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Speaker 1: You're listening to waiting on reparations production. I heard, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: they didn't teach me that some classes. Everything is in there.

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Speaker 1: So what you gotta do with fashions out, staying a term,

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Speaker 1: you gotta go against so they like the folks out

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Speaker 1: and put the princes, Dodgers cops for the capture. You

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Speaker 1: make sure the print and put up your defriense. You

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Speaker 1: gotta make it sure because I'm having people come at you,

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Speaker 1: knocking at your door so welly, and there's no telling

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Speaker 1: when start rebelling in. Everybody can do it, don't matter

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Speaker 1: what you're melling in. Learn from mistakes and maybe never

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Speaker 1: fail again. And we need more people for the fight.

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Speaker 1: Go and tell a friend I'm trying to talk, don't

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Speaker 1: make me wrap. It's waiting a reparations. They could pay

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Speaker 1: me back, don't ye do dope knife waiting on reparations

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Speaker 1: so much to cover today, ship you just wanna just

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Speaker 1: want to get into it? Should we just let's get

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Speaker 1: to it. Let's give the people what they want, what

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Speaker 1: they need. Today We're gonna talk about the political situation

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Speaker 1: in Haiti. Haitian entrepreneur turned president Jovana Moys had his

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Speaker 1: term officially end on February seven, but pleasantly decided not

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Speaker 1: to leave and to continue governing for another twelve months,

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Speaker 1: exciding that he took office a year after being voted

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Speaker 1: in and the people are not having this function. People

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Speaker 1: have been protesting in porter prints by the thousands, calling

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Speaker 1: for his represignation or even new elections, with the suspicion

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Speaker 1: that his term extension is a stelling tactic to gain

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Speaker 1: more power, and since taking office, his regime has been shrouded.

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Speaker 1: There's just admired in corruptions, charges, just balls deep in

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Speaker 1: corruption over there. Now. The police and government sanctioned militias

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Speaker 1: are using lethal force against these protesters to the tune

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Speaker 1: of like a hundred and eighty people dead over the

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Speaker 1: last two years, and even by the time you hear

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Speaker 1: this episode that that number is most definitely risen um.

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Speaker 1: The situation is quite simply spiraling. Just to be honest

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Speaker 1: with you, Haiti is burning. And the reason that you're

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Speaker 1: not seeing it on your you know, usual news sources

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Speaker 1: is because this has the full backing of the US

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Speaker 1: Trump had the same policy towards them, Biden has the

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Speaker 1: same policy towards them. So we're pretty much you know,

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Speaker 1: sponsoring of authoritarian fascist regime right down the street, you know,

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Speaker 1: globally speaking. Yeah, so we're gonna talk about that, a

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Speaker 1: little bit of the history of Haiti's political turmoil, and

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Speaker 1: we'll chat with journalists, activists, and politician Eugene per Year

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Speaker 1: about his recent experiences covering the Haiti uprising against authoritarianism

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Speaker 1: and government. Correct also going to check out a couple

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Speaker 1: Haitian hip hop and r and B artists and see

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Speaker 1: what type, if any connection they have for the ongoing

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Speaker 1: political situation there, you know, how we do. We'll have

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Speaker 1: all that more after the jump and we're back, and

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Speaker 1: we're gonna dig into a bit of Haitie's history of uprisings.

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Speaker 1: Um Haiti has a storied history of rebellion against the

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Speaker 1: ruling class, and I just like, I just really want

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Speaker 1: to briefly highlight in our discussion of Haitian politics how

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Speaker 1: fucking dope the Haitian revolution was for listeners who may

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Speaker 1: not have learned about it in school. And you know,

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Speaker 1: fucking course he wouldn't have, because they don't want colonize

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Speaker 1: people replicating this ship all over the world. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: this is gonna be an extremely rudimentary breakdown of the

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Speaker 1: Haitian Revolution, and I highly recommend listeners check out The

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Speaker 1: Black Chep Jacobins by c. LR James for a more

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Speaker 1: into depth account of what went down in Haiti in

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Speaker 1: the seventeen nineties. So the history of Haiti's founding is

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Speaker 1: when weighs heavily on the people who are in the

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Speaker 1: streets today pretty much. Christopher Columbus, he claimed one half

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Speaker 1: of it for the Spanish crown in sixteen then the

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Speaker 1: French claimed the other half in sixteen sixty, and the

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Speaker 1: two nations stars fighting over control of the territory. Spanish

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Speaker 1: ultimately seeded the land of the French in sixte and

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Speaker 1: in the end result Haiti had over a hundred years

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Speaker 1: of rule by two European powers for the right to

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Speaker 1: oversee one of the wealthiest colonies that was heavily dependent

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Speaker 1: on African slave labor to run the sugar plantation. There's

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Speaker 1: so many parallels in like the way ship went down

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Speaker 1: in Haiti, down to the fact that Christopher Columbus quote

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Speaker 1: unquote discovered Haiti in two Where have we heard that before?

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Speaker 1: Heavy quotations on that heavy quotation mark heavy shout out

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Speaker 1: to the people who were there first um life on

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Speaker 1: santaming as they called it. Then San Domingo was broken

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Speaker 1: down into three classes. You had LeBlanc, so the white colonists,

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Speaker 1: which were further subdivided into plantation owners and lower class

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Speaker 1: whites who were often oversea years and day laborers. And

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Speaker 1: then you had the gensa colord libre, or the free

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Speaker 1: black folks, who were usually mixed rate children of flavors

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Speaker 1: who or people who had purchased their freedom. And then interestingly,

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Speaker 1: some of them owned and operated their own plantation and

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Speaker 1: owned slaves. And then there was a third group, the

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Speaker 1: African born slaves, who vastly outnumbered the other groups. I'm

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Speaker 1: talking like ten to one. And I break all this

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Speaker 1: down because it very again, very closely mirrors the class

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Speaker 1: system in demographic breakdown of many parts of the Antebelle himself.

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Speaker 1: But it's precisely why the Haitian Revolution scared the ship

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Speaker 1: out of Americans at the time, and probably why we

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Speaker 1: don't learn about it in school today anyway. So these

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Speaker 1: three fucking groups anyway, so these three groups fucking hated

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Speaker 1: each other. As historian Paul for Ghost he put it,

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Speaker 1: the poor whites couldn't stand the rich whites, and the

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Speaker 1: rich whites despised the poor whites. The middle class wise

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Speaker 1: were jealous of the aristocratic whites, and the whites born

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Speaker 1: in France looked down upon the locally born whites. Mulatto's

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Speaker 1: envied the whites, despised the blacks, and were despised by

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Speaker 1: the whites. Free negroes brutalized those who are still slaves.

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Speaker 1: Haitian born blacks regarded those from Africa's savages. Everyone quite

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Speaker 1: rightfully lived in terror of everyone else. It's funny because

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Speaker 1: when when read that quote, I pictured like the player

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Speaker 1: hats ball, just like hate hate the way smell, just

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Speaker 1: like hating on each other. Um. When heads started rolling

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Speaker 1: in France during the French Revolution and the National Assembly

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Speaker 1: published a Declaration of Rights of Man and the Citizens

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Speaker 1: declaring all men free and equal, everybody in Haiti was

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Speaker 1: like oh word, but for their own separate, class driven reasons.

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Speaker 1: The whites wanted independence from France. The free blacks were

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Speaker 1: agitating for suffrage, one prominent freedman leading a three hundred

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Speaker 1: person siege on the largest busiest Haitian port in the

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Speaker 1: name of ending racial discrimination, while the enslaved Africans kind

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Speaker 1: of stood by the side, you know, just kind of watching.

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Speaker 1: And that was all until the night. One night in

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Speaker 1: August one, oh yeah, taking a queue from the message

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Speaker 1: of the French Revolution, the Haitians launched a revolt. Thousands

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Speaker 1: of slaves attending a secret voodoo Sarah money it's a

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Speaker 1: tropical storm came in and later that night returning to

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Speaker 1: their plantations and began to kill their masters, plunging the

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Speaker 1: colony into civil war. Within the next ten days, slaves

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Speaker 1: had taken control of the entire northern province of Haiti,

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Speaker 1: and within weeks the number of slaves who joined the

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Speaker 1: revolt in the north reached one hundred thousand. Within two months,

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Speaker 1: as the violence escalated, the slaves killed four thousand whites

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Speaker 1: and burn and destroyed a hundred eighty sugar plantations and

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Speaker 1: hundreds of coffee and indigo plantations. But slave rebels controlled

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Speaker 1: a third of the island. Hat right there, isn't it.

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Speaker 1: It's just okay, And I want to be very clear,

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Speaker 1: it's not because I'm plot revelations. It's because, like the

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Speaker 1: the they outnumbered that there appressors tend to one, and

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Speaker 1: they decided they were gonna take it anymore. And like,

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Speaker 1: I really feel like it comes back to what I

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Speaker 1: was saying at the top, or I would saying, no

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Speaker 1: what I was saying the last episode about the powers

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Speaker 1: of people, like we just realized we outnumbered the people

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Speaker 1: who are making our lives out and just say we

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Speaker 1: ain't gona take it anymore. And that can take the

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Speaker 1: form of a general strike. Everybody's walking off the job,

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Speaker 1: shutting down ports, shutting down factories, shutting down highways, just

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Speaker 1: bringing society to a standstill, like you can change things.

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Speaker 1: By eighteen o four, Haiti was an independent republic, like

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Speaker 1: and they all took with a couple of thousand slaves,

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Speaker 1: being like no, like, there's ten of us for each

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Speaker 1: one of you. We ain't gonna pick you fucking you know,

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Speaker 1: we ain't garden you compa's Historically it was historically it

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Speaker 1: was only Haiti and Ethiopia that ended up doing that,

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Speaker 1: right kind of like I didn't know about Ethiopia, but

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Speaker 1: we don't gonna do another episode of I mean, Ethiopia

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Speaker 1: wasn't having that ship either. It was like fuck that.

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Speaker 1: But um so from you know, after gaining independence in

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Speaker 1: the Republic of Haiti officially being born, there was a

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Speaker 1: task of unifying the country, overcoming in a brief America

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Speaker 1: Can occupation. Of course, we couldn't stay in our business.

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Speaker 1: Contested election after contested election, coup attempts, actual coup's. Political

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Speaker 1: struggle runs deep in the nation's history. Several regimes in

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Speaker 1: Haiti have been described as fascist regimes, from Luis Luis

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Speaker 1: Borno and the later government of France Suis du Valier. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that brings us to present day and I think contextualizes

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Speaker 1: some of I think what Eugene talks about in a

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Speaker 1: minute around just like the uniqueness of the way people

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Speaker 1: are organizing and taking the streets in Haiti right now.

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Speaker 1: It's like in it's kind of in people's blood. So

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Speaker 1: let's get into talking about Joviano Mooys in some of

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Speaker 1: the current context. Born Jovino Mooys was a Haitian businessman

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Speaker 1: with his hands a little bit of everything and autoparts business,

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Speaker 1: banana plantation, drinking water distribution and many other ventures. He

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Speaker 1: was hand picked by his predecessor, Michelle Martelli to run

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Speaker 1: as the presidential candidate back into the fifteen under the

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Speaker 1: Patient tet Kale Party or p h t K. Martelli

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Speaker 1: himself founded that in two thousand twelve, he ran on

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Speaker 1: a platform that promoted bioecological agriculture is the backbone of

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Speaker 1: Haiti's economy. It was you know, it's got over rural

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Speaker 1: population and he supported universal education and health care, energy reform,

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Speaker 1: rule of law, environmental protection and development of Haiti as

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Speaker 1: a destination for eco terrorism. It all sounds good so

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Speaker 1: far right, so I know for you universal logic. His

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Speaker 1: rise to power just from the outset was Mardern controversy

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Speaker 1: and the current protests that are going on over him particular.

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Speaker 1: It's not new, it's just gotten more intense. Yeah. So

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Speaker 1: exit polling after the election and showed him receiving only

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Speaker 1: six percent of the vote, but then he was given

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Speaker 1: thirty two, qualifying him to participate in the run off

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Speaker 1: election against June Celestine, the second place finisher. So out

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Speaker 1: the gate he was met with mathive protests and calls

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Speaker 1: the fraud two thousand sixteen to runoff was called his

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Speaker 1: favor only off of preliminary results ain't ship with an

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Speaker 1: estimatedent voter turnout total. The dispute over his mandate saw

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Speaker 1: an interim president installed and finally after getting fifty in

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Speaker 1: a of the vote in another special election he was

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Speaker 1: sworn in. What a ship show anyway. So in Porta Prince,

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Speaker 1: there's gang warfare in the streets among competing factions who

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Speaker 1: support or oppose Moise, and there's a lot of suspicion

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Speaker 1: that the rising murderate and the unprecedented number of kidnapping

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Speaker 1: networks has ties to the Moise government, but the accusation

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Speaker 1: that he's using violence and kidnappings to scare opposition in

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Speaker 1: the population at large eeen. A massacre took place in

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Speaker 1: the lass A Lean part of Porta Prince, carried out

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Speaker 1: by the G nine gang, which is probably the most

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Speaker 1: notorious of these gangs that are operating there. They have

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Speaker 1: long suspected ties to most Seventy people were killed in

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Speaker 1: fourteen hours in the U and the U S would

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Speaker 1: eventually implicate and sanctioned two members of his administration for

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Speaker 1: planning the attacks and providing weapons to G nine in

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Speaker 1: order to quell corruption protests or in order to quell

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Speaker 1: anti corruption protests. This all took place after the U

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Speaker 1: N pulled out peacekeeping troops who were there on a

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Speaker 1: thirteen year occupation, so it's like they waited for the

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Speaker 1: moment to strike. So yeah, things are going real well.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, earlier this year he's like, are you seven down?

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Speaker 1: I got another year. I'm staying in office. Y'all can't

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Speaker 1: give her to me, and the people weren't having it.

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Speaker 1: So we're gonna talk to journalist Eugene per Year, who

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Speaker 1: was recently on the ground and got to work in

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Speaker 1: his things firsthand, to help get a better understanding of

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Speaker 1: what is happening in Haiti today. I'm joined by a journalist, activist,

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Speaker 1: and politician, Eugene per Year. Even It's a founding member

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Speaker 1: of the Party for Socialism and Liberation IT in two

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Speaker 1: thousand eight sixteen ran as their vice presidential candidate. UM.

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Speaker 1: He's also the author of Shackled and Chained Mass in

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Speaker 1: Carstration in Capitalist America and it's host of the show

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Speaker 1: The Freedom Side on Breakthrough News. He also reasently returned

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Speaker 1: from Haiti, where he and his team covered the uprising

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Speaker 1: against authoritarianism and government corruption there. Thanks so much for

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Speaker 1: being your Eugene, And to start, I wondered if you

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Speaker 1: could talk to us a little bit about why you

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Speaker 1: and your team decided to go to Haiti. Yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: you know, first and foremost, thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: having me really honored to be here and you know,

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Speaker 1: to have the opportunity to to share what we saw

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Speaker 1: because the reason we really went to Haiti um with

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Speaker 1: our Breakthrough News team is you know, it was obvious

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Speaker 1: from the outside looking in that there is a major

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Speaker 1: popular struggle breaking out in Haiti, but the state of

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Speaker 1: Medio and Haiti is basically disaster born by and large,

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Speaker 1: like people just looking for the most sensational images, and

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Speaker 1: we do that there is a lot more to it obviously,

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Speaker 1: like in terms of the broader geopolitics of it and

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Speaker 1: what was going on domestically, and you know, could we

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Speaker 1: find a way to get there on the ground to

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Speaker 1: get the voice of the people who are involved in

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Speaker 1: this movement, to try to give people a sense that

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Speaker 1: it's not just sort of uh, you know, Haitians as

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Speaker 1: as objects, but as subjects, and you know, really that

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Speaker 1: people are you know, engaged in an attempt to take

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Speaker 1: their own lives into their own hands and make major

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Speaker 1: changes in the country. But the US and the OAS

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Speaker 1: and these other institutions playing such a huge role and

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Speaker 1: seeing how so much of what is happening there is

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Speaker 1: is not by accidents, not endemic, but it's really imposed.

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Speaker 1: So you know, that's why we wanted to be there,

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Speaker 1: and and we were there specifically around the Constitution Day. Um.

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Speaker 1: The data was celebrates the Constitution because there is such

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Speaker 1: a major attack on that right now, So we were

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Speaker 1: also there for that sort of particular moment. Yeah. So

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Speaker 1: protests in Haiti have been going on since he does

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Speaker 1: an a in response to rising field prices that have

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Speaker 1: evolved into demands for the removal of President A Naw Moys.

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Speaker 1: Can you fill them listeners a little bit of the

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Speaker 1: background of the current unrest, What has happened in the

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Speaker 1: years since, um, the current uprising has started, and what

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Speaker 1: how things came to a tipping point recently. Absolutely, so,

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Speaker 1: you know, I working backwards, I would say that what

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Speaker 1: has really made this crisis erupted in a huge way

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Speaker 1: from kind of early February on until now has been

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Speaker 1: that on February seven was the end of President Moy's

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Speaker 1: term and he just unilaterally decided that he was going

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Speaker 1: to say, well, actually my term ends next year, so

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Speaker 1: I'm just going to remain as the president at this point. Uh.

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Speaker 1: In the justice system were less it come to a halt, uh,

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Speaker 1: And so it was ruling principally as a dictator, and

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Speaker 1: so the level of anger against him for many reasons

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Speaker 1: rose to a fever pitch because he was refusing to

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Speaker 1: give up power in the context of of this you know,

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Speaker 1: technical democratic system of Haiti, but it's also tied to

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Speaker 1: the already existing deep anger that had existed with Moy's

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Speaker 1: since team. Really and you know, this was when a

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Speaker 1: scandal emerge when there was about three point about three

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Speaker 1: billion dollars in development aid from Venezuela that was embezzled

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Speaker 1: and stolen by Moys and his crnies and his party,

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Speaker 1: the p h t k UH. And given the discrepancy

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Speaker 1: between the large amount of poverty and oppression faced by

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Speaker 1: so many people in Haiti Uh and billions of dollars

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Speaker 1: of development aid being stolen, it was really the tipping

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Speaker 1: point for a lot of people. Um that Boy's had

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Speaker 1: to go, but he was able to hang on for

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Speaker 1: the rest of his term. But now he's decided to

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Speaker 1: overstay his term and it is really sort of pushed

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Speaker 1: people to come back out, not just because he's overstaying

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Speaker 1: his term directly, but because it represents an undemocratic imposition

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Speaker 1: of this This extraordinarily brutal social system. To tell us

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Speaker 1: a little bit about what the protests have looked like

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Speaker 1: and what the government's response has been. You know, the

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Speaker 1: protests in Haiti are amazing on so many different levels. Um.

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Speaker 1: And you know, folks, good to be two newsroom. They

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Speaker 1: can see some of our coverage from being out there.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I would say, you know, one thing that

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Speaker 1: is definitely very notable about all Asian protests is the

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Speaker 1: role of music is definitely very big. You know, in

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Speaker 1: the biggest protest on Sunday, actually in both, but the

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Speaker 1: bigger one that we read is uh, in the lead

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Speaker 1: up to Constitution Day, you know, there was a giant

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Speaker 1: sound truck like in the front of the thing just

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Speaker 1: mainly blasting music. I saw two different brass bands. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know they were just driving. It's just very just

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Speaker 1: suffused throughout it. Um, a huge amount of cultural expression,

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Speaker 1: which I think is fantastic. Uh. It was a large

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Speaker 1: it was a huge demonstration. I mean it was definitely

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Speaker 1: over a hundred thousand people. And you know port of

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Speaker 1: Prints where where we were for most of the demonstrations,

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Speaker 1: so that we did get out into the rule areas

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Speaker 1: on some previous days um. But port of prints is

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Speaker 1: pretty spread out, so the marches, they'll be like one

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Speaker 1: general place that starts from, but people will come from

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Speaker 1: other places. So there's this amazing area of ported prints.

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Speaker 1: It's known as the Crossroads of Resistance UM, where people

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Speaker 1: meet up from all the different parts of Court of

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Speaker 1: Prince and then demonstrations continue from that point to to

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Speaker 1: many other places. So it's a massive, this massive convergence

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Speaker 1: of people um that is there, and I would say

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Speaker 1: that you know, it locks down significant parts of the city,

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Speaker 1: so it has a big economic impact um. You know,

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Speaker 1: almost like a strike or a super effective boycott um

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Speaker 1: as well, just a fact of having these mass demonstrations.

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Speaker 1: But uh yeah, I mean it's almost kind of hard

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Speaker 1: to explain in a way, but it's the level of

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Speaker 1: of of just just raw enthusiasm for people to like

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Speaker 1: take down Jovanel Moys and people are so uh to

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Speaker 1: turn like no one really has a lot of doubts

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Speaker 1: that they're going to succeed that. I would say that's

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Speaker 1: the other thing about the nature of the demonstrations of

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Speaker 1: the chance and things like that are very much not

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Speaker 1: like you know, uh, we want you to do this.

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Speaker 1: It's sort of like, not only are you gonna do

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Speaker 1: like not only should you do this, but you are

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Speaker 1: going to do this and we will ultimately be victorious.

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Speaker 1: So um, not those exact words, but in that vein

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Speaker 1: So yeah, definitely, it's it's a powerful experience and you know,

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Speaker 1: even just the sort of cultural environment around you. Um, so,

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Speaker 1: Haiti is actually the only country in the world that

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Speaker 1: has a street named after John Brown. So and like

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Speaker 1: it just kind of a surreal moment in one of

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Speaker 1: these marches, Um Juan, who is also there with me

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Speaker 1: to break through newspoints out. We're on John Brown Avenue

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Speaker 1: or whatever boulevard. So we're going, we're doing different things.

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Speaker 1: And then the demonstration takes a left and when we

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Speaker 1: take a left, I look at the street side. I

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Speaker 1: noticed that it's the Martin Luther King Street. So I

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Speaker 1: just said, well, this is wild to be like in

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Speaker 1: a march in Haiti on John Brown Boulevard turning onto

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Speaker 1: Martin Luther King uh Street there and then the level

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Speaker 1: of internationalism also is very high in the protest because

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Speaker 1: people are very cognizant of the role that that these

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Speaker 1: other countries are playing, these imperioless countries. So um, that's

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Speaker 1: also something you see a lot of, uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: I saw some American flag, We're burned. There's definitely a

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Speaker 1: lot of feeling, a lot of anger that people have

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Speaker 1: that Biden is so squarely behind Moist. So that was

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Speaker 1: definitely heavily expressed. And then so I would love to

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Speaker 1: talk to you more about some of the larger subspolitical

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Speaker 1: issues that the current unrest sort of like has arisen

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Speaker 1: out of. You mentioned imperialism the Biden administration, But first,

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Speaker 1: what is the government's response been to uh, this this uprising.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's been brutal repression. I mean, you know,

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Speaker 1: many protests of course have been fired on with live rounds,

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Speaker 1: with the so called non lethal ammunition. Uh. You know,

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Speaker 1: there's been beatings of journalists and things like that. So

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Speaker 1: just from that perspective, there's been a lot of sort

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Speaker 1: of I mean, the larger the demonstration usually the less

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Speaker 1: open the repression is because you know, to some degree,

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Speaker 1: though there's not a lot of coverage, I think they

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Speaker 1: have some sense that you know, they're benefactors around the world,

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Speaker 1: would not like for them to see too much. Um,

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Speaker 1: but definitely it's it's significant and it's notable. I would

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Speaker 1: say also there's really sort of like a strategy of

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Speaker 1: tension at play that the government is playing some role in,

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Speaker 1: although it's not clear at least to me um on

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Speaker 1: what that is. So, you know, a lot of the

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Speaker 1: folks are talking about the level of violence in Haiti

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Speaker 1: and how there has been the two increase in kidnappings

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Speaker 1: in the past year, uh and so on and so forth,

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Speaker 1: and there's no doubt that that that is in fact

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Speaker 1: the case. Um there has been really increase in kidnapping

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Speaker 1: as kind of a crime of desperation, but also violence

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Speaker 1: more generally has gone up as there has So there's

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Speaker 1: really a security vacuum in Haiti and there's no real

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Speaker 1: it's it's entirely I mean, it's just amazingly neoliberal. There's

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Speaker 1: almost no public services, almost no social services, um. You know,

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Speaker 1: like even the cops, which technically are controlled by Mlay's

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Speaker 1: half the cops have quit, so there's very little state capacity.

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Speaker 1: So there's a lot of entities that they're called gangs,

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Speaker 1: I don't know if that's even the best way to

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Speaker 1: describe them, um that have arisen that are providing some

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Speaker 1: form of like basic social government security services. I think

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Speaker 1: they have sort of differing, you know, ideologies, goals, positions,

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Speaker 1: but there's a lot of a lot of a lot

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Speaker 1: of inter uh intermural rivalry, if you will, between them,

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Speaker 1: and a lot of killings and other attacks are driven

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Speaker 1: by these sorts of conflicts that are sort of presented

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Speaker 1: as gang conflicts. But when you talk to people on

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Speaker 1: the ground, and honestly, when you just sort of observe

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Speaker 1: it at a bird's eye view and sort of see

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Speaker 1: it all at once, you know, it's very clear that

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Speaker 1: some of the people who are being targeted, and some

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Speaker 1: of the neighborhoods that are being targeted, like in bel Air,

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Speaker 1: are centers of the popular struggle um and places that

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Speaker 1: have always been targeted by death squads by you know,

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Speaker 1: the occupation forces doing the un occupation and an attempt

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Speaker 1: to prevent to scare people from coming out and being

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Speaker 1: a part of demonstrations. So bell Air has been in

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Speaker 1: the news internationally quite a bit in the past few

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Speaker 1: weeks because of you know, a number of killings that

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Speaker 1: have happened there, and it really doesn't seem like there

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Speaker 1: is a coincidence there that of a neighborhood that has

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Speaker 1: strong and popular resistance is also being heavily targeted by violence. Now,

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Speaker 1: you know, there's a lot of sides to that story.

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Speaker 1: Some of the people who are accused of working with

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Speaker 1: moys are saying they never have, they're not working with

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Speaker 1: them at all. You know, there's some accusations of the

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Speaker 1: U S working directly with some of these people, not

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Speaker 1: just through mois UH. And there's a long history and

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Speaker 1: hating of this kind of UH, you know, vigilante paramilitary

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Speaker 1: style violence m driven by right wing governments UH and

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Speaker 1: in an attempt to quell popular uh popular activity in Haiti.

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Speaker 1: So it's it's it's it's definitely a huge piece of

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Speaker 1: the fact of the landscape. And I think something worth

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Speaker 1: understanding about the nature of like quote unquote violence of

429
00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:45,960
Speaker 1: Haiti when we hear Haiti is violent, is that there

430
00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:49,119
Speaker 1: really is definitely from the government, I think, a a

431
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:55,040
Speaker 1: strategy of essentially using an element of chaos, I think,

432
00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:59,240
Speaker 1: to benefit their attempts to keep people from wanting to

433
00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:02,119
Speaker 1: come out and and be on the streets. Yeah, and

434
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:05,480
Speaker 1: I think, um, I appreciate you speaking to like relationship

435
00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:08,800
Speaker 1: between some of the violence and neoliberalism, the shrinking of

436
00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:11,719
Speaker 1: the state and like the state's capacity. I think um.

437
00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:16,200
Speaker 1: As we in the show look at different UM issues

438
00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:18,679
Speaker 1: happening in other countries, they oftentimes can shine a new

439
00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:21,040
Speaker 1: kind of light on issues that we are experiencing here

440
00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:23,160
Speaker 1: at home. Where there any sort of lessons you drew

441
00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:26,880
Speaker 1: from your experience in Haiti around their organizing, what they're

442
00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:29,679
Speaker 1: getting done with they're calling for that you think might

443
00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:31,760
Speaker 1: hold lessons for us here in the States with regard

444
00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:35,000
Speaker 1: to our own reprison that's happening here right now. I'm

445
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:37,720
Speaker 1: glad you've actually brought that up, because there's definitely a

446
00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:40,639
Speaker 1: consciousness there in Haiti in the popular movement about what

447
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:43,520
Speaker 1: has been going on here. UM. You know, one of

448
00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:44,879
Speaker 1: the things that we were able to capture, and this

449
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:46,440
Speaker 1: is also you can see it on our social media

450
00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:49,920
Speaker 1: at BT newsroom on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, like we

451
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:53,440
Speaker 1: found a beautiful mural uh in honor of George Floyd,

452
00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:56,840
Speaker 1: imported prints just randomly driving around When we were out

453
00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:00,960
Speaker 1: in the countryside talking to peasants who are riding land grabs,

454
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:04,119
Speaker 1: one guy, sugarcane farmer, told us, you know, they're just

455
00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:06,880
Speaker 1: trying to choke us out like they did George Floyd. UM,

456
00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:11,840
Speaker 1: And you know, people definitely are asking people to take

457
00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:15,880
Speaker 1: action in the United States, but because they also don't

458
00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:18,080
Speaker 1: think it's like a lost cause. Like people know things

459
00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:21,000
Speaker 1: are happening, and so they want they're hoping that people

460
00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:23,560
Speaker 1: will take up Haiti also amongst other issues, they say

461
00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:27,120
Speaker 1: people taking up and then culturally, you know, Black America, uh,

462
00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:30,280
Speaker 1: you know, for better or for worse, the sort of

463
00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:34,840
Speaker 1: entertainment elements of black culture produced by the capitalist you know,

464
00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:38,840
Speaker 1: entertainment arts media definitely has an impact on Haiti as well.

465
00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:40,399
Speaker 1: So even some of that, I mean, you know, I

466
00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:43,280
Speaker 1: was at a community meeting UM and a young woman

467
00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:45,920
Speaker 1: would actually ask me a question about what was the

468
00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:50,080
Speaker 1: role of black capitalists in the current movement because they

469
00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:51,960
Speaker 1: were getting a lot of and I don't want anyone

470
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:54,199
Speaker 1: to come after me, I'm just reporting what was said. Uh.

471
00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:57,680
Speaker 1: She was saying that Beyonce uh was had become so

472
00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:00,159
Speaker 1: popular recently and was getting promoted more in Haiti, and

473
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:01,840
Speaker 1: was you know, it was sort of in the midst

474
00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:04,840
Speaker 1: of sort of trying to give like American blackness as

475
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:07,600
Speaker 1: a sign of the ability to have upward mobility in

476
00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,000
Speaker 1: a capitalist system, and whether or not sort of black

477
00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:13,320
Speaker 1: capitalism was becoming a big stumbling block to the movement

478
00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:15,720
Speaker 1: here and how people were organizing around it. So you know,

479
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:17,520
Speaker 1: there's sort of both sort of like abstract and I

480
00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:19,800
Speaker 1: think kind of direct links just about the sort of

481
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:23,320
Speaker 1: way the Americas are linked together culturally. Um, which was powerful.

482
00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:25,160
Speaker 1: But I think one that is one of the things

483
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,120
Speaker 1: I will take away is you know, there's a really

484
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:32,480
Speaker 1: strong in a nationalist element to a lot of the

485
00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:34,959
Speaker 1: popular movements that are happening in Haiti. And we were

486
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:38,119
Speaker 1: able to meet, like I said, with with peasants, you

487
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:39,359
Speaker 1: know who in addition to some of the things I

488
00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:41,760
Speaker 1: already said, you know, we're telling us about how you

489
00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:43,560
Speaker 1: know they're modeling some of what they're doing on the

490
00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:46,280
Speaker 1: landless workers movement in Brazil, and you know, they're looking

491
00:26:46,359 --> 00:26:49,119
Speaker 1: to be part of a worldwide movement of of of

492
00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:52,320
Speaker 1: peasants and small farmers uh that are pushing to have

493
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:57,879
Speaker 1: sustainable food, sovereignty oriented agriculture in their areas. Uh. You know,

494
00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:00,119
Speaker 1: we're in community. We were in like a small all

495
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:04,440
Speaker 1: community school with the che Guevara Mural talking to a

496
00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:07,280
Speaker 1: women's organization that works on a range of different fronts,

497
00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:10,520
Speaker 1: both from the political to sort of mutual aid style.

498
00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:14,320
Speaker 1: You know, I guess sort of informal economy, business projects,

499
00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:17,160
Speaker 1: but really to help people build up their self sufficiency, uh,

500
00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:19,879
Speaker 1: you know, and and their consciousness was very much shaped

501
00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:23,520
Speaker 1: around the need and the understanding, and they're mentioning to us. Uh.

502
00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:26,480
Speaker 1: And then they very nicely hosted a community meeting where

503
00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:28,280
Speaker 1: we were able to chat with people and they were

504
00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:31,880
Speaker 1: also able to exchange with us. UM mainly organizes maybe

505
00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:34,920
Speaker 1: twenty or thirty people, and so much of the back

506
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:37,120
Speaker 1: and forth was around how to the need to build

507
00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:40,320
Speaker 1: solidarity internationally, how it can be done, the relationship between

508
00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:42,879
Speaker 1: working class people in different places. And I think that

509
00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:45,800
Speaker 1: that it was a probable takeaway from me because I

510
00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:48,080
Speaker 1: think that, you know, obviously, in the context of what

511
00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:50,720
Speaker 1: the United States is doing the Haiti UM, I think

512
00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:53,160
Speaker 1: it shows a super advanced level of consciousness for people

513
00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:56,359
Speaker 1: to be making really strong distinctions between, you know, like

514
00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:59,160
Speaker 1: who controls politics in America, who controls politics and haiti

515
00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:03,159
Speaker 1: and like, how do popular movements get together to exercise

516
00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:07,080
Speaker 1: real power against these multinational corporations because they feel the

517
00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:09,600
Speaker 1: brunt of that because so much of the politics is

518
00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:12,359
Speaker 1: determined by what's happening outside of the country. UM that

519
00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:15,399
Speaker 1: you know, the sort of capital is global and if

520
00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,000
Speaker 1: labor is not global, then it will be difficult to win.

521
00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:21,159
Speaker 1: And I think you know, in the United States sometimes

522
00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:24,280
Speaker 1: you know, there are people who I think put a

523
00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:30,600
Speaker 1: uh a a a sort of maybe lesser importance of

524
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:34,159
Speaker 1: the struggle here domestically, uh to change what's going on

525
00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:38,080
Speaker 1: with the government, And I think for them that's the opposite.

526
00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:40,640
Speaker 1: Like they want the working class in America to be organized,

527
00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:43,520
Speaker 1: to be organizing against the government, um, and to embrace

528
00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:46,520
Speaker 1: as many people as possible, which is also something people

529
00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:49,680
Speaker 1: were asking me. UM. People were very curious to know,

530
00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:52,600
Speaker 1: is we're white people involved in any of the things

531
00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:55,840
Speaker 1: that they were seeing around police brutality and protests, because

532
00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:57,320
Speaker 1: you know, they know that we're not the majority of

533
00:28:57,360 --> 00:28:59,760
Speaker 1: people here. Uh. So they're thinking, Okay, well, let's what

534
00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,120
Speaker 1: us up or these other people involved. Can we win out?

535
00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:04,600
Speaker 1: Can we succeed? So, you know, that thirst for knowledge

536
00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:06,400
Speaker 1: about what's going on and how to not only link

537
00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:09,000
Speaker 1: up movements, but to know what's happening was really palpable.

538
00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:11,960
Speaker 1: With so many community organizers we met. UM. We went

539
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:14,840
Speaker 1: to a meeting, a socialist meeting at the university, like

540
00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:18,640
Speaker 1: a hundred and twenties students. UM. Really just sharp questions,

541
00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:21,920
Speaker 1: discussions placing every It was a discussion really lead about

542
00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:25,200
Speaker 1: pacing Haiti in the broader context of Latin America especially

543
00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:28,080
Speaker 1: and and the regional politics. So I think that's something

544
00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:30,960
Speaker 1: that Americans could really and from the United States, I

545
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:33,640
Speaker 1: should say, uh, and our movements could take a lot from.

546
00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:37,200
Speaker 1: Is the importance of international solidarity building between the working

547
00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:39,880
Speaker 1: in the popular classes, between the nations in a real way,

548
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:43,560
Speaker 1: but having a true belief that despite all the differences

549
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:46,600
Speaker 1: that exist between North and South especially UM, that there's

550
00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:50,240
Speaker 1: a powerful unity that that's possible there against a shared enemy.

551
00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:52,640
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that's definitely not only what people

552
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:54,200
Speaker 1: say there, but it's certainly what they were looking to

553
00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:57,320
Speaker 1: project back. Every person we asked what is the main

554
00:29:57,400 --> 00:29:59,600
Speaker 1: thing you want us to underline? It was that they

555
00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:02,240
Speaker 1: won't be able to act against against moist. So it's

556
00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:05,080
Speaker 1: certainly that I would say is one element of it.

557
00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:08,600
Speaker 1: But maybe the final piece is also just the steadfastness UM,

558
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:13,240
Speaker 1: because the conditions are very tough, very very tough, and

559
00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:15,000
Speaker 1: not only from the level of violence, but just a

560
00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:17,040
Speaker 1: low level of development in the country, like things we

561
00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:19,520
Speaker 1: take for granted like being on a zoom meeting right

562
00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:21,920
Speaker 1: now and having access to high speed internet, Like even

563
00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:24,600
Speaker 1: if you have money there that you know, it's not

564
00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:27,040
Speaker 1: like you you might not necessarily consistently be able to

565
00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:29,440
Speaker 1: access that, which is why all these oligarchs requind these

566
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,200
Speaker 1: houses in American and Canada. You know, um, but it

567
00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:34,800
Speaker 1: really it really does when you're doing things like popular

568
00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:37,240
Speaker 1: media and different pieces like that, and trying to compete

569
00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:40,760
Speaker 1: against also the mainstream media of Haiti, which is just

570
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:43,360
Speaker 1: like the mainstream media year controlled by capitalists. It puts

571
00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:45,440
Speaker 1: a lot of constraints on the ability to to do

572
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:48,440
Speaker 1: a lot of different work. But you know, I people

573
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:51,560
Speaker 1: are very determined there, and like I said, the spirit

574
00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:54,080
Speaker 1: is really that people feel like they're going to succeed,

575
00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:56,360
Speaker 1: not with like a false pravado, but that they just

576
00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:58,600
Speaker 1: have confidence in what they can do. So it was

577
00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:02,160
Speaker 1: impressive a lesson for us here as we also come

578
00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:08,760
Speaker 1: front uh capitalism, police repression, yeah, imperialism. Um. I wanted

579
00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:10,200
Speaker 1: to zoom out a little bit and talk to us

580
00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:12,840
Speaker 1: about your role as a journalist that's engaged in you

581
00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:16,600
Speaker 1: know that is also a politician, also an activist. What

582
00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:19,440
Speaker 1: do you see as the role of journalism in this

583
00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:22,760
Speaker 1: fight against capitalist, fight against police for repression, Like how

584
00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:25,200
Speaker 1: do how does your work with doing things like going

585
00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:27,600
Speaker 1: to Haitian sort of highlighting their struggle, Like how does

586
00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:30,640
Speaker 1: that fit into the larger, uh, the larger framework of

587
00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:33,120
Speaker 1: you know what you're what you're trying to accomplish. What

588
00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:37,000
Speaker 1: were we as you know, the international working class United

589
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:39,240
Speaker 1: are trying to accomplish? Yeah, you know, I think it's

590
00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:41,000
Speaker 1: it's it's one of those things that I feel like

591
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:43,160
Speaker 1: everyone thinks about in a way because we consume so

592
00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:46,480
Speaker 1: much media. UM, but it's sort of has been in

593
00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:49,240
Speaker 1: a way neglected as sort of like a battle front

594
00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:52,640
Speaker 1: in the sort of broader battle of ideas in a way.

595
00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:56,240
Speaker 1: And I think that so much of like even billion

596
00:31:56,280 --> 00:31:58,800
Speaker 1: bridges between people in Haiti and people in the United States,

597
00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:01,680
Speaker 1: Like even having some d um that can show people

598
00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:03,960
Speaker 1: on both sides that there are people already on both

599
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:06,800
Speaker 1: sides that want to build stronger links and acting is

600
00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:10,040
Speaker 1: even just a hypothetical bridge just in a sort of

601
00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:13,000
Speaker 1: proof of concept. At least we know they're similar thinking

602
00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:15,680
Speaker 1: people who exist abroad. UM in and of itself, I

603
00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:17,880
Speaker 1: think is deeply powerful. And so I mean that is

604
00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:20,960
Speaker 1: almost never transmitted. So I mean, on the one on

605
00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:23,240
Speaker 1: sort of a basic human level, I hope that we

606
00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:25,760
Speaker 1: can do a lot of that. I think also just

607
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:27,880
Speaker 1: from the point of view of how do we not

608
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:31,320
Speaker 1: only shape our consciousness and like sort of the most

609
00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:33,280
Speaker 1: immediate sense, like how do we get people like the

610
00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:36,800
Speaker 1: the information they need to really know what's going on

611
00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:39,240
Speaker 1: in these situations, but how do we also start to

612
00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:43,160
Speaker 1: create mediums that people can can trust that also are

613
00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:46,520
Speaker 1: are consistently not just bringing you the facts but putting

614
00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:48,640
Speaker 1: it in a context I think, and you know people

615
00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:50,080
Speaker 1: can take it or leave it, I guess, but putting

616
00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:52,800
Speaker 1: it in a context that also I think helps sort

617
00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:55,680
Speaker 1: of condition a broader way of thinking, not just about

618
00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:58,200
Speaker 1: the individual issues of Haiti, not just about the individual

619
00:32:58,240 --> 00:32:59,920
Speaker 1: issues of the United States, but how a lot of

620
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:02,160
Speaker 1: these things start to fit together in ways that I

621
00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:04,840
Speaker 1: think you can get siloed reporting, like the New York

622
00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:07,360
Speaker 1: Times can write about Haiti, they can write something about

623
00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:10,400
Speaker 1: the fifteen minimum wage, they can write something about you know,

624
00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,400
Speaker 1: SPACs on Wall Street, all in the same day, but

625
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:16,280
Speaker 1: you know, there's no through line that's connecting all of

626
00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:18,160
Speaker 1: those things and trying to put them in sort of

627
00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:22,120
Speaker 1: an intelligible context. But that's politics, right, is like taking

628
00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:24,240
Speaker 1: all the different things that make up the world and

629
00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:26,160
Speaker 1: putting them in a context, deciding what you like and

630
00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:28,560
Speaker 1: don't like, and then deciding how to engage in action

631
00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:30,480
Speaker 1: in order to change the things that you don't like.

632
00:33:30,840 --> 00:33:34,360
Speaker 1: So I think ultimately those kind of sort of trying

633
00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:36,280
Speaker 1: to I don't want to give people a guide, like

634
00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:38,160
Speaker 1: we want to just tell people what to think, but

635
00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:39,760
Speaker 1: maybe that is kind of what I say, rather than

636
00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:41,880
Speaker 1: just give people a bunch of atomized information, which I

637
00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:43,520
Speaker 1: think is so much of the media now, So I

638
00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:45,800
Speaker 1: hope we can also give people sort of an intelligible

639
00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:48,640
Speaker 1: guide in a way to help try to contextualize and

640
00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:53,880
Speaker 1: understand what is an extremely uh an extremely hard and

641
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:57,000
Speaker 1: complicated to understand world. Um. And then the sort of

642
00:33:57,040 --> 00:34:00,360
Speaker 1: final piece of that, I think is, you know, also

643
00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:05,960
Speaker 1: creating a feeling that people's lives are news worth the

644
00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:08,400
Speaker 1: outside of just that it bleeds it leads sort of

645
00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:11,279
Speaker 1: reality in the mainstream media. I think, like for a

646
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:14,920
Speaker 1: lot of porm working class people, you know, you just

647
00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:17,800
Speaker 1: expect for the media not to cover things, you expect

648
00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:20,040
Speaker 1: for people to cover them wrong. You just like, you know,

649
00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:21,520
Speaker 1: I mean, I think we all sort of know that,

650
00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:24,640
Speaker 1: Like if you see some super racist segment about crime

651
00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:27,719
Speaker 1: on the local news, like no one is surprised by that,

652
00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:30,360
Speaker 1: Like that's just how it is all the time. And

653
00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:32,920
Speaker 1: I think a lot of times, you know it almost

654
00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:35,320
Speaker 1: it's it plays an important role I think in a

655
00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:38,520
Speaker 1: lot and instilling a level of demoralization and people because

656
00:34:38,520 --> 00:34:41,400
Speaker 1: I really do feel like it's information warfare on a

657
00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:44,960
Speaker 1: community where it's almost just like no one cares, no

658
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:48,480
Speaker 1: one's doing anything. They never reported correctly, So like where

659
00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:50,800
Speaker 1: is the hope? What can I do? How can things change?

660
00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:53,520
Speaker 1: And I think by giving people what I believe is

661
00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:58,640
Speaker 1: like a well produced uh you know, and and factual,

662
00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:04,200
Speaker 1: substantive uh production of the depredations that are being done

663
00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:06,840
Speaker 1: to them through no fault of their own, uh, that

664
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:09,560
Speaker 1: then can you know, be seen and consumed and enjoyed

665
00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:12,000
Speaker 1: by people, to help people feel that their story really

666
00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:14,960
Speaker 1: does matter and that it's a huge injustice, that it's

667
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:17,520
Speaker 1: not the forefront of what's out there, uh, and that

668
00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:20,720
Speaker 1: there's a reason for that. And I think hopefully restore

669
00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:23,960
Speaker 1: people's at some level of hope maybe um that that

670
00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:26,800
Speaker 1: there are people out there who do care and that

671
00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:29,959
Speaker 1: it is possible to bring those people together and maybe

672
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:31,920
Speaker 1: do something and change something. So I don't know how

673
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:34,719
Speaker 1: coherent that is, but I think those are some of

674
00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:37,319
Speaker 1: the things popular media can really do. But I think

675
00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:38,800
Speaker 1: it's something we really got to take up in a

676
00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:42,640
Speaker 1: bigger way. And it's challenging obviously because I mean, like anything,

677
00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:44,160
Speaker 1: to do it at scale, you need money, right, so

678
00:35:44,239 --> 00:35:46,400
Speaker 1: we have to come up with ways to fund our

679
00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:49,080
Speaker 1: own movement. But either way, I think it's an area

680
00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:52,399
Speaker 1: where were we we have to move or we're gonna

681
00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:55,320
Speaker 1: be in trouble because obviously, you know, the capitalist class

682
00:35:55,360 --> 00:36:00,399
Speaker 1: is spending so much money on and propaganda and disinformation. Well,

683
00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:03,320
Speaker 1: speaking of the media, you mentioned a couple of times

684
00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:06,440
Speaker 1: um throughout, but where can people get caught up on

685
00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:08,880
Speaker 1: your coverage of Haiti as well as your show and

686
00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:10,719
Speaker 1: stay in touch with the work that you're doing to

687
00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:14,240
Speaker 1: bring these stories to the people. Absolutely so. On social

688
00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:20,040
Speaker 1: media we're at BT Newsroom, just at BT Newsroom, on Instagram,

689
00:36:20,239 --> 00:36:24,160
Speaker 1: Facebook and Twitter, where YouTube dot com, slash breakthrough News

690
00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:27,480
Speaker 1: uh where also we have to break Through News website. Uh.

691
00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:30,520
Speaker 1: Patreon dot com slash Breakthrough News is our Patreon where

692
00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:33,080
Speaker 1: we have some subscribe patrons only content and other things

693
00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:35,440
Speaker 1: that people can get and so through all that you

694
00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:37,719
Speaker 1: can catch up on everything we're doing. Um, you know,

695
00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:41,040
Speaker 1: we're doing a twenty minute podcast every day, The punch Out,

696
00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:43,960
Speaker 1: which is you know, news and information people need to

697
00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:48,840
Speaker 1: know Thursday night, streaming live on Twitter on YouTube the

698
00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:52,960
Speaker 1: Freedom Side eight pm Eastern time every Thursday. We have

699
00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:55,640
Speaker 1: fantastic guests like Mariah Parker. So if you like that

700
00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:58,760
Speaker 1: kind of thing, uh, definitely tuned into the Freedom Side.

701
00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:01,319
Speaker 1: So yeah, all of that is an easy way. I'm

702
00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:03,440
Speaker 1: at Eugene very years, so just my name needs to

703
00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:05,640
Speaker 1: find me on Twitter two if people want to fill

704
00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:07,480
Speaker 1: all right, well, thank you so much for your time,

705
00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:09,000
Speaker 1: and thank you so much for getting the stories out.

706
00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:10,960
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me. I really was

707
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:13,080
Speaker 1: an honor. I really respect all the work to do. Seriously,

708
00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:20,640
Speaker 1: thank you so much. So. Having talked about the recent

709
00:37:20,719 --> 00:37:23,400
Speaker 1: uprising in some of its socio political contacts in the

710
00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:26,400
Speaker 1: larger history of Haiti as well, let's not time to

711
00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:32,520
Speaker 1: talk about our favorite part, the rapping music. So we're

712
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:35,520
Speaker 1: gonna talk about the rapper is a Lot who is

713
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:38,800
Speaker 1: a popular Haitian rapper. He's also a member of the

714
00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:42,560
Speaker 1: l A p H opposition party, and he was arrested

715
00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:46,360
Speaker 1: recently by the Anti drug Trafficking Unit of the National Police.

716
00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:50,439
Speaker 1: This was last month. Uh Andrew Michael, lawyer and opposition leader,

717
00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:53,080
Speaker 1: alerted his followers on Twitter. He said the d c

718
00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:57,040
Speaker 1: p J has just illegally arrested Jean Lenard to poussan

719
00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:03,840
Speaker 1: or is a lot pop puler artists. Fazima, a lawyer

720
00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:06,800
Speaker 1: who works for the Democratic and Popular Sector of the

721
00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:09,040
Speaker 1: opposition groups, is on his way to the d c

722
00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:13,720
Speaker 1: p J. The Democratic and Popular Sector demands his immediate release.

723
00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:17,640
Speaker 1: So White Club Gen, who we don't know and who

724
00:38:17,680 --> 00:38:20,640
Speaker 1: has recorded several songs with the Salon, posted a video

725
00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:23,719
Speaker 1: on his Instagram account condemning the arrest. I'm only gonna

726
00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:25,640
Speaker 1: say this once. This thing. I'm not going for it.

727
00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:27,200
Speaker 1: I'm not going for it. We're not going for it.

728
00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:29,360
Speaker 1: Let he's along go, please, let he us along go.

729
00:38:29,600 --> 00:38:33,680
Speaker 1: He's The Instagram video was a lot more like emotional

730
00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:37,320
Speaker 1: than we just I'm not I'm only gonna We're not

731
00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:42,959
Speaker 1: going for voice oscars. I'm not. I'm not going for it. Sorry,

732
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:45,120
Speaker 1: I don't. I can't do a white Club job. I

733
00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:48,040
Speaker 1: don't remember what he sounds like. It's yeah, I don't

734
00:38:48,080 --> 00:38:51,480
Speaker 1: think I've heard. Okay, So the rappers of the local

735
00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:54,239
Speaker 1: radio station that he had been interrogated, but did not

736
00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:57,560
Speaker 1: elaborate any further. He would only say that he was

737
00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:00,839
Speaker 1: not asked about his ties to Phantom five oh nine,

738
00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:04,759
Speaker 1: which is another renegade group. The current police officers have

739
00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:08,040
Speaker 1: blamed them for a series of jail breaks, looting, violence,

740
00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:11,320
Speaker 1: and even a hold up of the Belize national soccer

741
00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:16,000
Speaker 1: team on a bus. Now you know, wa, Yeah, I

742
00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:18,200
Speaker 1: mean they're they're trying to They're trying to. You know.

743
00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:20,440
Speaker 1: It's one of those things where it's like from from

744
00:39:20,520 --> 00:39:23,000
Speaker 1: my digging, you know, it's it's hard to get like

745
00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:27,080
Speaker 1: a full story, you know, because it's like, obviously, if

746
00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:29,640
Speaker 1: the dude is doing all this stuff, then okay, I

747
00:39:29,719 --> 00:39:32,600
Speaker 1: guess he's a bad guy. But with the way that

748
00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:35,800
Speaker 1: this government is corrupt and he's part of the opposition party,

749
00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:38,600
Speaker 1: it kind of seems like they're just throwing some trumped

750
00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:42,040
Speaker 1: up ship at him. Yeah, so let's check out some

751
00:39:42,120 --> 00:39:45,799
Speaker 1: of his music. Show, Let's check out the trek by

752
00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:51,000
Speaker 1: him called mim po or translated into I'm Not running.

753
00:39:51,239 --> 00:40:03,360
Speaker 1: Let's check this out. I've now, from all of digging

754
00:40:03,440 --> 00:40:06,400
Speaker 1: it could not find a transcript of the lyrics of

755
00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:09,200
Speaker 1: the song to translate to get more of a sense

756
00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:11,560
Speaker 1: of what he was saying. So I wish you could

757
00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:15,520
Speaker 1: offer more commentary over the actual song itself other than

758
00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:19,919
Speaker 1: I think the ship was dope, especially the instrumental. So yeah,

759
00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:21,600
Speaker 1: so we can at least describe what's happening in the

760
00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:24,320
Speaker 1: music video. Oh, I know, is this gout Honey's dancing

761
00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:28,360
Speaker 1: and scheme mask outside of what looks like a castle

762
00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:31,560
Speaker 1: in ruins. We got some shots of the slums with

763
00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:34,080
Speaker 1: his boys, you know what I mean. It's like it's

764
00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:36,360
Speaker 1: I don't want to say typical rap ship, but you

765
00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:39,200
Speaker 1: know it's some typical mainstream looking rap shit, at least

766
00:40:39,239 --> 00:40:42,319
Speaker 1: from this video. But um, it's dope, as the beat

767
00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:45,200
Speaker 1: is dope and my man's is flowing. So I'm not

768
00:40:45,440 --> 00:40:48,120
Speaker 1: and I honestly I've been sleeping on like the sound

769
00:40:48,239 --> 00:40:51,799
Speaker 1: of like creole, you know that particularly I mean as

770
00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:54,279
Speaker 1: as a you know, having study romance like which is

771
00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:56,759
Speaker 1: the French sounding nous of it stands out to me

772
00:40:56,800 --> 00:41:00,239
Speaker 1: and I'm like, damn okay, Like then flow it's just

773
00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:02,840
Speaker 1: really ill fun fact for the people out there. I

774
00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:07,680
Speaker 1: was the ESL kid. My first language before I spoke

775
00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:11,719
Speaker 1: English was Creo West West African Creo until I was

776
00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:14,800
Speaker 1: about five, so I didn't Is that is that based on?

777
00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:17,080
Speaker 1: Is that? Basically it's based in French. That's why when

778
00:41:17,120 --> 00:41:19,719
Speaker 1: I when I ended up traveling later on, I picked

779
00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:22,759
Speaker 1: up French, probably quicker than I would if I had

780
00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:25,680
Speaker 1: just gotten there, being like, you know, English. The next

781
00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:28,360
Speaker 1: track we're going to check out is actually by the

782
00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:35,160
Speaker 1: son of the former president Michelle Martelli. This is his son,

783
00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:42,840
Speaker 1: Yanni Martelli, with his song Yen, which is translated to

784
00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:54,319
Speaker 1: there are things. So let's check this out. Guy. Okay,

785
00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:56,920
Speaker 1: that was dope. Again, we're gonna have to describe the video.

786
00:41:57,960 --> 00:42:05,600
Speaker 1: So damn all the niggas jumping out the tr the

787
00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:08,360
Speaker 1: truck and follow her on the street. A lot of

788
00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:11,360
Speaker 1: bit you live. Got this old man spilling his drink

789
00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:15,120
Speaker 1: looking at that fine ass. That's amazing. That's the girls.

790
00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:20,719
Speaker 1: Girl is in danger. This woman is The cops are

791
00:42:20,760 --> 00:42:23,279
Speaker 1: in on it and ship. Okay. So I mean the

792
00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:26,000
Speaker 1: video starts out and he's hanging with his boys and

793
00:42:26,080 --> 00:42:28,320
Speaker 1: then he sees a really pretty girl and you know,

794
00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:30,680
Speaker 1: I guess they're trying to do the Michael Jackson the

795
00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:32,960
Speaker 1: Way You Make Me Feel thing where he's following down

796
00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:35,320
Speaker 1: the street but home he's got like a gang of

797
00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:38,200
Speaker 1: dudes with him and ship. You can't just you can't

798
00:42:38,239 --> 00:42:40,600
Speaker 1: follow motherfucker's that you don't know down the street with

799
00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:43,480
Speaker 1: a gang of motherfucker's. Come on, man. Yeah, that's one

800
00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:45,120
Speaker 1: of the it's kind of like an R and B

801
00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:47,440
Speaker 1: reggae sounding song that that's one of those sort of

802
00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:49,560
Speaker 1: joints where it makes me wish that like I had

803
00:42:49,680 --> 00:42:52,880
Speaker 1: more of an ear to determine whether that stuff is

804
00:42:53,160 --> 00:42:54,800
Speaker 1: like because like I hear that and to me, it

805
00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:57,000
Speaker 1: just sounds cool. You know, it sounds good, But I

806
00:42:57,080 --> 00:43:00,640
Speaker 1: can't determine whether he is like dope where than another

807
00:43:00,719 --> 00:43:02,719
Speaker 1: reggae artist, you know what I'm saying. So it just

808
00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:05,320
Speaker 1: seems like, Okay, I guess this is good. But just

809
00:43:05,400 --> 00:43:08,600
Speaker 1: in case there's any actual like reggae listeners, I don't

810
00:43:08,640 --> 00:43:10,200
Speaker 1: want you to be like, man, why you give him

811
00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:12,840
Speaker 1: that president that former president's son propty? Ain't you know

812
00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:15,840
Speaker 1: what I mean? He don't really rocket? Yeah, yeah, I

813
00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:18,160
Speaker 1: feel like putting it in contacts and be like I

814
00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:21,760
Speaker 1: do exactly like I'm on a boat mother like whatever.

815
00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:25,520
Speaker 1: Like yeah in the capitol Capitol like the way that

816
00:43:25,640 --> 00:43:28,520
Speaker 1: we're going, y'all, y'all look out in the next four

817
00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:32,880
Speaker 1: or five years. The Baron Trump LP produced by Kanye

818
00:43:33,360 --> 00:43:35,919
Speaker 1: is on the way. It's on the way, it's coming.

819
00:43:36,200 --> 00:43:39,080
Speaker 1: It's coming. Leave that y'all alone. That's child to not

820
00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:42,160
Speaker 1: asking me born did not ask for that. Family, Well

821
00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:44,839
Speaker 1: that's what Yeah, we got for the music today. Um

822
00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:49,239
Speaker 1: we should we should wrap right, Yeah, let's drop it, Joel,

823
00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:58,359
Speaker 1: drop a beat? Oh sope, waiting no reparations, waiting, no reparations.

824
00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:01,640
Speaker 1: You want to go first, you should, Okay, I'll go

825
00:44:01,760 --> 00:44:08,360
Speaker 1: for go yeah, yeah, not back back to the fucking basis.

826
00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:10,440
Speaker 1: I got rhymes and you don't want me to wasteing.

827
00:44:10,600 --> 00:44:12,640
Speaker 1: Still that time to really mess with the face ship.

828
00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:15,360
Speaker 1: Open your eyes will be a little replacement facing You

829
00:44:15,480 --> 00:44:17,680
Speaker 1: need lasing just to see their ship while he's done

830
00:44:17,719 --> 00:44:20,640
Speaker 1: billion days and trying to see spaceships. Arrested, our charges,

831
00:44:20,719 --> 00:44:22,960
Speaker 1: the scene baseless and the copy my ask because he'd

832
00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:25,799
Speaker 1: be racist live. This one goes up to one that's

833
00:44:25,840 --> 00:44:28,160
Speaker 1: to send little for each other and the Thomas and

834
00:44:28,280 --> 00:44:30,839
Speaker 1: car This one goes out to the Indian farmers who

835
00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:33,839
Speaker 1: market will contempt the flawless fee market. This one goes doctor,

836
00:44:33,960 --> 00:44:35,719
Speaker 1: the kids in Hong Kong and the kids not you

837
00:44:35,880 --> 00:44:38,160
Speaker 1: where you're fighting the sauce, and the kids being Martyn

838
00:44:38,239 --> 00:44:40,400
Speaker 1: and Mike and Mark. Never forget what they're marching and

839
00:44:40,520 --> 00:44:42,839
Speaker 1: dying for. Never forget the war crimes in the fours

840
00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:45,080
Speaker 1: that they're fighting. Make all their website can fight sings

841
00:44:45,080 --> 00:44:48,360
Speaker 1: since picking us, never accepting and just society, they'll always

842
00:44:48,400 --> 00:44:51,840
Speaker 1: remember them. Dollion's a mightier all right, that's gonna do

843
00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:55,919
Speaker 1: it for us today. My name's Dope Knife Frank Waiting

844
00:44:56,000 --> 00:45:01,840
Speaker 1: on reparations. Hurry up, see you next week. Waiting on

845
00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:05,080
Speaker 1: Reparations as a production of I Heart Radio. Listen to

846
00:45:05,160 --> 00:45:08,880
Speaker 1: Waiting on Reparations on the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

847
00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:13,360
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. M