We stand in solidarity with Ana Belique and Michelle Ricardo, we reject the censorship and fascist threats during the International Book Fair of Santo Domingo.
We write to denounce the terrorist threats received by our colleague and collaborator, human rights activist Ana Belique, author of La Muñeca de Dieula. Barnard College’s Digital Humanities Center team was honored to work with Ana on an anthology by Dominicans of Haitian Descent, Nos Cambiò La Vida/ Our Lives Transformed (noscamb.io.) Since being selected as one of the Dominican authors presenting at the 2022 Santo Domingo Book Festival (April 22-May 2, 2022), Ana has been subjected to individualized harassment from ultranationalist groups seeking to deny Dominicans of Haitian descent the right to exist and participate in civic life. Ana and her collaborator Michelle Ricardo, director of El Proyecto Anticanón, have received numerous messages from antagonists claiming to be part of the Antigua Orden Dominicana (Old Dominican Order) a militaristic white supremacist group which promotes anti-Blackness, xenophobia, and anti-Haitian hate. The direct threats to Ana and Michelle’s safety have led to the cancellation of their presentation at the book fair. The perpetrators of these serious threats of violence cannot be allowed to act with impunity.
Read and sign the Socialist Workers of DR statement here.
https://firebasehostingproxy.page.link/198886819888/forms.gle/BvbDhVpdajLkgCkK6
https://forms.gle/BvbDhVpdajLkgCkK6
Signatures will be received up until May 7.
Image credit: 24th International Book Fair Santo Domingo