johanna harman
  • Intro
  • blog
  • galleries
    • mythical
    • environment
    • haiti
    • yoga
  • bio

Samba Boukman, Haitian community organizer assassinated March 9, 2012

6/5/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Samba Boukman
oil and collage on 12 x 16 wood
                  The type on the collage reads: 
"Samba Boukman lost his father at age 12.
Named after the first slave to revolt against French colonial rule. Braved hardship to finish his schooling. Samba Boukman was assassinated March 9, 2012. With the signature rasta hat and the constitution of Haiti as part of his daily apparel. "I wanted to become a lawyer to champion the rights of workers.  "Beloved."
"In a letter dated Nov. 8, 2004 Samba Boukman solicited the specific assistance of MINUSTAH to provide security for a protest calling for Aristide's return. Samba Boukman told us MINUSTAH assured him by phone troops would be on hand and his request for security thus granted."
 p.32. Ultimately on November 10 MINUSTAH provided presence but not concomitant security it had promised. MINUSTAH stood ground while HNP killed 7 people. "An additional 180 people were seized from Bel-Air that same day via arrests made by HNP (Haitian National Police) with the apparent cooperation of MINUSTAH" p.34 
Mr. Boukman & his group affirmed having discovered 5-8 of the disappeared at the mass burial site in Titanyen." "Keeping the Peace in Haiti?" Harvard Law Student report, March 2005. 
Coerced (and assassinated) by money and power."
 
Picture
Haitian activist Samba Boukman, victim of an assassination on March 9, 2012, speaks about his life and the necessity of non-violence in the struggle for political freedom in this 2007 interview. Boukman was a longtime political grassroots organizer and had a long-time affiliation with Haiti’s Lavalas party.
"Samba Boukman on his life and the necessity of non-violence in the struggle for political freedom" interview by Daniela Bercovitch and contributions by Aline Gatto Boueri, April 7, 2007
Picture
"This revisionist attempt at trying to portray community and political activists as violent gang leaders and violent criminals was employed in the run-up to Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s ouster in 2004 and gained momentum in the years afterwards (see Operation Bagdhad). After 2004 the Haitian police in conjunction with UN troops in Haiti (MINUSTAH), made many forays into poor neighborhoods such as Bel-Air, in which Samba Boukman was active. During these raids many community activists were detained and police and soldiers on tanks and from helicopters shot indiscriminately through the walls and roofs of houses, killing and severely wounding numerous innocent Haitians in the process.
     The disinformation campaign was conducted alongside an attempt by media and business sectors in Haiti to portray any resistance to the undemocratic and U.S. installed regime that had followed the 2004 coup, as violent and criminal. Peter Hallward, in his book Damming the Flood: Haiti and the Politics of Containment, describes these actions by the media and interested parties, including the western governments that had interfered in Haitian politics, as an “elaborate campaign to suppress Lavalas”."
The Character Assassination of Samba Boukman by Dominique Esser, March 10, 2012
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    <Blog.

    Notes. 

    Picture
    The Haiti Emergency Relief Fund (HERF) based in Oakland, California  places funds directly into the hands of the people in Haiti who need it most. This is Haitian-directed aid, an important distinction. HERF acts immediately to assist Haitians with the cholera epidemic, health care, education, human rights, women's organizing, local food production and more. 

    Me and dance. 

    Picture
    Ashland, Oregon 
    November 2013
    Picture
    "Wherever you are, and whatever you do, be in love." 
       -Rumi

    Picture
    "Let us fall in love again
    and scatter gold dust all over the world." ---Rumi 
    Stinson Beach 1998

    Picture

    Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room. 
    -  Kurt Vonnegut"

    Picture
    Stinson Beach, 
    California 2012 
    Picture
    Mill Valley, California 2011
    Picture
    Marin Headlands, 
    August 2011
    .
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.