Canadian Soldiers Swarmed by Desperate Haitians Demanding Food
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2479905
"A crowd of about 2,000 hungry Haitians rushed a food distribution point where Canadian soldiers were providing security on Sunday as homeless residents grow increasingly desperate for post earthquake relief.."
Our Canadian soldiers are doing the job they were sent to do. Protect the rich from the starving masses.
The Humanitarian Myth
http://socialistworker.org/2010/01/25/the-humanitarian-myth
"Eyewitnesses have repeatedly described how rescue workers are scarce on the ground, and relief nowhere to be seen. Hospitals that are functioning despite the wreckage complain of having no painkillers with which to operate on patients with serious injuries.
In effect the US has staged an invasion of Haiti, under the pretext of providing security for humanitarian aid, and in doing so has prevented the delivery of humitarian aid. The 'security' operation, meanwhile proceeds apace. This process has been facilitated by a flood of alarmist and often racist reporting about 'riots,' 'looters' and 'gangs' causing a 'security crisis'. A 'security crisis' validates a repressive response
'Gangs' -- in the vernacular of Washington, the White House press corps and Haiti's business lobby, the Group of 184 - happens to be a synonym for Lavalas activists."
The Destabilization of Haiti: Anatomy of a Military Coup'detat
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17196
"Washington seeks to reinstate Haiti as a full fledged US colony, with all the appearances of a functioning democracy. The objective is to impose a puppet regime in Port au Prince and establish a permanent military presence in Haiti."
Haiti: The Hate and the Quake
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17191
"The collapse of the Haitian nation resides at the feet of France and America respectively. These two nations betrayed, failed, and destroyed the dream that was Haiti. Haiti did not fail. It was destroyed by two of the most powerful nations on earth, both of which continue to have a primary interest in its current condition.."
UN To Host Haiti Donors Meeting in Haiti
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/01/25/haiti-rebuilding-conference-10...
"Harper said he hoped the one day conference would 'set the stage' for broad international action on reconstruction that will mobilize the will and resources of all of Haiti's partners.."
Rebuilding Haiti 'Will Take Years'
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/2010125173052160977.html
'Jean Max Bellerive, Haiti's prime minister, told ministers and aid workers in Montreal, Canada that his country has been 'bloodied, martyred and ruined' and would need extensive support from international donors..'
Nine Latin American and Caribbean Countries Meet on Rebuilding Haiti
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17189
"Foreign ministers of nine member nations of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) met here [Caracas] on Sunday to discuss how to help rebuild Haiti. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said he beleived 'the plan will help rebuild an independent and sovereign Haiti'..."
Limited Compassion for Haiti
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/23721
"Before too long, as the security of looting stories rise in prominence, opinion pieces will appear about the ingratitude of Haitians..."
Fearing The Victims: Some Aid Givers Use Helicopters and Guns
http://haitianalysis.com/2010/1/26/fearing-the-victims-some-aid-givers-u...
"This is a complete outrage. This is pure humiliation. An earthquake is a misfortune which could befall any country. Would they treat other people like this? It is like they are throwing bones to dogs..."
Well, at least the Scientologists are helping...
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Amid the mass of aid agencies piling in to help Haiti quake victims is a batch of Church of Scientology "volunteer ministers", claiming to use the power of touch to reconnect nervous systems.Clad in yellow T-shirts emblazoned with the logo of the controversial US-based group, smiling volunteers fan out among the injured lying under makeshift shelters in the courtyard of Port-au-Prince's General Hospital.
A wealthy private donor provided his airplane to fly in 80 volunteers from Los Angeles, along with 50 Haitian-American-doctors, in a gesture worth 400,000 dollars, said a Parisian volunteer who gave her name as Sylvie.
"We're trained as volunteer ministers, we use a process called 'assist' to follow the nervous system to reconnect the main points, to bring back communication," she said.
"When you get a sudden shock to a part of your body the energy gets stuck, so we re-establish communication within the body by touching people through their clothes, and asking people to feel the touch."
Source (h/t Stimpson). It would be amusing except for the tragedy of how that $400,000 could have been put to better use there.
Focus on Haiti: Washington's Militarized Takeover
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/01/focus-on-haiti-washingtons-militar...
"After its worst catastrophe in nearly 170 years, millions in the country need everything, not Marines - food, water, medical care, shelter and deep compulsion at their greatest time of need. Instead the country is occupied, militarized, denied aid, and taken over for greater exploitation. General Ken Keen, in charge of forces, says US troops will 'be here as long as needed', signaling an open ended commitment for years.
On her Jan. 16 photo-op visit, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton practically announced an emergency decree, suspension of the rule of law, and authorization of curfews and martial law under Pentagon control. She said: 'The decree would give the government an enormous amount of authority, which in practice they would delegate to us.' Omitting that its choice was to do it or else.."
Haitians Question Country's Leadership in Times of Crisis:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Haitians+question+country+leadership+t...
"As far as I'm concerned, Haiti doesn't have a president', said Alexandre, who has been living in a homeless camp across from the Haitian 'White House' because his own home no longer exists. 'Preval doesn't care about the Haitians. He doesn't know about our life. He doesn't recognize the people.'
It's a sentiment heard increasingly throughout the capital amid few visible signs that Preval or anyone else in the Haitian government is actually in charge. 'If Canada and America want to do something for Haiti, don't give the money to the government because they are going to take it and steal it. Come and give us the houses. Otherwise people will still be on the streets.."
Montreal Summit Tiptoes Around Haiti's Hidden Crises
http://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/editorials/Montreal+summit+tiptoe...
"The deeper historical problem facing Haiti with respect to governance - fragile democracy, and endemic corruption - was the proverbial 800 pound gorilla in the room in public deliberations Monday on the reconstruction of Haiti. Bellerive and foreign ministers such as Canada's Lawrence Cannon were careful not to talk about it.."
Canada in Haiti, Haiti in Canada
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/3144
"Earthquake does little to shake Canada's stance on Haiti.."
Judy Rebick is kicking butt on Q this morning on CBC - about media coverage of Haiti, the way North Americans are framing the issue, etc. I'm listening to the Atlantic timezone online, but you can catch it in the other timezones online on CBC Radio One:
This media panel is on at 10:30 in the Eastern timezone if you're interested.
Re: 'Q' :'Has The Coverage of Haiti Been Verging on 'Disaster Porn'?
http://www.cbc.ca/q/ - this program can be heard on podcast and will also be rebroadcast at 10PM on CBC1
'Reconstructing Haiti' On Starvation Wages
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/pers-j26.shtml
"Government ministers, international bankers and aid agencies gathered in Montreal Monday to discuss plans for reconstructing earthquake ravaged Haiti. At the heart of their proposals is the exploitation of Haitian workers at poverty wages.."
Criticism Mounts Over US Response to Haiti Disorder
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/hait-j26.shtml
"Security seems to be the priority instead. People are not seeing on television what is being done on the ground. The priority has to be a push to get the help that has been promised. These are the priorities, not more armed forces.."
Haitians Disappointed with Preval, Long for Aristide
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122937610
"Nearly two weeks after the deadly earthquake, the Haitian government continues to struggle. Many officials died in the quake and government buildings were destroyed. Some Haitians don't believe President Rene Preval can pull them out of the chaos the're in. They would like to see ousted President Jean Bertrand Aristide return to office.."
Aristide Wants to 'Share in the Suffering'
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=nw20100122181813199C669442&set_id=...
"'Like all Haitians around the world, I'd like to share in the suffering of my people,' he said, wanting to show sympathy but also knowing that his return could set off another - a political earthquake. Aristide 57, wants to leave South Africa nonetheless. He has promised not to get involved in Haitian politics, saying he sought only 'an academic post'..."
Fighting Starvation, Haitians Share Portions
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35071395/ns/world_news_the_new_york_times/
"For Maxi and countless others here in Haiti's pulverized capital, new rules of hunger etiquette are emerging. Stealing food, it is widely known, might get you killed. Children are most likely to return with something to eat, but no matter what is found, or how hungry the forager, everything must be shared..
The communal rationing, along with signs all over the city that say 'SOS' and 'WE NEED FOOD', suggests that the food crisis is growing.."
Desperate Haitians Over-Run UN Food Hand Out
http://timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7002642.ece
"As some of the troops fired pepper spray, others standing on top of a UN tank fired rubber bullets into the air, all but ignored by the people striving to get at food supplies. 'Whatever we do, it doesn't matter - the are animals', said one of the 18 UN Uruguayan peacekeepers.."
Thanks, Scott P.
[url=http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/let_the_haitians_in_20100126/]Let the Haitians In[/url]
Amy Goodman
But TPS is not enough. Haitians need to be allowed into the United States, legally, compassionately and immediately. I visited hospitals and clinics in Port-au-Prince, with thousands of people waiting for care, and amputations happening with ibuprofen or Motrin, if patients were lucky. Ira Kurzban, a Miami-based attorney who represented Haiti for years, says the U.S. must let in those immediately who need medical care, that far too few of the injured have been brought to the U.S. In addition, he told me, the U.S. should bring many more people from Haiti, including all those people who had approved petitions by family members. It’s about 70,000 people. These people have been approved, but are essentially in a multiyear waiting line to move to the U.S. Kurzban compared the historical willingness and ability of the U.S. to accept Cuban refugees with what he calls a policy of “containment” with Haiti, preventing people from leaving and blocking the shores with the Coast Guard. The first thing I saw when flying in to Port-au-Prince days after the earthquake were the Coast Guard cutters. They weren’t bringing aid in, or carrying people out. They were preventing Haitians from leaving.
Haiti is a prison.
Airlift Haitians To Canada: MDs
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/01/26/doctors-airlift-haiti...
"A Quebec doctors group wants the federal government to airlift injured Haitians into Canada for medical treatment"
Surely this is an obvious and urgent course of action if our much vaunted 'humanitarianism' means anything. It should be forcefully advocated by all immediately.
[url=http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/2010121173217185404.h...'s operating without anaesthesia[/url] Imagine undergoing a limb amputation after taking just ibuprofen. It's totally racist. Dogs receive better treatment.
Haitian Survivors Fight for Food
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/20101262336299208.html
"scenes of fighting have broken out in the Haitian capital as survivors continue to have little food two weeks after an earthquake devastated the Caribbean island. 'The situation here is getting increasingly worse. People are so hungry and the food is just not getting here.."
Women Struggle in Haiti Aftermath
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/201012661526693775.html
"While aid distribution in the aftermath of Haiti's devastating earthquake has [NOT] improved, many are still fighting to survive and some of the most vulnerable are pregnant women.."
Radio ads competing for aid money in canada...
Haiti Newslinks 26-27 January:
http://www.creative-i.info/2010/01/27/haiti-newslinks-26-27-january-2010/
The Marines in Haiti: Back to Colonialism
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/pers-j27.shtml
"...That the US Marines sent to Haiti by the Obama administration are consciously modeling their mission on the "success' of the 20 - year occupation that ended in 1934 has unmistakable political significance. The Marines, the article continues, 'viewed those years as a model for nation building and counterinsurgency strategy.."
Hugo and the Shockwave
http://counterpunch.org/kozloff01272010.html
"When it comes to making perceptive statements of fact, Hugo Chavez doesn't seem to have a very good track record. As of late the Venezuelan leader seems to have become mentally unhinged, remarking that former Ugandan dictator and genocidal murderer Idi Amin was a 'patriot'. And now Chavez has another zinger:
the United States intentionally created the earthquake in Haiti through means of a secret weapon..."
A Haiti Disaster Relief Scenario Was Envisaged by the US Military One Day Before the Earthquake
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17122
"A Haiti disaster relief scenario had been envisaged at the headquarters of US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) in Miami one day prior to the Earthquake.."
Clinton on Haiti: 'We Have a Plan'
http://hillary.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/01/26/clinton_on_haiti_we_ha...
'Clinton Says Plan for Haiti Exists' (Washington Times) excerpts:
"The Obama administration wants to use a plan for rebuilding Haiti it had before this month's earthquake rather than 'start from scratch', Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday as top diplomats from around the world gathered to map out the country's recovery...
'So we have a plan,' she said. 'It was a legitimate plan, it was done in conjunction with other international donors, with the United Nations. And I don't want to start from scratch.."
Of each U.S. taxpayer dollar, 40 cents is going to the U.S. military, paying for security, search and rescue teams, and the Navy's hospital ship USNS Comfort.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/27/world/main6146903.shtml
Video: The politics of rice
Thanks FM that was a powerful piece. Its nice to see there is still a network doing journalism.
Does anyone know whether their are NGO's on the ground who have committed to buying from Haitian farmers. If the rice is bought at cost plus from the farmers it would be a very good way to inject capital into the Haitian economy.
I would even support an NGO that deliberately lost money by buying Haitian foodstuffs at a premium and then selling them to market vendors cheaper than imported food.
double post 
[url=http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17235]Haiti: We are Sending Doctors, not Soldiers[/url]
by Fidel Castro
Haiti is a net product of the colonial, capitalist and imperialist system imposed on the world. Both slavery in Haiti and its subsequent poverty were imposed from abroad. The terrible earthquake came in the wake of the Copenhagen Summit, where the most elemental rights of the 192 member states of the United Nations were trampled over.In the aftermath of the tragedy, a competition is underway in Haiti for the precipitate and illegal adoption of boys and girls, which has obliged UNICEF to adopt preventative measures against the uprooting of a large number of children, thus depriving close relatives of such rights.
The number of fatalities is already in excess of 100,000. An elevated number of citizens have lost arms or legs, or have suffered fractures that will require rehabilitation for tem to work or manage their lives independently.
The Kidnapping of Haiti by John Pilger
http://www.zmag.org/zspace/commentaries/4123
"The theft of Haiti has been swift and crude..
Not for tourists is the US building its fifth biggest embassy in Port au Prince. Oil was found in Haiti's waters decades ago and the US has kept it in reserve until the Middle East begins to run dry. More urgently, unoccupied Haiti has a strategic importance in Washington's 'rollback' plans for Latin America.."
Plan of Death in Haiti
http://www.counterpunch.org/prashad01272010.html
"The Obama team has not shifted the century long US policy vis-a-vis Haiti. Promotion of tourism and sweatshops, increase in debt and rural flight: all this will continue. A $100 million in aid is miniscule, almost insulting - it was Obama's first tranche for Haiti. More will come but with substantial conditions, more along the plan of death. These are inevitable and they will set the stage for further suffering. The earthquake and its aftermath will draw in some relief money and the good feelings of Atlantic liberalism. But little more.."
Useless Aid, No Donation Without Agitation
http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/freedom-rider-useless-aid
"The time has come for a new paradigm: No donation without agitation. The US has succeeded in plunging mainstream disaster 'relief' into disrepute. No donations to groups like the Red Cross, who sit on millions of dollars but do nothing but hand out blankets and move victims away from their homes in order to convenience the powerful. And especially no donations to any group associated with George Bush or Bill Clinton. Dollars must come with demands of non interference in Haiti's affairs and demands of accountability to charitable organizations..."
Haiti: We Send Doctors Not Soldiers by Fidel Castro
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17235
"In the midst of the Haitian tragedy, without anyone knowing how and why, thousands of US Marines, 82nd Airborne Division troops and other military forces have occupied Haitian territory. Worse still, neither the UN nor the US government has offered any explanation to the world regarding this deployment of forces.."
Repudiating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/01/repudiating-the-universal-declaration-...
"Would any moral nation deny that it exists for the good of its people and the wider humanity? What are the citizens of such nations to think? More importantly, what are the citizenry to do?"
Haiti's Homeless are One Storm Away from Another Tragedy
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d4a43330-0baa-11df-9f03-00144feabdc0.html?ftca...
"The fate of the 690,000 homeless people cast on to the streets of Port au Prince, Haiti's capital, is rapidly becoming one of the most urgent dilemmas in the aftermath of this month's earthquake. Aid workers acknowledge that Port au Prince is one thunderstorm away from another tragedy.."
Canada in Haiti: Part 1 (vid)
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/haiticonference
'demonstrators condemn US relief and reconstruction plans at Montreal Conference'
Traffickers Targeting Haiti's Children, Human Organs: PM
http://us.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/27/haiti.earthquake.orphans/ind...
"Trafficking of children and human organs is occurring in the aftermath of the earthquake that devastated parts of Haiti, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said Wednesday."
Haiti's Earthquake: Natural or Engineered
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/01/haitis-earthquake-natural-or-engin...
"Vive said the US may have had 'full knowledge' of the test's damage potential and speculated it was why Deputy Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) General PK Keen was in Haiti when the quake struck, preparing to act in case of a disaster - perhaps an engineered one.."
Troops Fire On Starving Crowds in Haiti
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/hait-j28.shtml
"Troops under UN command here opened fire on crowds of hungry Haitians seeking food, an ominous sign of impending confrontation between the people of the earthquake wracked country and the armed forces dispatched there under the auspices of the imperialist powers.."
Haitian Americans Dissatisfied with Haiti's Response to Disaster
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/haiti/story/1450079.html
"The unhappiness runs so deep that a majority of Haitian Americans support the UN and the international community taking over Haiti's day to day operations.."
Girl Rescued 15 days after quake: Haiti Pleads for Better Aid Effort
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/6731957/haiti-pleads-for-better-aid-e...
"Haiti appealed to foreign governments and charities on Wednesday to do more to help earthquake victims as rescuers pulled a teenage girl out of the rubble 15 days after her Port au Prince home collapsed on her.
President Rene Preval said Haiti would indefinitely postpone Feb. 28, parliamentary elections and he would not seek to stay in office after his term expires in Feb 2011.."
Haitian President Says 170,000 Bodies Recovered
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/hait-j29.shtml
"More than two weeks after the disaster, the majority of its surviving victims have yet to receive any significant aid.."
Relief Efforts Frustrate Haitian Neighborhood Leaders
http://www.mediahacker.org/2010/01/in-grand-goave-haiti-relief-efforts-f...
"They have made many promises, but we don't see the action yet. We have a lot of people suffering. Nobody has helped us."
The Land That Wouldn't Lie: Foreign Intervention in Haiti by Peter Hallward
http://haitianalysis.com/2010/1/29/the-land-that-wouldn-t-lie-foreign-in...
"After a couple of weeks of intense media attention, some causes of Haiti's glaring poverty have become familiar. What's less well understood is that the fundamental reasons for Haiti's current destitution originate as responses to Haitian strength, rather than as results of alleged Haitian weakness, corruption or incompetence..
First of all - and it remains impossible to overstate the importance of this point - Haiti is the one and only place in the world where colonial slavery was abolished by the slaves themselves, in the face of implaccable violence..."
The Kidnapping of Haiti
http://www.zmag.org/zspace/commentaries/4123
..john pilger's take on haiti. he nails the american interests.
On the Ground in Port-au-Prince
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/weblogs/wadner_pierre/3170
"Though helicopters thunder through the skies, actual relief of food and water and shelter remains minimal to non-existant in most neighborhoods. The scenes of destruction boggle the mind.."
Haiti Drs. Running Out of Basic Medicines:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/29/world/main6153546.shtml
"Basic medical supplies such as antibiotics and painkillers are running dangerously low.."
Haiti Newslinks: January 27-28
http://www.creative-i.info/2010/01/28/haiti-newslinks-27-28-january-2010/
Desperation But No Violence Seen in Haiti
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/28/haiti.notebook/
Haiti Newslinks: January 29-30
http://www.creative-i.info/2010/01/30/haiti-newslinks-29-30-january-2010/
Haiti PM Slams US aid Delays (vid)
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/2010129151615240430.html
What the TV Doesn't Tell US About Haiti
http://thecommune.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/what-the-tv-doesnt-tell-us-ab...
"The world's TV is showing as we might expect, a false picture of reality."
Mistrusting UN and Their Own Government (video)
http://www.mediahacker.org/2010/01/video-mistrusting-government-and-un-h...
"a quick video shot Tuesday of Canadian soldiers in the heart of Cite Soleil showing how NOT to do aid distribution."
WHO: Risk of Epidemics in Haiti Increasing
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/WHO-Risk-of-Epidemics-in-Haiti-Incr...
Oil in Haiti: Reason for US Occupation
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=DAN20100...
Under US capitalism, the almighty dollar is more important that critically injured Haitians requiring evacuation to the United States for medical treatment.
[url=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/30/us/30airlift.html?nl=todaysheadlines&e... Dispute Halts Airlift of Injured Haiti Quake Victims[/url]
MIAMI - The United States has suspended its medical evacuations of critically injured Haitian earthquake victims until a dispute over who will pay for their care is settled, military officials said Friday.The military flights, usually C-130s carrying Haitians with spinal cord injuries, burns and other serious wounds, ended on Wednesday after Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida formally asked the federal government to shoulder some of the cost of the care.
Hospitals in Florida have treated more than 500 earthquake victims so far, the military said, including an infant who was pulled out of the rubble with a fractured skull and ribs. Other states have taken patients, too, and those flights have been suspended as well, the officials said.
The suspension could be catastrophic for patients, said Dr. Barth A. Green, the co-founder of Project Medishare for Haiti, a nonprofit group affiliated with the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine that had been evacuating about two dozen patients a day.
"People are dying in Haiti because they can't get out," Dr. Green said.
The Fateful Geological Prize Called Haiti:
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17287
"...a drama is in full play for control of what geophysicists believe may be one of the world's richest zones for hydrocarbons - oil and gas - outside the Middle East."
Canada is naturally involved..
Thanks NDPpp. These blood for oil hounds never miss a trick. It's not good when we imagine that if they brought back "le slice" and Moscow show trials, that it would be a great day for democracy.
America Strikes Again: The Continued Violation of Haitian Humanity
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Opinion---Haiti_7373840
"Rene Preval sold Haiti to the USA for $100 Million...The earthquake in Haiti must be seen in the context of America's control of the world for profit.."
In Haitian Town, Aid is But a Rumor
http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2010/02/01/in_rur...
"...the mammoth life-saving effort has yet to reach countless places like this...And the Canadian troops who are based here have been patrolling but are not supposed to distribute food directly, said Master Corporal Jacques Bisson of the Canadian army.."
Haitians Will Defend Their Sovereignty (Real News)
http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=165A49F:00B372739C54F8C536CB8FBBB4F...
Thanks, No Difference. It is interesting to consider the U.S.'s prior relationship to Haiti and what interests might be met through some kind of disaster occurring there.
We sure are having a lot of disasters lately, aren't we? The U.S. hasn't had to invade anywhere without warrant in a long time!
And tectonic weaponry? Please, don't make me laugh. Everybody knows you can't explode a bomb underground!
Haiti: Recovery Replaces Relief
http://mediachannel.org/blog/2010/02/what-next-for-haiti-as-recovery-rep...
"As media coverage fades, urgent issues on the disaster go uncovered...Because of the suffering they have shown us, much of it as character based human interest vignettes, correspondents seemed to have had little airtime for investigating what history might someday indict as an incompetent, if not criminally negligent aid response..
For weeks, there were so many basic questions left unexplored like how much was being spent. Where was it going, and whether it got there.."
Toronto's Haitian Community Stages March Calling for More Aid
http://fwix.com/toronto/share/250a6cb625/Torontos_Haitian_Community_Stag...
"One is to call on the Canadian government to widen the ordinary definition of family class to allow Haitian-Canadians to sponsor more of their relatives stranded in the earthquake zone and bring them to Canada. Another is to permit Haitian refugees in Canada who haven't recieved status the right to bring family members here while their cases are received..
the third is to start an airlift of all critically injured Haitians to Canada...
Ya, I agree Jas, especially given the fact thats just drilling for oil/NG around the area of active techtonic subduction will cause an earth quake...
[url=http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17331]The Brutal Life of Haiti's Child Slaves[/url]
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v697/rabblerabble/Capture1-1.gif[/IMG]
As soon as dawn breaks in Port-au-Prince the first children appear, staggering under the weight of five-gallon buckets of water. The water carriers, many as young as 6-years-old, are some of the thousands of children living as virtual child slaves in the country.Given away to other families by parents too poor to feed and clothe them, they cook, clean and fetch water without any payment. Under what is known as the restavek system, the children are supposed to get food, shelter and a place at school in return. But for many, the reality is very different.
"Sometimes they beat me with lengths of electrical cable and sometimes they punch me," says 14-year-old restavek Jenette. "I was grinding a coconut and I wasn't doing it very well so they took a knife and cut me with it," she says.
"My mother is dead and my father doesn't care for me. I would like to run away but I have nowhere to go."
'No clue'
Unicef estimates that there could be as many as 300,000 restavek children in Haiti, thousands living with the constant threat of violence. "There is physical abuse, psychological abuse and there are cases of rape, and there are children who actually die from the abuses," says Julie Bergeron, Unicef head of child protection in Haiti.
She says that parents are often unaware of how their children are being treated. "Someone approaching the family will often say to parents that their child will have a better life," she says. "And often the parents do not have any feedback, they don't know what is happening.
"If they do have, it is through he intermediate, and they will say 'your child is doing fine'. So the parents have no clue."
Jean Robert Cadet, founder of the Restavek Foundation, knows the life of what he describes as "child slavery" only too well.
At the age of four he was given to another family soon after his mother died. For the next 16 years he slept under a kitchen table, was forbidden to smile, laugh or speak unless spoken to, and endured sexual abuse and savage beatings.
Thirty years later, he says, the abuse of restavek children in Haiti continues.
"They use a cow hide whip. One hit will split your skin open," he says.
"Some families who own these children, they still use cheese graters - you will find they have two of them.
"One for the normal cooking in the kitchen, and if they have an old rusty one, they use it to punish the child. The child has to kneel on a cheese grater after the beating."
Rejection
Deep in the Haitian countryside, two hours by car from the capital, a ten-year-old boy sits stiffly on a small wooden chair.
Clad in a freshly washed white shirt and dark trousers, the boy has just been returned to his parents, eight days after running away from the family he was given to. His mother smiles, constantly looking from me to him as I ask how she came to part with her son.
Suddenly, my translator Mario halts the interview. "She's completely confused," he says. "She thinks that we are the ones who are interested in the child."
So that is why young Jean is dressed so smartly. But after explaining that I am not there to take him away, Jean's mother, who has six other children, looks almost disappointed. "It is very difficult, very difficult indeed for me to feed the children. My husband is in prison and I have to rely on help from friends and neighbours," she says. "If someone wants to come and take the child, they can come and take him.
"I am concerned about the state of my children. They don't even have proper clothes to wear. None of them are in school, I simply don't have the money to send them there."
The government social worker who helped return Jean to his family later warned his mother and her neighbours that the restavek system is now illegal in Haiti. The Haiti's parliament ratified two UN conventions banning child labour in 2007.
But with little enforcement of the law, the system continues unabated.
A prayer
There are projects in Haiti to alleviate the suffering of the restavek children.
At the Foyer Maurice Sixto School, 200 restavek children are given an education inbetween their daily chores. As soon as lessons are over they return to their life of bondage. The School's Director, Granpierre Jeremie, says that abuse is common among the children who come to the school. "We have a lot of children that come here covered in bandages. They have wounds all over their bodies," she says.
"We pray that this system will come to an end. It is bad for the children and bad for the future of our country." . . .
Haiti is the freest trading nation in the Caribbean according to their imperial masters in Washington.
VIVA LA REVOLUCION!
Out of Chaos: Survival in Haiti:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/torsun/100201/canada/out_of_chaos__survival_i...
"the patients have been taken outside... They lay scattered everywhere, screaming in pain, calling for help. It is an overwhelming sight. More than 400 patients are on the lawn, joined every few minutes by a new patient who is brought in and dumped on the driveway. The new patients share a typical tale of being pulled from the rubble, but they have horrific wounds, open fractures, head injuries and crushed extremities. Many die on the lawn before they can be triaged. Medical workers feverishly try to regain order and help the masses. They are surrounded by people begging them to come treat their loved ones.."
Haiti Newslinks 1-2 February, 2010
http://www.creative-i.info/2010/02/02/haiti-newslinks-1-2-february-2010/
..txs for all your posts nodifference!
...you're very welcome!
The Flood to End Occupation
http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticlePrint/23805
"How is Corporate Empire and the Haiti model to be understood in order to organize resistance to its expansion in the region and elsewhere. How should we engage in assistance and solidarity, yet not contribute to enslavement through aid?
Haiti must be free and for Haitians. Our collective freedom depends on this. How can we gather to transform denouncing into resistance and gather all voices and forces to expell the occupiers and free the slaves?"
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