The people of Haiti were deprived of representative government as a result of the reactionary "Ottawa Initiative" which deposed President Jean Bertrand Aristide. Haiti has not significantly improved since the intervention of UN troops. I wonder if the earthquake will serve as a catalyst for a renewed militancy among Haiti's impoverished population. With a potentially sympathetic Gens de Coleur in the White House, and a catastrophic situation to highlight the structural problems of Haiti, perhaps the moment is ripe to push for serious reform in that nation.
Is it time for another "Slave Revolt" in Haiti?
Fri, 2010-01-15 10:58
#1
Is it time for another "Slave Revolt" in Haiti?
What is your evidence for this? One of the tragedies is that the earthquake came at a time of significant improvements.
Real GDP has been growing, inflation is down, government revenues and spending are up. More than a billion dollars in debt was forgiven and the country successfully completed HIPC and MDRI programs that boosted poverty reduction and education spending. Between 2004 and 2007 child mortality fell by 10%.
Haiti’s Economic Development since 2004/05
Haiti: Restoring Hope, Delivering Credibility
Structural problems?
Personally think this thread should be closed, but seeing as how it is here and alive am going to take the opportunity to get on my soap box too....
Hey you big L Libertarians out there, have a look at Haiti and see what the end result of a tax free unregulated world would be.....
1. No tax paid = no infrastructure or resources in natural catastrophes
2. No regulations = unsafe housing and communities
It appears you believe those links offer some kind of reassurance that Haiti is on the right track, I don't, in fact if you do a little more research and read between the lines you can see that it is those who are profitting from the exploitation of the Haitian people who are celebrating their success.
So what are your numbers for GDP, government spending, school enrollment, etc.?
Haitian earthquake: Made in the USA
Yves Engler and Anthony Fenton's book, "Canada in Haiti" provides an important analysis of Canada's complicity in Haiti's misery. I wrote a review of it a while back. Here it is:
http://republic-news.org/archive/131-repub/131_nenonen.htm
Naomi Klein on the danger of disaster capitalism in Haiti:
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/14/naomi_klein_issues_haiti_disaster_capitalism
I will read these reports, but with a very skeptical attitude. They were written by the IMF and the World Bank. Since when have either of these institutions been interested in long term structural reforms that benefit the Haitian people?
I understand that they actually saved people through their facebook page. It does look like it's working: Wow never seen a facebook page work like this. This is definitely progressive.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=251410331164
A line of speculation prompted by the obscene photos run by the Globe and Mail today which attended its coverage of the quake; in which corpulent, painfully white Canadian soldiers in ridiculous uniforms and silly hats strike machismo poses with automatic weapons in front of our very own American built incredibly expensive military cargo aircraft on the tarmac in Port au Prince. I can't be the only one to note the bizarre disconnect between the reality of a civil disaster and this bloodthirsty threat display and this is what I'm thinking: it ain't for nuttin that we're sending MILITARY planes and a couple of MILITARY ships down there, presumably staffed with more guntotin' halfwits in silly costumes, to accomplish an essentially civilian task.
Put aside for a moment the long association between our military and national emergencies such as, oh, shovelling snow in Toronto a few years back; I'm sniffing out a darker motive.
For example, Cuba already has 400 doctors on the ground, presumably doing something halfway useful.
No: this is what I'm thinking. The US has directed a couple of aircraft carriers and 10,000 soldiers to Haiti - obviously what the country needs is a lot of foreigners with guns, top of the list really (I guess all those UN troops already stationed there are too busy shooting up the natives in Cite de Soleil) - not so much to deliver a whack of aid, which they'll do, but to promptly reassert its control in a potentially tricky time when the continuity of imperialist rule is threatened by natural disaster. This MUST be first and foremost, with a nod to Naomi Klein, obvious humanitarian motives notwithstanding.
With its proximity to the powerful examples of Venezuela and Cuba, and its historical connections to both, its northern neighbor must be quite nervous about pernicious challenges to the imposed order and sees the need for SIGNIFICANT DISPLAY.
I mean, when i think about it, it is so fucking obvious. Why else, an AIRCRAFT CARRIER for godsakes? It would be far cheaper to requisition or hire any old merchant vessel, probably a lot faster too, in Miami or some such, load it up with portable hospitals and the like and send it off. But no, its gotta be aircraft carriers and ten thousand heavily armed soldiers. i mean, there might be LOOTING for godsakes and that would be THE END OF THE WORLD! Civil order would break down! Er, wait a minute - hasn't it already? And...what is there to loot, anyway in this poor country except, just those resources people might need in time of emergency? And what order exactly?
And, the Alberta National Socialist Party, aka The Government of Canada, enthusiastically embracing its role as Nero's lapdog, must join the little parade with a couple of destroyers; it surely warms the heart of our very own tinpot d. and his drooling acolytes to see OUR very own Tim Horton-eatin' boys in green, beating back those (my god, they're all black! Blek, I tell you!) 'looters' as they help themselves to the resources of their own motherfucking country, as opposed to passively starving to death.
Stay tuned for sexy pics of 'our boys' holding bandaged infants rescued from the rubble, or firmly 'keeping the peace', Somalia-style, in a country where the most popular political party is banned from upcoming elections.
It brings a tear to my eye. I'm so proud to be a Canadian right now!
He's for Hannibal
[url=http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16985]What You're Not Hearing about Haiti (But Should Be)[/url]
According to central planners in Washington, lack of birth control is the source of their problems in Haiti, and not the fact that Haiti is another US-sponsored neoliberal basket case.
Things are spiraling out of control in haiti. Its police force is nowhere to be seen and the 3000 UN troops there are unable to stop gangs armed with machtes from looting what few supplies remain. Dark times...
Gangs Armed With Machetes Loot Port-Au-Prince
http://wcbstv.com/national/haiti.earthquake.haiti.2.1427143.html
Haiti's poverty is matter of policy. Venture back up and read Michelle's link.
You can launch helicopters off of an aircraft carrier (especially useful since the airport is of limited use).
And no, you could absolutely not locate, purchase, outfit, crew and load some "old merchant vessel" faster or cheaper. That's silly.
The military is a natural go-to in these situations. It has the ships and aircraft suitable and personnel that can be ordered into a disaster and who are trained for such an eventuality. I suppose the government could try to order Canada Post employees down there and requisition ice breakers and ferries to deliver supplies, or CIDA buy its own fleet of C-17's. I think it's pretty obvious that that would be less than ideal.
If I was in Haiti I would just wait quietly for my benevolent rich fellow citizens to help me out. Our mainstream media is nasty nasty nasty. This was in the story and should have been the headline.
Seeing how the earthquake happened Tuesday evening, that's kind of to be expected. It would be headline worthy if they were talking about today or even yesterday.
And looting in the poorest country in the hemisphere is somehow more unusual and thus more headline worthy.
Hell in the capitalist paradise they started looting in New Orleans real quick too. Are you wearing anything made in Haiti then you've already looted from some worker down there. Why is it headline worthy when desperate people try to feed themselves? It is poor bashing. Since Canadian firms are complicit in the impoverishment in Haiti I find it especially appalling.
Haiti: The Aid Masquerade
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/15-2
"many of the projects taken ostensibly on behalf of the Haitian people seem designed to serve not impoverished Haitians but the interests of the people administering the projects...'
The Militarization of Emergency Aid to Haiti: Is It A Humanitarian Operation or an Invasion?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17000
"The unspoken mission of US Southern Command is to ensure the maintenance of subservient national regimes. In all likelihood the humanitarian operation will be used as a pretext and justification to establish a more permanent US military presence in Haiti..."
Hannibal Lector Helps Haiti
Haiti and America's Historic Debt
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/011310.html
"...more than two centuries ago, Haiti represented one of the most important neighbors of the new American republic and played a central role in enabling the US to expand westward.."
of course that was then and this is now...
Thanks, NoDiff: the Chossudovsky piece would seem to confirm my suspicions. I recommend it to you A_J.
In a nutshell, 10,000 heavily armed foreign troops will shortly be arriving in Haiti 'to maintain order' without apparently bothering to ask permission from the Haitian government. Apparently the indigenous population are incapable of self-organizing, hello White Man's Burden.
The humanitarian force is accompanied by a couple of cruise missile destroyers? Absolutely natural, nothing to be alarmed about there. Its really more of a fashion statement, you can't send aircraft carriers out there NAKED, its simply not done. That part of the Caribbean is swarming with...well, some pretty dangerous fish, anyway. And boatloads of fleeing Haitians perhaps.
The crisis is being exploited in a most cynical fashion to support a vulgar threat display to regional economic competitors of the United States and Canada joins in as willing accomplice. Haiti will be 'assisted' back into its role as cheap labour pool - hard to beat 37 cents an hour on this side of the Pacific - with 20,000 foreign soldiers in total on the ground to make sure the recovery doesn't veer into something CRAZY like the socialism of its immediate neighbours, or even simple democracy. Do NOT hold your breath for the return of elected Prime Minister Aristide, kidnapped in the dead of night by a US Navy SEAL team in 1991 and flown into exile.
A_J, on the subject of leasing commercial shipping i understood the Canadian military deployment to Afghanistan was handled in this way. It is also the case that the merchant marine has been extremely hard hit by the economic collapse - availability not a problem therefore - and there is no reason i can see that they would need significantly more time to mobilize than our naval destroyers - ships manifestly unsuited to the transport of bulk materiel. Given that the most pressing need on the ground is assistance in digging out survivors, ALL shipborne assistance will arrive too late to be of any help there.
But having a couple of American-allied military boats pootling about in the waters off Haiti is a nice way to kiss Uncle Sam's military arse and WILL earn us points with that remarkable MAN OF PEACE President Obama. I couldn't fit the phrase 'cravenly obsequious' in there, but its in the air. There is something truly disgusting about our government's willingness to abase itself before our southern neighbour. IMHO.
Same goes for the ridiculous C-17s. You could lease a commercial cargo 747 with a phone call, but you'd lose the PR opportunity to showcase 'Canadian' military capability. Playing politics with a disaster like this is all in a day's work for Ottawa's warmongers. Either you're duped or you're not, the information is out there.
President Préval went immediately to the airport after the earthquake, whining that his "palace" had collapsed and he had no place to sleep, completely ignoring the plight of the MILLIONS of Hatians without homes. He has no intention of running his country, just running. So the UN which already has thousands of troops on the island effectively took control and is now in charge of co-ordinating the international response including the deployment of thousands of US Brazilian and Canadian troops.
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2010/01/13/gupta.haiti.pres.rene.preval.intv.cnn
What a ridiculous construction to put on the cited interview!
Preval states that he showed up at the palace to work but was told it wasn't safe; presumably he was at the airport because it had become the de facto locus of relief efforts. His own house was also destroyed but he said he wasn't concerned about where he'd spend the night, he had work to do.
Another question altogether who had effective control of the country prior to the quake and I'll have to research that some more myself, I'm not up on the character of the Preval regime.
He could have gone to the Haitian National Police headquarters where security and communications are plentiful. Instead he tried to leave the country until CNN caught up with him.
hm, really? You have some evidence of this?
The Haitian National Police where nowhere to be seen except guarding gas stations. I wonder which people in Haiti can afford to own a car? Most people cant even find water.
Twitter chatter saying that the pigs were milling around the police HQ and not helping the people.
BBC news said that the police were no where to be seen. Communications? What communications?
No, it is expected that relief would be forthcoming immediately from Haitian search and rescue teams. The fact there are no Haitian search and rescue teams is the real issue here, because it begs the question: why are there no Haitian search and rescue teams? The answer of course is obvious. The Haitian government has no capacity because it does not effectively tax the foreign investors and domestic elites who profit from (and promote) Haiti's economic and political underdevelopment.
[Video]: We Would Rather Die Standing: The UNtold Story of Crimes Committed by the UN Mission Forces
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16998
*sigh* I dislike finding myself defending the US or Canada but I suspectr they sent Destroyers because they tend to be the fastest vessels they have. Carriers are quite slow, as are most cargo ships in fact. And Army cargo planes fit more stuff and are designed for the packaged supplies that the DART teams and the like already had packaged and ready to ship.
And where is the rich Dominican Republic with their aid? Being right next door and everything? And exactly how much weapons are these 10k bringing with them? A side arm for personal protection sure, but how much other stuff are they bringing to terrorize people with?
Haiti: US Troops Deployed as Popular Anger Mounts
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/hait-j16.shtml
"The first contingents of a US military force expected to reach 10,000 troops arrived in Haiti as anger mounted over the failure of international aid to reach the millions left injured, homeless and destitute by Tuesday's earthquake.
There were reports of looting and Port-au-Prince residents creating street barricades with the bodies of the dead to protest the lack of assistance.
Correspondents in the Haitian capital Friday reported little if any sign that aid had reached the population..."
Haiti had been receiving funds to improve disaster management and apparently had been showing signs of significant improvement responding to hurricanes.
My guess, this was a huge earthquake that overwhelmed anything they had in place.
The data I posted up-thread indicates that government revenues, and government spending, have been steadily increasing.
The C-17 is designed to unload its cargo rapidly (as in a matter of minutes) and operate from rougher runways, both of which are important considering the state the airport is in. A 747 can't.
Venezuela is also sending its aid on military aircraft, so I guess if Hugo Chavez thinks it's okay, it must be.
Good ole USA.
Don't give Haitians a penny, says rightwing US shock jock
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/15/haitians-donations-radio-rush-limbaugh
From the same article:
Crass remarks were not restricted to rightwing Americans. A senior Haitian diplomat was caught on camera claiming the earthquake would be good for his country and appearing to blame the catastrophe on "witchcraft".
Speaking before an interview on Brazilian TV, Haiti's consul in São Paulo, George Samuel Antoine, said: "This catastrophe is good for us here, it will make us known."
Where is the help from Canada? Howcome Canadian troops are just on stand by and a small DART team is just studying the feasibility?
Israel team is the first one to set up operation facilities.
Where is Canada?
Canadians have been flying in and out of Haiti carrying food, water, medical supplies and medical people.
Canada was one of the first to help including a Dart team. There is no place for more planes to land and the harbour is full. You just dont show up. Canadians were there the next morning. Check your facts.
Your're really something else. I fucking hope the next time you need the police they are no where to be found. You really sound like a 15 year old kid who got their pee pee slapped for skateboarding somewhere you shouldn't have been.
Canada had a plane in the air bound for haiti in under 24 hours. Someone needs to check their facts
Canada-Haiti: Relief Efforts in the Shadow of Past 'Help'
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/23642
"Over the course of the past decades, Canada's leading officials and most prestigious commentators have learned how to approach Haiti in the spirit of cynical power politics and racist condescension (or worse) while maintaining a posture of national self-flattery...
In previous years, such benevolent rhetoric has been to Western policy in Haiti what anti-terrorist slogans have been to Western policy in the Middle East.
But established patterns of 'Help' for Haiti need to be creative if the destructive impact of this catastrophe is to be somehow limited.."
The Big One Devastates Haiti
http://www.sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/01/big-one-devastates-haiti.html
"In a prepared statement, President Obama promised 'unwavering support' but expect little for poor Haitians.
Militarizing the city with US Marines and other forces come next to protect the privileged, prevent looting and restrain Haitians once they realize America won't help and has no concern for their welfare. Why now if never before?
WTF is ur prob? Upset that I called your precious police officers pigs? Get hasseled enough times by the pigs and you'll be calling them pigs to.
Merowe et al,
This thread is emblematic of everything that's wrong with the contemporary left in Canada. The C-17 is a cargo aircraft for God's sake, and arguably the best in the world. Even as a staunch critic of the Tories, it may represent the best, most versatile defence procurement in the last 25 years. It can be applied in military, civilian, and humanitarian capacity. Contrast the speed with which Canada responded to this crisis with the cluster-fuck that was our tsunami response 2004, when we had to wait for rented Ukranian Antonovs to become available
Seriously, these people are suffering immeasurably and the military is better equipped, positioned, and qualified to respond to immediate human need than any other institution in Canada or the US. There are lives at stake and this type of arm-chair moralizing is imbecillic at best, deadly at worst.
The present situation in Haiti is dire in the extreme. I would argue operations like this today constitute one of the major reasons we have a military at all. Sure preferable to what's going on in Afghanistan.
Not trying to be rude, man, but many of my fellow left leaning progressives need to grow up and stop discerning imperlialis ctoups where most see only a highly fractious, high stakes, and massive coordinated international effort to get aid to an impoverished nation that has literally been decimated by a horrendous disaster. Notwithstanding 2004's legitimate questions, this particular Haitian disaster was not made in the USA, but beneath the Carribean region's techtonic plates.
Quit the politics. Also, pictures of troops saving children from death and depravity aren't sexy, they're just pictures of our men and women in uniform doing some tangible good in the world.
This stupid diversionary bullshit is why no one takes us seriously on foreign policy and views the prospect of the left ever conducting Canadian diplomacy as a joke, disaster or worse. I likely agree with you on many issues, but it's true. This thread is a waste of time, space, and most of all credibility.
If I wasn't so frustrated, and didn't have so many Haitian friends whose families still depend on those CF personnel to potentially (literally) save their lives, I wouldn't have wasted the time to even write this. Let's move past this tripe as a movement and get serious about building the credibility to one day pursue and implement the kind of progressive diplomacy we want to see in the world.
Night.
Too Little Too Late
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/16-0
"Wake Up World!"
About 10 US helicopters flew over Port-au-Prince on Sunday, landing in open spaces to throw out boxes of water-bottles and MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) military rations. Most Haitians appeared clueless about what to do with the MREs, witnesses said.
http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/haiti-despair-turns-anarchy-3331085
Dear Pat Robertson, I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I'm all over that action. But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I'm no welcher.
Satan
Ha! That's hilarious. There's one letter to the editor that will likely go super viral. :)
Don't you just love these folks who think they have all the answers.
Actually out military should stay away from situations like this. A much better approach if there is to be any military sent at all to foreign soil, is that it should be done through the UN. I'm sure Canadians in a similar situation when the big one hits on our left coast would just love to have foreign troops on our soil.
One thing that is needed though is to have Canada's organized labourers, the people who actually work on demolition projects for a living, and who have the expertise to work in these kind of situations, immediately sent there by our federal government when disaster strikes like it has in Haiti. But no, they have to send the friggin' police. Give me a break.
Frictions between nations rise over struggle of getting aid to Haiti
Read This
[url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/discovered-by-columbus-... by Columbus, built by France - and wrecked by dictators[/url]
Who Will Lead Security?
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/americas/2010/01/16/who-will-lead-haitis-secu...
"Nelson Jobim, Brazil's Defence Minister just came back from Haiti and made a point of saying that Brazil would not voluntarily relinquish any of its [UN] command duties.
Essentially, what he was saying was that Brazil, not the Pentagon would continue to lead the UN forces.
There could be a brewing operational command power struggle.."
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