Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Haiti's Yannick Etienne at the European Social Forum

Charles Arthur | 10.11.2004 10:31 | European Social Forum | Workers' Movements

Yannick Etienne, a prominent activist in the Batay Ouvriye (Workers' Fight) organisation in Haiti, participated in the European Social Forum in October 2004.

Haitian workers' activist, Yannick Etienne, was among the more than 20,000 people from nearly 70 countries who participated in the European Social Forum (ESF) in London on 15-17 October. This, the third meeting of Europe's non-governmental organisations, environmentalists, peace campaigners and left wing parties, followed gatherings in previous years in Florence and Paris. Participants heard over 2,500 speakers at over 500 meetings during the three-day event.

Etienne is a prominent activist in the Batay Ouvriye (Workers' Fight) organisation in Haiti, and was in the UK as a guest of the Haiti Support Group and the anti-sweatshop campaigning organisation, No Sweat. During the ESF, she spoke at four meetings.

At one seminar entitled 'The US militarisation of Latin America and the Caribbean' on Friday, 15th October, Etienne shared a platform with speakers from Cuba, Colombia and Venezuela. She reminded the audience that Haiti was at present experiencing its third military occupation in less than 90 years. She said US troops intervened, not to keep the peace, but to secure US business and strategic interests. Referring to Haiti's position as a stepping stone for the trafficking of cocaine between South and North America, Etienne said that the US, far from trying to stop the trade, was actually heavily involved in it. The current United Nations force in Haiti is led by Brazilian and Argentinean troops, and some commentators have suggested that these countries' involvement is a progressive development. Etienne disagreed, denouncing them for occupying a sovereign country, and for doing the US's work for it.

Later the same day, she participated in a fiery debate on the struggle for real democracy in Haiti. Responding to Lavalas Family Party supporters who said that progressives should condemn the February 2004 coup and call for the re-instatement of President Aristide, Etienne insisted that Batay Ouvriye's analysis of the situation at the time remained valid. She recalled the organisation's December 2003 slogan describing the Lavalas Family Party and the local bourgeoisie's Group of 184 as "two rotten buttocks in the same torn pair of trousers." She said that of course the US role in building up the Group of 184 and former Army opposition was reprehensible, but stated that those who claimed Aristide was pro-worker did not know what they were talking about. As an example, she described the violent attack on organised workers at the Guacimal orange plantation in May 2002 which was led by local Lavalas Family officials, and which was supported by the government spokesperson, Mario Dupuy. Two members of Batay Ouvriye were killed during the attack. "Imagine", she said, "You are fighting for your rights, and the Minister of Communications goes on the radio and calls you a 'terrorist'!"

On Saturday, 16th October, Yannick Etienne participated in two discussions about union organising. At the No Sweat seminar, "Workers’ Rights, Human Rights - Taking on Poverty and Sweatshops," she joined a platform of trade unionists from Britain, Belgium and France. While some speakers suggested that tripartite consultations and legislation monitored by the International Labour Organisation were the appropriate mechanisms for countering the abuse of workers, others stressed the merits of direct action by workers themselves, backed by international solidarity.

Rein de Tremmerie representing the Confédération des Syndicats Chrétiens de Belgique (CSC) explained how a well-known company selling women's underwear in her country was pressurised into improving the very bad situation of workers producing its products in Hungary and Indonesia. The company had a good reputation and hence became supportive of the call not to spoil its good image.

For her part, Etienne outlined the year-long struggle for union rights at the new free trade zone in north-east Haiti where a Dominican company uses Haitian labour to assemble Levi's jeans. In June, over 370 workers - members of the newly-formed Sokowa union - were sacked. An international solidarity campaign is continuing to press the Levi Strauss company and the World Bank, which funds the free trade zone, to have the workers re-instated. Etienne said, "We will continue to fight until all those workers are back at work, and we will negotiate with the management so that they agree to recognise workers' rights and union rights." She added, "We want to count on your support to win this victory."

At a workshop at the Trade Union Congress centre in Bloomsbury in central London, the Battersea and Wandsworth trade union council (BWTUC) vowed to continue to back the Sokowa union in what is expected to be a long campaign to unionise the free trade zone workers. Up to 20,000 workers are expected to be employed in the Codevi FTZ over the years ahead. Julia Brandreth of the BWTUC said that Yannick Etienne and the Batay Ouvriye-affliliated unions in Haiti were an inspiration to rank and file workers in the UK.

On Sunday 17th October, Etienne joined tens of thousands at a demonstration and rally to denounce the war against Iraq. The rally gained emotional strength from the intervention of Rose Gentle, whose son Gordon - a soldier in the British army - was killed in an ambush near Basra earlier this year. Rose Gentle was cheered loudly when she asked Prime Minister Tony Blair to come to Trafalgar Square to meet the demonstrators. Veteran Labour Party left-winger, Tony Benn, said at the rally: "The Iraqi war is an act of criminal aggression which the US launched and Britain supported - it's illegal and immoral, and it will not succeed."

Commenting on a hectic three days in London, Etienne said, "As regards the European Social Forum, it's been very interesting to see so many young people involved in important issues and struggles."

On the other hand, Etienne was critical of the lack of involvement on the part of local working class people, and felt that European perspectives and issues were not really discussed. "As a person involved in social struggles, I didn't learn much about what is going on in Europe." She also noted the contradiction that at the same time as solidarity activists were campaigning against giant multinationals and the exploitation of workers, vendors at the ESF were selling Coca Cola drinks, and t-shirts manufactured by the anti-union Gildan textile company.

On the eve of her return to Haiti, Yannick Etienne remarked, "I enjoyed the trip and I think it was very worthwhile. I feel very good to have been greeted by dynamic people in the solidarity campaign - the BWTUC, No Sweat, and the Haiti Support Group. "

Charles Arthur
- e-mail: haitisupport@gn.apc.org
- Homepage: http://www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech