Call-out for support: Haiti independent Media Delegation

Dear Friends and Supporters,

In February of 2006, Stuart Neatby, Christian Heyne, and John Dimond
Gibson, three Canadian activists and independent journalists, will travel
to Haiti in order to conduct an independent media project. We are writing
to you in order to ask for your financial support for this project.

We will be writing accounts and conducting interviews from the ground in
Haiti during the period surrounding the expected run-off vote of the
UN-sponsored Presidential elections currently expected in mid-March. A
particular focus will be given to the role of Canada both during this
period, and in the lead-up.

Haiti has been in a state of chaos since the US, Canadian, and
French-sponsored coup of elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in
February of 2004. Since that time, human rights reports have documented
numerous examples of killings, massacres, and other abuses by the
RCMP-trained Haitian National Police. Thousands of Haitians have been
jailed without charge for political reasons. Rape has once again become a
tool of war, and political corruption has become so rampant that even
former supporters of the coup have called for the resignation of the
Gerard Latortue government. The political violence and repression in
Haiti has been largely targeted upon poor neighborhoods and regions where
support for the ousted Fanmi Lavalas party remains strong.

Although this account of the situation on the ground has been
substantiated by reports from human rights organizations and journalists
on the ground, the mainstream press in Canada has consistently placed the
blame for the instability in Haiti upon "gangs" and "Lavalas militants."
Is there any accuracy to such a depiction? Has Canada played a role in
the verifiable political repression that has been carried out by the HNP?
Why is Canada unquestionably supporting the electoral process in Haiti at
a time of such overt political violence? What role do Canadian NGO's play
in all of this? Few of these questions have even been asked by
journalists from prominent Canadian news sources. For this reason, we
believe it is imperative that independent journalists travel to Haiti in
order to allow the Haitian people themselves to tell the truth about the
realities they are facing in their day to day lives.

During our stay in Haiti, we hope to set up interviews with local radio
stations in the Maritimes and elsewhere, and to file reports in a number
of online and print publications such as The Coast, the Dominion, and the
Znet. We will be doing this work largely unpaid, and for this reason we
need your help to make it happen.

Our goal from individual donations is for 40 individuals to each donate
$25 for this project, which would amount to $1000, although donations of
more than $25 would be greatly appreciated. In addition, for those unable
to make a contribution, we are also looking to secure equipment such as a
digital audio recorder, a pc laptop, and a digital still camera to
borrow. In-kind donations of batteries, minidisks, and memory cartridges
would also be appreciated.

Cheques or donations can made out and/or sent to:

Haiti Action Network - Halifax
6156 Duncan St
Halifax, NS B3L 1K2
(902) 422-3208

If you would like to keep up-to-date with this initiative and would like
to receive reports from Haiti, e-mail halifaxtohaiti [at] riseup.net . If you
wish to make a donation, please e-mail us to confirm a donation. Please
pass this letter along to potential supporters.

In solidarity,

Stuart Neatby
Christian Heyne
John Dimond Gibson

--------------------------------------

Delegation Members

Stuart Neatby is a solidarity activist based in Halifax. He is a member of
Haiti Action Halifax, the Halifax Peace Coalition, the Student Coalition
Against War, and the Maritimes- Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network. He
has written articles and columns for the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, the
Halifax Daily News, The Dominion, the Charlottetown Guardian, and
Shunpiking Magazine. He is currently an administrator of the Maritimes
Independent Media Centre (maritimes.indymedia.org), an online independent
news source focused upon social movements in Atlantic Canada.

Christian Heyne is a designer and peace activist based in Lunenburg. He
was a member of the South Florida Peace Coalition throughout the 1980's,
and as such we worked alongside or co-operated with the Haitian Refuge
Center in Miami. His work with the Center brought him in touch with
Haitian grassroots leader and priest Father Gerard Jean-Juste. He has
been involved in a number of peace and social justice organizations, and
is a regular contributor to the Lighthouse newspaper in Bridgewater, NS.

John Dimond Gibson began researching and writing about Canada's
intervention in Haiti while studying History at Dalhousie University. He
has organized with the Canada Haiti Action Network affiliates in both
Halifax and Toronto, where he now lives and works. He has written about
Haiti for the Dalhousie Gazette and Socialist Worker.