to as many as 4,000. A precise figure is hard to arrive at because the U.S. government has carried out a deliberate and systematic cover-up of the numbers killed…

“During the invasion U.S. troops carried out the destruction of the offices of almost every political organization and newspaper known to oppose U.S. policy. The U.S. invasion force destroyed Panama’s National Radio and another radio station, Sistema Radial De Onda Popular. Two television stations, Channel 2 and 5, were also taken over by U.S. troops. The newspaper La Republica, which reported on the extensive death and destruction caused by the invasion, was ransacked and looted by U.S. troops. La Republica publisher Escolastico `Fuelela’ Calvo was arrested and taken by U.S. troops to Fort Clayton…”

The Independent Commission of Inquiry project directors, Gavriella Gemma and Teresa Gutierrez, also noted that as of 1991 there was “not one hearing or congressional investigation into this monstrous event, even though it violated…the U.S. Constitution” and described the role the Big Media played in manipulating U.S. public opinion to support the Pentagon’s invasion of Panama in 1989:

“The media, every television station, every major newspaper participated in a virtual orgy of applause while covering up what was really taking place in Panama. One less experienced anchorman attempting an analysis was summarily shut up while on the air…”

(Downtown 12/21/94)

25 Years Since Bhopal, India Disaster

The "Poison In The Air" protest folk song was written shortly after the late 1984 disaster at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, 25 years ago". Since that time, Union Carbide was purchased by Dow Chemical in 2001; and in the 21st-century there’s an International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal which is still fighting for justice for the victims of U.S. corporate greed in India. Coincidentally, a member of the Dow board of directors in recent years, Jacqueline Barton, apparently also used to sit on the board of trustees of Barnard College (whose board of trustees currently includes Columbia University President and Washington Post Company/Newsweek media conglomerate board member Lee Bollinger).

Poison In The Air

There’s poison in the air
Right near the factory!”
And children start to die
And mothers start to scream
And fathers start to weep
And workers start to shout:
“The Union Carbide plant—
Its gas is pouring out!”

It came to India
To use the cheap labor
And thousands it did kill
When its poison gas did pour
“Safety, it costs too much”
The bankers all did say
And the silent spring of death
Won’t affect the USA.

The pesticide for insects
Murdered people now instead
The methyl isocyanate
From the storage tank it fled
Morgan Guaranty Director Brown
And Chase Manhattan Director Ferguson
Directed Union Carbide
To use the cheapest gas.

Each day another horror
Or a new atrocity
There is no regulation
As they destroy the air we breathe
Today they poisoned India
Tomorrow it may be your city
A monument to profit
A tribute to corporate greed.

To listen to some other protest folk songs, you can check out the “Columbia Songs for a Democratic Society” music site at the following link:

http://www.myspace.com/bobafeldman68music

Black Youth Jobless Rate Jumps to 49.4 Percent Under Obama

The official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for African-American youth between 16 and 19 years of age under the Democratic Obama Regime jumped from 41.3 to 49.4 percent between October and November 2009; while the unemployment rate for African-American male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 16.9 percent in November 2009, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

The official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for African-American female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 11.7 percent in November 2009, while the unemployment rate for all African-American workers—male, female and youth—was still 15.6 percent..

In November 2009, the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Hispanic or Latino male workers over 20 years of age was still 11.6 percent. For all Hispanic or Latino workers over 16 years of age (which takes into account the 34.7 percent “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Latino youth and the 10.6 rate for Latino female workers over 20 years of age), the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate was still 12.7 percent in November 2009.

For white male workers in the United States over 20 years of age, the official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate was still 9.8 percent in November 2009, while the rate for white female workers over 20 years of age remained at 7.4 percent. The official unemployment rate for white youth between 16 and 19 years of age was still 23 percent in November 2009.

The “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Asian-American workers was 7.3 percent in November 2009. But the official “seasonally adjusted” national jobless rate for all U.S. workers was still 10 percent in November 2009.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ December 4, 2009 press release:

“…In November, employment fell in construction, manufacturing and information…

“…The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) rose by 293,000 to 5.9 million. The percentage of unemployed persons jobless for 27 weeks or more increased by 2.7 percentage points to 38.3 percent…

“The number of people working part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed in November at 9.2 million. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job…

“About 2.3 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in November, an increase of 376,000 from a year earlier…These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey…

“Among the marginally attached, there were 861,000 discouraged workers in November, up from 608,000 a year earlier…Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them…

“Construction employment declined by 27,000 over the month…In November, construction job losses were concentrated among nonresidential specialty trade contractors…

“Manufacturing employment fell by 41,000 in November…

“Employment in the information industry fell by 17,000 in November. About half of the job loss occurred in its telecommunications component (-9,000)…”