1964 Che’s speech to the UN National Assembly still remains relevant today. (Black Look)

 “Shake itself out of complacency and move forward” – 46 years later and
most of us have given up on this institution a long long time ago.
Che speaks a great deal about imperialism and liberation movements of
the day. The particular section of his speech I want to highlight is in
reference to the Congo [DRC] and “humanitarian” aid which he calls
“tasks”. Remember these words were spoken 43 years ago and three years
after the assassination of Congolese Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba by
the US and the role of the UN forces in upholding US interests in the
country. Today the UN continues it’s failures in the DRC, failure to
protect communities and especially its failure to protect women not to
speak of the complicity in the abuse of women by UN forces themselves.
As Che states where ever they journey “the merchants of war do good
business”!.

In a few days time, October 15th, will mark the 23rd anniversary of yet another imperialist assassination – that of Thomas Sankara.
In March 2004 the US engineered the violent overthrow of Haiti’s
elected President, Bertrand Aristide of and forced him into exile.
From Lumumba to Aristide – we can see there is a trend which Che
explains clearly.

I would like to refer specifically to the painful case of
the Congo, unique in the history of the modern world, which shows how,
with absolute impunity, with the most insolent cynicism, the rights of
peoples can be flouted. The direct reason for all this is the enormous
wealth of the Congo, which the imperialist countries want to keep under
their control. In the speech he made during his first visit to the
United Nations, compañero Fidel Castro observed that the whole problem
of coexistence among peoples boils down to the wrongful appropriation of
other peoples’ wealth. He made the following statement: “End the
philosophy of plunder and the philosophy of war will be ended as well.”

But the philosophy of plunder has not only not been ended, it is
stronger than ever. And that is why those who used the name of the
United Nations to commit the murder of Lumumba are today, in the name of
the defense of the white race, murdering thousands of Congolese. How
can we forget the betrayal of the hope that Patrice Lumumba placed in
the United Nations? How can we forget the machinations and maneuvers
that followed in the wake of the occupation of that country by UN
troops, under whose auspices the assassins of this great African patriot
acted with impunity? How can we forget, distinguished delegates, that
the one who flouted the authority of the UN in the Congo — and not
exactly for patriotic reasons, but rather by virtue of conflicts between
imperialists — was Moise Tshombe, who initiated the secession of
Katanga with Belgian support? And how can one justify, how can one
explain, that at the end of all the United Nations’ activities there,
Tshombe, dislodged from Katanga, should return as lord and master of the
Congo? Who can deny the sad role that the imperialists compelled the
United Nations to play?[16]

To sum up: dramatic mobilizations were carried out to avoid the
secession of Katanga, but today Tshombe is in power, the wealth of the
Congo is in imperialist hands — and the expenses have to be paid by the
honorable nations. The merchants of war certainly do good business! That
is why the government of Cuba supports the just stance of the Soviet
Union in refusing to pay the expenses for this crime.

Reading the next section of his speech, again he is referring to the
Congo and the double standards of the West, we can see the similarities
with western policies towards Haiti. As in the Congo, we do not need
to go far back in history to witness these policies which are taking
place at this very moment in Haiti. The six year occupation of UN
forces acting as a proxy army for the US, who have also committed acts
of violence against the Haitian people [See "We Will Kill the Bandits]
and the recent violence unleashed under the pretense of “humanitarian
aid” [tasks] and “reconstruction” which he describes as “a carnivorous
animal that feeds on unarmed peoples”. The “reconstruction” is really
the reconstruction of the Haitian elite enabling them to become even
richer than before the earthquake. The “humanitarian aid” is really the
business of NGOs, which have created little “Haitian” empires for
themselves on the backs of the poor who remain homeless, hungry and
without jobs – by all estimates 1.2 million of them. The army disbanded
by Aristide and reintroduced by the US/Canada/UN in 2004 has been
further consolidated in the post earthquake period and continues to act
as a counter-revolutionary force to ensure the flood of the masses,
Fanmi Lavalas ever being able to rise again.

And as if this were not enough, we now have flung in our
faces these latest acts that have filled the world with indignation. Who
are the perpetrators? Belgian paratroopers, carried by U.S. planes, who
took off from British bases. We remember as if it were yesterday that
we saw a small country in Europe, a civilized and industrious country,
the Kingdom of Belgium, invaded by Hitler’s hordes. We were embittered
by the knowledge that this small nation was massacred by German
imperialism, and we felt affection for its people. But this other side
of the imperialist coin was the one that many of us did not see. Perhaps
the sons of Belgian patriots who died defending their country’s liberty
are now murdering in cold blood thousands of Congolese in the name of
the white race, just as they suffered under the German heel because
their blood was not sufficiently Aryan. Our free eyes open now on new
horizons and can see what yesterday, in our condition as colonial
slaves, we could not observe: that “Western Civilization” disguises
behind its showy facade a picture of hyenas and jackals. That is the
only name that can be applied to those who have gone to fulfill such
“humanitarian” tasks in the Congo. A carnivorous animal that feeds on
unarmed peoples. That is what imperialism does to men. That is what
distinguishes the imperial “white man.”

A Haitian friend constantly reminds me – “we must listen to the
people” – “listen to the masses and follow their lead!” I think this is
where revolutionary leadership begins to wane, it forgets to listen, it
forgets to reflect, make adjustments. I wonder at the realities of
Che’s Bolivian expedition – how much was it a war within himself, a
struggle to overcome his own shortcomings and those of the men and women
who fought by his side and how much was it to overcome the shortcomings
of those he perceived as the enemy? In other words the possibility
exists that his ego became an obstacle and he forgot to listen to his
comrades, to his surroundings – the land, the people.

In Haiti, as in previous elections in 2006, 2009 and again in
November 2010, Fanmi Lavalas have been blocked from participating in
the elections. The cost of this army of occupation? $600 million per
annum from 2004 -2010 [1] Truly the masses are a dangerous force for
the merchants of war!

Listen to Edike by Lataye, MP3 file.

[1] Peter Hallward, Damming the Flood: Haiti, Aristide, and the Politics of Containment