In response to speculation that the Yes Men, a group that carries out similarly elaborate pranks, might have been involved in this ruse, The Lede received this statement from Mike Bonanno, a member of that group by e-mail on Friday: Fabre said, "It is most unfortunate" that the French foreign ministry "has been so ungrateful, and frankly, uncooperative, with our bold initiative to improve the French government's reputation in Haiti." But the French newspaper L'Express reported on Friday that the actor who played the part of the French official in the video appeared to have a French-Canadian accent. Fabre declined to reveal any more information about the identities of the group's members. Fabre said that the group plans to post this statement soon on a new Web site,, which should go live later on Friday. We leave it to the court of world public opinion to judge: Who are the real criminals? However, we feel the French government must also be held accountable for its disappointing failure to do the right thing.
It was never our intention to create false hopes, though we have perhaps done so in attributing to the French government such a courageous, just an admirable action. and Canada, have offered Haiti in earthquake relief, relative to what Haitians are owed in reparations. But we did it to draw public attention to a far bigger hoax: How little France, as well as the U.S.
RADYO PANOU BROOKLYN NY FULL
Meanwhile the French secretary of state for overseas development traveled via private jet to a conference on aid for Haiti at a cost of $143,000.ĬRIME takes full responsibility for the July 14 reparations announcement. agencies, NGOS and the Red Cross some $180 million, but six months later, not one centime has been delivered to Haiti, according to the U.N.'s humanitarian aid tracking site Relief Web. Promising to Haiti through pledged contributions to U.N. This was the first time a former slave colony officially requested reparations from a former colonial and slave-owning nation. 29, 2004, in large measure because he had the temerity to demand that France reimburse Haiti the "independence debt" with interest amounting to about $21 billion. Actively helping to overthrow Haiti's democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, on Feb. Expropriating 90 million gold francs from Haiti as an indemnity for lost French slave-trade profits following Haiti's independence, and saddling Haitians with an illegitimate debt that Haiti paid France for 122 years. The forcible capture, commerce, brutalization, torture, murder and enslavement of millions of Africans over more than two centuries.
We, a group of activists from France, Canada and the United States, fess up to issuing false statements on behalf of the French foreign ministry.īut is a spoof website such a grave crime, compared to is what the French government has done in Haiti: We are the Committee for the Reimbursement of the Indemnity Money Extorted from Haiti (in French, le Comité pour le Remboursement Immédiat des Montants Envolés d'Haïti, and in both languages spelling CRIME). This is very fitting, as it is our concern with crimes that led us to make this false announcement. The French government has stated that it is considering legal recourse against us. Fabre said that her group is no longer able to post to that Web site - possibly because of "an intervention by the French government," which has not taken kindly to the stunt - the group has sent the following statement to The Lede, following our coverage of the prank on Thursday night and Friday morning: The hoax announcement was made on a Web site,, that was designed to look almost identical to that of the French foreign ministry. The Lede has received a statement from Laurence Fabre, who identified herself as a spokeswoman for the group behind an elaborate hoax, in which someone impersonating a French government official announced this week that France would reimburse Haiti money it was forced to pay in exchange for its independence in the 19th century. CRIME takes full responsibility for the July 14 reparations announcement.
0 kommentar(er)
