The pit of human despair known as Haiti just got a little bleaker. Cholera, a result of the non-existent sanitation and waste disposal is becoming more widespread.
“An outbreak of cholera is worsening in Haiti, and moving closer to the country’s earthquake-devastated capital, Port-au-Prince.As of the most recent reports on Saturday evening, the disease has killed at least 208 people and sickened another 2,674.
There are concerns tens of thousands of people made homeless by January’s earthquake could be at risk.”
Haiti has return to the memory hole, resurfacing only recently as more grim news besets the population.
Why? Because he actually wanted to help the huge poor majority with radical things like increasing minimum wage and organizing better housing. Not so good for profits if you are an American garment maker. Dangerous stuff if you are a wealthy Haitian enriched by the status quo.”
bleatmop
Mystro
The Arbourist
Dead Wild Roses 
13 comments
October 27, 2010 at 7:26 am
Alan Scott
The Arbourist,
” Because he actually wanted to help the huge poor majority with radical things like increasing minimum wage and organizing better housing. Not so good for profits if you are an American garment maker. ”
Your grasp of real economics is truly remarkable.
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October 27, 2010 at 8:16 am
tildeb
Canada announced it would cancel Haiti’s debt on June 25, 2010 and did so on July 2, 2010. Haiti owes a total of $214 million to Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Britain and the U.S. and all have agreed to drop the debt. I don’t know what’s going on with Taiwan who is owed $91 million.
Forgive me for my ignorance of Haiti’s recent history, but didn’t Clinton force Aristide’s return to power in ’94? Is the US to blame for Preval breaking with Aristide, for dismissing the government in ’99 after its term was up? Why weren’t wages raised during his time in office?
You want the US to accept blame (no surprise there) and suggest that it is responsible for Haiti’s problems because ‘garment makers’ stood to be burdened with higher wages and so drove Aristide into exile, but completely ignore and information that stands in contrast to your ‘The US and the West are guilty of all kinds of crimes against poor people’ beliefs. Your position is such that no matter what the countries of the west do, they will always be guilty of crimes against poor people, of using military forces improperly, of interference for economic gain, of neglect from their moral responsibilities to the less fortunate, and so on. You’ve already assigned culpability and offer no way for that culpability to be addressed without earning more culpability. This is unfair.
“As of July 2010, as much as 98% of the rubble from the quake remained uncleared. An estimated 26 million cubic yards (20 million cubic meters) remained making most of the capital impassable, and thousands of bodies remained in the rubble. The number of people in relief camps of tents and tarps since the quake was 1.6 million, and almost no transitional housing had been built. Most of the camps had no electricity, running water, or sewage disposal, and the tents were beginning to fall apart. Crime in the camps was widespread, especially against women and girls. Between 23 major charities, $1.1 billion had been collected for Haiti for relief efforts, but only two percent of the money had been released. According to a CBS report, $3.1 billion had been pledged for humanitarian aid and was used to pay for field hospitals, plastic tarps, bandages, and food, plus salaries, transportation and upkeep of relief workers. By May 2010, enough aid had been raised internationally to give each displaced family a check for $37,000″
It seems to me that if you want to assign blame here, start with the charities. Look at how the government of Haiti has bunged up their responsibilities. Stop the knee-jerk criticism of the US and begin to realize that they are not the great bug-a-boo of human suffering you have assigned to it but a powerful force in reality that in sum total mitigates it.
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October 27, 2010 at 9:13 am
World Spinner
Haiti – A dash of Cholera to darken their day. « Dead Wild Roses…
Here at World Spinner we are debating the same thing……
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October 27, 2010 at 9:38 am
World Wide News Flash
Haiti ? A dash of Cholera to darken their day….
I found your entry interesting do I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog :)…
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October 27, 2010 at 11:21 am
The Arbourist
Canada announced it would cancel Haiti’s debt on June 25, 2010 and did so on July 2, 2010. Haiti owes a total of $214 million to Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Britain and the U.S. and all have agreed to drop the debt. I don’t know what’s going on with Taiwan who is owed $91 million.
The debt situation, is looking a better as much of the debt as of September was canceled.
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October 27, 2010 at 11:38 am
The Arbourist
Forgive me for my ignorance of Haiti’s recent history
[…] 1918 law granting US corporations the right to turn the country into a US plantation, passed by 5% of the population after the Haitian Parliament was disbanded at gunpoint by Wilson’s Marines […]
The US has a historical connection with Haiti, systematically hindering democratic/economic progress.
but didn’t Clinton force Aristide’s return to power in ’94?]
He certainly did, but not without a few conditions:
“[…]When Aristide was overthrown by the 1991 military coup, the Organization of American States declared an embargo. Bush I announced that the US would violate it by exempting US firms. He was thus “fine tuning” the embargo for the benefit of the suffering population, the New York Times reported. Clinton authorized even more extreme violations of the embargo: US trade with the junta and its wealthy supporters sharply increased. The crucial element of the embargo was, of course, oil. While the CIA solemnly testified to Congress that the junta “probably will be out of fuel and power very shortly” and “Our intelligence efforts are focused on detecting attempts to circumvent the embargo and monitoring its impact,” Clinton secretly authorized the Texaco Oil Company to ship oil to the junta illegally, in violation of presidential directives. This remarkable revelation was the lead story on the AP wires the day before Clinton sent the Marines to “restore democracy,” impossible to miss – I happened to be monitoring AP wires that day and saw it repeated prominently over and over — and obviously of enormous significance for anyone who wanted to understand what was happening. It was suppressed with truly impressive discipline, though reported in industry journals along with scant mention buried in the business press.
Also efficiently suppressed were the crucial conditions that Clinton imposed for Aristide’s return: that he adopt the program of the defeated US candidate in the 1990 elections, a former World Bank official who had received 14% of the vote. We call this “restoring democracy,” a prime illustration of how US foreign policy has entered a “noble phase” with a “saintly glow,” the national press explained. The harsh neoliberal program that Aristide was compelled to adopt was virtually guaranteed to demolish the remaining shreds of economic sovereignty, extending Wilson ‘s progressive legislation and similar US-imposed measures since.” […]
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October 27, 2010 at 12:01 pm
The Arbourist
You want the US to accept blame…
And why not? The US has had its hands all over Haiti since its inception. Why would a reasonable person not assign some responsibility.
You want the US to accept blame (no surprise there)
Is particularly surprising that you seem to be at least tacitly accepting the idea of American Exceptionalism and informing your assumptions based on very positive interpretation of your history?
So how useful is acting shocked and indignant when your imperial past (and present) is brought up? Examine the historical record, expand your historical perspective and compare the historical narrative I often refer to with your version of events.
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October 27, 2010 at 12:06 pm
The Arbourist
Between 23 major charities, $1.1 billion had been collected for Haiti for relief efforts, but only two percent of the money had been released. According to a CBS report, $3.1 billion had been pledged for humanitarian aid and was used to pay for field hospitals, plastic tarps, bandages, and food, plus salaries, transportation and upkeep of relief workers. By May 2010, enough aid had been raised internationally to give each displaced family a check for $37,000″
I’m not really surprised (disheartened, absolutely) by these facts as administration and beaureacratic obsticals are often the biggest ones that need to be overcome in order to help people. Could you post or send me the link as I would like to add more to the post? Thanks :)
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October 27, 2010 at 12:07 pm
The Arbourist
Thanks Alan, I appreciate your heartfelt sentiments. :)
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October 27, 2010 at 12:29 pm
tildeb
That infor is from Wiki here.
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October 27, 2010 at 12:34 pm
tildeb
There are more considerations at play that have an effect on policies than you let. Just as a quick example, in 1911, about 80% of the Haitian economy was controlled by a group of about 200 Germans. This led the US to buy controlling shares in the Haitian central bank and when the revolt came, the US acted in its own best interests to intervene. According to the Munroe doctrine, they were fully justified to do so.
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October 27, 2010 at 7:35 pm
Alan Scott
The Arbourist,
I know that casting my pearls of wisdom is really banging my head against reinforced concrete, but I got a hard head.
Economic Liberals such as yourself have never had a clue about the minimum wage. Haiti really has nothing at all to offer businesses to locate there . The population has always exceeded the carrying capacity of the nation’s environment. Example, the mountain sides have been deforested for fire wood for longer than I can think of. Mud slides and floods are a permanent fact of life.
The place is an international basket case in the best of times. So what can you do about it. Cheap labor is one reason for businesses to locate there. Call it exploitation, call it whatever you want. The alternative is starvation and permanent international charity.
I do not expect you to accept my assessment, so please, please give me your solutions. Besides blaming my Country, what else you got.
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October 31, 2010 at 12:58 pm
The Arbourist
his led the US to buy controlling shares in the Haitian central bank and when the revolt came, the US acted in its own best interests to intervene. According to the Munroe doctrine, they were fully justified to do so.
Oh, so it is okay than to do what we did to Haiti because someone else would have done it first. The irony is rich with your mention of the Monroe doctrine as essentially a declaration of US hegemony over the Western Hemisphere. I agree with Chomsky when he says that:
” in practice the Monroe Doctrine has functioned as a declaration of hegemony and a right of unilateral intervention over the Western Hemisphere: a sphere of influence “to leave America for the Americans” that would grow stronger with the Roosevelt Corollary”
So, according the the US doctrine, the US was right. Is that really what you intended to say? Impressive from a tautological standpoint, but that is about it.
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