The Haitian Earthquake - January 2010
These links and articles are provided to help friends get a better overview of the situation in Haiti than is being provided by the mainstream media.
Many people have asked me who they should give money to. I don't know the situation on the ground well enough to be able to make a recommendation yet. However, I lean toward recommending people hold back their donations for a month or two and see who is getting involved in reconstruction projects. It would appear, even at this early stage, that there will be more resources for immediate relief than can be absorbed effectively. Make a promise to yourself however, and do it in a month or so. Don't forget about Haiti after the press dies down. Put it into a separate bank account or write a blank cheque and bring it forward in a month when you know whose name you want to put on it. It will take time to plan a locally defined and controlled process, and if we really want to help Haitians, we need to accompany them over this time, not just give money in the immediate moment.
Money and "power" should be put into the hands of Haitians themselves, rather than toward the ineffective and/or corrupt government, or toward the externally led process that will keep Haiti forever poor. External forces have long kept Haitians poor and less able to fend for themselves in a disaster like this. Some of the articles linked below show how these forces have worked, others point to examples of how Haitians are quite capable of helping themselves if allowed to do so without interference.
Haiti: Charity is a political as well as a humanitarian act
Based on personal post earthquake visits to Nicaragua, Mexico, Chile and Colombia, I am convinced that there are hundreds of untold tales of heroism, community solidarity and compassion that are not being told about Haiti as the mainstream media touts looting to justify militarization of aid distribution, I will be trying to collect these tales here. These are important in identifying who is and will be empowering Haitians on the ground in the coming months and years and are deserving of medium and long-term support.
HAITI UPDATES from Norman Girvan, UWI St. Augustine Trinidad & Tobago
Haiti Support Group UK What's New Updates
Statement on Haiti adoptions from Adoptees of Color
Link to some 100 articles on Haiti since January 13th The militarization of aid to Haiti, by Richard Sanders, Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade, Ottawa
Presentation of PJ Patterson, Representative of the Member States Of Caricom, to the Preparatory Ministerial Conference On Haiti, Montreal, Canada, 25 January 2010
HAITI: Local Leaders Shut Out of Military-Run Relief Efforts, IPS 28 January 2010
Outsiders believe this island nation is a land of bandits. Blame the NGOs for the “looting.” NOW (Weekly), Toronto, 21 January 2010
Security hysteria feeding the fight for food, NOW (Weekly), Toronto, 21 January 2010
Canadian and Caribbean civil society recommendations to the foreign ministers meeting in Montreal, Monday 25 January 2010
HAITI-DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Sisters in Catastrophe - a story of cross border co-operation
Epic task of rebuilding Port-au-Prince is beset by hard strategic questions
"...So the new Port-au-Prince may end up resembling Managua, where sections of the Nicaraguan capital remain in ruins from an earthquake 37 years ago..."Occupation in Humanitarian Clothing, by Jesse Hagopian 24 January 2010 <jdhagopian@gmail.com>
"...according to airport personnel that I spoke to during my recent evacuation from Haiti, [Hilary Clinton] paralyzed the airport later that same day to have a new outfit flown in from the Dominican Republic." [It was closed for 3 hours surrounding her arrival for security reasons.]Haiti-Earthquake: A wake-up call by Alex Dupuy, AlterPresse - réseau alternatif haïtien d'information
Nine Latin American countries meet on rebuilding quake-hit Haiti
We all fail the failed state test, Rick Salutin, Globe and Mail, Friday January 21, 2010
Haiti reconstruction needs new way of thinking, Xinhua
US "Security Concerns" Could Cost Many Lives in Haiti - CEPR / Guardian Unlimited 20 January 2010
Haiti’s Tragedy Could Provide an Opportunity for Improved US-Cuban Relations Through Disaster Relief Collaboration COHA, Washington
Growth of aid and the decline of humanitarianism - The Lancet, 22 January 2010
Recent Democracy Now coverage of Haiti
CAFRA’s tragic loss of life in the Haitian earthquake
When the Media Is the Disaster by Rebecca Solnit, TomDispatch.com
Haiti: Western domination has undermined Haiti's ability to stand on it own, recover and build (video interview transcript with Amy Goodman)
Haiti: U.N. Defends Relief Efforts - Erroneous news reporting is having a negative impact - reports of "mass looting" is incorrect
Haiti IPS: Sharing Meagre Supplies, as Graves Multiply
What has changed on the streets of Haiti's capital city since the tremors? The Haitian people have mobilised, while foreign aid efforts continue to stall.Dramatic Photos from Haiti 6 days after the quake
Give Haitians the means to help ourselves
Australian Broadcasting Corporation coverage of Haiti
Haiti: An Unwelcome Katrina Redux by Cynthia McKinney
If Haiti is to `build back better' - Paul Farmer in the Miami Herald
Where is the aid in Haiti?
By Roger Annis, Canada Haiti Action Network
Earthquake aid: Over the coming hours and days CHAN in Montreal will be posting information on how to help Haiti and HaitiansThe US is failing Haiti – again (Obama's Katrina??)
Patrick Cockburn, The Independent, London, Saturday, 16 January 2010Haiti and America's Historic Debt
If not for Haiti, the course of U.S. history could have been very different, with the United States possibly never expanding much beyond the Appalachian Mountains... Many of the great cities of France owe their grandeur to the wealth that was extracted from Haiti and its slaves.10 things Canada should do to help Haiti overcome Tuesday’s earthquake by Yves Engler, Montreal author
G&M: Canada to hold Haiti summit amid historic relief effort
No, Mister! You Cannot Share My Pain!
The Militarization of Emergency Aid to Haiti: Is it a Humanitarian Operation or an Invasion?
By Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, January 15, 2010Report from an aid worker - rescue effort targets wealthy, ignores poor
CARICOM Heads of Government Mission to Haiti Blocked by US Airport Controllers
Officials Strain to Distribute Aid to Haiti
New York Times, Saturday January 16th, 2010
The World Food Program finally was able to land flights of food, medicine and water on Saturday, after failing on Thursday and Friday, an official with the agency said. Those flights had been diverted so that the United States could land troops and equipment, and lift Americans and other foreigners to safety. [A WFO official] added: “Their priorities are to secure the country. Ours are to feed. We have got to get those priorities in sync.”
[Note: American media have focussed on US aid and violence, and are not covering the heroic and cooperative efforts of Haitians to help and console themselves.]The Western vs the Real Narrative on Haiti (2007)
Cuba is Missing... [NOT] From US Reports on the International Response to Haiti’s Earthquake
Caribbean 'Radiothon' yields US$.5m in pledges
NATURAL RESOURCE CONTROL - THE CASE OF CARIBBEAN OIL August 1979
Port au Prince air photo overview NYT 19/1/10
Articles from COAT's Press for conversion! research on Canada's role in the 2004 coup
Lies without Borders: How CIDA-funded 'NGOs' waged a propaganda war to justify Haiti’s 2004 coup
Putting the Aid in Aiding and Abetting: CIDA's [Canadian] Agents of Regime Change in Haiti's 2004 Coup
CIDA's Key Role in Haiti's 2004 Coup d’état: Funding Regime Change, Dictatorship and Human Rights Atrocities, one Haitian 'NGO' at a Time
A Very Canadian Coup d’état in Haiti: The Top 10 Ways that Canada’s Government Helped the 2004 Coup and its Reign of Terror