Haitian MPs Who Support Mayors’ Dismissal Will Get Community Development Funds | La Fenamh met l’exécutif en garde contre tout renvoi des cartels municipaux

By Gerard Maxineau, Le Nouvelliste | Editorial comment by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The National Federation of Haitian Mayors (FENAMH) has fingered the executive and some lawmakers as having recently drafted a plan to dissolve 140 municipal councils and replace them with municipal boards at the service of the parliamentarians, but this plan was drafted abroad in the prefab constitution that came along with Haiti’s prefab president and its prefab parliament exactly one year ago. It is a plan especially designed to grab lands in northern Haiti.

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When Will Haiti’s Next elections Take Place? | A quand les prochaines élections en Haïti?

By Staff (EJ), Radio Metropole | Commentary and translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The mandates of one third of the Haitian Senate and various municipal executives expired in mid-January 2012, and the mandate of another third of the Senate expired on May 8. Mayors and local officials have been replaced by presidential decree, and no administrative provision is in place to organize new elections. (English | French)

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International Network of Activists Fight Mining Giant Vale: ‘Worst Company in The World’ | Minera Vale de Brasil acusada de daños ambientales y humanos

By Fabíola Ortiz, IPS. Brazilian mining giant Vale was named the Worst Company in the World by the Public Eye Awards in January 2012. A multinational report accuses the company of 15 worker deaths between 2010 and 2012, and massive emissions of greenhouse gases and particulate matter into the atmosphere. (English | Spanish)

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Barrick in the Dominican Republic

By Staff, Protestbarrick. As the opening date approaches for the Dominican Republic’s Pueblo Viejo mine, controversy around this mega-mine has continued to grow. According to the president of Maimón’s municipal committee, the funds Barrick has transferred to the municipality are less than the costs of the damage it has caused. Community members complain that the workers in the mine are overwhelmingly foreigners. Recently Barrick was accused of blocking the performance of the protest song “De Pascua Lama” (video included) at a Dominican Festival.

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Poor Little Rich Haiti to Be Fleeced of Copper-Silver-Gold Via Caracol Deep-Water Port

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Plans are under way for Canadian and US corporations to mine Haiti’s northeast area near Caracol, which has been discovered to contain a wealth of silver and gold, in addition to copper. As in the Dominican Republic’s Pueblo Viejo project, construction of the mines will involve dynamiting of mountains, and the ore will be extracted by an opencast (or open-pit) mining process that contaminates large volumes of water with cyanide. UPDATES: Attempts to issue mining permits to the US’ VCS Mining LLC and Canada’s SOMINE SA, without any environmental impact assessment (EIA) were thwarted by Haiti’s Senate in January 2013. Plans to dredge a deep-sea port in the pristine Bay of Fort Liberte were scrapped in April 2014.

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New Religion of Kopimism Promotes ‘Exchange Without Beginning and Without End’

By Muriel Kane, Raw Story | Interview of Isak Gerson with Alison George | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. “Life as we know it originated with the DNA molecule’s ability to duplicate itself, irrespective of the original creation of the Universe.… Copying is fundamental to life and runs constantly all around us…. ‘From all at one and from one to all – and then back – exchange without beginning and without end.'”

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Haitian Senate Suspects Counterfeiting Operation for Executive Branch | L’exécutif aurait son propre réseau de faussaires, soupçonne une commission sénatoriale d’enquête

By Staff (rh gp), AlterPresse | Translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. According to one of Michel Martelly’s passports, the former singer traveled to 21 countries that did not affix any seal of entry. Another passport is dated 1981 to 1991, although a Haitian passport is valid for only 5 years. (English | French)

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Tunisian Pirate Party Inaugurated

By Monia Ghanmi, Magharebia | Nate Anderson Ars Technica | Haiti Chery. Tunisian bloggers have formed the first anti-censorship political party in Africa and the Arab world: the Tunisian Pirate Party. “The ideology of this party is freedom and use of the internet as infrastructure and democracy, because free Internet is an indicator of democratic nations.” – Slim Amamou

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ACTA Needs No Court Decision Before European Parliament Vote

By Jennifer Baker, IDG News. In a major victory for the campaign against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the European Parliament’s trade committee rejected by a vote of 21 to 5 a plan to send the proposed accord to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). This means that the European Parliament vote on ACTA will not be delayed 1 1/2 years and could happen as early as June 2012.

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Fracking-Earthquake Link Known For Decade By Scientists, Military and Frackers

By Andrew Nikiforuk, The Tyee. Hydraulic fracturing was identified by the U.S. as an earthquake trigger as early as 1990, and scientists have long known that injection of fluid where the Earth’s crust lies closest to faults and fractures can cause earthquakes.

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Caracol Free-Trade Zone Jeopardizes Natural and Cultural Heritage | La zone franche de Caracol met en péril le patrimoine naturel et culturel du Nord-Est

By Rachelle Charlier Doucet, AlterPresse | Commentary and translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. A massive industrial park is scheduled to open in the Caracol Bay area of Haiti, although no plan is in place to mitigate the park’s impact on a region that has been proposed as a World Heritage Site for its ecological, historical, and archaeological importance. (English | French)

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Privatization of Water: Benign as Lucifer

By Richard Raznikov, The Rag Blog | Democracy Center | Haiti Chery. About 20 years ago, it dawned on the bankers and some major corporations that if oil was a lucrative commodity, water would be even more so…. The trick was how to take it away from the people and sell it back to them.

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Amended Haitian Constitution Confirmed as Prefabricated ‘Fake’

By Staff, Defend Haiti | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. A presidential commission recommends withholding publication of the Haitian Constitution amended by the parliament in May 2011 and subsequently corrected. This document’s contents have been found to differ from the outcomes of the parliament’s votes.

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Hypocrisy in Hollywood – from Pirate Against Edison to Lobbyist for ACTA-SOPA-PIPA

Provided by Paralegal.net | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. This enlightening info-graphic describes the little known history of Hollywood’s birth as a pirate and attaches some startling numbers to the movie industry’s greed. A brief discussion is included about copyright laws and how they have changed since the mid-1970’s.

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