Maggy Gousse with her father and sister in New-York

A bit more than two years after the devastating earthquake, the country which used to be called “The Pearl of the Caribbeans” is still in a complete state of disarray. Many Haitians are very religious people, and some put their hopes more in the hands of God than in human beings for help. The numbers are grim, and quite frankly unacceptable. Two years after the 7.0 earthquake killed some 316,000 people, more than 500,000 are still living in camps, often in horrendous conditions without enough food, clean water or access to toilets.  Some lingering questions are on the mind of all Haitians, either the ones living on the island or the ones of the very large Haitian diaspora. What happened to the billions pledged or donated by foreign aids? And further, why are the participating NGOs so inefficient in their efforts to rebuild Haiti?

"Port-au-Prince" Haiti

After the earthquake, 11 billion was pledged by donor countries and financial institutions combined. If one consider the United States as a typical example, from the $1.14 billion allocated to Haiti, only 30 percent has been spent. For many observers, Haiti seems to be now run by NGOs which may have the best intentions at heart, but are lacking basic transparency and coordination between each other. In her documentary, “Haiti: Where Did the Money Go?”, which was broadcasted by PBS journalist and filmmaker Michele Mitchell raised and pushed this issue better than anyone else. However, in a sense, foreign aid money- with many strings attached- has been armful for Haiti in many ways for decades. For more than 10 years now, Haiti has been called “The Republic of NGOs”, and the earthquake has only compounded the problem by encouraging Haitians to rely preliminarily on foreign aid. Instead, Haitians must relearn some of the forgotten lessons of their rich past and start relying on their strength and the resources of the vast Haitian diaspora.

Grand Rue Downtown Port-au-Prince Street no longer exist

The Haitian Diaspora

More than a 1/4 of the Haitian population lives outside of Haiti. Historically, most of this massive migration started under the rule of Papa Doc Duvalier. Since the mid 1950s, it has constituted an enormous brain drain for the island by depriving it from its best educated people: engineers, doctors, teachers, lawyers, entrepreneurs, nurses, and academics. Around 4 million Haitians live abroad. In the United States there is an estimated 1.2 million Haitians, in Canada 200,000, 2 million in the Dominican Republic, 90,000 in France, and more than 80,000 in the Bahamas. While most people leaving on the island have relied, to some degree, on the financial help from their relatives of the diaspora to survive for decades, this constant assistance (over almost 60 years), just like foreign aid, has been as much of a curse than a blessing. It has, in many ways, prevented Haitians living on the island to believe they can be, once again, truly master of their own land and destiny.

Ibo Beach

Since the earthquake, many Haitians within the diaspora want to do a lot more than just help their own relatives. A few have moved back, some plan to go back and forth, and others want more accountability over the help they provide from abroad. But what they all want, more than anything else, is to help Haiti not only to rebuild from the rubles, but to thrive and become a sustainable nation without handouts and foreign interferences. If this kind of momentum builds within the Haitian diaspora, perhaps a catastrophic event can become the catalysts for a much brighter future for Haiti. But now it is time to let Haitians from the diaspora tell us their stories, to ask them what they want to achieve and how they are planning to do it. News Junkie Post is handling this story in three parts, with each individual story illustrating a deep commitment at different stages.

Delmas Blvd. Port-au-Prince 1981

For Part I, NJP interviewed Maggy Gousse. Maggy Gousse is a realtor, an actress, and a Creole interpreter at the Superior Court of California. Maggy’s family left Haiti when Papa Doc took power, and she was born in the United States. After numerous phone conversations and before responding to our questions, Maggie Gousse made the following statement: “The idea of giving 10 percent of my income to non-profit organizations such as private orphanages, schools, and other projects took place earlier this year. Like everyone else, I gave money to help organizations such as Oxfam, World Vision, and so on. However, I found out that my money was mostly spent towards keeping the staff from different organizations living “the good life” in Haiti. It is the reason why I came up with this idea to get more involved personally and to spread the word and action through the diaspora.”

Maggy Gousse 15 years old

Gilbert Mercier: First, tell us a bit more about your family background. Why did they leave Haiti?

Maggy Gousse: My parents, Antoinette Noel Gousse and Ewald Gousse, wed and left Haiti during the campaign that brought Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier to the presidency of Haiti in 1955. By the way, Haiti should be called Ayiti, it is a Caribbean word, which means “country of mountains”. My mother was a cousin of President Paul Magloire, the president prior to Papa Doc, and my father was related to Louis Dejoie. Both were very involved in politics and were obligated to leave for the sake of their lives. They traveled by plane in 1955, unlike what some people think! I was born in New-York at the Brooklyn Jewish Hospital in 1958. At the age of 3, my sister (she was 4 year old) and myself were sent on American Airlines (in the care of a stewardess) to a boarding school in Haiti. A few months later, at the request of Papa Doc, my sister and I had to be pulled out of the school. The owner, Jacqueline Turian, contacted the American embassy. They immediately came for us and escorted us to a plane back to the United States. In other words, I owe my life to the United States, and being an American is a good thing. After a few years, my parents visited Quebec, and there it was again, another boarding school in addition of having a French Canadian family watching over us. A French education was a must for my parents. They would come and see us regularly. Later on my parents sold the house in New York and purchased one in Laval, a suburb area north of Montreal. After Papa Doc’s death in 1971, we began to travel to Haiti on a regular basis. In my adult years, I returned to live in Haiti in 1989 and worked on a soap opera. I stayed a year until the Aristide campaign begun. There were curfews and shootings on a regular basis. Everyone was afraid. We had secret meetings amongst friends, because it was very dangerous to meet publicly. In our meetings, I always said that Aristide was dangerous because you cannot be a priest then suddenly go into politics. Nobody really listened, it just didn’t make sense to me. Aristide’s campaign raised hatred amongst our people. For example, he said in speeches: “These bourgeois, if they have three cars, they do not need all three. They must share them with all of you”. Therefore, people begun to revolt and went to people’s houses to steal whatever they could. It was the beginning of “dechoucage”-it means breaking into homes. It raised a lot of anger, and it is still present. I really felt the tension then in addition of seeing people being shot right next to me. I left with the intention to go to France. However, my travel agent suggested to stop in California in transit. I took an open ticket for a month, and I have been in California for 20 years.

Maggy Gousse with family in Montreal

GM: In June 2011, President Martelly addressed the Haitian diaspora in New York, and said: “It is important that you understand, you are Haitian, you can not wait until Haiti is good to go back”. What do you think of this statement?

MG: President Martelly is a living example of what he is saying. It is also the very reason he became president. As matter of fact, President Martelly has been helping mothers and children in Haiti for years through his foundation, “Roses and Ayiti Est Trop Riche Pour Etre Pauvre” ( Haiti is too rich to be poor). Martelly started developing support for Haiti the moment he started playing music in the early 1980s. His music has always been about bringing a sense happiness and togetherness to people. Martelly never stopped helping Haiti, although he was renowned worldwide, he always lived in Haiti even so he had a residence in the United States. In 2008, Martelly launched the “Go back to school campaign”. President Martelly is aware of the immense range of professional expertise that Haitians from the diaspora can indeed bring to Haiti. In addition, unlike Aristide, he knows it is practically impossible to accomplish what needs to be done without the help of the Haitian diaspora. Throughout the years, prior the Duvaliers (Papa Doc and Baby Doc) to this day, Haitians throughout the world have preciously kept their culture at heart. Living elsewhere doesn’t change Haitian people. Haitians can easily integrate within the culture of a host country, but the basic cultural identity stays the same. President Martelly sees this and just keeps reminding Haitian people that they are Haitians. It is a reminder for people of the diaspora, like myself, of the very essence of the Haitian revolution victory against French troops in 1804, and it is expressed on our flag by the words “L’Union Fait la Force”-Unity is our Strength.

Manoir Alexandria Hotel

GM: I was recently in a relationship with a Haitian from the diaspora. When I mentioned to her that we should go to Haiti and help, she categorically said no. It was obvious that she is scared of her own country and perhaps even of her own people living in Haiti. Is this fear widespread amongst Haitians from the diaspora, and if it is – why?

MG: Earlier I mentioned “dechoucage”-breaking into homes- which began during Aristide’s campaign in 1990. The situation never stopped and has escalated to kidnapping. Apparently, it is very dangerous in Haiti in regards to kidnappings. As soon as you arrive at the airport, if you are wearing jewelry, you might be followed. I was told not to go. People are desperate right now, they are in survival mode. I know when I am hungry, I get in a bad mood, most people do. Now how about if you have no shelter, just a tent with mud flood everywhere, gasoline at around $6.5 a gallon, a small bag of rice at $5.00 etc. Then you see UN troops, NGOs personals such as the ones working for Oxfam, World Vision, the Red Cross, not to mention celebrities and government officials living in the still standing houses and paying up to $3,000.00 a month of the world-sent money. I think I would be upset as well, and I would be thinking of whatever I can do to support myself and my family. I am not saying that it is right to kidnap or steal, but there are some very big problems in Haiti right now. I do not blame the Haitian woman you mentioned who seems to be afraid to go back. I must say, many Haitians of the diaspora are as discouraged as the ones living in Haiti in whatever condition. Many Haitians from all over the world feel helpless, hopeless and have a huge amount of lack of faith. This misery did not begin with the earthquake. It has been a longtime in the making, with so many unimaginable tragedies going on. To just go to Haiti, as I want to do, takes a whole lot of bravery. First Lady, Sofia Martelly, has done some incredible work with her “Roses Foundation”. The Martellys effort to clean up Haiti’s endemic corruption has to be admired, but corruption runs deep in Haiti and it will take more than the police to deal with it. Haiti needs its own army, in addition to Haitian psychologists, Haitian psycho-educators and Haitian educators, and last but not least Haitian actors. Theater and film have always had a great deal of unconscious influence on people, it is a form of psychology. It is my opinion that artistic expression can be a great tool amongst others. If sending money to Haiti is a great thing to do, it is, however, not enough.

GM: Do you  think the role played by foreign aid, either from countries, the UN or NGOs have been and are beneficial for Haiti’s long term future?

MG: No. Opportunist is the word. I see these people as living the good Haitian life in Haiti that Haitians cannot live in their own country. The Haitian culture is very complex. Now, you must understand that people from different cultures, either the US or elsewhere, shouldn’t go to Haiti thinking they can show Haitians how to live their lives and rebuild their own country. Let’s face it, none of groups of people had ever been to Haiti before the earthquake, and if so very few of them. They never built houses in the Caribbeans, and if so, not in Haiti. I am sure when these groups realized and saw the beaches, and most of all Haitians’ innocence and kindness, they realized how much they could take advantage of them. Saying this, I am also talking about young children, hungry young children giving themselves for a little piece of bread. Yes, it is going on right now as we speak! And it makes me sick to my stomach. If you know what I mean. These people, maybe not all, but most of them are polluting my country of origin by taking advantage of Haitians. The sunshine is one thing, but poverty is the other. The Americas and the rest of the world never ever accepted Haiti because it was the first independent black country in the world which won its freedom by defeating Napoleon Bonaparte. Why? Because it was very important that black people in the United States were never made aware of what freedom truly is. This has always been. America’s dream was always to gain control over Haiti, but it will never happen because Haitians have a revolutionary spirit, and it will never be taken away from them. The UN, the NGOs, and foreign aid should be carefully watched and monitored, held accountable and even investigated because they are abusing Haitians and underestimating the people’s intelligence. Haitians are very smart people. As an example, when Haitians come to the United States, after seven years they own property. Give Haitians possibilities and all is done and happening!

Cook at the Manoir Alexandria Hotel

GM: You are doing a great deal to help Haiti financially, do you feel that your contributions have made an impact?

MG: Oh no. Not necessarily. I decided to bring my knowledge and professional work experience to Haiti a long time ago. It is the reason why I went to live in Haiti in 1989. I obtained a role in a soap opera because I wanted everyone to know me in Haiti. I left Haiti under difficult circumstances knowing and promising to a group of children living on the streets of Petionville that I would come back and do something. I worked in Cite Soleil, a rural area in need, which school of 3,000 children was started by a French Canadian priest while I was in Haiti. I went and sat in a number of little schools-we call these schools “Ecoles Payi” (countryside schools). After my research in Haiti, I wrote an educational program with the hope of implementing it there. The program is based on appurtenance, self esteem, self sufficiency and the love of your country. I studied psycho-education, therefore I applied my knowledge to this program. Anyway, it didn’t work and I was never able to get the educational program off the ground. So instead, I got into real estate thinking that I would sell a substantial amount to make enough money and go to Haiti to to implement the program. I decided to give 10 percent of every completed  real estate transactions to non-profit organizations such as schools, orphanages and private groups located in Haiti. The Haitian people, either living in Haiti or from the diaspora, are the real backbone of Haiti, not foreign aid. If we stick together, as a united people, we will make it happen.

Bourdon Road

GM: For more than a decade now, Haiti has been called “The Republic of NGOs”. How do you think that your proud nation, which was the first one to win its independence from a colonial power and freedom from slavery, can regain its confidence and the control of its own affairs?

MG: I just said it, Haitians are the master of their own faith. It is interesting, the existing problems can turn out to be one of the best things that happened to Haiti. But, it is up to us, Haitians, to turn it around. We have to get rid of the crutches to be able to walk again. Some people have to leave and let President Martelly guide our country. President Martelly went from playing keyboard in small gatherings, then raised himself to a musician known worldwide to finally become president of a country, and he did all of this without cheating. I think it can be called very, very smart. Let him do his work, please. Now, being called whatever names doesn’t mean anything to Haitians, because we have heard it all. When you say something negative about a country like Haiti, in reality, it is trying to raise people’s insecurities. In other words, the very people doing the labeling are insecure, not us Haitians! Labeling by using cheap tactics of inferiority versus superiority never worked, especially with a country like Haiti. Haiti’s nickname is “The Pearl of the Caribbeans” (“La Perle des Antilles”), and always will be. The Pearl of the Caribbeans has been our nickname for centuries.

Maggy Gousse Present

GM: Are you planning to move back to Haiti, and do you think more people from the diaspora should do so?

MG: I must say, I am American born, French Canadian raised, and most of all Haitian, but I can not say I will move back to Haiti. Haiti is the country of my heart, the only place on the planet where I can take my shoes off and feel the soil go right through my veins. It is home. I will always go back to Haiti regardless of the situation. As a matter of fact, if all goes well, I will be there in April. I will do whatever I need to do to be useful. I want to go so much, it is my unconscious everyday mantra. I miss the people, I miss the water- I always pray in the water, I miss the food, I miss the noise, the roosters, I just miss being there! I believe most in the diaspora probably feel very much like me, however, we must become examples and just simply go. The more we go, the more others will. I really believe so. Most Haitians have plans to retire to Haiti. My parents made plans and they actually did move back to Haiti when they retired. They are both resting in peace now, but I am sure there presence is here as I share this with you. Haitians are not that fearful. There is some selfishness like everyone else living a better life elsewhere, but nostalgia often sits in. I am sure of this. I see it whenever there is a Haitian gathering around town. We all go with so much passion and all we talk about is who is going and when! It is simply a matter of time. As matter of fact, I have a very good friend, Gesly Leveque- I understand you are going to interview Gesly in NJP’s 3rd installments of  your Haitian diaspora stories- who was also living in Los Angeles and recently returned to Haiti. She is working on housing development and is very happy being back home. It is indeed very possible to return and make it happen.

BITAHR is a non-profit organization which ambitious goal is to eliminate commercial sexual exploitation. The event, Fighting Trafficking Through Film, organized in collaboration with The Suffolk University Law School, will be held at the Modern Theater at Suffolk University in Boston. The three days forum will showcase domestic and foreign films about sex trafficking. BITAHR has also invited speakers to the international event. More than 40 guests speakers will participate in the forum’s discussions to share their own experiences and perspectives, and to help define coherent strategies to fight human trafficking both domestically and globally. The speakers will include politicians, authors, survivors, and international activists against human trafficking. Among them will be Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Kathryn Bolkovac, Representative Eugene O’ Flaherty, Rachel Lloyd (survivor and author), and  Siddharth Kara (UN adviser on human trafficking). BITAHR’s Executive Director, Rebecca Merrill, took the time to give News Junkie Post an exclusive interview.

Gilbert Mercier: What triggered originally your interest in fighting human trafficking?

Rebecca Merrill: I was driven by the impact that “The Day My God Died”, a film featuring Anuradha Koirala and Maiti Nepal, had on me both personally and professionally. After nearly a year of research, and the development of my own documentary during law school, I had the opportunity to sit with Anuradha and to discuss life’s passion and how it often drives one’s career. During that meeting, Anuradha admonished me to listen to my heart and to open my ears. Her voice was delicate but commanding as she asked me simply: “How can you not be passionate when you listen to the stories of these women and girls? How can you not do something about it?” Those words, the stories had a lasting impact on my academic studies and now professional life. Alas. I think it is a wonderful complement to pair the human voice and images with the research and theory.

GM: Sex trafficking is a multi-billion global business which is getting more and more controlled by large organized crime networks and no longer by small time local pimps. Do you think we need a global strategy to fight such sophisticated criminal organizations, and if so what would you recommend?

RM: Absolutely. Second only to drug trafficking, human trafficking is the largest criminal industry in the world, and it is the fastest growing. We need a holistic and multifaceted international strategy just to keep up with the growth of the industry, never mind to eradicate it. There are numbers of non-profits, agencies and individuals doing great work around the world. That said, we really need national governments and law enforcement agencies to work together against trafficking. We need governments to recognize that victims of human trafficking are victims in need of social services, not criminals subject to detention and deportation. There are circumstances where return to countries of origin is appropriate, but agencies have the responsibility to ensure return isn’t directly into the hands of the victim’s traffickers. All too often, victims are simply deported to the countries from which they were recruited, most often subjecting them to the same vulnerable circumstances and a mixture of societal shamming, family rejection and condemnation, and an inability to rejoin the workforce. Moreover, the circumstances giving rise to vulnerability are not typically eliminated but rather exponentially and detrimentally worse. If  governments worked together to provide victims with social services after exploitation abroad and at home, re-exploitation would not be such a threat. In addition, while we are seeing an increase in transnational crimes of exploitation, the “independent contractors”, if you will, still operate and regularly increase in number. This can be linked in large part to economics. Where there is a profit, particularly of the margin available through CSE ( Commercial Sex Exploitation), entrepreneurial criminals will find a way.

GM: Some countries, such as Germany, have legalized prostitution. Do you think it is a valid approach to end sex trafficking?

RM: No. I cannot recognize the legalization of prostitution as a valid way to end the sex trade. Legalization would not end modern-day slavery; it would simply empower pimps to continue manipulation and exploitation with less likelihood of identification because the line between “legal” and “illegal” would be so fuzzy. The rationale for legalizing prostitution is relatively easy to understand. Legislators, often pushed by well meaning advocates, may believe or accept that prostitution will happen regardless of legalization and, if legal, the laws will at least document the industry and license the “workers”, making it theoretically easier to provide healthcare and other services to prostituted women. There is also the feminist argument that a woman should be “empowered” to do what she wishes with her body, including selling sex. These arguments are flawed. Legalizing prostitution does not reduce the enormously harmful physical and psychological effects that being sexually exploited inherently caused. Women and girls who engage in prostitution do not choose to do so. The idea that prostitution is a choice does not take into account that in order to choose something, one needs to have several options to choose from. The majority of those in the sex trade- admittedly not 100 percent- in countries where prostitution is legal and illegal alike, are vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation due to a complex set of circumstances often including economic desperation, unrest or instability in homes or even communities or countries, psychological manipulation and more, not because it is a viable choice.

GM: Traffickers make an extensive use of the Internet and even of social media site to lure, recruit and exploit victims. Should this type of activities be more closely monitored by law enforcement agencies with perhaps the help of anti-trafficking organizations, such as yours, acting as a network of whistle blowers?

RM: It is true. Traffickers may use social media sites to recruit underage girls into commercial sexual exploitation. Once recruited, sites like Backpage.com are used to advertise sex with the exploited individuals – children and adult alike. The illegal age of children is disguised using language like “youthful”, “fresh”, “barely legal”, “tight body”. The Internet provides anonymity for the exploiting pimps and endless “choice” and anonymous shopping and exploiting for johns who are purchasing sex. In some areas, ordering sex is easier and cheaper than ordering a pizza. Screen names and pseudonyms make it harder to identify and prosecute pimps. In addition the “handles” provide protection for johns from the negative stigma that buying sex should carry. In reality, companies that facilitate this type of exploitation like Backpage, for instance, are just as guilty as the pimps that exploit minors, because they too, are making hundreds of thousands of dollars off the sale of the bodies of very young girls. Not only should law enforcement agencies monitor this type of behavior, they should shut down websites. The problem is that regardless of our pointing out that commercial sexual exploitation is happening online, the criminal facilitation must be prosecuted and punished. In addition, advertisers must take some responsibility – if they voice their opinions by pulling ads and affecting the facilitators’ bottom line profitability.

GM: In a phone conversation we had sometime ago, you mentioned that we are living in a “hyper-sexual” world fueled by popular culture, online pornography etc, and that it could be one of the reasons why a substantial number of men seek commercial sex or indulge in “sex tourism”. Can you please elaborate on this?

RM: Of course. Over the past few decades we have seen a shift from the most risque magazines including one spread with a suggestively clad woman, to a society where pre-adolescent boys see literally hundreds of thousands of images of nudity before they even reach middle school. When sex education comes in the form of magazines, the Internet, song lyrics and popular culture instead of from teachers and parents, it can be a very confusing topic for young men and women alike. By hypersexualizing children at a disturbingly young ages, we have diminished the gap between buying the idea of sex in the form of a magazine subscription or a calendar to buying the act of sex in a massage parlor, in a hotel or car, or even in one’s own home. When we see so many sexual images of women in circumstances that suggest that they are happy naked, exposed, in sexually dominated manners, we are normalizing the notion that girls and women should be dominated, subordinated and subject to sexually violent and aggressive behavior. These progressive and persistent images make it harder to believe that exploited are victims. Moreover, products like “loungerie” or “lingerie for girls” for four to six year old girls feed into this idea of children as sex objects and “sexy” as ideal for children.

GM: A cynical view of commercial sex, and a stereotypical rationalization of it, would be to say that prostitution will never be eradicated because it is “the oldest profession in the world”. Do you think, one day, men and women will be able to free themselves from the sick correlation between sex and money?

RM: It is true that commercial sex has existed in various forms over centuries throughout most if not all countries. It is also true that women have historically been subjected to oppression, domination and silencing. I am not sure that as a society we will ever be able to eradicate the correlation between sex and money. It is my hope, however, that as this topic becomes a priority for the feminist movement and society at large- and as women everywhere continue to fight for equal opportunities- that one day women and girls will have sufficient opportunities that they will not be so vulnerable to coercion and forced to prostitution. Females need sufficient opportunity to utilize their skills and abilities in a productive way that positively contributes to society. It is also our organization’s goal to spread awareness- in collaboration with a global coalition- such that it minimizes demand by educating purchasers on the harmful, long-term repercussions their exploitative conduct has on children, families, and the community.

GM: In countries of origins for victims of traffickers, socio-economic factors play a huge role. Does your organization reach out to local organizations in human trafficking hubs such as Cambodia, Nepal, the Dominican Republic, Lithuania, Estonia, Nigeria and Ghana?

RM: We are cognizant of trafficking atrocities around the world and do our best to spread awareness about it in each and among all countries. We are mindful, however, that to utilize our resources effectively we cannot work in every country or every issue in the complex effort to combat trafficking. We focus most intensely on domestic trafficking, that which happens within the borders of the United States. We are also working in conjunction with a Congolese-US NGO, Promote Congo, on a program that will focus on aid for girls and boys being trafficked for labor or sexual exploitation in the artisanal mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

GM: Do you think, realistically, that human trafficking can be one day abolished and how?

RM: At present human trafficking is extremely profitable for exploiters. If we apply a standard cost benefit analysis, we can see that the economic benefits of human trafficking far outweigh the miniscule risk(cost) of being prosecuted and the repercussions that might follow. As long as human trafficking is extremely profitable, criminals will continue to take the calculated risks. To reduce the occurrence of sex trafficking we must continue to raise the cost associated with prosecution, so that the risk of being caught and punished is no longer worth the economic benefits of trafficking while simultaneously reducing the revenue. To achieve this, we must change the way society looks at trafficking. We must realize that the victims of this exploitation are just that-victims. Instead of thinking of labor trafficking as poor individuals deserving of unfair labor standards or girls that “wear too much make-up” or “parade around in provocative clothing” as criminal prostitutes, we must identify these exploited people as victims and publish the traffickers. Without this identification, victims will continue to be plagued with negative stigmas, fear and vulnerability-some of the factors that very likely led to the exploitation at the onset.

GM: It is your organization’s first film forum. Do you have other events in preparation?

RM: BITAHR 2012 Film Forum: “Fighting Trafficking Through Film” is the second annual forum. Our first forum in December 2010 engaged audiences in compelling discussions. We also host periodic benefit concerts called (human) Traffic Jams, where we use music to bring together a community of young adults to raise awareness for the cause and begin a conversation that we hope continues throughout circles of friends, students, colleagues, neighbors, families, and more. This ongoing dialogue shines a light in what is currently hidden in plain sight-the commercial sexual exploitation of people. We also screen individual films throughout the year followed with gripping panels of experts in the field, again to generate a critical conversation and a reverberating call to action to end human trafficking. This March, we will host a conference on International Women’s Day entitled “Ending Impunity for Sexual Violence”. In addition, we will host a three part film series on organ trafficking in collaboration with a local university.

Editor’s Note: Photographs one and two (from top down) by Gilbert Mercier, other photographs and illustrations courtesy of BITAHR.

‘We have a dream of a better world. Let us sleep so we have the energy to create it.‘

Participants of Occupy DC at McPherson Square, both sleeping members and non-sleeping members, will defend the public space we have used as our center for activism on this Monday, January 30^th. The National Park Service has given notice that they will be giving citations to – i.e. likely arresting – occupiers at noon for having camping material in an attempt to shut down our movement. Occupy DC will peacefully resist this politically motivated attempt to suppress the free speech of the disenfranchised 99%.

The 1%, led by Darrell Issa, the wealthiest member of Congress, has launched an attack upon the free speech of those of us who disagree with the direction in which our country is going but cannot afford to give unlimited contributions to Super PACs or have lobbyists write legislation for us. In occupying public spaces we act as an ongoing challenge to the K Street lobbyists and elected officials undermining our democracy through the corrosive influence of money in politics.

We give shelter and voice to those who have had none. Attempted foreclosure upon our home will not solve homelessness or improve our health and safety. Nor will it quiet us.

At a time in American history when corporations are deemed to be people and money is considered free speech, structures sustaining people who are working to improve our democracy should be equally protected by society. Occupy DC is a voice for the 99%, whose voices have been kept out of the back rooms and muzzled in our economic and political conversations.

It’s no accident that the 1% earned 60 percent of all new income in the last three decades. The system is rigged against us, the 99%, and it will take more than voting to fix. On Monday we will defend free speech and our vision of a just society from attempted repression by the 1% – by any peaceful means necessary.

Follow #defend99 and #J30 hashtags on Twitter for live updates and Livestream URLs.  Also follow on Facebook.

January 26, 2012, will mark the one year anniversary of the first protest in Syria which led to the mass movement that erupted two months later, on March 15, and has drawn the attention of the world to the plight of the Syrian people, and the brutality of the Al-Assad regime.  According to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, 4100 civilians have been murdered by government forces since March 15, 2011.

On January 18 the Zabadani ceasefire was broken.  More deaths are being reported daily.  As thousands have taken to the streets in support of an armed rebel group, the Free Syrian Army, Nabil Elaraby, Head of the Arab League, warned of civil war.  Once again the Arab League is looking to the global community to support the citizens of one of the countries it represent.

The team of Official observers from the Arab League is falling apart.  If they weren’t one of the 12 already attacked and injured by Assad supporters, they’ve either quit or are seriously reconsidering the wisdom of continuing their role.

The last time we saw this scenario play out the Arab League ended up requesting intervention by the United Nations.  The United Nations then deferred to NATO.  What started out as the global community intervening to aid civilians being brutally oppressed by a dictator became a continuation of Western colonialism and a windfall for big oil.

Syria is an ally of Iran, and is strategically placed in the volatile region.  As tensions mount with Iran over the Iranian threat to close the straits of Hormuz, western intervention in Syria takes on another dimension of motivation in addition to the rights and security of the Syrian people.  Just like in Libya.

The mandate of the Arab League observers is set to expire and their report is due out today.  Any call for intervention has the potential to trigger the same series of events that took place in Libya.  The Arab League to the UN, and the UN to NATO.  Western strategists may now consider the benefits of controlling an Iranian satellite over conducting a proxy war with Iran through Israel.

Control over Syria presents a better possibility of having leverage with Iran while not risking conflict with China, an ally of Iran’s that depends heavily on Iranian oil.

Once again, the protection of Human Rights have only earned the potential intervention of the international community as an excuse to further empire and exploit resources at the expense of the vulnerable that require the assistance.  If it wasn’t for oil, Syria would likely receive all the apathy and depraved indifference that the people of eastern Africa and Haiti have received.

Al-Assad, and his unnecessarily brutal tactics, have proven to be such a benefit to the machinations of western colonial powers that, if he doesn’t suffer the same fate as Qadaffi at the hands of the Syrian people, he may just have earned himself an estate in Saudi Arabia protected by American military contractors.

Sex slavery is not limited to brothels is Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines or the Dominican Republic. In countries where prostitution is legal, like Germany, traffickers, pimps and dangerous organized crime organizations such as the Russian mafia or ethnic Albanians are controlling most sex workers, even the ones who claim to be “independent”. According to recent estimates, there are currently around 200,000 children between the age of 12 to 15 who are sold for sex by pimps/traffickers every year in the United States. The problem is  epidemic, and it often hides in plain sight.

The Obama administration- under the impulse of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton- has declared January 2012 the “human trafficking prevention month”. Even so it marks a desire from the US government to focus on the issue, the problem is so vast and global that this action is unlikely to make a dent. It is likely that the only positive impact will be to raise public awareness on the issue. By issuing its Trafficking in Person Report 2011, the State Department has been active in tracking human trafficking worldwide, country by country, and unlike previous reports the current report had the honesty to identify the United States as one of the hubs for modern day slavery.

Sex Trafficking, Globalization and the Internet

Until the communication revolution of the Internet, sex trafficking was mainly confined to brothels and street corners. But since then, the information super-highway has given criminal organizations the tool to turn sex trafficking into a multi-billions a year enterprise. It is more profitable than drug and weapon trafficking for a very simple reason: once a 100 kilos shipment of cocaine or heroin has been sold in the streets, it is gone. On the other hand, the “investment” made by human traffickers on the buying end- in women or children- will keep turning a profit over a fairly long period of time. Often large criminal organizations work together to control the recruitment of the victims, the transit and the enslavement at the destination point. The Russian mafia and Albanian gangs have the upper hand in Europe, and often work in association with recruiters/pimps in the Middle-East-where the biggest hub/distribution point is Beirut, Lebanon- to provide Estonian, Ukrainian or Lithuanian women, which are in “high demand”,for the rich “buyers” of the Gulf.

In Africa, the two biggest sources for human trafficking are currently Nigeria and Ghana. In a scheme that is more or less universal, women are recruited locally- often by other women- under the pretense of job opportunities aboard. But once they have reached their destination, either Italy, Greece, Belgium or Germany, their passports are taken away by pimps, they do not have legal immigration status, and they are forced to prostitute themselves-usually after being severely beaten and raped- to pay off the debt of their transit to Europe. According to a recent report from the British police, 75 percent of the sex trade in the UK is controlled by brutal Albanian gangs. In Germany, 75 percent of sex workers come from former Eastern block countries.

In the West, the Internet has become the number one platform for buying women and children for sex. Victims, from various countries of origin, are trafficked through pseudo-independent, but in reality pimp controlled escort services, chat rooms, and even “dating” web sites freely advertizing on the internet with ads such as “Meet Russian women online”. In the United States, there are countless brothels disguised as “massage parlors”, and in the burgeoning strip club business industry, “exotic dancers” are in fact turning tricks in VIP rooms. In Texas, migrant women from central America- either from Guatemala or El Salvador- are lured into crossing the US border by Coyotes working with local pimps, Mexican gangs and Salvadorian/US gang MS13, and will likely end up being sex slaves in Cantinas or massage parlors.

Human Trafficking: A Tragic Symptom of a Broken World

The cynics will say that prostitution is the “oldest profession in the world”. However, very few women enter this line of work willingly. In all cases they are forced into it by adverse socio-economic circumstances. The fall of the Soviet Union, and the rapid rise of Russian organize crime in its aftermath has flooded Western Europe and the Middle-East with an unprecedented influx of former Eastern block women seeking the dream of a better life and hoping to support their families back home. It is the same for poor women and children in rural areas of Thailand, Cambodia or the Philippines who are bought by local recruiters- for sometime as little as $150.00- and then shipped to Japan where they will become sex slaves in brothels controlled by Yakuzas.

Sophisticated criminal organizations are exploiting a situation of despair created by a global system where human beings are not much more than a resource and a commodity. Mega international corporations have outsourced countless jobs to seek a labor pool which can be paid slave wages, just like global organized crime has found a gold mine in human trafficking. And fundamentally, Albanian gangs, the Russian mafia, MS13 or the Mexican drug cartels are applying the same brutal rule of “free market” capitalism-which is to provide a product for a demand-with 30 millions enslaved human beings.

By Steven Forester

Since Haiti’s devastating quake two years ago today, many Republicans and Democrats have been urging President Obama to take a simple step to save lives and speed recovery, one which would cost virtually nothing, reunite families, and help thousands in Haiti.

Ten editorial boards have urged the Obama administration to take the step, as have nine U.S. Senators, the chairpersons of the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs committees, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Philadelphia’s City Council, 87 members of the U.S. Congress in a December 15 letter, eight Florida Congresspersons including Senators Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson in a December 22 letter, the Center for Global Development and many others.

But for two full years administration officials have stalled them and Haitian American leaders, saying the step is “under consideration,” in effect a way of saying “no.”

What’s the proposal? Consider this: 112,000 people in Haiti are beneficiaries of family-based visa petitions which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has already approved but who nevertheless remain on a 3 to 10 year wait list in Haiti, where many may not survive given the dangerous conditions there.

As it has for others, DHS easily could and should create a Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program to expedite reunifying them with their petitioning families here. DHS has approved them for U.S. residency and all have a U.S. family support network in place. And for any who, after paying a large fee to the U.S. Treasury, would get a work permit and a job, their remittances — the life-saving money from Haiti’s diaspora which is its most important single source of revenue — would help ten times their number in Haiti.

A July 17, 2010 Boston Globe editorial called this the “most effective way” to show U.S. leadership on Haiti. And a March 22, 2010 Miami Herald editorial — the first of three by that paper urging this, the most recent of which appeared yesterday — asserted, “There is no valid argument for failing to move quickly on this front.” That was 22 months ago.

The United States has welcomed hundreds of thousands of Indochinese, Kosovar and Cuban refugees in recent decades, and there is even more direct precedent for creating this program for the Haitians.

In 2007, DHS created the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program, under which since 2009 over 30,000 approved Cuban beneficiaries have been paroled. Many of the editorials now urging a similar Haitian program have decried the “double standard” in not also expediting Haitian family reunification, Los Angeles Times editors for example asking, “Why the disparate treatment?”

On November 2, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano was urged by Massachusetts leaders, for the third time in six weeks, to create a Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program to “mirror” the Cuban one. That state’s 9-member black and Latino Legislative Caucus wrote:

We are deeply concerned about the precarious status of many Haitian children, elders and families as they wait in Haiti to be reunited with their families in the United States. As you know, for many, the conditions in Haiti since the devastating earthquake of 2010 remain unstable and even dangerous. Establishing a Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program (HFRPP), modeled after the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program, would alleviate this crisis by simply allowing Haitians already approved for visas to wait for them in the United States with their families rather than in Haiti.

Their letter cited the proposed program’s “economic benefits,” including “sending more remittances home to Haiti to foster economic development with greater speed.”

Massachusetts Governor Patrick wrote urging Napolitano to do this on September 22, as did that state’s U.S. Senators John Kerry and Scott Brown and U.S. Representatives Michael Capuano, Barney Frank, Stephen Lynch, James McGovern, Edward Markey and John Oliver on October 25.

U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairperson Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican, with three other Republicans and four Democrats including John Conyers and Howard Berman, urged her to do this back on March 8, 2010. And Ros-Lehtinen and still other Republicans were among the 87 U.S. Congresspersons including Senators Durbin, Cardin, Kerry and Gillibrand, fifteen representatives from New York and many others who on December 15, 2011 wrote President Obama urging him to instruct Secretary Napolitano to take this action.

But the White House has ignored these calls, as it has the 14 editorials by the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, San Antonio Express News, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Miami Herald, Newsday, Star-Ledger, and Palm Beach Post editorial boards and resolutions by the City of North Miami, Philadelphia’s City Council, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Virtually every Congressional Black Caucus member signed the December 15 letter. But their appeal, like that of Haitian-American leaders who’ve implored the White House for two years to authorize this, has so far been unavailing.

In urging this low-cost step, the authors of “Migration as a Tool for Disaster Recovery: A Case Study on U.S. Policy Options for Post-Earthquake Haiti” (Center for Global Development, June 2011) noted:

Rather than waiting 3 to 10 years for a visa in Haiti, beneficiaries could be paroled into the United States where they can be reunited with family and have employment authorization.

The proposal has merit not only for the humanitarian purpose it would serve but also to enable Haitians to send more remittances home and foster economic development with greater speed.

Instituting a family reunification parole program for Haitians is simpler than it may appear, since it requires no congressional action.

The Cuban program’s rationale of saving lives at sea and proviing for orderly migration applies with equal force to Haiti.

No one would get a “green card” any sooner — like the Cubans, they’d just be able to wait for them here w/their families rather than in Haiti.

And yet another resolution urging the Administration to do this is before New York’s City Council today.

When will the White House instruct DHS Secretary Napolitano to create this program or at least start expeditiously paroling the most vulnerable of these DHS-approved, “legal” Haitians into the United States?

Two days after the earthquake, President Obama promised U.S. leadership to help Haiti. It will be promised again today. But platitudes ring hollow to tens of thousands of Haitian Americans still waiting to be reunited with their loved ones, who remain in danger despite having been approved for U.S. residency. It’s not too late for the administration to give Haitians equal treatment by expediting Haitian family reunification to save lives and help Haiti recover.

Since Haiti’s January 2010 earthquake, the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) has led efforts to persuade the White House to create a Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program.

After the blotched US air strike of November 26, Pakistan retaliated by shutting down US supply routes to Afghanistan, and expelled US personals at the Shansi air base which the United States used as a base to remotely operate drones targeting Pakistani Taliban near the border with Afghanistan. Tuesday’s attack is “more than a crime, it is a mistake” committed by the Obama administration, it will only help the cause of the Taliban and reinforce the already strong anti-American sentiment in Pakistan.

Since his election in 2008, President Obama’s track record has been to expend the war in Afghanistan to Pakistan, and by doing so has turned an already unstable country into a quickly ticking time bomb. It is the concept well defined by the term AfPak, which by its very definition made Pakistan part of  the military operations in Afghanistan. In 2011 alone, there were around 65 US drone strikes in Pakistan. The 2009 Nobel Peace prize winner’s  weapon of choice is the drone which Washington views as “critical in its global fight against Al-Qaeda”. Despite claims of the contrary made by the Obama administration, human rights organizations, both in Pakistan and abroad, have condemned drone strikes and have all reported heavy civilian casualties as a consequence of drone attacks.

If mistakes, such as the relentless drone attacks in Pakistan, are made by the very top of the food chain in Washington, crimes and misdeeds are also committed on a regular basis by the US military on the ground. On Wednesday, a video surfaced showing US troops urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. US defense secretary Leon Panetta, condemned the action of US troops on Thursday.

“I have seen the footage, and I find the behavior depicted in it utterly deplorable. Those found to have engaged in such conduct will be held accountable to the fullest extent,” said Panetta.

However, despite the promise of a probe, the damage has been done. This video will increase anti-Americans sentiments not only in Afghanistan, but also in Pakistan and, at large, in the Muslim world.

How will Americans feel when they act in solidarity, during the May Day 2012 actions, with the very people whom are the recipients of the lost jobs Americans mourn?  Will they think that their brothers and sisters on the other side of the planet mock them?  Or, that they are simply the victims if a regional system even easier for corporations to exploit?  Will they excuse their obvious common cause out of hand, because of nationalism, prejudice, or just plain ignorance?  Will they resort to the old, tired, intellectually dishonest refrain that it’s “not my country, not my problem?”  Or, will it finally become a reality for them that we are all, the workers and middle-class of the world, the victims of a predatory capitalist system that knows no borders, and gives no allegiance to any country, or nation, and uses us all, one against the other, so that it may exploit us all equally?

Solidarity, in and of itself, is an enlightening experience.  Often more so than the end to which it is a means.

American efforts, in the 1880′s and 1890′s, to mount any opposition against corporate control of their government failed because they were convinced to act on their own ignorance and fear and make racism a dividing factor that eventually brought their movement to its knees.  Since that time, over and over again, religion, racism, and every other ugly manifestation of the culture war, a sort of societal cannibalism, a self-eating disorder caused by narrow minds, has succeeded in limiting the effectiveness of every best chance we’ve had at emancipation.

The almost 1.2 billion people of India have a rich history of political activism.  Like many giants, it may take what seems like a lot to arouse them, but when they are, and this particularly goes for the large rural population of India, they become fully, and fearlessly engaged.

The middle class in India has disappeared.  The wealth disparity greater than any of the countries currently rising up against unemployment, underemployment, corrupt politicians, and service devastating austerity measures.  The discontent hangs in the air.  The anger simmers.  A groundswell of organizing has begun.  India will be the next powder keg to blow and join in the global uprising.  The Indian people aren’t likely to be satisfied just setting up tents.

Well over half of America’s fortune 500 companies outsource jobs to India.  Greater than four million jobs in IT alone, and many more in the massive call center industry.  Solidarity with the global May Day actions have the potential to grind many services to a halt.

This is not a spectator sport. We must act in concert.  Our sisters and brothers from Bangladesh to Moscow, from Sao Paulo to Manila, From Belfast to Mexico, and from Los Angeles to Berlin, will be taking to the streets.  We must do it in solidarity.

While the media tries to portray the Occupy Movement as a temper tantrum of teenage angst played out in  parks around the globe, the movement itself has grown beyond their narrow comprehension.  The global nature of the movement is no longer just a visceral reaction to social and economic injustice.  The movement is becoming a well organized network poised to become the necessary change they want to see in the world.

Last summer, Britain was engulfed by riots in the very heart of London for more than a week. Even so the riots were provoked by police brutality and racial tensions, they were a symptom of  a wide discontent and of a deeply rooted social malaise. Europe’s leaders are focusing their attentions on budget deficit, credit rating and short sighted economical concerns. But by doing so, they are seeing just one tree and not the forest, and are committing enormous mistakes in a desperate attempt to shore up a castle made of sand. On one hand, widening deficits are forcing more borrowing from EU governments, but-in a blatant contradiction- on the other hand, the austerity measures, once fully implemented, will put economic growth even further out of reach.

In Germany, Chancellor Merkel had a gloomy New Year’s Eve forecast for the EU. Merkel said that “Europe was facing its harshest test in decades” adding that 2012 “Will no doubt be more difficult than 2011″. Merkel is now setting up the tone in Europe, and her pessimistic forecast was echoed in Italy and Greece by the two financial technocrats in charge: Prime Ministers Monti and Papademos. Indeed, the economic picture is bleak for Europe, and most economists-on both sides of the Atlantic- are forecasting a recession for 2012.

In France, the country good credit rating is likely to be downgraded. France’s credit downgrade could happen as early as mid-January, and it will unquestionably push France’s government to implement drastic austerity measures similar to the ones in the works in Greece, Italy, and Spain. However, France has a long and solid tradition of revolution and protests, and no matter which French parties try to implement unpopular measures, French people will take their anger to the streets. Europe, at large, by sticking to its overall austerity plan, is rejecting the Keynesian economic stimulus approach favored by the United States since the 2008 global financial crash.

Under the impulse of Merkel, every governments in Europe are imposing belt tightening measures of spending cuts-especially in social programs- and of property tax and income tax increases. By doing so, European governments are bending backwards to send a reassuring message to the “masters of the universe” controlling financial markets. On Friday, Spain announced a larger than expected budget deficit for 2011. And on January 9, the two lead EU players, Merkel and Sarkozy, will try to set up a new treaty imposing tight budget requirements on all EU members.

Naturally, the austerity measures across Europe will have the side effect to fuel the Occupy movement. If 2011 was the year of the Arab Spring, and in the United States the year of Occupy Wall Street, Europe could very easily become the new center stage of social unrest which will make the events of May 1968 look pale in comparison. May Day 2012 is an Occupy benchmark, and it is likely to get European’s governments attention.

Religion, and religious institutions, are not only granted undeserved credit for their role in social movements, but are also not afforded the responsibility they deserve for the damage they inflict to the movements they infect, and the communities represented by those movements.  Christians are all too ready to yell about the involvement of Islamic organizations in the Arab Spring, yet, as Occupy Churches spring up in American tent cities, and Occupy Faith groups begin to flourish, they turn a blind eye to the history of hierarchy, misogyny, and homophobia that has plagued revolutionary communities from the early European protestants, to the nationalist Irish under British rule, and the African-American community civil rights movement.

Religions are, by their nature, hierarchical.  They worship a godhead and follow the rules ordained purportedly by that godhead.  They do not arrive at decisions through consensus.  They cannot.  They must obey the rules and dictates of the godhead, and, at most, allow that a select group of god experts interpret those rules and dictates.  Believers, adherents, and followers, do not have a say in what the teachings of the godhead are.  The Occupy Movement is not only leaderless, but, by extension of that, be ‘followerless’ as well.

If any think that the Democratic Party, or MoveOn.org, or large corporate/political/bureaucratic unions are the biggest threats of co-option, they are completely missing what is being allowed to happen right under their nose.

Religion, and religious institutions, represent the greatest threat to the Occupy Movement.  Religious leaders, such as priests, ministers, clerics, clergy, and acolytes et al, exert their leadership by claiming to be fellow followers of an invisible, silent entity that speaks and communicates through them.   They refuse to admit that their godhead is nothing more than a construct of humans, that they exploit, and they fail to explain why their interpretations of the teachings of their supposed singular godhead has as many variations as their are religious leaders.

The advent of interfaith ceremonies and activities clearly demonstrates this hypocrisy.  The all knowing god, that has always been, and always shall be, has either been on a pretty steep learning curve for the past few hundred years or is a human construct that directly reflects the attitudes of the believers and the society they live in.  Supposed adherents to religions, whose holy scriptures claim that their god is the only true god, and that all other religions must be shunned, and whose followers must be either converted or killed, should not be praying together.  Not unless they have the authority to change what their godhead teaches, and demands, through the holy scriptures that claim this to be an offense punishable by death.

Religions are still denying equal rights to women, homosexuals, and any that do not adhere to their doctrines and dogmas.  Is this what the Occupy Movement stands for?  Why are religions being given a carte blanche where others are vigorously denied.  Why are sermons and teachings being allowed that tell Occupiers what they must do rather than make proposals to Occupiers, open those proposals up to critical, clarifying questions, allow themselves to accept friendly amendments, and then seek consensus or be blocked because they violate the fundamental values of the movement?

I was at a gathering of occupiers where speeches were being given by representatives from a variety of community groups.  A representative from a Native American group stood and explained that their community’s spiritual tradition demands a hierarchical structure because their prophecies claim that the four different colors of peoples on the planet would each find their own way, and, that for Native American people, people that share their color, a hierarchical structure was their way.  The group sat silent, most nodded approvingly and thanked the speaker for their wonderful offering.  No one challenged the assertion.

What?  Hierarchy,  segregation, division, and separation… all OK because it’s framed as spiritual, prophetic, and part of someone’s religious belief.  Our societal conditioning does not allow us to challenge even the most egregious violations of our values when they are framed in such terms, apparently.

Religions claim that many movements have come out of their institutions and congregations.  The truth is:  In Ireland, as in America from the time of restoration through the civil rights movement, churches and religious institutions were simply the only community spaces where activists could organize.  The movements occupied the churches out of necessity.  They didn’t see the danger, as we’ve all been programmed not to, with religion.  Now, they as communities, and their movements seeking emancipation, have suffered as a result.

Religions have a prolific history of being just chameleon-like enough to infiltrate entire communities and cultures, adopt their lingo, appropriate their practices and traditions, and then completely usurp and control them.  This cannot be allowed with the Occupy Movement.  This must be aggressively resisted.

Religion should not be Occupying the Occupy Movement.  Intolerance cannot be tolerated, regardless of how it is dressed up and justified.  The Occupy Movement should only be occupying religions as a means of dismantling their destructive and divisive influence over our society and politics, equal to, or greater than, any corporation or financial institution, and introducing the unconditionally equal, personal empowerment of direct democracy and consensus building.  Amen.