by Gina Magloire and Kim Ives

On Thursday, Sep. 16, about 200 people crowded into Room 209A at the
Washington Convention Center for a panel on Haiti during the 40th Annual
Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Legislative Conference, which was held in
Washington, DC from Sep. 15-18.

Two Haitian presidential candidates were there: Leslie Voltaire of the
Together We Are Strong party (Ansanm Nou Fò) and Eric Smarcki Charles of the
Party of Haitian National Evolution (Parti de l’Évolution Nationale
Haitienne or PENH). Michel “Sweet Mickey” Martelly of the Peasant’s Response
party (Repons peyizan) also showed up, but late, so he stood at the door
outside the meeting.

The meeting was chaired by Ron Daniels, the founder of the Haiti Support
Project and organizer the ill-fated 2004 “Cruising into History” fiasco.

Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.), the House Judiciary Committee Chairman,
urged more U.S. black leaders to get involved in helping Haiti’s
reconstruction.

Former New York Republican Congressman Benjamin Gilman, once chairman of the
House International Relations Committee, who retired in 2003, also spoke of
his 30 years of experience working in the U.S. Congress for Haiti. He
sharply criticized the reconstruction efforts in Haiti, saying they were
riddled with corruption and ineffective in getting people shelter and other
aid. Gilman had been a fierce critic of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
while in Congress but did not say anything negative about Aristide at the
CBC panel.

Other speakers included entertainer and activist Harry Belafonte;
TransAfrica President Nicole Lee, a human rights attorney; Paul Weisenfeld,
Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean at
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); and Rick Wade, Senior
Adviser and Deputy Chief of Staff at the U.S. Commerce Department.

Two NGOs were also represented. Angela Bruce Raeburn, Senior Policy Advisor
for Humanitarian Response in Haiti at Oxfam America talked about agriculture
in Haiti, from which she had just returned. Also Charisse Espi Glassman, a
legislative assistant with Catholic Relief Services, said that CRS had been
working in Haiti for 30 years and was now selling houses for $1,400.

There were several speakers who represented the Lavalas position,
particularly on the subject of the exclusionary presidential and legislative
elections being organized for Nov. 28. Toussaint Hilaire, the director of
the Aristide Foundation for Democracy, spoke in Kreyòl with translation
provided by Prof. Frantz Jerome. Brian Concannon of the Institute for
Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) talked about the legal work of his
office and colleagues in Haiti. Walter Riley, executive director of the
Haiti Emergency Relief Fund (HERF), spoke about his foundation’s work for
peace and justice in Haiti. He is a California-based lawyer and a leader of
the Oakland-based Haiti Action Committee.

Finally, filmmaker Avi Lewis, who anchors Al Jazeera’s show “Fault Lines”
spoke, as did Ed Schultz, host of “The Ed Show” on MSNBC.

Although the audience was mostly foreigners, a number of Haitians, some who
had traveled from New York and Miami, also attended. They were largely of a
Lavalas persuasion and cheered speakers who spoke about the return of
Aristide from exile in South Africa.

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According to the UN, inequality in cities around the world is increasing. Almost half of humanity lives in urban areas. In the developing world, 1 in 3 city dwellers live in urban slums. At the same time, some American cities are as unequal as African and Latin American cities. For example, New York was found to be the 9th most unequal in the world. The most unequal cities were in South Africa, Namibia and Latin America. Europe has generally more equal societies, but amongst the most unequal European countries is UK, which is one of the wealthiest.

Originally from http://www.globalissues.org/