GHT : US Tour of Union Leaders from Guadeloupe & Haiti

Dear Sisters and Brothers :

We invite you to join us in welcoming two important union and mass-movement leaders from the Caribbean to the United States. Elie Domota from Guadeloupe and Fignolé St. Cyr from Haiti will be traveling to eight U.S. cities from July 5 to 14. [See tour schedule below.]

Elie Domota is the spokesperson of the LKP Strike Collective in the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, a colony of France. He is also general secretary of the UGTG Trade Union Federation of Guadeloupe.

Fignolé St. Cyr is the general secretary of the Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers (CATH) and convener of the Third Caribbean Conference "To Defend Haiti Is to Defend Ourselves !" He is also an organizer of the International Commission of Inquiry on the UN Occupation of Haiti.

Earlier this year, the trade unions of the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe led a powerful fight-back against the deepening worldwide economic crisis. United in the LKP, a coalition of 47 organizations, the workers and people of Guadeloupe waged a powerful 44-day nationwide general strike that won a $250/month wage increase for low-wage workers, more jobs for youth, a reduction in the prices of basic necessities, and a moratorium on home foreclosures.

In Haiti, the unions are playing a major role in the struggle to restore democracy after the U.S. government removed democratically elected President Bertrand Aristide — and U.N. troops continue to occupy the country, killing activists who protest the occupation and demand their national, social, democratic, and economic rights.

Brothers Domota and Fignolé will be accompanied by Raymond Gama from the LKP Strike Collective in Guadeloupe.

Come find out more about this great victory in Guadeloupe and learn about some of the important lessons of this struggle that we can draw to promote the fight-back here in the United States against the massive loss of jobs, healthcare, pensions, and homes. Come find out more about what we can do here to stop the UN occupation of Haiti, so that the Haitian people can reclaim their sovereignty, self-determination and democratic rights — free from all foreign intervention.

This 10-day Guadeloupe-Haiti Tour USA has been initiated by the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples (ILC), the Free Mumia Committee of New York, HUERA, the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu Jamal, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM), the Interreligious Foundation of Community Organizations (IFCO), and The Organizer Newspaper.

In each of the eight cities of the tour, local coalitions have come together to organize the tour, with many additional sponsoring and endorsing organizations. The list of these organizations is listed in the tour schedule below.

The Guadeloupe-Haiti Tour USA is a project of the Interreligious Foundation of Community Organizations Nonprofit, 501c3.

Please join with us in welcoming these two great union leaders and in helping to build a solid support base for the unions of Guadeloupe and Haiti in their struggles for workers’ and people’s rights.

In Solidarity and Struggle for Workers’ and People’s Rights,

Colia L. Clark
GHT National Tour Coordinator
Organizer, International Liaison Committee
National Coordinator, Richard Wright Centennial

Alan Benjamin
Editor, The Organizer Newspaper
Organizer, International Liaison Committee

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GHT TOUR USA SCHEDULE :

NEW YORK CITY

Sunday, July 5

10:30 AM- 1:00 PM
Bay Ridge Baptist Church
6701 4th Avenue
Brooklyn (near Fort Green)

2:00 PM to 6:00 PM
The Brecht Forum Auditorium
451 West Side Highway
(West Street at Bank Street)
Manhattan

Speakers and Special Guests (titles for id. only) :

Rev Lucius Walker (Interreligious Foundation of Community Organizations- IFCO)
Ezili Dantò/Marguerite Laurent, Esq (President Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network)
Eddie Rosario, Lithographers Union
Cleo Silver (Activist)
Andy Pollack (Co-Coordinator, GHT-NYC/National Assembly Against the Wars)
Suzanee Ross (Free Mumia Committee of New York)
Lynne Serpe (Green Party)
Chris Silvera (Teamsters Local 138)
Ray LaForest, AFSCME
Larry Adams (Postal Workers Against the War)
Don Debar (GHT and Gaza Press)
Gil Olber Power to the People Green Party - NYC)
Gloria Matera (New York State Green Party)
Nellie Hester Bailey (Harlem Tenants Association)
SISTAS Place
Kazembe (Brecht Forum Program Coordinator),
Grandma’s for Mumia
Colia Clark, Co-Coordinator NYC-GHT and National Coordinator Richard Wright Centennial and Chairwoman of HUERA

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BOSTON, MA

Monday, July 6, 2009

7:00 PM (Welcome, Presentations and Discussion)
Encuentro 5
33 Harison Avenue
Chinatown, Boston

7:00 P.M. - Welcome, Presentations and Discussion

Sponsored by : Chelsea Uniting Against the War

Endorsed by : American Friends Service Committee, Bolivarian Circle of Boston, Boston Interpreters Collective, Boston May Day Committee, Centro Presente, Greater Boston Stop the Wars Coalition, International Action Center, Malden Area Communities Against War, Mass Global Action, Mass Jobs with Justice, Mass Power to the People Committee, Proyecto Hondureño, Socialist Alternative, TecsChange, T-Riders Union, United for Justice with Peace

Contact Lyn at 617-461-6598 or Suren at 617-968-0880

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GREENSBORO, NC

Tuesday, July 7

6:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Glenwood Community Center
2010 Coliseum Blvd,
Greensboro, North Carolina

6 : 30 p.m. : Meet and Greet Elie Domota and Fignolé Saint Cyr
7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. : Presentations followed by discussion

Sponsored by NC Labor Against the War (NCLAW), People Power for Economic Justice, Piedmont Triad Labor Party

For more info contact, Richard or Sandra at (336) 272-2758

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PHILADELPHIA, PA

Wednesday, July 8

7 PM
Small Auditorium (Room BG-11)
Bonnell Building
Community College of Philadelphia
17th South of Spring Garden

Sponsored by : The Philadelphia Labor Forum, AFT Local 2026, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu Jamal, Philadelphia International Action Center, Socialist Action

Contact : philly.labor.forum@gmail.com or pamafrica@aol.com
or call 609.558.1869

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NEWARK, NJ

Thursday, July 9

6:30 PM-8:30 PM
Abyssinia Baptist Church
224 West Kinney Street
Newark

Sponsored by : Peoples Organization For Progress (POP) and Postal Workers Against the War

Contact : Larry Adams : alarryq@aol.com

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PITTSBURGH, PA

July 10-12

July Conference of National Assembly to End the Iraq & Afghanistan Wars & Occupations

La Roche College
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Elie Domota and Fignolé St. Cyr will lead a workshop on the fightback in the Caribbean on Saturday, July 11

Elie Domota will also be a featured speaker at the Saturday night speak-out. The speakers at this event are as follows :
Cindy Sheehan, Gold Star Mothers for Peace
Michael Schwartz, author, War without End : The Iraq War in Context
Saadia Toor, Action for a Progressive Pakistan
Monadel Herzallah, President, Arab American Union Members Council
Sara Flounders, Stop War on Iran
Chris Gauvreau, National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars
Jeff Mackler — fund pitch
Gail Austin, Black Voices for Peace
Brian Becker, ANSWER Coalition
Jorge Mujica, March 10 Committee -
Steve Carlson and Paul Kreibel, Iraq Moratorium / G20
Ashley Smith, antiwar journalist
Colia Clark, ILC, GHT Tour Coordinator
Elie Domota, General Union of the Workers of Guadeloupe

Contact :

Phones : 412-367-9300 or 216-736-4704
Email : natassembly@aol.com
Website : www.natassembly.org

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CLEVELAND, OH

Monday, July 13

7:00 PM
Trinity Commons
2230 Euclid Ave
Cleveland

Sponsored by : The Peoples Forum, Stop Targeting Ohio’s Poor (STOP), Cleveland Jobs with Justice, The Inter-religious Task Force on Central America

Contact : Devin Branch (216) 224-8862 or cle.jericho@gmail.com

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DETROIT, MI

Tuesday, July 14

7:00 - 9:00 PM
5920 Second Avenue at Antoinette (Near the WSU Campus)
Detroit

Sponsored by the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice (MECAWI)

Contact : 313.671.3715
E-mail : ac6123@wayne.edu or info@mecawi.org
URL : http://www.mecawi.org