Category Archives: Haiti

Caribbean, Haiti, USA

Q & A with the State Department on Haiti

Sending in the Marines

By Judith Scherr
January 29, 2010 – counterpunch.org

US Marines in HaitiTHE FRENCH COOPERATION Minister Alain Joyandet accused the U.S. of “occupying” Haiti rather than helping in the wake of the devastating January 12, 7.0 earthquake. Doctors Without Borders and officials from the Caribbean community expressed similar frustrations, as US military personnel controlling the airport turned away their planes. With just under 20,000 U.S. boots on the ground in Haiti or just off shore, the U.N. military force has augmented its numbers to around 12,000. Still, more than two weeks after the disaster, Haitians lack water, food, medicine, shelter and equipment to dig out those that may still be alive under the rubble.
Continue reading Q & A with the State Department on Haiti →

Caribbean, Haiti, International, USA

The Kidnapping of Haiti

5 Comments

By John Pilger
January 27, 2010

HaitiThe theft of Haiti has been swift and crude. On 22 January, the United States secured “formal approval” from the United Nations to take over all air and sea ports in Haiti, and to “secure” roads. No Haitian signed the agreement, which has no basis in law. Power rules in an American naval blockade and the arrival of 13,000 marines, special forces, spooks and mercenaries, none with humanitarian relief training.
Continue reading The Kidnapping of Haiti →

Caribbean, Haiti, International, USA

Focus on Haiti – The Politics of Rice

1 Comment

By Al Jazeera English
January 25, 2010 – aljazeera.net

HaitiIn 2008, in the midst of the global food crisis, we travelled to Haiti to look at the politics of rice – how such a fertile country became dependent on food aid.

In the wake of this current disaster, that dependence is – initially – going to deepen.
Continue reading Focus on Haiti – The Politics of Rice →

Caribbean, CARICOM, Haiti, International, USA

Haiti: Another American Annexation?

10 Comments

By Raffique Shah
January 24, 2010

HaitiWHAT surprised me about my column last week was the number of people, mostly local, who knew little or nothing about Haiti’s history. But what should I have expected in a country and an education system in which history has been deemed irrelevant? Or when students study the subject, the focus is on lands and civilisations afar? Let’s face it: we know more about America and Europe than we do of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean.
Continue reading Haiti: Another American Annexation? →

Caribbean, Haiti, International, USA

Haiti: the real looters are sitting in Washington

4 Comments

By Viv Smith
Socialist Worker

HaitiFOUR DAYS AFTER the disaster in Haiti, the media shifted its attention from images of suffering to those of looting.

Talk has turned to keeping “law and order”. Haitians are increasingly depicted as savages.

But the real savages and looters are the US ruling class.

Instead of helping to rebuild Haiti’s infrastructure to meet people’s needs, the US is ensuring that the rich who have plundered Haiti for 200 years get even richer.
Continue reading Haiti: the real looters are sitting in Washington →

Caribbean, France, Haiti, International, USA

The hate and the quake in Haiti

11 Comments

By Sir Hilary Beckles
January 23, 2009 – nationnews.com

HaitiTHE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES is in the process of conceiving how best to deliver a major conference on the theme “Rethinking And Rebuilding Haiti”.

I am very keen to provide an input into this exercise because for too long there has been a popular perception that somehow the Haitian nation-building project, launched on January 1, 1804, has failed on account of mismanagement, ineptitude and corruption.
Continue reading The hate and the quake in Haiti →

Caribbean, Haiti, International, Race and Identity, USA

Haiti: An Unwelcome Katrina Redux

1 Comment

By Cynthia McKinney
January 22, 2010 – globalresearch.ca

HaitiPresident Obama’s response to the tragedy in Haiti has been robust in military deployment and puny in what the Haitians need most: food; first responders and their specialized equipment; doctors and medical facilities and equipment; and engineers, heavy equipment, and heavy movers. Sadly, President Obama is dispatching Presidents Bush and Clinton, and thousands of Marines and U.S. soldiers. By contrast, Cuba has over 400 doctors on the ground and is sending in more; Cubans, Argentinians, Icelanders, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans, and many others are already on the ground working – saving lives and treating the injured. Senegal has offered land to Haitians willing to relocate to Africa.
Continue reading Haiti: An Unwelcome Katrina Redux →

Caribbean, Haiti, International, USA

Haiti’s tragedy: A crime of US imperialism

By Bill Van Auken
January 21, 2010 – wsws.org

HaitiThe immense death and suffering inflicted upon the people of Haiti by the January 12 earthquake has laid bare a massive international crime by US imperialism, which prepared this catastrophe with a century of oppression and is now attempting to exploit the disaster for its own ends.

The estimated 200,000 who have died, the quarter million or more injured and the three million whose homes have been destroyed are victims not merely of a natural catastrophe. The lack of infrastructure, the poor quality of construction in Port-au-Prince and the impotence of the Haitian government to organize any response are determining factors in this tragedy.
Continue reading Haiti’s tragedy: A crime of US imperialism →

Caribbean, Haiti, International, Race and Identity

When Are Haitians Looters and When Are They Just Hungry?

8 Comments

By: Natalie Hopkinson
January 17, 2010 – theroot.com

Haiti“Nearly five years ago, when you could see photo captions of white Hurricane Katrina survivors side-by-side with black survivors, the racial double standard in the news media covering a catastrophic tragedy were obvious. Hungry, desperate white survivors were “finding food” while hungry, desperate black survivors were “looting” for food.”
Continue reading When Are Haitians Looters and When Are They Just Hungry? →

Caribbean, Haiti, Health, International, Race and Identity

Misinformation and Racism Hamper Recovery Effort in Haiti

7 Comments

Doctor: Misinformation and Racism Have Frozen Recovery Effort at General Hospital in Port-au-Prince

By Democracy Now!
January 19, 2010

Haiti“There are no security issues,” says Dr. Evan Lyon of Partners in Health, reporting from the General Hospital in Port-Au-Prince in Haiti, where 1,000 people are in need of operations. Lyon said the reports of violence in the city have been overblown by the media and have affected the delivery of aid and medical services.
Continue reading Misinformation and Racism Hamper Recovery Effort in Haiti →