Shattering Haiti: An Unnatural Disaster
Posted by Mike E on January 14, 2010
by Mike Ely
With deep sorrow and horror we have heard that a massive earthquake has erupted, further shattering the lives of Haiti’s people.
One of the most impoverished countries on earth, a land of remarkable people, soaring history, and unspeakable poverty – Haiti now lies in ruins.
It is early Wednesday, and we don’t yet have reports to post. Nor does Kasama have some quick analysis to offer. But we do know very well how imperialism has left this people without resources or buffering to uncover the trapped, to heal the wounded, to find the dead.
Shabby construction has produced human tombs. Clinics have reportedly crumbled. The bulk of the people — scattered through the impoverished countryside — are beyond reporting or cameras.
There is one basic truth that roars to the front: The profound injustices of class society mean that natural disasters become man-made disasters.
The shrugs of our dynamic earth, the constant trembling of its skin…. these are natural and inevitable. They are known and expected.
But huge swaths of humanity are unprepared. Billions of human beings live on the edge of starvation — without savings, resources, equipment or the access to the ear of the powerful.
I was once caught in a flood in West Virginia, where houses were flattened and people were washed away by sudden uncontrollable torrents of water. I was myself washed away, and after I was pulled out of the water, teams of us went on to rescue others from the flood. That disaster was directly caused by the recklessness of coal capitalists.But then, within days, the coalfields of the USA revealed the massive earth-moving equipment of a wealthy industrial society: bulldozers, road scrapers, back-hoes, and digging equipment of all kinds were suddenly in motion, clearing roads, dredging creeks, returning life to normal — and (above all) returning capitalist mining production to normal. Inevitably, capitalism determined HOW that equipment was deployed — first opening the mines, then opening the businesses of the corrupt local elites, and only later (after interminable waits) clearing roads to the coal camps where the people lived.
But in Haiti, there are no bulldozers waiting to be deployed. No backup health care. There are no emergency systems. There are no warehouses of supplies. There are no helicopters waiting to fly the injured to hospitals.
There are simply human hands digging at the rubble, and suffering human hearts. There is poverty, and amidst that poverty, there is this new and undeserved horror.
We owe it to the people of Haiti to help in every way we can.
I know someone who was on her way to Haiti when this happened. There are (I’m sure) others who will be traveling there to personally lay their hands on the injured and dying. But we also owe it to the people to expose this criminal system — to expose why the people of Haiti are so poor (after centuries of endless labor in sugar cane fields and baseball factories).
Why does one countries have bulldozers and another only have the calloused hands of the utterly poor?
Why is the U.S. “rushing to help” (like a vampire arriving with an offer of blood)?
Why is Haiti, after U.S. occupations, after the rule of vicious dictators, after a rebel nation was treated as a pariah…. why is Haiti so poor? And how will she ever, ever, find her footing without revolution, liberation, power and destiny truly, finally, in the hands of her people?
Help Kasama expose the crimes revealed by this catastrophe.
Help us seek out the evidence, the events, the underlying dynamics that turned this earthquake into an unnecessary and inhumane catastrophe.
The mainstream media promotes pictures of buildings, not people
Post links and reports here.
Share this post with others.
Let us act, as brothers and sisters of Haiti’s people, in the face of this great injustice and suffering.
* * * * * *
About Haiti:
- The Caribbean nation of 9 million is a former French colony and the world’s oldest black republic, founded by freed slaves following a revolt that led to independence in 1804.
- Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas with an annual per-capita income of $560. It ranks 146th out of 177 countries on the UNDP Human Development Index.
- More than half the population lives on less than $1 a day and 78 percent on less than $2. There is a high infant mortality rate (60 for every 1,000 births) and the prevalence of HIV among those between ages 15 and 49 is 2.2 percent.
- Haiti’s infrastructure is close to total collapse and severe deforestation has left only 2 percent of forest cover.
Billy O'Connor said
I’m watching MSNBC show before and after pictures OF THE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE AND THE AMERICAN FUCKING EMBASSY.
MarxistDisciple said
Stories published within Kasama deserve to be shared via facebook, myspace, etc. Are there any plans to make a radio button or link that readers can click on that will post these stories to Share on their profiles like other publications or websites offer?
Mike E said
Marxist Disciple:
Yes, we agree that sharing these pieces widely (via social networking etc) is valuable and important. It gives them and this site new audiences and is an important way that revolutionaries become part of this discussion. Facebook and Stumble have repeatedly been successful at this (and we would love to see more circulation on myspace).
People regularly post our articles on their facebook pages — I post them regularly on my own page, and there is an automated Kasama Project page you can connect with.
As for simplifying this with direct buttons: yes, there are such plans. Our web team has been working on our new site. Coming soon….
Jan Makandal said
In Haiti, Capitalism have no solutions to any crisis facing HAiti now. As for the proletarian revolutionary movement and the mass movement we are in the process of gathering data on the effect of this devastating earthquake. I am of the tendency, in any occasion,to offer autonomous alternatives. Any solidarity coming from prograssives internationally should be done, base on political unity of course, independently and autonomously of capitalist demaguoge, representatives and their NGO’s
Koba said
Raw footage from Haiti – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ-ZEoD8PBE
Rosso said
In terms of donations, where’s a good place to send money/goods?
Koba said
a couple more articles that historically frame the disaster:
http://trueslant.com/allisonkilkenny/2010/01/13/us-debt-policies-left-haiti-vulnerable-to-catastrophe/
http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2010/01/13/earthquake-hits-haiti-causing-destruction-to-an-impoverished-nation/?sms_ss=facebook
nando said
One of the more extensive reports I’ve seen:
Thousands feared dead in Haiti quake; many trapped
By JONATHAN M. KATZ, Associated Press Writer Jonathan M. Katz, Associated Press Writer
22 mins ago
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Haitians piled bodies along the devastated streets of their capital Wednesday after a powerful earthquake flattened the president’s palace, the cathedral, hospitals, schools, the main prison and whole neighborhoods. Officials feared thousands — perhaps more than 100,000 — may have perished but there was no firm count.
Death was everywhere in Port-au-Prince. Bodies of tiny children were piled next to schools. Corpses of women lay on the street with stunned expressions frozen on their faces as flies began to gather. Bodies of men were covered with plastic tarps or cotton sheets.
President Rene Preval said he believes thousands were killed in Tuesday afternoon’s magnitude-7.0 quake, and the scope of the destruction prompted other officials to give even higher estimates. Leading Sen. Youri Latortue told The Associated Press that 500,000 could be dead, although he acknowledged that nobody really knows.
“Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed,” Preval told the Miami Herald. “There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them.”
Even the main prison in the capital fell down, “and there are reports of escaped inmates,” U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said in Geneva.
The head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission was missing and the Roman Catholic archbishop of Port-au-Prince was dead.
“The cathedral, the archbishop’s office, all the big churches, the seminaries have been reduced to rubble,” Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the apostolic envoy to Haiti, told the Vatican news agency FIDES.
The parking lot of the Hotel Villa Creole was a triage center. People sat with injuries and growing infections by the side of rubble-strewn roads, hoping that doctors and aid would come.
The international Red Cross said a third of Haiti’s 9 million people may need emergency aid and that it would take a day or two for a clear picture of the damage to emerge.
At first light Wednesday, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter evacuated four critically injured U.S. Embassy staff to the hospital on the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the military has been detaining suspected terrorists.
President Barack Obama promised an all-out rescue and humanitarian effort, adding that the U.S. commitment to its hemispheric neighbor will be unwavering.
“We have to be there for them in their hour of need,” Obama said.
A small contingent of U.S. ground troops could be on their way soon, although it was unclear whether they would be used for security operations or humanitarian efforts. Gen. Douglas Fraser, commander of the U.S. Southern Command, said roughly 2,000 Marines as part of an expeditionary unit might be deployed aboard a large-deck amphibious ship. Fraser said the ship could provide medical help.
Other nations — from Iceland to Venezuela — said they would start sending in aid workers and rescue teams. Cuba said its existing field hospitals in Haiti had already treated hundreds of victims. The United Nations said Port-au-Prince’s main airport was “fully operational” and open to relief flights.
The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson, is under way and expected to arrive off the coast of Haiti Thursday. Additional U.S. Navy ships are under way to Haiti, a statement from the Southern Command said.
Aftershocks continued to rattle the capital of 2 million people as women covered in dust clawed out of debris, wailing. Stunned people wandered the streets holding hands. Thousands gathered in public squares to sing hymns.
U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said it was possible that the death toll “will be in the thousands.”
“Initial reports suggest a high number of casualties and, of course, widespread damage but I don’t have any figure that I can give you with any reliability of what the number of casualties will be,” Holmes said.
People pulled bodies from collapsed homes, covering them with sheets by the side of the road. Passers-by lifted the sheets to see if loved ones were underneath. Outside a crumbled building, the bodies of five children and three adults lay in a pile.
The prominent died along with the poor: the body of Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot, 63, was found in the ruins of his office, said the Rev. Pierre Le Beller of the Saint Jacques Missionary Center in Landivisiau, France. He told The Associated Press by telephone that fellow missionaries in Haiti had told him they found Miot’s body.
Preval told the Herald that Haiti’s Senate president was among those trapped alive inside the Parliament building. Much of the National Palace pancaked on itself.
The international Red Cross and other aid groups announced plans for major relief operations in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country.
Many will have to help their own staff as well as stricken Haitians. Taiwan said its embassy was destroyed and the ambassador hospitalized. Spain said its embassy was badly damaged and France said its embassy also suffered damage.
Tens of thousands of people lost their homes as buildings that were flimsy and dangerous even under normal conditions collapsed. Nobody offered an estimate of the dead, but the numbers were clearly enormous.
“The hospitals cannot handle all these victims,” said Dr. Louis-Gerard Gilles.
Medical experts say disasters such as an earthquake generally do not lead to new outbreaks of infectious diseases, but they do tend to worsen existing health problems.
Haiti’s quake refugees likely will face an increased risk of dengue fever, malaria and measles — problems that plagued the impoverished country before, said Kimberley Shoaf, associate director of the UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters.
Some of the biggest immediate health threats include respiratory disease from inhaling dust from collapsed buildings and diarrhea from drinking contaminated water.
With hospitals and clinics severely damaged, Haiti will also face risks of secondary infections. People seeking medical attention for broken bones and other injuries may not be able to get the help they need and may develop complications.
Dead bodies piled on the streets typically don’t pose a public health risk. But for a country wracked by violence, seeing the dead will exact a psychological toll.
An American aid worker was trapped for about 10 hours under the rubble of her mission house before she was rescued by her husband, who told CBS’ “Early Show” that he drove 100 miles (160 kilometers) to Port-au-Prince to find her. Frank Thorp said he dug for more than an hour to free his wife, Jillian, and a co-worker, from under about a foot of concrete.
An estimated 40,000-45,000 Americans live in Haiti, and the U.S. Embassy had no confirmed reports of deaths among its citizens. All but one American employed by the embassy have been accounted for, State Department officials said.
Even relatively wealthy neighborhoods were devastated.
An AP videographer saw a wrecked hospital where people screamed for help in Petionville, a hillside district that is home to many diplomats and wealthy Haitians as well as the poor.
At a destroyed four-story apartment building, a girl of about 16 stood atop a car, trying to see inside while several men pulled at a foot sticking from rubble. She said her family was inside.
“A school near here collapsed totally,” Petionville resident Ken Michel said after surveying the damage. “We don’t know if there were any children inside.” He said many seemingly sturdy homes nearby were split apart.
The U.N.’s 9,000 peacekeepers in Haiti, many of whom are from Brazil, were distracted from aid efforts by their own tragedy: Many spent the night hunting for survivors in the ruins of their headquarters.
“It would appear that everyone who was in the building, including my friend Hedi Annabi, the United Nations’ secretary-general’s special envoy, and everyone with him and around him, are dead,” French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on RTL radio.
But U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy would not confirm that Annabi was dead, saying he was among more than 100 people missing in its wrecked headquarters. He said only about 10 people had been pulled out, many of them badly injured. Fewer than five bodies had been removed, he said.
U.N. peacekeeping forces in Port-au-Prince are securing the airport, the port, main buildings and patrolling the streets, Le Roy said.
Brazil’s army said at least 11 of its peacekeepers were killed, while Jordan’s official news agency said three of its peacekeepers were killed. A state newspaper in China said eight Chinese peacekeepers were known dead and 10 were missing — though officials later said the information was not confirmed.
The quake struck at 4:53 p.m., and was centered 10 miles (15 kilometers) west of Port-au-Prince at a depth of only 5 miles (8 kilometers), the U.S. Geological Survey said. USGS geophysicist Kristin Marano called it the strongest earthquake since 1770 in what is now Haiti.
Video obtained by the AP showed a huge dust cloud rising over Port-au-Prince shortly after the quake as buildings collapsed.
Most Haitians are desperately poor, and after years of political instability the country has no real construction standards. In November 2008, following the collapse of a school in Petionville, the mayor of Port-au-Prince estimated about 60 percent of buildings were shoddily built and unsafe normally.
The quake was felt in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, and in eastern Cuba, but no major damage was reported in either place.
With electricity out in many places and phone service erratic, it was nearly impossible for Haitian or foreign officials to get full details of the devastation.
“Everybody is just totally, totally freaked out and shaken,” said Henry Bahn, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official in Port-au-Prince. “The sky is just gray with dust.”
Edwidge Danticat, an award-winning Haitian-American author was unable to contact relatives in Haiti. She sat with family and friends at her home in Miami, looking for news on the Internet and watching TV news reports.
“You want to go there, but you just have to wait,” she said. “Life is already so fragile in Haiti, and to have this on such a massive scale, it’s unimaginable how the country will be able to recover from this.”
___
Associated Press contributors to this story: videographer Pierre Richard Luxama in Port-au-Prince; and writers David Koop and Olga R. Rodriguez in Mexico City; David McFadden and Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Matthew Lee and Julie Pace in Washington; Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations; Tamara Lush in Tampa, Fla.; and Jennifer Kay and Christine Armario in Miami.
nando said
on the quake itself
The Devastating Haiti Earthquake: Questions and Answers
LiveScience Staff LiveScience.com
Wed Jan 13, 11:30 am ET
The earthquake that devastated Haiti Tuesday was the strongest temblor to hit the island nation in more than 200 years. The magnitude 7.0 quake caused tremendous damage that officials have yet to fully characterize, and the death toll may run into the thousands.
What caused the Haiti earthquake, and why was it so devastating? Here are answers to these and other questions:
What caused the earthquake?
The shaking started on Tuesday, Jan. 12, at 4:53 p.m. EST (21:53 UTC) in the Haiti region, just 10 miles (15 km) southwest of Port-au-Prince.
The Haiti earthquake occurred at a fault that runs right through Haiti and is situated along the boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates, which are rocky slabs that cover the planet and fit together like a giant jigsaw puzzle. These two plates constantly creep past one another, about 0.8 inches (20 mm) a year, with the Caribbean plate moving eastward with respect to the North American slab.
“Twenty millimeters a year of slippage is very small, and that’s not what people felt,” said Carrieann Bedwell, geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC).
Rather, they felt the release of energy from the Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden fault system. “The two sides of the fault line moved past each other in an east-west direction and that’s what caused the energy release and the Haiti earthquakes,” Bedwell said.
The high magnitude of this quake took scientists by surprise, as this system of faults hasn’t triggered a major temblor in recent decades. The fault has, however, been linked to some historical big ones in 1860, 1770, 1761, 1751, 1684, 1673 and 1618, though none of these has been confirmed in the field as associated with this fault, according to the USGS.
What does a magnitude 7.0 mean?
Magnitude measures the energy released at the source of the earthquake. Since magnitudes are given on a logarithmic scale, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake would release 10 times as much energy as a 6.0-magnitude temblor. Geoscientists also look at an earthquake’s intensity, which measures the strength of shaking produced by the earthquake at a certain location and is determined from the effects that shaking has on people, structures and the environment.
How rare was the Haiti earthquake?
The Caribbean isn’t exactly a hot zone for earthquakes, but they’re not unheard of in the region.
Yesterday’s earthquake was one of the largest ever to hit the area – the last time an earthquake this strong struck Haiti was in the 18th century.
Haiti takes up about half of the island of Hispaniola, while the Dominican Republic lies on the other side. In 1946, an 8.0-magnitude earthquake shook Samana, in the Dominican Republic, causing about 100 fatalities. The recent quake will likely have a much greater casualty toll because it hit a more densely populated region.
Why was the Haiti earthquake so devastating?
While magnitude is important, it’s the intensity that matters to those affected by a natural disaster.
“In general, earthquakes have different characteristics whether they are in the ocean or on land and depending on the geologic setting they are in,” Bedwell told LiveScience. “A mountainous and rocky setting is more characteristic of not as much ground shaking, opposed to abundant sediments and not as rocky where there’s a potential for higher ground shaking. Haiti would be a more sediment type, more severe ground shaking geologic setting.”
Depth is also important, as the source of the Haiti quake was 6.2 miles (10 km) below the Earth’s surface.
“The depth of this earthquake in Haiti was very shallow, meaning that the energy that was released is very close to the surface, which can also be another characteristic that causes some violent ground shaking,” Bedwell said. “An earthquake that’s very deep – that energy has a chance to go through the Earth’s crust before reaching the Earth’s surface and possibly not causing as much shaking of the ground.”
Unofficial USGS reports suggest the shaking lasted anywhere from 35 seconds to up to a minute, Bedwell said. “That’s a pretty long amount of time for the ground to be shaking.”
All of these effects get magnified when the infrastructure is shoddy and not built to withstand shaking. “Unfortunately, Haiti has a rather poor economy and not a wonderful building style for earthquake resistance, so we would expect that we would see quite severe and widespread damage from this earthquake,” Michael Blanpeid, associate coordinator for the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program, said in a podcast released today.
A potentially similar effect was seen when a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck China’s Sichuan province, taking tens of thousands of lives. Earthquake engineers speculated the adobe and masonry buildings and homes, many of which were probably not reinforced with steel as building codes dictate, added to the earthquake damage, especially in more rural areas.
What is the potential for future aftershocks in Haiti?
The threat is not over. “So far we have monitored over 40 aftershocks ranging from 4.5 all the way up to 5.9,” Bedwell said. About 14 of those aftershocks were magnitude 5.0 or larger.
And they expect more in the coming weeks, she said. There is no way to predict whether one aftershock will be stronger than the next, as they will come in no particular order, according to Bedwell, but typically range between 4.0 and 5.5 magnitude.
The Port-au-Prince earthquake is not believed to pose a tsunami threat because it happened on land as opposed to out in the deep ocean.
“The only positive thing about this earthquake is that because it did occur on land, it did not generate a tsunami, and so that is one hazard that is quite a severe one in the area that was not faced by the people due to this earthquake,” Blanpeid said.
The USGS initially sent out a tsunami alert but as more information about the quake came in, the alert was cancelled.
“A destructive widespread tsunami threat does not exist based on historical earthquake and tsunami data,” according to a message posted on the USGS Web site.
The threat of mudslides is also on scientists’ radars. “Wherever there are steep slopes or coastal areas there’s likely to be landsliding, and that can bury homes, or block streams, rivers, block roads,” Blanpeid said.
What was the world’s deadliest earthquake?
While the death toll in Haiti is still unknown, the deadliest earthquake in history struck that struck Shaanxi, China, in 1556, killing an estimated 830,000 people.
Walter Lippmann said
Fidel Castro explains Cuba’s aid program to HAITI, now ten years old.
There are currently FIVE HUNDRED CUBAN DOCTORS working in Haiti.
Fidel writes:
Our cooperation with the Haitian people began ten years ago, precisely when hurricanes George and Mitch battered the Caribbean and some Central American countries.
René Preval was then the President of Haiti and Jean-Bertrand Aristide was the Head of Government. The first contingent of 100 Cuban doctors was sent on December 4, 1998. The figure of Cuban health collaborators in Haiti was later on increased to more than 600.
It was on that occasion when the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), where more than 12 000 youths are currently studying, was created. Ever since then, the Haitian youths have been granted hundreds of scholarships by the School of Medicine of Santiago de Cuba, one of the most experienced in the country.
The number of primary schools in Haiti had increased and progress was being made. Even the most humble families were eager to send their children to school, for that was the only hope that they could overcome poverty and work inside or outside their country. The Cuban medicine training program was very much welcomed. The youths who were selected to study in Cuba had a good basic training, an inheritance perhaps of the achievements attained by France in that field. They should spend one year taking a pre-medical course, which also included the Spanish language. That has become a good reserve of quality physicians.
Five hundred and thirty three Haitian youths have graduated from our medical schools as specialists in General Comprehensive Medicine; 52 of them are currently in Cuba, studying a second specialty that is required right now. Another group of 527 are filling the vacancies that were granted to the Republic of Haiti.
Four hundred and thirteen Cuban health professionals are currently offering their services, free of charge, to the people of that sister nation. The Cuban doctors are present in all 10 departments of that country and in 127 of the 137 communities. More than 400 Haitian doctors who have been trained in Cuba, as well as the students from the last year of the career who are doing their practice in Haiti are also offering their services –side by side with our doctors- which make up a big total of 800 Haitian youths devoted to offer medical assistance in their homeland. That force will grow ever bigger with the new Haitian graduates.
It was a tough challenge; the Cuban doctors had to cope with difficult problems. Te infant mortality was above 80 per every one thousand live births; life expectancy was below 60 years of age; the prevalence of AIDS among adults in the year 2007 reached the figure of 120 000 citizens. Tens of thousands of children and adults of different ages still die every year from communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, diarrhea, dengue and malnutrition, just to mention some indicators. Even the HIV is already a disease doctors can combat, thus guaranteeing the life of patients. But this can not be achieved in a single year; it is indispensable to have a health culture, which the Haitian people are acquiring with greater interest. The progress observed shows that it is possible to improve health indicators in a significant way.
Thirty seven thousand one hundred and nine patients have undergone eye surgery in three ophthalmologic centers that were created in Haiti. Those complex cases that can not be operated on there are sent to Cuba, where they are assisted at absolutely no cost.
Thanks to the Venezuelan economic cooperation, 10 Comprehensive Diagnosis Centers are being built, which are equipped with state-of-the-art technology that has already been acquired.
Far more important than the resources that could be mobilized by the international community, are the human beings that make use of those resources.
Our modest support to the people of Haiti has been possible despite of the fact that the hurricanes mentioned by Clinton battered us as well. Solidarity is a good evidence of what the world has lacked.
We could likewise speak of Cuba’s contribution to the literacy programs and other projects, despite our limited economic resources. But I do not want to expand on this; nor is there any desire to do it just to speak about our contribution. I focused on health because it is an unavoidable topic. We are not afraid that others do what we are doing. The Haitian youths who are being trained in Cuba are becoming the priests of health required more and more by that sister nation.
What matters the most is the creation of new forms of cooperation, so much in need by this selfish world. The UN agencies can attest to the fact that Cuba is contributing what they describe as Health Comprehensive Programs.
Nothing can be improvised in Haiti, and nothing will result from the philanthropic spirit of any institution.
His full comment provides historical background and context:
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/ing/f240509i.html
Radical-Eyes said
I was just listening on Democracy Now and their guests endorsed giving funds to the following organizations:
Doctors Without Borders
http://doctorswithoutborders.org/
Partners in Health (Dr. Paul Farmer’s organization)
http://www.pih.org/home.html
Haiti Action Network’s
Haiti Emergency Relief Fund
http://www.haitiaction.net/About/HERF/HERF.html
Radical-Eyes said
Jan Makandal,
You seem to have very strong feelings on the question of where “aid” money goes.
Do you, as someone from Haiti–at least I think that you have mentioned that you are from Haiti before?–have any specific suggestions of what “aid” organizations deserve (and/or do not deserve) people’s support?
Thanks.
Eric Ribellarsi said
heh, and now Pat Robertson says this is revenge rom god for the Haitian revolution:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/13/pat-robertson-haiti-curse_n_422099.html
tolsto said
http://www.monthlyreview.org/0904mccollester.htm
http://www.solidarity-us.org/current/node/2552
http://www.isreview.org/issues/59/rep-haiti.shtml
http://www.isreview.org/issues/35/haiti_under_siege.shtml
http://www.isreview.org/issues/38/report_Haiti.shtml
with solidarity…
Ka Frank said
Here’s how a Canadian garment manufacturer has responded to the disaster:
TORONTO, Jan 13 (Reuters) – Gildan Activewear a Canadian T-shirt maker, said on Wednesday it would move some of its manufacturing operations to Central America after a powerful earthquake in Haiti damaged one of its subcontractor’s factories.
The Montreal-based company, which manufactures T-shirts, socks and underwear, said one of three factories that sews fabric for Gildan in the small Caribbean country suffered substantial damage during Tuesday’s quake.
Gildan said it would shift production of the shirts, destined for the U.S. screenprint market to the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua. The company said its U.S. retail customers were not affected.
Ka Frank said
Helpful commentary by Charles Arthur, Director of the Haiti Support Group, for understanding the rural migration to Port-au-Prince and other swollen cities due to imperialist domination of Haiti:
Haiti – 13 January 2010
The magnitude of this terrible tragedy is directly linked to the massive influx of people who have come to live in Port-au-Prince over recent decades. Hundreds of thousands of people have abandoned the countryside and come to capital to try and make a living. This human wave has overwhelmed the city and the rudimentary services that serve the city’s population. The result is completely unregulated construction, poor or non-existent sanitation, a meagre supply of water, constant power outages, and the spread of poverty-stricken shantytowns. The loss of life from the earthquake, the potential for disease to spread, and the danger that many poor people will be left without water and food in the days ahead, are all far greater because there are too many people living in Port-au-Prince – over two million people are living in a city built to serve just a few hundred thousand.
The phenomenons of the rural exodus and the mushrooming size of Port-au-Prince are a consequence of the complete and continuing neglect of the rural sector by both the central government and the international finance institutions. There has been no significant investment in agriculture despite the fact that the vast majority of the population are peasant farmers. Next to nothing has been done to repair – let alone extend – irrigation systems. There are no subsidies for fertilisers, seeds or tools. And perhaps most damaging of all, the international planners have forced the authorities to eliminate import tariffs, and the resultant deluge of cheap foreign food imports that undercut local produce has been the final nail in the coffin of the Haitian farmer. Their sons and daughters have had to leave home, and instead scratch a living in the cities where they are at the mercy of the hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes that have afflicted this most unfortunate land.
Jan Makandal said
You seem to have very strong feelings on the question of where “aid” money goes.
Indeed, I am from Haiti. It is not only a question of “AID” money but also an autonomous, independent act of international solidarity that delimitates us from imperialism and from the Haitian dominant classes that are primarily responsible for the bankrupt state of Haiti. There will be aid flowing and money given as a form of primitive accumulation of capital, till the next disaster. Our act of solidarity should, in no shape or form, be solely an act of humanitarian aid helping poor black Haitians. It should not be an apolitical act. It should be an act of solidarity to the organized popular mass struggles while at the same time denouncing imperialism and the totally inept Haitian dominant classes and their state apparatus for bankrupting Haiti. The earthquake is a natural disaster, but the state of Haiti, the abject poverty of the masses and the vile injustice of the social order, are unnatural.
Radical-Eyes said
Yes, absolutely, international solidarity and anti-imperialism…I am with you, Jan!
That said, are you familiar with (autonomous, independent) organizations currently doing work in Haiti that are in need of our support now in this moment of crisis?
Anyone else for that matter?
Haiti Support Group said
Haiti – 13 January 2010
The magnitude of this terrible tragedy is directly linked to the massive influx of people who have come to live in Port-au-Prince over recent decades. Hundreds of thousands of people have abandoned the countryside and come to capital to try and make a living. This human wave has overwhelmed the city and the rudimentary services that serve the city’s population. The result is completely unregulated construction, poor or non-existent sanitation, a meagre supply of water, constant power outages, and the spread of poverty-stricken shantytowns. The loss of life from the earthquake, the potential for disease to spread, and the danger that many poor people will be left without water and food in the days ahead, are all far greater because there are too many people living in Port-au-Prince – over two million people are living in a city built to serve just a few hundred thousand.
The phenomenons of the rural exodus and the mushrooming size of Port-au-Prince are a consequence of the complete and continuing neglect of the rural sector by both the central government and the international finance institutions. There has been no significant investment in agriculture despite the fact that the vast majority of the population are peasant farmers. Next to nothing has been done to repair – let alone extend – irrigation systems. There are no subsidies for fertilisers, seeds or tools. And perhaps most damaging of all, the international planners have forced the authorities to eliminate import tariffs, and the resultant deluge of cheap foreign food imports that undercut local produce has been the final nail in the coffin of the Haitian farmer. Their sons and daughters have had to leave home, and instead scratch a living in the cities where they are at the mercy of the hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes that have afflicted this most unfortunate land.
Charles Arthur
director, Haiti Support Group
Tell No Lies said
When the devastation overwhelms, culture nurtures.
nando said
The roots of Haitian poverty need to be exposed. This is a result of imperialism in ways that are unknown.
Question: why is Port au Prince so swollen with rural people? Why did it suddenly grow to two million?
source
If U.S. imperialism (and its rice dumping policies) ruined Haiti’s rice industry and ruined its farmers — if that drove them into impoverished slums…. who is to blame for the deaths?
nando said
source
Description of a country needing revolution.
Jeff Weinberger said
While I’m a Socialist through and through, while I am horrified by the video and descriptions I’m reading of this horror – just slightly higher in magnitude but exponentially more destructive than the fatal Northridge earthquake I experienced in 1994 – I am now disgusted that so many whose politics I usually identify with think that this is the time for political analysis. I AM DISGUSTED BY IT! There is a time for it but it is not now, while bodies are being pulled from rubble. I know a woman here who has lost four members of her immediate family and I’m quite sure she doesn’t give a shit about a Marxist analysis. I stand with her, whatever her fucking politics, and not with you now. Not to mention the majority of the choir with which the analysis is being shared already knows it.
Futur Rouge said
Hello from France
French translation of your article here : http://futurrouge.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/destruction-d%e2%80%99haiti-un-desastre-anormal/
Thank for your website Kasama…
nando said
Jeff Weinberger writes:
There is a narrative about to unfold:
Haiti (permanently impoverished for unspecified reasons) is about to be rescued by the rich and powerful U.S. (which shows the world once again the value of a superpower.)
This is as deadly for people (and for the rest of Latin America) as any earthquake.
This is a moment when a million eyes are on Haiti — and many impotant questions are on people’s minds. Why are the people poor? How will their problems be solved? What role does the U.S. play in the role?
It is not like there is an analytical vacuum — the machinery of lies will provide answers, and they need to be answered.
And having a conscious section of the population in the U.S. is extremely important — precisely to oppressed people (like those in Haiti and around the world).
Their lying media interprets these events — is it wrong for us to debunk them, and provide our own analysis?
Do they get to flood the airwaves, while we are somehow denied (by your sense of priorities) a right to respond?
Marx told the story of the cyclops who dragged cows back to his cave by their tails. So that when the villagers investigated the tracks in the ground looked like the cows emerged from the cave. That, Marx said, is how the capitalists work — they rob everyone, and then proclaim that wealth eminates from them.
The U.S. (having robbed the world mercilessly) will now present itself as the great and generous savior (while holding a bitter internal debate over “how generous” it can “afford” to be). And meanwhile it is shifting its troops around the world, training them, deploying them, installing a Haitian government acceptable to them, preventing Haitian people from leaving the island and so on.
Our analysis will show that U.S. naval forces are not just positioned to “help” Haiti, but to spot and detain the inevitable “flood” of people leaving. Is that not something we should work to expose? That the guns of this navy are in fact going to be trained on the poor?
There are a hundred similar stories — including exposure that effect (precisely!) how we conceive of “helping” the millions whose desperation just grew exponentially.
boris said
@ 23: When Edwidge Danticat went on Democracy Now yesterday, who herself has family in Port-au-Prince, was it wrong of her to talk about the history of French colonialism, debt payments, and US intervention? There’s a need for tact in this situation, but political analysis is crucial. “Natural” disasters don’t bring people together, they expose and heighten the divisions in society.
Jeff Weinberger said
Nando, your points are very well taken. As I am new to this forum (though not to Socialism) I am not familiar with you but would be interested in reading more of your writing. Your case is highly and successfully persuasive as directed toward the particular comment of mine which you singled out. But the perhaps more difficult objection to overcome is contained here: “Not to mention the majority of the choir with which the analysis is being shared already knows it.”
Not just now but perennially the difficulty is to disseminate the analysis beyond the Socialist choir, who are already familiar with every note of the tune, not to the Capitalist class which would simply quash an analysis such as yours but to the disgruntled unconscious working class watching CNN and seeing images of Bill Clinton waxing heroic in the face of a tragedy he helped engender. We can write all day in Revolutionary Worker, Socialist Worker…..but we need this analysis to reach the mainstream.
Jeff Weinberger said
Replying to Boris: ““Natural” disasters don’t bring people together, they expose and heighten the divisions in society.
Please see my reply to Nando in re: the gist of your comment. As for the above quote, New Orleans in the wake of Katrina brought this much closer to home for US citizens than anything in history. But I disagree on one point. There is a bringing together of people following disasters. Whatever its basis, people come out to help their neighbors, often people they don’t know. But uncontextualized by analysis, everybody then goes home without understanding a thing except on some sentimental humanistic level. So looking back on that bringing-people-together moment, an opportunity has been lost. Born a Jew, I heard all through my youth the refrain “Never again!” in reference to the Holocaust. But what most Jews (and most people) don’t get is that if “Never again” is to be historically true, then it means we must destroy the conditions which lay the groundwork for all holocausts. Clearly, genocide has not been eliminated. And sometimes natural disasters help its perpetrators.
Radical-Eyes said
Nando’s comments are well-taken.
Though Jeff W’s emotional first-post is easy to understand.
I do think that his above (first) post represents an attitude that is widely shared. And we need to figure about the best line…the mass line for dealing with this.
Zizek has written recently that we should boldly oppose the cliche (often pulled out in times of emergency) that says: “Don’t just stand there talking…DO SOMETHING!” The “old liberal blackmail” he calls it…He argues that we should turn this phrase around and proclaim instead: “Dont just do something…TALK..that is, say the right thing.” And then disseminate that “talk” as widely as possible, we might add (Zizek doesn’t).
This too however can become one-sided, if taken too literally. We need to find a way to DO AND SAY the right thing simultaneously. I agree with the Freedom Road post that right now leftists should be leading and building struggle primarily by mobilizing for haitian relief in such a way that as much of the donation-dollars now flowing ends up in the hands of friends of the people, in grassroots organizations, rather than NGOs who are dependent on the good-graces of imperialism.
Do we not give reds a good name by being among the most active elements building relief organizations, etc?
That said, what are the best way to be organizing within and around relief efforts? Existing ones? Our own?
What are people doing out there?
Radical-Eyes said
How do we best unite (and in so doign constitute a concrete, actual site of struggle) with people who have been moved by this disaster to want to give something of themselves to the people of Haiti (whether in terms of time, money, attention, etc)?
nando said
I would like to address Jeff’s remarks:
First this sets up a rather hostile and unnecessary dichotomy. The post at the top of this thread says:
In other words, there is not some harsh “choice” between “standing with the suffering people” and doing communist analysis and exposure.
On this Use of “Stand”
Then there is the odd word “stand” — which is not literal but a metaphor.
The world is, in some leftist worldviews, a complicated thicket of barricades where one chooses to take a hypothetical “stand” with one side or the other — all while not necessarily doing anything but proclaiming that “stand” and denouncing those who (verbally) “stand” on some other side.
I remember when the Sparts announced their “military defense” of the Vietnamese revolution — which was, need I say, neither military nor a defense. It was a concept from a strange world of choices on “stand” — while they did nothing but proclaim their own “stand” and themselves.
In fact by exposing U.S. imperialism’s actions here, I too am “standing” with the people who are suffering — and trying to do so in ways that matter.
Reaching the People
Joel asks us to explain HOW it matters, which is reasonable enough.
First, I don’t think we are speaking to any chorus who already knows all this. Period.
Most of what needs saying on Haiti (how it was reduced to absolute poverty, its pig and rice production ruined, etc.) is unknown to most of the readers of this site. And beyond that, a look at the discussion on this site reveals that most theoretical and political points are not already understood by some “chorus” — but are contested and controversial. (And a good example is Joel’s thoughtful and passionate protest of the very idea of “exposure hot on the heels of events” — he obviously is not part of some automatic chorus as me, right?)
Second, how do we reach the broad sections of people? Joel raises that. And it should be raised.
I disagree with a notion (which I find naive) that “we need to reach the people, so we should just go to the people.” Go with what? Go to, but how?
Mao wrote:
The road to the intermediate (and the broad masses) includes precisely helping unite the advanced around a clear, common, advanced understanding.
How can we go to “the mainstream” (Joel’s word) without doing communist analysis? And who will take those understandings to “the mainstream” if not some new organized movement of the most conscious (who take that analysis and popularize it in a million ways.)
Every exposure we do here on Kasama circulates — people bring it up to friends, they x-post it in often-non-political places, they email it etc.
In other words a discussion (here) among “the advanced” (what Joel dismisses as “the chorus”) is one of the key ways the advanced become an active force acting in common.
That’s the point of “reconceive as we regroup.”
So I too “stand” with the deep agony of people. I too think we should demand quick effective rescue (by those forces capable of doing it). I’m in favor of people-to-people actions (going directly to the scene, or mobilizing funds for the more radical forces in Haiti etc.)
But how does any of that happen if we don’t do communist analysis and exposure in the midst of these events — and help galvanize “the advanced.” Obviously at this point, a discussion like Kasama still reaches only a small sliver of the potential radical audience, and even calling its impact “embryonic” is risky. But this is a big part of what we need to be doing creatively in a much broader and more penetrating way.
I say:
Theory, analysis, exposure, organizing, struggle — serving communist goals.
Jeff Weinberger said
Nando, I agree with you. (I think you spent way too much time on my usage of “stand” however.)
Apropos, but prior to, my coming upon your reference: “Mao wrote “unite the advanced, to win over the intermediate, and isolate the backward,” I posted to Alternet which has only offered a quaint 19th century Haitian history lesson, including a terse liberal Democrat, blame-the-Bushes reaction, in response to what’s going on.
Here’s a link to it for anyone else who might want to win over the intermediate, and isolate the backward:
http://www.alternet.org/world/145142/haiti%27s_tragic_history_is_entwined_with_the_story_of_america/?cID=1411143#c1411143
Jeff Weinberger said
To a comment by NSPF which was emailed to me but I’ve yet to see posted:
Yes, yes. I lived through the 6.7 Northridge earthquake. 72 dead, 9,000 plus injured.
Jan Makandal said
Call for Solidarity and Funds for the Working People of Haiti!
01/14/09- A natural disaster has descended upon Haiti whose scope we only are seeing the surface of at this time. The Haitian people will be struggling to rebuild their lives and their home possibly for decades in light of unprecedented collapse, both physical and social. Yet despite the unpredictability of earthquakes, this disaster is unnatural, a monstrosity of our time. The extent of the damage of the earthquake is part of the cost of unrestrained exploitation which at every step put profit above the health, safety, and well being of the Haitian people. While the world watches on ready to help, power is being dealt an opportunity. The Haitian workers and peasants have been fighting for their rights to even the most basic level of existence for decades, while the UN-occupying force, the state, and the ruling elites maintain the social misery without relenting. Now as Port-Au-Prince is in rubble, new opportunities arise for rulers to rebuild Haiti in their own interests, and likewise for the Haitian workers and peasants to assert their right to their own Haiti, one where they will be not be forced to live in dangerous buildings, and work merely to fill the pockets of elites, foreign or domestic.
As we move from watching in horror to taking decisive action, progressives can offer an alternative. There is a strong and beautiful desire to do something, to help others in this time of need. Our actions are strongest when we organize ourselves, and make a concerted effort in unity. Right now we can have the deepest impact by committing ourselves to act in solidarity with the autonomous social movements of Haiti directly. They present the best possible option for the Haitian people, and are in the greatest need. At the same time, we are in the best position to help them out our common interest as people engaged in struggling against a system that works to exploit us all. We are calling for solidarity people- to-people engaged in common struggle. It is not only a question of money for AID but also an autonomous and independent act of international solidarity that illuminates the bankruptcy of the occupying forces, multinational corporations, and Haitian elites that are primarily responsible for the decayed state of Haiti. There will be aid flowing and money given as a form of charity until the next disaster. Our act of solidarity should, in no shape or form, be solely an act of humanitarian aid. It should not be an apolitical act, and we shouldn’t give the green light to those that wish to capitalize on the
suffering of others. It should be an act of solidarity to the struggling people of Haiti and their organizations while at the same time rejecting the totally inept Haitian elites and their state apparatus for bankrupting Haiti. The earthquake is a natural disaster, but the state of Haiti, the abject poverty of the masses and the vile injustice of the social order, are unnatural.
We have a relationship with one organization, Batay Ouvriye, and are putting our resources and time into helping Batay Ouvriye to help rebuild from the catastrophe and maintain the struggle for a better Haiti and a better world. Batay Ouvriye is a combative grassroots worker and peasant’s organization in Haiti with workers organized all over Haiti, especially in the Industrial sweatshops and Free Trade Zones. We have set up a means to send money to Batay Ourviye. If others wish to send money to Batay Ouvriye, please email miamiautonomyandsolidarity@yahoo.com
Miami Autonomy & Solidarity and Batay Ouvriye Haiti Solidarity Network
Hiatt said
I just decided to send money for earthquake in Haiti. I pray that people send aid to those left homeless by this unfortunate disaster too.