InvAID: The Militarisation of Aid to Haiti
I hope that this list of articles on the hyper-militarisation of development assistance to Haiti serves as a useful resource for activists, researchers, journalists and others concerned about the latest military invasion of Haiti, the phony pretexts now being used to rationalise invasion and enhanced occupation of that country, and the real reasons for pouring so many troops and weapons into Haiti.
This compilation of over 200 links is being updated daily. It is being produced, in part, to prepare for the next issue of Press for Conversion! (the magazine of Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade - COAT). Four previous issues of COAT's magazine have focused on Canada's odious role in Haiti:
#63
Lies without Borders: How CIDA-funded 'NGOs' waged a propaganda war to
justify Haiti's 2004 Coup
#62
Putting the Aid in Aiding and Abetting: CIDA's [Canadian] Agents of Regime
Change in Haiti's 2004 Coup
#61
CIDA's Key Role in Haiti's 2004 Coup: Funding Regime Change, Dictatorship
and Human Rights Atrocities, one Haitian 'NGO' at a Time
#60
A Very Canadian Coup in Haiti: The Top 10 Ways that Canada's Government
Helped the 2004 Coup and its Reign of Terror
The articles listed below are in chronological order, with the most recent articles on the top. Any corrections, critiques or suggestions for additional articles are welcome. Contact me. (Richard Sanders, coordinator, COAT)
David L. Wilson,
"Rebuilding Haiti -- the Sweatshop Hoax"
Monthly Review, March 4, 2010
"Within days of a January 12 earthquake that devastated much of
southern Haiti, the New York Times was using the disaster to promote a United
Nations plan for drastically expanding the country's garment assembly industry,
which employs low-paid workers to stitch apparel for duty-free export, mainly to
the U.S. market. This, according to several opinion pieces in the Times, is the
way to rebuild Haiti. ..."
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/wilson040310.html
Bill Quigley, "Mercenaries Circling Haiti"
Truthout, March 3, 2010
"On March 9 and 10, there will be a Haiti conference in Miami for private military and security companies to showcase their services to governments and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working in the earthquake-devastated country. On their web site for the Haiti conference, the trade group IPOA (ironically called the International Peace Operations Association until recently) lists 11 companies advertising security services explicitly for Haiti. Even though guns are illegal to buy or sell in Haiti, many companies brag of their heavy-duty military experience...."
http://www.truthout.org/mercenaries-circling-haiti57337
Guy Charron, "Canada’s prime minister
uses Haiti visit to promote 'hard power'”
World Socialist Web Site, February 25, 2010
"The Conservative government has been anxious to ...advance the interests of
Canada’s corporate elite in the Caribbean... [They] have also seized on the
Haitian relief effort...as a means of reviving popular support for their more
'robust' foreign policy, the centerpiece of which has been the leading role
played by the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in the Afghan counter-insurgency war.
In an action closely coordinated with Washington, Canada deployed 2,000 CAF
personnel and two navy battleships to Haiti...one of the largest overseas CAF
deployments since World War II. ..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/hait-f25.shtml
,
"The aid racket"
Socialist Worler, February 24, 2010
"[T]he U.S. in fact used its relief' operation to disguise a military occupation
of Haiti, intended to prevent a flood of refugees reaching the U.S., impose even
greater sweatshop development on Haiti, and signal to the rest of Latin America,
the Caribbean and the world's most powerful governments that U.S. aims to
reassert its power in the region. As a result, actually relief aid from
the U.S. has played second fiddle to its imperial ambitions--and the
NGO-centered aspect of its response is an important part of its strategy. ..."
http://socialistworker.org/2010/02/24/the-aid-racket
Elaine Brower, "Our Hands and Help For Haiti"
Op Ed News, February 24, 2010
"There were military trucks everywhere, with troops carrying machine guns... Stopping at the US Embassy we spoke with the marines...[O]ne [said] "...I thought I would be helping people but all I am doing is standing around in the heat with a gun...." And that's what they were doing. Everywhere. In trucks, humvees, on the streets, standing around in flak jackets with guns. Or sitting in the trucks with guns. While...Haitian[s]...were digging themselves out.... Everywhere we drove we saw Italian, French, Canadian, and US military...holding up the traffic, causing more congestion than was necessary, and not completely participating in relief efforts. ..."
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Our-Hands-and-Help-For-Hai-by-Elaine-Brower-100224-936.html
Khalsa Aid worker, "Report from the ground in Leogane"
CHAN email list, February 22, 2010
"There is a great deal of chaos involved in humanitarian aid distribution.... It's been unfortunate to see many organizations propagate a message suggesting that Haiti was suffering from 'security' issues. There are absolutely NO security issues here.... I'm in the some of worst areas of Haiti and have been in the 'ghettos'.... Haitians are incredibly hospitable.... I haven't received a Haitian that has had some violent or aggressive disposition yet.... There is no looting happening, nor are there systemic incidents of violence either. ..."
http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/65/Khalsa_Aid_Worker_Report_from_Leogane.htm
John Maxwell, "What the World Owes Haiti"
Jamaica Observer, February 21, 2010
"...It was the Haitians alone of all of history's enslaved peoples who defeated the system, destroyed the institutions of slavery and legislated that thenceforth, all men, women and children of whatever colour or station or nationality were, in Ayiti, full and free human beings. It drove the Americans mad.... [T]he [UN] General Assembly must find some way to organise an endowment fund for Haiti from the enormous sums she is owed by France and the US. This fund should be for the development of Haiti, not Halliburton or Bechtel."
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Maxwell-Feb-21
Alex Lantier, "Mass protests greet
Sarkozy visit to Haiti"
World Socialist Web Site, February 19, 2010
"French President Nicolas...Sarkozy, the first French head of state ever to
visit Haiti, was greeted with street protests by thousands of Haitians demanding
the return of elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.... President René
Préval...tried to address the crowd...[but they] shouted him down... Protesters
held pictures of Aristide aloft and demanded that Sarkozy repay $21 billion paid
to France by Haiti.... Sarkozy’s visit came amid steps to transform Haiti into a
military dictatorship jointly run with foreign occupation forces and aid
agencies. ..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/hait-f19.shtml
Anthony Fenton, "Haiti:
Private Contractors 'Like Vultures Coming to Grab the Loot'"
IPS News, February 19, 2010
"Critics are concerned that private military
contractors are positioning themselves at the centre of an emerging 'shock
doctrine' for earthquake-ravaged Haiti. Next month, a prominent umbrella
organisation for private military and logistic corporations, the International
Peace Operations Association (IPOA), is co-organising a 'Haiti summit' which
aims to bring together 'leading official' for 'private consultations with
attending contractors and investors' in Miami, Florida. ..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50396
AHP, "Coup Under Cover of Humanitarian
Aid? Haiti to Become International Protectorate? and More"
L’Agence Haitienne de Presse (AHP), February 18, 2010
"Human rights activist Patrick Elie [former Defence Minister under Aristide]...warn[ed]
that an attempted coup d’Etat is lurking, disguised under the cover of
humanitarian assistance orchestrated by Non-Governmental-Organizations from
certain sectors who are trying, he said, to exclude the Haitian government from
the coordination of international aid, and even worse, from the process of
rebuilding the country. ..."
http://hcvanalysis.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/
Kevin Pina, "Angry demonstrators demand Sarkozy to pay up and return Aristide to Haiti"
Haiti Information Project, February 18, 2010
"Thousands of supporters
of ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide took to the streets on [Feb. 17] as
French president Nicolas Sarkozy toured the earthquake ravaged capital of Port
au Prince. Holding pictures of the ousted president aloft they chanted for
France to pay more then $21 billion in restitution and reparations and to return
Aristide.... Their demands stem from a long held dispute over compensation
a nascent Haiti was forced to pay French slave owners in exchange for
recognition of their independence and France's role in ousting Aristide in 2004.
..."
http://www.haitiaction.net/News/HIP/2_18_10/2_18_10.html
Christian Guerrier & Brian Jackson, "Over 500 Women March on MINUSTAH and US Embassy to Demand 'Tents, Not Guns!'"
Week in Haiti, February 17-23, 2010
"Throughout the week, huge
rallies had been taking place each afternoon.... The march took place on...Feb.
5, led by a banner reading 'January 12 Movement to Liberate Haitian Women.'
Beginning at Pont Rouge, the crowd of over 500 women marched 20
abreast....stopping all traffic along the way. ... Haitian police [using clubs]
began hitting the men guarding the demonstration's perimeter.... Despite this
provocational brutality, the protestors remained commendably peaceful throughout
the march....
In a radio address, President Préval...commented
that [the march] should not happen again. ..."
http://www.haiti-liberte.com/
Bill Van Auken, "Haiti’s elite eyes
profits as millions face disease and hunger"
World Socialist Web Site, February 16, 2010
“'A crisis is a terrible thing to waste,” Georges Sassine, president of Haiti’s manufacturers association, told the Washington Post.... “This is what the earthquake is today—an opportunity, a huge opportunity,” added Reginald Boulos... The necessity driving this military occupation is that of defending the interests of Haiti’s wealthy ruling elite as well as those of US corporations seeking to profit off cheap labor and devastation against the threat that the crisis will trigger a social revolt by Haiti’s impoverished population. ..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/hait-f16.shtml
Bill Quigley, "U.S. Brags Haiti Response is a 'Model' While More Than a Million Remain Homeless in Haiti"
Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, February 14, 2010
"[T]he U.S. Ambassador to Haiti...is quoted at a State Department briefing on February 12, saying 'In terms of humanitarian aid delivery…frankly, it’s working really well, and I believe that this will be something that people will be able to look back on in the future as a model for...responding to an earthquake.' What? ... The Ambassador must be overworked and need some R&R... Haitians are holding on despite the inadequate humanitarian response. They are the model. ..."
http://ijdh.dreamhosters.com/archives/9153
Ghali Hassan, "Haiti: A Victim of Naked Imperialism"
Axis of Logic, February 14, 2010
"As Haitians began the grim task of burying their loved ones after the January earthquake, the U.S. military used the pretext of providing “humanitarian aid” to invade and occupy a defenceless Haiti. It is clear Western “humanitarianism” has nothing to do with humanitarian aid, but much to do with U.S. imperialist domination.... The U.S. government response to the earthquake disaster was to send...military forces to occupy the country for the fourth time since 1915, using so-called “security” as the pretext to justify an outright illegal invasion of a defenceless and traumatised nation.... It is an assault on the nation’s national sovereignty. ..."
Joe Emersberger, "Benighted Journalists
Assail Haiti"
Canuck Media Monitor, February 12, 2010
"Decent people in North America have tried to help Haitians after the
devastating earthquake..., but the corporate media has left them unequipped to
do one of the most helpful things they can do -- oppose their governments'
efforts to inflict more harm on the victims under the cover of disaster relief.
If it seems paranoid to claim that Canada and the US will use the earthquake to
further set back development and democracy, it is only because the criminal role
they have played in Haiti has been very effectively hidden. ..."
http://canuckmediamonitor.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=350&st=0#entry499
Kevin Pina, "Protesters clash with police following rain in Haiti"
HaitiAction.net, February 11, 2010
"[H]omeless victims of the quake feel as if the pace of relief efforts has been too slow.... The situation has grown increasingly desperate...as complaints of corruption and incompetence in managing relief efforts by the Preval government and the UN have grown.... As the march approached UN headquarters...a line of shield and club wielding Haitian riot police barred their progress. The police held the march back as a short scuffle broke out with angry protesters demanding tents, food, water and the return of former president Aristide to help in relief efforts. ..."
http://haitiaction.net/News/HIP/2_11_10/2_11_10.html
"Black is Back Coalition Resolution on Haiti"
UhuruNews, February 11, 2010
"WE, the...Black is Back
Coalition for Social Justice, Peace, and Reparations, following our Conference
Jan 23-24, ...demand: (1) The removal of all foreign military troops in
Haiti..., (2) The return of President Aristide from forced exile in South Africa
and the restoration of democracy in Haiti, (3)
Reparations...to
Haiti by France as repayment for the billions of dollars that Haiti was forced
to pay France following the struggle for the abolition of slavery and the
creation of the First African Republic in the Western Hemisphere on the 1st
January 1804. ..."
http://uhurunews.com/story?resource_name=black-is-back-coalition-resolutions-on-haiti
William Blum,
"Keeping
the Lid On: Haiti,
Aristide and Ideology"
CounterPunch,
February 10, 2010
".... The massive US military deployment to
Haiti...has been criticized...as more of an occupation than a relief mission,
with the airport in the capital city now an American military base, and with
American forces blocking various aid missions...in order, apparently, to serve
Washington's own logistical agenda. But the large military presence can
also...prevent... Haitians from trying to emigrate by sea to the US and keep...
a lid on the numerous supporters of Aristide lest they threaten to take power
once again."
http://www.counterpunch.org/blum02102010.html
Glen Ford, "U.S. Attempts to Erase Haitian Nationhood"
Black Agenda Report, February 10, 2010
"The world’s sole superpower behaves as if Haitian sovereignty no longer exists. Notions of legality are wholly absent in America’s occupation of Haiti.... Washington arrogantly improvises the terms of the Haitian 'protectorate.'... – a grotesque form of non-sovereignty in which the subjugated nation is 'protected' by its worst enemy.... [T]he UN does not even pretend to be on the side of the oppressed, acting instead as agent and enforcer for the superpower. ..."
http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/us-attempts-erase-haitian-nationhood
Kevin Pina, "If Obama can do it then why can't Haiti's Preval?"
HaitiAction.net, February 9, 2010
"The heroic and
courageous people of Cite Soleil once again take the lead by holding a press
conference on...February 7, 2010 in front of the monument of the Haitian
constitution. ... [On] February 7...1991...Haiti’s first democratically elected
president,...Aristide, was sworn into office....
While
denouncing the corruption surrounding the distribution of aid their central
message was to ask that...Aristide be allowed to return from exile.... They
asked...if Obama could reach across party lines to invite Clinton and Bush to
work for Haiti during this crisis, then why can't Preval do the same by inviting
Aristide to return? ..."
http://haitiaction.net/News/HIP/2_9_10/2_9_10.html
Bill Van Auken,
"Hunger sparks growing protests"
World Socialist Web Site,
February 9, 2010
"On Sunday, Haiti saw one of its largest protests since the...earthquake...
Thousands of demonstrators, most of them women, marched through the streets of
Petionville, a Port-au-Prince suburb, denouncing the...mayor...for hoarding food
for resale and not distributing it to the hungry....
Congregating in front of the local municipal building, the demonstrators chanted
'if the police shoot at us, we will burn everything.' ..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/hait-f09.shtml
Jorge Vega, "Haiti protesters denounce aid corruption, hoarding"
Reuters, February 8, 2010
"Hundreds of Haitian earthquake survivors protested in a suburb of the wrecked capital on Sunday, accusing a district mayor of corruption and hoarding food aid provided by relief groups, witnesses said. The protest in the Petionville neighborhood...was one of the largest since the January 12 quake.... It reflected still simmering anger among survivors over problems in the massive international relief effort.... Banging on plastic buckets and waving branches and palm fronds, the protesters...accused Mayor Lydie Parent of hoarding aid. ..."
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61703220100208
Tobi Cohen, "Murder charges against top CFB Trenton officer leave military community reeling"
Canadian Press, February 8, 2010
"[T]he colonel in command of the country's largest air force base...Col. Russell Williams, a 46-year-old career member of the Canadian Forces, was charged...with first-degree murder in the deaths of Jessica Lloyd,...and Marie France Comeau.... He is now also charged with sexual assault and forcible confinement in attacks on two other women.... Williams was appointed as the base commander of CFB Trenton last July. The high-profile military base is...the main staging site for aid to Haiti. ..."
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/83799327.html
(This is a huge story. Within 24 hours of Colonel Russell's arrest, Google finds 30,500 references to murder "russell williams" "cfb trenton")
Bill Quigley, "Haiti: Still Starving 23 Days Later"
February 6, 2010
"You can walk down many of the streets of Port au Prince and see absolutely no evidence that the world community has helped Haiti. Twenty three days after the earthquake jolted Haiti and killed over 200,000 people, as many as a million people have still not received any international food assistance. ..."
http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/5549-still-starving-23-days-later.html
Andrew Beatty, "Protesters clamor for aid as Bill Clinton visits Haiti"
AFP, February 5, 2010
"Former US president Bill Clinton was met by angry crowds Friday protesting the slow arrival of aid to Haitians....'Our children are burning in the sun. We have a right to tents. We have a right to shelter, said Mentor Natacha, 30, a mother of two. The protesters said they hoped to meet Clinton.... As Clinton earlier visited the government's de facto headquarters in a police building in the city, about 200 people demonstrated outside to protest the lack of shelter. ..."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iuPuphNdWJMx9G6utrsFpQuCYecw
Amanda Zivcic, "Haiti: Restore democracy — let Aristide return"
Green Left Weekly, February 5, 2010
"In the aftermath of Haiti’s...earthquake, the dispatch of US and UN troops was given priority — even at the expense of rescue teams and medical aid. The mainstream media did not generally question the explanation: the country needed “stabilising”, security being threatened by “gangs”... Despite the failure of the military-led relief...the survivors responded to their situation with dignity, social solidarity and practical mutual assistance, rather than the predicted violence. [T]he real target is not violent mobs but grassroots self-organisation by Haiti’s impoverished majority, in particular, the Lavalas movement led by Jean-Bertrand Aristide..."
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/825/42419
Clarens Renois,
"Haitians angry over slow aid"
The Age, February 5, 2010
"Protests over the slow arrival of aid have flared in Haiti's capital
Port-au-Prince.... After a tense night when shots were fired.... 'If the police
fire on us, we are going to set things ablaze,' shouted one protester, raising a
cement block above his head. Another 200 protesters marched to the
US
embassy, crying out for food and aid, while about 50 demonstrators gathered
outside the police headquarters where the government of President Rene Preval is
temporarily installed. 'Down with Preval' demonstrators shouted..., who has
spoken to the people only a few times since the disaster. ..."
http://www.theage.com.au/world/haitians-angry-over-slow-aid-20100204-ng2g.html
Gerald Caplan, "Some facts Stephen Harper should have on Haiti"
Globe and Mail, February 5, 2010
"If Canada is to play a positive role in Haiti's future, we must know what the situation actually is, and why.... Most outsiders' plans for Haiti's future include exploiting its low wage structures, probably for apparel companies; the question will be whether the wages will be merely very low, or outright abominable. The answer will tell us whether the richest countries in the world -supposedly generous in their aid to Haiti - will continue to get even richer by further impoverishing one of one of the poorest. ..."
FRSO/OSCL, "Talking Points on the US Role in the Haitian Earthquake Crisis"
Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), February 4, 2010
"1. The US government's response to the crisis has been military, not humanitarian. This is the most important single thing to understand about what is happening in Haiti today. The Obama administration has ordered a massive armed intervention in Haiti in the guise of carrying out a rescue and relief mission. The goals of this intervention are to enforce US interests in Haiti, both immediate interests (preventing earthquake refugees from coming to the US...) and longer term ones (continuing US dominance of Haiti's government and economy...)"
http://www.freedomroad.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=688
Antoine Lerougetel, "French government backs US occupation of
earthquake-stricken Haiti"
World Socialist Web Site, February 4, 2010
"After the January 12 earthquake that devastated Haiti, the French government
has moved to quell political opposition in Europe to the US military occupation
of Haiti. The US intervention has blocked critical medical and food
supplies...as Washington concentrated on consolidating its grip on Haiti. ...
French President Sarkozy...quickly repudiated Cooperation and Overseas
Territories Minister Alain Joyandet’s now-famous reproach to US operations in
Haiti: 'It’s about helping Haiti. It’s not about occupying it.' ...”
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/fran-f04.shtml
Bill Van Auken,
"Three weeks after earthquake, angry protests over aid delays"
World Socialist Web Site, February 4, 2010
"Government workers, lawyers and crowds of hungry people staged demonstrations
and protests in various parts of the devastated capital...as frustration over
the failure of the anarchic relief effort to reach the majority of those
affected by the quake boiled over. Hundreds...ran through the streets of
the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville waving tree branches and shouting,
'They stole the rice!'... The protesters said local officials were charging
earthquake victims for coupons entitling them to food aid...donated by the UN
World Food Program. ..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/hait-f04.shtml
CHAN, "Haiti’s
PM on NGOs, troops"
Canada
Haiti Action Network (CHAN), February 3, 2010
"Agence
Haitienne de Presse reports on comments by Jean Max Bellerive, Haiti’s Prime
Minister [about]...the chaos caused by donor countries funneling money through
thousands of NGOs who are responsible to no one.... [and] the tens of thousands
of troops that have arrived in Haiti
since the earthquake, bolstering the nearly 9000-strong UN force. ..."
http://canadahaitiaction.ca/?p=1295
José Antonio Gutiérrez D.,
"The 'friends' of Haiti meet in Canada... with friends like
these, who needs enemies?"
Anarkismo,net,
February 2, 2010
"'What is being offered
by the 'Friends' of Haiti? Just more militarization, more debt, more
sweatshop-style economic 'development', new slums and more social exclusion.'... [A] statement signed by more than 200 networks,
organizations, movements and individuals from over twenty countries has now been
issued, demanding the unconditional cancellation of Haiti's foreign debt as well
as an end to the strategy of militarizing Haiti's social problems. ..."
http://www.anarkismo.net/article/15719
Will Soto, "Haiti: Third World Disaster Capitalism"
Socialist Alternative, February 2, 2010
"The U.S. media and the U.S. government have repeatedly expressed somewhat bogus concerns about 'security' and 'violence.' Haitian writer Edwidge Danticat has observed that the media almost assumes that a huge collection of black people represent an inevitable promise of 'violence' or 'looting.' As they did in the aftermath of Katrina, U.S. news media have again shown their tendency to label black disaster survivors as ‘looters.’...Rather than rob and pillage, millions of Haitians have struggled to rescue friends, family members, neighbors and strangers.
http://www.socialistalternative.org/news/article20.php?id=1254
Justin Podur, "Relief,
Occupations and the Haiti Crisis"
Video recording, Centre for Social Justice, Toronto, February 2, 2010.
"While many countries around the world responded with aid, the U.S. and Canada
also quickly deployed troops. This presentation explores current events and
press coverage in the context of the past decade of Western policy toward Haiti,
as well as the prospects for constructive relief and solidarity work. ..."
http://www.socialistproject.ca/leftstreamed/ls36.php
Alex Lantier, "US halts military flights to evacuate Haiti earthquake victims"
World Socialist Web Site, February 1, 2010
"Beginning last Wednesday, the US military refused to fly wounded Haitians to the US for medical treatment. Amid a growing media outcry against the decision, the White House reversed the decision and announced at 5 p.m. yesterday that it would resume the flights in the next 12 hours. ..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/hait-f01.shtml
Felipe Stuart Cournoyer, "Haiti: AntiBrazil mobilisations grow in quake's
wake"
LINKS, February 1, 2010
"One of the most vexing issues in Latin America’s relations with Haiti is the
grievous lack of understanding on the part of anti-imperialist forces about the
nature of the repeated imperialist occupations of the former French colony, and
of the crushing of the Lavalas movement, including the ouster of the country's
democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. ..."
http://links.org.au/node/1494
Scott Weinstein, "Report by Canadian nurse in Haiti"
Canada Haiti Action Network list-serve, February 1, 2010
"Very busy, but safe is what we felt. No fights, no yelling. Very little
hustling even - less than a WDC or NYC street. My point is, this was so unlike
the fear propaganda that is drummed into our heads about Haiti, which is why we
didn't see any other white people on foot the whole time.... At the hospital, we
saw 4 US soldiers armed with M16s guarding a cart of patient's food being
distributed! ..."
http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/65/Weinstein_in_Haiti.htm
Anthony Fenton, "Canadian Iraq
war vet, former JTF2 Commander reportedly coordinates U.S. 'military humanism'
effort in Haiti"
Web of Democracy, January 31, 2010
"'The coordinator of humanitarian assistance with the U.S.-run Joint Task
Force-Haiti, [is] Canadian Brig. Gen. Nicolas Matern.'(AP) .... The Army
Times ran..., 'Haiti aid mission uses lessons of war,' describing how
'dealing with counterinsurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan...apply here [in
Haiti] to the job of distributing food and water and providing medical
help.'..."
http://www.webofdemocracy.org/canadian-iraq-war-vet-forme.html
Bill Van Auken, "Obama’s
guilty silence on Haiti"
World Socialist Web Site, January 30,
2010
"In his State of the Union
speech...President Obama barely mentioned the immense catastrophe unfolding on
America’s doorstep.... He was more than three-quarters of the way
through...before even mentioning the Haitian events.... Obama exploited the
Haitian catastrophe as a means of extolling US power and virtue. He lumped US
actions in Haiti together with the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the
threats against North Korea and Iran and the boast that his administration has
killed hundreds of Al Qaeda 'fighters and affiliates,' more even than under
Bush. ..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/obha-j30.shtml
Tony Iltis, "Corporate vultures circle occupied Haiti"
Green Left Weekly, January 30, 2010
“Using racist media reports, which cast the Haitian earthquake victims as marauding looters, as a smokescreen, the UN has added 3500 armed police and soldiers to the 9000 that were already occupying Haiti. The US has sent in 20,000 troops. US military control of the airport has blocked flights with humanitarian supplies. Much of the supplies remain at the airport, not to be distributed until 'security' has been established. Those international rescue teams that have been at work have concentrated their efforts on neighbourhoods where expatriates live. Haitians have mainly had to rely on their own efforts. ..."
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/824/42386
Isabel Macdonald, "'New Haiti,' Same
Corporate Interests"
The Nation, January 30, 2010
"The Bolivarian Alliance
for the Americas...and several grassroots Haiti solidarity organizations, who
organized protests outside the [Montreal "donor"] conference, expressed
skepticism that the "Friends of Haiti" and the international financial
institutions would work to further the interests of ordinary Haitians. ...Haiti
Action Montreal, issued a statement warning that 'There is a danger that these
major powers will try to exploit the earthquake to further narrow pro-corporate
ends, if reconstruction of New Orleans after Katrina and in Asia following the
tsunami are any indication.' ..."
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100215/macdonald
Flavia Cherry, "The Haiti you do not see on TV"
Caribbean Political Economy, January 30, 2010
"I have been here in Haiti for a few days now and what I find most striking, is not only the resilience of the people, but the extent of volunteerism which is evident in every single camp and in every recovery effort at building and rescue.... Whatyou do not see on TV is the thousands of milliary officers heavily armed, standing, milling around doing nothing when there is absolutely no need for this kind of millitary presence. ..."
http://www.normangirvan.info/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/the-haiti-you-do-not-see-on-tv.doc
Monica Villamizar, "Logistical delays plague Haiti aid"
Al Jazeera, January 29, 2010
"More than two weeks after a deadly earthquake struck, much of the aid is still not reaching the people who need it. Al Jazeera's Monica Villamizar spent a day with an aid convoy in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, carrying one million food rations.... Though more than 100 people were involved and armed personnel accompanied the convoy, no food had been distributed by the end of the day."
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/2010129482740401.html
Bill Quigley, "Hell and Hope in Haiti"
CommonDreams.org, January 29, 2010
"Thousands of people standing in the hot sun waiting their turn. Outside the hospital, clinics, money transfer companies, immigration offices, and the very few places offering water or food. Troops and heavy machinery are only seen in the center of the city. After days in Port Au Prince I have seen only one fight - two teens fighting on a streetcorner over a young woman. No riots. No machetes. Hope is found in the people of Haiti. Despite no electricity, little shelter, minimal food and no real government or order, people are helping one another survive. ..."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/29
Peter Shawn Taylor, "What can we learn from the US occupation of Haiti?"
Globe and Mail, Jan. 29, 2010
"It will take at least a decade to fix Haiti, according to last week's international conference in Montreal. In fact, it will take far longer than that. History has already proven that 19 years is too short a time to build both the infrastructure and democracy that Haiti needs. If any period might be considered a 'golden' era of development and modernization in Haiti, it must be the U.S. occupation from 1915 to 1934. ..."
(Joe Emersberger's response to Taylor's article and more correspondence between them can be found here:
Canuckmediamonitor, February 2, 2010
"You describe the US occupation of 1915-1934 as a 'Golden Age' in Haitian history...but...it [w]as [a] brutal and backward period that no one should refer to as a "golden age". US troops and their Haitian collaborators killed between 3,000 to 15,000 Caco rebels... The "infrastructure"...was built by reimposing the 'corvee' (slave labour) which had not been used since 1863. ..."
http://canuckmediamonitor.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=341&st=0&gopid=483&#entry483
Carroll and Phillips, "Haiti earthquake Sovereignty takes back seat as US takes command"
Guardian, January 29, 2010
"There are now 20,000 US troops either in Haiti or offshore. Under an accord signed last week the US controls the airport and seaport and responsibility for security.... Colonel Gary Anderson, a retired Marine Corps officer and veteran of relief operations in Bangladesh and Somalia, said Haiti was a chance to project 'soft power'.... 'Wherever possible, use local security forces to secure distribution sites. The last thing you need to have on CNN is American troops clubbing desperate villagers like baby seals at a relief distribution site.' ..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/29/haiti-us-aid-role
Tanya Golash-Boza, "Sensationalizing Suffering: Struggling for Dignity and Survival in Haiti"
Blog - Tales from the Field, January 29, 2010
"The mass media's portrayal of Haiti is sensationalist.... Advertising dollars flow with images of looters, destruction, and social disorder.... The other underlying reason is racism.... The idea that Haiti has people organizing themselves into orderly tent cities and that the major role of the US has been to patrol around with soldiers and guns is not one that fits the image of Haiti or of the US's role there. ..."
http://tanyagolashboza.blogspot.com/2010/01/sensationalizing-suffering-struggling.html
Peter Hallward, "The land that wouldn't lie: Foreign intervention in Haiti"
Haitianalysis, January 29, 2010
"The Haitian people overthrew slavery, uprooted dictators and foreign military rule, and elected a liberation theologian as president. The west has made them pay for their audacity. ..."
http://haitianalysis.com/2010/1/29/the-land-that-wouldn-t-lie-foreign-intervention-in-haiti
Patrick Martin, "Troops fire on starving crowds in Haiti"
World Socialist Web Site,
January 28, 2010
"Troops
under UN command have opened fire on crowds of hungry Haitians seeking food, an
ominous sign of impending confrontation between the people of the
earthquake-wracked country and the armed forces dispatched there under the
auspices of the imperialist powers. ... On Monday, Uruguayan troops, part of the
UN peacekeeping force deployed here since 2004, fired rubber bullets at people
who crowded around food trucks....
The next
day, Brazilian troops proceeded more aggressively, using pepper spray and tear
gas to hold off a crowd seeking food at a tent camp...."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/hait-j28.shtml
"Jesse Jackson, Danny
Glover, Harry Belafonte, Haiti-Based Aid Groups, and Haiti Experts Call for U.S.
to Prioritize Aid Delivery Over Military Deployment"
Concerned Citizens and Groups,
January 28, 2010
"A letter signed by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, actor Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte,
Haiti-based aid organizations, and a number of other NGO's and academic experts
was sent to House Democratic majority leaders and the Congressional Black Caucus
today, urging for the U.S. to prioritize and improve coordination of aid
delivery over military deployment in Haiti. The letter notes that an
over-emphasis on security has meant costly delays in distributing aid that have
cost lives and led to otherwise unnecessary amputations in some cases. ..."
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/01/28-13
"Police resort to violence in bid to help distribute aid in Haiti"
New Zealand Herald, January 28, 2010
"'They treat us like animals, they beat us but we are hungry people,' said Muller Bellegarde, 30.... Many...suggested Haitian churches could provide more orderly and respectful venues for distributions, with Haitian communities organizing security. 'The...way they're doing it is bad...,' Thomas Louis, 40... 'This is not aid. This is a way to put people down.'..."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10622761
Peter Slevin, "Lack of crowd control hampers food and water delivery to Haitian quake victims"
Washington Post, January 29, 2010
"For more than 500 people who have banded together in solace and solidarity in a field here, there is no food. [They are] a 10-minute drive from the U.N. logistics base and the main Port-au-Prince airport, where dozens of cargo-laden flights land each day. The U.N. World Food Program sharply reduced its deliveries this week after failing to obtain enough U.N. peacekeepers or U.S. soldiers to keep anxious crowds in order. ..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/28/AR2010012803618.html
Ansel Herz, "Local Leaders Shut Out of Military Run Relief Efforts"
Internet Press Service, January 28, 2010
"Little food and water has been distributed by the dozens U.S. troops milling about the beach since the earthquake, according to local leaders.... 'For us, it was very important to do this without military,' said Dolores Rescheleit, an aid worker with a German NGO called Arche Nova that provided the food. '...When you give the responsibility to the people in the camp, they will do it better than we will with the military.' ..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50144
Bill Quigley, "On the ground in Port au Prince"
Haiti Action, January 28, 2010
"Though helicopters thunder through the skies, actual relief of food and water and shelter remains mimimal to non-existent in most neighborhoods. Haitians are helping Haitians. Young men have organized into teams to guard communities of homeless families. ..."
http://www.haitiaction.net/News/BQ/1_28_10/1_28_10.html
Tim Schwartz, "Heavy handout - Security hysteria feeding the fight for food"
Toronto NOW (weekly), January 28, 2010
"Here in the epicentre of the earthquake area, it’s simply unfathomable that foreign assistance is coming so slowly. ..."
http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=173441
Margaret Kimberley, "Freedom Rider: Useless Aid, No Donation Without Agitation"
Black Agenda Report, January 27, 2010 - 01:02
"The US has succeeded in plunging mainstream disaster 'relief' into disrepute. 'No donations to groups like the Red Cross, who sit on millions of dollars but do nothing but hand out blankets and move victims away from their homes in order to convenience the powerful.' And, especially, no donations to any group associated with George Bush or Bill Clinton. 'Dollars must come with demands of non-interference in Haiti’s affairs and demands of accountability to charitable organizations. ..."
http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/freedom-rider-useless-aid-no-donation-without-agitation
"Haiti: `Cancel the debt!' -- Joint statement by Asian left organisations in solidarity with the people of Haiti"
January 27, 2010
"Under the pretext of helping Haiti to recover from the earthquake, the US is now trying to retake power in Haiti and redesign the political and economic situation to suit international capital. This is not the first time the US has done this: New Orleans, smashed by Hurricane Katrina, and Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand, devastated by the great tsunami in 2004, have faced a similar situation to Haiti. Natural disasters are used to legitimise 'aid' that has neoliberal requirements attached, such as privatisation and the selling of public assets.... US troops are not mobilised for the sake of humanity. ..."
Tim Schwartz, "Chavez and Castro win the aid game, without the media spotlight"
Up to the Hour, January 27, 2010
"The US has been sharply criticized for causing Aid-Lock at the Port-au-Prince airport. Emergency medical teams from Europe and the US all arrived one to two weeks after the crisis began. UN agencies and NGOs that should be experts in aid distribution have instead focused food distribution on central sites drawing massive crowds, inciting frustration and anger among recipients and at times deteriorating into riotous mayhem. Meanwhile, Cubans and Venezuelans have been quietly and efficiently going about the business of helping. ..."
Sasha Kramer, "Fear Slows Aid Efforts in Haiti "
CounterPunch, January 27, 2010
"When I first arrived in Port au Prince I spent a day at the UN compound by the airport where NGO's, doctors and soldiers swarm around talking on satellite phones and running from meeting to meeting. I learned about the massive amounts of food aid that arrived in the first week and was stockpiled at the airport. I learned of the aid trucks filled to the brim with supplies blocked at the border and sitting idle at the ports. ..."
http://www.counterpunch.org/kramer01272010.html
John Pilger, "The Kidnapping of Haiti"
New Statesman, January 27, 2010
"The 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. ..."
http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=564
CCPO, "Haiti: After the Catastrophe, What are the Perspectives?"
Coordinating Cttee of Progressive Organisations (CCPO), Port-au-Prince, January 27, 2010
"We must also declare our anger and indignation at the exploitation of the situation in Haiti to justify a new invasion by 20,000 U.S. Marines.... It is clearly part of a strategy to remilitarise the Caribbean Basin in the context of the imperialist response to the growing rebellion of the peoples of our continent against neo-liberal globalization...."
http://www.normangirvan.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/haiti-statement-prog-orgs.pdf
Prof. Jose Maria Sison, "Help the people
of Haiti, Reject U.S. military occupation"
FightBack!news,
January 26, 2010
"The [International League of People’s
Struggle] ILPS reiterates its call for the withdrawal of all US and other
foreign military forces. We call on the American people to demand an end to US
military occupation and intervention in Haiti and help reverse the course of
US-Haiti relations. We can best help Haiti recover from the devastation of the
12 January earthquake by supporting the Haitian people's struggle for national
self-determination against foreign military occupation and economic plunder."
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2010/1/26/help-people-haiti-reject-us-military-occupation
John Catalinotto, "U.S. troops invade
Haiti: Pentagon sabotages relief effort, escalates suffering"
International Action Center, January 26, 2010
"Washington has rushed in its own military to re-establish a repressive force
under cover of a 'humanitarian' mission.... U.S. ...forces have seized the
destroyed presidential palace, the banks, the...airport and the severely damaged
seaport... All reports on the ground from Haiti show that Washington gave
first priority to the military buildup, while delaying emergency aid. Comments
from officials engaged in aid and rescue missions...show that by giving the
military priority, Washington hampered the international humanitarian effort.
..."
http://www.iacenter.org/haiti/haiti012810/
Bill Van Auken, “'Reconstructing Haiti' on starvation wages"
World Socialist Web Site, January 26, 2010
"Government ministers, international bankers and aid agencies gathered in Montreal Monday to discuss plans for reconstructing earthquake-ravaged Haiti. At the heart of their proposals is the exploitation of Haitian workers at poverty wages.... Such social re-engineering in the interests of a native ruling class and foreign capital, and at the expense of the broad masses of Haitian workers and poor, will inevitably provoke social upheavals and resistance. This is why Washington has placed getting 'boots on the ground' ahead of saving the lives of the earthquake’s victims. ..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/pers-j26.shtml
Jerry White, "Criticism mounts over US response to Haiti disaster"
World Socialist Web Site, January 26, 2010
"Two weeks after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, there is growing criticism of the US for undermining rescue and relief efforts by focusing almost entirely on the military occupation of the Caribbean nation.... A principal concern of the US government has been to prop up the US-installed Préval regime and prevent a repeat of the events in Nicaragua in the 1970s, when official indifference in the aftermath of the earthquake in Managua contributed to the overthrow of the long-standing American-backed Somoza dictatorship. ..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/hait-j26.shtml
Norman Girvan, "Solidarity with Haiti"
Caribbean Political Economy, January 26, 2010
"Much of the discourse on Haiti since (and before) the earthquake of January 12 has been ahistorical and decontextualised. I cringe every time I hear that Haiti is 'the poorest country in the Western hemisphere' that is 'plagued with corrupt and tyrannical governments' and other stereotypes so beloved by the Western media. ..."
http://www.normangirvan.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/girvan-solidarity-with-haiti1.pdf
Bill Van Auken, "US Marines in Haiti:
Back to colonialism"
World Socialist Web Site, January 27, 2010
"The US media’s coverage of the catastrophe in Haiti has increasingly included
articles and broadcast reports extolling the supposed humanitarian role of US
soldiers and Marines in the Caribbean country. They generally describe how
“combat-hardened” veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are lending a helping hand to
the survivors of the earthquake.
Some of this reporting seems aimed at countering growing international criticism
of the US militarization of the response to the Haitian disaster, which has
given priority to rushing in combat-equipped troops over the provision of
medical supplies, food and water desperately needed to save lives. ..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/pers-j27.shtml
Norman Girvan, "Letter to PJ Patterson Regarding Montreal Conference on Haitian Relief"
Jamaica Observer, January 27, 2010
"I would argue strongly against an apprach that is 'security-centred'; that militarizes the relief and rehabilitation effort; and that undermines Haitian ownership, intiative, responsibility and sovereignty. Rather, it should be based on the principles of solidarity, respect for their rights and respect for their country's sovereignty. ..."
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Girvan-jan-26_7355109
Murray
Dobbin, "Mea culpa on Haiti"
Canadian Dimension Blog, January 25, 2010
"...I glossed over the repressive role of the Canadian government in Haiti.
While I referred to Canada’s role in the overthrow of the democratically elected
government of Jean Bertrand Aristide, I suggested that the role of the police
(and now the army) was more honourable — bringing some semblance of peace to the
country.... One of the best sources for information and background on Haiti is
the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade. I urge
you to visit the site. We all, me included, need to know the terrible details of
our destruction of democracy in Haiti and our continued complicity in the
repression of the population. More to the point we need to be holding the Harper
government to account for the current militarization of the disaster response."
http://canadiandimension.com/blog/2733/
AFP, "Haitian police shoot scavengers
indiscriminately"
Associated Free Pres (AFP), January 25, 2010
"Haitian police...shot indiscriminately at scavengers and looters in
Port-au-Prince.... A group of police...opened fire on a warehouse from a
building opposite.... [T]wo men were hit in the head, one of whom received
medical attention. Two others were lying prone on the floor, one lifeless.... A
Haitian man in the street outside said he saw police pistol whip a man. Looters
and scavengers...[are] taking what they can from the ruins as bulldozers
demolished damaged shops and warehouses. ..."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gfPEpvEXTla9k3Kw7kpqjOsb1ZOQ
Alex Lantier, "The Nation praises US
intervention in Haiti"
World Socialist Web Site,
January 25, 2010
"The Nation
magazine, a leading publication of US 'progressive' opinion, has...applaud[ed]
the US intervention in Haiti. [Its] Washington correspondent...penned an
Orwellian column...to praise the intervention and...the 'dignity and
determination' he sees in Obama’s response to the quake....
[saying] "[In 1805] Paine urged Jefferson to position the US as a
‘guarantee’ of the freedom of Haiti... Jefferson did not rise to Paine’s
call.... But Barack Obama can.' Only someone promoting the most appalling
delusions about the US can describe the military-financial clique that now rules
Washington as being able to guarantee Haiti’s freedom. ..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/nati-j25.shtml
Open letter, "To the governments and
organizations gathered in Montreal on the situation in Haiti"
About 200 NGOs, January 25, 2010
"[W]e
reject the militarization of the country as a false response to the
recent disaster, including in particular U.S. unilateral action to send an
additional 20,000 troops to safeguard its economic and geopolitical interests.
The occupation troops of the MINUSTAH, over the past six years, did not
contribute effectively to the stabilization or the provision of infrastructure
and public goods, and nothing indicates that maintaining this policy would be
effective from now on. ..."
http://www.commonfrontiers.ca/Single_Page_Docs/Current_Activity_Updates/Jan25_10_open_letter.html
Meg Hewings, "Who's a friend of
Haiti?"
Community.hour.ca, January 25 2010
"A group called "Friends of Haiti" met in downtown Montreal today... They
included the foreign ministers of Canada, the USA and France, the same 3
countries responsible for the military coup in 2004... Outside the
building, protesters reminded journalists these so-called "friends" can't be
trusted to respect the best interests of all Haitians. The small group of
protesters held placards that called for "medical relief, not guns!"; "grants
not loans"; "reconstruction for people, not profit"; and demanded respect for
Haiti's dignity and sovereignty. ..."
http://community.hour.ca/blogs/up_to_the_hour/archive/2010/01/25/who-s-a-friend-of-haiti.asp
Robert Jensen, "Great television, bad journalism: Media failures in Haiti coverage"
Know, January 25, 2010
"CNN's star anchor Anderson Cooper narrates a chaotic street scene in Port-au-Prince.... Cooper point[s] out there is no widespread looting in the city and that the violence in the scene that viewers have just witnessed appears to be idiosyncratic.... Haitians generally have been organizing themselves into neighborhood committees to take care of each other in the absence a functioning central government ..."
http://www.utexas.edu/know/2010/01/25/bad_journalism_haiti/
Marguerite A. Suozzi, "HAITI: Military Playing Large Role in Relief Efforts"
InterPress Service, January 25, 2010
"Military forces seem to be a critical part of the international community's contribution to Haiti, as military and police from the UN, US, Canada and the Dominican Republic establish their presence on the island.... But support for the continuous increase in military personnel deployed to the island has not been unanimous among the international community. ..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50098
Richard Seymour, "The humanitarian myth"
Socialist Worker, January 25, 2010
"An analysis of propaganda manufactured to justify U.S. actions in Haiti after the earthquake.WITHIN DAYS of Haiti suffering an earthquake...the U.S. government had sent thousands of 82nd Airborne troops and Marines, alongside the super-carrier USS Carl Vinson. ..."
http://socialistworker.org/2010/01/25/the-humanitarian-myth
CCIC - "Canadian Civil Society Recommendations to the Foreign Ministers Meeting on Haiti"
Canadian Council for International Co-operation, January 25, 2010
"Aid efforts have been impeded by lack of access to airports and the slow delivery of supplies into the disaster site.... Assistance currently being provided by military personnel should be handed over to civilian agencies as soon as possible, leaving the military to focus on providing logistical and operational support.... The considerable capacity and skills of Haitians themselves must be respected and included in relief efforts. ..."
http://www.web.ca/~bthomson/haiti/CCIC_Haiti_Statement_25jan10.html
Justin Podur, "Limited Compassion for Haiti"
The Killing Train, January 25, 2010.
"Everyone agrees that the Haiti earthquake is a serious situation. Serious enough for the US to send thousands of Marines, to take over the airport, to suspend Haiti's sovereignty and take over the operation. Serious enough to unify the bitter partisan divide and put Bush, Clinton, and Obama together to raise funds. ..."
http://www.killingtrain.com/node/723
Richard Swift, "Disaster relief or disaster capitalism?"
New Internationalist, January 25, 2010.
"‘All Hands on Deck for Haiti!’ shouted the headlines in the Trinidad Express. It was ‘Hold on Haiti: We Are Here For You’ from the Barbadian Press. ..."
http://www.newint.org/features/web-exclusive/2010/01/26/haiti-disaster/
Bolivarian News Agency, "Venezuela Cancels Haiti's Debt"
Bolivarian News Agency / Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the U.S. Press and Communications Office, January 25, 2010
"The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez announced on Monday, January 25, that the Venezuelan government will forgive any Venezuelan debts held by Haiti. ..."
http://embavenez-us.org/news.php?nid=5257
magbana, "Haiti: New U.S. Military Base?"
Radio Havana Cuba, January 24, 2010
"The U.S. government is making full opportunistic use of the tragedy caused by the earthquake in Haiti. The white house forced the local government to agree to fill their country with U.S. ...troops..., in an operation which has nothing to do with humanitarian assistance but with military occupation.... Thus, the streets of Port au Prince, full of rubble and with a bewildered population with infinite needs, are scenes of a large deployment of U.S. soldiers armed to the teeth more common in a military conflict than in a humanitarian catastrophe. ..."
John Maxwell, "Boojum hunting in the Caribbean"
January 24, 2010
"If the US Army had thought to drop water,...they could have saved many lives.... The late Hedi Annabi -- the UN's man in Haiti -- died in the earthquake. He was clearly another who thought Haitians were all terrorists and his way of preparing for democracy involved the UN mission...making periodic forays into the slums to slaughter members of Fanmi Lavalas. The UN secretary general is even more clueless, tolerating René Préval's de-legitimising Fanmi Lavalas and appointing Bill Clinton as his representative in Haiti.... [Then] Barack Obama proved even more clueless...by appointing Haiti's worst enemy, George Bush...to raise funds for Haitian relief ...."
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/maxwell-Jan-24
Reed Lindsay , "Spirit and strength will pull Haiti's people through"
The Observer, January 24, 2010
"The exclusion of the poor from the decisions that affect them explains why the most recent pre-earthquake international efforts to help Haiti were focused on increasing the number of maquiladoras – or factories – where businesses pay negligible taxes and Haitians make subsistence wages, if they are lucky. It explains why most international aid is spent on NGO bureaucracies and what relatively little money gets to the Haitian people creates dependencies instead of self-sufficiency. It explains why a UN peacekeeping mission considered a success in New York and Washington [and Ottawa] is reviled in Haiti.. ..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/24/haiti-earthquake-aftermath-reed-lindsay
Jesse Hagopian, "Occupation in Humanitarian Clothing"
CommonDreams, January 24, 2010
"Everything you need to know about the U.S. aid effort to assist Haiti in the wake of the catastrophic earthquake can be summed up by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's touchdown in Port-Au-Prince on Saturday, January 16: they shut down the airport [1] for three hours surrounding her arrival for "security" reasons, which meant that no aid flights could come in during those critical hours. ..."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/24
David Putt, "Canadian Military refused help to Canadian aid worker in Port-au-Prince"
Emails and phone transcripts with David Putt in Haiti, January 24, 2010
"There are so few of us on the ground that are actually doing anything, you pass umpteen armed UN vehicles. A few UN food program trucks. You just don’t see much aid. You just don’t see much aid on the road. There’s very little significant aid in people’s hands. ..."
http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/65/Putt_in_Haiti.htm
DN, "Security 'Red Zones' in Haiti Preventing Large Aid Groups from Effectively Distributing Aid"
Democracy Now, January 22, 2010
"As thousands of well-equipped US soldiers pour into Haiti, there is an increasing concern about the militarization of the country, supporting the soldiers and not the people. Or, as one doctor put it, 'people need gauze, not guns.' We take a look at aid distribution in Haiti and the effect on Haitians fighting to survive in the aftermath of the earthquake. ..."
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/22/security_red_zones_in_haiti_preventing
magbana, "CNN’s Anderson Cooper Catching On to the Viscious Haitian National Police"
HCV Analysis,
January 22, 2010
"Haitian
National Police murder an unarmed, peaceful participant in a Haitian protest
demanding the return of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide....
I’m fairly certain that
the cops who killed the one teenager and wounded the other yesterday did
not view these kids as retrieving desperately needed food after nine days of
eating little or nothing. No, those cops saw young Aristide supporters,
'bandits,' who needed to be eliminated. ..."
http://hcvanalysis.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/cnns-anderson-cooper-catching-on-to-the-viscious-haitian-national-police/
Bill Van Auken, "Haitians dying by the thousands as US escalates
military intervention"
World Socialist Web Site, January 22, 2010
"[A] CNN [reporter]...said Haitians questioned why so many US troops were
pouring into the country. 'They say they need more food and water and fewer guys
with guns,"... American doctors at the hospital [say] ...'there has never
been a security problem here at the hospital, but there is a problem of getting
supplies in.' He added, 'They can get nine helicopters of troops in, but some of
the doctors here say if they can do that, then why can’t they also bring with
them IV fluids and other much needed supplies.' ..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/hait-j22.shtml
Rachel Cohen
and Alan Maass, "The siege of
Haiti"
Socialist Worker,
January 22, 2010
"The ring of mighty warships off the coast of Port-au-Prince is a stark symbol of the true intentions of the U.S. government in its "humanitarian" mission following Haiti's devastating earthquake. The Navy and Coast Guard vessels aren't there with food or water or rescue teams. They're on patrol to make sure that Haitians don't escape the disaster and try to get to the United States..... ..."
http://socialistworker.org/print/2010/01/22/siege-of-haiti
Bruce A. Dixon, "Haiti, Katrina, and Why I Won't Give To Haiti Through the Red Cross"
Black Agenda Report, January 22, 2010
"What's charitably given isn't always charitably distributed. In 21st century American and its empire, our corporate and military elite wield immense power. Corporate philanthropy serves corporate interests, not human interests, and corporate control over government, culture and media ensure that even funds donated by ordinary citizens can be directed and harvested for elite purposes too. ..."
Andrew Buncombe, "Looting - is it really a matter of black and white?"
UK Independent, January 22, 2010
"Imagine what it must have been like for the people of Haiti, struggling without food and water or medical help for days on end. And...imagined...[being] accused of 'looting' if you...helped yourself to some bottles of water or a bag of rice. ... Why...this obsession with looting...in so much we've read or watched with law and order? ..."
http://andrewbuncombe.independentminds.livejournal.com/
Letter to the Guardian, "Haitian empowerment must be the prime goal"
The Guardian, January 22, 2010
"We the undersigned are outraged by the scandalous delays in getting essential aid to victims of the earthquake in Haiti. As a result of the US decision to prioritise the accumulation of foreign soldiers over the distribution of emergency supplies, untold numbers of people have died needlessly. ..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/22/haitian-empowerment-prime-goal
Gamal Nkrumah, "Making the most of disaster"
Al Ahram, January 21 - 27, 2010
"The militarisation of emergency relief...is scandalous, disgraceful and unscrupulous. ...[A]ttitudes to neocolonialism are difficult to change. However, to feign remorse for the plight of Haitians and to use the country's adversity to embark on...military occupation by US forces is a despicable act. The US-led international charm offensive is fast discarding its charm, while bearing its teeth.... The message of goodwill and harmony rings hollow in Haiti. American troops have blatantly taken control...muzzling voices of despair buried beneath the rubble. ..."
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2010/982/in1.htm
Bill Van Auken, "Haiti’s tragedy: A crime of US imperialism"
World Socialist Web Site, January 21, 2010
The 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. ..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/pers-j21.shtml
Edna Bonhomme, "Racism in the portrayal of Haiti"
Socialist Worker, January 21, 2010
"In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, I have been disturbed by the racist depictions of Haiti and Haitians. First, the mainstream media's representation of Haiti has been, at best, a sensationalistic account of Black people incapable of helping themselves, and at worst, a portrayal of Haitians as responsible for their plight because they 'signed a pact with the devil.' I have been distraught by the lack of accountability of Western powers for creating and exacerbating the structural issues in Haiti (and other parts of Latin America). ..."
http://socialistworker.org/2010/01/21/racism-in-portraying-haiti
Michel Chossudovsky, "A Haiti Disaster Relief Scenario Was Envisaged by the US Military One Day Before the Earthquake"
Global Research, January 21, 2010
"A Haiti disaster relief scenario had been envisaged at the headquarters of US Southern Command SOUTHCOM in Miami one day prior to the earthquake. The holding of pre-disaster simulations pertained to the impacts of a hurricane in Haiti. They were held on January 10. ..."
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17122
Rebecca Solnit, "Covering
Haiti:
When the Media Is the
Disaster"
TomDispatch, January 21, 2010
"Soon after almost every disaster the crimes begin: ruthless, selfish,
indifferent to human suffering, and generating far more suffering. The
perpetrators go unpunished and live to commit further crimes against humanity.
They care less for human life than for property.... I’m talking, of course,
about those members of the mass media whose misrepresentation of what goes on in
disaster often abets and justifies a second wave of disaster. I’m talking about
the treatment of sufferers as criminals, both on the ground and in the news, and
the endorsement of a shift of resources from rescue to property patrol. ..."
http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175194/tomgram:_rebecca_solnit,_in_haiti,_words_can_kill/
CHAN Petition, "Haiti needs emergency relief, not military intervention!"
Canada Haiti Action Network, January 21, 2010
"We, the undersigned, are outraged by the scandalous delays in distributing
essential aid to victims of the earthquake in
Haiti. Since the US Air Force
seized unilateral control of the airport in
Port-au-Prince,
it has privileged military over civilian humanitarian flights. As a result,
untold numbers of people have died needlessly in the rubble of
Port-au-Prince.
..."
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/relief-not-militarization-for-haiti
Radio Havana Cuba (RHC), "Washington Accused of Militarizing Haitian Relief"
RHC, January 21, 2010
"The US is being accused of prioritizing the delivery of troops and military
equipment over desperately needed aid in Haiti. ...U.S. troops are engaged in
'crowd control,' while literally occupying areas of the earthquake-ravaged
country. And Washington's control of the airport in Port-au-Prince gives the
U.S. the final word on who does or doesn't get humanitarian aid... and when.
..."
http://www.radiohc.cu/ingles/a_noticiasdelmundo/10/enero/21/mundo1.htm
Peter Hallward, "Securing Disaster in Haiti"
Haitianalysis, January 21, 2010
"Nine days after the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010, it's now clear that the initial phase of the US-led relief operation has conformed to the three fundamental tendencies that have shaped the more general course of the island's recent history.[1] It has adopted military priorities and strategies. It has sidelined Haiti's own leaders and government, and ignored the needs of the majority of its people. And it has proceeded in ways that reinforce the already harrowing gap between rich and poor. ..."
http://www.haitianalysis.com/2010/1/22/securing-disaster-in-haiti
Sarah Lazare, "US Policy: More War, Less Relief"
CommonDreams, January 22, 2010
"As Haiti asks the world for help turning around the destruction wrought by the January 12th earthquake, the U.S. is funding destruction in Iraq and Afghanistan. President Obama is expected to ask for another $33 billion for the military budget this year, on top of the $1 trillion that has come out of U.S. taxpayers' pockets since 2001, to fund the so-called War on Terror. ..."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/22-0
Press TV, "Latin American Leaders: International relief operation in Haiti is a cover-up for a military takeover"
Press TV, January 22, 2010
Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua say the US is using the international relief operation in Haiti as a cover-up for a military takeover.
Bolivian President Evo Morales said that he will request an emergency UN meeting to reject what he calls the US military occupation of Haiti.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116809§ionid=351020706
Nicole Winfield, "Italy's top disaster official: Haiti relief effort `pathetic,' US militarization ineffective,"
Associated Press, January 24, 2010.
"Italy's top disaster official called the Haiti quake-relief effort a "pathetic" failure Sunday, criticizing the militarized approach of the U.S. as ineffective and out of touch for the emergency at hand...."
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9DEAMAO2.htm
Peter Walker, "Italian official condemns Haiti earthquake relief as 'vanity parade'"
The Guardian, January 25, 2010
"The
Italian government official who led the country's response to the L'Aquila
earthquake has condemned relief efforts in Haiti as a disorganised "vanity
parade", ahead of an international conference on rebuilding the devastated
country. Guido Bertolaso, the head of Italy's civil protection service, said
there had been a fundamental lack of leadership thus far in foreign aid missions
to Haiti, warning also that the large US military mission in the country was not
entirely helpful. ..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/25/italy-condemns-haiti-earthquake-relief-effort
Bill Van Auken, "As US prepares long-term
occupation, Haiti’s quake victims still without aid"
World Socialist Web Site, January 23, 2010
"With the US military 'surge' into Haiti expected to include some 20,000 troops on land and on ships parked offshore by this weekend, a US official indicated that Washington is preparing for a protracted occupation of the impoverished and earthquake-devastated Caribbean nation.... In addition to the US, representatives from Brazil, Canada, France, Haiti and Uruguay participated in the discussions. Canada and France are major donors to Haiti, while Brazil and Uruguay each have over 1,000 troops participating in the UN peace-keeping mission, which constituted the main occupying force before the earthquake. ..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/hait-j23.shtml
Fidel Castro Ruz, "We Send Doctors, Not Soldiers"
Reflections by Comrade Fidel, January 23, 2010
"In the midst of the Haitian tragedy...thousands of US marines, 82nd Airborne Division troops and other military forces have occupied Haiti.... Several governments have complained that their aircraft have not been allowed to land in order to deliver the human and technical resources.... In my view, such events will complicate and create chaos in international cooperation. ..."
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2010/ing/f230110i.html
Tony Iltis, "Haiti: US military occupation worsens suffering, blocks aid"
GreenLEFT Online, January 23, 2010
"Most media coverage of Haiti’s latest tragedy is dominated by a racist narrative that is being used as a smokescreen, behind which the US is cynically using the earthquake to increase its military, political and economic control of Haiti. (Actively hampering relief efforts in the process.) ..."
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/823/42323
Seumas Miln, "Haiti's suffering is a result of calculated impoverishment"
The Guardian, January 23, 2010
"There is no relief for the people of Haiti, it seems, even in their hour of promised salvation. More than a week after the earthquake that may have killed 200,000 people, most Haitians have seen nothing of the armada of aid they have been promised by the outside world. ..."
KPFA, "The Perils of US Disaster Relief"
KPFA Radio (Against the Grain), January 20, 2010
An interview with Alexander Poster: "As Haiti struggles with the aftermath of a
catastrophic earthquake, what can be learned from the history of US disaster
relief in Ethiopia, Mexico, El Salvador, Armenia -- and Haiti? Alexander Poster
has written about the role disaster aid has played from the Reagan
administration to the present and the opportunity crises have afforded the
United States, via USAID and private agencies, to exert economic and political
influence on devastated countries. ..."
http://againstthegrain.org/program/271/id/031822/wed-1-20-10-perils-us-disaster-relief
Abayomi Azikiwe,
"Behind Haiti’s extreme poverty: France, U.S. looted first
Black republic"
Pan-African News Wire,
January 20, 2010
"[T]he present situation
in Haiti can only be resolved through the independent actions of the masses of
workers and youth inside the country. Anti-imperialists and solidarity activists
in the US must also demand that the deportation orders be lifted permanently
against Haitians...[and] demand the restoration of President Aristide to
power.... Haiti should be paid reparations for the years of exploitation and
oppression imposed by the US, France, Canada and the UN. ..."
http://www.iacenter.org/haiti/haiti_poverty012310/
Tim Schwartz (PhD), "Comments from Haiti on alleged security problems"
Emails, January 20-23, 2010
"I am white, blan... and I am on foot and motorcycle and am still trying to figure out what the security issue is. ... Exactly what is it that the military and aid agencies are supposed to be afraid of? .... It is simply mindboggling how they are portraying the people who live there. ..."
http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/65/Schwartz_in_Haiti.htm
"Haiti: the Aftershock Doctrine"
SchNEWS, January 22, 2010
"As the rescue effort winds down and the body count piles up, SchNEWS takes a look at why this earthquake hit so many so hard, and how the international aid effort is being subverted by military and corporate power. ..."
http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news7061.php
"CITGO Starts Shipment of 120 tons of Humanitarian Aid to Haití As a complement to the Venezuelan Aid"
CITGO media release, Jan. 22, 2010.
"CITGO Petroleum Corporation, and its charitable organization, the Simón Bolívar Foundation, have started the shipment to Port-Au-Prince of 120 tons of humanitarian aid, in coordination with the Embassies of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Republic of Haiti in the United States. ..."
http://embavenez-us.org/news.php?nid=5252
Roslyn Cassells, "Soldiers and police prioritizing 'security' over survival in Haiti"
The Straight, January 21, 2010
"US military control of the only airport in Haiti has resulted in prioritization of "security" over life. ... A second wave of deaths—this one avoidable—has begun. One of the greatest dangers to the survivors of disasters comes from the very organizations and institutions that are supposed to help them. This is due to the attempt, often unwelcome by the local community, to re-assert state and police control over the people. ..."
Tim Schwartz, "Is this anarchy? Outsiders believe this island nation is a land of bandits. Blame the NGOs for the 'looting.'”
Toronto NOW (weekly), January 21, 2010
"We are at a supermarket inside a sealed-off compound. Over the wall, we can see into neighbourhoods where houses are heaps of rubble but not a single rescue worker’s in sight. ..."
http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=173333
Nikolas Kozloff, "Latin Middle Eastern Media: A Thorn in the Side of the U.S. Military in Haiti"
SenorChichero, January 23, 2010
"Watch the U.S. media and its coverage of the crisis in Haiti, and you get the impression that Washington is a benevolent power doing its utmost to help with emergency relief in the Caribbean island nation. But tune into al-Jazeera English or South American news network Telesur and you come away with a very different view. ..."
http://senorchichero.blogspot.com/2010/01/latinmiddle-eastern-media-thorn-in-side.html
Marilyn Langlois, "Stand shoulder to shoulder with the People of Haiti"
HaitiAction, January 23, 2010
"When asked 'How are they surviving?' Haitian journalist Wadner Pierre responded, 'Well, they’re all sharing. That’s what we do. That’s the way Haitians are.' (January 16)
'The city has seen little violence, despite persistent fears that shortages of food, water and shelter will spark unrest.' (January 21)
http://www.haitiaction.net/News/HERF/1_23_10/1_23_10.html
Alex Lantier, "US military operations block relief efforts in Haiti"
World Socialist Web Site, January 21, 2010
"The US military intervention in Haiti, after the January 12 earthquake that killed an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 people, continues to block arrival of critical supplies to the devastated country. Quake victims—including hundreds of thousands of wounded and an estimated three million Haitians made homeless—lack access to food, water, and life-saving medical equipment. ..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/hait-j21.shtml
Andy Kershaw, "Stop treating these people like savages"
UK Independent, January 21, 2010
"The crisis, for more than a week now, has been not about the shortage of donated food, water, fuel and medicines but the distribution of those essentials that are piling up, obscenely, at Port-au-Prince airport. ..."
Ben Ehrenreich, "Why Did We Focus on Securing Haiti Rather Than Helping Haitians?"
Slate, January 21, 2010
"By the weekend, it was clear that something perverse was going on in Haiti, something savage and bestial in its lack of concern for human life. I'm not talking about the earthquake, and certainly not about the so-called 'looting,' which I prefer to think of as the autonomously organized distribution of unjustly hoarded goods. I'm talking about the U.S. relief effort. ..."
http://www.slate.com/id/2242078/
Derrick O'Keefe, "Racism, misinformation and militarization have hurt Haiti relief effort"
Rabble Blog, January 21, 2010
"Yesterday, Democracy Now! reported that 'Misinformation and Racism Have Frozen Recovery Effort at General Hospital in Port-au-Prince.' This from an interview with Dr. Evan Lyon from Partners In Health (PIH): 'This question of security and the rumors of security and the racism behind the idea of security has been our major block to getting aid in.' ..."
Solomon Comissiong, "Untold Stories: Haiti, White Supremacy, US Foreign Policy and Corporate Media"
Black Agenda Report, January 20, 2010 - 01:51
"The U.S. corporate media have a difficult time covering the Haiti catastrophe. 'Haiti's poverty and economic desolation were largely made-in-America,' an inconvenient fact to transmit to American audiences. Corporate media's 'job is to invoke pity, confusion, and ignorance, as well as to uphold the benevolence of white supremacy. ...”
John Buell, "Our Ethical Obligations to Haiti"
The Bangor Daily News (Maine), January 20, 2010
"U.S. media often seemed intent on ugly stereotypes of Haitians.... During many natural disasters, media commentary seems designed as much to prepare us for the notion that absent a top down order provided by U.S. authorities there is no alternative but chaotic disorder. In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the media reported as facts crimes and violence in the Superdome. Most were later discredited. Newspaper photos captioned whites in search of food as 'foraging,' while similar pictures of African-Americans were captioned as 'looting.' ..."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/20-5
CEPR, "NGO's and Relief Groups Call for Immediate and Widespread Distribution of Water and Other Aid Supplies"
Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), January 20, 2010
"NGO's and
policy groups today called for the U.S. government to prioritize aid delivery
over military deployment to Haiti, as airdrops of water supplies only just began
to get underway, and as the U.S. military continued to prevent planes carrying
aid supplies from landing in Port-au-Prince and Jacmel.... 'Right now the U.S.
is blocking aid....," said...Director of Konbit pou Ayiti.... Established aid
groups who have a long history of working in Haiti have suddenly found
themselves unable to deliver urgently needed medical, water, and food supplies
because the U.S. military will not grant them access to ports and airports. ..."
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/press-releases/press-releases/ngos-relief-groups-call-for-distribution-of-water-aid-supplies/
Tom Eley, "Washington shuts door on Haitian refugees"
World Socialist Web Site, January 20, 2010
"The
Obama administration has taken extraordinary measures to prevent desperate
Haitians from entering the US since a January 12 earthquake.... The effort to
bar Haitians from entering the US—including the wounded seeking medical
treatment—illustrates that the priority of the US-led intervention is not to
save lives, but to establish military control over the population.
Five US Coast Guard ships have joined US Navy vessels...—not to deliver food,
water, and medicine..., but to stop any Haitians who might attempt to escape.
..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/hait-j20.shtml
Raquel Maria Garcia Alvarez, "Haiti under US Occupation Threat"
Prensa Latina, January 20, 2010.
"Hunger and illnesses have gripped Haiti... but the situation has been compounded by occupation threats by US troops. In the devastated streets of Port au Prince, hundreds of Haitians described as lack of sovereignty the impressive landing of several US choppers in the Presidential Palace. ..."
http://www.radiobaragua.cu/english/2010/January/Haiti-under-US-Occupation-Threat-20.htm
Kiraz Janicke, "Venezuela steps up aid effort to Haiti, questions U.S. military deployment"
Venezuelanalysis, January 20, 2010
"A crowd of about 2,000 Haitians, desperate for water, food, shelter and medical care, seem unhappy – or at least unimpressed – with the presence of a U.S. soldier. Speaking for Venezuela, the first country to send aid to Haiti, on the morning after the earthquake, President Hugo Chavez’ policy is “helping Haiti, not occupying Haiti. ...”
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/5086
Jordan Flaherty, "New Orleans' Heart is in Haiti"
The Huffington Post, January 20, 2010
"New Orleans and Haiti are connected by geography, history, architecture, and family, and news of mass devastation and loss of life in the island nation has hit hard in the Crescent City.... We are linked not just by a shared experience of storms, but also by first-hand understanding of the ways in which oppression based on race, class and gender interacts with these disasters. ..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jordan-flaherty/new-orleans-heart-is-in-h_b_427108.html
Mark Weisbrot, "Haiti needs water, not occupation"
The Guardian, January 20, 2010
"The US has never wanted Haitian self-rule, and its focus on 'security concerns' has hampered the earthquake aid response ..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jan/20/haiti-water-us-occupation
Wayne Madsen, "U.S. troops in Haiti to prevent Aristide’s return"
Wayne Madsen Report, Jan 19, 2010
"President 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. ..."
Brenda Norrell, "Bush Formula for Disaster Relief: Deprivation, Militarization and Genocide"
Narcosphere, January 19, 2010
"President Obama's appointment of George W. Bush to cochair the Haiti relief, with Bill Clinton, should sound an alarm. During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Bush established a pattern, now being carried out in Haiti: Deprive the people of food and water and militarize the zone. As people become more desperate, continue the genocide of people of color with force by the military and assassins like Blackwater/XE. ... Permanently displace as many people of color as possible.... Funnel money into private contractors and partner with corrupt politicians. All along, co-opt the media and deceive the public ...".
Tom Eley, "US military to enforce state of emergency in Haiti"
World Socialist Web Site, January 19, 2010
"The
Haitian government declared a state of emergency.... [This] creates martial law
conditions that will be enforced by the US military. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton had demanded the imposition of the emergency decree during her visit to
Haiti.... 'The decree would give the government an enormous amount of authority,
which in practice they would delegate to us,' Clinton declared....
UN
troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets into a crowd of desperate people who
had congregated 'too close' to the gate to the...airport. ..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/hait-j19.shtml
Ashley Smith, "Humanitarian aid or military occupation?"
Socialist Worker, January 19, 2010
"When
Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, George W. Bush displayed a callous
disregard for the Black victims of the disaster. When his administration finally
responded, it deployed the National Guard and armed Blackwater personnel to
impose order, rather than putting the priority on providing food, shelter and
safe water. Kanye West's words during an NBC Concert for Hurricane
Relief--'George Bush doesn't care about Black people'--were proved right. On the
surface, the response of the Obama administration to the horrific earthquake
that struck Haiti last week couldn't seem more different. ..."
http://socialistworker.org/2010/01/19/humanitarian-aid-or-occupation
Kevin Pina and BC Holmes,
"The militarisation of 'aid' and the recolonisation of
Haiti"
Radio Basics, January 19, 2010
"In this show, Canada's
Radio Basics discusses the social and historical context in which a natural
disaster has become a social disaster of epic proportions. Guests are Kevin Pina
of the Haiti Information Project, an investigative journalist who has worked on
Haiti since 1991, and B.C. Holmes from Toronto Haiti Action, who just returned
from Haiti days before the quake and tells us about the gross human rights
abuses faced by Haitians at the hands of the occupiers since 2004. ..."
http://www.radio4all.net/files/radiobasics@gmail.com/3604-1-radio_basics-100118.mp3
Danny Schechter, "The Disaster Within The Disaster: Its Time To Investigate the Aid Fiasco"
Common Dreams, January 19, 2010
"Haiti remains a death trap, with an aid program that has sat by and watched thousands die without relief. The International Red Cross describes the situation there as a catastrophe while the American Red Cross reports raising more than $100 million... Raising money is their specialty; delivering aid is not. The New York Times noted: 'The contributions come despite well-publicized controversies over the Red Cross's performance and financial accountability after other major disasters.' ..."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/19-9
DN!, "Doctor: Misinformation and Racism Have Frozen Recovery Effort at General Hospital in Port-au-Prince"
Democracy Now! (DN!), January 19, 2010
“There are no security issues,” says Dr. Evan Lyon of Partners in Health, .... [M]isinformation and rumors and, I think at the bottom of the issue, racism has slowed the recovery efforts of this hospital.... [T]here are no security issues.... I'm living and moving with friends. We've been circulating throughout the city until 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning every night, evacuating patients, moving materials. There's no UN guards. There's no US military presence. There's no Haitian police presence. And there's also no violence. There is no insecurity. ..."
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/19/doctor_misinformation_and_racism_have_frozen
Noah Shachtman, "CIA Contractor Now Flying Spy Drone Over Haiti"
Wired, January 19, 2010
"A
controversial CIA contractor has found new work in Haiti, flying drones on
disaster recovery duty. When last we heard from Evergreen International
Aviation, the Oregon-based firm was offering to post sentries at local voting
centers during the 2008 election, 'detaining troublemakers' and making sure
voters 'do not get out of control.' Now, company vice president Sam White tells
Aviation Week that the firm is flying at least one ScanEagle surveillance drone
over Haiti. ..."
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/01/cia-contractor-now-flying-spy-drone-over-haiti/
Spencer S.
Hsu, "Officials Try to Prevent Haitian Earthquake Refugees From Coming to US"
The Washington Post, January 19, 2010
"As a massive international relief effort lurches into gear, U.S. officials are
stepping up measures to prevent last week's earthquake in Haiti from triggering
a Caribbean migration not seen in two nearly two decades. Experts see no signs
for now of a seaborne exodus, although history shows that such events are
difficult to predict. Still, South Florida counties have prepared contingency
plans, immigration authorities have cleared space in a 600-bed detention center
in Miami, and Obama administration officials have begun discouraging Haitians
from attempting the hazardous 600-mile sea crossing to Florida."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/17/AR2010011701893.html
Sebastian
Walker, "US military aid to
Haiti questioned"
Al Jazeera,
January 19, 2010
"The UN Security Council is expected to approve
the deployment of a further 3,500 UN peacekeeping soldiers following a request
from Ban Ki-moon, the organisation's secretary-general. However, some critics
say medical equipment, nurses and doctors should be given priority access to the
country if aid efforts for those most in need are to succeed. ..."
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/201011912434395105.html
Robert Roth, "Haiti's Shattered Promise:
The Politics of an Earthquake"
CounterPunch, January 19, 2010
"Now we watch the U.S. gear up for a massive military operation in Haiti, while
people die due to lack of medicine, or starve while food supplies sit on the
airport tarmac. We see...families digging their relatives out of the rubble,
with no aid in sight. We read the usual racist slurs against Haitians, called
“scavengers” or “looters”...."
http://www.counterpunch.org/roth01192010.html
Marguerite A. Suozzi "U.S. Opens Airport to More Humanitarian Flights"
InterPress Service, January 19, 2010
"Amid criticism that the U.S. Defence Department was prioritising military and
rescue air traffic to earthquake-stricken Haiti, U.S. officials controlling the
country's main airport have agreed to guarantee landing slots for planes
carrying humanitarian aid, U.N. officials say. ..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50031
CHAN, "Exaggerated Reports of 'Looting' Threaten Victims"
Canadian & US Military Should Not Treat Victims of Haiti’s Earthquake like
Enemy Combatants
Canada Haiti Action Network (CHAN), January 19, 2010
"CHAN is deeply concerned about the militarization of the relief efforts in
Haiti and exaggerated reporting of ‘looting’ and violence. This increases the
danger of violent treatment of the victims of the earthquake. ..."
http://thac.ca/node/130
Ezili Danto, "Earthquake victims relief not a US priority. US repairing prisons at Krome for potential Haitian earthquake refugees"
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, January 19, 2010
"Haiti needs: Conscious Disaster relief with human rights and dignity. Object to the US occupation and militarization of Haiti on the backs of perhaps up to 200,000 dead Haitians and 3 million suffering Haitians. This is ATROCIOUS. repugnant. odious. This is not emergency relief but opportunistic disaster capitalism. ..."
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/law/nochange.html#dignity
Sokari Ekine, "Aid or invade?"
The Majority World Blog, January 19, 2010
"We are now into the sixth day after the devastating earthquake in Haiti..., yet humanitarian aid is only now beginning to reach small numbers of people. Aid - and the aid agencies - continues to sit on the tarmac..., which is now controlled by the US military. Parallels with Hurricane Katrina cannot be ignored - not least the racist attitudes towards Black people... .".
http://blog.newint.org/majority/2010/01/19/aid-or-invade/
Cynthia McKinney, "Haiti: An Unwelcome Katrina Redux"
January 19, 2010
"President 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. ..."
Li Onesto, "Why So Many People Died in the Earthquake... And Why the U.S. Can Do No Good in Haiti"
Revolution Online, January 19, 2010
"In the crucial days after the earthquake the U.S. failed to deliver the food, water, medical supplies, and rescue teams and medical personnel so badly needed. And the $100 million of aid Obama has promised is an insult given the wealth of the U.S. and the enormity of this tragedy. This is less than one-tenth of one percent of U.S. yearly military expenses in Iraq and Afghanistan. ..."
http://revcom.us/a/189online/Haiti-en.html
Deborah Seward, "French Minister Slams US Role In Haiti"
The Huffington Post, January 19, 2010.
"French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday praised the 'essential role' the U.S. is playing in helping Haiti recover – scrambling to overcome comments by one of his ministers who compared Washington's aid efforts to a new occupation of the impoverished nation. ..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/18/french-minister-rips-us-t_n_427366.html
Bruno Waterfield, "Haiti earthquake: US ships blockade coast to thwart exodus to America"
The Telegraph, January 19, 2010
"A US aircraft carrier is spearheading a blockade of Haiti's waters as America prepares for a mass sea exodus of Haitians with thousands fleeing the devastated capital of Port-au-Prince. ..."
Jeb Sprague, "Haiti's Classquake"
Znet, January 19, 2010
"Just five days prior to the 7.0 earthquake that shattered Port-au-Prince on January 12th, the Haitian government’s Council of Modernisation of Public Enterprises (CMEP) announced the planned 70% privatization of Teleco, Haiti’s public telephone company. ..."
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/23680
Ezili Danto, "Haitians need Emergency Relief, not Military Occupation"
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, January 19, 2010
"As a grief-stricken, shattered Haitian who lost loved ones in the earthquake, I want the U.S. military invasion of Haiti to stop now.
Soldiers are trained to kill, not provide humanitarian relief. And the U.S. military is about domination and conquest, as Haitians know too well. ..."
http://www.progressive.org/mp/danto011910.html
Brigid Andersen, "US troop landings delay Haiti aid"0
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, January 19, 2010
"An order giving US military aircraft priority to land in Haiti after last week's massive earthquake has delayed the arrival of urgently needed medical teams and supplies by up to 48 hours. Doctors have described a 'dramatic' situation, where more than five cargo planes carrying surgical equipment have been refused landings at Port-au-Prince airport...."
www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/19/2796074.htm
Telegraph, "Haiti earthquake: France criticises US 'occupation'"
Telegraph, 18 Jan 2010
"France has criticised America's relief efforts in Haiti by claiming that international aid programmes should be about helping the country, not 'occupying' it. UN officials must investigate and clarify the dominant US role in the earthquake-ravaged Haiti, Bernard Kouchnet, the French minister said. US forces last week turned back a French aid plane...prompting a complaint from the French co-operation minister, Alain Joyandet. The plane landed safely the following day. Mr Joyandet persisted: 'This is about helping Haiti, not about occupying Haiti. ..."
Patrick Martin, "Bush, Clinton and the crimes of US imperialism in Haiti"
World Socialist Web Site, January 18, 2010
"The Obama administration has announced that former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush will head the fundraising for relief efforts in the wake of the Haiti earthquake.... The message of the Clinton-Bush appointment is indeed significant.... For eight years apiece, Clinton and Bush were directly and deeply involved in a series of political machinations and military interventions that have played a major role in perpetuating the poverty, backwardness and repression in Haiti that have vastly compounded the disaster... Both men have the blood of Haitian workers and peasants on their hands. ..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/pers-j18.shtml
Al Jazeera, "Frustration Mounts Over Haiti Aid"
Al Jazeera, January 18, 2010
"The bulk of...survivors continue to go without food, medicine or proper shelter... A bottleneck at the capital's small airport...means little help has reached the many people waiting for help.... Some aid agencies have complained about a lack of co-ordination at the...airport, where the US military has taken over operations. ..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/18
Al Jazeera,"US denies 'Haiti occupation'"
Al Jazeera,
January 18, 2010
"The US is prepared to
"augment" UN and Haitian government forces if they need help with security, but
has denied its military has taken charge of the earthquake-devastated Caribbean
nation. Speaking to Al Jazeera, PJ Crowley, a spokesman for the
US
state department, rejected suggestions said that
US
military needs were taking priority over the needs of quake survivors. ..."
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/201011853210304808.html
Tolu Olorunda, "Why
Katrina Should be a Sobering Reminder: More Than Aid, Haiti Needs
Allies"
Counterpunch - January 18, 2010
"In dark times like this, especially when concerning darker people of the world,
the liberal capitalists come out in droves, ready to give as much tax-deductible
money their accountants agree to. But Haiti needs more than aid—it needs
allies... There are almost always political incentives tied to foreign aid....
The mainstream media has made a circus of the crisis. ..."
http://www.counterpunch.org/tolu01182010.html
ABC, "Haiti's streets 'safer than before earthquake'"
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, January 19, 2010
"US troops are being used to protect aid handouts in earthquake-devastated Haiti
but there is still little sign of meaningful relief from the misery..., where
tens of thousands of earthquake survivors are waiting.... The UN is planning to
send an extra 3,500 troops and police to Haiti...."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/19/2795419.htm
William Bowles, "And on the Eighth Day…"
Creative-i, January 18, 2010
"The Americans have landed, or as they used to say of the GIs in the UK during WWII, ‘they’re overfed, over sexed and over here’. So now, in spite of protestations that air-dropping supplies would cause a riot, on the eighth day of this catastrophe (one that the BBC still continues to call a “humanitarian catastrophe”) the US has decided to act. ..."
http://www.creative-i.info/2010/01/19/and-on-the-eighth-day-by-william-bowles/
Michelle Chen, "'There’s No War Here’: Haiti’s Crisis, From Disaster Site to Military Zone?"
The Colorlines Blog, January 18, 2010
"In some cases, the U.S. presence may actually be hampering the aid effort... Much needed supplies - water and food - are inside, and Haitians are locked out…. It looks more like the Green Zone in Baghdad than a center of aid distribution. Heavily armed U.S. forces patrol the entrances; even within the airport, these soldiers are never without weapons. ..."
Benjamin Dangl, "Profiting From Haiti’s Crisis: Disaster Capitalism in Washington’s Backyard"
Toward Freedom, January 18, 2010
"US corporations, private mercenaries, Washington and the International Monetary Fund are using the crisis in Haiti to make a profit, promote unpopular neoliberal policies, and extend military and economic control over the Haitian people. In the aftermath of the earthquake, with much of the infrastructure and government services destroyed, Haitians have relied on each other for the relief efforts, working together to pull their neighbors, friends and loved ones from the rubble. ..."
http://www.towardfreedom.com/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1827&Itemid=0
IAC Petition - "Food Not Troops: End the U.S. Military Occupation"
International Action Center (IAC), January 18, 2010
"The People of Haiti need food, water, and medical aid, not military occupation.... Under the pretext of stopping alleged looting, the U.S. has now forced the government of President Rene Preval to pass emergency measures that would delegate all security to the Pentagon. ..."
http://www.iacenter.org/haitipetition/
Ezili Dantò, "Go home US military: Haiti doesn’t need anymore pain!"
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, January 18, 2010
"We’ve beaten back the elite’s rabid rage before. We know the game and Haitians will do everything to force them to retreat. The US is not hiding its imperialism behind the UN anymore. Its come out into the light. Right now you need State Department clearance to land in Haiti. ..."
http://www.uruknet.de/index.php?p=m62314&hd=&size=1&l=e
Nelson P. Valdés, "Class and Race Fear - The Rescue Operation's Priorities in Haiti"
Counterpunch, January 18, 2010.
“The contempt we have been taught to entertain for blacks, make us fear many things that are founded neither in reason nor experience.” Alexander Hamilton in letter to John Hay, 1799. ...
http://www.counterpunch.org/valdes01182010.html
Alex Lantier, "US Military Tightens Grip On Haiti"
World Socialist Web Site, January 18, 2010
"Amid the humanitarian tragedy following the January 12 earthquake in Haiti, Washington has concentrated on establishing indefinite military control of the country. Fearing mass protests and riots by desperate Haitians against inadequate rescue efforts, US logistical efforts are focused on massing tens of thousands of troops for use against the population. ..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/hait-j18.shtml
Jeremy Scahill, "US 'Security' Companies Offer 'Services' in Haiti"
Rebel Reports, January 18, 2010
"The
Orwellian-named mercenary trade group, the International Peace Operations
Association, didn’t waste much time in offering the 'services' of its member
companies to swoop down on Haiti for some old fashioned humanitarian
assistance disaster profiteering..... While some of the companies specialize
in rapid housing construction, emergency relief shelters and transportation,
others are private security companies that operate in Iraq and Afghanistan like
Triple Canopy, the company that took over Blackwater’s massive State Department
contract in Iraq. ..."
http://rebelreports.com/post/341031627/us-security-companies-offer-services-in-haiti
Jeremy Scahill, "US Security Company Offers to Perform 'High Threat Terminations' and to Confront 'Worker Unrest' in Haiti"
Rebel Reports, January 18, 2010
"Here we go: New Orleans 2.0: We saw this type of Iraq-style disaster profiteering in New Orleans and you can expect to see a lot more of this in Haiti over the coming days, weeks and months. Private security companies are seeing big dollar signs in Haiti thanks in no small part to the media hype about 'looters.' ..."
http://rebelreports.com/post/341673601/us-security-company-offers-to-perform-high-threat
Aislinn Laing, and Tom Leonard, "US accused of occupying Haiti as troops flood in"
The Telegraph, January 18, 2010
"France accused the US of "occupying" Haiti on Monday as thousands of American troops flooded into the country to take charge of aid efforts and security. ..."
Danny Schechter, "Why Is The Haiti Disaster Response So Screwed Up"
Mediachannel, January 18, 2010
"Is this another Katrina Relief Effort in the Making? Every disaster plan is built to some degree around the idea of triage-deciding who can and cannot be saved. The worst cases are often separated and allowed to perish so that others who are considered more survivable can be treated. ..."
http://mediachannel.org/blog/2010/01/why-is-the-haiti-disaster-response-so-screwed-up/
Bill Quigley, "Breaking
Haiti Why the US Owes Haiti
Billions"
Common Dreams, January 17, 2010
"Why does the US owe Haiti Billions? Colin Powell, former US Secretary of
State, stated his foreign policy view as the “Pottery Barn rule.” That is – “if
you break it, you own it.”
The US has worked to break Haiti for over 200 years. We owe Haiti. Not
charity. We owe Haiti as a matter of justice. Reparations. And not the $100
million promised by President Obama either – that is Powerball money. The
US
owes Haiti Billions – with a big B. ..."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/17-6
Rickey Singh Barbados, "CARICOM Heads of Government Mission to Haiti Blocked by US Airport Controllers"
Trinidad Express, January 17, 2010
"The Caribbean Community’s emergency aid mission to Haiti, comprising Heads of Government and leading technical officials, failed to secure permission Friday to land at that devastated country’s airport, now under the control of the United States. ..."
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161583443
MSF, "Doctors Without Borders Cargo Plane with Full Hospital and Staff Blocked from Landing in Port-au-Prince"
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Media Release, January 17, 2010
"MSF Demands Deployment of Lifesaving Medical Equipment Given Priority. An MSF cargo plane carrying vital medical supplies to replenish stocks for Choscal hospital, where an MSF team is working on a backlog of patients needing surgery, was not allowed to land in Port-au-Prince on Sunday, January 17, and was forced to re-route to the Dominican Republic, where it landed. ..."
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org//press/release.cfm?id=4165&cat=press-release
Mark Tran, "Aid plane turned away from Haiti airport, says medical charity"
Guardian,
January 17, 2010
"A medical group today said one
of its planes was turned away from Port-au-Prince,
Haiti's capital, despite guarantees given by the UN and the US defence
department. Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) received no explanation as to why the
cargo plane carrying an inflatable surgical hospital was blocked from landing
yesterday and re-routed to Samana, in the Dominican Republic. ..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/17/haiti-quake-injured-hospitals
Gabriel Elizondo, "Who Will Lead Haiti's Security?"
Al Jazeera, January 17, 2010
"There appear to be some rising tensions between countries leading the relief efforts in Haiti.... At least 10,000 heavily-armed US troops begin to arrive at Haiti's Port-au-Prince airport. When pressed, Jobim also admitted that the US military doesn't take orders from foreign forces. So who will answer to whom in Haiti? There could be a brewing operational command power struggle.... Three Brazilian planes loaded with supplies were held up and not allowed to land in Haiti. ..."
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/americas/2010/01/16/who-will-lead-haitis-security
Al Jazeera, "Aid teams struggle to help Haitians"
Al Jazeera, January 17, 2010
"While 200 tonnes of aid was stacked up at the airport, getting relief supplies to those in desperate need has been extremely problematic. Sebastian Walker, Al Jazeera's correspondent said 'This comes down to the complex issue of who is in charge here. The US military has a great deal of control over the number of flights... We heard that a UN flight carrying aid equipment had to be diverted because the US was landing its own aircraft there.' ..."
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/20101179310694953.html
Jonathan Montpetit,
"Canada determining how and where to direct relief to Haitians"
Canadian Press, January 17, 2010
"The massive international relief effort in Haiti is stumbling over the
logistical challenge of coordinating the distribution of emergency supplies as
Canada continues to grapple with how and where to contribute its efforts. But as
pallets of water and food sit idle on the tarmac, more and more parts of the
city slip out of control. Canadian law enforcement officers serving with the
UN...are growing frustrated..... 'There are trucks and trucks just sitting at
the airport,' said a Canadian police officer who spoke on the condition of
anonymity. 'The water is not getting out.' ..."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5iLy6wsX4PmBjhJ8AkCwfws39nVKw
Anthony Boadle, "U.S. military says Haiti airport jam easing"
Reuters, January 17 2010
"The U.S. military said on Sunday it was doing
its best to get as many planes as possible into Port-au-Prince, after NGOs
complained shipments of aid had not been allowed to land at the U.S.-controlled
airport.... Colonel Buck Elton, commander of the
U.S.
military directing flights at Haiti's
airport, said there had been 600 take-offs and landings since he took over the
one-runway airport's traffic on Wednesday, though 50 flights had been diverted.
..."
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60H00020100118
John Maxwell, "No, Mister! You Cannot Share My Pain!"
Jamaican Observer, January 17, 2010
"If you shared my pain you would not continue to make me suffer, to torture me, to deny me my dignity and my rights, especially my rights to self-determination and self-expression. ..."
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Maxwell-Jan-17
Ginger Thompson and Damien Cave, "Officials Strain to Distribute Aid to Haiti as Violence Rises"
New York Times, January 17, 2010
"While countries and relief agencies showered aid on Haiti, only a small part of it was reaching increasingly desperate Haitians without food, water or shelter. ..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/world/americas/17haiti.html
Rickey Singh, "Caricom Blocked From Landing In Haiti"
Observer Caribbean, January 17, 2010
"The Caribbean Community's emergency aid mission to Haiti, comprising heads of government and leading technical officials, failed to secure permission Friday to land at that devastated country's airport, now under the control of the USA. ..."
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Caricom-Haiti-blocked
Manuel Rozental, "Haiti Aid and Strategic Priorities"
Letter from Haiti, January 17, 2010
"The more I analyze and observe the situation, the more aware I become of the need to get people whose skills are needed into Haiti soon, but under certain minimal conditions so that one does not become a hindrance but rather of service, and to avoid contributing to the mistreatment of the Haitian people, despite the best of intentions. ..."
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/23664
Ana Isabel Martinez and Frank Jack Daniel, "Chavez Says US Occupying Haiti in Name of Aid"
Reuters, January 17, 2010
'Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Sunday accused the United States of using the earthquake in Haiti as a pretext to occupy the devastated Caribbean country and offered to send fuel from his OPEC nation ..."
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60G2DW20100117
Greg Palast, "The Right Testicle of Hell: History of a Haitian Holocaust - Blackwater before drinking water"
The Huffington Post, January 17, 2010.
"Bless the President for having rescue teams in the air almost immediately. That was President Olafur Grimsson of Iceland. On Wednesday, the AP reported that the President of the United States promised, 'The initial contingent of 2,000 Marines could be deployed to the quake-ravaged country within the next few days.' ...”
http://www.gregpalast.com/the-right-testicle-of-hell-history-of-a-haitian-holocaust/
Ezili Dantò, "Haitians need Emergency Rescue and Relief not Military Invasion, Part 2"
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, January 17, 2010
"Haiti needs humanitarian help, Obama sent a bipartisan military invasion.... The media called. Lamented about how the Haitian government is nowhere to be found in the midst of this earthquake disaster. ..."
http://alainet.org/active/35594&lang=es
Kurt Nimmo, "Disgusting War Criminals Peddle “Humanitarian” Aid for Haiti"
Infowars.com, January 17, 2010
"On Sunday, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush mounted the corporate media propaganda platform and complained about the politicization of the Haitian relief effort. ..."
http://www.infowars.com/disgusting-war-criminals-peddle-humanitarian-aid-for-haiti/
Bill Van Auken, "US troops deployed as popular anger mounts"
World Socialist Web Site, January 16, 2010
"For the estimated 3 million people affected by the earthquake, conditions are
growing increasingly desperate. They are unable to find adequate food or water;
medical care is rudimentary or non-existent.... Correspondents in the Haitian
capital Friday reported little if any sign that aid had reached the
population.... International officials warn that the longer the situation
continues, the greater the chances it will turn into mass revolt. ..."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/hait-j16.shtml
Deborah
Pasmantier, "Anger at US builds at Port-au-Prince airport"
AFP, January
16, 2010
"Anger built
Saturday at Haiti's US-controlled main airport, where aid flights were still
being turned away and poor coordination continued to hamper the relief effort
four days on. 'Let's take over the runway,' shouted one voice. 'We need to send
a message to (US President Barack) Obama,' cried another. Control remained in
the hands of US forces, who face criticism for the continued disarray at the
overwhelmed airfield. ..."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5guma2WKnHthswP2UVPiCIuLm_ocQ
Michelle Chen, "Please Don't Superdome Haiti "
The Colorlines Blog, January 16, 2010
"Following an initial wave of sympathy, the corporate media has turned an alarmed eye to the increasingly desperate masses. We see unruly mobs, bodies piled in the streets (we hear of corpses being used as human “barricades”). The insinuations and direct reporting of violence flirt with the popular imagination and evoke memories of America’s most spectacular prime-time tragedy—Katrina. ..."
http://www.racewire.org/archives/2010/01/please_dont_superdome_haiti.html
Yifat Susskind, "David Brooks Blames the Victim in Haiti"
Common Dreams, January 16, 2010
"Is David Brooks competing with Pat Robertson to make the most callous commentary on Haiti's earthquake? ... Yes, poverty is the underlying reason that Port-au-Prince now lies in ruins. But his claim that Haiti's poverty is rooted in its 'progress-resistant' culture is otherwise known as blaming the victim. Like all poor people, Haitians are used to being blamed for their own poverty, but David Brooks picked a hell of a time to point his finger.... Ironically, Brooks' prescription of 'intrusive paternalism' to 'fix the culture,' aptly sums up US policy towards Haiti for the past 100 years... ."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/16-1
Dan Freeman-Maloy, "Relief Efforts in the Shadow of Past 'Help'”
Zmag Blog, January 16, 2010
"Can we move from crimes-as-charity to actual support for Haiti? Over the course of the past decade, Canada's leading officials and most prestigious commentators have learned how to approach Haiti in the spirit of cynical power politics and racist condescension (or worse) while maintaining a posture of national self-flattery. ... Established patterns of 'help' for Haiti need to be overcome if the destructive impact of this catastrophe is to be somehow limited. ..."
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/23642
Tom Fawthrop, "Cuban Aid to Haiti Ignored
by the US Media?"
Al-Jazeera, February 15, 2010
"Among the many donor nations helping Haiti, Cuba and its medical teams have
played a major role in treating earthquake victims. Public health experts say
the Cubans were the first to set up medical facilities among the debris and to
revamp hospitals immediately after the earthquake struck. However, their pivotal
work in the health sector has received scant media coverage. ..."
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/01/201013195514870782.html
Patrick Martin, "US provides more troops than aid: Death toll mounts in Haiti"
World Socialist Web Site, January 15, 2010
"The $100 million US pledge amounts to barely one hour’s spending for the US war machine—and less than some of the bonuses being paid out this month to Wall Street bankers and speculators... The hundreds of rescue workers...are dwarfed in number by the military forces.... If one adds up the [Pentagon's] naval, air and ground forces..., the total is well over 12,000. At the same time, the US government has sent only 300 doctors—fewer than the...Cuban healthcare workers already on the ground in Haiti (344)...."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/hait-j15.shtml
Reuters, "Haitians revolt over quake response"
Reuters, January 15, 2010
"Desperate
Haitians set up roadblocks with corpses in Port-au-Prince...to demand quicker
relief efforts after a massive earthquake killed tens of thousands and left
countless others homeless.... More than 48 hours after the disaster, tens of
thousands of people clamoured for food and water and help digging out relatives
still missing under the rubble. Shaul Schwarz, a photographer for TIME
magazine, said ...'They are starting to block the roads with bodies. It's
getting ugly out there. People are fed up with getting no help' ..."
http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/haitians-revolt-over-lack-quake-response-3330581
Dave Lindorff, "Cuba is Missing... From US Reports on the International Response to Haiti’s Earthquake"
CommonDreams, January 15, 2010
"There are only two US media outlets that have reported on Cuba’s response to the deadly 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti. One was Fox News, which claimed, wrongly, that the Cubans were absent from the list of neighboring Caribbean countries providing aid. ..."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/15-6
Anonymous Canadian in Haiti, "Haiti rescue effort targets wealthy, ignores poor: unsettling report from PaP"
Canada Haiti Action Network list-serve, January 15,2010
"Rescue efforts were stalled today in Port-au-Prince.... Thus far, the rescue teams cluster at the high profile and safer walled sites and were literally afraid to enter the barrios.... In the large sites, and in the nice neighbourhoods, and where the press can be found, there would be teams from every country imaginable...., with 90% or more of them just sitting around; meanwhile, in the poor neighbourhoods, awash in rubble, there was not a foreigner is sight. ..."
http://www.webofdemocracy.org/haiti_rescue_effort_targets.html
Roger Annis, "Where is the Aid in Haiti?"
Canada Haiti Action Network, January 15, 2010
"Evidence of monstrous neglect of the Haitian people is mounting.... As life-saving medical supplies, food, water purification chemicals and vehicles pile up at the airport..., and as news networks report a massive international effort..., the people in the shattered city are wondering when they will see help. ..."
http://canadahaitiaction.ca/?p=1055
Michel Chossudovsky, "The Militarization of Emergency Aid to Haiti: Is it a Humanitarian Operation or an Invasion?"
Global Research, January 15, 2010
"The main actors in America's "humanitarian operation" are the Department of Defense, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The military component of the US mission, however, tends to overshadow the civilian functions of rescuing a desperate and impoverished population. The overall humanitarian operation is not being led by civilian governmental agencies such as FEMA or USAID, but by the Pentagon. ..."
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17000
Raj Patel, "Haiti: Horsemen and hoarse women"
Raj Patel Blog, January 15, 2010
"It’s already bitterly ironic that Bill Clinton is the UN’s special envoy to Haiti, after the economic policy he imposed there to transform it into the Caribbean’s sweatshop. Now, President Obama has asked George Bush to lead fundraising efforts for relief in Haiti. After Bush took part in an international coup to overthrow Aristide. It’s like sending in the horsemen of the apocalypse to negotiate peace. There are, however, more sensible ideas. ..."
http://rajpatel.org/2010/01/15/haiti-horsemen-and-hoarse-women/
Bob Brewin "Defense launches online system to coordinate Haiti relief efforts"
Govexec.com, January 15, 2010
"The Defense Information Systems Agency [DISA] has launched a Web portal with multiple social networking tools to aid in coordinating [Haiti earthquake] efforts. On Monday [January 11, 2010, a day before the earthquake], Jean Demay, DISA's technical manager..., happened to be at the headquarters of the U.S. Southern Command in Miami preparing for a test of the system in a scenario that involved providing relief to Haiti in the wake of a hurricane. ..."
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=44407&dcn=e_gvetwww
Aljazeera, "Aid bottleneck at Haiti airport"
Aljazeera, January 15, 2010
"Disaster relief teams flying into
Haiti are facing delays caused by logistical bottlenecks at the country's main
airport and the country's already poor infrastructure.... Military transport
aircraft from Brazil, Canada, the Dominican Republic, France, Peru and the US
jostled for space on the tarmac as helicopters from several air forces buzzed
overhead. ..."
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/201011531716311291.html
Peter Hallward, "Our role in Haiti's plight"
The Guardian, January 14, 2010
"If we are serious about assisting this devastated land we must stop trying to control and exploit it... It's no accident that so much of Port-au-Prince now looks like a war zone. Much of the devastation wreaked by this latest and most calamitous disaster to befall Haiti is best understood as another thoroughly manmade outcome of a long and ugly historical sequence. ..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/13/our-role-in-haitis-plight
"U.S. strengthens military control"
FightBack!news, January 14, 2010
"U.S. Marines are landing in Haiti before any large scale humanitarian aid.... The U.S. military's mission is to preserve the reactionary social order for U.S. corporations and to protect the wealthy few..... [T]he U.S. government is worrying about maintaining their military might. The U.S. supports a small Haitian ruling class composed of a few land-owning families and rich businessmen. They keep the vast majority of the island in poverty.... U.S. troops are occupiers, not liberators. ..."
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2010/1/14/earthquake-haiti
Naomi Klein, "Haiti
Disaster Capitalism Alert: Stop Them Before They Shock Again"
NaomiKlein.org, January 13, 2010
"[T]he Heritage Foundation has been one of the leading advocates of exploiting
disasters to push through their unpopular pro-corporate policies. ...[T]hey're
at it again, not even waiting one day to use the devastating earthquake in
Haiti
to push for their so-called reforms. The following quote was hastily yanked by
the Heritage Foundation and replaced with a more diplomatic quote, but their
first instinct is revealing: '...the U.S. response to the tragic earthquake in
Haiti earthquake offers opportunities to re-shape Haiti’s long-dysfunctional
government and economy as well as to improve the public image of the US in the
region."
http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2010/01/haiti-disaster-capitalism-alert-stop-them-they-shock-again
Kim Ives, "Massive Earthquake Wreaks Devastation in Haiti"
Haïti Liberté, January 13-19, 2010
"Fearing the victims, some aid givers use helicopters and guns. 'I don't know what security they need to establish,' responded...one of the town's neighborhood leaders. 'There have been no riots here. The people have been very disciplined. They set up their own security around their outdoor camps.' ..."