NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #1/NN_1993_1.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/9787

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Subject: Haiti Info #10/lead
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(Below is the table of contents and lead story from the most
recent issue of Haiti Info, the newsletter of the Haitian
Information Bureau.  The lead story from each bi-weekly issue is
posted in this conference.  To receive the entire newsletter, you
may subscribe by email, fax or mail. See the subscription
information at the end of this entry).

                * * * HAITI INFO * * *

        News direct from the people and organizations of
        Haiti's grassroots democratic movement

                4 Jan. 1993, Vol. 1, #10


    TENDREMOS UNA VERSION EN ESPANOL MUY PRONTO PARA
         LOS COMPANEROS DE AMERICA LATINA Y ESPANA!


Contents:

News Stories:           UNIVERSITY FIGHT CONTINUES
                International Pressure On, O.A.S.
                Effort Stalled "Patriotic"
                Committee Terrorizes "The Cape"
                Bazin Proceeds with "Elections"
                "Killing the Dream" Wins Two
                Prizes

Interview:                      Peasant Organizer Human Rights
Report Behind the Headlines:   BAZIN OR THE MYSTIFICATION OF A
PEOPLE Common Ground:  1992 RESISTANCE LANDMARKS
                (The First Six Months)
About Haiti Info

News:

        UNIVERSITY FIGHT CONTINUES

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan. 4 P The de facto government is continuing its
effort to control the Universite d'Etat d'Haiti. Under attack are
the three colleges administered in part by the democratically
elected Conseils de Direction, the Ecole Normale Superieure
(teacher's college), and the colleges of Sciences and Sciences
Humaines (liberal arts).
   Students and professors are resisting the government's attempts
through boycotts, circulation of petitions and continued
mobilization.
   On Dec. 15 de facto Rector Gerard Bissainthe ordered all
students at the above-mentioned colleges (about 2,000 altogether)
to register for new identification cards with photographs.
   On the registration days for two of the three colleges, only an
estimated five percent reported for the new cards, which were
overwhelmingly denounced as a "trap" by a number of student
organizations at a Dec. 21 press conference.
   The liberal arts college is scheduled for inscription on Monday
and Tuesday, and student groups predict a similar fiasco.
   Bissainthe also announced that the science and teachers'
colleges are now under the "direct control of the rectorate" and
ordered professors of the three institutions to submit complete
curricula vitae, birth certificates and other papers or risk being
fired, but it appears that many will boycott that order also.
   "A number of professors at all three faculties have said they
will not do it," said one professor.
   On Dec. 17, the professors who are part of the three Conseils
de Direction (which also contains students) issued a declaration
condemning the "arbitrary and irresponsible" steps taken by the de
facto government to "sabotage programs" and "sap the enthusiasm of
the students."
   The declaration invited the university community to "reaffirm
their attachment to the principal of the independence and
autonomy, guaranteed by the constitution" and to "combat
mediocrity and fight for the edification of a modern and
democratic university, founded on the principal of participation."
   Many sectors in the democratic movement  see the university as
the last democratic institution and the vanguard of the democratic
resistance. The de facto government is attempting to gain
hegemonic control in an attempt to crush that movement and also
insure control over the education of the few Haitian students to
reach university level.
   Bissainthe, imposed as rector last month, has called for
concertation between himself, professors, students and the
administrations, but thus far has exhibited a totalitarian
attitude. His reputation as a non- democrat is well known.
   Bissainthe was de facto Minister of Information under de facto
Prime Minister Jean-Jacques Honorat's rule immediately following
the coup  d'etat, and reportedly "worked for the CIA during the
sixties," according to Martinique author and lawyer Marcel
Manville.
   Manville made that declaration in the weekly Haiti en Marche on
Dec. 22, 1992.
   "I am a lawyer. I assume responsibility for what I say here and
I am ready to respond to what I have said," he said.

ABOUT HAITI INFO:
* Haiti Info is published every two weeks in Haiti by the Haitian
Information Bureau, an alternative news agency, and is edited by a
group of committed individuals from democratic and popular
sectors.
* All articles ) HIB. REPRINTS ENCOURAGED.  Please cite Haiti Info
and send copies of usage.
* Haiti Info is available by mail, by fax, and also electronically
via computer. Subscription rates range from U.S. $18 (for email
only) to $100.  For North American/European subscriptions contact
newsLINK, 67 Pleasant Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.  Tel:
617-661-7592.  E-mail:  [e-mail].  Other correspondence:
Haitian Information Bureau, c/o Lynx Air, Box 407139, Ft.
Lauderdale, FL, 33340, USA or B.P. 15533, Petion- ville, HAITI.
Fax & tel [phone] E-mail:  [e-mail].