The Republic of Haiti is a Caribbean country. Along with the Dominican Republic, it occupies the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago.
Earlier this week a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, with its epicentre 16 miles offshore west of the capital city Port-au-Prince, which was devastated. Thousands of people were killed, buildings, roads and sanitation systems destroyed. Thousands are injured and aid is waiting at airports due to bureaucracy and the total collapse of infrastructure.
One has to wonder what has made America jump to Haiti’s assistance with such gusto, after all even the millions of dying Somali’s didn’t make the US raise an eyelid. Not only has Batman (a.k.a Obama) made a move to action he has been joined by a double team of “robin’s” i.e. Bush and Clinton.
Haiti’s poverty is a result of its continuing colonisation by the US. Mostly in order to keep the slaves in their place, after all the down trodden have no right to liberate themselves, revolution is only allowed when white men are freeing themselves from other white men. The US has overthrown governments, financially backed Juntas and enforced a system whereby Haiti is just another forced ally in the American camp.
Interestingly enough the US lapdog (UK) has offered to meet whatever the UN pledges to Haiti.
The deal is that no amount of aid will solve a 95-year-old interference that has insured that poverty and dire economic situation and kept Haiti as a glorified sugar factory for the US.
So the moral of the story is that the aid has nothing to do with altruism and everything to do with hiding the suffering that the earthquake has compounded but the US has laid the foundation for, guilt helps … (after all Germans are still paying debts to Jews to this day).
5 comments:
and i wonder why America felt like it is one of its own states that has been hit, they didn't even care about their own Katrina !!
Hmmm I don't know much about American interference resulting in poverty in Haiti. All I know is that aid is seriously needed in the country. I've recently read a newspaper article on how some guy was removing a dead body from a coffin in order to steal the coffin. Then there are other atrocities - dead bodies thrown in front of cars in order to steal the vehicles. It's all very sickening and something has to be done.
And here I thought I was the only one who found it odd that America was a little (too) enthusiastic about the destruction. I even wondered why they cared at all? It's not like they give a damn about all the other earthquakes in the world...I don't remember them jumping at the opportunity to help India when the ground ripped beneath them killing hundreds of thousands and displacing millions a couple years ago...
American foreign policy leave much to be desired. Somehow drowning a country in Aid won't kill the long term interference that compounds such disaster. Thanx for your comments :)
I have to agree with you on some of this. Most Americans don't even realize that we once occupied Haiti for a couple of decades and even considered making it a U.S. state.
Still, Haiti has made its own share of mistakes. I think one reason for the speedy response to Haiti--in contrast with New Orleans/Katrina--is you don't have the question of whether the state government or the federal government has jurisdiction/responsibility. It's much easier to respond to a foreign disaster. And we have a different president in the White House, who, I believe, truly want to make a positive difference.
I'm a little miffed about the criticism, however. If the U.S. hadn't responded so quickly and generously, we'd be called callous. But when we do get our act together, our motives are suspect. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
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