Attacks continue against Aristide supporters

Port au Prince, Haiti, Oct. 5 — Gunfire erupted in the western slum of Martissant Oct. 5 as the Haitian police conducted a daytime raid following their claim of an attack on a local police station there Oct. 2. Local supporters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had paralyzed the community in response to an attack by the Haitian National Police (PNH) on a peaceful demonstration demanding his return on Sept. 30. Aristide was ousted last Feb. 29 amid charges he was kidnapped by US Marines and remains in exile in the Republic of South Africa.

According to witnesses, heavily armed units of the PNH cordoned off the community at about 10am and began a sweep through the area. Gunfire could be heard as they entered with force and residents reported at least two people were killed and several more wounded. At least fifteen young men were reportedly seen being handcuffed and placed in the back of a large covered truck. Family members on the scene stated police would not respond when questioned about where they were being taken and are worried for their safety.

Violence erupted in Haiti on Sept. 30 after police opened fire on unarmed demonstrators. Witnesses say a unit of the Unite de Securite Presidentielle (USP), a special security detail assigned to Interim President Boniface Alexandre, came under attack after police opened fire on the marchers. Witnesses say members of a special police unit were seen firing on demonstrators and collecting bodies before masked gunmen returned fire, killing three and wounding a fourth who later died in the hospital.

The US-backed government claims that the headless bodies of two policemen were later recovered and that Aristide supporters have launched a campaign imitating beheadings in Iraq called “Operation Baghdad.” Representatives of Aristide’s Family Lavalas party have denied the allegations. A Lavalas party spokesman stated, “It was the police who provoked the violence by firing on demonstrators who were demanding the return of President Aristide.”

Political tensions ratcheted up Sept. 24 when three Lavalas spokesmen were arrested after participating in a broadcast on local Radio Caraibes FM. During the course of the program, former Deputy Roudy Hèrivaux, Senate Chairman Yvon Feuillè, and Senator Gerald Gilles denounced the violence and condemned the police for firing on unarmed demonstrators on Sept. 30. The police entered Radio Caraibes and arrested the three on charges of “inciting violence” related to Sept. 30. The police action was condemned by the management of Radio Caraibes stating that it “harms the reputation of the station and is an infringement of freedom of expression.” Radio Caraibes has suspended broadcasting indefinitely in protest.

Haitian officials announced Oct. 2 that they would free Gilles, citing a lack of evidence implicating him in the violence, but he still remains behind bars. Minister of Justice Bernard Gousse continues to maintain that Hèrivaux and Feuillè were the “intellectual authors” of the attacks against the police on Sept. 30. The two legislators deny any involvement and have called for peace and an end to the violence.

The police action in Martissant comes one day after residents in the slum of Bel Air exchanged gunfire with police surrounding their neighborhood. Heavily armed units of the Haitian National Police encircled the community Oct. 4 following an ultimatum issued by residents demanding the release of the three leaders arrested on Oct. 2. Lavalas militants had threatened to take to the streets in a new wave of protests unless Former Deputy Roudy Hèrivaux, Senator Gerald Gilles, and Senate President Yvon Feuillè were freed unconditionally. The slum of Bel Air has been under a virtual state of siege by the police since Sept. 30.

Heavily armed police units backed up by unidentified paramilitaries can be seen at major intersections in Port au Prince for a second straight day. Witnesses continue to report heavy gunfire in the pro-Aristide slum of Cite Soleil following last weekís killing of two men by the police who they described as gang leaders. Reports continue of exchanges of heavy gunfire between the police and residents of the seaside slum which is home to more than 500,000 Haitians living in extreme poverty.

Source: Haiti Information Project

By Liz Allen

Asheville, North Carolina, Oct. 13 (AGR) — In London, England, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Oct. 7 seized two Indymedia servers, which hosted 22 Indymedia websites in 17 different countries, provided internet Indymedia radio streams and contained several email lists. The servers were returned on Oct. 13.

The servers were hosted in the London offices of the San Antonio, Texas-based company, Rackspace Managed Hosting. The company turned the servers over to the FBI after it received a commissioner’s subpoena requesting the items. The action shut down the operations of the websites for at least 24 hours, some have yet to have service restored and many fear loss of information. The FBI has only stated it is operating at the request of a third country, which is believed to be Italy and/or Switzerland. The seizure was made by a request submitted to the department under the Mutual Legal Aid Treaty (MLAT), which was ratified between the US and the EU and pertains to countries collaborating in investigations in relation to international terrorism, money laundering and kidnapping.

Rackspace released a statement about the case on Oct. 8 reporting that court had told them not to comment on the matter. The statement did say Rackspace is “acting as a good corporate citizen and cooperating with international law enforcement authorities,” and was subpoenaed by the US, but the case did not rise out of the US. What type of investigation is being conducted is unknown.

The seizure comes prior to the European Social Forum, an annual social justice-oriented conference to be held in London from Oct. 15 — Oct. 17. Indymedia is planning to be a presence at the gathering and one of the servers was to be used to stream web radio coverage of the event. Affected local media collectives include: Ambazonia, Andorra, Antwerpen (all Belgium), Belegrade, Brazil, East and West Vlaanderen, Euskal Herria (Basque Country), Galiza, Italy, Liege, Lilles, Marseille (all France), Nates, Nice, Poland, Portugal, Prague, UK, Uruguay, Western Massachusetts, part of the Germany site, and the global Indymedia Radio site.

Indymedia — also referred to as Independent Media Center (IMC) — websites feature open publishing forums where members of the public can freely and anonymously publish stories, photos, comments, etc. The news reporting primarily focuses on political and social justice issues. On Oct. 1 the FBI went to the Seattle, Washington office of attorney Devin Theriot-Orr who is listed as the Seattle Indymedia registered agent.

The FBI were concerned with a posting on the French site, Indymedia Nantes, of pictures of Swiss undercover police posing as protestors in the protests against the G8 meetings in Evian, Switzerland in 2003.

“Of course the Seattle Indypendent media has no control or authority over the Nates Independent Media Center. But the FBI does not understand the idea of a decentralized organization without hierarchy — it probably strikes them as extremely bizarre,” Theriot-Orr said. He said he explained to the agents that these are two different entities within the same network.

Theriot-Orr reported the agents said they were conducting the investigation as a courtesy to the Swiss government; they also said that the posting photos of an undercover police taking pictures of protestors is protected conduct under the First Amendment. He said the FBI claimed to be concerned with the information posted about the agents, which included names and address. “As soon as they left the offices I went and checked and there was no personally identifying information on the website, and as far as we can tell, there never has been. So the entire factual basis for their visit is just completely untrue…

“Here they are visiting me in my Seattle office, visiting me about these photos that they admit are protected, and then they go on to seize the hard drive. It’s extremely troubling. It would be as if the federal government was investigating an article written by someone in the New York Times and instead of just asking questions of the reporter or asking questions of the news organization, they just went and seized the entire printing presses and all the New York Times archives, and all their stories as part of the investigation and then said ‘Oh we can’t tell you why we’re investigating it, sorry’.”

Now that the servers have been returned Indymedia will have them examined to see if they have been modified or hacked and they will not be on line until after they are investigated.

Another hindrance in obtaining a clear picture of the situation is the involvement of different legal systems and language barriers. According to Theriot-Orr, Indymedia’s lawyer in Switzerland believes the investigation is regional, but the MLAT is with the federal Swiss government and only applies to serious incidents. The Swiss authorities the lawyer has spoken to say this is not a serious enough crime to invoke the provisions of the treaty. Theriot-Orr also said Indymedia believes seizure also may have separately violated an UK privacy law.

Indymedia is now trying to get a copy of the subpoena, to discover who issued it and what specific information they were requesting. Theriot-Orr said, “We will proceed under US law to challenge the authority of the US government to issue such subpoenas to a media organization that is protected by the First Amendment, to insure that this doesn’t happen again,” and also to try and recover damages and expenses incurred because of the seizure. “The US government cannot aid and abet a violation of the first amendment to the constitution regardless of whether or not it’s actually a US investigation… they are bound by the constitution.”

He reported the issue has received widespread support in the national and international media community because they see it as a threat on their ability to print on issues of public concern. The International Federation of Journalists released a statement on Oct. 8 saying they believe “the seizure may by linked to a Sept. 30 court case in San Jose California, in which Indymedia San Francisco and two students at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania successfully opposed an application by Diebold Election Systems Inc. to remove documents claiming to reveal flaws in the electronic voting machines.”

The Electronic Frontier Federation is handling Indymedia’s legal representation. There has been a history of seizures of Indymedia sites, including during the July 2001 G8 meetings in Genoa, Italy, where riot police attacked and damaged the Independent Media Center. In August, prior to the Republican National Convention held in New York City, the NYC IMC received a subpoena from the Secret Service in regards to their posting of already publicly available information about convention delegates.

Afghanistan elections:
widespread fraud alleged

By Jenny Francis

Kabul, Afghanistan, Oct. 13 — “As a matter of fact, it doesn’t bother me. If Afghans have two registration cards and if they would like to vote twice, well, welcome. This is an exercise in democracy. Let them exercise it twice.” These were comments from interim Afghan President Hamid Karzai, when asked at an Aug. 11 press conference about the impact of multiple voter registration on the results of Afghanistan’s presidential election.

On Oct. 9, Afghanistan held its first presidential election in some 25 years. UN spokesperson Manoel de Almeida e Silva admitted: “Probably there is a lot of multiple registering. This is not perfect.” Many people have openly declared the benefits of obtaining numerous registration cards, which could be sold to parties or candidates for up to $150.

Numerous reports note that UN registration teams did not check if a person has registered previously. One woman, for example, said her nephew had been approached at school numerous times to sell his laminated voting card, and that she knows a woman who obtained 40 registration cards while cloaked in a burqa.

The US-backed Karzai claimed this problem would have little impact on the election results. “If somebody gives me three cards, I will take it and will go and vote,” he said at the August 11 press conference. “But my choice in voting will be the same. We are beginning an exercise. We cannot be perfect.” When a reporter challenged him, saying that Karzai was describing “a farce” election, the US-appointed interim president said the Afghan people are enthusiastic and simply want to have more cards.

One key prerequisite for registration for presidential candidate was the submission of 10,000 photocopies of the voter registration cards of party members or supporters. This provided proof of a sufficient voter base.

Abdul Hafiz Mansur, a presidential candidate from the Panjshir Valley, explained that after he presented his 10,000 photocopied voter registration cards to the electoral commission, he found he had more than enough. “We gave some of the extra ones to the [electoral] commission, just in case they say one is not correct. We also gave some to other candidates, who were short of cards. I don’t want to name them.”

The “massive voter registration” supposedly reached some 9.5 million people — more than the country’s entire eligible voting population.

The Taliban vowed to thwart the election, and killed at least 11 UN voter registration staff prior to it. The Taliban’s threats were particularly aimed at women. “It’s obvious we are afraid,” a women voter registrar at an election site inside a school told the Aug. 8 London Daily Telegraph. “On average we get 10 to 12 women a day, which is not bad. But we go from house to house to tell women to come. The mullahs don’t like it, and a lot of women come in secret because they are too scared.”

In an attempt to counter Taliban threats, in some cases the US military provided support for the registration teams. In July, for example, the US Army’s 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, backed by Black Hawk helicopters and B-1 bombers, entered the remote towns of Arghandab and Khak-e-Afghan, in Zabul province. They temporarily wrested control of the towns from the Taliban to allow the registration to take place. Despite this incursion, less than half the eligible 124,000 voters in Zabul received their registration cards and only eight percent of them were given to women.

On Oct. 9, Afghans had a choice between one of 18 presidential candidates. Karzai, Washington’s favorite, comes from an influential, southern, Afghan family of Pashtun ethnic origin (the largest ethnic group, 42 percent of the population).

Karzai’s foremost opponents were the country’s most powerful warlords. The candidates thought likely to win most votes after Karzai were Yunus Quanooni, Tajik warlord and former education minister; the well-known General Abdul Rashid Dostum, an unpredictable commander from the Uzbek minority; and Mohammad Mohaqiq, a Hazara. Each of these men has their own ethnic base, with private armies to ensure compliance.

The US has backed all of these warlord candidates at one stage or another, and is indebted to them for their assistance in ousting the Taliban in 2001. Yet, throughout the campaign, Karzai, with urging from Western donors, has broken ties with these commanders, and is hoping to win the presidency without their support.

A dark horse in the campaign was Dr. Massouda Jalal, the only woman candidate. “I can win on Oct. 9 because I am a woman, and in Afghanistan it is only women who have no blood on their hands,” she declared in an interview with the British Independent newspaper.

Of all the candidates, she is one of the few to run on an anti-warlord platform. “I don’t want Afghanistan to be a land of terrorists and drug dealers,” Jalal told the UK Independent.

Jalal was also the only candidate without bodyguards, despite the threats against women brave enough to stand up to armed factions. Karzai, by contrast, has a “platoon” of US bodyguards, and has been unable to leave Kabul during the campaign for fear of his life.

Many observers in Afghanistan believe the ground work needed for a free and fair election – security, reconstruction and political stability – has not been established. For months, Bush and other Western leaders have staked their claims on a successful election in Afghanistan, saying it would serve as an example of how the US and “the coalition of the willing” can bring “democracy” to Iraq.

The organization of an election in Afghanistan will be used by Washington and its allies to justify their invasion of the country, and be used by the White House to boost Bush’s chances in the Nov. 2 US presidential election.

“A really great thing is happening in Afghanistan,” George W. Bush declared during the voting. “The people of that country, who just three years ago were suffering under the brutal regime of the Taliban, are going to the polls to vote for president...Freedom is beautiful.”

Source: Green Left Weekly