Well for a start it is not because poor old Haiti is ‘disaster prone’, nor is it the Haitian people’s own fault as the media often implies. In a country where 72.1% of the population were living on less than $2 a day - and 54% were classed as living in abject poverty - where the houses were poorly built, densely packed and where there is no discernable state infrastructure.
It is the economy that is at the heart of the problem and when did that begin? At least 185 years ago in 1825.
The existence of a free black republic was a great threat to the capitalists and politicians of Europe and America because of their heavy economic dependence on slaves. So soon after independence, Haiti was diplomatically and commercially isolated by the rest of the world, out of fear that other slaves would also revolt in demand of their freedom. In other words, Haiti’s punishment for achieving freedom and independence was that the economic powers of the world totally isolated it in an attempt to make the economy fall into complete collapse.
That idea of dissuading other black people from entertaining ideas of living free and governing their own affairs is the same logic that is currently being applied to blockaded Cuba today by the United States today.
By 1825, Haiti’s leaders had decided that the people of Haiti could suffer the effects of global economic isolation no more. With a bankrupt economy, they invited officials from France to a summit. Although stolen from Africa and enslaved to make European capitalists wealthy, although thousands died to defeat European armies and gain independence, France decided that they would only recognize Haiti as a sovereign state and engage in commercial relations if they paid France 150 million gold francs. This, they said, was the value of what France’s slave-holders lost when Haiti achieved independence. Hoping to end their global economic and political isolation, repayment instalment’s equal to 90 percent of the Haitian economy began immediately and did not finish until 1925 when the last franc was paid, exactly 100 years later.
In a campaign launched at the 2001 UN Conference on Race in Durban, South Africa, it was shown by actuaries that 150 million gold francs in 1825 was equivalent to US$ 21 billion in 2001. Today, this amount, with interest, is some $40 billion. France still refuses to repay any of this money.
The story does not stop there, however. Although Europe and North America slowly began to recognize and open up trade and commerce with Haiti, the economy remained severely strained to the point that by early last century, Haiti was falling behind on its repayments to France. To keep Haiti paying the promised instalments, French officials encouraged American bankers to step in. The American ‘City Bank’ offered Haiti a debt exchange with a lower interest rate but longer-term debt which it finally managed to pay off in 1947.
The US then offered financial and military support for the Duvalier dictatorships in Haiti because of rabid anti communism and fear of the example of Cuba. They gave such support to protect the immense profits of American clothing companies operating in Haiti. France similarly supported these dictatorships by colluding with the US to ensure that properties and businesses owned by France in Haiti were protected. It is now in France that Baby Doc Duvalier resides and lives comfortably with money stolen from the Haitian people.
One need not spend too much time therefore reading about Haiti’s recent history to see overwhelming evidence concerning how the US-led and French co-signed blockades and sanctions imposed against Haiti during the 1990s, as well as the removal of Haiti’s only freely and fairly elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, are directly linked to the punishing poverty and 'failed-state' status that is Haiti today.
Any assessment of Haiti’s history reveals that the one thing Haiti has never enjoyed is the right to govern itself and develop on its own future without foreign intervention of all forms, economic, political and social. By continuing to force the economy to live from loans means it is stuck in the position it has always been since 1825 – trying to service debt payments with no means to do so. If a country cannot develop its own GDP sufficiently so that it doesn’t have to borrow funds (that it can never repay) it will never get out of a vicious cycle of debt and poverty.
So at the end of October, as hurricane Tomas unleashed its wrath, hundreds of thousands of Haitians endured the storm under flimsy tents, tarpaulin and bed sheets located in flood plains and perched on mudslide-prone slopes... When cholera broke out in Artibonite 62 miles north of the capital Port-au-Prince in October most people understood that Haiti’s extreme vulnerability to natural disasters directly stems from policies implemented by the Haitian Government and the international ‘aid’ community, both before and after the earthquake of January 12.
Almost 10 months after the earthquake, the international community has failed to provide safe, weather-resistant shelter for even a fraction of the 1.2 million internally displaced persons currently living in tent camps. Most lack proper sanitation, leaving hundreds of thousands of people acutely vulnerable to disease.
Despite the headline grabbing pledges of billions of dollars in assistance by individuals and countries across the world, only a small percentage of it has reached organizations in Haiti, and only a miniscule fraction of the funds delivered has reached the Haitian people themselves. Many Haitians are living just as they were immediately after the earthquake with utterly inadequate access to sanitation, shelter, food, and clean water.
But there is an alternative based on solidarity and true internationalism http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/cuban-medics-in-haiti-put-the-world-to-shame-2169415.html
The Cubans have been in Haiti for twelve years before the earthquake and are still there today. The Cuban Medical Mission is now responsible for 49 centres dealing with the current cholera epidemic where they have cared for over 30,000 people
Long after western ‘heroes’ have packed up and gone home Cuban doctors continue to lead the way on the ground, living in Conditions no different from all of the Haitians http://www.medicc.org/ns/
http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/
The Haitian people will continue to suffer from both natural and unnatural disasters until the economic policies and practices that made and make the country so vulnerable to environmental disasters are changed.
There are many ways the UN, US and France can be involved in partnering with Haitian people. Learn from and support Cuba and Venezuela in creating genuine aid and solidarity. Eradicate all of Haiti’s debt and create real community based partnership initiatives geared towards capacity building of Haitians in areas of farming, agriculture, construction, medical, health, education services and infrastructure development so the economy can grow on a sustainable basis.
For latest information on Haiti and events in January go to http://www.haitisupportgroup.org/
Bob Oram
