Organising within my multiple communities……………..
Every Wednesday evening since September 2007 I, along with many other people have stood together in a weekly vigil outside the Brazilian Embassy and Consulates in London, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Port-au-Prince calling for the safe return of human rights activist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine who disappeared on the 12th August 2007 in Port-au-Prince. The vigil is held outside the Brazilian Embassies because they lead the misnamed UN mission in Haiti “The UN Stabilization Mission” (MINUSTAH) and it is their responsibility to investigate what happened to Lovinsky and bring those responsible for his abduction to justice and return him to his family and community. In all of these the MINUSTAH has failed.
Black British poet and activist Benjamin Zephaniah NAMES the UN’s atrocious behaviour in Haiti which includes, rape of women and girls, killing and maiming of innocent civilians and destruction of the homes of some of the poorest people………
The UN is a great idea. In principle I am all for nations coming together to make the world a better place. But of late I have lost faith in this organisation we know as the United Nations. In some parts of the world where they have been sent to protect the vulnerable they have raped men, women and girls, and in Haiti they are not only covering up atrocities against some of the poorest people in the world but they are perpetrating them. It is also to be said that if we were really nations united we would have given the disappearance of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine the attention it deserves, I think the silence surrounding this great man’s disappearance is a disgrace and I urge all caring people to shout his name out loud at every opportunity. We dont need the United Nations to be united…
