Haiti Liberte 28 Octobre 2020

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Suite de la page (9) for this late blooming and its relation to the thematic content of his work have to be deduced from the circumstances in which the artist found himself both before and after he began, at 27 years old, to draw and paint along with his buddy Raphael Denis at The Foyer Des Arts Plastiques back in 1956. Born in Port-au-Prince on Jun. 2, 1929 to parents who had relinquished their Catholicism to join the Episcopal Church, Merisier was part of the small but expanding middle class in the aftermath of the U.S. Occupation of Haiti (1915- 1934). This was a period of steadily resurging national confidence and pride. Merisier’s father, Joseph, had a cigar business that worked well enough for him to feed his seven children and to drive a car. But a fire would destroy his shop, halting the family’s socio-economic progress and triggering in him, as Merisier put it, a “tèt tounen” (“a mental malady”). Joseph would die in 1938, from which time his wife Rita, a seamstress, would be so hard put to make ends meet that supposedly she would allow her church’s orphanage and school simply to hold on to daughters Marie and Jacqueline for a few years. Merisier would have his first communion at his family’s church, the Cathédrale Ste. Trinité, in downtown Port-au-Prince and would become a choirboy there. He’d befriend another choirboy, Charles George who, a few years later, evolved into an engaging, principled role model whom Merisier would continue to admire for the rest of his life. In about the mid-forties, both he and George, who was about two years older, would drop out of Ste. Trinité, owing in great part to the “gwo eskandal” (“great scandal”) there involving sexual exploitation of youths and priests-in-training by, Merisier related, the foreign-born head of Haiti’s Episcopal Church, Bishop Charles Alfred Voegeli, and other local church higher-ups. Voegeli’s tenure as Bishop ran from 1943 to when he was expelled in 1964 by François Duvalier, who was seeking to “indigenize” Haiti’s clergy. It roughly corresponds to the period that ranged from the exhilarating “black power” presidency of Dumarsais Estimé (1946-1950) and the rollicking, tourist-filled years of “iron pants” Paul Magloire (1950-1956) to the bloody years of François Duvalier’s dictatorship, which compelled Merisier to flee to the Bahamas in 1965. He would take full advantage of this post-World War II era, when he and many among those who were more or less alienated from the culture of the gwo pèp (the masses) sought to open up themselves to the country’s folklore and, by extension, Vodou, the belief-system of the peasant majority. Vodou and the Catholic Church Vodou still had some powerful foes in the Catholic Church and the elite. Nevertheless, Merisier would attend many Vodou ceremonies in the popular neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince. But it was mostly for the fun of it, he claimed, for he, nor anybody else in his family (except for his mother Rita), was particularly religious. Looking back, he related that Ste. Trinité was basically a place to enjoy great meals and, VENUS RESTAURANT Now 2 locations in Brooklyn! Emmanuel Merisier, “Danseurs,” acrylic on canvas, 30" x 24" AMBIANCE EXPRESS when outings to other Episcopal parishes were organized, great picnics and camaraderie. Merisier’s disposition as an adult and, as mirrored in his art and utterances, supports this detached, nonreligious attitude. His paintings are often psychologically charged and darkly tumultuous and the figures in them, even when they are depictions of manbo and oungan (loosely, Vodou priestesses and priests) performing rites, come across as more stoic or trapped in their existence than as spiritual, mystical beings. It was perhaps Merisier’s open, liberal attitude, (somewhat like that of Bishop Voegeli), in combination with the relative socio-economic clout that accrued to him once he had picked up masonry as a trade and then landed a temporary construction gig in Aquin, that led to the circumstances in which he would father, quite reluctantly, he said, his only child, his son Jean Alix. This occurred even though he was always “careful and disciplined with women” being that, he asserted, they are a “necessary evil.” But this one Elvire Bienaimé, the mistress of an older “gran nèg milat” (“big shot mulatto”), had “kept after” him in Aquin, Merisier said, in spite of him not wanting any “rapò” (sexual relations) with her. After about a two-month rapò, however, she later gave birth to his son with whom, since then, he would want virtually nothing to do. (Charles George, too, Merisier said, was the unwanted son of a “gran nèg” with a much less well-off woman.) Voegeli, not unlike Merisier, was the default beneficiary of creations he had not necessarily asked for. As the bishop of a well-heeled church with American backing, he had the openness of mind to allow (with much input from Rodman, the Centre d’Art’s apologist) the walls of Ste. Trinité to be covered in the early 1950s with colorful murals of Black figures in biblical scenes executed by only and mostly self-taught, working class artists. (A photograph published in Art in America in December 1951 showing Rodman standing in front of wonderful adjacent murals executed at the Centre in 1949 by Roland Dorcély, Max Pinchinat, and Lucner Lazard indicates that Rodman was quite aware of the artistic talents of these formally educated painters.) And it wasn’t just art that fell on Voegeli’s lap, as it were. (Some of his Haitian art collection reportedly would constitute a sizeable portion of that of the country’s first art museum, Le Musée d’Art Haitien du Collège Saint Pierre.) Whether it was his free-spirited attitude, the supposed social capital ensuing from his white skin, his U.S.-backed clout, or a combination of all three, that allowed him to be “quite open about his homosexuality” (to quote from the book Song of Haiti), the power differential between him and most of those he interfaced with during his tenure as bishop made it easy for him to “go to all the parties with an entourage of young priests, like a flock of black birds, young charming and socially popular.” George, meanwhile, would emerge as a consciousness-raising egalitarian, academic mentor, and cultural progressive. With Merisier soaking in the atmosphere mostly from the sidelines, George would regularly hold court at the salon gatherings in his home near Mache Anba in downtown Port-au-Prince, without slacking on his pro-union activities and, unbeknownst to Merisier back then, clandestine political work, including sabotage. Merisier saw George as a sort of demigod, but someone to be emulated vicariously in artistic and intellectual circles. So George may well have been aware of his friend privileging sympathy over actual, onthe- ground engagement in the struggle of Haiti’s oppressed classes. This perhaps explains why Merisier would learn only later on of George dying along with the Communist novelist Jacques Stephen Alexis in an unsuccessful invasion to topple Duvalier in 1961. If Merisier was not necessarily committed directly to the struggle of the gwo pèp, as an unwavering but distant disciple of George, he would hold his ground faithfully on the metaphorical battlefields of his paintings for the rest of his life. Class, Sex, and Tourism Haitian folklore would be a central part of his focus, but traditional western art genres, including portraits, still-lifes, landscapes, as well as figurative representation of nudes would remain prominent throughout his career. Nevertheless, Merisier would steadfastly foreground in his work Haiti’s gwo pèp, depicted as engrossed and engulfed in their daily routines: peasants farming, making merry, or appealing to their Vodou lwa (spirits), etc.. Though in his work he often depicts manbo and oungan and Vodou paraphernalia, etc., spiritually, he was hardly committed, certainly no more so than his Sophistiqué foils, Spencer Depas (1925-1990), Lucner Lazard (1928-1998), and Raphael Denis (1934-2012). (In fact, Depas also saw himself as an oungan, and Merisier was wowed by his overall machismo and upward social mobility and, also by the supposed fact that he once administered a ritual bath to a New York Times reporter. And whereas in Merisier’s paintings the psychological and dramatic spectacle of Vodou subject matter generally supersedes spirituality, in both Lazard’s and Denis’ works, an abiding tinge of contemplative spirituality is evident.) Often, Merisier presents his figures in unrelieved, abject conditions, living in disquieting worlds, trapped and, as he used to suggest, no better than wild beasts or mere objects. His identification KATOU RESTAURANT 5012 Ave M (Entre E. 51 et Utica) 10h am – 10h pm with the downtrodden figures who often populate his paintings is so consistent and thorough that they compete with and, at times, seem to beggar the stark reality of life in Haiti. Yet, it’s worthwhile to probe a bit Merisier’s relationship with his concubine Odette Lamare during his post-Ste. Trinité period so as to illustrate his compartmentalized devotion to his gwo pèp. Indeed, years after living in New York, he would talk of her admiringly, as a noble femme du peuple (woman of the people), an icon of selflessness that ministered to his needs and basically kept him alive. To him, it Emmanuel Merisier, “Ti Odette,” 1990, acrylic on canvas, 60" x 44" was as if Odette had been his mother. To show his gratefulness and appreciation, he would send her money regularly and even memorialize her in one of his larger canvasses. Back then, in her crowded Portail Léogâne neighborhood, however, she lived a hardscrabble life as a lesivyè (laundress) in a single room dwelling, and he once beat on her for not following precisely his directives about some numbers she was supposed to bet on for him. (In New York, he kept stacks of legal pads with drawn-out number combinations carefully inscribed on every single line, and he would regularly spend an inordinate amount of money on lottery tickets.) For about 10 years Merisier relied on her for regular meals and for washing and ironing the white shirts that kept him “byen abiye” (“respectably dressed”), and though he hid at her place, sometimes for months. But when Duvalier’s goons were sniffing around for potential opponents, artists or just anyone rumored even to have met together, no one in his circles – not George, not his artists friends, not even his family, knew anything about her. It was not “this kind of relationship,” he related tersely, implying without any qualm that she was not the type one would present to polite society. He was less forthcoming about his and George’s experience at Ste. Trinité. He let on that they never discussed what had – or had not – transpired sexually at the Church, and he never suggested that he or George was personally molested. But the psycho-sexual tension (or sublimation) in the themes or subject matter of his paintings, his repeated utterances against, not homosexuality, but sexual exploitation at the Church, his unabashed misogyny, his sometimes guarded private life back in Haiti and even in the New York area, etc. – all of this indicates that he was deeply marked by at least what he had witnessed or sensed, not just as an adolescent but afterwards in Port-au-Prince’s touristy, artsy scene of which the Centre d’Art was a focal point. Of course, aside from attracting tourists hankering for tropical thrills, back then Port-au-Prince drew to its shores a number of high-profile, free-spirited, or simply hard-driving celebrities looking to unwind, among them Hollywood figures such as Errol Flynn and “Gone with the Wind” producer David O. Selznick, and the writers John Goodwin and Truman Capote, whom Rodman once took to visit Hyppolite’s workplace. (Goodwin once threw a masked party, for which he asked an elite couple in Port-au-Prince to dress up as pimp and prostitute.) In short, in restricted more or less bourgeois circles, in which hedonistic tourists and the arts were part of the mix, there was reportedly an openness to sexual indulgences and preference that belied the staid, generally homophobic attitudes of the country’s small middle and upper classes. For instance, the gay Dominican painter Xavier Amiama lived openly with his partner and, the artist Georges Remponeau recalled, the mostly upper crust artists of the Centre regularly attended parties at the couple’s home. Merisier himself related that back in Haiti he had a great friendship with a certain Salem (Dominican-born and raised but of Egyptian parentage), who was “très connu” (“well known”) as a gay person in Port-au- Prince. Among the scattered details Merisier proffered about Salem are that he used to go out at night, and that back in the Dominican Republic, he had sown clothes for the wife of the dictator Rafael Trujillo. Although he was not well-known as an artist in Haiti, his talents were such that, at times, he guided Amiama in his works. Perhaps that’s partly why Merisier, who said he had a tough time selling his own watercolors back then, once facilitated Salem selling four paintings to the musician and art dealer-collector Issa Saieh. Years later, Salem would end up in Philadelphia and, down on his luck with no home and no papers, he would visit Merisier in New York when he was married to Lucy French. He would feed his friend all weekend long, he said. It was during one such visit that Merisier took him to see Lazard and his wife, who supposedly were “very uncomfortable” with Salem’s presence. But it was also apparently the power differential between (white) foreigners and tourists and local Haitians that at least in part facilitated sexual adventures. Tellingly, DeWitt Peters allegedly had a liaison with Merisier’s older brother Mortes, an aspiring selftaught artist whose still-life of fruits is in the collection at Ramapo College’s Selden Rodman Gallery. Peters founded the Centre d’Art in 1944 and ran it with the support of a few educated local artists, such as Remponeau and, then, Pierre Monosiet who, aside from being Peters’ alleged lover, would become from 1953 to 1963 the Centre’s assistant director. suite à la page(19) CATERING & TAKE-OUT Now 3 Locations in Brooklyn 637 Rogers Avenue (corner of Parkside Avenue) 718-287-4949 924 Remsen Avenue (near Avenue D) 718-975-7710 “Venus, l’entroit idéal” • Restaurant • Fritaille • Patés 1433 Flatbush Avenue (just off Farragut Road) Brooklyn, NY New Location Now Open! General Manager: Marie S 718.434.4287 Une innovation dans la cuisine haïtienne à Brooklyn Tous les plats haïtiens réalisés par une équipe de cordons bleus recrutés sous la supervision de Katou Griots – Poissons – Poissons Gros Sel – Dinde – Poulet – Cabri – Boeuf – Légumes Bouillon le samedi – Soupe le dimanche – Bouillie de banane le soir Appelez le 718-618-0920 Livraison à domicile Si vous avez du goût, vous ne lâcherez pas Katou Restaurant 8221 Flatlands Avenue (b/t E. 82 & 83 St.) 718.975.7488 2816 Church Avenue (b/t Nostrand & Rogers Aves.) 718.856.2100 1738 Flatbush Avenue (b/t Aves I & J) 718.258.0509 16 Haiti Liberté/Haitian Times Vol 14 # 17 • Du 28 Octobre au 3 Novembre 2020
A Travers le monde CPI : comment les sanctions américaines affectent Fatou Bensouda Canada : Manifestation en solidarité avec les travailleurs.euses de l'entrepôt Dollarama Fatou Bensouda, procureure générale de la Cour pénale internationale et Phakiso Mochochoko, le directeur de la division de la compétence, de la complémentarité et de la coopération de la CPI, tous les deux visés par les sanctions américaines Par Marième Soumaré Ciblée par des sanctions américaines depuis le 2 septembre, la procureure de la Cour pénale internationale (CPI) a vu plusieurs de ses comptes gelés par l’administration Trump. Le travail de la CPI constitue-t-il une « véritable menace à la sécurité nationale » des États-Unis ? C’est du moins le sentiment du président Donald Trump. Le 11 juin dernier, il ouvrait la voie à l’imposition de sanctions contre le personnel de la Cour de la Haye – une première. La menace planait depuis plusieurs mois déjà. Le couperet est finalement tombé le mercredi 2 septembre. Face à la presse, le secrétaire d’État américain, Mike Pompeo, a annoncé placer sur liste noire, aux côtés de terroristes et de trafiquants de drogue, deux membres de la Cour pénale internationale (CPI) : sa procureure gambienne, Fatou Bensouda, et Phakiso Mochochoko, le directeur de la division de la compétence, de la complémentarité et de la coopération de la CPI, originaire du Lesotho. « Nous ne resterons pas les bras croisés, tandis que nos concitoyens sont menacés par une cour de kangourous », a lâché Mike Pompeo. Une décision provoquée par la possible enquête de la CPI sur des crimes potentiellement commis en Afghanistan, qui pourrait mettre en cause l’armée américaine. « Ce n’est pas une enquête de justice. C’est de la persécution contre nos ressortissants, déclarait le secrétaire d’État Mike Pompeo en juin. Nous savons que la CPI et le bureau de la procureure sont concernés au plus haut niveau par des faits de corruption et de fautes graves », ajoutait-il, sans donner plus de précisions sur ces accusations. C’est sa procureure Fatou Bensouda et un membre de son équipe, le lesothan Phakiso Mochochoko, qui seront finalement visés par ces sanctions, qui comprennent le gel de leurs avoirs aux États-Unis et une interdiction de voyager. Compte bancaire gelé Le compte que possède Fatou Bensouda auprès de la Caisse fédérale de crédit Suite de la page (15) renseignements, ajoutés à d’autres, servirent de base au président Kennedy dans sa décision de demander des comptes aux Russes. » C’est une contribution fondamentale que l’État français apporta aux États-Unis, avec la découverte de l’arrivée des missiles soviétiques, qui seraient bientôt à l’origine de la crise Le secrétaire d’État américain, Mike Pompeo des Nations unies, réservée au personnel de l’ONU et des organisations qui lui sont liées, a immédiatement été gelé. Ses cartes bancaires liées au système monétaire américain ont également été désactivées. « Certaines banques n’ont pas forcément l’obligation de respecter le décret et les sanctions américaines, mais elles ont tendance à faire du zèle pour éviter toute complication », regrette un proche de Fatou Bensouda. Des virements effectués d’une banque à une autre ont ainsi été renvoyés, et des transactions en dollars bloquées. Les difficultés liées à certains de ses comptes néerlandais ont toutefois pu être résolues rapidement. En Gambie, un membre de sa famille s’est également vu temporairement empêché d’effectuer un virement – la situation est désormais rétablie. Menaces Les interdictions de voyager concernent non seulement Fatou Bensouda, mais également son époux et ses deux enfants. En principe, la procureure peut encore voyager à New York, en vertu du traité de l’accord de siège qui accorde au district administratif de l’ONU un statut particulier. Les sanctions américaines pourraient-elles être étendues ? L’administration Trump avait prévenu : « Chaque personne ou entité qui continuerait à soutenir la procureure Bensouda et Mr Mochochoko risque de s’exposer aux sanctions ». Une menace qui n’est pas prise à la légère par l’équipe de la procureure, qui a été forcée de réorganiser son organisation afin de protéger ses membres. Jeune Afrique 23 octobre 2020 la plus grave de la Guerre Froide. On affirme que « par sa précision et l’importance du sujet, ce travail a été l’un des plus importants dans l’histoire du renseignement français. » (10) La France tint parole. Alors que les informations que la CIA lui avait remises sur la fabrication d’armes nucléaires soviétiques ne servirent pas au développement de sa stratégie nucléaire… Notre travail essentiel n'est pas temporaire ! Rassemblez-vous à la manif devant le magasin de Dollarama afin de lutter pour les emplois permanents pour des travailleurs.euses essentiels! Mettons fin au système d'exploitation de recrutement par l'entremise des agences de placement temporaire ! Le samedi 31 octobre 13h à 15h Devant le magasin Dollarama 7017 Rue Saint Hubert (au sud de Jean-Talon, proche du métro Jean-Talon) Information: 514-342-2111 Tawa.mtl@gmail.com Depuis le début de la pandémie, Dollarama a été désigné un service essentiel. Par la suite l'entreprise s'est lancée dans une frénésie d'embauche et a vu ses profits exploser. Pourtant, ses employés, dont la plupart sont des demandeurs d'asile, des étudiants internationaux et des immigrants continuent de travailler dans des conditions dangereuses, mal payées et sont embauchés par l'entremise des agences de placement, ce qui entrave leur capacité de faire valoir leurs droits. Encore une fois, le premier novembre, Dollarama prévoit arrêter la prime COVID pour ses employé.e.s. Ces travailleurs.euses continuent de s'exposer au virus puisque 20 % des éclosions se passent dans les milieux du travail, selon la santé publique. Les travailleurs de l'entrepôt n'ont pas le choix de travailler depuis la maison et méritent de continuer de Les travailleurs de Dollarama brandissent des pancartes lors d'une manifestation appelant à de meilleurs salaires et conditions de travail à Montréal recevoir la prime de hasard vu les risques qu'ils continuent de parcourir. Plusieurs de ses employés qui travaillent techniquement pour les agences de placement ont travaillé pour Dollarama sur une période de cinq à dix ans. Cette échappatoire dans le droit du travail engendre un état de précarité perpétuel pour l'ensemble du personnel. Ces travailleurs.euses se trouvent à risque accru d’avoir un accident au travail ou d'attraper la COVID, ne bénéficient d'aucun avantage social et restent précaires dans leur emploi. Ceci en dépit du fait qu'ilelle-s ont risqué leur vie afin d'assurer la distribution des biens essentiels pendant la pandémie. Le PDG de Dollarama est la cinquantième personne la plus riche au Canada, avec une valeur nette de plus de 2.52 milliards de dollars. Dollarama a la capacité financière de donner à ces travailleurs. euses un salaire digne de façon permanente et de continuer de donner la prime COVID. Puisqu'il est resté ouvert pendant la pandémie, les ventes de l'entreprise sont en hausse, ils ont ouvert de nouveaux magasins et les actionnaires en profitent. Dollarama a vendu pour $844.8 millions et déclaré des bénéfices de $86.1 millions entre avril et juin. Ce samedi les travailleurs.euses et leurs alliés se manifesteront devant le magasin Dollarama afin de revendiquer la justice et la dignité pour tous ceux et celles qui restent dans un emploi dangereux et précaire. Nous exprimons aussi notre solidarité envers la lutte des travailleurs.euses essentiels, dont les anges gardiens, sans papiers qui réclament la régularisation suite à leurs grands sacrifices pendant la pandémie. Le programme de régularisation limitée avancé par les gouvernements provincial et fédéral exclut une grande majorité des travailleurs.euses essentiels qui méritent eux aussi un statu d'immigration stable. Le Mexique demande la démission de Luis Almagro à la tête de l’OEA Le mercredi (21 octobre) devant l’Assemblée générale de l’OEA, le Mexique a dénoncé le secrétaire de l’OEA, Luis Almagro, pour avoir été le promoteur d’un rapport manipulé pour favoriser le coup d’Etat en Bolivie en octobre 2019. La débâcle institutionnelle promue par Almagro a fait couler le sang du peuple bolivien, et l’instauration pendant près d’un an d’une dictature civilo-militaire en Bolivie.« Il n’y a jamais eu de fraude en Bolivie en 2019, et cela a été démontré avec le résultat des élections de dimanche dernier », a déclaré le représentant du Mexique devant l’assemblée de l’OEA. « Le peuple bolivien vous a Le secrétaire général de l’OEA, Luis Almagro donné une leçon d’histoire, et j’espère que vous l’apprendrez. Tant que vous continuerez à diriger l’OEA, l’ombre de ce qui s’est passé en Bolivie sera Notes: 1. Sous la direction de Maurice Vaïsse et Hervé Magro, Dans les archives secrètes du Quai d’Orsay. De 1945 à nos jours, L’Iconoclaste, Paris, 2019. Voir aussi : Archives de la présidence de la République, 4AG1-201. Archives Nationales, Paris. 2. Récit de Dean Acheson, Oral History, Kennedy Library. Cité dans : Maurice Vaisse, « La France et la crise de Cuba », Histoire, économie et société, Paris, 1994. Voir aussi : Jean Lacouture, De Gaulle, tome III, Le Souverain, Editions du Seuil, Paris, 1986. 3. « De Gaulle et la crise de Cuba : la conduite de crise, avant, pendant et après », Fondation Charles de Gaulle, Lettre Nº14, Paris, 11 juin 2020. 4. Vincent Jauvert, L´Amérique contre De Gaulle, Editions du Seuil, Paris, 2000. 5. Philippe Thyraud De Vosjoli, Lamia, l’Anti-barbouze, Les Éditions de l’Homme, Montréal, 1972. toujours présente », a reproché le vice-chancelier mexicain à Almagro. « Le Mexique est également préoccupé par la récente tendance à dépasser la nature technique des missions d’observation électorale. Nous soulignons que les actions de ces missions doivent être de nature impartiale, limitées à un accompagnement logistique et institutionnel, et qu’elles doivent être menées selon les principes de rationalité, de transparence, d’austérité et de responsabilité », a expliqué Maximiliano Reyes Zuñiga. Source La Jornada Venesol 22 Octobre 2020 6. Vincent Jauvert, Op. cit. 7. Dans les archives secrètes du Quai d’Orsay. De 1945 à nos jours. Op.cit. 8. Philippe Thyraud De Vosjoli, Op. cit. Voir aussi : Vincent Jauvert, Op. cit. 9. Hervé Alphan, L’Étonnement d’être. Journal 1933-1973, Editions Fayard, Paris, 1997. 10. Vincent Jauvert, Op. cit. (Traduction : Hélène Vaucelle) Vol 14 # 17 • Du 28 Octobre au 3 Novembre 2020 Haiti Liberté/Haitian Times 17
Page 1 and 2: Vol 14 # 17 • Du 28 Octobre au 3
Page 3 and 4: A Travers Haiti C’est quoi la dir
Page 5 and 6: A Travers Haiti Alternative politiq
Page 7 and 8: Perspectives Des hôpitaux au bord
Page 9 and 10: This week in Haiti Haitian-American
Page 11 and 12: QUES AU VENEZUELA Le peuple Vénéz
Page 13 and 14: Notre Mémoire se Souvient! La mém
Page 15: Suite de la page (9) it,” said Ch
Page 19 and 20: Classified Directory Tel: 718-421-0

Haiti Liberte 28 Octobre 2020

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