No to NATO

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 18:16:11 -0600
From: Peter Garden <pgarden@resist.ca>
To: peteslist@lists.riseup.net,
     'AAA Winnipeg Activist Discussion' <winnipeg_activist-d@yahoogroups.com>,
     canada-activist@list.wayground.ca,
     'Northern Prairie Anarchist' <northern_prairie_anarchist@yahoogroups.com>,
     'AAA Anarchist Sask' <Anarchist-Sask@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [0.9] [CDNAct] Haitian Solidarity Protester Gets Pettigrew Red-Handed

Hey folks,

This is Rachel's (my partner) brother who was arrested for putting red paint
on Pierre Pettigrew's hands to protest Canada's collusion with the ousting
of the democratically elected government in Haiti and the support of the
current murderous regime.  Please forward this message far and wide.

Solidarity,

Peter

=============================================

More on Yves' arrest and his statement below.

PLEASE FORWARD!

PIERRE PETTIGREW SPLATTERED WITH RED PAINT AT MONTREAL CONFERENCE ON HAITI;
A SYMBOL OF THE HAITIAN BLOOD ON THE HANDS OF THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT

Statement of Arrested Activist Yves Engler below

MONTREAL, June 17 2005 – Yves Engler, an activist with Haiti Action
Montreal, interrupted a press conference at the Montreal International
Conference on Haiti to splatter red paint — a symbol of Haitian blood -- on
the hands of Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew. Shouting “Pettigrew
Lies, Haitians Die!”, Engler was tackled to the floor by several RCMP agents
and arrested. He is currently being held at the prison at 980 Guy (just
south of Rene Levesque) where a crowd of Haitian Montrealers and other
solidarity activists have already gathered to demand for his release. Engler
will appear before a judge tomorrow. Pettigrew and his handlers are already
trying to slander Engler as one who has a longstanding personal grudge
against the Foreign Minister. Do not be fooled — Engler and Haiti Action
Montreal formed in the aftermath of the Febuary 29, 2004 coup that overthrew
the elected government, which Canada has supported ever since. It was
Engler’s attempt to bring this foreign policy scandal to light, and put the
Canadian-backed suffering of the Haitian people to the forefront of national
attention.

Attached is a photo of today’s action. Many more to follow. A full video
recording of the action at the press conference will be available shortly.
Members of the media interested in obtaining a copy of this video or
speaking to a spokesperson for Haiti Action Montreal may call Aaron Maté at
(514) 286-9275, Kevin Skerrett at (613) 864-1590, or Jean Saint-Vil at (613)
661-8474.

Below is a statement written by Yves Engler shortly before his arrest:

It is completely understandable that Canadians may be offended by the action
taken this afternoon. I only ask them to consider whether they are offended
by the real blood that is being spilled in Haiti every day, with the full
support of Pierre Pettigrew and the Canadian government. Mr. Pettigrew has
said nothing to condemn the overthrow of the democratically elected
government of Haiti in February 2004 -- not just President Jean Bertrand
Aristide, but the entire elected government. Likewise, he has said nothing
about the barbaric actions of the Haitian police that Canada is currently
funding and training.

Mr. Pettigrew and the Canadian government have had plenty of opportunity to
learn about the horrors of what they are supporting. In February, I
personally handed him a copy of an extensive report by the University of
Miami's Center for Human Rights. Copies of the report will be handed out to
members of the media today. The report details the widespread abuses of the
Haitian police, and the sham of a  judicial system that Canada is directly
funding.

Most recently, the Haitian Supreme Court ordered the release of Louis Jodel
Chamblain, convicted for the 1994 massacre of slum residents in Raboteau.
The former death-squad leader was acquitted in a hasty overnight trial that
Amnesty International denounced as “an insult to justice” and a “mockery.”
The University of Miami reports that police and paramilitaries “routinely
enter [poor neighborhoods] to conduct operations which are often murderous
attacks" leaving victims that łprefer to die at home untreated rather than
risk arrest at the hospital. When I visited Haiti in December 2004, I heard
many gruesome testimonies of these operations first-hand.

At almost every major Haitian demonstration that has called for the return
of their democratically elected President, Canada-trained police have shot
and killed protesters. It is tragically commonplace to read news stories –-
few of which have found their way beyond the back pages of the North
American corporate media, if reported at all -- that begin such as
these: 

• Associated Press, April 27 2005: “Police fired on protesters demanding the
release of detainees loyal to Haiti's ousted president Wednesday, killing at
least five demonstrators, U.N. officials and witnesses said.”

• Associated Press, March 24 2005: “Police opened fire Thursday during a
street  march in Haiti's capital to demand the return of ousted resident
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Witnesses said at least one person was killed.”

• Miami Herald, March 1 2005: “Haitian police opened fire on peaceful
protesters Monday, killing two, wounding others and scattering an estimated
2,000 people marching through the capital to mark the first anniversary of
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's ouster.”

As Mr. Pettigrew continues his complete silence about these abuses, and the
mainstream media continues to shield the public from knowing about them, we
can no longer remain silent. The fake blood on Mr. Pettigrew ’s suit can be
removed; he can return to this sham of an international conference and
continue about shmoozing and enjoying fancy meals with an illegitimate
government and its international accomplices, including the US, France, the
World Bank and IMF. But they must know that there are concerned citizens who
will be standing up on behalf of the starving, impoverished Haitians that
they are doing nothing to help.

Haiti is the poorest country in the hemisphere. It needs our support, –
which we can give by simply respecting its democracy, respecting the will of
its majority. The people of Haiti have suffered long enough from
foreign-backed tyranny. Canada should immediately denounce the killings that
it has been supporting, and immediately call for the reinstatement of Haiti
’s democratically elected government. I ask all Canadians to back this call.
And lastly, I ask you to open up your hearts and minds to the plight of
Haiti’s suffering poor, suffering that our government is directly
supporting, and suffering that together we can stop.

Yves Engler, Haiti Action Montreal, June 17 2005.

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No to NATO

[0.9] [CDNAct] Haitian Solidarity Protester Gets Pettigrew Red-Handed (fwd)