Haiti: Dialogues With Tim Ives (1) - Activist Author and Filmmaker

Kim Ives is a writer and editor with Haiti Liberte newspaper and a documentary filmmaker who has directed and worked on many films about Haiti (Bitter Cane, The Coup Continues, Rezistans). He also works with the Haiti Support Network (HSN) and has led numerous delegations to Haiti. He frequently speaks about Haiti before church, student, and community audiences and on Haitian and U.S. radio programs. He is also a producer and host with the program "Haiti: The Struggle Continues" on WBAI 99.5 FM in New York

I write this as an introduction to what I hope will be a continuing series on Tim Ives and his involvement and knowledge concerning the Haitian Diaspora in Brooklyn and other parts of New York City, and also on what can be learned from him about his long involvement and filmmaking as an activist addressing the Haitian crisis. I recently had an opportunity to meet Tim at the setting of what appears to be a central location for meetings and events and actions by the Haitian community and its supporters in Brooklyn South of the Prospect Park area.

The story begins as I found that the important article I have been inspired by, Peter Hallward’s , had been posted at the site of Haitain Analysis, and referenced to a previous posting by one Tim Ives at the website Haitian Liberte, also a Kreyol /French language newspaper – which I was excited to find was physically located nearby where I am staying at this time in Brooklyn. The same location sports a bookshop, where I hoped to immediately get my hands on a copy of Hallward’s book, The Will of The People: Notes Towards a Dialectical Voluntarism. I also thought it might even be possible to meet people there who could be instructive regarding my interests in a foray to Hispaniola to explore living conditions there for an extended stay for the purposes of learning directly about the struggles of the Haitian people, its potential for a Haitian Revolution (similar to the line of involvement I have taken in visits to Nepal with respect to the Maoist Revolution there).

Blissfully ignorant, I did not know Tim Ives was a significant activist when he answered the phone at Haiti Liberte and agreed to meet me for an informal discussion of my interests. It was good fortune or blind justice I suppose. I biked across Brooklyn to the warehouse type setting, and rang the buzzer to walk up the stairs where the first impression is that of a union hall. Some middle-aged Haitian men were meeting at a table speaking in Kreyol, the walls were adorned with ethnic art and there was a bulletin board and literature table featuring community events and the like. There were large stacks of the newspaper Haitian Liberte on the floor and against the wall. I was told Tim would be in a minute and I walked around a corner to find a small but well stocked small bookstore with lots of other available paraphernalia for sale to the wide-eyed supporters of the Haitian cause with some money in their pockets for coffee cups and a Che T-shirt, etc. I had spotted my book and an interesting series of DVD films when I was asked to go to an adjoining room to meet Tim Ives.

OK.. I was surprised to meet the guy you see in the picture above, a 53 year old fair haired white guy fluent in Kreyol, highly articulate native English speaker, in obvious good health and condition and quickly and most evidently somebody who knew what he was talking about from many years going in and out of Haiti in a long career of political filmmaking and writing on the topic central to his life purpose. I was delighted of course. Perhaps in time I will have the opportunity to elaborate and expand though further interviews what was the beginning of what is for me an important dialog.

This first meeting was rather brief and our starting point was the Hallward thesis as it was that article and the book in question that had perpetrated the meeting. Tim was also interested in the Nepal Maoist story, about which I was happy to share my small expertise.. he was struck my the many similarities, as I have been already, between many of the basic structures of the struggle in both countries , Haiti and Nepal. For example, the essential core of the struggle being between the will of the people and the “MRE” (what the author Herbert Gold termed the Morally Repugnant Elite). Then also, there is the constant underlying need for the establishment of civilian supremacy over the military, the absence of which is the foundation of MRE oppression. The kind of political and economic hegemony exercised by India over Nepal is not at all unlike the methods employed by Western governments in the Caribbean. It’s too much the same story again and again in the struggle everywhere for a democracy of the people. We find again the common theme in the strategies of neo-colonial imperialists as well articulated by Noam Chomsky, that for them “.. it is only when the threat of popular participation is overcome that democratic forms can be safely contemplated”.

I am not as yet prepared to provide a more detailed account of Tim Ives background and current projects. I would like to share this in time. There is an interesting story here beginning with his roots as the son of a woman who for many years was an activist for the Haitian cause, his upbringing as part of a commune of Haitian’s in New York State, his subsequent scholarship, his long series of documentary filmmaking trips and the interactions with the people of Haiti. It’s an interesting story that I should share I think. A bit of irony if not a bit of chagrin: here I was speaking to Tim Ives about Hallward’s book, unknowing that Hallward cites Tim Ives in that book no less than 18 times.

What can be known about his present opinions may be approached from the following articles he has recently published – I will find whatever else is available and add to my public bookmarking system at Delicious:

http://delicious.com/stefandav/tives

As for what is the immediate circumstances and struggle from the Brooklyn eye of the storm.. this also is an very compelling line of investigation. I only know that Tim Ives describes his own desire as trying to organize and bring together the efforts of the Brooklyn Diaspora. This seems to have something to do with a new development of party organization combining diverse elements in the population. It’s not clear what he means, I’d like to know. There are at work here some political struggles between factions of the Fanmi Lavalas. There are some Marxists in the mix. Tim has a background also with certain factions in the Aristide camp, but there is a constant and shifting evolution of the will of the people. Interestingly, Tim Ives makes reference to the suggestions of direction proposed by Peter Hallward in the conclusion of his book. I have had a look for this.. maybe what he means can be seen in the following exerpts:

“.. the Lavalas.. has.. begun to confront some of its own internal limitations, by becoming less dependent on Aristide’s personal charisma and influence, and by purging itself of many of the opportunists.. younger grassroots leaders are more important now than when they were in office.. have learned from Aristide’s example as well as from his mistakes.. that Lavalas also remains bitterly divisive is a consequence above all of the fact that it was the only large scale popular mobilization ever to address the massive inequalities of power.. that Lavalas has so far managed to do little to reduce these inequalities says less about the weakness of the organization than it does about the extraordinary strength, today, of the forces that preserve inequality.. Haiti’s independence from the contemporary version of slavery will.. in addition to the remobilization of Lavalas.. require the renewal of emancipatory politics within the imperial nations themselves.”

That last sentence calling for the international movement of emancipatory politics strikes a strong chord for the likes of philosophical activists, revolutionary warriors like Peter Hallward and Kim Ives.


Blog Guide: A discussion of blog features and primary topic content may be found at the initial entry. The first few entries give a good idea of how best to use the blog, especially for the tagging and social bookmarking at my external Delicious site, and for instructions regarding the Stefandav TV widget.

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Tick-Tock What’s on the Clock?

Well, the timing of things has been changed by an unforeseen, somewhat bizarre, event: during a recent back-packing trip in Upper New-York, I was bitten by a tick and contracted Lymes disease! Fortunately it was diagnosed early enough (I hope) so no evidence was found in my spinal fluid and a course of rest and antibiotics should lead to my recovery. It was a good thing I did not leave for the Dominican Republic thinking it was just a bout of severe flu, for indeed I was feeling better and was only tipped off to the possibility of a lingering problem by a tell-tale rash that made its appearance just in time.

So much for the personal medical drama – for the present entry, the important issue is what this has meant for the recently announced intentions of studying and writing and taking some action in my net activism with respect to the crisis in Haiti. Because of the severe headaches and extreme fatigue for the prior two weeks to the scheduled departure September 23, I had in fact failed to complete my scheduled meetings and research with the Haitian Diaspora in Brooklyn or the online development of contacts in Santa Domingo. Even without the diagnosis, I had contemplated delaying the trip. In the last week or so I have made some progress here in Brooklyn.. in a sense, the delay, which will be protracted while I see about my recovery, the opportunity to more fully prepare is a kind of blessing in disguise.

Here are the guidelines to the present activism in the new situation:

1. The more day to day provision of readings entered via blogging will continue to be posted at the Zmag site as that is where more frequent posting will benefit with regard to exposure from the information organization of my Zspace page and linked blogging afforded by that activist community site. The less frequent posting to the Blogger site will consist only of the more personal opinion pieces and the most significant articles, and not so much the daily news on conflict situations I am covering. These are the two blog sites:

http://www.zmag.org/zspace/stefandav

http://stefandav.blogspot.com/

2. Annotated bookmarks of all my on-going research continues to be collected and organized at the social bookmarking site provided for public access at Delicious:

http://delicious.com/stefandav

It is pretty obvious… but you can get the main topic areas of my research by applying the tags as follows:

Nepal Maoist Revolution: http://delicious.com/stefandav/nepal

Crisis in Haiti: http://delicious.com/stefandav/haiti

Political philosophy of Peter Hallward: http://delicious.com/stefandav/hallward

Political Philosophy of Alain Badiou: http://delicious.com/stefandav/badiou

Political Philosophy of Savoj Zizek: http://delicious.com/stefandav/zizek

3. The specific study for me at this time is focused on gaining knowledge and understanding in some specific ways:

a. Study of the political theory thesis of Peter Hallward’s current project as introduced in his article :

The Will of The People: Notes Towards a Dialectical Voluntarism

b. Emphasis on research regarding on-going developments and the historical context in Haiti by real-time collection of news development from aggregators to my Delicious bookmarking annotations – to include key writings published in recent years on the net.

c. Reading and related research keyed to the political arguments and perspectives provided in the detailed history, interviews and analysis by Peter Hallward in his book “Damming the Flood: Haiti, Aristide, and the Politics of Containment”

d. Direct involvement with the Haitian Diaspora in Brooklyn. This is emerging by establishing a relationship to the organization Haitian Liberte and the activist and filmmaker Tim Ives. This is the immediate physical space of my situation, so I hope the involvement can be fruitful.. ultimately if I am to explore direct action in Haiti (or based nearby in the Dominican Republic), I need to making the rather daunting commitment to start some study of the Kreyol language.

4. I am writing this in anticipation of a series of blog entries germane to the writing about and providing linkages to important texts on the Haitian crisis. The following is an introductory outline to existing and planned entries:

US-Haiti: Noam Chomsky March 9, 2004

International Crisis Group - Haiti 2009: Stability at Risk

Kim Ives: Lavalas and Haiti's Student Union Unite

Haitian Government Raises Minimum Wage to $5.50 per day

Haiti: Dialogues With Tim Ives (1) - Activist Author and Filmmaker

Blog Guide: A discussion of blog features and primary topic content may be found at the initial entry. The first few entries give a good idea of how best to use the blog, especially for the tagging and social bookmarking at my external Delicious site, and for instructions regarding the Stefandav TV widget.

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Himalayan Consensus - Spiritual Revolution

Himalayan Consensus

Written by Laurence Brahm - Published by laurencebrahm.com on 03/08/2009

On October 23, 2008, Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the United Stated Federal Reserve, was hauled before Congress to testify on causes underlying the largest financial crisis since the 1930s Great Depression. “I made the mistake in presuming that the self interest of organizations, specifically banks and others, was such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders,” explained the ex-central banker adding he had “found a flaw” in his underlying economic assumptions. “The whole intellectual edifice,” he admitted, “collapsed in the summer of last year.”

Since Wall Street’s crash in September 2008, igniting a global great depression, “Washington Consensus” models of economic development are discredited. Developing nations seek new alternatives to the Washington Consensus. Nowhere is this feeling stronger than Asia, which had been chastised and lectured by Washington following its own regional financial crisis in 1997.

The Himalayan Consensus is a response to our current global crisis. Finding acceptance from Dhaka to Islamabad, from Kathmandu to Lhasa, it is now being discussed in Beijing.

The premise of Washington’s neo-liberal capitalist and neo-conservative political models is Adam Smith’s underlying theory -- greed alone motivates mankind, all markets will find equilibrium if left to choices of greed’s “invisible hand”. Himalaya Consensus rejects this notion. As Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus summarizes, “With all of our economic theories we forget the environment, forget people, forget culture, and destroy anything to make money. This is the inherent fault in economic theory which creates an artificial human being who knows how to make money because maximizing profit is the sole basis of business. But human beings are bigger than just money.” Himalayan Consensus is not just another voice of the developing world calling to restructure our global financial system. Rather it calls for reengineering the very values underlying assumptions driving that system.

Himalayan Consensus prioritizes environmental protection as the single most urgent task. It promotes multi-ethnic diversity best fostered and preserved through cultural sustainable development economic programs or businesses – not just aid – to address poverty and income gap inequality. It rejects any economic theories or models premised on ideology.

Himalayan Consensus draws upon Asian values of compassion, alms giving, community cohesion and networking. It seeks a middle way between extremes, rejecting both economic and political fundamentalism. Regardless of economic tools -- socialist or capitalist -- the Himalayan Consensus calls for mixing methodologies disregarding labels. It advocates grassroots realistic programs acceptable to indigenous communities fighting cyclical poverty. Politically, the Consensus draws upon indigenous forms of community expression and participation to create effective mechanisms of representative government relative to each society and culture.

Nepal’s Prime Minister Prachanda stated, “This Himalayan Consensus is special given the unique physical and spiritual dimension of this region, and the political and economic institutions developing here should encompass these ideas.” Bhutan’s Prime Minister Lyonpo Jigmi Y. Thinley echoed, “In fact, it is already happening. Yes, the compulsion is powerful in this region.”

Himalayan Consensus embraces three pillars:

First, throw out economic theory and models. Each country’s experiments and experiences differ based on local conditions. They should be shared without dogma. Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapaksa has explained, “How people choose to live is something they have to decide for themselves. It shouldn’t be decided by politicians, the World Bank or the IMF.”

For instance, China’s economic experience overturned classic assumptions about “shock therapy”. Ignoring IMF and World Bank proselytizing China adopted gradualist reform. However, China’s GNP growth emphasis is diametrically opposite neighboring Bhutan’s measurement of gross national happiness GNH. Both may be suited to the unique circumstances prevailing in each country. No one model fits all. End the blind application of Washington Consensus economic-module fundamentalism. It often bears no relation to local realities. Quantity accumulation through blind brand-consumption does not mean quality of life. Small can be beautiful. Grassroots work can change lives without baggage of excessive top down cookie cutter formulas. Rajapaksa advocates, “There are simply different international approaches. The people need to retain their values. Without their values, development is useless.”

Second, ethnicity is good. The more diverse our global ethnicity, the better it is for our human species. Why should everyone dive into a single melting pot? Of course, everyone thinking alike makes it easier for multinational corporations to globalize marketing. But is this good for the survival and evolution of our species? At the same time sustainable economic foundations are essential to each culture’s survival and evolution. Idealism must be tempered by pragmatism to succeed. Establishing functioning, sustainable businesses can help cultures evolve while preserving their individual identity. Ian Baker, National Geographic explorer and the author on Himalayan subjects advocates, “Engaged social interaction without violence is a Buddhist, Taoist, Hindu and also Islamic vision. The Himalayan Consensus approach should mean positive social action. Don’t spend time looking for a perfect world. That’s just escaping. Go create it!”

The Himalayan Consensus draws its value paradigm from the indigenous ethical values of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam, all of which have similar aspirations for equality among humanity, closing the gaps between rich and poor. Himalayan Consensus universal rights include: credit, medical treatment, environment preservation, and finding peaceful solutions to global conflicts.

Reza Aslan, leading American Islamic scholar has commented, “A Himalayan Consensus can draw positive commonalities among different cultures. It was not some Hindu in the Himalayas who came up with the clash of civilizations. It was a Westerner who created the civilizations to highlight the advantages of one over the other. This is not scholarship.”

The third pillar is that every country has the right to develop its own political system, independent of any other country, incorporating the nation’s own unique ethnic, religious and social groups as it sees fit. The role of governments should be to alleviate poverty, narrow income gaps that create social strife, protect the environment for next generation’s survival, provide health care and education, offer hope for a better future. What form or political model government takes is less important than what it accomplishes. Photocopying theoretical models, applying them to cultures and ethnic groups where they won’t work is counterproductive. The attitude in Washington about so-called liberal free market theory and color-coded party democracy is no different in its fundamentalism then the Soviet International once was, insisting on its centrally planned top-down model. So both approaches are equally wrong in imposing what they believe on other people, where conditions and experiences are irrelevant.

Instead, indigenous models of participatory government should be created based on each country’s local cultural, tribal, historic, political and economic traditions. Such ideas may be anathema to previous administrations in Washington. But Himalayan Consensus advocates believe each culture and ethnic group knows what is best for itself. People must determine their own future. Providing tools that re-empower people contribute to development. However, forcing a particular model of government on nations having no relevant historic, social or cultural commonality with the country transferring its system, only leads to ineffective government, political instability and social–humanitarian disasters.

“It all comes down to politics,” Ian Baker explained. “Buddha walked out of politics and renounced it to meditate under a tree. Now it is time for Buddha to walk back into politics, because all the trees are being cut down.”

Laurence Brahm is a global activist, international mediator, political columnist and author. He is the leading advocate of a fresh development paradigm - The Himalayan Consensus - an innovative approach to development.

Blog Guide: A discussion of blog features and primary topic content may be found at the initial entry. The first few entries give a good idea of how best to use the blog, especially for the tagging and social bookmarking at my external Delicious site, and for instructions regarding the Stefandav TV widget.

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2-Line Struggle At Paris Height: Report from Key Meeting of Nepal’s Revolutionary Leaders

Posted by Mike E at Kasama on September 12, 2009

The following piece appeared on the re-opened Red Star website - beginning with quotes from the Red Star article then the article itself:

“The central committee meeting was held in such a challenging situation in which the adoption of a correct ideological and political line would lead the Nepalese people to a victorious conclusion of new democratic revolution while an incorrect one would either entrap the whole party into reformism or defeat it for a long way ahead in the face of tightening encirclement of the enemy nationally and internationally. This situation had unsurprisingly made the entire central committee members serious in their responsibility… there was in this central committee meeting a vigorous ideological and political struggle against various wrong ideological trends, principally the right opportunism, which is the main danger in the contemporary communist movement.“

“….the tactic of democratic republic that was adopted from Chunwang meeting had already completed with the promulgation of federal democratic republic from the Constituent Assembly. When the tactical political objective had been achieved then the tactical unity expressed in the form of the 12-point understanding between seven parliamentarian parties and ours had also become obsolete. In spite of this, for a long one year and more our party remained hesitant to address it correctly but remained in the main groping in the dark with no comprehensive ideological and political line and correct tactical slogan to go forward to establishing people’s democratic republic under the leadership of the proletariat. Unless this situation was dealt with in a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist way the danger of democratic republic, the tactic adopted from the Chunwang Meeting, eating up the strategy of new democratic revolution was looming on the horizon. It was the main ideological question where the two-line struggle was focused on.”

The UCPN(M)’s Paris Height Meeting, a victory of the proletariat

by Basanta, central committee member, Unified Communist Party Nepal (Maoist)

The Central Committee Meeting held at Paris Height, Kathmandu, of our party, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), has been concluded recently.

This meeting was organised when the Nepalese revolution was at a turning point. Therefore, the people of the whole world had kept their ears close to the outcome of this meeting. The imperialists, expansionists and all sorts of reactions the world over wanted our party, as a whole, to take up a reformist course and, if that did not take place, wanted it to undergo a split, at the least. Big media houses spent a lot of money to make their design happen. On the contrary, the international working class and the entire oppressed masses all over the world wanted our party to develop a correct ideological and political line and at the same time remain united stronger than before to fight imperialism and their lackeys. It was of course a big challenge before the central committee meeting, at Paris Height, of our party.

As had the international working class yearned for, it was not at all an easy task for this meeting to simultaneously build up a correct ideological and political line and maintain the party unity intact. It was of course an arduous task given the obvious differences in their way of thinking among the central committee members, in general, and the top leaders, in particular. Unlike before, most of the central committee members, including the top rank leaders, were skeptical of whether or not the party can build up a revolutionary line and the party remains united. Consequently, all of the central committee members in this meeting were down-weighed with two heavy responsibilities of firstly, building a correct line and secondly, developing party unity stronger than before.

The two-line struggle that surfaced at the Paris Height, first in the political bureau meeting and later in the central committee meeting as the continuity of the former, was in essence centred on how to comprehend the democratic republic in place and what steps to take up in order to realize the minimum strategic goal of new democratic revolution from the present stage of strategic offensive in Nepal. The central committee meeting was held in such a challenging situation in which the adoption of a correct ideological and political line would lead the Nepalese people to a victorious conclusion of new democratic revolution while an incorrect one would either entrap the whole party into reformism or defeat it for a long way ahead in the face of tightening encirclement of the enemy nationally and internationally. This situation had unsurprisingly made the entire central committee members serious in their responsibility.

However, it is not one’s seriousness and honesty that is decisive in formulating a revolutionary line. But it is his or her way of thinking that makes one able in applying dialectical materialism when analyzing the concrete condition and thereby developing a line to act upon it politically. Therefore, there was in this central committee meeting a vigorous ideological and political struggle against various wrong ideological trends, principally the right opportunism, which is the main danger in the contemporary communist movement.

The line struggle we engaged in is the obvious outcome of the present objective situation.

The tactic of democratic republic that the Central Committee Meeting in Chunwang, October 2005, had adopted was successfully over following the election of Constituent Assembly and proclamation of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal in June 29, 2007. No later than the republic was declared it was necessary on the part of our party to develop a next political tactic and sequence of class struggles to achieve it.

Although we adopted a new tactic, People’s Federal Democratic National Republic, in the Kharipati gathering, November 2008, and figured out the programmes of struggles, even then, apart from a number of pro-people programmes on the part of the government, the party could not in the main attain target in class struggles worked out from the meeting rather it engaged in day to day affairs for a long period until Paris Height meeting was held in July 2009.

In this situation, it was obvious to surface these questions sharply in the meeting because they were related with party’s overall ideological and political line.

Strategy and tactic are two basic aspects of a revolutionary line. Strategy is determined to resolve basic contradictions of the given society where as tactic is adopted to resolve the principal contradiction at a particular juncture. In short, sum of all tactics taken up as to resolve all of the fundamental contradictions makes a strategy. In this sense, strategy and tactic make a dialectical relation as do the whole and part of an entity. There must in no way be erected a Chinese wall in between these two. And, failure to grasp it and apply the interrelation between these two correctly has at times led to unjustified and avoidable splits within the revolutionary camp and sometimes to an unprincipled compromise among the classes which differ in their class interest.

As had been said earlier the tactic of democratic republic that was adopted from Chunwang meeting had already completed with the promulgation of federal democratic republic from the Constituent Assembly. When the tactical political objective had been achieved then the tactical unity expressed in the form of the 12-point understanding between seven parliamentarian parties and ours had also become obsolete. In spite of this, for a long one year and more our party remained hesitant to address it correctly but remained in the main groping in the dark with no comprehensive ideological and political line and correct tactical slogan to go forward to establishing people’s democratic republic under the leadership of the proletariat. Unless this situation was dealt with in a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist way the danger of democratic republic, the tactic adopted from the Chunwang Meeting, eating up the strategy of new democratic revolution was looming on the horizon. It was the main ideological question where the two-line struggle was focused on.

Like every entity, our party is also a unity and struggle of opposites in which unity is conditional, time-bound and relative while the struggle is absolute. None can escape from struggle; neither can there be any monolithic unity in a party. What happens is that people change their ideas in the course of struggle and thereby undergo relative transformation. Every line struggle strengthens unity to a higher level only when there is transformation. However, what we have achieved through this struggle is relative transformation and relative unity not the transformation and unity for ever. Had not we undergone transformation from our previous ideological positions no such unity was possible.

The thoroughgoing and sharp debate followed by relative transformation and unity not only made the central committee meeting of our party finally reach to a correct line but also made the party centralised and united strongly than before. The ideological unity we achieved in this way was the reason behind our success to unanimously develop an overall ideological and political line that ensures the way to go forward to accomplishing new democratic revolution and plan of action to agree with it.

Blog Guide: A discussion of blog features and primary topic content may be found at the initial entry. The first few entries give a good idea of how best to use the blog, especially for the tagging and social bookmarking at my external Delicious site, and for instructions regarding the Stefandav TV widget.

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