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[ontglobal] Claude Genereux: Impressions of Haiti


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Impressions of Haiti

Port-au-Prince from the air. Peter Andris is head of the village set up by the Haiti Electrical union - this tent is his home. Village set up by the union of electricity workers, which includes a community kitchen and a drainage system. It gives a sense of dignity and order. In front of the presidential palace is a huge encampment where there is the most complete disorder. The tennis courts at Hotel Port-au-Prince. May 18, 2010 12:42 PM

On May 7, Claude Généreux completed a seven-day mission in support of our Haitian union counterparts in the Confédération des travailleurs et travailleuses des secteurs publics et privés (CTSP). Here are some on-the-ground observations and photos from our Secretary-Treasurer.

Looking down, Port-au-Prince has blue spots everywhere that look like swimming pools in North American cities, but they’re actually blue tarps.

Most residents of Port-au-Prince, including our union counterparts, are still living in tents nearly four months after the January 12 earthquake. The unions have established and are operating several camps. The current CTSP office is a big blue tent.

Every piece of flat ground in Port-au-Prince is occupied by encampments. For example, there is an enormous camp directly opposite the ruined presidential palace.

The hotel where our delegation is housed is still partially collapsed. The hotel tennis court is covered with tents.

On May 4, our delegation helped set up a medical clinic for members of the CTSP and supply it with medicine. That evening, we hosted a party for their children, the first since the earthquake. It was a touching moment for us. Since the disaster, it was one of the few times that these children could be what they are - children!

In clinics, patients suffer from malnutrition. They usually go for days without food.

On site, it often seems like barely a week since the disaster. The overall situation is hard to describe simply and accurately, and it cannot really be conveyed in just a few lines.





In solidarity


Ajamu Nangwaya

I'll be damned if I want most folks out there to do unto me what they do unto themselves.
Toni Cade Bambara

On the State of the Union Today
Concentrated unchecked power inevitably leads to situations where the members' voices are silenced by the use of autocratic constitutional provisions and the strict application of parliamentary procedure.  The union's power is diminished and it is reduced at this point to an organization cleansed of member activity, run by-and-for the officers and their anointed staff. It's no easy task to mobilize rank-and-file members to take part in contract actions, organizing, or political activities when the extent of their involvement in the union is limited to paying the bills via dues check off.  This failure is magnified when the members receive little support, few resources, and are offered no leadership to resist the bosses attacks in the workplace. "Rank and File Activism: A Viable Alternative" - John Hovis and Chris Townsend

On the Culture of Silence in Organizations & Society
Through fear tactics, psychological warfare, oppression and violence many people have been forced physically and mentally, [to not exercise] their right to voice their opinions or their desires to fight against the oppression that they experience. The people are forced to believe, and later come to identify with, the idea that the oppressor has supreme power and is working in the favor of the people. As a result a culture of quiet, non resistant, passive if you will, people are born. This Culture of Silence is longstanding and continues because the people continue to allow the destruction and the oppression to occur, not because they want to, but because fighting against the oppressor seems futile. Those that do fight are eradicated and made examples of in the attempt to silence future attempts at reform. - Author unknown - internet posting