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Arabica Robusta

Pambazuka - No, Haiti should not become a UN Protectorate - 0 views

www.pambazuka.org/...69270

shared by Arabica Robusta on 05 Dec 10 - No Cached
  • However, the fact that ‘there is no other nation in the Western Hemisphere that has endured the adversities and misfortunes as that of the Republic of Haiti and its people’, as Mr Munnings writes, seems to suggest that foreign interventions in the country need to be reduced instead of increased given the proven and unprecedented strength, resilience and spirit the Haitian people have demonstrated in the face of incredible odds, and which they have exemplified to the world since achieving independence in 1804.
  • the French officials decided that they would only recognise Haiti as a sovereign state and engage in commercial relations with this black republic if Haiti paid France 150 million gold francs. This, they said, was the value of what France’s slave-holders lost when Haiti gained its independence.
  • Hoping to end Haiti’s global economic and political isolation, repayment instalments equal to 90 per cent of the Haitian economy began immediately and did not finish until 1925 when the last franc was paid, exactly 100 years later.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • The American bank, City Bank, responded and eventually offered Haiti a debt exchange with a lower interest rate and longer-term debt. Thus, the illegally extracted debt was not fully paid by Haiti until 1947.
  • The purpose of recounting this history is to demonstrate how deeply problematic it is to think that the US and France should play any role in the governance and internal policy-making of Haiti through the establishment of a UN Protectorate or any other meaningful form.
  • The US offered financial and military support for the Duvalier dictatorships because of their communist paranoia, which gripped the world during the Cold War (the Duvaliers were radically anti-communist, which at the time translated into Haiti enjoying the support of the US because of US fears of communism and another Cuba emerging in the Caribbean). The US also gave this support to protect the immense profits of American apparel and textile companies operating in Haiti. France similarly supported these dictatorships by colluding with the US to ensure that properties and businesses owned by French citizens and corporations in Haiti were protected. The Duvaliers, their cronies, family members and the Haitian elite that supported them actually frequented back and forth between Haiti and France, quite often holding much of the wealth they plundered from the Haitian people in France in the form of property and bank accounts. Further, it is now in France that Baby Doc Duvalier resides and lives comfortably. Moreover, in further consideration of the US and France's relationship to Haiti, it is interesting to note that when Baby Doc was forced from power in 1986 he was brought to France in and American Air Force aircraft.
  • There are also extensive publications and reports concerning neo-liberal policies that the US imposed on Haiti, the partial result of which caused Haiti, once totally self sufficient in terms of rice production, to become dependent on the rice of American farmers. American farmers have enjoyed massive subsidies from the US government and thus have been dumping their rice into Haiti since the 1990s.
  • Regardless of his recent mea culpa, Clinton had ample time to admit and remedy his wrongs during and after his presidency. It reeks of the vilest form of opportunism for him to come out now as a ‘friend of Haiti‘. It behooves us to ask, what is behind his about-face? Mr Clinton, why Haiti and why now and not before?
  • Moreover, despite what Mr Munnings writes, it is offensive to the history and spirit of the Haitian people to seriously state that, ‘this is not the time to talk of Haiti’s autonomy as a sovereign entity’, and that Haiti’s ‘survival’ should instead be our focus. From 1804 to present, Haitians have shown the world time and time again that if there is one thing they have absolutely no need for it is lessons from others on ‘survival’. In fact, they should probably be paid to give the people of the Western world lessons on just that considering how up in arms they are about current austerity measures (Greece, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia, Lithuania, France, UK) and bailouts (Greece, US, Ireland) being used by their governments to safeguard their fragile economies.
  • A critical assessment of Haiti’s history and current affairs reveals that the one thing Haiti has never enjoyed is the right to govern itself and develop on its own terms without significant foreign intervention of all forms, economic, political, social. Thus, it is difficult to see how a UN Protectorate being made of Haiti would mean anything other than a re-packaging of more of the same that would result in furthering the underdevelopment of Haiti. Indeed, there are many other ways the UN, US and France can be involved in partnering with Haitian people. One such way is public-private partnership initiatives geared towards capacity building of Haitians in areas of farming, agriculture, construction, medical, health, education services and infrastructure development. These should be led and informed by Haitians legitimately selected by the popular masses. Business loans should also be made more accessible. The Haitian diaspora also needs to play an active role in this process, being deeply engaged in it and not just consulted after decisions have already been made.
  • Finally, It would be absolutely wrong, absurd and offensive to disregard the agency of Haitians and claim that they have played no part in creating a situation where, before the quake, 80 per cent of the population was living under the poverty line and 54 per cent of its people lived in abject poverty.
    • Arabica Robusta
      Arabica Robusta on 05 Dec 10
       
      Unclear about this section.  It is certainly true that Haitians are not perfect, and I understand the need for this proviso.  However, this statement lends no value to the discussion because it offers little context regarding what the author means.
  • All of this is to say that the popular masses of Haiti deeply distrust the UN, and that recent history and current events demonstrate that they have more than ample reason for this disaffection. To be clear, I am not suggesting that the UN abandon Haiti totally, for there are many health and well-being services that the UN is providing that would likely be unavailable otherwise. Indeed, it is also clear that some military presence is needed at present. However, given the forceful opposition of the Haitian people to the UN since 2005 to present, it would be a flagrant assault on the principles of democracy to go as far as to make Haiti a UN Protectorate. Other forms of assistance may be welcome, but UN Protectorate status would not be
Arabica Robusta

Pambazuka - Haiti 2010: Exploiting disaster - 0 views

www.pambazuka.org/...68863

earthquake haiti 2010 history haitian news pambazuka

shared by Arabica Robusta on 20 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Almost every credible observer agreed about many of the most urgent things that needed to happen.[36] The recovery had to be Haitian-led. The priority had to be measures that would empower ordinary Haitian people to regain some control over their lives, to gain or regain access to an education, an income, a place to live, a future for themselves and their families. The internationally-imposed neoliberal policies that for decades have devastated the agrarian economy and reduced the state sector to an impotent façade had to be dropped and then forcefully reversed. There had to be massive and systematic investment in essential public services, in all parts of the country. Genuine Haitian sovereignty, popular, economic and political, had to be restored.
  • The strategic plan drafted in early 2009 by neoliberal 'development' economist Paul Collier and subsequently adopted by the UN's reconstruction team remains geared above all to the exploitation of Haitian poverty, as the most reliable means of generating new profits for the benefit of elite and multinational corporations. The political framework that will force implementation of this plan remains one in which the autonomy of Haiti's people and government is reduced more or less to zero.
  • In early March, Préval called on the United States to 'stop sending food aid' to Haiti 'so that our economy can recover and create jobs.'[41]
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • he key decision, however, involved the creation of a mainly foreign body to decide on the allocation of these promised billions, the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC). The commission is jointly chaired by Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, and former US President (and former Haiti occupier) Bill Clinton. (Original plans for a 24-member board – 11 Haitians along with 13 foreigners representing international financial institutions and the larger donor nations – had to be revised, in the face of subsequent protests, to allow for numerically equal Haitian/foreign representation). Once plans are approved by this IHRC, another group of foreign technocrats and World Bank officials will then supervise the subsequent spending.[44]
  • Today, Patrick Elie notes, 'Haiti is the most privatized country in the world. Almost everything that could be privatized here has been, and the only reason prisons have not been privatized is because it is not yet profitable for them to do so.'[49]
  • With modest job creation and credit facilities in the countryside, with small amounts of money for seeds and fertiliser, Jeffrey Sachs pointed out in late January, 'Haiti's food production could double or triple in the next few years, sustaining the country and building a new rural economy.'[53] But as usual, Haiti's small farmers received little or nothing. Only a paltry US$23 million of the UN's initial request for emergency funds was intended for the agrarian sector, and by the end of February the UN admitted that even this money still hadn't been received. 'In the countryside', Reed Lindsay observed in early March, 'there is no evidence of any humanitarian aid, much less for agriculture.'[54] As a result, confirms Mark Schuller, 'with no jobs, no aid, no prospects of rural development, nothing to keep people in the provinces, the bulk of this reverse migration was undone, and Port-au-Prince is once again a magnet for those seeking jobs.'[55]
  • In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, up in the higher, wealthier and mostly undamaged parts of Pétionville everyone already knew that it's the local residents 'who through their government connections, trading companies and interconnected family businesses' would once again pocket the lion's share of international aid and reconstruction money.[56] At the same time, their counterparts in the US, represented by powerful think tanks and lobbyists like the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute or the RAND Corporation, were quick to see that (as RAND's James Dobbins, one of Clinton's former special envoys to Haiti, put it) 'this disaster is an opportunity to accelerate oft-delayed reforms', including 'breaking up or at least reorganizing the government-controlled telephone monopoly. The same goes with the Education Ministry, the electric company, the Health Ministry and the courts.'[57]
  • Foreign investors and foreign NGOs, needless to say, also tend to need foreign protection to guarantee their security. True to form, once the initial wave of foreign troops began to subside, private, neomilitary security companies like Triple Canopy (which took over the Xe/Blackwater security contract in Iraq in 2009 and Overseas Security & Strategic Information began promoting their services.[71] As an Al Jazeera report on a 9-10 March meeting of security companies in Miami explained, firms like GardaWorld, DynCorp and their ilk naturally 'see new disaster areas as emerging markets.'[72]
  • There are currently around 25,000 garment-sector workers in Haiti, making T-shirts and jeans for labels like Gildan, Hanes, Gap and New Balance. Factory profit margins average about 22 per cent.[74] Canadian garment manufacturer Gildan is one of several companies that expanded production in Haiti after the 2004 coup, reassured by a post-democratic regime that promised a tax holiday and a moratorium on wage increases.
  • As some investors and their advisors are candid enough to admit, Haiti's most significant 'comparative advantage' remains the stark fact that its people are so poor and so desperate that they are prepared to work for no more than a twentieth of the money they might receive for comparable employment in the US.[78]
  • Given his commitment to this old agenda, notes Richard Morse, UN envoy Bill Clinton isn't bringing change or hope to Haiti. 'Clinton, along with USAID, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the United Nations are bringing more of the same to Haiti: More for the few and less for the many.'[80]
  • as Schwarz demonstrates in convincing detail in his 2008 book ‘Travesty in Haiti’, food aid has been deployed systematically and deliberately, from the beginning of its intensive use in the 1980s, to 'destroy the Haitian economy of small farmers.'
  • Today, Isabeau Doucet writes, 'tens of thousands of families are subject to a relentless cycle of exodus, dispersal, and brutality at the hands of the Haitian National police and privately hired armed groups, in violation of Haitian and international law.' In some places, 'rather than clearing rubble from the streets, bulldozers are plowing over the tents of undesired "squatters" only to resettle IDPs expelled from elsewhere.'[95]
  • As you might expect, there is no such sense of loss among people more directly concerned by the disaster. Perhaps the most striking feature of the whole post-quake period has been the extraordinary hardiness and discipline of the hundreds of thousands people who have lost their relatives, homes and possessions, and who from day one began to organise themselves into new communities.
  • Grassroots organizations still meet regularly to develop their strategies for political change, as they have throughout history. Across the country on any given day, small groups perch on broken chairs under tarps in refugee camps, huddle amidst rubble in the courtyards of earthquake-destroyed schools, or sweat under thatched-roof gazebos […]. They are developing pressure points for housing rights and protection against rape for those in camps. Some plan information campaigns aimed at sweatshop workers, others programs to politicize youth. The agendas are seemingly endless.’[106]
  • In the election year of 2010, as in the previous elections of 2000 and 1990, the key political difference remains the division between (a) critics calling merely for a more efficient deployment of reconstruction resources and more 'reasonable' forms of cooperation with the occupying troops and aid workers, and (b) activists working to rekindle popular mobilisation for fundamental political change as the only viable means of regaining national sovereignty and establishing social justice.
  • Patrick Elie, likewise, stakes everything on a renewal of the popular movement that opened the door to political change in the late 1980s: 'I put all my money on our ability, at the level of the grassroots movement, to remobilise the Haitian people, to make them believe, once more, that they are the key players in politics.'[114]
  • Unfortunately, the main institutional legacy of the Lavalas mobilisation – Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas (FL) party – is itself both divided and largely excluded from the political process. After its landslide election victory in 2000, opposition politicians anticipated that FL might remain hegemonic for 'sixty years'.[115] The second anti-Lavalas coup and its aftermath have helped level the political playing field.
  • The FL leadership has made matters worse by indulging in years of sterile post-Aristide in-fighting.
  • In the election of 2010, as in the last four presidential elections in Haiti, everything will depend on whether this unity and this consciousness are strong enough to prevail over the vast and diverse array of forces drawn up to oppose them. The earthquake has sharpened and accelerated the basic political choice facing Haiti: Either renewal of the popular mobilisation in pursuit of equality and justice, or long-term confirmation of the island's current status as a neocolonial protectorate.
  • Arabica Robusta on 20 Nov 10
     
    Almost every credible observer agreed about many of the most urgent things that needed to happen.[36] The recovery had to be Haitian-led. The priority had to be measures that would empower ordinary Haitian people to regain some control over their lives, to gain or regain access to an education, an income, a place to live, a future for themselves and their families. The internationally-imposed neoliberal policies that for decades have devastated the agrarian economy and reduced the state sector to an impotent façade had to be dropped and then forcefully reversed. There had to be massive and systematic investment in essential public services, in all parts of the country. Genuine Haitian sovereignty, popular, economic and political, had to be restored.
Diallo EWSIS

2010 Haiti Earthquake - 3 views

docs.google.com/...Doc

earthquake haiti 2010 history

shared by Diallo EWSIS on 20 Jan 10 - No Cached
  • Diallo EWSIS on 20 Jan 10
     
    When I think about Haiti it makes me really sad because the earthquake just had to hit an area where most of the residents there are really poor. They can barely support themselves and their family with their jobs, and now they had to deal with this horrendous disaster. They lost their homes, jobs, properties, and family members. It's sad to hear that the Haitian government itself has also broken down and it is not strong enough to give support their own people. They have to rely on foreign organizations to recover. I have also read in a Wikipedia article that even the United Nations feels that the earthquake is one of the worst disasters, because of the lack of help from the national government. Other organizations are giving lots of support to help the victims but they need immediate help in finding shelters, food, and money. I'm wondering when the kids can go back to school. If it's going to be months before they can go back to their education system I think that some sort of help in education children should also be there. What kind of support is the Haitian government giving while the victims are suffering? What is the United Nations doing? How are the victims dealing with the situation? How long before Haiti get on its own feet? How can Haiti be more prepared for future earthquakes?
  • Lynise James on 21 Jan 10
     
    2010 Haiti Earthquake I am a caring person. I sometimes may care too much about certain things that doesn't have anything to do with me. However, this disaster in Haiti touches me deeply. So deeply that I tend to cry sometimes. Its very sad. My mother and step father has donated hundreds of dollars however, to help the victims. Many people have lost their lives and sanity and dignity. Families are destroyed and homes are demolished. The Haitian people may think that their is no more hope, and that their lives are over, but its actually just beginning. They have a chance to make positive changes now in their lives. Start new, fresh and find new beginnings. All hope should not be lost. Many people are doing their best to help these victims. Its because they have hearts and they care so much about humanity. People like that deserve awards and medals even though they may not want it. No one deserves to be crushed alive, or left in indecent places to starve and suffer. It just happens though sometimes. It is life. This was a natural disaster. However, its not about toughing it out though. Its more about believing in your self and that you can overcome this. 5 Questions 1. How many deadly natural disasters has Haiti had for the past five decades? (earthquake,decades,natural disasters) 2. Why hasn't celebrities donated more money to the relief fund? (money,celebrity,help,donate) 3. Why does US owe Haiti billions of dollars, they were always very poor?(poor,broke,Haiti spending) 4. Who else owes Haiti reparations? (money,haiti,bills,reparations) 5. Will Haiti ever bounce back from this destruction? (death,destroy,lives lost)
Arabica Robusta

Pambazuka - Haiti 2010: Exploiting disaster - 0 views

www.pambazuka.org/...68623

earthquake haiti 2010 history haitian news pambazuka

shared by Arabica Robusta on 20 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • If the 1980s were marked by the rising flood that became Lavalas, by an unprecedented popular mobilisation that overcame dictatorship and raised the prospect of modest yet revolutionary social change, then the period that began with the military coup of September 1991 is best described as one of the most prolonged and intense periods of counter-revolution anywhere in the world. For the last twenty years, the most powerful political and economic interests in and around Haiti have waged a systematic campaign designed to stifle the popular movement and deprive it of its principal weapons, resources and leaders. The January earthquake triggered reactions that carried and that are still carrying such measures to entirely new levels.
  • For the time being, at least, it looks as if the threatening prospect of meaningful democracy in Haiti has been well and truly contained.
  • When Aristide then won a second overwhelming mandate in the elections of 2000, the resounding victory of his Fanmi Lavalas party at all levels of government raised the prospect, for the first time in Haitian history, of genuine significant political change in a context in which there was no obvious extra-political mechanism – no army – to prevent it. In order to avoid this outcome, the main strategy of Haiti's little ruling class all through the past decade has been to redefine political questions in terms of 'stability' and 'security', i.e. the security of the wealthy, their property and their investments.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • During these years, the UN authorities behind this extraordinary 'stabilisation mission' have resorted to levels of violent coercion without parallel in UN operations anywhere else in the world. They have been reinforced by thousands of re-armed and re-trained Haitian police, along with thousands more private security guards hired to protect wealthy families, their businesses, and the foreign contractors and NGOs they do business with. Dozens of anti-occupation demonstrations held on the streets of Port-au-Prince during these years have had little or no political effect.
  • In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, few tried to counter arguments in favour of allowing the US military, with its 'unrivalled logistical capability', to take de facto control of the relief operation. Weary of bad press in Iraq and Afghanistan, US commanders also seemed glad of this unexpected opportunity to rebrand their armed forces as angels of mercy. As usual, the Haitian government was instructed to be grateful for whatever help it could get. That was before US commanders actively began, the day after the earthquake struck, to divert aid away from the disaster zone.
  • The earthquake took place on Tuesday; among many others, World Food Program flights were turned away by US commanders on Thursday and Friday, the New York Times reported, 'so that the United States could land troops and equipment, and lift Americans and other foreigners to safety.'[7] Many similar flights met a similar fate, right through to the end of the week. Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) alone had to watch at least five planeloads of its medical supplies be turned away.[8] Late on Monday 18 January, MSF 'complained that one of its cargo planes carrying 12 tonnes of medical equipment had been turned away three times from Port-au-Prince airport since Sunday,' despite receiving 'repeated assurances they could land.' By that stage one group of MSF doctors in Port-au-Prince had been 'forced to buy a saw in the market to continue the amputations' upon which the lives of their patients depended.[9]
  • 'Together with geopolitical control', observed Camille Chalmers a few weeks later, 'we believe that the militarization of Haiti responds to what Bush called a "preventive war" logic. The U.S. fears a popular uprising, because the living standards in Haiti have for so long been intolerable, and this is even more so the case now; they are inhumane. So the troops are getting ready for when the time comes to suppress the people.'[17]
  • No foreign rescue workers, for instance, were dispatched to the site with perhaps the single highest number of casualties, the Carrefour Palm Apparel factory contracted to the Canadian company Gildan Activewear, which collapsed with hundreds of workers still inside.[22] (Gildan responded to the disaster, within hours, with a reassuring announcement that it would be shifting production to alternative sewing facilities in neighbouring countries.[23]).
  • Haiti can be proud of its survivors. Their dignity and decency in the face of this tragedy is itself staggering.'[28] As anyone can see, however, dignity and decency are no substitute for security. No amount of weapons will ever suffice to reassure those 'fortunate few' whose fortunes isolate them from the people they exploit.
  • 'We see throughout Haiti the population themselves organizing themselves into popular committees to clean up, to pull out the bodies from the rubble, to build refugee camps, to set up their security for the refugee camps. This is a population which is self-sufficient, and it has been self-sufficient for many years.'
  • While Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade offered 'voluntary repatriation to any Haitian that wants to return to [the land of] their origin', American officials confirmed that they would continue to apply their long-standing (and thoroughly illegal) policy with respect to all Haitian refugees and asylum seekers – to intercept and repatriate them automatically, regardless of the circumstances.[31]
  • When US ambassador to Haiti Kenneth Merten paid a visit to Washington in mid February he declared himself satisfied with the work in progress. 'I believe that this will be something that people will be able to look back on in the future as a model for how we've been able to sort ourselves out as donors on the ground and responding to an earthquake.'[35]
MelissaB EWSIS

2010 Haiti Earthquake - 1 views

I think that the earthquake in Haiti is something that was unexpected by many people and it is a great tragedy that there should be more help than there is right now. But there is one thing that mo...

started by MelissaB EWSIS on 20 Jan 10 no follow-up yet
corey stanley

Thoughts on Haiti - 0 views

I feel really bad about the people in Haiti, all that they have been through and now this I feel for them. Haiti is known to be the poorest country in the world, now being that everything is destro...

started by corey stanley on 20 Jan 10 no follow-up yet
Zhapa EWSIS

My feeling toward the Earthquake in Haiti - 0 views

What I feel about the tragedy in Haiti is that it' so sad. I feel so bad that so many people are dying and dying because of this terrible tragedy. At least people are helping them. Like the USA , t...

earthquake Haiti tragedy 2010

started by Zhapa EWSIS on 20 Jan 10 no follow-up yet
AndreaLee EWSIS

Thoughts and Questions - 1 views

A week has passed since the recent earthquake attack at Haiti, and it still number one news. How do I feel? I feel sympathetic, horrible, shocked, and most of all, a little tired of hearing the new...

2010 history haiti earthquake

started by AndreaLee EWSIS on 20 Jan 10 no follow-up yet
Arabica Robusta

The Uses of Paul Farmer » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names - 0 views

www.counterpunch.org/...the-uses-of-paul-farmer

haiti earthquake haitian cholera blacklooks paulfarmer

shared by Arabica Robusta on 03 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • Arabica Robusta on 03 Mar 13
     
    I asked Samuel Maxime, editor of Defend Haiti, an online news magazine popular with the Haitian diaspora, what he thinks of Farmer today. He said it's hard to criticize anyone working on health in Haiti because lives are at stake. Indeed, this makes it difficult to subject Farmer or any humanitarian to critique. But meaningful accountability is precisely what's been missing from the aid sector. Farmer himself made the point in our first interview. "Nonetheless, I think Farmer is a large part of the machine that enables corruption in Haiti," Maxime continued. "In the grand scheme of things I believe someone like Farmer, who knows right from wrong, integrity from corruption, and looks the other way as he does - he enables it, in fact, like MLK Jr. would say - they are complicit in it."
corey stanley

Bill Quigley: Why the U.S. Owes Haiti Billions - 8 views

counterpunch.org/quigley01182010.html

shared by corey stanley on 21 Jan 10 - Cached
    • corey stanley
      corey stanley on 21 Jan 10
       
      This is the same thing i want to know, how do we owe them billions if they are the poorest country in the world?
    • corey stanley
      corey stanley on 21 Jan 10
       
      This makes no sence that they only make 2$ a day, this is not like old times, why dont they have regular paying jobs like we do?
  • AndreaLee EWSIS on 21 Jan 10
     
    For this week, my "English" class has been researching both Haiti's history and current situation. As you all may know, Haiti has suffered 7.0 and 6.0 recorded earthquakes as well as strong tremors. The country has lived in poverty and is known to be the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Bill Quigly writes an article about the economic relationship between the United States and Haiti. Basically, America has bullied the small country into ruins. At first, France charged Haiti to pay reparations at the cost of nearly 150 million francs. When Haiti could not pay that off, it had to take loans from both French and American banks. They nearly owe the United States over $20 billion dollars. However, this is just plain bullying. It is unfair for America to support dictators, especially when the reason is to stabilize economic interests. And also, they forced Haiti to go into the world economic market. We owe this little country a lot more to make up for the years of damage we caused. And I'm surprised people are more willing to help Haiti more than other country America imperialized.
Reasat EWSIS

The earthquake in Haiti - 0 views

The earthquake in Haiti is a tragic disaster that devastated hundreds of thousands. Many people have taken action to aid the people of Haitian. Even celebrities and big name figures have taken ac...

earthquake haiti 2010 history haitian opposing news latimes.com npr newsweek.com NBA donation money recover

started by Reasat EWSIS on 20 Jan 10 no follow-up yet
Devonrae Jones

Haiti Earthquake - 0 views

I think that the 2010 Haiti Earthquake should be dealt with in a timely fashion. I think that from the previous natural disasters that the our country has learned a lot about interfering into count...

haiti earthquake haitian

started by Devonrae Jones on 20 Jan 10 no follow-up yet
Paul Allison

Amy Goodman: Haiti, Forgive Us - Truthdig - 0 views

www.truthdig.com/...haiti_forgive_us_20100209

earthquake AID history responsibility haiti 2010 truthdig exploitation

shared by Paul Allison on 14 Feb 10 - Cached
  • Paul Allison on 14 Feb 10
     
    "Earthquakes alone do not create disasters of the scale now experienced in Haiti. The wealthy nations have for too long exploited Haiti, denying it the right to develop in a secure, sovereign, sustainable way. The global outpouring of support for Haitians must be matched by long-term, unrestricted grants of aid, and immediate forgiveness of all that country's debt. Given their role in Haiti's plight, the United States, France and other industrialized nations should be the ones seeking forgiveness."
Tyrhiek EWSIS

SMH - 4 views

Right now, I don't what's going on in Haiti. I'm kind of glad a natural disaster happened instead of terrorist attack. When I first heard about the earthquake in Haiti, it didn't budge me at all, T...

started by Tyrhiek EWSIS on 20 Jan 10 no follow-up yet
Luis EWSIS

Some thoughts about the earthquake - 2 views

The 2010 Haiti Earthquake caused havoc in this small struggling Caribbean nation. I was very shocked by the pictures and videos presented. Death and the face of tragedy was everywhere to be seen. H...

started by Luis EWSIS on 20 Jan 10 no follow-up yet
Allesia EWSIS

EaRTHQUAKE IN HAITI - 0 views

1. Why is it taking so long for countries to send help to Haiti? 2. Why after the earthquake can we help Haiti but when they were the poorest country in the western Hemisphere we didn't care? 3. W...

started by Allesia EWSIS on 20 Jan 10 no follow-up yet
Jessica =D

Haiti - 0 views

I think it's terrible about what happened to the Haitians. It's really sad to see a whole country devastated by a natural disaster, especially if it can't be predicted slightly before hand to preve...

2010 haiti earthquake

started by Jessica =D on 20 Jan 10 no follow-up yet
Paul Allison

Haiti's history as first black republic creates a special bond with many African-Americ... - 3 views

www.washingtonexaminer.com/...frican-americans-81925362.html

shared by Paul Allison on 18 Jan 10 - Cached
  • Under French rule, Haiti's abundant sugar plantations made it perhaps the richest colony of the Caribbean. The slave rebellion began about 1790 and a leader soon emerged: Toussaint L'Overture. After years of fierce fighting, L'Overture was captured by Napoleon's forces and died in France.The rebellion lived on, and Napoleon's mighty forces were defeated. Haiti declared itself a nation on Jan. 1, 1804. For years to come, however, Haiti would pay reparations to France.The loss of Haiti's riches and strategic location was part of Napoleon's decision to sell the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of the United States.In America, where blacks were still seeking freedom, there was pride and wonder that Haitians had seized their destiny. This left an indelible imprint on African-American culture.
    • Paul Allison
      Paul Allison on 18 Jan 10
       
      The history that is suggested here is very important. There's a lot of "looking the other way" racism in the U.S. response to the revolution that isn't mentioned here, too.
  • America occupied Haiti from 1915 until 1934, then supported a series of dictators until 1990. Today, Haitian refugees are treated differently than those from other nations, which many believe is partially due to race.
    • Paul Allison
      Paul Allison on 18 Jan 10
       
      I've been reading this wondering when America's more active role in Haiti would be mentioned. I pretty sure that the CIA was involved in the 1994 coup and that our Marines were involved in Aristede's kidnapping in 2004.
Diallo EWSIS

2010 Haiti Earthquake - 0 views

When I think about Haiti it makes me really sad because the earthquake just had to hit an area where most of the residents there are really poor. They can barely support themselves and their family...

earthquake Haiti 2010 haitian history

started by Diallo EWSIS on 20 Jan 10 no follow-up yet
Arabica Robusta

Women's movement building and creating community in Haiti - 0 views

www.blacklooks.org/...nd-creating-community-in-haiti

haiti earthquake 2010 history haitian news blacklooks

shared by Arabica Robusta on 12 Dec 10 - No Cached
  • One of the stories least reported has been the one about Haitians organising for themselves, particularly stories presented within a framework of feminist organising and movement building.
  • Once it was established Rea’s family were all safe – a house just five minutes walk from Rea’s own home collapsed – she set about caring for the many in her community and where ever she was needed.   Everyone was in shock but there was no time to think about what had happened as people were injured.   Many people – students, families knowing about her community work, flocked to Rea’s home and at one point there were some 60 people in her home. 
  • I was surprised when I heard Rea had started a Micro-Credit scheme as there were so many negative reports on schemes which rather than enhance and empower women, ended up impoverishing them even more.   So I was interested to find out more about the SOPUDEP scheme, whether it was working and why it worked and I will write about this later after meeting with the various women’s group.
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  • The elections are a distraction.    Leaders have the power to bring change but no one believes any leader will do anything for the poor.  Everyone I asked about Aristide wanted him back because they believed he was one leader who could change their lives for the better.  Right now the only way is for communities to reach out to each other and create alliances which is what SOPUDEP is beginning to do.  Rea’s vision is one I share.  We cannot fix Haiti, but we can fix our community and help others fix theirs.  Eventually as all these communities build alliances amongst themselves, they will become strong and then maybe begin to fix Haiti.
  • I have spent two days at the school with the freedom to roam.  I came across a class whose teacher was absent and I ended up teaching English for 45 minutes followed by the students giving me a lesson in Kreyol.   Now I have been asked by them  to teach the same class for the next couple of weeks till they break uap for holidays.  The school is truly like  family. Since the Micro-credit scheme, parents and school staff have all been encouraged to open savings account.  
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