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Posted by Mike E on January 18, 2010
from boingboing
Cruise ship docks at private beach in Haiti for barbeque and water sports
The Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines’ ship Independence of the Seas went ahead with its scheduled stop at a fenced-in private Haitian beach surrounded by armed guards, leaving its passengers to “cut loose” on the beach, just a few kilometers from one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the region’s history.
The ship’s owners justified it as a humanitarian call, because the ship also delivered 40 palettes of relief supplies while its passengers frolicked on zip-lines and ate barbeque within the 12-foot-high fence’s perimeter:
The Florida cruise company leases a picturesque wooded peninsula and its five pristine beaches from the government for passengers to “cut loose” with watersports, barbecues, and shopping for trinkets at a craft market before returning on board before dusk. Safety is guaranteed by armed guards at the gate.
The decision to go ahead with the visit has divided passengers. The ships carry some food aid, and the cruise line has pledged to donate all proceeds from the visit to help stricken Haitians. But many passengers will stay aboard when they dock; one said he was “sickened”.
“‘I just can’t see myself sunning on the beach, playing in the water, eating a barbecue, and enjoying a cocktail while [in Port-au-Prince] there are tens of thousands of dead people being piled up on the streets, with the survivors stunned and looking for food and water,” one passenger wrote on the Cruise Critic internet forum. It was hard enough to sit and eat a picnic lunch at Labadee before the quake, knowing how many Haitians were starving,” said another. “I can’t imagine having to choke down a burger there now.”’
Mars Caulton said
Somebody needs to give every middle class American a simple, working definition of Class Privilege. And how to USE it towards the good of the people. I mean, the BEST of these passengers chose to stay on board just to not feel queasy eating near mass graves? Hmmm… How about passengers pulling every extra bit of food off that ship and getting it past those guards?
G said
That’s a good question. What if the passengers insisted to be let among the people, to see first hand, and get to know the people of Haiti, and assist in whatever way they can, standing in solidarity with them, instead of hiding out in the ship, shielded from those realities so close by? Would the company guards forcibly restrain the passengers who demanded to be given such freedom of movement, taken on their own risk?
This reminds me of how my dad who traveled on ships all over the world as a merchant marine, stopped over at a port in apartheid South Africa. They had told him he could not go into the “Black” area, that it was forbidden, dangerous, and if he went he could get arrested even. However, he defied those orders and went anyway, spending most of this time in that part of the city, and didn’t face any repercussions.
I think middle class people are often manipulated by use of fear against knowing and being around the basic people. We see this in the warnings to stay away from “the bad” part of town, etc. When I was in LA doing political work, I went all over South Central, to projects, to Watts, etc–all places that some middle class folks I know would be too scared to go to, but I only found just people there who were warm, genuine, and far more interesting than the so-called “good parts” of the city. Reminds me of Fidel Castro who choose to go to spend his time with the people in Harlem, who loved him there. I suspect the same would be true for those choosing to stay on board this ship vs go out and be among the Haitian people.
Speaking of fear, the oppressors, I think, really do fear the people because they know they mistreat them. The slave masters are viscous because they are so fearful. Certainly cops show this great fear of the people in poor areas. I also notice how there are always scary stories posted on the “travel alerts,’ by the US State Dept., advising travelers about other countries. Its one thing to be aware and alert, but I think there is something that goes beyond that to an irrational fear that is used politically.
corina said
i agree that this seems a bit tacky, but does anyone know if this is a beach that employs haitians? if so, then any economic gains would be a good thing to a people with a long road ahead. also, what would be the negative economic effects for the cruise to skip the port?
Mike E said
Corina: Are those really the only two choices? PArtying on the beach in the middle of a nightmare, or just cruising home with dollars-clutched-in-hand?
Here is a ship, with supplies, bedding, rooms, water, clorine, medical supplies, and a dock in Haiti — the point is: couldn’t they have brought creative impromptu relief to the surrounding area? And what does it mean that they gave a symbolic few flats of supplies and tried to party-on?
Mike E said
Here is a new report on this incident (with interesting discussion of “backlash”):
Royal Caribbean’s decision to dock ships at Haitian resort creates controversy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100119/ts_ynews/ynews_ts1063
By now, most of us have seen and heard about the profound devastation and suffering wrought upon Haiti last week after a massive earthquake. So you’d probably think there’s no way that cruising tourists could have returned to frolicking on Haiti’s beaches mere miles from where people are trapped beneath the rubble of a decimated city. Unfortunately, you’d be wrong.
On Sunday, the Guardian reported that Florida-based Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines is docking ships at the “picturesque wooded peninsula” known as Labadee, which it leases on Haiti’s northern coast. At Labadee, passengers “enjoy jetski rides, parasailing, and rum cocktails delivered to their hammocks.” The British paper also reported that passengers can spend their time “shopping for trinkets at a craft market” while armed guards stand at the entry to the complex to guarantee their safety.
Despite the fact that the ships have delivered relief supplies to the island, some passengers on the ships are reportedly “sickened” over the decision to dock there. One passenger took to an Internet message board to protest the idea of vacationing where “tens of thousands of dead people are being piled up on the streets, with the survivors stunned and looking for food and water.”
When Royal Caribbean announced its decision to resume stops at Labadee last week, a company executive cited the economic importance of the resort to the local citizens as well as the opportunity to deliver much-needed supplies.
“We also have tremendous opportunities to use our ships as transport vessels for relief supplies and personnel to Haiti,” said associate vice president John Weis. “Simply put, we cannot abandon Haiti now that they need us most.”
Still, Royal Caribbean, which recently raised eyebrows when it announced that it’s organizing a “cougar cruise” for older single women, has been catching heat from all corners on their decision, prompting company CEO Adam Goldstein to post a defense of the company on their website. Saying that he is “proud of what our people and our ships are doing,” Goldstein writes:
“The ships going back to Labadee, including Navigator of the Seas today, are obviously making a very valuable contribution to the relief effort by offloading supplies at Labadee. The media understand this and generally have written and spoken about the relief effort in positive terms. But in the last 24 hours, sparked by an article in the Guardian in the UK, a different and more critical view has emerged that questions how our guests can justify having a good time in Labadee when there is such misery less than 100 miles away.
“My view is this – it isn’t better to replace a visit to Labadee (or for that matter, to stay on the ship while it’s docked in Labadee) with a visit to another destination for a vacation. Why? Because being on the island and generating economic activity for the straw market vendors, the hair-braiders and our 230 employees helps with relief while being somewhere else does not help. These 500 people are going to need to support a much larger network of family and friends, including many who are in (or are missing in) the earthquake zone. Also, the north is going to bear a good part of the burden of the agony of the south, and the more economic support there is to the north, the better able the north will be to bear this burden. People enjoying themselves is what we do. People enjoying themselves in Labadee helps with relief. We support our guests who choose to help in this way which is consistent with our nearly 30 year history in Haiti.”
- Brett Michael Dykes is a contributor to the Yahoo! News blog
enzo said
I channel-surfed over to Letterman tonight, and he happened to be talking to a World Food Program rep about Haiti. He mentioned seeing reports of this cruise ship… seemed both very concerned by the plight of the earthquake victims and outraged at this cruise ship. Interestingly, his response was that the cruise line should have canceled the cruise visits and instead volunteered their ships to both deliver supplies and to shuttle desperate and injured survivors off the island to treatment.
Jeff Weinberger said
I’m with Comrade Letterman, Enzo (as I also was during the early ’90′s coup d’NBC led by the fascist Leno lol; also caught the end of Letterman’s conversation last night). The ship could carry supplies, doctors, it could even be used to provide shelter or a host of catastrophe related needs. The CEO Goldstein’s comments are a rank rationalization for maintaining business as usual: “the north is going to bear a good part of the burden of the agony of the south, and the more economic support there is to the north, the better able the north will be to bear this burden.”
Would that not be The White Man’s Burden he’s referring to?! The polar opposite of compassion.
And what we see in the behavior of the people on the ship – crew, passengers, and there’s a distinction there, too – is a kind of tacit acceptance of this CEO’s rationalization. Not that, along with those who just want to avert their eyes or go on partying, there weren’t some who felt compassion. But their compassion didn’t translate to action. Anyway, I’d just started reading the “Solidarity or Guilt….” article which seems to get into the bigger questions related to this, our roles as conscious revolutionaries, etc.