Earthquake Can’t Silence the
Voices of Haitian Women
An Update By Advisor Maria Suárez
Toro, FIRE
After Lise Marie Dejean, a Haitian
activist from the women¹s organization SOFA, (Haitian Women’s
Solidarity) described all the things that collapsed, all the people,
as well as the historical memory now buried under the debris of the
National Library and the Women¹s Center a journalist asked, “And
then, what is left standing?” Lise Marie looked the journalist in
the eyes, then looked up and said: “The strength of the survivors.”
The most serious loss has been that of
their roots, as Haiti’s historical memory was preserved in the
National Library; the women’s movement’s memory was stored in the
office of ENFOFAM, the first women’s organization in the country.
Fortunately, some of those memories survive in the form of radio, TV,
Internet files and books produced by Latin American and Caribbean
women journalists, who will now give it back to the Haitian women¹s
movement for posterity.
Haitian women also said that with the
loss of three of their leaders, their oral history now lives in the
survivors. We need to interview them and get resources to distribute
those interviews, first in Creole, then translate them into other
languages. Even though they feel devastated by all the losses,
Haitian women have not given up; held up both by the solidarity of so
many and by their own ancestral strength. On March 8th, when
International Women¹s Day is celebrated worldwide, we will honor
three Haitian feminist leaders: Myriam Merlet, Anne Marie Coriolan
and Magalie Marcelin. It is important to have your support for a
massive media campaign. Haitian women have decided to mourn them in
this way, to let them go by ensuring they will remain forever in us
all.
The Feminist International Radio (FIRE)
and the Communication Centre of the Solidarity Camp have received
support from INDUTEL, which allocates radio frequencies and the
technical platform to set up a shortwave radio station. We are now
broadcasting live from Haiti!
The broadcasts will contribute to open
communication channels for women and their communities, so their
voices will be heard - expressing their suffering, survival and
strength; provide access to information about the minimal services
that are provided and communities can coordinate among themselves.
During a crisis, radio can be particularly therapeutic in its role of
listening to people. It can also mobilize solidarity when people
outside Haiti listens to the direct voices of those affected and the
voices of the protagonists. Internet radio is frequently the only
media working, serving as a bridge with the broader media and
allowing for initiatives being implemented to be disseminated in the
region and around the world.
Other participants in the
Communications Center are blogs and electronic networks organized by
women in the region, such as The Continental Media Alliance, SEM/LAC,
CIMAC,
Cotidiano
Mujer, women from the
Association of Community Radios AMARC.
The Center will provide communication
infrastructure and support services to journalists and communicators,
so they can cover the news and information and can organize visits to
Port-au-Prince.
Communication will enable us to provide
critical information that is sensitive to the context and where
Haitian people, particularly women, play a leading role. It will
provide a mobile, low power radio station, powered with solar energy,
which can operate within the chaos to support community building.
We are happy to connect using this
media, which is a way to afford a voice and information to those who
have not been listened to yet.
You can listen to the radio
broadcast online at http://www.radiofeminista.net
Haiti: Resources Update
AMARC: Community Radio Broadcasters’ Update on Haiti
UNHCR update
Reuters: Haitian Women Lose Out in Post-Quake ‘Survival of the Strongest’
Al
Jazeera: US ‘to resume’ Haiti airlifts
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