Haiti is this close to civil war, and it's mostly thanks to the US-funded "opposition".

The one-sentence version: all the US needs to do to end the "impasse" in Haiti is to threaten to withdraw funding to the opposition, which is refusing to negotiate. They can do this, because they have the support of the US government. So far, the US has only ever condemned Aristide, the democratically elected president.

So now paramilitaries led by known murderous thugs are set to invade the capital, and the US and Canada are doing... nothing!

I've been gathering information about this situation for the past week. The results can be found at Haiti: Five facts and One Appeal.

Below is an email I've been sending out to people. I urge you to do one of the things listed. Keeping eight million people free from another murderous dictatorship is worth a few minutes of your time, if anything is.

[Please forward widely.]

Earlier this week, I sent out an email urging people to take the time to research and understand the crisis in Haiti, and take action.

The situation has become more dire, so now I'm asking everyone to take action on something that is pretty easy to understand:

Paramilitary groups with a murderous history have taken over Haiti's second largest city, and are moving to invade the capital, Port-au-Prince, to overthrow the elected government led by Jean Bertrand Aristide, who is still supported by the vast majority of Haitians. The likely result will be a battle between the armed paramilitaries and the ill-equipped people of Port-au-Prince, who in the past have gathered en masse to prevent an assassination attempt. This battle must not take place.

The US (with Canada as complacent echo) have said that they want the diplomacy to "play out" before intervening. This is a death sentence for democracy in Haiti, and an endorsement of the destruction of the tiny amount of progress that has occurred in Haiti in the past decade.

What you can do:
Understand what's going on, how our governments have actively worked to undermine Haitian democracy, and why. Start here:
http://dominionpaper.ca/haiti

If you're in the US:
Call your elected representative and insist that they support Rep. Maxine Waters' Resolution to "Prevent a Bloodbath in Haiti". More information:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?S6B12388

To find contact information for your Representative or Senator:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

If you're in Canada:
Contact your MP and demand that Canada stop supporting the US in its unconscionable stand on Haiti. To find contact information:
http://canada.gc.ca/directories/direct_e.html

Contact Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham and demand that he stop supporting the US in its attempts to undermine Haitian democracy.
http://www.billgraham.ca/e/contactbill.cfm

Contact the NDP and demand that they take a strong public stand on the Liberals' complicity with a looming humanitarian disaster in Haiti:
http://www.ndp.ca/

If you want to donate for humanitarian relief, MADRE does good work, and they appear to be doing it now, rather than later:
http://www.madre.org/country_haiti_crisis.html

in hope,

Dru and Anthony