Father Gerard Jean-Juste, Father of the Just

Father Gerard Jean-Juste, 1947-2009

Dear Friends,

A moving tribute to a our dear friend Father Gerry... a beautiful human being and an inspiration to all those who seek peace with justice.

In Loving Memory,
Paul B

Father Jean Juste – Father of the Just
by Professor Bell Angelot
translated into English by Ezili Danto, May 27, 2009

(Father Jean Juste was always coupled to what’s just and morally right).

A powerful spirit has left this earth, and our mourning darkens the whole city. A griot left for eternity and the whole tribe is in tears. But though the prophet is gone, his light remains. The Haitian community of Miami has just rung the toll to announce in pain, and in a flood of tears the departure from this planet of Reverend Father Gérard Jean-Juste. Father Jean-Juste was one of the pioneers of Liberation Theology alongside Jean Bertrand Aristide of Haiti, Leonardo Boff of Nicaragua and Oscar Romero of Salvador.

Father Jean Juste was the spoke-person of the poor, the homeless, and for all who thirst for justice. Father Jean Juste was a megaphone for the victims of exclusion, those hungry for love, those suffering from the selfishness of others and inequalities of all sorts. Father Jean Juste was the flag bearer for Haitian immigrant rights, for those without papers, for those who braved the shark-infested seas and for whom Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is still denied. Father Jean Juste was a man of justice, his very name called forth what’s just.

One can well compare the struggle of Father Jean Juste to that of the biblical Moses who delivered his people from the persecution of slavery. ("Let my people go!" Moses said to the Pharaoh of his time). This cry of Moses came often of the lips of Father Jean Juste, the Prophet from Petite Place Cazeau, Haiti: “I have certainly seen the affliction of my people, I have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows.” (Exodus 3:7).

Father Jean Juste was a martyr. While distributing food to hungry children, he was arrested and tortured by the political dictators in 2005. Some months later, even in the deepest bowels of a church, The Sacred Heart Church of Turgeau, the very same church where Izmery was assassinated, drape in his priest cassock, Father Jean Juste was brutally beaten almost to unconsciousness, manhandled and humiliated, afterwards waking up in prison.

Like Jeremiah the prophet, he knew the inside of a prison. Like Martin Luther King, Jr. he preached love. Like Mahatma Gandhi he lived non-violence and overcame violence. Just as Moses never reached the Promised Land, he too, did not see the day of the complete liberation of the Haitian people. The passing of Father Jean Juste bring us tears, this is a painful severance for us. Of course, the lost of Father Jean Juste brings us grief, but we believe that Father Jean Juste lives on.

Again in the years to come, we shall hear, all across Little Haiti in Miami, the echo of his voice denouncing discriminatory immigration laws. Through time, his voice shall still wholly resound on Haiti, saying no to violence, no to exile, no to arbitrary arrests, indefinite detentions, no to Coup D’etats. Jean Juste lives on and it is now that his butchers will tremble. For without confessing their wrongs and without altering their ways they allowed their victim to die, a man whose heart was filled only with compassion and tolerance.

Father Jean Juste left us on an assignment to meet up with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to whom he shall say that love amongst the races and race equality is still a dream; to meet up with John Fitzgerald Kennedy to whom he will say that Democracy and Peace are still the big challenges of our peoples; to meet up with Father Jean Marie Vincent, to whom he shall say that the movement to bring literacy to our people has fallen by the waste side; to meet up with (Haiti’s founding father) Jean Jacques Dessalines to tell him that our country has been sold, it’s been torn apart, its been bloodied - peyi a vann, peyi a fann, peyi a tonbe nan sann - and we’ve been divided. He is not dead... He lives on!

His body succumbed to the vicissitudes: to pains that even defied science, to evil his heart and his brain could no longer bring order to, to political shocks that his conviction and his morale could no longer endure.

In the name of the larger Lavalas Movement, we bid farewell to Father Gerard Jean Juste and wish him a good journey. In the name of all the cadres, the grassroots/popular organizations, in the name of the Lavalas vision of inclusion, we say thank you Father Jean Juste. Thank you very much brother/compatriot, we shall continue to be the Sentinels – (to watch out - veye yo - look out for the enemy).

The Haitian Center of Research and Social Science Investigations, bows in great reverence, before the remains of the greatest tree (Mapou) to be cut down in the forest of the just. May your demonstrations of faith, lessons in courage, messages of patriotism, forever be the oil that lights our lamps to bring the light in the darkness of realms, serve us all as the chorus of hope, songs of resistances, hymn of love and friendship. For, as the (Haitian author, Jacques) Roumain said in his book, Governors of the Dew - "The fruit that rots nourishes the hope of the new tree."

Professeur Bell Angelot
Directeur du Centre Haïtien
De Recherches et d'Investigations
En Sciences Sociales

YON SÈL NOU FÈB, ANSANM NOU FÒ, ANSANM, ANSANM NOU SE LAVALAS.
www.fanmilavalas.net 954-670-9209
PO BOX 2252 FORT PIERCE, FLORIDA 34954

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Forwarded by Ezili's Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network
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A Tragic Loss for Haiti: Father Gerard Jean-Juste, 1947-2009

Father Jean-Juste, Spiritual Leader of Haitian Americans, Dies

BY ELINOR J. BRECHER AND JACQUELINE CHARLES,
Miami Herald, 5/27/09
ebrecher@MiamiHerald.com

The spiritual and political leader of the Haitian community in South Florida died in Miami after suffering a stroke. He was 62. Rev. Gérard Jean-Juste, the Roman Catholic priest whose passionate, relentless, 30-year human-rights crusade on behalf of his fellow Haitians cast him as their spiritual and political leader in South Florida, has died.

Jean-Juste was a liberation theologist, controversial in both the United States and his homeland, who battled the unequal treatment of Haitian refugees in the federal courts, in Miami's streets and in the media.

He suffered a stroke recently, according to Ira Kurzban, the Miami attorney who represented Jean-Juste's Haitian Refugee Center in several lawsuits against the U.S. government, and died Wednesday evening at Jackson Memorial Hospital. His death apparently was unrelated to the leukemia that Jackson doctors treated three years ago.

''The Haitian-American community has lost a visionary and a central figure who helped to establish the Haitian community in South Florida,'' Kurzban said. "They lost a. . .friend whose arms and heart were always open.''

Marliene Bastien, executive director of Haitian Women of Miami, called Jean-Juste "an icon, someone who gave himself wholely, selflessly to others without any need to''self-promote. 'He was the greatest champion of refugees' and immigrants' rights, and he showed that we, as a country, could do better in the way we treat people who leave their native land to come here.'' Bastien said that Jean-Juste "goes all the way when it comes to defending the rights of the less fortunate. He fights with all his might in the pursuit of justice. He doesn't stop to eat.''

Full article: http://coalitionfordemocracyinhaiti.blogspot.com/

On a very personal note:

We last visited Father Jean-Juste at his church in Haiti as we dropped off boxes of medical supplies. Below is a photo of him with a few of the hundreds of children he would feed daily. To me, he exemplified the heart of Haiti.

A few years earlier, Paul Burke and I stopped to visit him as he was receiving cancer treatments in Florida. He gave us money to carry to Haiti, so that we could insure the children were fed. When we asked if he didn't need this money for his own medication, he gently shrugged, and said, "I am fine; the children need to eat."

This summer, again, we will return to Haiti. Again we will carry loads of school and medical supplies. And again, somehow, we will manage to stuff in some soccer balls for Father Gerry's children.

-- Leisa Faulkner, Founder, Children's Hope childrenshope@live.com

Haiti, July 2008

Shutting Detroit Down

They're Shuttin' Detroit Down

Check out this new video:here. http://heavens-gates.com/usworkers/indexB.html

Video is worth it. You will need to wait while it loads. You may need to follow through to the alternative site.

Elections and budget cuts

Special Election II Flops: Battle for the Budget Begins Anew

By Willie L. Pelote, Sr.
Assistant Director ASFCME

Now that California voters have handed Arnold Schwarzenegger and his cadre of special interests another resounding special election defeat, proponents of public services, fiscal responsibility, child care and mental health programs are gearing up for the battle over the 2010 state budget.

Schwarzenegger has threatened deep cuts, but a majority of voters throughout California oppose cuts to public services such as roads, public transportation, environmental regulation, water storage, programs for the disabled, mental health programs, child care, public schools, health care, and higher education.

This, according to a poll of registered voters taken between April 16-26, 2009.

The same poll also found that voters favor cuts to the state's prison-industrial complex and would support higher taxes on the wealthy and specific industries like oil, tobacco, and alcohol.

These findings offer a working blueprint for a progressive state budget in 2010.

State spending on prisons should be cut, and Schwarzenegger's November 2008 proposal to enact an alcohol tax, oil severance tax, and a sales tax on services such as amusement parks and entertainment and sporting events should be revived.

Independent analysis by the California Tax Reform Association has also shown that it would be possible to immediately raise $13 billion by: (1) restoring the state’s high income and corporate tax brackets to their levels under Republican Governors Ronald Reagan and Pete Wilson and by (2) instituting a tax on carbon dioxide pollution.

That would shore up about two-thirds of the $20 billion budget shortfall that analysts say California now faces.

The remaining $7 billion or so can be obtained through the aforementioned cuts to prison spending and higher taxes on oil companies, alcohol and tobacco producers, and professional sports teams, the same special interests that bankrolled the May 19 special election ballot measures in order to avoid industry taxes that could help to balance the budget, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Willie L. Pelote, Sr. is an Assistant Director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO. AFSCME is the largest public sector union in the country representing 1.4 million members nationwide. He can be contacted using the following information:

AFSCME
1121 L Street #904
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 441-1570
wpelote@afscme.org

SPECIAL ELECTION -- PROGRESSIVE VOTER GUIDE

Tuesday is Election Day and it's an important one for the future of California. The May 19th election figures to be a low turnout election, which means that those of us who do vote, and who organize others to vote, can have a bigger impact than usual. Exercise your right to VOTE!!! Peace, Paul B

PROGRESSIVE VOTER GUIDE
2009 SPECIAL ELECTION
TUESDAY, MAY 19th

Prop 1A: NO – Vote for Grad Caps, Not Spending Caps! Changes CA budget process. Diverts money into reserve fund even when economy falters. (*See Below for analysis.)

Prop 1B: YES –Repays cuts in education funding. (*See Below for analysis.)

Prop 1C: NO –State Lottery (borrows from future lottery funds).
.
Prop 1D: NO –Cuts funding for children’s services such as health care.

Prop 1E: NO –Cuts funding for much needed mental health services.

Prop 1F: YES –Prevents pay raises for elected state offficials during budget deficit years.

Note: If we vote “No” on the selected above issues the state will have to reopen negotiations on the budget. The Sacramento Progressive Alliance favors a future initiative to end the 2/3 vote requirement for the Legislature to pass the budget. This will allow the Legislature to pass a budget and to not rely on ballot box budgeting campaigns.

*Analysis of Prop 1A and 1B

No on Prop 1 A -- Since 2002 the CSU has lost almost $1 billion in state funding. Students have been charged more fees to make up the losses. Prop. 1A places a spending cap on the state budget that will make these cuts permanent. The CSU budget will not be restored to the levels of 2002 and tuition will continue to rise. The Board of Regents is voting this week to increase tuition for the Fall by 10%.

Prop 1A would actually make it more difficult for future governors and legislatures to enact budgets that meet California's needs and address state priorities. It would amend the state Constitution to dictate restrictions on the use of funds put into the reserve and limit how "unanticipated" revenues can be used in good years. It could lock in a reduced level of public services, including university education, by not taking proper account of the state's changing demographics and actual growth in costs.

Yes on 1 B -- California's k-12 education system is in crisis because it is underfunded. Contrary to the wishes of the voters, politicians continue to fail to adequately fund our schools. When comparisons include cost of living, California ranks 47th out of the 50 states in per pupil expenditures. Our schools are suffering. This is unacceptable.

Prop. 1 B would begin to repay the schools some $9 Billion taken by the Legislature from school funding this year in response to the economic crisis. The money would be repaid beginning in 2011, when we hope this economic crisis will have passed. Prop 1 B would return California to the minimum guarantee of funding for schools that exists in current law.

Prepared by Dr. Duane Campbell and Leisa Faulkner for the Progressive Alliance.

Correa Triumphs in Ecuador

Correa Triumphs in Ecuador, and Thereby Becomes One of Latin America’s Most Successful Political Figures

Ecuadorian President, Rafael Correa, was re-elected yesterday with an impressive 51.7 percent of the vote, in a large field, to serve another term as head of state. Illustrating his widespread popularity in the country, his untainted presidential victory comes as the first such electoral triumph since 1979 that did not require a later run-off vote. His closest contender, Lucio Gutiérrez, managed to command only 28.4 percent of the ballot. Finishing in third with the lowest level of support in his four bids for the presidency, banana magnate, Álvaro Noboa saw his right-leaning electorate seriously dwindle.

It could be argued that Correa is one of the most successful contemporary Latin American political leaders of the era. Since taking office, he has come forth with a very specific socio-political program which has significantly alleviated the country’s political instability and hobbling strategic and economic conditions, while at the same time advancing his overt leftist platform aimed at job creation and lifting the country’s living standards. “Socialism, of course, will continue. The Ecuadorian people voted for that,” he exclaimed after his victory Sunday. “When have we concealed our ideological orientation? We are going to emphasize this fight for social justice…”

Despite having expelled a pair of U.S. diplomats stationed in Quito this year on allegations of their “unacceptable meddling” in Ecuadorian matters, Correa has generally avoided going out of his way to flail at the U.S. At the same time he did not fawn over seeking Washington’s goodwill when he announced that the U.S. lease on the military and anti-drug base at Manta would not be renewed in November. The same cannot be said of his left-leaning counterparts, Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, and Evo Morales of Bolivia, who never avoided exchanging pot shots with the Bush White House, but seem more interested in re-establishing a diplomatic relationship with Washington now that a new incumbent is occupying the White House.

Having been largely effective at maintaining relatively good relations with Washington while still holding his own, Correa appears keen on continuing his social and economic programs. Although he does expend a good deal of time on political dickering and forming non-productive alliances, he is not anything like a regional visionary in the mold of Chávez or Morales. Correa’s pragmatic, hands-on nature and his genuine preference for domestic matters over foreign affairs, and being his own man rather than fabricating a satellite personality is a decided asset. Correa’s feisty performance has improved the myth or reality that the Ecuadorian poor believe that their president has drastically improved the lives of everyday Ecuadorians, including themselves.

This analysis was prepared by COHA Staff
April 27th, 2009

Recommendations on May 19 ballot

by Duane Campbell
Last year California had a serious budget crisis, over 34 billion in missing revenue. The legislature and the governor passed some temporary tax increases and made harsh budget cuts to get us through this year. Propositions 1 A- 1E, would continue this budget “solution” for a total of 4 years. However, the state, like other states continues to fall further behind. We will soon receive an estimate from the Legislative Analyst’s office, but it appears that California is at least $21.3 billion behind at this time even with the increased taxes and budget cuts.
California, and most other states, have a budget crisis as a result of the national economic crisis – significantly a banking crisis. The robber barons of finance capital have stolen the money, they have looted the treasury and our pensions and now they want to return to business as usual without any significant reform of the economic system. Just give them more tax payer money to bail out the banks.
It is past time for us to say- NO. It is time to restore Glass -Steagal, gain ownership of some major banks, and to get a national health care system along with bailing out the states to avoid draconian cuts in schools and other human services.

The severity of the national and international economic collapse has created budget shortfalls for state and local governments. Dean Baker, CEPR Co-Director and an author of a report says "Since many states are required by their charters or constitutions to balance their budgets, states will end up using federal stimulus dollars to offset these shortfalls." It currently looks as if much of the stimulus package will be used to back fill state budget shortages which sharply limits the potential success of the stimulus.
California will receive a great deal of money for education. The proposals have been approved. Most of the money will go to hire teachers who have been scheduled to be laid off.
As we debate the ballot issues, it is important to keep in mind that the economic crisis was not created in Sacramento, it was not created by schools and teachers. There is a great deal of misplaced anger being posted and shouted.

No on Prop. 1 A.
Since 2002 the CSU has lost almost $1 billion in state funding. Students have been charged more fees to make up the losses. Prop. 1A places a spending cap on the state budget that will make these cuts permanent. The CSU budget will not be restored to the levels of 2002 and your tuition will continue to rise. The Board of Regents is voting this week to increase tuition for the Fall by 10%.


[Prop 1A] would actually make it more difficult for future governors and legislatures to enact budgets that meet California's needs and address state priorities. It would amend the state Constitution to dictate restrictions on the use of funds put into the reserve and limit how "unanticipated" revenues can be used in good years. It could lock in a reduced level of public services, including university education, by not taking proper account of the state's changing demographics and actual growth in costs.


Yes on 1 B.
California's k-12 education system is in crisis because it is underfunded. Contrary to the wishes of the voters, politicians continue to fail to adequately fund our schools. When comparisons include cost of living- California ranks 47th. out of the 50 states in per pupil expenditures. Our schools are suffering. This is unacceptable.

Prop. 1 B would begin to repay the schools some $9 Billion taken by the Legislature from school funding this year in response to the economic crisis. The money would be repayed beginning in 2011, when we hope this economic crisis will have passed. Prop 1 B would return California to the minimum guarantee of funding for schools that exists in current law.

Obama says he wants to hear from us

No Socialism here !

May Day : International Unions Statement

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