Tag Archives: USA

Caribbean, Haiti, International, USA

Haiti: the real looters are sitting in Washington

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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.
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Caribbean, France, Haiti, International, USA

The hate and the quake in Haiti

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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.
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Caribbean, Haiti, International, Race and Identity, USA

Haiti: An Unwelcome Katrina Redux

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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.
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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.
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Caribbean, Haiti, International, Race and Identity

When Are Haitians Looters and When Are They Just Hungry?

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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.”
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Caribbean, Haiti, International, USA

Haiti: Guns or food?

Presence of US troops provides both hope of relief, and fear of continuing legacy of US domination

By Real News
January 18, 2010 – therealnews.com

As aid starts to trickle in, and the extent of the horror becomes known, decisions are already being made that will affect the Haiti that emerges from this. Ansel Herz reports live from Port-Au-Prince on the role that the deployed US troops are playing, while author Peter Hallward weighs in on the role that the US has played in Haiti’s recent history and shares his concerns that post-earthquake Haiti will further cement the domination of the Haitian people by foreigners.
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Caribbean, Haiti, International, USA

U.S. troops in Haiti to prevent Aristide’s return

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by Wayne Madsen
January 19, 2010 – onlinejournal.com

Jean-Bertrand AristidePresident Obama, in keeping with his CIA lineage, has permitted the Pentagon under Robert Gates to take charge of the humanitarian relief efforts in Haiti.

As Cuban and Venezuelan field hospitals were already rendering first aid and trauma care to Haitians injured in the mega-quake, Obama was gathered at a White House photo op with Vice President Joe Biden and other Cabinet officers to state that U.S. military reconnaissance aircraft would fly over Haiti to assess the situation from the air. A U.S. P-3 Orion spy plane from Comalapa air base in El Salvador was dispatched to conduct the surveillance operation, an act that was already being accomplished by earth satellites, the images of which were available on Google Maps.
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Caribbean, Haiti, International

Disaster Capitalism Headed to Haiti

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By Stephen Lendman
January 18, 2010

HaitiIn her book, “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism,” Naomi Klein explores the myth of free market democracy, explaining how neoliberalism dominates the world with America its main exponent exploiting security threats, terror attacks, economic meltdowns, competing ideologies, tectonic political or economic shifts, and natural disasters to impose its will everywhere.
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