'Where's Haiti relief money?'
About 50 people, mainly high school youth, took on the American Red Cross at their New York headquarters March 22, asking "Where's the money? Where is the $250 million in U.S. Red Cross donations going? Haiti's people are in dire need of shelter!" The protest was called by the Friday Haiti Relief Coalition and December 12 Movement.
Haiti: Stuck in a Trap By Richard Morse
I don't mean to dwell on certain issues but until there's some solid change in Haiti, things are going to remain: Poorest Country in the Western Hemisphere. I was reading this Reuters article and if i didn't know better, I would think that Haiti was so incapable of producing its own food that they had to start importing it. Well, that's not the case. Importing cheap rice and sugar were concepts sold to Haitians by Haitian Economist Leslie Delatour during the mid to late 1980's. It was called Chicago economics: free markets. The concept destroyed rural production and incentives in Haiti and sent an additional 2 million people to go live in Port au Prince not to mention how many boat people were sent by this plan to Miami and the Bahamas or how many cane cutters are now in the Dominican Republic, simply because the demand to produce off the land has declined.
Canada to pay $100M to join Haiti recovery team By Mike Blanchfield
Canada is preparing to pay $100 million to join an exclusive new international club that would guide the rebuilding of earthquake-ravaged Haiti, The Canadian Press has learned. That's the price tag for a seat on the proposed Interim Haitian Recovery Commission that is expected to be one of the key announcements to be made this week at the New York international donors' conference on Haiti.
Haiti and the Scruples of George W. Bush By Hector Miranda
The visit of former US President George W. Bush to Haiti is still very talked about here, mainly because of his scruples to deal with black people, as a Youtube-released video showed. During his stay in this capital, George W. Bush accompanied his peer William Clinton to greet several Haitians, but he couldn't hide his scruples and wiped his hand in Clinton's shirt, making him look back astonished.
HAITI Donors' Meeting 3/31: Things to Look For
The outcome of this meeting should be of little surprise given that the number crunching has already been done. But the dynamics of the meeting should be fascinating. President Preval will serve as chair and Ban ki-Moon and Hillary Clinton as co-hosts. Both Preval and Ban are less than aggressive personalities and Hillary is quite the opposite. A lot of effort will be put into making it appear that Preval is in the driver's seat.
Haiti Relief Effort Needs Immediate Ramp-Up to Avoid Another Disaster
By Mark Weisbrot
President Clinton apologized on March 10 for the role that his government played in destroying a big part of Haitian agriculture: "It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it has not worked. ... I have to live every day with the loss of capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti, to feed those people, because of what I did." Beginning in the 1980s, subsidized U.S. rice wiped out thousands of Haitian rice farmers and made the country dependent on imported food. Clinton's apology is important and presents an opportunity to change U.S. policy toward Haiti that has been a major cause of suffering in this desperately poor country.
After Haiti: A conversation with John Perkins By Elizabeth Ferrari
When the earthquake struck Haiti last January, the first person I wanted to hear from was John Perkins. Several years before Naomi Klein coined the phrase "disaster capitalism", John Perkins' first person account Confessions of an Economic Hitman described very clearly how US economic interests set about exploiting crises in third world nations in order to gain control of them.
Haitian boat people to be sent home By Kimmo Matthews
Jamaica will be repatriating the 62 Haitian boat people who arrived in two fishing boats on the island's east coast on Tuesday. Daryl Vaz, the Government's chief spokesman, told reporters Thursday at a press briefing at Jamaica House in the nation's capital, Kingston, that plans were being made to have the Haitians sent home within a few weeks.
Ambitious plans for Haiti terminal
Earthquake struck Port-Au-Prince has revealed plans for new jetties and increased depth, along with state-of-the-art container terminal facilities.
Unthinkable? Curb aid in Haiti
The role the United States and France played in the impoverishment of Haiti must count among the less glorious achievements of both countries. Successive US presidents, from Ronald Reagan to George Bush, have contributed to the destruction of Haitian agriculture, with the result that Haiti, a natural rice producer, had to import subsidised US rice.
We will never be able to repay our debt to Haiti By Victor Ramos
If liberty is priceless, we will never be able to repay our debt to Haiti. The support of that Caribbean nation for Latin-American emancipation cost her dearly. Almost as much as the price she has paid for her own very existence. A price much, much higher than the earthquake that has now devastated her.
Ghosts Threaten to Return to Haiti By Nikhil Aziz
Some of the advice for how Haiti ought to rebuild after the earthquake sounds hauntingly familiar. There are echoes of the same bad development advice Haiti has received for decades, even before the nation faced its current devastating situation. To avoid repeating past failures, we would be wise to review how previous aid models led down the wrong path.
Plan: Reconstruction or Recolonisation? By Norman Girvan
A message from Camille Chalmers of PAPDA summarises a report in the Miami Herald of March 23 giving details of the 'Reconstruction Plan' for Haiti likely to be approved at the donor conference to be held in Miami on March 31. Central to the plan is the creation of a Commission dominated by Western governments and financial institutions and supported by a full-time 'reconstruction czar' who is likely to be Bill Clinton.
Haiti's yawning leadership vacuum By Ritika Singh
Plagued by abject poverty and political instability for most its history, Haiti remains perpetually ranked as the most unqualifiedly destitute nation in the Western Hemisphere. Meanwhile, President René Préval continues to be engulfed by international criticism as well as much abuse at home for demonstrating a breathtaking failure in leadership at a time when his country desperately required a firm hand.
HAITI: Watching the Sky with Dread By Daniel Zueras
With the spring rains and hurricane season just around the corner in Haiti, some 600,000 people are still living in camps, many in areas prone to flooding. And plans to provide solutions for the survivors of the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake are moving forward slowly.
Tectonic Shifts? The upcoming donors' conference for Haiti
By Mark Schuller
This week former Presidents Clinton and Bush are in Haiti, trying to drum up support for Haiti's reconstruction and setting the stage for the upcoming donor conference at the U.N. on March 31. There is no shortage of needs, and even plans to address them. Yet the process has as yet to be transparent.
Will We Be Awarded As The Most Innovative Coup Style Creators? After the "Kidnapping Coup" would we invent the brand new breakthrough "Quake Coup"?
That is what seems as Haiti & "Friends" begin to talk and think in elections and maybe a new constitution and moreover... why not a new Prime Minister and, to have it all done, a whole new entire Government?
Southern rice and Haitian hunger
As in so many countries throughout the world, an important staple of the Haitian diet is rice, first brought by slaves from West Africa and cultivated on the Caribbean island nation for hundreds of years.
Until the mid-1980s, Haiti produced enough rice for domestic consumption -- but that changed after U.S. President Bill Clinton took office.
Washington dictates terms to devastated Haiti By Patrick Martin
Former US presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton visited the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, in advance of a donors' conference in New York City called to coordinate international aid and investment in the country in the wake of the devastating January 12 earthquake.
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 10 Weeks Later: Where Is the Relief? By Julie Dermansky
Port-au-Prince, Haiti – ten weeks after the earthquake – though the search-and-rescue work is long over, one can easily find people that need rescuing. No one is alive under the rubble anymore, but many people are in mortal danger. Their needs are little different than they were the day after the earthquake.
Why did the US military exile the duly elected Haitian President Aristide, and why does the world allow it?
Under Aristide's leadership, his party implemented many major reforms. These included greatly increasing access to health care and education for the general population; increasing adult literacy and protections for those accused of crimes; improving training for judges, prohibiting human trafficking, disbanding the Haitian military (which had primarily been used against the Haitian people), establishing improved human rights and political freedoms; doubling the minimum wage; instituting land reform and assistance to small farmers;, providing boat construction training to fishermen; establishing a food distribution network to provide low cost food to the poor at below market prices, building low-cost housing, and attempting to reduce the level of government corruption.
Haitians Protest Bush, Clinton in Port-au-Prince By Democracy Now!
Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton visited Haiti on Monday in their roles as co-chairs of the US relief effort there. Dozens of Haitians took part in a protest in the capital Port-au-Prince to denounce the former presidents' policies toward Haiti while in office. Bush cut off desperately needed aid to Haiti and backed the overthrow of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush, supported the first coup against Aristide in 1991. Clinton, meanwhile, helped restore Aristide, but only on condition that he accept harsh neoliberal reforms. Protester Elizabeth Pierre singled out Bush, who was making his first-ever visit to Haiti.
DEVELOPMENT: Haiti Must Destroy Before Rebuilding By Garry Pierre-Pierre
When the Jan. 12 earthquake struck this mountainous country, in less than a minute, it transformed it from one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere to the largest construction site this side of the Atlantic.
UK Based organisation demands reparation for Haiti
Following the earthquake which hit the already devastated island in the Caribbean in January, a UK-based organization is demanding reparations and an end to the current US occupation of Haiti.
Those who would destroy Haiti would destroy all sovereign peoples
By Professor Emeritus Willie Thompson
Haiti, your awesome revolt in 1791 against the revolting barbarity of French enslavement of the Africans was preceded by many revolts of the enslaved African-Haitians beginning as early as 1522. You never accepted that Africans at home and in the Diaspora can be enslaved, can be deprived of their property, liberty and humanity with impunity. African Haitians rejected that crime against humanity and unleashed the "irritated genie of African vindication and liberation." But you fought alone, dying but fighting back.
Haiti: Where Solidarity Means Survival (Part II) By Beverly Bell
"If it weren't for solidarity, Haiti wouldn't be alive today," is an expression commonly heard here since the earthquake of January 12. Haiti's history is based on displays of gifting and solidarity - forms of sharing and cooperation - toward those surviving on the margins.
Return To Haiti
Two of the children affected by the Haiti earthquake are struggling to piece their lives back together. One was orphaned, the other trapped for over a week, how will they cope with the aftermath?
Connecting Disaster Relief Through Technology After Earthquake in Haiti
By Jim Luce
The damage seems to be equal to that of the 2004 Tsunami, which I witnessed in both Indonesia and Sri Lanka. But unlike the Tsunami, where the world watched and waited, it seems as if international attention on Haiti's tragedy has lost its focus. Many NGOs and militias have already left, but some good people remain -- and reinforcements are arriving.
Haiti: Intervention and Imperialism
The horrific death toll from the earthquake in Haiti briefly focused the world's attention on the plight of the Haitian people. The earthquake was a natural disaster coming on top of decades of human disasters imposed upon the people as its economy has been forced to transform to suit the needs of transnational corporations.
» EU aid to Haiti around 1 billion euros, Ashton says
Brussels - European Union aid to Haiti is set to total around 1 billion euros (1.35 billion dollars) over the next three years from member states and the bloc's central budget, the EU's foreign-policy director said Monday.
» Haitians Wary of Bush Visit
Ex US Presidents William Clinton and George W. Bush will arrive in Haiti Monday for one-day visit, amid concerns for the presence of Bush, who is not very well welcomed in that capital.
» Development bank forgives $479 million Haiti debt
UPDATES: March 21, 2010
Haiti races to house post-quake homeless before the rainy season
The Haiti government needs 40,000 dwellings for 200,000 people currently homeless in flood- or mudslide-prone areas or in the most congested tent cities. Can it do that by the time the rainy season starts in early April?
Post-quake Haiti wants to feed itself By Jonathan M. Katz
Decades of inexpensive imports — especially rice from the U.S. — punctuated with abundant aid in various crises have destroyed local agriculture and left impoverished countries such as Haiti unable to feed themselves. While those policies have been criticized for years in aid worker circles, world leaders focused on fixing Haiti are admitting for the first time that loosening trade barriers has only exacerbated hunger in Haiti and elsewhere.
Dominican Repubilc to supply 1,500 tons of seeds for Haiti
Santo Domingo — President Leonel Fernandez yesterday analyzed Haiti's situation with UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) director Jacques Diouf, who later told the press that the entity will buy 1,500 tons of seeds for short cycle crops from Dominican Republic, to plant during Haiti's sowing season.
FIFA Executive Committee approves special funding for Chile and Haiti
The FIFA Executive Committee, under the chairmanship of FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, today, 19 March 2010, approved special funding for the football associations of Chile and Haiti to assist them in the reconstruction of their facilities following the natural disasters that recently hit the two countries. During the two-day meeting, the executive received reports on the preparations for the 60th FIFA Congress and the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and took a number of decisions including the appointment of hosts for several FIFA competitions between 2011 and 2013.
Haiti: Where Solidarity Means Survival -- Lessons for the Policy Makers By Beverly Bell
Perhaps more than anything today, Haiti needs a new macro-economy, one based above all on meeting the needs of its citizens. Post-earthquake economic restructuring could include equitable distribution of resources, high levels of employment with fair compensation, local production, and provision of social services.
Do Not Donate to Haiti By Demétrio Magnoli
The ultra-liberal experiment of abolition of sovereignty and self-governance is equivalent to the cancellation of the Haitian people's citizenship. They have no rights, except to wait in line until an NGO official hands them a plate of food. It has been like this for years, well before the earthquake.
World Bank approves $70m for Haiti
THE World Bank today announced a $US65 million ($70.41 million) grant for Haiti aimed at rebuilding its infrastructure to get the government back on its feet after January's powerful earthquake.
HAITI: Recovery Bill Estimated at 11.5 Billion Dollars By Jim Lobe
Two weeks before a major donors conference, the Haitian government has estimated that the country will need some 11.5 billion dollars over the next three years to recover from the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake.
Haiti's Next Big Crisis: How to Hold Elections By Kathie Klarreich
Haiti's parliamentarians now operate out of a trailer on the grounds of the old police academy — and their ranks are as much in disarray as the palace they used to use. Of the 30 Senators (three from each of the country's 10 departments, or regions), two died in the temblor; one seat was already unfilled before the quake; and 10 members finished their terms last November. But the country wasn't prepared to hold a vote even then, and so their tenures were extended to May — after which only about half the chamber will be occupied.
Haiti groups are the first to challenge reconstruction plan
A group of 26 Haiti organizations and social movements have become the first groups to openly denounce the planned formula for its reconstruction, at the center of the conference of donors concluded in Santo Domingo yesterday.
Haiti's Earthquake Victims in Great Peril By Roger Annis
It's been eight weeks since the devastating earthquake in Haiti and familiar patterns of interference and neglect by the major powers that dominate the country are firmly entrenched.
