A Story of Coincidence and Chance

There's a bit of a brouhaha emerging regarding the reported deaths in the Haitian earthquake. Here's what's up. There's a guy, Tim Schwartz. He's been doing work in Haiti for some time, usually with NGOs of various stripes. He's written a book, Travesty in Haiti, that's self-published.

I'm kinda ambivalent about Travesty -- on the one hand, I think that its critique of aid models in Haiti are pretty much on target. On the other hand, I think that tends to paint the Haitian people as superstitious and untrustworthy. But in any event, Schwartz has contributed important things to the criticism of aid management in Haiti, and it would be wrong to consider him a toady of the power elites.

Schwartz was hired to write a report for USAID. ( Lots of things to say )

Over the next few years, much of Haiti will be rebuilt and much of its economy restructured. In response to last year's earthquake an unprecedented amount of money has been promised for reconstruction. It's more important than ever before that Haiti be governed by an administration that reflects the true will and interests of its people, rather than the concerns of foreign governments and corporations.

In 2004, the US, France and Canada, in alliance with members of Haiti's business community and demobilised soldiers of the Haitian army, overthrew the last Haitian government to enjoy genuine popular support: the party that led this government, Fanmi Lavalas, was elected with around 75% of the vote. This past November, these same powers imposed and funded an illegitimate electoral process in Haiti, one that blocked the participation of Fanmi Lavalas. Only 23% of Haitian voters participated, scarcely a third of the proportion who voted in the last presidential election.

In recent weeks, the US and its proxies have brazenly interfered in the interpretation of this election's first round of results. The flawed November vote was not only inconclusive and unrepresentative, its outcome was also unlawful. If the second round of these elections goes ahead as planned on 20 March, it is now sure to result in the unconstitutional selection of a president with closer ties to the powers that sponsored and manipulated them than to the people meant to participate in them.

At the same time, the powers that dominate Haiti have facilitated the return of the former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier while discouraging the return of the twice-elected president (and Fanmi Lavalas leader) Jean-Bertrand Aristide. These powers, with their allies in the Haitian business community, have made it clear that they seek to delay Aristide's return until after 20 March. They will only allow Aristide to return after a suitably pliant new government has been installed, to preside over the imminent reconstruction process.

We the undersigned call on the Haitian government to make the security arrangements that will enable Aristide's immediate return, and we call on the international community to support rather than undermine these efforts. We call on the Haitian government to cancel the second-round vote scheduled for 20 March and to organise a new round of elections, without exclusions or interference, to take place as soon as possible.

Signed,
Marie-Célie Agnant, writer
Tariq Ali, writer
Andaiye, Red Thread, Guyana
Roger Annis, Canada Haiti Action Network
Reginald Antoine, PEVEP
Alain Badiou, Ecole Normale Supérieure (Paris)
Brian Becker, National Co-ordination, Answer Coalition
Emile Wilnes Brumer, Mas Popilè Site Solèy
Jean-Claude Cajou, community activist
Sara Callaway, Women of Colour/Global Women's Strike, UK
Yves Camille, Haiti Liberté
Noam Chomsky, MIT
Ramsey Clark, former US attorney general
Brian Concannon, Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
Dan Coughlin, executive director, Manhattan Neighborhood Network
Ezili Dantò, Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network
Mike Davis, UC Riverside
Castro Desroches, SUNY
Rea Dol, SODUPEP
Berthony Dupont, Haiti Liberté
Ben Dupuy, Haiti Progrès & Parti Populaire National
Darren Ell, Montreal-Haiti Solidarity Committee
Joe Emersberger, writer
Yves Engler, writer
Anthony Fenton, journalist
Weiner Kerns Fleurimond, Haiti Liberté
Pierre L Florestal, Fanmi Lavalas - NY
Daniel Florival, Tèt Kole Oganizasyon Popilè yo
Sara Flounders, International Action Center
Laura Flynn, Aristide Foundation for Democracy board
Danny Glover, actor & activist, board chair, TransAfrica Forum
Leah Gordon, photographer and curator
Manu Goswami, NYU
Greg Grandin, NYU
Thomas Griffin, lawyer
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton
Peter Hallward, Kingston University London
Georges Honorat, Haiti Progrès
Kim Ives, Haiti Liberté
Selma James, Global Women's Strike, UK
Dr G Carlo Jean, retired public school teacher
Marlène Jean-Noel, Fanmi Lavalas Baz NY
Tony Jean-Thénor, Veye Yo
Frantz Jerome, Coalition Against Occupation and Sham Elections
Evelt Jeudi, Fanmi Lavalas Miami
Mario Joseph, Office of International Lawyers (BAI)
Farah Juste, representative of Fanmi Lavalas for Florida & the Bahamas
Michelle Karshan, Aristide Foundation for Democracy
Katharine Kean, film-maker
Ira Kurzban, Counsel for the Republic of Haiti from 1991-2004
Pierre Labossière, Haiti Action Committee
Ray Laforest, International Support Haiti Network
Frantz Latour, Haiti Liberté
Andrew Leak, University College London
Didier Leblanc, Haiti Liberté
Jacques Elie Leblanc, Haiti Liberté
Maude Leblanc, Haiti Progrès
Richard Ledes, film director
Nicole Lee, President, TransAfrica Forum
Nina López, Legal Action for Women, UK
Gardy Lumas, PEVEP
Isabel Macdonald, journalist
Albert Maysles, film-maker
Yves Mésidor, Mas Popilè Site Solèy
Johnny Michel, Mas Popilè Site Solèy
Melinda Miles, Let Haiti Live
Georges Mompremier, Fanmi Lavalas Baz NY
Fednel Monchery, Jeunesse pour la République (JPR)
Joia S. Mukherjee, Chief Medical Officer, Partners In Health
Nick Nesbitt, Princeton University
Harry Numa, community activist
Vanel Louis Paul, Mas Popilè Site Solèy
Gladys Timmer Phillpotts, Fanmi Lavalas Baz St Francis
Fritzner Pierre, radio host of Dyalog Popilè
Wadner Pierre, Haitianalysis.com
Yves Pierre-Louis, Tèt Kole Oganizasyon Popilè yo
Kevin Pina, Haiti Information Project
Margaret Prescod, Women of Colour/Global Women's Strike, US
Jackson Rateau, Haiti Liberté
Roosevelt René, engineer
Claude Ribbe, author and filmmaker
Corey Robin, Brooklyn College & CUNY
William Robinson, UCSB
Nicolas Rossier, film-maker
Robert Roth, Haiti Action Committee
Jean Saint-Vil, writer
Alina Sixto, Radio Fanmi Lavalas New York
Mark Snyder, International Action Ties
Jeb Sprague, UCSB
Irwin Stotzky, University of Miami Law School
Lucie Tondreau, community activist
Eddy Toussaint "Tontongi", Revi Tanbou
Harold Valentin, Oganizasyon Jen Salomon (OJESA)
Burt Wides, former counsel to Haiti's constitutional government; Special Counsel to President Carter for oversight of all US Intelligence agencies
Cécile Winter, Collectif politique sida en Afrique
Slavoj Žižek, University of Ljubljana

— "Haiti needs the world's support", The Guardian (among other places)

The Korean National Red Cross (KNRC) came under fire for its slack management of funds for the victims of the Haiti earthquake.

It has spent only 1.2 billion won ($1 million) or 12.8 percent of the 9.7 billion won in total donations raised so far though it has been nine months since the natural disaster took place, according to Rep. Kang Myung-soon of the Grand National Party.

Most of the money spent so far was used to cover the costs for activities by the medical teams, Kang said. During an audit by the National Assembly into the government-subsidized organization Tuesday, the improper use of donations was uncovered.

Of the total funds, 6.6 billion won has been sitting idly in two term deposit accounts, and only a negligible amount of money has been used to directly assist the Haiti victims.

Of the 1.2 billion won, only 675 million won has been used to benefit the victims firsthand through the international Red Cross, while the rest covered the airfare for the international Red Cross medical team, and other operational costs, she said.

The lawmaker also denounced the organization for providing high-end hotel lodging for the medical team in the Dominican Republic before they crossed the Haitian border. She claimed that they stayed at a pricey hotel and even consumed six bottles of soju at 10,000 won per bottle.

“They should have been more prudent in spending money collected through the goodwill of ordinary donators,” she said.

The Red Cross was also blamed for saving the leftover donations in the bank. Two accounts hold 3.3 billion won each. “Why would the Red Cross need to save it in a bank when there are people in need of assistance that the money could provide? The organization promised to spend the money by next year, but I seriously doubt that,” she said.

— "Red Cross hit for improper use of Haiti donations", Korea Times

Say it ain't so!

I've heard a lot of statements that the beginning of the rainy season in Haiti will see the start of major protests.

The Huffington Post is reporting that the first large-scale protests since the earthquake have already begun.

Peacekeeping officials warn that protests against post-quake living conditions could snowball into a potential security threat: "Yes I agree with this assessment because the longer it can take, it can develop into a social movement, and it's what we try to prevent," said Bernard Ouellete, UN military chief of staff in Haiti.

— "UN increases estimate to 2.1 million IDPs in camps, from previous 1.3 million", Al-Jazeera

I spent most of yesterday at a conference about Haiti and the rebuilding, organized by Melanie Newton (man, she does some great stuff) and sponsored by U of T. My colleague, Niraj, articulated it well: in essence, the conference was an attempt to create a space for members of the Haitian diaspora in Toronto to come together and network and talk about the reconstruction. Toronto's Haitian diaspora is much smaller, and much more dispersed than the diaspora in, say, Montreal. The one downside to the conference was that it took place in the wilds of Scarborough at the ungodly hour of nine am.

(The event took place at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus, which is Way The Fuck Over There. Notice that they don't call it University of Scarborough because, hey, who would believe that Scarborough has a university?)

Jean St. Vil, an amazing Haiti activist -- I don't know him well, but I've met him a coupl'a times now, through the Canadian Haiti Action Network -- made some especially powerful points. He made a point that I've heard him make a few times: that the aid model in Haiti is, far more often than not, causing greater problems in the country. And that rather than talk about international aid, it's better to frame the conversation in terms of reparations. (On one of his slides he spelled out "REPAiRAcTIONS"). He said that the descendants of former slaves are always being counselled to "get over" the past, but the legacy of the past is still with us.

He also raised two other key provocative ideas. First, he tackled the idea that Haiti has had a long history of bad leaders. I like what I've heard Melanie (who teaches about the Haitian Revolution) say about this. While acknowledging that the Haitian revolution was far more visionary than either the French or American revolutions, she also recognizes that the earliest leaders were military commanders, and their agendas as leaders weren't always perfect. But, as Jean says, there's a tendency among non-Haitian scholars to write off as dictators important leaders like Dessalines, Pétion and Henri Christophe. Jean used an interesting example: he asked, why is it that Thomas Jefferson gets to be regarded as a great (and quotable) founding father and former president and the fact that he enslaved his own children is a little footnote that we're better off just not talking about. But when talking about a Haitian leader like Dessalines, it is important to write him off as a dictator.

There was another interesting point that he raised, specifically in the context of Haitian culture and gender equality. One woman -- Marlène Thélusma-Rémy, a Haitian sociologist and author on the topic of gender equality -- commented about systemic exclusion of women from reconstruction processes. Later, Jean seemed a bit dismissive about this idea, saying that it's evidence of the way that people accept the narrative of Haiti to assume that Haiti has 1950s attitudes about gender roles. He noted that Haiti had a female President long before the U.S. (even before Canada had a female Prime Minister). Jean asserted that a country like Canada could learn a lot from Haiti about gender equality.

Later, I got to see Marlène roll her eyes about this comment. Did Ertha Pascal-Trouillot have any real power, she asked? Was she ever elected? For Marlène, inequality was a fact. For my part, I don't think that these comments were as much in opposition as they might appear to be at first glance. For my part, I think the patriarchy can operate in different ways in different places. It's not like there's a linear path for this stuff. It's wrong to think that if there's inequality, that it must therefore look exactly like inequality looked here in Canada at some point in the past. That fallacy allows us to feel that we're just a bit farther down the feminist path than Haiti is, and we can help them out by sharing our great learning with them because we're more advanced.

I think Jean's comment is true: that Canada focuses a lot of attention on "teaching" Haitians about gender equality ('cause, hey, we're in that post-feminist period, right?). In fact, improving the lives of women was an explicit CIDA priority under the Martin government; under Harper, it's now about securing the future of children and youth ("think of the chil-drun!") It's all very "talk at"-, rather than "converse with"-sounding. And I think he's right: we seldom try to ponder what we might learn about gender equality from a place like Haiti.

My colleague, Martin, with whom I sometimes disagree, put it especially well: leftists are, generally, pro-feminist (although they'll often avoid using the 'F' word). And it's actually a scarily effective strategy to co-opt the left and entrench a particular narrative about Haiti if you can distract them with an issue like "the status of women." I think that's one of the ways that the left gets tongue tied on issues in the middle east, frinstance. You get wishy-washy positions like, "yeah, invasions are bad, but it is true that these countries don't treat their women well." It traps us in our need to categorize things in neat, binary ways. A thing is either good or bad. We're either on the side of the good guys, or the side of the enemy.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Mar 30, 2010 (IPS) - On an empty road in Cite Militaire, an industrial zone across from the slums of Cite Soleil, a group of women are gathered around a single white sack of U.S. rice. The rice was handed out Monday morning at a food distribution by the Christian relief group World Vision.

According to witnesses, during the distribution U.N. peacekeeping troops sprayed tear gas on the crowd.

"Haitians know that's the way they act with us. They treat us like animals," said Lourette Elris, as she divided the rice amongst the women. "They gave us the food, we were on our way home, then the troops threw tear gas at us. We finished receiving the food, we weren't disorderly. "

Some 9,000 U.N. peacekeepers, known by the acronym MINUSTAH, have occupied Haiti since 2004, including 7,000 soldiers of which the majority are Brazilian. The mission has been dogged by accusations of human rights violations.

— Ansel Herz, HAITI: Looking More and More Like a War Zone

The Trusteeship System was, by all accounts, successful. And even after the program became obsolete, a form of trusteeship was used in Bosnia, Kosovo, East Timor, and Cambodia -- places where the collapse of order necessitated help from the international community to perform the basic functions of a government.

Haiti -- an independent sovereign nation and a United Nations member -- would not be eligible for trusteeship. But, as in those other cases, the U.N. mission can be broadened to coordinate the various international actors currently working in Haiti.

Instead of the ad-hoc system currently in place -- the United States controls the airport, the United Nations controls food distribution, and other responsibilities are divided in a scattershot fashion -- a form of trusteeship would allow the UN to coordinate assistance in an orderly and transparent fashion.

Other international actors could then be tasked with specific roles -- ranging from security and governance to economic development and the coordination of international aid.

The goal is simple: Provide Haitians with a legitimate, functional state -- one capable of managing the day-to-day tasks of government and providing security, economic stability, and social services.

This won't work without the Haitian people and their elected leaders -- it must be done with them, not to them.

— "Place Haiti under 'trusteeship'", Senator Chris Dodd (D)

Right. Because the UN operations in Haiti, to date, have worked out so well.

What were the effects of the “militarization” of the relief aid by the US, amongst other countries – Canada and Japan sent hundreds of troops too, for instance? The American/Haitian activist Marguerite Laurent suggested on her blog that humanitarian aid was blocked in favor of military equipment after the US took over the Haitian airports in the first few days after the earth quake.
The militarization of the relief aid really delayed the distribution of food, water, and particularly medical aid. One of the effects was that in the first few days after the earthquake, five cargo planes of Doctors Without Borders were turned away and rerouted to the Dominican Republic. Partners In Help estimated that about 20,000 people died each day that aid was delayed.

Is the lack of security in Haiti an explanation for the heavy emphasis on sending in forces? Numerous media reports after the earthquake suggested that insecurity, rapes, and violence erupting during foreign aid handouts were mounting.
The images of insecurity in the media are not accurate at all. There are always security issues in any country. But what is remarkable is the discipline, the non-violence, the resilience, the creativity, and the cooperation that Haitians have exhibited in the face of this catastrophe. Even days and days and days after not receiving aid, the US and UN could not point to any major security issues.

If Haiti has not been as insecure as hinted at in the media, how can the massive military response of the US be explained?
The primary fear of the US was popular, political unrest. Haiti truly has a very politically conscious population which has never gone down easily. After the coup in 2004, thousands of people were killed and thousands more imprisoned and held without charges. Every member of the Lavalas government – from high level ministers to local officials – were removed from office. Others were forced into exile.

Still, there has never been an end to grass roots organizing. Labor unions protested the price of gas and the privatizing of the phone company. There were major demonstrations demanding Aristide’s return. Just recently, there was a very successful electoral boycott because the Haitian government denied Lavalas the right to participate in the election, even though it is the most popular political party in Haiti.

The US is still not comfortable with the popular movement in Haiti. You can see this in the continued banishment of former President Aristide from Haiti. While the Obama Administration has called on former Presidents Clinton and Bush – who was responsible for the 2004 coup – to help coordinate aid, it opposes the return of a former democratically elected president who wants to return as a private citizen to aid in the reconstruction efforts.

Surely, there must be other reasons to justify the militarization of the aid relief?
There is clearly a major geopolitical and economic interest in Haiti, most prominently by the US. There is a long history of US intervention in the area, including a direct US occupation from 1915-1934. This occupation created the Haitian military and led eventually to the Duvalier dictatorships. In 1991, the US overthrew Aristide and then again in 2004. So the US is clearly opposed to the social program of Lavalas and to its example in the Caribbean.

Haiti is also strategically located close to both Cuba and Venezuela. Haiti is rich in minerals, such as marble, uranium, iridium, and oil. Big corporations, such as the Royal Caribbean Lines, are creating a tourist center in the north which could have an enormous value for the tourist industry in the Caribbean area. And Haiti is looked at as a source of cheap labor. There is a long history of garment assembly in Haiti. Cherokee, Wal-Mart, Disney, and Major League Baseball all had relationships with Haiti. If the US plan for Haiti is implemented, the numbers of sweatshops in Port-au-Prince will surely increase.

— Johnny Van Hove, "Haiti: 'Disaster Capitalism on Steroids'"

Haiti's reconstruction must be shaped by Haitian hands and priorities!

Statement of the Canada Haiti Action Network
February 28, 2010

In the wake of the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, genuine solidarity for the people of Haiti has become even more critical. The loss of lives, the hundreds of thousands of sick and injured, the destruction of housing and infrastructure, all of these enormous problems constitute an unprecedented disaster in a country whose population is among the most vulnerable on the planet. This tragedy has provoked a strong reaction of compassion among millions of people around the world, all sharing a desire to help and to offer support for the urgent needs of the Haitian people.

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