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The Forgotten Coup: Violence Erupts in Haiti, Activists and Political
Leaders Arrested
Election 2004: Intimidation, Harassment and Suppression of
Voters
GOP Pressures Rock the Vote to Stop Talking About the Draft
The Forgotten Coup: Violence Erupts in Haiti, Activists
and Political Leaders Arrested
Political violence leaves scores of people dead in Haiti
as activists and top Lavalas leaders are arrested. We speak
with Rep. Maxine Waters and we go to Haiti to hear from Bill
Quigley, lawyer for Father Gerard Jean-Juste who was arrested
last week and Miami to hear from Haitian community activist
Lucie Tondreau.
South Africa has rejected accusations that it let ousted
Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide incite violence in
Haiti from his place in exile.
Haiti's unelected Prime Minister Gertard Latortue accused
South African president Thabo Mbeki Sunday of allowing Aristide
to direct a violent campaign in Haiti. Aristide was ousted
in February in what he calls a modern-day kidnapping in the
service of a coup d'etat, backed by the United States.
South African Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad responded
by saying "South Africa cannot be used as a scapegoat
for failure by the interim Haitian authorities to bring about
peace and stability."
Haiti has been rocked by violence since September 30th after
demonstrators took to the streets demanding the return of
Aristide and condemning political persecution of his Lavalas
party. The protest came on the 10th anniversary of Aristide's
first return from exile in 1994. Police reportedly opened
fire on the unarmed demonstrators. At least 55 people have
been killed in widepsread violence since then. The bloodshed
comes just weeks after storms and flooding left more than
3,000 Haitians dead las month.
Top Lavalas leaders and activists have been arrested in recent
weeks. Three Haitian politicians allied with Aristide surrendered
to police after barricading themselves in a radio station
for six hours.
Last week, Catholic priest Father Gerard Jean-Juste was arrested
as he was feeding 600 children from his church in Port-au-Prince.
The government accused him of inciting violence. Haitians
took to the streets in Port-au-Prince and Miami to protest
the arrest.
- Rep. Maxine Waters, Democratic Congresswoman from California.
She is the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
- Bill Quigley, law professor at Loyola University in New
Orleans. He is one of the attorneys on Father Gerard Jean-Juste's
legal team. He joins us on the phone from Port-au-Prince
where he had visited Father Gerard Jean-Juste in prison.
- Lucie Tondreau, Haitian community activist in South Florida.
For years she co-hosted a radio show with Father Gerard
Jean-Juste that provided a forum for discussion between
Haitians living abroad and in Haiti. She joins us on the
phone from Miami.
Election 2004: Intimidation, Harassment and Suppression
of Voters
As early voting for the presidential election begins in
Florida, we take a look at intimidation and suppression of
voters in Florida and around the country.
Early voting for the presidential election began in Florida
on Monday as activists urged people to opt for early ballots
to avoid a repeat of the 2000 election. Black and elderly
voters in particular lined up to cast ballots two weeks before
Nov. 2nd.
Computer problems and long lines soon emerged in Florida
- one of 32 states where voters are allowed to make their
choice before Election Day.
Across the country, independent poll watching groups are
urging voters to take advantage of early voting to avoid problems.
More than two dozen states offer "no excuse" early
voting by either mail or in person, meaning voters do not
have to give a reason. Some states, such as Nevada, Iowa and
West Virginia, have already begun. Texas, Arkansas and Colorado
also started on Monday.
Today we take a look at how voters in states across the country
have been suppressed, harrassed and intimidated in this presidential
election.
Some examples include:
This summer, Michigan state Rep. John Pappageorge (R) was
quoted in the Detroit Free Press as saying, "If we do
not suppress the Detroit vote, we're going to have a tough
time in this election." African Americans comprise 83
percent of Detroit's population.
In South Dakota's June 2004 primary, Native American voters
were prevented from voting after they were challenged to provide
photo IDs, which they were not required to present under state
or federal law.
In Kentucky in July 2004, black Republican officials joined
to ask their State GOP party chairman to renounce plans to
place "vote challengers" in African-American precincts
during the coming elections.
Earlier this year in Texas, a local district attorney claimed
that students at a majority black college were not eligible
to vote in the county where the school is located. It happened
in Waller County - the same county where 26 years earlier,
a federal court order was required to prevent discrimination
against the students.
- Joe Egan, an Orlando-based attorney who is representing
a number of people and groups who have been harassed for
conducting voter registration activities.
- Janet Ryder, the Philadelphia Voter Protection Coordinator
of the AFL-CIO.
GOP Pressures Rock the Vote to Stop Talking About
the Draft
Last week GOP Chairman Ed Gillespie sent an extraordinary
letter to the group Rock the Vote requesting that it "cease
and desist" from promoting its campaign warning young
voters that the government may reinstate the draft. Gillespie
threatened to take legal action and said the group's non-profit
status could be in jeopardy.
The head of the Republican National Committee has threatened
to take legal action against the pro-voting group Rock the
Vote and to challenge its non-profit status if the group continues
to discuss the possibility that the government may reinstate
the draft.
In an extraordinary letter sent last week that has received
almost no media attention, Republican chief Ed Gillespie wrote
to the group and accused it of "promoting a false and
misleading campaign designed to scare America's youth into
believing that they may be drafted to serve in the military."
Last month the group sent a mock draft notice by email to
over 600,000 email addresses. Gillespie described the possibility
of the reinstatement of the draft as an urban myth and as
proof cited a statement by President Bush that there would
be no draft.
Gillespie went on to write "As a non-partisan organization
that enjoys the benefits of being formed under 501(c)3 of
the Internal Revenue Code, you have an obligation to immediately
cease and desist from promoting or conducting your 'Draft'
campaign.
In response, the head of Rock the Vote, Jehmu Greene described
the threat as a "textbook case of attempted censorship."
Greene wrote to Gillespie "By your logic, there should
be no debate about anything that you disagree with. There's
a place for that kind of sentiment (and your threats), but
its not here in our country." We speak now with Jehmu
Greene.
- Jehmu Greene, president of Rock the Vote.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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