Haiti: Disaster Without Context

The earthquake which struck Haiti on January 12, 2010 was a tragic natural disaster. The conditions in that country, however, are the result of centuries of man-made disasters, although you'd never know it from the nonstop news coverage of the earthquake.

Like many, I was instantly struck by the enormity of the earthquake and the numbers of people killed and wounded, and wanted to help. However, I resisted the impulse to give to one of the traditional disaster relief groups, wanting instead to find someone who had already been working in the country to empower and strengthen local communities. I finally settled on Partners In Health, after learning of them through Naomi Klein, Color of Change, and Rachel Maddow, and donated a few days after the earthquake.

I was then pleased to discover that Partners In Health was one of the groups selected to share in the proceeds from the Hope For Haiti Now telethon, aired on TV Friday night (January 22). As the cameras panned to show the celebrities answering phones, I shouted out "Ringo!" as I recognized the 69-year-old former Beatle drummer. Ringo was, of course, at Madison Square Garden in 1971, playing with his friend George Harrison at The Concert For Bangladesh, probably the first time rock musicians put together a performance to raise money for disaster relief. So it was good to see him still coming out for a good cause, alongside Bruce Springsteen showing how "We Shall Overcome" can fit so many situations since Pete Seeger helped make it a civil rights anthem, and Shakira adapting The Pretenders' "I'll Stand By You" to a pledge of solidarity to the people of Haiti.

However, while these performances had the desired effect of raising a record amount of money, we missed an opportunity to raise viewers' consciousness and awareness of Haiti's history. The island of Hispaniola was colonized first by the Spanish, then by the French in the western territory which became Haiti. In the process, the native Taino people were virtually wiped out through a combination of overwork as slaves, killing, starvation, and disease such as smallpox. To replace them, the colonists brought people from Africa to be the new slaves. Haiti finally became independent in 1804 following a protracted revolt against the French colonists. However, the new nation was left with a crippling debt "owed" to France. You would think the US government would have applauded a fellow outbreak of democracy against a European colonial power so close to our shores; however, the fear of slaves taking over and running a country setting a bad example for our own slaves in the southern states made us turn a cold shoulder to this upstart in the Carribean. Instead, the US Marines have occupied Haiti so many times we've both lost count, and we installed and supported the Duvalier dictators (first "Papa Doc", then his son "Baby Doc") for as long as we could.

And what of Haiti's former President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide? Following a genuinely democratic election, he was ousted by a military coup in 1991, probably supported by US President George H.W. Bush. After regaining the Presidency, he was ousted again by George W. Bush (another father-son Presidential pair, like Haiti's Duvaliers). Aristide's flaw was in challenging the power structures, both within Haiti as well as in international organizations such as the IMF and World Bank. This clearly could not be tolerated, regardless of what the Haitian voters said they wanted. And so Aristide was banished from his country, not once but twice, and even now he's banished from the airwaves, as if he never existed.

A few history lessons along these lines would have put the current situation of the Haitian people in context. Instead, in between the altruistic musical performances, we got Anderson Cooper patting a rescued black boy on the head, as if he were a favorite puppy pulled from the rubble.

Please, go out and read this history about Haiti, so you can understand WHY the country is such a mess, and maybe we can find ways to help the Haitian people rebuild their country and run it for themselves.