Restaurant la Vallee, Cornusson, 82160

Last week I was copied in on a bulk e-mail which read as follows:

The following is an article that appeared in The Sunday Standard (Botswana) of 24.01.10.

It was written by a black journalist who writes under the name ‘Loose Canon’.

I therefore looked up The Sunday Standard‘s website and didn’t find the article but I did see that Loose Canon is a columnist.   I have also e-mailed The Sunday Standard asking them if this article is authentic. I am awaiting their reply.

Haiti and the blacks!
by Loose Canon
24.01.2010 4:23:39 P

I hope black people will learn a lesson from the earthquake that hit Haiti.
If they don’t learn anything from it, then I throw up my hands in despair and give up.

Let’s start with a few basic facts.

Until the earthquake, I never knew there was a place called Haiti.  I was taught geography at school but I cannot remember a time when the mistress told us about Haiti.  It must have been one of those insignificant countries that we had no reason to know about.

I was fairly good at geography because I knew which country was on which continent. I also knew many capital cities. But as for Haiti I was clueless.

Now the whole world, including myself, knows about Haiti.  I heard news of the earthquake on the radio.  I wondered where Haiti was and what sort of people lived there.

Finally, when I switched on the television, I was informed that Haiti is an island out in the Caribbean.  Television pictures revealed a place populated by black people.

From the non-stop television coverage of the earthquake, I got to learn about the history of Haiti.  It was not a good history lesson.  It would seem throughout its existence Haiti has suffered a series of natural calamities.  In the process it has sunk even deeper into poverty and deprivation.

Like all places populated by black people, Haiti is poor.  As I watched the television images, I felt very sorry for that forsaken place.
Then I was hit by a thunderbolt.

I wondered what if there were no white people.  You see, when the earthquake hit Haiti somebody had to come to its assistance.  There had to be a rescue effort.  The Haitians who survived of course did their fair bit by digging out their families from the collapsed ramshackle buildings.

But such was the scale of the devastation and the loss of human life that a bigger effort was needed.  For that sort of work, you need heavy lifting gear and other sophisticated rescue equipment.  I have been following the story of the earthquake keenly.  I can attest to the fact that the first people to arrive with sniffer dogs were white crews from all over the world.

The aeroplanes that set off carrying water and food were from white countries.  Not only that, the teams of volunteer doctors that I saw on television comprised white people from across the world.  As the sniffer dogs went into action, the organized rescue teams that carried the stretchers were made up of white people.

It was announced that a mobile hospital was on the way.  It was coming from a white country. For all intents and purposes in the aftermath of the earthquake, Haiti was literally swarming with white people.  They had all arrived to save the poor blacks.  And the locals were so happy to see them.

Granted there were teams from the Orient such as the Chinese and Japanese.  They too had quickly left their homes and families to go and assist the stricken people of Haiti.

It is obvious to everyone that this was a devastating earthquake and the work to repair Haiti and return it to a modicum of normalcy will take many years.  Somebody had to commit funds to this effort.  Most of the countries that have committed funds to aid the recovery are white.  In fact, it would seem the whites are running the show in Haiti.

What is my point?

My point is that ever since Haiti was hit by the earthquake I have not seen any of my folks from Africa.
Unless the television cameras deliberately ignored them, I never saw a rescue team from my motherland.  Nor did I see any sniffer dogs from down here.

Heck, I never saw a single traditional doctor busy divining where to find people buried under the rubble.

Haiti is a land of black people.  I would have expected the place to be swarming with black people helping their own.  They were nowhere to be seen.  I never saw any ships from black countries pulling into the harbour.

As the air traffic circled above the small airport, none of the planes was reported as coming from Africa.  The blacks were nowhere to be found.  They issued tepid statements of condolence to the people of Haiti and a few of the African countries donated small amounts of cash.

Granted that was better than nothing.  But I must say I was disappointed.  I was sad because the blacks did not behave as I had expected.

You see, for far too long black countries have been insolent to the point of being abusive.  They have a tendency of insulting the white man and telling him to keep out of their countries.

In Fact, black people have the temerity to tell white people they can perfectly survive on their own.

So I had expected the black countries to be consistent and behave true to form.  Why didn’t black countries tell white countries to stay away from Haiti because we were quite capable of leading the rescue effort?   We should have insulted them as we often do at international forums.

There, our countries insult white countries and accuse them of imperialism and neo-colonialism.  I was extremely disappointed when our countries failed to accuse white people of practicing imperialism and neo colonialism by coming to rescue the blacks of Haiti.

We should have told them we have better sniffer dogs that have been taught only to rescue black people.  We should have told their ships to stay away and their planes not to overfly Haiti because we were up to the job with our own ships and aeroplanes.

We should have brought in our traditional food instead of the strange rations the Haitians are not accustomed to.  I am so disappointed by the black leaders that I hope never to hear them again bleating about how bad white people are.  The earthquake in Haiti was the most opportune time to show the whites, once and for all, that we don’t need them.

From now onwards, I want black leaders to shut up and never accuse ever again, white people of being bad.  I am sick and tired of big words such as imperialism and neo-colonialism which are unable to rescue victims of the earthquake.

I hope this is not the last earthquake that hits a black country.  I want the next one to specifically hit the residence of The Evil Self-centred Old Man in Harare, Zimbabwe who does nothing for his people.  Then we will see if he will abuse the white crew coming to rescue him and his wife Ghastly Grace!

Then, there is an article by a respected South African, Gilad Isaacs, who is a deep thinker:

“Justice, not charity, for Haiti”

Many people have and will continue to spend much time in the coming weeks and months on the Haiti relief effort.  Such actions should be applauded.  As we try to shape our own response, as students, individuals, activists, and members of various organizations we must realize that the situation requires us, whilst giving generously, to look beyond the direct short term relief effort and understand how this tragedy has been shaped by Haiti’s past.  In confronting this, our actions, advocacy and the demands we make can be guided by attempts to bring not only relief but justice.

It is not by chance that Haiti is, by most measures, the poorest country in the Americas.  Nor is this poverty irrelevant in understanding the severity of the consequences of the earthquake.  Haiti is the child of the worlds first (and only) successful slave revolt.  It has paid the price ever since its proclamation of independence on January 1st 1804.  Haiti, despite being the only other republic in the Americas, was not recognized by the United States until 1862 shortly before the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War.  Throughout the last 200-years Haiti has been plagued by foreign dominance.  As early as 1888 the US began supporting military revolts against Haitian governments it deemed uncooperative.  In 1915 America invaded and occupied the country until 1934.  Subsequently the US has sponsored, supported and sold arms to a series of brutal dictators and was instrumental in the 1991 coup that unseated the democratically elected Jean-Bertrand Aristide who was twice exiled from his country, the second time in 2004 when he was kidnapped from his home by U.S. Marines and CIA operatives.

Such direct interference is only part of the picture.  It is debt that has ultimately crippled Haiti.   The French forced Haiti to pay reparations for the profits lost to the slave trade – the newly liberated slaves were to pay their former masters 150 million francs for their freedom.  In 1900 Haiti was spending about 80 percent of its national budget on repayments leaving very little for its own development. Repayment of a reduced amount (90 million francs) took until 1947.   However, during the US occupation Haiti “agreed to” a further loan of $40 million.  Subsequently, the most dire of circumstances, has necessitated Haiti taking loans from the IMF, World Bank, and foreign governments and banks. After having had $1.2 billion in debt cancelled it still owes approximately $891 million.  Despite being the Mecca of international aid agencies, a 2008 report from the Center for International Policy shows how in 2003, Haiti spent more in servicing its foreign debt than it received in foreign assistance for education, health care and other services.  Debt repayments, naturally, cripple the government’s ability to invest in social services, infrastructure and poverty reduction programs.

The conditions attached to these loans, in particular the IMF loans, have been devastating to Haiti’s economy and people.  These loans, as is so well documented, have become the preferred tool for imposing neo-liberal economic reforms with the interest of international capital, and not the local population, at heart. The devastating effects can be directly observed in the aftermath of the earthquake.  In 1995, for example, the IMF forced Haiti to cut its rice tariffs from 35 to 3 percent.  Haiti went from a country able to both feed itself and export to being totally reliant on foreign rice imports, the majority of which comes from the US which subsidizes its own rice industry to the tune of $1 billion per annum.  This naturally undermined rural agriculture, created systemic food insecurity and led to huge migration towards the cities that generated a perfect pool of labor for foreign corporations to exploit.  The huge shanty towns housing these predominately unemployment urban migrants have been devastated by the earthquake and the death toll continues to climb.

What does this mean for our approach towards this crisis?  Firstly, as Naomi Klein points out, crises are often used as opportunities to extend foreign dominance.  Aid and money is desperately needed and all sorts of conditions can be attached.  Literally hours after the disaster the right wing Heritage Foundation observed that:  “In addition to providing immediate humanitarian assistance, the U.S. response to the tragic earthquake in Haiti offers opportunities to re-shape Haiti’s long-dysfunctional government and economy as well as to improve the public image of the United States in the region.”  We must ensure that all foreign aid is given as grants and not loans and that the conditions attached do not attempt to impose or control domestic politics or economic policy.  The IMF’s extension of a further $100 Million loan already runs contrary to this.  We must fight to have the IMF, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and other foreign debtors cancel all of Haiti’s debt.  It is inhumane to expect millions in repayments when the social need is so high.

Secondly, we must seek to normalize the status of Haitians living abroad.  The granting of temporary protected status (TPS) to Haitians living illegally in the US is a step in the right direction.  The Haitian Diaspora contributes about a fifth to the Haitian economy and this steady influx of money will be ensured for the long-term recovery of the country.

Thirdly, we must ensure that the money going towards the relief effort in Haiti is actually reaching the Haitian people.  The funding for the over 10 000 private organizations supposedly performing humanitarian work in Haiti must not merely pay the salaries of western aid-workers, nor should governments (as they do now – with the US leading the pack) insist that a large percentage of this aid money return to the pockets of the donor country, e.g. US aid agencies importing supplies from the US opposed to buying them locally.  We must also ensure that those working in Haiti are doing so according to the internationally accepted humanitarian guidelines and are treating the Haitian people with the dignity they deserve.

Lastly, we need to ensure that foreign troops leave once the relief work is completed.  It is understandable that the US is making use of its vast military machine in relief operations but given the context of US-Haiti history and America’s current occupations and military presence around the world, the arrival of these troops could justifiably cause Haitians some unease.

Advocacy on these issues is essential.  This is not “exploiting” the misery of the earthquake in order to achieve other ends; it is a call to focus attention on what has shaped the nature of the human toll wrought but this natural disaster.  As Richard Kim notes, it is time to move beyond talking about how to “help” Haiti, “to stop having a conversation about charity and start having a conversation about justice–about recovery, responsibility and fairness.  What the world should be pondering instead is: What is Haiti owed?”

Tags: 1 January 1804, Caribbean, Center for International Policy, economic reforms, for Haiti, French foreign dominance, Gilad Isaacs, Haiti, Haitian, Harare, Heritage Foundation, IDB, IMF, IMF loans, imperialism, Inter-American Development Bank, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Justice, Loose Canon, Naomi Klein, neo-colonialism, neo-liberal economic reforms, nneo-liberal, not charity, Richard Kim, temporary protected status, The Sunday Standard, TPS, World Bank, Zimbabwe