In keeping with a longstanding pattern, US and UN officials continue to treat the Haitian people and their representatives with wholly misplaced fear and suspicion.

We call on the de facto rulers of Haiti to facilitate, as the reconstruction begins, the renewal of popular participation in the determination of collective priorities and decisions.

We demand that they do everything possible to strengthen the capacity of the Haitian people to respond to this crisis.

We demand, consequently, that they allow Haiti's most popular and most inspiring political leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide (whose party won 90% of the parliamentary seats in the country's last round of democratic elections), to return immediately and safely from the unconstitutional exile to which he has been confined since the US, Canada and France helped depose him in 2004.

If reconstruction proceeds under the supervision of foreign troops and international development agencies it will not serve the interests of the vast majority of Haiti's population.

Neoliberal forms of international "aid" have already directly contributed to the systematic impoverishment of Haiti's people and the undermining of their government, and in both 1991 and 2004 the US intervened to overthrow the elected government and attack its supporters, with devastating effects.

This is why we urgently call on the countries that dominate Haiti and the region to respect Haitian sovereignty and to initiate an immediate reorientation of international aid, away from neo-liberal adjustment, sweatshop exploitation and non-governmental charity, and towards systematic investment in Haiti's own people and government.

We demand a much greater international role for Haiti's genuine allies and supporters, including Cuba, South Africa, Venezuela, the Bahamas and other members of CARICOM.

We demand that all reconstruction aid take the form of grants not loans.

We demand that Haiti's remaining foreign debt be immediately forgiven, and that the money that foreign governments still owe to Haiti — notably the massive sums extorted by the French government from 1825 through to 1947 as compensation for the slaves and property France lost when Haiti won its independence — be paid in full and at once.

Above all, we demand that the reconstruction of Haiti be pursued under the guidance of one overarching objective: the political and economic empowerment of the Haitian people.

Initial signatories:

Jean Saint-Vil, Canada Haiti Action Network

Pierre Labossiere, Haiti Action Committee, USA

Noam Chomsky, MIT

Niraj Joshi, Toronto Haiti Action Committee

Roger Annis, Canada Haiti Action Network

Brian Concannon Jr., Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti

BC Holmes, Toronto Haiti Action Committee

Yves Engler, Canada Haiti Action Network

Peter Hallward, Middlesex University

Kevin Pina, journalist and film-maker

Kevin Skerrett, Canada Haiti Action Network