Soaring Poverty Casts Spotlight on ‘Lost Decade’

By SABRINA TAVERNISE

WASHINGTON — Another 2.6 million people slipped into poverty in the United States last year, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday, and the number of Americans living below the official poverty line, 46.2 million people, was the highest number in the 52 years the bureau has been publishing figures on it.

And in new signs of distress among the middle class, median household incomes fell last year to levels last seen in 1996.

Economists pointed to a telling statistic: It was the first time since the Great Depression that median household income, adjusted for inflation, had not risen over such a long period, said Lawrence Katz, an economics professor at Harvard.

“This is truly a lost decade,” Mr. Katz said. “We think of America as a place where every generation is doing better, but we’re looking at a period when the median family is in worse shape than it was in the late 1990s.”

The bureau’s findings were worse than many economists expected, and brought into sharp relief the toll the past decade — including the painful declines of the financial crisis andrecession —had taken on Americans at the middle and lower parts of the income ladder. It is also fresh evidence that the disappointing economic recovery has done nothing for the country’s poorest citizens.

The report said the percentage of Americans living below the poverty line last year, 15.1 percent, was the highest level since 1993. (The poverty line in 2010 for a family of four was $22,314.)

The report comes as President Obama gears up to try to pass a jobs bill, and analysts said the bleak numbers could help him make his case for urgency. But they could also be used against him by Republican opponents seeking to highlight economic shortcomings on his watch.

“This is one more piece of bad news on the economy,” said Ron Haskins, a director of the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institution. “This will be another cross to bear by the administration.”

The past decade was also marked by a growing gap between the very top and very bottom of the income ladder. Median household income for the bottom tenth of the income spectrum fell by 12 percent from a peak in 1999, while the top 90th percentile dropped by just 1.5 percent. Overall, median household income adjusted for inflation declined by 2.3 percent in 2010 from the previous year, to $49,445. That was 7 percent less than the peak of $53,252 in 1999. Part of the income decline over time is because of the smaller size of the American family.

This year is not likely to be any better, economists said. Stimulus money has largely ended, and state and local governments have made deep cuts to staff and to budgets for social programs, both likely to move economically fragile families closer to poverty.

Minorities were hit hardest. Blacks experienced the highest poverty rate, at 27 percent, up from 25 percent in 2009, and Hispanics rose to 26 percent from 25 percent. For whites, 9.9 percent lived in poverty, up from 9.4 percent in 2009. Asians were unchanged at 12.1 percent.

An analysis by the Brookings Institution estimated that at the current rate, the recession will have added nearly 10 million people to the ranks of the poor by the middle of the decade.

Joblessness was the main culprit pushing more Americans into poverty, economists said.

Last year, about 48 million people ages 18 to 64 did not work even one week out of the year, up from 45 million in 2009, said Trudi Renwick, a Census official.

“Once you’ve been out of work for a long time, it’s a very difficult road to get back,” Mr. Katz said.

Median income fell across all working-age categories, but was sharpest drop was among the young working Americans, ages 15 to 24, who experienced a decline of 9 percent.

According to the Census figures, the median annual income for a male full-time, year-round worker in 2010 — $47,715 — was virtually unchanged, in 2010 dollars, from its level in 1973, when it was $49,065, said Sheldon Danziger, professor of public policy at the University of Michigan.

Those who do not have college degrees were particularly hard hit, he said. “The median, full-time male worker has made no progress on average,” Mr. Danziger said.

The recession has continued pushing 25-to-34-year-olds to move in with family and friends to save money. Of that group, nearly half were living below the poverty line, when their parents’ incomes were excluded. The poverty level for a single person under the age of 65 was $11,344.

“We’re risking a new underclass,” said Timothy Smeeding, director of the Institute for Research and Poverty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

“Young, less-educated adults, mainly men, can’t support their children and form stable families because they are jobless,” he added.

But even the period of economic growth that came before the recession did little for the middle and bottom wage earners.

Arloc Sherman, a senior researcher at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said that the period from 2001 to 2007 was the first recovery on record where the level of poverty was deeper, and median income of working-age people was lower, at the end than at the beginning.

“Even before the recession hit, a lot of people were falling behind,” he said. “This may be adding to people’s sense of urgency about the economy.”

The suburban poverty rate, at 11.8 percent, appears to be the highest since 1967, Mr. Sherman added. Last year more Americans fell into deep poverty, defined as less than half the official poverty line, or about $11,000, with the ranks of that group increasing to 20.5 million, or about 6.7 percent of the population.

Poverty has also swallowed more children, with about 16.4 million in its ranks last year, the highest numbers since 1962, according to William Frey, senior demographer at Brookings. That means 22 percent of children are in poverty, the highest percentage since 1993.

The census figures do not count noncash assistance, like food stamps and the earned-income tax credit, and economists say that as a result they tend to overstate poverty numbers for certain groups, like children. But rises in the cost of housing, medical care and energy are not taken into account, either.

The report also said the number of uninsured Americans increased by 900,000 to 49.9 million.

Those covered by employer-based insurance continued to decline in 2010, to about 55 percent, while those with government-provided coverage continued to increase, up slightly to 31 percent. Employer-based coverage was down from 65 percent in 2000, the report said.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: September 15, 2011

An article on Wednesday about the rise in the poverty rate misstated the year in which the median income, which fell last year, was at a similar level. It was 1996, not 1997. The article also gave an incorrect figure for the number of people the Census Bureau found to be in poverty in the United States. The number is 46.2 million people, not 56.2 million.

THE LIES OF EMPIRE: REFLECTIONS OF FIDEL CASTRO RUZ

The Lies of Empire: Reflections of Fidel Castro Ruz 2010 Archive

Global Research, September 12, 2011

Cuba Debate

• REFLECTIONS OF FIDELA brilliant and valiant statementJuly 4.11ATTENDING to other matters currently priorities momentarily took me away from the frequency with which I wrote Reflections during 2010; however, the proclamation by the revolutionary leader Hugo Chávez last Thursday, June 30, obliges me to write these lines. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDELThe empire’s untenable position  May 20.11NO one can be sure that, in its agony, the empire might not drag humanity into a catastrophe. As is known, as long as human life exists, everyone has the sacred responsibility to be optimistic. Ethically, any other type of behavior would be inadmissible. I remember well a day, almost 20 years ago, when I said that one species was in danger of extinction: the human race. • The lies and unknowns in the death of Bin LadenMay 9.11 THE men who executed bin Laden did not act on their own account: they were fulfilling orders from the government of the United States. They had been carefully selected and trained for special missions. It is known that the President of the United States can even communicate with a soldier in combat. • The murder of Osama Bin Laden May.5.11 THOSE who pay attention to these issues know that, on September 11, 2001, our people expressed solidarity with the United States and offered the modest support we could provide in the area of emergency care for the victims of t • A fire which could burn everyoneApril.28.11 ONE can be in agreement or not with Gaddafi’s political ideas, but nobody has the right to question the existence of Libya as an independent state and a member of the United Nations. • The restless and brutal NorthApril.25.11 I was reading a large amount of material and books to keep my promise and continue my Reflection of April 14th about the Bay of Pigs when I took a look at yesterday’s latest news items, which were abundant, as they are everyday. Mountains can pile up every week, ranging from the earthquake in Japan, Ollanta Humala victory in Peru over Keiko, daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori. • My absence on the Central CommitteeApril.18.11 I was familiar with the content of compañero Raúl’s report to the 6th Congress of the Party. He had shown it to me a few days previously on his own initiative, as he has done on many other occasions without me asking him to because, as I already explained, I had delegated all my responsibilities within the Party and the state in the proclamation of July 2006. • The Congress Debates April.18.11 THIS morning at 10:00am I listened to the delegates’ debates at the 6th Congress of the Party.   • The 50th anniversary paradeApril.18.11 TODAY I had the privilege of appreciating the impressive parade with which our people commemorated the 50th anniversary of the socialist nature of the Revolution and the Bay of Pigs victory. • Better and more intelligent April.1.11 YESTERDAY, for reasons of space and time, I didn’t say one word about the speech on the Libyan War given by Barack Obama on Monday the 28th. I had a copy of the official version, supplied to the press by the U.S. government. I had underlined some of the things that he asserted. I reviewed it again and came to the conclusion that it wasn’t worth wasting too much paper on the matter. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDEL The disaster in Japan and a friend’s visitMarch.31.11 TODAY I had the pleasure of greeting Jimmy Carter, who was President of the United States between 1977 and 1981 and the only one, in my opinion, with enough equanimity and courage to address the issue of his country’s relations with Cuba. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDEL NATO’s Fascist War March.29.11 I didn’t have to be a fortune teller to divine what I foresaw with rigorous precision in three Reflections which I published on the CubaDebate website between February 21 and March 3: "NATO’s plan is to occupy Libya," "Cynicism’s danse macabre," and "NATO's inevitable war." • REFLECTIONS OF FIDELBetween emigration and crime March.28.11 LATIN Americans are not innate criminals and neither did they invent drugs. The Aztecs, Mayas and other pre-Columbian peoples of Mexico and Central America, for example, were excellent agriculturalists and knew nothing about coca cultivation. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDEL The real intentions of the "Alliance of Equals"March.22.11 YESTERDAY was a long day. From midday I paid attention to Obama’s vicissitudes in Chile, as I had done the day before with his adventures in the city of Rio de Janeiro. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDELMy shoes pinchMarch.22.11WHILE the damaged reactors are emitting radioactive smoke in Japan and monstrous looking aircraft and nuclear submarines are launching lethal guided missiles over Libya, a North African Third World country with barely six million inhabitants, Barack Obama was telling Chileans a story similar to the ones I heard when I was four years old: “My little shoes are pinching me, my stockings are hot; but the little kiss you gave me, I carry in my heart. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDELCertificate of good behavior March.21.11 DURING these bitter days we have seen footage of a 9.0 earthquake on the Richter scale, with hundreds of powerful aftershocks, and a tsunami 10 meters in height, which with waves of dark water swept tens of thousands of people between automobiles and trucks, over 3-4 story houses and buildings. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDEL An Alliance of EqualsMarch.21.11 ON the evening of Saturday the 19th, after a sumptuous banquet, NATO leaders ordered the attack on Libya. Of course, nothing could happen without the United States reclaiming its obligatory role as supreme leader. From this institution’s command post in Europe, a high-level official announced that Odyssey Dawn was being initiated. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDELThe disasters threatening the worldMarch.15.11 IF the speed of light didn't exist, if the closest star to our sun weren't four light years away from Earth, the only inhabited planet in our solar system, if UFOs truly existed, imaginary visitors to the planet would continue their journey without understanding much of anything about our long-suffering human race. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDELTwo earthquakesMarch.14.11 A powerful 8.9 magnitude earthquake shook Japan today. Of greatest concern is that the first news items report thousands dead or missing, figures truly extraordinary in a developed country where everything is built to withstand earthquakes. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDEL NATO, war, lies and businessMarch.10.11 AS some people know, in September of 1969, Muammar al-Gaddafi, a Bedouin Arab soldier of unusual character and inspired by the ideas of the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, promoted within the heart of the Armed Forces a movement which overthrew King Idris I of Libya, almost a desert country in its totality, with a sparse population, located to the north of Africa between Tunisia and Egypt. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDELNATO’s inevitable war (Part II) March.4.11 WHEN Gaddafi, aged just 28 and a colonel in the Libyan army, inspired by his Egyptian colleague Abdel Nasser, overthrew King Idris I in 1969, he implemented important revolutionary measures such as agrarian reform and the nationalization of oil. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDEL NATO's inevitable warMarch.3.11 AS opposed to the situation in Egypt and Tunisia, Libya occupies first place in the Human Development Index within Africa and has the highest life expectancy rate on the continent. Education and health receive special state attention. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDEL Cynicism’s danse macabre  February.24.11 THE politics of plunder imposed by the United States and its NATO allies in the Middle East is in crisis. This was inevitably unleashed with the high cost of grain, the effects of which are being felt with more force in the Arab nations where, despite their enormous oil resources, the shortage of water, arid areas and generalized poverty of the people contrast with the vast resources derived from oil possessed by the privileged sectors. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDEL NATO’s plan is to occupy Libya February.21.11 OIL became the principal wealth in the hands of the large yankee transnationals; with that source of energy, they had at their disposal an instrument that considerably increased their political power in the world. It was their principal weapon when they decided to simply liquidate the Cuban Revolution as soon as the first, just and sovereign laws were enacted in our homeland: by depriving it of oil. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDEL The Revolutionary Rebellion in Egypt February.14.11 I said several days ago that the die was cast for Mubarak and that not even Obama could save him. The world knows what is taking place in the Middle East. The news is circulating at incredible speed. Politicians barely have time to read the cables coming in by the hour. Everyone is aware of the importance of what is occurring there. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDEL The die is cast for Mubarak February.3.11 THE die is cast for Mubarak and not even the support of the United States can save his government. An intelligent people, with a glorious history which left its mark on human civilization, live in Egypt. "From the height of these pyramids 40 centuries contemplate you," Bonaparte exclaimed, it is said, in a moment of passion when the encyclopedists’ revolution took him to that extraordinary crossroad of civilizations. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDEL The grave food crisis January.31.11JUST 11 days ago, January 19, under the title "Now is the time to do something," I wrote: "The worst is that, to a large degree, their solutions will depend on the richest and most developed countries, which will reach a situation that they really are not in a position to confront, unless the world which they have been trying to mold… collapses around them." • REFLECTIONS OF FIDEL The State of the UnionJanuary.28.11 THE President's speech about the topic has been anxiously awaited, after his words at the University of Tucson, in Arizona, on January 12, about the killings which had taken place in that city four days earlier. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDELNow is the time to do something January.21.11 I shall recount a little bit of history. When the Spaniards "discovered us" five centuries ago, the estimated figure for the population of the island did not exceed 200,000 inhabitants, who lived in harmony with nature. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDEL Obama’s speech in Arizona January.14.11I listened to it yesterday when he spoke at the University of Tucson during a tribute to the six people murdered and the 14 injured in the Arizona massacre, and in particular to the Democratic Congresswoman for that state, seriously wounded by a shot to the head. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDELThe crime against the Democratic CongresswomanJanuary.11.11AS is known, the state of Arizona, a territory that was snatched from Mexico by the United States together with many other expanses of land, has been the scene of painful events for the hundreds of Latin Americans who die trying to immigrate to the United States in search of work or to join parents, spouses or other close family members who are there. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDELAnother Tea Party starJanuary.11.11 NONE other than Ileana Ros, the woman who held the child Elián kidnapped in Miami, the promoter of coups d’état, crimes like those of Posada Carriles and other misdeeds, is to travel to neighboring Haiti, where the... • REFLECTIONS OF FIDELWithout violence, without drugs January.10.11YESTERDAY I analyzed the atrocious act of violence against U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, in which 18 people were shot, six died and another 12 were wounded, several seriously, among them the Congresswoman with a shot to the head, leaving the medical team with no alternative other than to try to save her life and minimize, as much as possible, the consequences of the criminal act. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDEL An atrocious act January.10.11 A sad news item was circulated this afternoon from the United States: Democratic Congresswoman for Arizona, Gabrielle Giffords, was the victim of a criminal attack while taking part in a political event in her electoral district of Tucson. • REFLECTIONS OF FIDELWhat would Einstein say?January.7.11 IN a Reflection published on August 25, 2010, under the title "The opinion of an expert," I mentioned a totally unprecedented activity on the part of the United States and its allies which, in my view, underlined the risk of a conflict of a nuclear nature with Iran.

LE FUTUR DU CONTINENT AFRICAIN SE JOUE EN LIBYE

LE FUTUR DU CONTINENT AFRICAIN SE JOUE EN LIBYE

                                     

                                                               Par Joël Léon

Au moment où j’écris ce texte, le pays des 150 tribus vit une sombre période de son histoire, après six mois d’intenses bombardements de l’Organisation Traite Atlantique Nord, OTAN, et de combats, opposant les loyalistes du régime du colonel Muamar Kadhafi aux rebelles coalisés sous le nom de conseil national de transition. Le 21 Août dernier, ces derniers parvinrent à entrer Tripoli, la capitale du pays, le dernier rempart du régime vieux de 42 ans. Les informations pleuvaient. Les puissantes agences internationales et télévisions impériales, telles que : BBC, CNN, Reuters, AFP, RFI…bombardaient l’opinion publique mondiale d’informations que nul ne pouvait vérifier. C’est l’intoxication totale en lieu et place d’informations. Les journalistes qui ne pliaient pas sous le diktat de la désinformation sont indexés et traités en parents pauvres. Les cas des journalistes, spécialement de « Réseau Voltaire », Thierry Meyssan, Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, Julien Tell et Mathieu Azanon, sont les 4 cas exemplaires de la péripétie du courant indépendant de la presse mondiale. Apres avoir été trahis par leurs propres collègues de la « grande presse », celle acquise à la cause de l’OTAN, et menacés par les « freedom fighters », ils ont ete heureusement libres de pouvoir gagner leurs foyers et familles. L’humanité vous sera reconnaissante ! Maintenant, jetons un regard critique sur l’invasion occidentale de la Libye dans un contexte historique et d’avenir.

            Mouammar Kadhafi représente le dernier d’une catégorie de leaders Africains des années 60 qui rejetèrent le néocolonialisme comme nouvelle doctrine politique, culturelle, sociale et économique. Ces héros africains, pour la plupart sorti des entrailles du colonialisme, refusèrent de rééditer le modèle néocolonial dans les anciennes colonies. Ils connurent, presque tous, une fin tragique. Patrice Lumumba, le congolais, lâchement exécuté un soir du 17 Janvier 1961, puis son corps dissous dans de l’acide sulfurique. Des agents qui travaillaient pour le compte du gouvernement Belge et de la CIA furent les principaux responsables de l’assassinat odieux du leader indépendantiste et panafricain. Kwameh Nkrumah, le premier président Ghanéen  fut expulsé du pouvoir, lors d’une visite en Chine pour ne plus revenir. Il est mort en exil. L’avion de Samora Machel, le Mozambicain, explosa en vol au retour d’un voyage le 19 octobre 1986. Robert Mugabe, le Zimbabwéen, résiste encore aux assauts des neocolons, sera t il la prochaine cible ?

           On a rapporté que Mouammar Kadhafi fut indisposé de chagrin et de tristesse en deux occasions lors des funérailles du leader Egyptien, Gamal Abdel Nasser. Cela reflète irréversiblement son allégeance émotionnelle à la cause anti-coloniale. Car Nasser représentait a l’époque le courant anty impérialiste qui battait son plein dans le monde Arabe et Africain. Arrive  au pouvoir a 27 ans d’age, en 1969, dans un contexte de bouleversement mondial et de remise en question de l’ordre impérial, Kadhafi allait propulser la Libye sur la carte géographique comme la terre de la souveraineté et du non-alignement aidant les autres peuples qui souffraient encore silencieusement dans la servitude des puissances occidentales. Cela rappelle étrangement le rôle de la république d’Haïti qui, par les armes, en 1804, après avoir arraché  son indépendance a la France du général Napoléon, supporta Simon Bolivar avec bateaux, militaires, armes et munitions, et beaucoup d’argent pour aller libérer les autres peuples qui croupissaient dans l’esclavage en Amérique du sud. A ce moment la, les autorités haïtiennes exigèrent de lui une seule condition, la libération de tous les esclaves. Ainsi furent libérés les peuples du Venezuela, la Bolivie, le Pérou et de l’Equateur.

              De 1969 a hier encore, Kadhafi ne s’était jamais absenté d’une quelconque lutte anti-coloniale des peuples, notamment Africaine et Arabe. On a détecté sa signature jusqu’en Amérique du sud dans la lutte de la guérilla des FARCS contre les régimes pro-imperialistes qui se succédèrent en Colombie. Kadhafi fut un révolutionnaire convaincu qui, malgré l’age avancé, n’avait jamais abandonné d’un pouce ses convictions idéologiques. Même après 42 ans de pouvoir. L’occident a toujours voulu sa peau, parce qu’il était gênant. Des états Africains sont orphelins d’un père généreux, l’Union Africaine est menacée dans son existence même, des organisations de la société civile seront aux abois avec la fin du kadhafisme. En un mot, les luttes souveraines des peuples souffriront beaucoup de l’absence de ce foyer rebelle au pouvoir. L’assistant ministre des affaires étrangères Kenyanes, Mr Richard Onyonka, a déclaré sur BBC, et je cite « Les Kenyans voyaient Kadhafi comme quelqu’un qui avait fait des choses positives, spécialement pour les mouvements de libération en Afrique. Il avait joué un grand rôle dans la lutte contre l’apartheid et le colonialisme »

          En 2009, après  avoir payé des millions de dollars aux familles des victimes de l’attentat de Lockerbie, il fut soudainement devenu fréquentable après des années d’isolement.  L’occident s’aligna pour recevoir des contrats juteux du gouvernement. À l’assemblée générale des Nations Unies de la même année, l’ONU, il avait qualifié le conseil de sécurité de « conseil de terreur ». Avec toutes ses guerres et sanctions économiques contre les états qui refusent de plier sous les injonctions impériales, le qualificatif était nécessaire. La réaction fut fulgurante, le guide n’eut rien perdu de son discours, de sa conviction, ni de son engagement anty impérial. Toutefois, Kadhafi n’était pas irréprochable.

             Au-delà de la diffusion massive d’informations et analyses orientées dans le sens des rebelles, il y a lieu  de présenter les faits autrement plus proches de la réalité. 

              Pour commencer, Kadhafi n’a jamais été le tyran auquel on l’avait toujours présenté dans la presse occidentale. Le plus grand reproche qu’on puisse adresser au guide libyen, c’est son obstination à s’accrocher au pouvoir. Je trouve ridicule de diriger un pays personnellement pendant 42 ans. Agir ainsi, c’est réduire la perception internationale du pays à l’état d’un individu, et cela crée beaucoup de frustrations. La domestication des institutions par l’introduction de ses fils, parents, amis et individus de sa tribu dans les postes importants, projette une lueur dynastique du régime. A part cela, les reproches adressés sont communs à tout régime politique. Apres cela, Kadhafi reste et demeure un grand indépendantiste Africain.

            A travers la Libye c’est le procès de tout l’occident qui se déroule sous nos yeux. C’est le capitalisme qui est contraint de marcher de bêtises en bêtises. Le mercantilisme qui a toujours marqué le système financier et économique mondial dans ses relations avec les états périphériques et même entre eux, s’affirme nu devant l’opinion publique mondial. Le christianisme, longtemps utilisé comme porte-à-faux, s’effrite même dans les bastions les plus religieux du monde occidental. Les fidèles chrétiens en ont marre des mensonges éhontés des prélats et des maîtres du monde. Les gens ne vont plus à l’église, parce que les 10 commandements de Moise ont été remplacés par les lois du marché.

 Nouriel Roubini, grand économiste capitaliste a déclaré dans « wall street journal» et je cite, « Nous pensions que les lois du marche étaient la solution. Elles ne le sont plus ». Donc,  le système qu’on impose aux économies des états affaiblis est un « mort-né », un comprimé périmé. Ceux qui pensèrent que les guerres pour les matières premières étaient terminées au profit des conquêtes de marché se trompent. Aujourd’hui encore, le pétrole est à la base des guerres d’usure d’Irak et de la Libye. Demain la guerre se fera pour l’eau et autres ressources indispensables à l’existence de l’homme. La marche vers la marchandisation totale se poursuit. Heureusement l’armée mondiale des citoyens prend la forme d’un torrent en furie auquel rien ne peut résister.

              Grâce à la presse alternative et indépendante, les mensonges de la « grande presse » ne sont plus impossibles a demasquer. De vrais journalistes essaient de contrebalancer le monopole mondial de l’information en offrant aux citoyens de tous les pays le choix entre le mensonge et la vérité. La guerre Libyenne a permis de mesurer le taux de scepticisme des citoyens par rapport aux informations truquées de CNN, FOX, RFI, BBC, RADIO CANADA, AFP, REUTERS…Ils optent pour l’alternative, l’Internet le procure. Pendant le conflit, Ils étaient des millions à se rendre sur le net pour s’informer. Malheureusement, les peuples du tiers-monde traînent encore loin derrière avant d’accéder à la technologie libératrice. L’arme du mensonge est affaiblie, c’est pourquoi on assistera à une menace grandissante d’invasions militaires et de coup d’état dans le monde, notamment en Afrique.  La base morale du capitalisme est pervertie, il ne reste que les armes de destruction massive. Donc, répression, persécution deviennent inévitables. Cela annonce la fin du système. L’humanité basculera dans la dure réalité du XVIIIe siècle d’avant la révolution de 1789, quand les rois eurent droit de vie et de mort sur leurs sujets. Mais l’autre monde dépourvu de maîtres et d’esclaves s’annonce.

               La Libye vient de faire les frais du mercantilisme payant de l’occident qui convoitait le pétrole de ce pays. L’un des objectifs de la guerre Libyenne est la poursuite du processus de «  désorganisation et réorganisation » en cours depuis l’année 1976. Donc, l’occident réorganise l’Afrique du nord sur mesure et, certainement a des fins mercantiles et stratégiques afin de s’assurer des richesses du vieux continent. L’enjeu fondamental, c’est que « les victoires militaires n’ont jamais suffi à assurer la pérennité des empires ». Au contraire, l’OTAN vient d’ouvrir un autre front dangereux pour d’autres conflits. La situation apparaît comme celle du début des années 60 où l’on agitait le spectre de la décolonisation. Les convulsions créées de toute pièce par l’occident suscitent de l’effroi qui accaparait les ancêtres de Kadhafi. Aujourd’hui, ils se demandent « que faire » contre la recolonisation du continent. Des intellectuels prédisent la remontée des mouvements Indigènes de libération nationale à coté des guerres civiles qui y font déjà rage. Ils pensent que les interventions manu militari des blancs peuvent unir les tribus contre les envahisseurs.  De la peut déclencher le second round de combat pour la libération politique, économique et militaire de l’Afrique. L’intégrisme islamiste que redoute tant l’occident, tout en l’utilisant pour détruire ses adversaires, s’imposera comme une vraie menace. C’est le temps des « brasiers ».

             Kadhafi, l’un des derniers lions du continent Africain, représentait un obstacle au plan impérialiste de reconquérir l’Afrique. Son élimination physique et psychologique est la seule solution. Au moment ou je termine le texte, le guide est en fuite mais tout en résistant. La paix n’est pas pour demain en Libye. L’histoire retiendra que Kadhafi avait résisté à la plus grande armée occidentale pendant plus de 6 mois et, il résiste encore. Quelque soit l’issue de Kadhafi, les progressistes du monde entier ont un autre exemple de bravoure comme référence dans la lutte anty impériale.

            Que vive le peuple Libyen !

Joël Léon

BILL CLINTON, LE NOUVEAU PRO-CONSUL D'HAITI

BILL CLINTON, LE NOUVEAU PRO-CONSUL D’HAITI

                           « Qui n’aime pas sa patrie, n’aime rien et personne ne le doit aimer »

                                                                                           Louis Joseph Janvier

Aubelin Jolicoeur, ancien journaliste de l’hebdomadaire « Petit samedi soir », s’était fait la réputation d’un faiseur agressif de gouvernement en Haïti. Le cas le plus fulgurant fut celui de Marc Bazin. Ce dernier n’était pas bien perçu dans certains cercles militaires comme chef de gouvernement, précisément par le major putchiste et criminel, Michel François, l’ancien homme fort du régime militaire. Il faudrait l’intervention sine die d’Aubelin Jolicoeur pour porter les réfractaires à accepter Marc Bazin comme premier ministre.

Si le coup d’état de 1991 a eu lieu sous l’administration de George Bush père, mais la gestion du coup fut pourtant assuré par l’administration de Bill Clinton, fraîchement établie à la maison blanche. Tout au long de sa campagne présidentielle de 1992, l’ancien gouverneur d’Arkansas avait clairement promis de retourner la démocratie en Haïti, symbolisée par le président Jean B. Aristide. Ce qui fut fait le 15 octobre 1994. Mais avec plus de 20.000 troupes militaires pour un pays qui ne comptait plus de 6000 soldats mal équipés et nourris. Depuis lors, le nom de Clinton ne cesse de se répéter en tout ce qui concerne la république d’Haïti. D’après une source digne de foi, l’ancien ambassadeur d’Haïti a Washington, l’ultraconservateur Raymond Joseph, aurait confié a des amis, bien avant des élections frauduleuses de novembre 2010 et 2011, que c’étaient les Clinton qui allaient parachuter quelqu’un au pouvoir en Haïti.  Lui, Ray Joseph, qui paradait à Washington depuis plus de 25 ans, savait de quoi il parlait. Il s’était laissé aller pour déclarer que sa candidature présidentielle dépendrait de l’appréciation du couple Clinton qui, en passant ne lui a jamais été favorable.

A Washington, des qu’on parle d’Haïti on se refere aux Clinton, particulièrement le mari. Le couple considère le cas haïtien comme une affaire privée et est très émotionnel a ce sujet. Cette perception est renforcée avec l’administration d’Obama qui a Hillary Clinton comme secrétaire d’état. A l’époque où Bill Clinton visita Haïti pour la première fois en 1978, il ne savait pas qu’il allait être propulsé au rôle de proconsul qu’il joue aujourd’hui.

           En juin 2009, le secrétaire général des nations unies, Mr Ban Ki-moon,  nomma Bill Clinton comme son représentant spécial en Haïti. Le 12 janvier 2010, un tremblement de terre destructeur  frappait le pays. Immédiatement après, le président américain, Barak Obama, faisait appel aux deux anciens présidents Clinton et Bush pour recueillir des fonds en faveur d’Haïti sous le nom de « Clinton Bush Haïti fund ». Le même Ban Ki-moon, a encore fait appel au service de Clinton pour mettre sur pied une organisation pour la reconstruction d’Haïti, connue sur le nom de CICR. Cette commission a été créée au mois d’avril 2010 avec pour « mission la planification coordonnée, efficace et efficiente et la mise en œuvre des priorités, plans et projets d’appui à la reconstruction d’Haïti et le développement dans le sillage du 12 janvier 2010 tremblement de terre ».

Lors de l’inauguration de Michel Martelly comme président de la république d’Haïti, le président américain, Barak Obama, a dépêché Bill Clinton pour le représenter au cours de la cérémonie d’investiture. Quelque temps après, soit le 21 juillet dernier, Martelly  décerna a Clinton la distinction de chevalier de l’ordre national, honneur et mérite…la plus grande décoration du pays.

Revenons brièvement sur les élections présidentielles haïtiennes du 30 novembre 2010 et du 20 mars 2011. Les résultats définitifs du premier tour furent proclamés très tard, soit le 3 février 2010. Rappelons que les premiers résultats donnèrent Mme Myrlande Manigat en première position avec 31%, Jude Célestin en 2eme avec 22%, Martelly en 3eme avec 21%…L’international cria aux fraudes massives. L’organisation des états américains, OEA, intervenait pour examiner les résultats du CEP.  Les dits experts éliminèrent une bonne partie des bulletins de vote, ce qui modifia les résultats et catapulta Martelly au second tour en face de Mme Manigat. C’était une grande première dans l’histoire des élections en Haïti. Un grand paradoxe allait avoir lieu, en effet Myrlande Manigat réalisait 336.878 voix au premier tour contre 234.617 voix accordés a Martelly, deuxième au classement. Au second tour on a vu une augmentation vertigineuse de voix en faveur de Martelly, soit 716.986, contre la candidate du RDNP qui finissait très loin derrière avec seulement un peu moins de voix qu’au premier tour, soit 336.747. Comme par magie, Martelly avait vu ses voix augmenter de manière exponentielle au second tour, pendant que celles de Manigat diminuaient légèrement.  Ce qui est pratiquement impossible.

D’après des sources combinées, le même secteur qui a modifie le résultats du 1^er tour fut celui-la même qui est intervenu pour porter Martelly au pouvoir haut la main, c'est-à-dire Bill Clinton et sa femme secrétaire d’état, Hillary. Les penseurs avisés savaient que Clinton n’allait pas arrêter en si bon chemin. Apres le rejet successivement de 2 premiers ministres désignés, l’ancien président est encore intervenu pour imposer Mr Gary Conille comme futur premier ministre. Qui est Gary Conille ?

          En filigrane, nous savons qu’il est le fils du duvaliériste convaincu, Serge Conille ; celui-ci fut ministre sous la dynastie des Duvalier. Ce qu’on a omis de mentionner, c’est que Gary Conille, étudiant à la faculté de médecine de Port-au-Prince en 1987, fut le porte-parole du « groupe 66 ». Un groupuscule d’étudiants, composé exclusivement de fils et filles de duvaliéristes et militaires, qui faisait de la dissidence contre la FENEH, fédération nationale des étudiants haïtiens, qui fut l’organe légitime des étudiants haïtiens. Le « groupe 66 » supportait le doyen de la faculté de médecine, un certain Gérard Charlier, pour qu’il reste en poste pendant que l’écrasante majorité exigeait son départ. A cette époque, la FENEH était dirigée par un groupe impressionnant de jeunes étudiants, tels que : Charles Emil Herard, Kenny Bastien, Ti marcel, L Jean-Pierre. Rosanne Auguste, Michael de Landsheer…Le paradoxe de cette affaire, c’est que, Charles Emil Herard, Charly,  était l’un des personnages a avoir accompagné Gary Conille au parlement pour déposer ses pièces comme premier ministre désigne. Kenny Bastien, entre-temps sénateur de la république, s’est exposé comme un inconditionnel partisan de Gary Conille, son adversaire d’antan de 1987.

            Donc, l’homme de Clinton, Gary Conille, s’était toujours identifié comme un élément anty populaire conformément à sa descendance idéologique duvaliériste. S’il est vrai, comme l’a souligné le professeur Camille Charlmess sur l’orientation néolibérale de l’économie haïtienne sous la férule de Mr Conille. Il faut ajouter aussi, le passé anty populaire du protégé de Bill Clinton en direction de la primature, et la menace qui pèse sur les masses populaires vivant dans les bidonvilles du pays, en particulier ceux de Port-au-Prince. Parce qu’il est universellement connu leur attachement a l’ancien président Jean B. Aristide, que le président Martelly a juré de foutre en prison, même pour 2 jours.

            Bill Clinton se refait une vie politique en Haïti, après deux mandats consécutifs dans son pays. Une fois terminé le coup de Martelly à la présidence, maintenant il parachute Gary Conille à la primature, son ancien chef de cabinet à la CICR. Ses actions le placent dans la peau d’un proconsul Romain, aujourd’hui américain. Voila l’homme qui prétend aider Haïti. Sans vergogne, il  soustrait au peuple haïtien son droit de choisir ses propres dirigeants. Tout ceci est la conseqence directe de l’occupation du territoire national, dont Bill Clinton est un ardent défenseur.

           Dans «  Les détracteurs de la race noire et de la république d’Haïti », livre de Louis Joseph Janvier, V. Schoelcher a écrit, et je cite : « Défendre son pays par la plume comme par l’épée est toujours un devoir, en même temps un honneur ». Aujourd’hui, il est un impératif pour tous de résister à l’occupation du pays par tous les moyens. « Il n’y a pas d’occupation étrangère éclairée ». De février 2004 a nos jours, on n’a récolté que l’humiliation, le cholera qui a déjà fait 5000 morts et des centaines milliers de victimes, des élections truquées ayant conduit au pouvoir des haillons d’hommes pour perpétuer la misère et l’exploitation du peuple. Sans fléchir, il faut faire échec au plan antinational du proconsul Bill Clinton.

Stanley Lucas, the new advisor to President Martelly, accuses and threatens!

By Joël Léon, published in French in Haiti Liberté, August 10, 2011, Vol. 5 No. 4,www.haitiliberte.com
(The following commentary is a unofficial translation by CHAN of the original French.)

It’s been years since the Haitian political analyst has been so spoiled with so many events, some more comical than others. The country is dying, absurdity is in power, stupidity has imposed itself, infamy has returned at galloping speed and demagoguery is on everyone's lips. And to add to all that, international Machiavellianism is fully at play.

The selection of Stanley Lucas as special advisor to President Martelly has lifted the veil on the president’s political orientation and unequivocally defined his presidency. It reveals the political ideology, the strategic choices and above all the democratic limits of the regime. Haitian journalists are trembling with fear.

Faithful to the long, extreme-rightist tradition in Haiti, the government has sunk into a permanent posture of crisis, for a scapegoat is needed on which to blame the predicted breakdown. Jean Bertrand Aristide must be sacrificed once again. The former President has received guests at his home; this has been dominating the news in the Republic of Port-au-Prince. The man has been president twice; he is the head of a large mass party, a politician par excellence; it’s normal for him to meet with citizens of his country. Yet Stanley Lucas, Sauveur Pierre Etienne, Michel Sukkar ... they are all crying conspiracy.

Paradoxically, the former dictator Jean Claude Duvalier kindly welcomes supporters into his own home. Philippe Vorbe, a former football player on the national team, Franck Romain, a former army colonel and murderer of dozens of Haitian citizens ... all parade through his private residence. No one talks about that. Baby Doc travels everywhere; we really don’t have the eyes to track his whereabouts. Martelly, a follower of Duvalierism, faithfully replicates Duvalierist maneuvers in creating incidents like the one which recently occurred in the country's second city, Cap- Haïtien. So, Martelly belongs to the radical and extremist right.

However, the government in place presents itself more as a Third-Worldist variant of an ideological muddle than a traditional regime defending reaction. In general, extremist regimes of the right always brandish a frightening nationalist banner to enable them to maintain a total stranglehold over institutions and individuals. Martelly’s regime  is totally different; not only does he perpetuate and even reinforce the vassal policy of his predecessor, René Préval, vis-à-vis big international finance capital, he accentuates it by appointing to the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (IHRC) men totally nurtured on the imperial order.

Another characteristic of the radical right is the use of religion and morality as political instruments for manipulation of the masses. Martelly is the antithesis of religion and a disciple of obscenity. Yet, this has not prevented him from being embraced by the Christian West and certain Protestant opportunists in Haiti.

Where the regime is faithful to reactionary ideology, it’s in the cultivated scorn for national institutions. The Haitian Parliament is in Martelly’s sights to be dissolved. Authoritative voices, including that of Stanley Lucas, are calling for the heads of the most influential senators of the institution because the latter are concerned about the Government’s direction and are demanding accountability. Simply put, these senators no longer intend to serve as the sounding board for an anti-popular regime. Haitian justice is being harnessed with the entry of Josué Pierre-Louis into the Ministry of Justice as a minister but without the title.

The anti-intellectualism of the President is known to all. In the course of his election campaign, he reproached Myrlande Manigat, his opponent in the second round, saying that intellectuals did nothing for the country. Hence, it was necessary to place in power the most vulgar of the uneducated.

To that end, Stanley Lucas, an Anglo-Saxon apprentice, actively embarked to replace elements of the national middle class with those of the Diaspora. Through a so-called "resumé bank," Stanley Lucas is collecting the CVs of technical cadre from the Diaspora with the idea of ​​finding them high-paying jobs in Haiti. Lately, according to a reliable source, they have been mobilizing dozens of cadre from the Diaspora under this scheme.

We can now expect the worst with his appointment to the Martelly administration. The basic question is: what will become of the indigenous national cadres who, against all odds, have remained in the country? They are working in education as teachers and school principals, in public and private administration ... Haiti’s existence rests upon the shoulders of the middle class, particularly those who are uncorrupted. Now the special adviser to Martelly wants to replace them with other cadres whom the Government will be obligated to pay in hard currency. In my article, "The Return to the Infamy Before 1946" (Haiti Liberté, May 25, 2011), I predicted the revolt of the middle class as a single bloc; the anger is already mounting.

The regime is authoritarian. The arrogance of the President has extended to the point of publicly demanding that journalists silence themselves. Voices of civil society are rising with force to denounce the dictatorial drift of Sweet Mickey. He has accused the press of being the catalyst of a campaign destructive to the country's image abroad.

Then there was the Cap-Haïtien incident (on July 24). The reaction of the President and his team was disproportionate. After a bottle was tossed at the presidential motorcade, close to 40 innocent people were bound and then illegally transferred to Port-au-Prince. They were later released when there was no basis for detaining these poor, unfortunate souls who were tending normally to their daily activities.

Martelly has continued his threats against the Haitian press, so too has his entourage. A security agent of the President seized a bullet-proof vehicle that was assigned to former President Aristide. Other agents have confiscated photographs from fellow journalists who wanted to capture the President in one of his moments of delirium. The henchmen of the regime, widely denounced as torturers and greed-mongers by RNDHH, a human rights organization in Haiti, have become increasingly threatening. Moreover, they make up the core of the elite unit for the personal security of the President. Now they can shoot at will because their signatures go hand-in-hand with authority.

The appointment of Lucas was an aberration. This man no longer has the reach of yesteryear. Since his ousting from the IRI for an excess of zeal, the person of JeanRabel has done nothing but drag his self around Washington in the hopes of finding a new audience. At the OAS, in the course of an umpteenth conference on Haiti, Stanley Lucas was scheduled as the "keynote speaker" but was challenged to such a degree by participants that those in charge decided to withdraw the speaking invitation. The man is discredited.

Some people at the OAS suspect that Stanley has manipulated speaking invitations by placing phantom names on the membership list of his organization so as to inflate the figures. He has been closely monitored. During the aforementioned conference, he cavalierly photographed a journalist colleague who used to serve as spokesperson of former President Jean Bertrand Aristide for the foreign press. This was a clear form of intimidation.

Gérard Latortue decided to keep Stanley Lucas at arm’s length from his government after having received consistent information about the man’s poor political reputation. After circling endlessly around the de facto Prime Minister by sending memos to the interim government in the form of sterile proposals, which remained unaddressed, Lucas joined an opposition, becoming very bitter towards his Republican comrade. Until there is a shift in the wind, he will never forgive Latortue for the influence he exerted on the Bush brothers, the Governor of the State of Florida and President of the United States, to have him erased from the political scene.

Lucas tried to exact revenge with John McCain, a man he knew personally, during the last presidential elections. But the latter was defeated by Barack Obama, putting a definitive end to Lucas’ dreams of becoming the biggest manservant of Washington in Haiti.

The Washington lackey heads a bogus organization called the "Washington Democracy Project" and is totally isolated. His contacts in the U.S. House and Senate no longer exist–some have retreated into the private sector, as in the case of Jesse Helms and Porter Goss, others were defeated by Democrats in the last elections. This is an empty cask that’s before us, the young guns of the Republican Party having turned their backs on the Old Guard. The man is politically dead. That's why he is flitting from one tree branch to another to find somewhere to land.

Martelly offered him a golden platter. This was an undeserved reward because Stanley Lucas was initially opposed to the elections under the Préval Government. After realizing that among the scuttling candidates, Sweet Mickey was the best positioned, he changed his mind and boarded the train already in motion. He is an opportunist.

Stanley Lucas has very powerful political enemies in U.S. diplomatic circles in Haiti. He is poorly regarded by the United States Embassy because of his ruffling of diplomatic protocols affecting former Ambassador Brian Dean Curran in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Lucas had declared to the GNBiste leaders (architects of the 2004 coup) of the time that “it was he who represented the true intentions of the Bush administration in Haiti, not the Ambassador." Curran was so indignant after this episode that he took an early retirement into the private sector after a 30-year career in the service of his country.

According to an old acquaintance who wishes to remain anonymous, Stanley used his influence at the time to promote the financing of bogus projects of certain non-governmental organizations close to the opposition. This was to the detriment of other NGOs that were introducing well-balanced projects. In this sector too, notably with USAID and others, Stanley Lucas has accounts to settle.

His meteoric rise has left casualties in its wake. From his interval at the AFL-CIO, to the low of Lalue,[1] in order to impose himself as the all-powerful representative of the International Republican Institute he pushed around his seniors, who to this day have not forgiven him. And many of them are still in office in Haiti. Whence the necessity for him to remain in his corner of Washington so as not to come to terms with his opportunism.

I myself met the person of Jean-Rabel during 1992 or 1993. He was working on behalf of the AFL-CIO, taking part in a delegation that was contacting international organizations with a view to tipping the diplomatic scales against the putschists in power. I was present when a comrade mentioned the name of an American who was working for his country’s government. He suddenly became agitated and terminated the meeting prematurely while imploring the comrade not to mention his name to that gentleman. Being very curious, I asked the American after the episode who was this Stanley Lucas was. The interlocutor replied that he was a small fish swimming in a big sea. Subsequently, I learned that he had supplanted all the big fish in order to make himself indispensible. These gentlemen are still in place in Haiti; so staying in a Washington cubbyhole is his only option. However, he has continued to let it be known, even up to yesterday, that these are "chimères Lavalas" who would do him harm were he to set foot in Haiti. It’s false!

Some have been wondering up to now who are Michel Martelly’s advisers, that is to say, what are their competencies and experience on issues? Never, ever, has a president officially appointed someone (Lucas) so disparaged to a position of such high stature. It brings nothing but complications for governing. This has already begun. On Thursday, August 4, 2011, Stanley Lucas posted a message on Facebook in which he directly accused me of having taken part in the assassination of Haitian journalists, in particular Jean Dominique, Brignole Lindor, others. With sheer vindictiveness, he did it again after republishing on the internet Web an article I wrote in 2009 with the title, "Stanley Lucas, Man of the Occupiers."

Many colleagues in the press as well as personal friends have advised me not to return to Haiti, my native country, for fear of never seeing me again, as was the case with Lovinsky Pierre Antoine. Thus, my second exile has begun as of the appointment of Stanley Lucas as special advisor to the President of the Republic. My family is since living in fear because it is believed the man is all-powerful.

In my capacity as journalist and progressive thinker, Stanley's move is not going to hold me back. My faith in a just and democratic Haiti is stronger than the intimidations of a presidential adviser. Nevertheless, I want to make Haitian and world public opinion aware that since Thursday, August 4th, a great threat has been hanging over my life and that of my family. May God protect us!