Sunday, January 31, 2010

WATCH EVERY DROP COUNTS BENEFIT CONCERT STREAMING LIVE!!






Sign up now at www.peoplecometogether.com/haiti to watch Every Drop Counts LIVE online from Reggie's. Suggested Donation $3. Rhymefest, Fred Hampton Jr, Jean Grae, M1 (Dead Prez), & Many More! For more information visit Reggie's website @ http://www.reggieslive.com/rockclub/index.shtml.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Purchase tickets here and Leaders 3154

Purchase tickets here and Leaders 3154!!

Leaders 1354

Downtown Chicago
672 N. Wells
Chicago, IL 60654
312. 787.7144

http://www.leaders1354.com/

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Every Drop Counts Chicago: Rebel Diaz

The Week in Haiti

Every Drop Counts in URB.com

Every Drop Counts in URB

UN: Haiti government calls off search and rescue

UN: Haiti government calls off search and rescue


By VIVIAN SEQUERA and FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press Writers Vivian Sequera And Frank Jordans, Associated Press Writers 26 mins ago

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Haiti's government has declared the search and rescue phase for survivors of the earthquake over, the United Nations announced Saturday, saying there is little hope of finding more people alive 11 days after much of the capital was reduced to rubble.

The statement from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs came a day after an Israeli team reported pulling a man out of the debris of a two-story home and relatives said an elderly woman had been rescued. Experts say the chance of saving trapped people begins diminishing after 72 hours, but one mother still missing her children said it's too soon to give up.

"Maybe there's a chance they're still alive," said Nicole Abraham, 33, wiping away tears as she spoke of hearing the cries of her children — ages 4, 6 and 15 — for the first two days after the Jan. 12 quake.

Meanwhile Saturday, mourners gathered near the ruins of the shattered cathedral to pay final respects to the capital's archbishop and a vicar in a somber ceremony that doubled as a symbolic funeral for all the dead.

"I came here to pay my respects to all the dead from the earthquake, and to see them have a funeral," said Esther Belizaire, 51, whose cousin is among the dead.

The 7.0-magnitude quake killed an estimated 200,000 people, according to Haitian government figures cited by the European Commission. Countless dead remain buried in thousands of collapsed and toppled buildings in Port-au-Prince, while as many as 200,000 have fled the city of 2 million, the U.S. Agency for International Development reported.

With the local government essentially incapacitated, the U.N. has coordinated rescue efforts alongside the U.S. and teams from around the world. Spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said the Friday afternoon decision does not mean rescue teams still searching for survivors would be stopped from carrying out whatever work they felt necessary.

"It doesn't mean the government will order them to stop. In case there is the slightest sign of life, they will act," Byrs told The Associated Press. She added, however, that "except for miracles, hope is unfortunately fading."

All told, some 132 people were pulled alive from beneath collapsed buildings by international search and rescue teams since the Jan. 12 disaster, she said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said Saturday no decision had yet been taken to halt their search and rescue operations a day after they saved a 21-year-old man who survived in part by drinking his own urine.

With the rainy season on the way, U.N. relief workers are concerned that many Haitians are still homeless and Byers said the focus now will be squarely on providing shelter and medical treatment. About 609,000 people are homeless in the capital's metropolitan area, and the United Nations estimates that up to 1 million could leave Haiti's destroyed cities for rural areas already struggling with extreme poverty.

On Saturday morning, more than 1,000 people, many weeping and clutching handkerchiefs, gathered in a small park for the funerals of Msgr. Joseph Serge Miot, the archbishop of Port-au-Prince, and the vicar Charles Benoit. Classical music wafted over their two closed white caskets covered with flowers.

"This is for everyone," Cleopas Auza said of the ceremony before it began.

Nepthalie Miot, a niece of the archbishop, choked back tears as she described the man who would have worked to comfort the nation after the disaster had he not been killed himself.

"He was a very compassionate person. He tried to help the poor," she told the crowd, which included President Rene Preval, New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan and the Vatican's ambassador to Haiti, Archbishop Bernadito Cleopas Auza.

Only a small number of funerals have been held since the quake, with most people buried anonymously and without ceremony in mass graves on the outskirts of the city, or burned in the streets.

"The hardest thing for us is the smell of all the dead bodies," said Josette Elisias, 45, wearing a red handkerchief to cover her nose and mouth on Saturday as workers cleared rubble and debris from streets with brooms, rakes and wheelbarrows.

Scores of aid organizations, big and small, have stepped up deliveries of food, water, medical supplies and other aid to the homeless and other needy in seaside city.

In the U.S., celebrities and artists made impassioned pleas for charitable donations during an internationally broadcast telethon Friday night.

"The Haitian people need our help," said actor George Clooney, who helped organize the two-hour telecast. "They need to know that they are not alone. They need to know that we still care."

More than a dozen Latin pop stars including Shakira, Ricky Martin, Gloria Estefan, Paulina Rubio, Daddy Yankee and Juanes were to appear Saturday on a special live edition of a popular Univision variety show to raise money for the American Red Cross to help aid earthquake victims.

___

Frank Jordans reported from Geneva. Associated Press writers contributing to this story include Mike Melia, Jonathan M. Katz, Michelle Faul, Alfred de Montesquiou, Paul Haven and Ben Fox in Port-au-Prince; Eliane Engeler in Geneva; Morgan Lee and Charles J. Hanley in Mexico City; and Diaa Hadid in Jerusalem.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Alternative News Sources

Follow Richard Morse, a musician and innkeeper in Haiti who has been tweeting from the ground since the tragedy began.

Democracy Now
Color Lines
Alternet
Black Agenda Report
Naomi Klein
Truth Dig
Tim Wise
Indy Media
Media Matters
Color of Change

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Immortal Technique Essay on Haiti






















From the First of the Blacks to the First of the Whites

(Reflections on the Haitian Revolution & present condition)
By Immortal Technique

Since the recent tragedy that has befallen the proud and persevering nation of Haiti, there has been an outpouring of support followed by a few disturbing falsities being spread about the history of the island and its people. I wrote the following to shed some light on events during and around the Haitian Revolution. Please remember memorizing and reiterating should never pass for learning. Deciphering the significance of individuals and events is what truly teaches us not just about history, but also about ourselves.

There is a wide spectrum of beliefs behind what has caused Haiti to suffer ceaselessly over the years. Some see the problem as being mostly political, bad governance, modern day colonialism, and the perceived necessity to make an example to the world of what a successful slave revolution will get you. There are even those on the fringe who cling to an ancient superstition that the island was freed by a mythological pact with Satan.
In order to shed light on the issue I am forced to go back in time. Obviously not to the beginning of occupational history, but far enough to give others a realistic perspective on Haiti and it’s struggle.

We join a story centuries in the making. It is the year 1794 and the scent of musket powder blows over all of Europe. The French Revolution may have changed the face of the world, but its unintended consequences that influenced its colonies would come to overshadow France’s own glory. It was during this year, on the 4th of February, that France’s First Republic Convention (under pressure from massive slave revolts) decided it had to transcend the stumbling efforts of the ‘enlightened monarchs’ of Europe and abolish slavery. Yet in the customary fashion of our own Declaration of Independence's "We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal," the gesture, much like these words, became a glaring example of self-righteous insincerity. Equality, the fraternal twin brother of Independence, was aborted at the fetal stage of development and the Revolution came to betray itself.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

CONCERT FLYER!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Every Drop Counts Commitee Meeting January 17, 2010



































































































Photo: Dakota Harper

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Introductions

WATER TO HAITI NOW