Haiti: Action and Reaction
by Adriano Contreras | Monday, January 18th, 2010

The earthquake that has taken tens of thousands of lives in Haiti has placed a spell on the world. Everyone is talking about the disaster and many are rushing to donate whatever they can.

I find myself frustrated again. I’ve just left the world’s biggest open-air prison that is Gaza and seen the effects of imperial powers. Now, I return to the US to the news that one of the poorest countries in the world, very much a product of imperialism, is in more disastrous conditions than the poverty its lived through for decades.

The past couple of days I’ve found myself having to explain Haiti’s standing in the world and how it became what it is today. As well as defend them from racist commentary fueled by the mainstream media and the Dominican ruling class.

Many people have hope in the aid that’s entering Haiti. NGOs as well as world governments are all trying to get a piece of the relief effort. With the United States military and the United Nation’s peace team directing the show, naturally things are not working as smooth as possible. Reports have already been released from Haitians and smaller groups on the ground of diverted aid missions and ‘policing before reliefing’. Aid is being withheld in areas where the US or UN deem might riot if aid is distributed. As well as, the poorest of Haitians not receiving aid as quickly as others because of the so-called dangerous neighborhoods they live in. Rather the troops have come in to uphold law and order, then to provide relief.

I would suggest giving aid to local organizations fighting to help people in need. Large NGO’s have a history of pocketing money like the post-Katrina and post-9/11 relief efforts.

Longstanding racist fear instilled by the Dominican Republic’s ruling class has created a number of generations of anti-Haitian sentiment. Much of that leading to anti-Black racism. Similar to the treatment of Mexican immigrants in the US, Haitians enter the Dominican Republic looking for work. They get paid inadequate wages for long work days and then are accused for many of the problems related to healthcare, jobs, and the living standard.

So when watching footage of Haiti the past couple of days with different people, I find myself fighting characterizations of Haitians as “savage people”. When the news mentions conditions in Haiti from before the earthquake, I then have to explain to people the expansion of US markets into Haiti and the neglect from their neighbors on the island to the east. When people are forced into poverty they find all methods of survival. Take for example the global food crisis of two years ago, when reports out of Haiti talked of people eating mud cookies for subsistence. A country that once produced rice to feed all its people, now isn’t able to provide much at all.

Its sad knowing that Haiti will very likely be in the same situation two years from now as it is today. With the US military running the show and telling locals whats best for them and who deserves aid when, one only needs to look at Iraq to see what the results are of reconstruction and relief efforts. Or look at New Orleans to see what was prioritized in the rebuilding of that city. Imagine someone walking into your neighborhood after a disaster and telling you who aid will go to. If anyone knows their neighborhood best, it is its residents. But again herein lies the assumption that Haitians are incapable of organizing their own relief. They’re looters when they try and find what they can to survive and rioters if they stand in a group of 100 stranded people all reaching out for a bite to eat.

——

Check out these articles for a further look at Haiti’s problematic history and the video below from Al Jazeera English about the distribution of aid.

Where Is the Aid In Haiti?
Catastrophe in Haiti

Tags: Haiti

1:49 am. Politics.