tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61638269584017334272024-03-12T20:47:48.253-07:00Haitian JournalAlimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-34207258127368223002010-10-22T11:46:00.001-07:002010-10-22T11:46:22.120-07:00Cholera Hits Haitians (video)<object height="410" width="680"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/40GEQqWMKIs" ></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src ="http://www.youtube.com/v/40GEQqWMKIs" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="680" height="410"></embed></object>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-51803967991316276652010-10-22T11:43:00.000-07:002010-10-22T11:43:12.777-07:00Deadly cholera outbreak hits Haiti - Americas - Al Jazeera English<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/10/2010102234817850131.html">Deadly cholera outbreak hits Haiti - Americas - Al Jazeera English</a>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-85630900392333925042010-09-25T15:09:00.000-07:002010-09-25T15:09:46.871-07:00Haiti Catastrophe Continues<div id="article-header"> <div id="main-article-info"> <h1 id="heading-alone">Five dead as storm hits Haiti camps </h1><h1 id="heading-alone"><span style="font-size: small;">Press Association, Saturday September 25 2010</span> </h1></div></div><div id="content"> <div id="article-wrapper"> A freak storm has blasted through Haiti's capital, killing at least five earthquake survivors as it tore down trees, billboards and tent homes, authorities said.<br />
Three adults and two children were killed in the tarp, tent and shack camps that still dominate Port-au-Prince more than eight months after the January 12 earthquake, civil protection head Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste told the Associated Press. Several more were injured.<br />
"We are investigating to see how many tents and camps were damaged," Ms Jean-Baptiste said.<br />
The storm passed through the mountain-ringed bowl of the Haitian capital, exposing rubble-filled neighbourhoods to wind and rain at levels far below a sustained tropical storm. But that was enough to provoke panic and chaos, especially in encampments still home to more than 1.3 million people.<br />
Gales sent tarps and poles flying, threw tin roofs into the sky and opened family shacks to falling rain. Wind rattled walls and windows of standing buildings with a clamour reminiscent of the quake itself.<br />
"It was just a storm. Just a wind put us in a corner!" said Bresil Vignion, standing in the wreckage of his family's tin shack in a camp along the Canape-Vert road. "Tonight we don't know where we are going to sleep."<br />
Reports of storm damage and deaths were slow to filter in as mobile phone reception remained degraded hours after the storm passed.<br />
The sudden storm was not associated with any tropical system, Michael Lowry of the US National Hurricane Centre told AP. Meteorologists saw only a low-pressure system move across the Greater Antilles.<br />
But for those living in this ravaged city, where reconstruction has barely begun, it was a forceful reminder of the danger still posed to a vulnerable country by an active Atlantic hurricane season months from being over.<br />
"After what happened today, we hope we don't get a second one like it," said Patricia Pierre-Saint, a 47-year-old phone-card vendor who lost her home, child and husband in the quake.<br />
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2010, All Rights Reserved.<br />
</div></div>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-8533972814709278572010-09-23T16:22:00.000-07:002010-09-23T16:22:37.678-07:00The Zombies of Haiti (video)<div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RpcUnf5k8g4?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RpcUnf5k8g4?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></div><div class="addthisToolbarTop"><div class="artHeadline"><h1 class="entry-title">How to Make a Zombie, Haiti-Style</h1></div></div><div class="writerProfile"><a href="http://www.aolnews.com/team/lee-speigel"> <img alt="Lee Speigel" src="http://o.aolcdn.com/os/news/art/lee-speigel" /></a><br />
<div class="author vcard"><b class="fn"> <a href="http://www.aolnews.com/team/lee-speigel">Lee Speigel</a></b> <span class="blogtitle">Contributor</span></div><span class="source-org vcard"><span class="org fn" style="display: none;">AOL News</span></span> </div><div class="entry-content" id="article-entry-content">(Sept. 21) -- The undead are all around us, and have been for decades.<br />
<br />
Zombies are in our mass consciousness, invading <a href="http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/rob-sacchetto-the-man-who-can-kill-you-with-a-brush/19581718" target="_self">art</a>, <a href="http://www.experiencefestival.com/zombie_-_zombies_in_literature" target="_blank">literature</a>, <a href="http://news.aol.com/entertainment/story/_a/irreverent-cuban-movie-promises-zombie/n20100904121209990016" target="_blank">entertainment</a> and even <a href="http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/university-of-baltimore-pop-culture-class-focuses-on-zombies/19625044" target="_self">education</a>. But at the heart of this fear-mongering revolution is a single question: Is it all pure fiction, or are there in fact real zombies?<br />
<br />
That depends on your definition of the word "zombie."<br />
<div class="postPhoto"><div class="enhMed rightWrap noborder"><div class="enhanPhoto"><img alt="'Night of the Living Dead'" src="http://o.aolcdn.com/photo-hub/news_gallery/6/8/686552/1284991262067.JPEG" /><br />
<div class="credit">Everett Collection</div><div class="caption">Zombies invade a rural area in the 1968 classic "Night of the Living Dead."</div></div></div><br />
For filmmakers in Hollywood, zombies are half-dead figures that lumber toward you with arms outstretched, stinking of rotting flesh. But in Haiti, could zombies be unfortunate victims who have been forced into slavery while under the influence of highly potent drugs?<br />
<br />
While movies depict zombies as flesh eaters who spread their affliction like an illness, the voodoo culture and religion of Haiti has its own recipes for making a zombie -- a term derived from the word "Nzambi," meaning "spirit of a dead person" to the Bacongo people of Angola. <br />
<br />
A leading theory holds that a voodoo priest, or bokor, is able to concoct a poison that can render a victim weak and appear dead.<br />
<br />
"It's not what we see in Hollywood, of course. Strictly speaking, a zombie is a reanimated corpse that's been brought back to life to serve as a slave for a voodoo priest or priestess," said <a href="http://www.bradandsherry.com/" target="_blank">Brad Steiger</a>, one of the most prolific authors of books dealing with unexplained phenomena.<br />
<br />
In his recent book, "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Real-Zombies-Living-Creatures-Apocalypse/dp/1578592968/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271210334&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Real Zombies, the Living Dead and Creatures of the Apocalypse</a>" (Visible Ink Press), Steiger explores the history of reported zombies in the real world.<br />
<br />
"I have an account of a man from Miami who went to Haiti and was dancing with a very lovely Haitian lady, and he felt a little prick on his arm and didn't think anything of it. Next thing he knew, he woke up, was still in his suit and tie, but he was soiled and dirty and was holding a hoe in somebody's field.<br />
<br />
"But he regained consciousness and managed to make it back to Miami. But this sort of thing still goes on with unscrupulous priests and priestesses. Generally, we're talking about a religion that is followed by 80 million people worldwide."<br />
<br />
One man who took a "hands on" approach to the zombie culture is anthropologist <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/field/explorers/wade-davis.html" target="_blank">Wade Davis</a>. In 1982, Davis infiltrated the secret societies of Haitian voodoo, resulting in his 1985 eye-opening, international best-selling book (and subsequent movie) "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Serpent-Rainbow-Scientists-Astonishing-Societies/dp/0684839296" target="_blank">The Serpent and the Rainbow</a>" (Random House).<br />
<br />
Davis investigated the most famous documented case of a reported real-world zombie, Clairvius Narcisse, who, in 1962, was pronounced dead in a Haitian hospital and later buried.<br />
<br />
After 18 years, Narcisse showed up alive and told his story of having been drugged, buried, removed from a grave and put into slavery on a plantation with other men who allegedly shared the same fate.<br />
<br />
"We have this case of Narcisse. From all scientific evidence, he was dead, and he came back into the realm of the living," Davis told AOL News. "Precisely because the scientists involved didn't believe in magic, there had to be a material explanation."<br />
<br />
Davis explains that the Narcisse incident drew the attention of researchers back to "a series of reports found throughout the popular and academic literature of the reputed existence of a folk poison said to bring on a state of apparent death so profound that it could fool a physician."<br />
<br />
Haitian bokors eventually gave Davis samples of the "zombie poison," which led him to zero in on a drug called tetrodotoxin -- the often deadly poison of a puffer fish.<br />
<br />
<div class="postPhoto"><div class="enhSmall rightWrap noborder"><div class="enhanPhoto"><img alt="Zombie painting" src="http://o.aolcdn.com/photo-hub/news_gallery/6/8/686514/1284986162993.JPEG" /><br />
<div class="credit">Image by Ricardo Pustanio</div><div class="caption">This painting depicts a Haitian zombie, based on numerous accounts of people being turned into mindless slaves by voodoo priests.</div></div></div></div>"Tetrodotoxin turns out to be a very big molecule that blocks sodium channels in the nerves, bringing on peripheral paralysis, dramatically low metabolic rates and yet consciousness is retained until the moment of death," said Davis.<br />
<br />
After a bokor has placed the tetrodotoxin into someone's body, and that person is pronounced dead and subsequently buried, the bokor reportedly unearths the body and applies a chemical paste to keep the unfortunate victim in a zombified, trancelike state.<br />
<br />
Presumably, this "undead" person is then used as the bokor's slave labor.<br />
<br />
Davis suggests it makes sense that some unscrupulous priests in Haiti would take advantage of such a poison.<br />
<br />
"They identified in their environment a natural product -- in this case, a fish -- that had the capability of bringing on a state of apparent death.<br />
<br />
"When I collected samples of the poison at several locations and found that these fish were the one consistent ingredient, it struck me that there was really something going on here."<br />
<br />
That said, Davis doesn't believe there's an assembly line creating zombies in Haiti.<br />
<br />
"What I always suggested in my work was that zombies, as an idea, by definition, exist in Haiti.<br />
<br />
"All religion is defined by how people deal with the finality of death and the mystery of what lies beyond," said Davis. "Any phenomenon that walks that line and dances along that edge between life and death is fascinating to us."<br />
<br />
Kim Paffenroth, a professor of religious studies at Iona College in Rochester, N.Y., has a slightly different perspective on the religious significance of zombies.<br />
<br />
<br />
"I was 12 years old when the first 'Dawn of the Dead' film came out, so I had that adolescent male fascination with these things," said Paffenroth, the author of several books on the Bible and theology, including "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Living-Dead-Romeros-Visions/dp/1932792651" target="_blank">Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero's Visions of Hell on Earth</a>" (Baylor University Press).<br />
<br />
"And when, as an adult, I became interested in religious studies, I started looking at how the darker Christian themes of sin and evil are expressed in literature, art, film and television, and then the zombie stuff sort of made sense to me in a new way."<br />
<br />
Paffenroth has an interesting take on why many people believe that zombies (among other ghouls, like vampires) signal a coming Armageddon to our world.<br />
<br />
"It's a pretty perennial fear of the fragile nature of civilization. Every time there's an oil spill or a stock market crash, people get anxious, and, if anything, I think these more supernatural ways of dealing with it are a little safer outlet."<br />
<br />
Paffenroth sees zombie films as a kind of heavy-handed critique of American society.<br />
<br />
"I now realize, as I look at some of the fans out there, they look at zombie movies and they see the message as: 'Well, I need to own more guns, because then I'll be safe.' I can see where, on the surface, that's what the movies are saying, but it's kind of a really literal way to read it."<br />
<br />
In his investigations, Steiger has come up with a theory about why zombies are generally depicted in end-of-the-world scenarios.<br />
<br />
"A lot of people think the Apocalypse is just around the corner and many of us have been brought up to believe that the dead will raise from their graves on Judgment Day, which is why I think the zombie has reached this incredible surge."<br />
<br />
Agree or disagree, it's undeniable that zombies are in the midst of a resurgence, the likes of which hasn't been seen since they emerged from the ground in George Romero's classic 1968 black-and-white thriller "Night of the Living Dead."<br />
<br />
<div class="inContent" style="color: #c00000;">Sponsored Links </div>Whether they're starring in the popular 3-D "Resident Evil: Afterlife" film, playing the lead roles in AMC's upcoming series "<a href="http://www.amctv.com/originals/The-Walking-Dead/" target="_blank">The Walking Dead</a>" or even fighting for the <a href="http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/minneapolis-awards-zombies-165000-to-settle-first-amendment-lawsuit/19608718" target="_self">right of free speech</a>, zombies are definitely in vogue.<br />
<br />
And while there are some who speculate that <a href="http://www.cracked.com/article_18683_7-scientific-reasons-zombie-outbreak-would-fail-quickly.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+CrackedRSS+%28Cracked:+All+Posts" target="_blank">a real zombie outbreak</a> on Earth would be doomed to failure, there's at least marginal evidence that some form of zombie-ism exists and is taken seriously in Haiti (not to mention the creative minds of filmmakers).<br />
<br />
So, the next time you find yourself alone in a field or a dark alley, it would probably be prudent to look over your shoulder -- you never know when you'll be menaced by something that's fairly easy to outrun.</div></div><div class="fileUnder">Filed under: <a href="http://www.aolnews.com/category/weird-news">Weird News</a>, <a href="http://www.aolnews.com/category/crime">Crime</a></div><div class="articleFaceBook"><div class="aol-facebook-like"></div></div><div class="tagged"><span class="tagTitle">Tagged: </span> <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/armageddon/">armageddon</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/bokor/">bokor</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/brad-steiger/">brad steiger</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/clairvius-narcisse/">clairvius narcisse</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/kim-paffenroth/">kim paffenroth</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/night-of-the-living-dead/">night of the living dead</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/puffer-fish/">puffer fish</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/religion/">religion</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/serpent-and-the-rainbow/">serpent and the rainbow</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/tetrodotoxin/">tetrodotoxin</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/undead/">undead</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/unexplained-phenomena/">unexplained phenomena</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/vampires/">vampires</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/voodoo/">voodoo</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/walking-dead/">walking dead</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/weird-haiti/">weird haiti</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/night-of-the-living-dead---movie-title/">night of the living dead - movie title</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/haiti/">haiti</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/wade-davis/">wade davis</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/horror/">horror</a></div><div class="queries"><span class="tagTitle">Related Searches: </span> <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/end-of-the-world/">end of the world</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/night-of-the-living-dead-scene-locations/">night of the living dead scene locations</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/zombie-movies-romero/">zombie movies romero</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/horror-movies/">horror movies</a>, <a class="tagLink" href="http://www.aolnews.com/tag/are-zombies-real/">are zombies real</a></div><div class="articleCpRght"><br />
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2010 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.</div>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-6807535562538872172010-09-18T13:47:00.000-07:002010-09-18T13:47:09.390-07:00Life In Devastated Haiti<dl><dt><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijjee0iwk1ru7cjayIwpedRR16MZnxiLXj00Yws8fcxE91aTX2TqNrWCjtRL8hkdrz5KV56f-s1aOd100fLLE4FndCxZ2tLRKOgTEUfk1AYrbhFXkn0nUlLPFncfgvrBNKSf5JfYqIlG8/s1600/Haiti+people.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijjee0iwk1ru7cjayIwpedRR16MZnxiLXj00Yws8fcxE91aTX2TqNrWCjtRL8hkdrz5KV56f-s1aOd100fLLE4FndCxZ2tLRKOgTEUfk1AYrbhFXkn0nUlLPFncfgvrBNKSf5JfYqIlG8/s1600/Haiti+people.jpg" /></a></div><center style="color: #4c1130;"><b>Life In Devastated Haiti</b><br />
By Stephen Lendman<br />
9-18-10</center> </dt>
<dt style="color: #4c1130;"><center> </center> </dt>
<dt style="color: #4c1130;"><center><br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 555px;"><tbody>
<tr> <td valign="TOP" width="100%"><br />
<dl><dt>Nine months after the January 12 earthquake, Haitians still have little relief. Over one and a half million left homeless continue struggling to survive, despite billions in aid raised or pledged. It's for development, predatory NGOs, not them. That's the problem, and they suffering as a result, little media attention paid to their plight. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>On September 15, Los Angeles Times writer Joe Mozingo headlined, "No plan in sight for Haiti's homeless," saying: </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Where to put them is contentious, reconstruction "hang(ing) on the potentially explosive issue" of who owns the land. For example, pre-quake, tenant farmers used to plant corn and sugar cane on a wealthy family's 20-acre parcel "below the city's main transmission lines of the Delmas 33 road." </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>"Now an estimated 25,000 people call it home," living in one of many temporary camps, poorly protected against heavy rain, severe weather or hurricanes. When security men try to evict them, they're chased off with "rocks, sticks and machetes." </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>"It's not like we're comfortable here," says Katlyne Camean. "Last night when it rained, I filled three buckets of water from my house. But no one is telling us where they want us to go. I don't want to go somewhere worse." </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>They're pitted against an indifferent government, woefully little aid, and conditions unacceptable for anyone, including inadequate food, poor sanitation, little safe drinking water, weather-beaten makeshift shelters, too little of everything needed, no resolution of their homelessness, and the world community turning a blind eye to their plight. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Rubble is everywhere, only 2% of it removed. On September 11, AP's Tamara Lush reported that Port-au-Prince is strewn with "cracked slabs, busted-up cinder blocks, half-destroyed buildings," demolished homes, and "pulverized concrete" on streets and sidewalks. "By some estimates, the quake left about 33 million cubic yards of debris in Port-au-Prince - more than seven times the amount of concrete" used for Hoover Dam. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Overall, it's little different from nine months ago, authorities offering excuses that don't hold water, including little heavy equipment, problems navigating some roads, and few dump sites to put rubble collected. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>There's no master plan, says Eric Overvest, the UN Development Program's country director. Also, no one's in charge, Haitian architect Leslie Voltaire saying: </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>"Everybody is passing the blame on why things haven't happened yet. There should be one person in charge. Resettlement has not even begun yet, and it can't until the city has been cleared." </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Allocating funding for other purposes and bureaucratic delays complicate things. Most of all, it's Haiti, the hemisphere's poorest country, exploited ruthlessly for centuries. If a comparable quake struck San Francisco, restoration would begin at once. It takes time, money and commitment, available to well-off White communities, not poor Black ones. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Katrina-ravaged New Orleans residents understand, facing dire conditions five years later, those in Black communities on their own like millions of other poor Americans unaffected by natural disasters. In many respects, their lives are little different, given little aid during dire economic times. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Refugee International (RI) on Haiti </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>RI "advocates for lifesaving assistance and protection for displaced people and promotes solutions to displacement crises." Its challenge is helping 41 million world refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs), living in limbo without citizenship rights. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Emilie Parry and Melanie Teff just returned from Haiti after conducting RI's second field assessment "of the humanitarian response and related protection issues..." </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Parry's September 13 article titled, "Haiti: Emergency Paralysis" describes what she calls: </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Haitians "caught up in a protracted state of emergency. In the way that a spinal cord injury's paralysis leads to bedsores, atrophy, and skin rot in the patient, the (poor) humanitarian response in Haiti feels paralyzed. The local community networks and linkages are atrophying, the spontaneous camps are developing bedsores, and the momentum, the window of opportunity within this emergency, may be turning to rot." </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Why? Because of world indifference. Planned reconstruction is for profit, leaving poor Haitians on their own to survive, the world community indifferent to their plight. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>RI spent time in Haiti shortly after the quake, reporting on March 2 "From the Ground Up," explaining the toll on survivors, their desperate need for everything, including "food, water, shelter and protection from abuse and exploitation." They need an enormous amount of humanitarian aid. It's pledged but not provided. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>RI recommended linking humanitarian efforts to Haiti's civil society network, comprised of grassroots community-based organizations plus the well-established internal NGOs. Most, however, are more self-serving than for poor Haitians, a topic a previous article addressed, accessed through the following link: </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/02/haiti-is-open-for-business.html </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>RI said few needs so far were addressed, including little or no "coordination and communication between Haitian civil society and UN and international NGOs...." Grassroots locals were mostly shut out to give corporate and well-connected NGOs free reign to profit from the vast human misery. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Locals had "a hard time accessing meetings at the UN compound in Port-au-Prince" to be part of a coordinated response. RI also interviewed displaced Haitians "who expressed concern about security," especially women and children vulnerable to rape other violence, and abuse. Then and now, they also lacked minimal amounts of everything, RI saying: </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>"Most people who lost their homes sleep under makeshift dwellings of sheets and sticks providing little protection from rain," and none from hurricanes. "The sanitation in the camps does not meet minimal international standards. The need for shelter poses immense logistical challenges....intrinsically linked to land ownership and property rights," an issue the Preval government is doing nothing to resolve. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Affected Haitians then and now need everything they're not getting, receiving pathetically little of the pledged aid. "By all accounts, the leadership of the humanitarian country team is ineffectual. Following the earthquake, it took three weeks for the Humanitarian Coordinator to call a meeting with aid organizations." </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Damage to affected and surrounding areas "have far-reaching implications that go beyond" reconstructing Port-au-Prince. The entire country needs help, mostly for its deeply impoverished, neglected and exploited people, the quake affected ones desperate for help, so far not forthcoming. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>In her September 13 article, Parry said: </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>"....in every part, semi-open space or crossroads in Port-au-Prince and the environs, we see a gathering of quake-displaced persons, make-shift lean-tos (few donated), tents....packed closely together, filling every space. There are no latrines, no showers, no (minimal) SPHERE standards observed, and no communications with international or local agencies responding to the emergency." </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Chaotic conditions have risen to "extreme heights." Everything needed is in short supply or not provided. Security is lacking, forcing women to sleep in shifts to protect them and others from rape and abuse. The problem for thousands of unaccompanied children is enormous. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Present day Haiti is like January's, except for "the overwhelming stench of sewage and garbage," and the toll on Haitians after months of neglect. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>"Children and adults have developed skin rashes and infections due to the poor water and sanitary conditions in the camps. The tents and lean-tos are tattered and torn; hundreds blew away in the recent storms, none remain dry (when it) rains, and it is the middle of hurricane season." </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Across the city and surrounding areas, grassroots networks "are weakening," without enough resources, support, or ability to work with established NGOs or world humanitarian organizations. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Of the 1,000 - 1,300 camps, only six are policed by UNPOL/MINISTAH - there but doing little besides writing up incidences of rapes, other crimes, and botched "street abortions" for girls as young as 10. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Camp Coordination and Management, under the leadership of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) "is a confused and contradictory mess, with an overwhelming number of cases where local camp groups have no idea" who's in charge or what needs to be done to help. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>"The numbers in the camps have grown," some displaced people having returned to Port-au-Prince from rural areas. Nothing is being done to help them. Little coordinated aid is provided, many camp residents saying "they feel they are being left to rot, left in the camps to die." </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Scheduled November Elections </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>On November 28, first round legislative and presidential elections will be held. Democracy, however, will be absent because the nation's most popular party, Fanmi Lavalas, and 13 others are excluded, the system rigged to "elect" Washington friendly candidates. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Lawyer Ira Kurzban, an immigration and employment law expert and former legal counsel to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, calls the process "unfair, unconstitutional and undemocratic." </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Haitians know a charade is planned. Many will opt out, their choice in April 2009 for the sham process to fill 12 open Senate seats that saw an estimated 5 - 10% turnout. Why bother this time when virtually no one running gives a damn about ordinary Haitians. It makes a mockery of real elections - illegitimate, farcical, and little more than bad theater. Nonetheless, unless the fluid date is changed, it'll be hailed as democracy in action. Millions of Haitians know better. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>A Final Comment </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Haiti remains in emergency. For growing numbers, aid is "too little, too late." It presents an enormous challenge for those who care, to "do better, in order to support the possibility of hope, the possibility of recovery, and the opportunity to build back better." </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>So far, it's planned only for the privileged, ordinary Haitians are on their own to survive. Other generations faced it earlier for centuries, helped only by the brief interregnum under Aristide, why millions in the country so badly want him back. His presence alone would make a world of difference, helping and providing many with what's now fading - hope. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. </dt>
<dt> </dt>
<dt>http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.<br />
</dt>
</dl></td></tr>
</tbody></table></center> </dt>
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</dl>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-83978052820557335112010-09-17T16:25:00.000-07:002010-09-17T16:25:32.487-07:00Former Haiti president Aristide ready to return<object style="background-image: url("http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/NhlaGjzaL7g/hqdefault.jpg");" width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NhlaGjzaL7g?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NhlaGjzaL7g?fs=1&hl=en_US" allowscriptaccess="never" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-5318004085986537862010-09-17T16:20:00.000-07:002010-09-17T16:20:20.659-07:00The Return of Aristide<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFnS1H6vbdBujnHC218jDCDs_eCtm1MhaSXi_kskd9XA5vjR_46cJMMVEmVUjmO60iN3dmcuEmgVvgHdyk701QBvYozXWR2L2w5VNwaBtDgcjg6gYS9vLSYxEhY6ITW61tXfzNpIAUHuQ/s1600/Haiti+aristide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFnS1H6vbdBujnHC218jDCDs_eCtm1MhaSXi_kskd9XA5vjR_46cJMMVEmVUjmO60iN3dmcuEmgVvgHdyk701QBvYozXWR2L2w5VNwaBtDgcjg6gYS9vLSYxEhY6ITW61tXfzNpIAUHuQ/s200/Haiti+aristide.jpg" width="200" /></a></div> <span style="color: #0c343d;">The kidnapping and exile of the duly elected President of Haiti Jean-</span><br style="color: #0c343d;" /><span style="color: #0c343d;">Bertrand Aristide may rank as the most blatant crime of the last century. Could you imagine the President of the United States kidnapped and exiled in a foreign country and told that he would be shot on sight if he dared to return to comfort those who elected him during the greatest earthquake on record? That is part of the tragedy of Haiti. Part of what it will take to restore Haiti is the return of Aristide.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQWrcJ3UNWdLDTWoz9pKUGYgmJd_3R07iUpUTnJZTSB7n28JjlP78UqTeWXXUMvulOHSh1Knwn5_Xme1vN4FPhTlmQ3s1JwEmUSVLfQOmXUeSjzgFPrsA8TdGlcdzqNblZUNQmjE7Bx7E/s1600/Haiti+chains.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQWrcJ3UNWdLDTWoz9pKUGYgmJd_3R07iUpUTnJZTSB7n28JjlP78UqTeWXXUMvulOHSh1Knwn5_Xme1vN4FPhTlmQ3s1JwEmUSVLfQOmXUeSjzgFPrsA8TdGlcdzqNblZUNQmjE7Bx7E/s1600/Haiti+chains.jpg" /></a></div><h1 style="color: #20124d;">Johann Hari: Suffocating the poor: a modern parable</h1><div class="tagline" style="color: #20124d;"><i>They democratically elected a president to stand up to the rich and multinational corporations - so our governments have him kidnapped</i></div><div class="author" style="color: #20124d;"></div><div class="box-child" style="color: #20124d;"><div class="googleArt"><br />
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</script> </div><div class="body"><div class="font-null" style="color: #20124d;"></div><div class="font-null" style="color: #20124d;">Today, I want to tell you the story of how our <a class="kLink" href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-suffocating-the-poor-a-modern-parable-2081411.html#" id="KonaLink2" style="position: static; text-decoration: underline ! important;" target="undefined"><span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; position: relative;">governments</span></span></a> have been torturing and tormenting an island in the Caribbean – but it is a much bigger story than that. It's a parable explaining one of the main reasons how and why, across the world, the poor are kept poor, so the rich can be kept rich. If you grasp this situation, you will see some of the ugliest forces in the world laid out before you – so we can figure out how to stop them.</div><div class="font-null" style="color: #20124d;">The rubble-strewn island of Haiti is now in the middle of an election campaign that will climax this November. So far, the world has noticed it solely because the Haitian-American musician Wyclef Jean wanted to run for President, only to be blocked because he hasn't lived in the country since he was a kid. But there is a much bigger hole in the election: the most popular <a class="kLink" href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-suffocating-the-poor-a-modern-parable-2081411.html#" id="KonaLink0" style="position: static; text-decoration: underline ! important;" target="undefined"><span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; position: relative;">politician</span></span></a> in Haiti by far, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He's not there because, after winning a landslide election, he followed the will of the Haitian people who demanded he take on the multinational corporations and redistribute enough money that their children wouldn't starve – so our governments had him kidnapped him at gunpoint and refuse to let him back. </div><div class="font-null" style="color: #20124d;">But we have to start a little earlier if this is going to make sense. For over two centuries, Haiti has been effectively controlled from outside. The French enslaved the entire island in the eighteenth century and worked much of the population to death, turning it into the sugar and coffee plantation for the world. By this century, Western governments were arming, funding and fuelling the psychopathic dictatorship of the Duvalier family – who slaughtered 50,000 people – supposedly because they were "our friends" in the fight against communism. </div><div class="font-null" style="color: #20124d;">All this left Haiti the most unequal country in the world. A tiny elite lives in vast villas in the hills, while below and all around them, the overwhelming majority of the population live in tiny tin shacks with no water or electricity, crammed six-to-a-room. Just 1 per cent own 50 per cent of the wealth and 75 per cent of the arable land. Once the Haitian people were finally able to rise up in 1986 to demand democracy, they obviously wanted the country's wealth to be shared more fairly. They began to organize into a political movement called Lavalas – the flood – to demand higher wages and higher taxes on the rich to build schools and hospitals and subsidies for the half-starved poor. This panicked the elite.</div><div class="font-null" style="color: #20124d;">And nobody panicked them more than a thin, softly-spoken, intellectual slum-priest named Aristide who found himself at the crest of this wave. He was born into a bitingly poor family and became a brilliant student. As a priest he soon became one of the leading exponents of Liberation Theology, the left-wing Catholicism that says people shouldn't wait passively for justice in the Kingdom of Heaven, but must demand it here and now. (The current Pope tried desperately to stamp out this "heresy".) Aristide explained: "The rich of my country, a tiny percentage, sit at a vast table overflowing with good food, while the rest of my countrymen are crowded under that table, hunched in the dirt and starving. One day the people under the table will rise up in righteousness."</div><div class="font-null" style="color: #20124d;">On this platform, he was elected in 1990 in a landslide in the country's first free and fair election, taking 64 per cent of the vote. He kept his promise to the Haitian people: he increased the minimum wage from 38 cents a day to $1, demanding the multinational corporations pay a less insulting wage. He trebled the number of free secondary schools. He disbanded the murderous national <a class="kLink" href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-suffocating-the-poor-a-modern-parable-2081411.html#" id="KonaLink1" style="position: static; text-decoration: underline ! important;" target="undefined"><span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; position: relative;">army</span></span></a> that had terrorized the population. Even the International Monetary Fund had to admit that over the Aristide period and just after, Haiti's Human Poverty Indicator – a measure of how likely your kids are to die, starve or go uneducated – dropped dramatically from 46.2 per cent to 31.8 per cent.</div><div class="font-null" style="color: #20124d;">But why would foreign governments care about a small country, the poorest in the Western hemisphere, with only ten million inhabitants? Ira Kurzban, an American lawyer based in Haiti, explains: "Aristide represented a threat to [foreign powers] because he spoke for the 85 per cent of his population who had never been heard. If that can happen in Haiti, it can happen anywhere, including in countries where the [US and Europe] have huge economic interests and extract natural resources. They don't want real popular democracies to spread because they know it will confront US economic interests." Oxfam called this phenomenon "the threat of a good example."</div><div class="font-null" style="color: #20124d;">So after Haiti had experienced seven months of democracy, the US toppled Aristide. Ordinary Haitians surrounded his <a class="kLink" href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-suffocating-the-poor-a-modern-parable-2081411.html#" id="KonaLink3" style="position: static; text-decoration: underline ! important;" target="undefined"><span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 400; position: relative;">home</span></span></a></div><div class="font-null" style="color: #20124d;">In 1994, the Clinton administration agreed to return Aristide to power – provided he castrate his own political program and ignore the demands of his people. They made him agree to privatize almost everything, freeze wages, and sack half the civil service. Through gritted teeth, he agreed, and for the remainder of his time in office tried to smuggle through what little progress he could. He was re-elected in an even bigger landslide in 2000 – but even his tiny shuffles towards redistribution were too much. The US and French governments had Aristide kidnapped at gunpoint and dumped him in the Central African Republic. They said he was a "dictator", even though the last Gallup poll in a free Haiti found 60 per cent supported him, compared to just 3 per cent backing the alternative imposed on the country by the US.</div><div class="font-null" style="color: #20124d;">The human rights situation in Haiti then dramatically deteriorated, with a massive campaign of terror and repression. The Lavalas Party was banned from running again, with most of the country's democracy activists jailed. There were huge military assaults on the slums which demanded Aristide's return. A US Army Psychological Operations official explained the mission was to ensure Haitians "don't get the idea they can do whatever they want." </div><div class="font-null" style="color: #20124d;">The next President, Rene Preval, learned his lesson: he has done everything he was told to by corporations and governments, privatizing the last remaining scraps owned by the state, and using tear gas to break up strikes for higher wages. The Haitian people rejected the whole rigged electoral process, with turn-out falling to just 11 per cent. Today, Aristide is a broken man, living in exile in South Africa, studying for a PhD in linguistics, banned from going home.</div><div class="font-null" style="color: #20124d;">This is part of a plain pattern. When poor countries get uppity and tried to ask for basic justice, our governments have toppled them, from Iran wanting to control its own oil in 1953 to Honduras wanting its workers to be treated decently in 2009. You don't have to overthrow many to terrify the rest.</div><div class="font-null" style="color: #20124d;">It doesn't have to be this way. This is not the will of the people, in the US or Europe: on the contrary, ordinary citizens are horrified when the propaganda is stripped away and they see the truth. It only happens because a tiny wealthy elite dominates our foreign policy, and uses it to serve their purposes – low wages and control of other people's economies and resources. The people of Haiti, who have nothing, were bold and brave enough to campaign and organize to take power back from their undemocratic elites. Are we?</div><div class="font-null" style="color: #20124d;"><a href="mailto:j.hari@independent.co.uk">j.hari@independent.co.uk</a>; <a href="http://twitter.com/johannhari101" target="new">twitter.com/johannhari101</a></div><div class="font-null" style="color: #20124d;"><b>For further reading</b></div><div class="font-null"><span style="color: #20124d;">Damming the Flood: Haiti, Aristide, and the Politics of Co</span>ntainment by Peter Hallward (Verso, 2007)</div></div></div>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-57686452939222465842010-07-16T11:29:00.000-07:002010-07-16T12:13:37.440-07:00ZERO: Percent of Pledged US Aid to Haiti That Has Been Given<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHbdhmJTkJNQFbPtGb9htQ07A7fzLQIM3Hh1PsDwJ19vw3j99oxqzPHWEfxYqTp8Qpx-RwAN0r65vwQBj5pvjHf7Q3_Ct8KtkHe-FyWkoDAzoXAYAqZjs4ZC-3pPvKtpBNU6XEkmRTRy4/s1600/Haitian+tents.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5494584158133640066" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 239px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 264px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHbdhmJTkJNQFbPtGb9htQ07A7fzLQIM3Hh1PsDwJ19vw3j99oxqzPHWEfxYqTp8Qpx-RwAN0r65vwQBj5pvjHf7Q3_Ct8KtkHe-FyWkoDAzoXAYAqZjs4ZC-3pPvKtpBNU6XEkmRTRy4/s400/Haitian+tents.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div align="center"><span style="color:#006600;"><em><strong>The US has some things in common with the other nations who have pledged to help Haiti in the wake of the January 12th Earthquake that has left more than 300,000 dead and millions homeless and destitute with no jobs, food, shelter, health care or much hope for a better future. What, pray tell, is that? Despite all the big talk and big crocodile tears, the US has delivered <span style="color:#ff0000;">zero dollars</span>, zip, nada! Empty promises don't fill empty stomachs. This is even worse when one looks into the possibility that the quake itself was manufactured by the US military to take down the Haitian government and to seize the newly discovered oil, gold and other riches in Haiti. Not to mention Obama's 'Special Envoy to Haiti', the corrupt Bill Clinton, who has angled his way into control of the Haitian telephone system. </strong></em></span></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="color:#006600;"><em><strong>Well, a 3.7 magnitude quake just hit Washington today. </strong></em></span></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="color:#006600;"><em><strong>Maybe somebody is playing tit for tat.</strong></em></span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="color:#cc0000;">Here are several videos on the situation in Haiti: </span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="color:#cc0000;">click here :</span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/07/14/haiti.donations/index.html?hpt=">http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/07/14/haiti.donations/index.html?hpt=</a></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div><span style="color:#660000;">(CNN) -- Six months after a devastating earth</span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/07/14/haiti.donations/index.html?hpt=T1"><span style="color:#660000;">T1</span></a><span style="color:#660000;">quake struck Haiti, most governments that promised money to help rebuild the country have not delivered any funds at all, a CNN investigation has found.<br />Donors promised $5.3 billion at an aid conference in March, about two months after the earthquake -- but less than 2 percent of that money has been handed over so far to the United Nations-backed body set up to handle it.<br />Only four countries have paid anything at all: Brazil, Norway, Estonia and Australia.<br />The United States pledged $1.15 billion. It has paid nothing, with the money tied up in the congressional appropriations process.<br />Venezuela promised even more -- $1.32 billion. It has also paid nothing, although it has written off some of Haiti's debt.<br />Former President Bill Clinton, a U.N. special envoy for Haiti, said he plans to put pressure on governments that have been slow to deliver on their promises.<br />"I'm going to call all those governments and say, the ones who said they'll give money to support the Haitian government, I want to try to get them to give the money, and I'm trying to get the others to give me a schedule for when they'll release it," Clinton told CNN's Anderson Cooper earlier this week.<br />He said the worldwide economic crisis was at least partly to blame.<br /></span><a href="http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Accidents_and_Disasters"><span style="color:#660000;">Accidents and Disasters</span></a><span style="color:#660000;"><br />"I think that they're all having economic trouble, and they want to hold their money as long as possible," Clinton said.<br />Altogether, about $506 million has been disbursed to Haiti since the donors' conference in March, said Jehane Sedky of the U.N. Development Program.<br />That's about 9 percent of the money that was pledged. But about $200 million was money that had been in the pipeline for aid work before the earthquake, and about another $200 million went directly to the government of Haiti to help it get back on its feet, Sedky explained.<br />That has left the commission with about $90 million in donations since the conference, Sedky said.<br />There is some dispute about the World Bank's contribution<br />The bank says it has made available $479 million dollars, and of that $56.6 million has "already been used" for different government-led projects. The World Bank says that this money was provided directly to the Haitian government and did not go into the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission.<br />CNN compiled the information for this report by reviewing commission figures and surveying the donors that had made pledges to determine the disposition of those pledges.<br />Spain, France and Canada are also among the countries that have not yet followed through on their pledges, CNN found.<br />No countries told CNN they do not plan to deliver the money eventually.<br />The pledges are for fiscal year 2010-2011, so the donors have until the middle of next year to get the funds to the Haiti recovery commission, Sedky said.<br />U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said Wednesday that aid delivery to Haiti is going relatively well compared to other disaster relief efforts the world body has been involved in.<br />"Compared with other disasters, coordination systems in Haiti have actually functioned reasonably well," he said, adding that there was no requirement for aid efforts to work within systems.<br />"But within that constraint, what we've been trying to do is coordinate the aid responses as best as we can, and we are trying to provide food as quickly as possible," he said.<br />Some charities, meanwhile, are spending money as fast as they get it, while others are planning long-term projects.<br />Doctors Without Borders -- primarily a disaster-relief organization -- has received $112 million and spent $65 million, it says. The group plans to spend more than $109 million by the end of the year, spokesman Michael Goldfarb told CNN.<br />The Red Cross has spent $148 million of the $468 million it has taken in, and is holding some money in reserve for more permanent projects such as shelter and water.<br />Private money has also come in from the Clinton Foundation, from Mexican telecommunications billionaire Carlos Slim Helu and Canadian mining investor Frank Giustra, but that's not part of the $5.3 billion pledged by countries at the conference in March.<br />The January 12 quake left more than 220,000 dead, 300,000-plus injured and more than 1 million homeless. According to recent U.N. reports, the quake destroyed 60 percent of government infrastructure and left more than 180,000 homes uninhabitable.<br />Six months later, more than 1.5 million remain in overcrowded displacement camps.<br />According to the United Nations, 1,300 camping sites and 11,000 latrines have been built, and thousands of kilos of food and humanitarian resources have been delivered to those in need.<br />CNN'S Richard Roth at the United Nations contributed to this report.</span></div></div>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-23860431343116382722010-07-15T04:54:00.000-07:002010-07-15T04:57:28.047-07:00Heavy Rain Destroys Haitian Camp (video)<div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Six months after the devastating Haitian earthquake that evidence shows was man-made, life for most people in Haiti is still a nightmare. Here is what happens in a tent city when a sudden storm arises.</span><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" id="TelegraphPlayer-7889161" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/swflash.cab" width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/template/utils/ooyala/telegraph_player.swf"><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="wmode" value="window"><param name="salign" value="LT"><param name="scale" value="noscale"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="FlashVars" value="embedCode=N5cDFrMToaID5ixLQfZLVs9cIpvhbWb4&autoplay=1&offSite=true&showTD=true"><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/template/utils/ooyala/telegraph_player.swf" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" menu="false" quality="high" play="false" name="TelegraphPlayer-7889161" bgcolor="#000000" allowscriptaccess="always" wmode="window" salign="LT" scale="noscale" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="embedCode=N5cDFrMToaID5ixLQfZLVs9cIpvhbWb4&autoplay=1&offSite=true&showTD=true" width="560" height="315"></embed></object></div>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-66566640624452735262010-06-28T10:09:00.000-07:002010-06-28T10:14:53.844-07:00The Haitian Disaster Aid Disaster<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguoWl4ZjwJ-amSf1xFYGZGPoJAFQqcjw4DcGqIMPu5V-LlN3U2pkGJnaK5BW3DsPfv-vzG9CIlGfGWOwfhwIzamhEadeTagaOMOI71uv2oyVvvNAVs02UA8ojMZ-frrRT1aZclp-T3HJE/s1600/Haitian+woman.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5487873946817675250" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 238px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 275px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguoWl4ZjwJ-amSf1xFYGZGPoJAFQqcjw4DcGqIMPu5V-LlN3U2pkGJnaK5BW3DsPfv-vzG9CIlGfGWOwfhwIzamhEadeTagaOMOI71uv2oyVvvNAVs02UA8ojMZ-frrRT1aZclp-T3HJE/s400/Haitian+woman.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><em>The following article details the disaster on top of the disaster - the failure of the nations of the World to adequately deliver promised aid to the people of Haiti. As Haiti has faded off the headlines, so has the commitment to provide life-saving aid. The worst offenders seem to be the largest governmental donors. They are using aid schemes that basically route all aid back to themselves through multinational corporations who are making a literal killing at the expense of Haiti. Read the details here.</em></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#336666;"></span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#336666;"></span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#336666;">Disaster Aid, or Aid Disaster?</span></strong></div><br /><div><span style="color:#336666;">The international community (here referring to nations and international organizations) has pledged or given $9.9 billion in relief and reconstruction aid to Haiti, since the earthquake on January 12, 2010. Citizens and non-profit agencies of foreign countries have provided billions more. The aid is many times the size of Haiti's annual budget, which was $1.97 billion for the 2009-10 fiscal year. [</span><a href="http://www.truth-out.org/disaster-aid-or-aid-disaster-haitiansâ-thoughts-foreign-assistance60577#1"><span style="color:#336666;">1</span></a><span style="color:#336666;">]If one looks close to the ground, in certain refugee camps and community organizations, one can see the donations of citizens and non-profits at work, supplying tents, food and medical aid. A handful of progressive foundations are funding community, peasant and advocacy organizations as they work for an alternative rebuilding process, based on economic justice and the fulfillment of social needs. Social assistance and rebuilding projects are working best when communities are engaged in the planning and implementation.Yet, for the most part, the impact of the dollars is imperceptible. Where is it going?Much of the aid pledged has not yet arrived, and may never. A lot of it has gone straight back to donor nations, as with the $.40 on every US government aid dollar that paid for the US military presence in Haiti for, at least, the first two months after the quake. [</span><a href="http://www.truth-out.org/disaster-aid-or-aid-disaster-haitiansâ-thoughts-foreign-assistance60577#2"><span style="color:#336666;">2</span></a><span style="color:#336666;">] Untold dollars more go to US firms, like the agribusiness corporations whose surplus rice is being purchased by USAID to deliver as aid. Then there are fees and expenses paid to a small army of consultants working for foreign governments and international agencies. Many UN consultants, for example, slept until mid-March in a luxury cruise ship (the Love Boat), which the UN rented. Then, there is graft, corruption and poor planning, all of which further redirects aid dollars away from desperate earthquake survivors, up to 1.9 million of whom are left homeless, hungry and wet in tents during the rainy season.<br />What would Haitians like to see happen with the aid? We asked for opinions; here are a few.Christine Miradieu is an unemployed mother of nine who lost her husband, one of her children, and her home in the earthquake. She now lives with six of her children in two tents in a field outside of the town of Gressier. They tell me the international community gave $2 million dollars in aid. Where is it? [We suggest the figure is actually $9.9 billion.]What? [Turns to her family behind her.] You hear? Nine point nine billion in aid. Now, who's getting that? We haven't seen any of it.Lucien St. Louis is an agronomist by training who worked for many years with farmers through the Ministry of Agriculture. Now, he is employed by a European NGO, helping to direct disaster responses in several earthquake-impacted towns to those who most need them.<br />First, we want to say how much we appreciate all the citizens of the world who have paid attention to Haiti after January 12 and who have given whatever they could, whether money or solidarity. They make us know we're not alone in this fight to reclaim our lives and rebuild our country.This aid could be a marvelous thing, giving us the assistance we need to get back on our feet. It could help us build a different country, a country where everyone is recognized as a human being, a country where all children go to school, and no one dies for lack of decent medical care. It could help strengthen peasant agriculture, so farmers could stay in the countryside, where they could have work and feed the nation, instead of having to migrate to Port-au-Prince. It could help women do marketing and form cooperatives, so they could have an income for their family. It could provide decent housing for all, especially those who lost their homes in the earthquake, in communities that are close to all the services people need to live. It could strengthen the people's institutions that are trying to build a new society and economy.We haven't seen any of this yet. But, we're going to keep on fighting for it.Ghislene Deloné (a pseudonym used at her request) is a health promoter at the clinic of the Center for the Promotion of Women Workers (CPFO). Prior to this job, she worked for eleven years as a seamstress in a multinational textile factory.<br />Now, we have the international community which came to Haiti, which is helping workers and CPFO get medicines. They're distributing medicines; they're doing free exams for the women at CPFO. Workers can now come and get the medical care they need, without having to pay anything. We are satisfied.Marlène Jean-Pierre lives in Cité Soleil. She is a student in civil engineering and an organizer with women's and youth grassroots groups in Cité Soleil.<br />We don't need more than social support. We need collaboration with all the foreign citizens who want to come help us Haitians, who want to give their support. We don't need money coming into the country to create huge projects to bring about change, no. When that money comes, the population itself doesn't receive it. It doesn't ever get to the community. They should find people within the community and divide it among them. But, the foreigners who came after the earthquake, they don't know a single person. They come to this country and want to take action. They say, "I've brought you water! I've brought you food! Look at all I've brought for you!" But, they don't know who to contact. So, they work through the government, or else, they choose someone to work with them, and that person gets to direct the aid whatever way they want. But, with someone who knows the country well, that work would be better supervised, they'd be able to see that the population is really receiving the aid directly. We know there are billions of dollars coming to the NGOs now. It's from that money the NGOs are paying their employees, that they're buying gas for their cars; it's with that money that they're paying for their own security. The only thing we ask is that, whatever is left for us, that the work they do with it is done well. That's all we ask for.Carolle Pierre-Paul Jacob is a coordinator of Solidarity Among Haitian Women (SOFA). Among other things, SOFA provides health care and anti-violence support to women now living in refugee camps.<br />This is an international parade. The aid has been given in total chaos. The way it's been run represents economic and political domination. It's being done in a context where the symbols of state power are gone, and the government is basically nonexistent. There are lots of ways we could have taken advantage of this moment, to create a minimum of social, economic, and political transformation. But, we haven't had that chance, because of the domination of the foreigners.Josette Pérard is the director of Fon Lambi, the Haitian-run branch of the Lambi Fund of Haiti. Josette has a long history of providing funding and technical support to women and peasant groups in Haiti and, prior to that, in the Congo.<br />The people want another system, so they can be treated as citizens in a country that belongs to them. They want their rights as human beings to be respected. But, with all the aid and programs, they're treating people like children. It's not possible. Who knows better than the people? They want to make decisions with themselves; they don't want anyone to make those decisions for them.What plan does the country have five months after the earthquake? People can't sit in the mud in the camps all day; they can't live like that. Now, they're kicking people out of the tents to send them to other tents, without water or shade. There are no changes. The government is totally irresponsible.We're very happy that people are coming to help us, but there is no one to sit down with them to coordinate. This is because the state is inexistent. It doesn't take its responsibility. People are saying, "Here's what we need in the way of aid; here's what we want to happen so we can have results." But, each group comes up with its own program for reconstruction. If no one sits down together and comes up with one coordinated program, will there be one? What makes me most angry is to see people sitting under the hot sun to get a half-sack of rice and a bottle of oil. Where are they going to cook food? They don't have a stove to cook food with, and they can't eat rice and oil only. They're saying that aid recipients are selling the food, in order to buy a piece of bread with peanut butter, because they don't have any way to cook the rice. People are very dissatisfied. For weeks, there have been demonstrations in the streets against Préval.Presto Deroncil has lived in Cité Soleil since 1977, where he is an informal (unelected) community leader.<br />Cité Soleil is a place where lots of money is spent, but nothing ever happens. It's the place where everyone comes to make money, to get rich. After January 12, it got even worse. After January 12, everyone mobilized, the international community mobilized. Me, I thought that things were finally going to change. No way! I see things getting more difficult. I see there's a lot of food distribution happening. At the beginning, it went well, but after a while things started getting looser, people started making money off it. What hurts the most is that people from Cité Soleil have been working to have political representation, to have people who will represent them in the government. But, now, it's those same people who are making a business [out of aid]. Imagine, really imagine - when a person is the leader in a community, there are a lot of things that person shouldn't do. But, there are people who take those cards [aid vouchers] and make a fortune with them. They buy cars with them; they buy motorcycles. Something that was meant to help the people, and now they're selling them. I think this has to change.People are sleeping in the mud; they're sleeping in garbage. When it rains, they don't have anywhere to sleep. I think that the most important thing now is a public housing project within Cité Soleil. I think that everyone, the international community that wants to help Cité Soleil, they must sit with the community leaders, with the population of this community. First off, they should listen to people, so that they know what they should work on. We know what we need.Jacqueline Cherilus is a fourth-year medical student at Université Lumière in Port-au-Prince. On January 12, her school collapsed, killing many of her professors and classmates. Her home was damaged, and now she and her family sleep under a tarp, because they are afraid to be inside.<br />Americans and everyone who've sent tents, we're tired of that stuff, those same tents and tarps. We need construction. You see how strong the rains are becoming? Tents can't resist that rain. How long can we live in tents and tarps? You can't live for two or three years under a tarp. We need houses. We're going to have hurricanes soon and flooding. The aid is poorly organized and poorly divided. There are lots of people who don't receive anything. To have real aid, we need social change. Right now, they're just giving us tarps, tents, and food. We need health care. You see, in Briztou [a tent community in Pétion-ville] they only have one doctor for 25,000 people? And, there's no educational reform. Children are still paying to go to school. Like my little brother, who still has to pay. How can other children, the ones who lost their parents in the earthquake, pay for school?<br />-----<br />[</span><a name="1"><span style="color:#336666;">1</span></a><span style="color:#336666;">] Matthew Bigg, "UPDATE 2-Haiti GDP to shrink but govt says revenue recovering," Reuters, March 4, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0417117420100304[</span><a name="2"><span style="color:#336666;">2</span></a><span style="color:#336666;">] Jonathan Katz, "Billions for Haiti, A Criticism for Every Dollar," Associated Press, March 5, 2010. Sources taken from USAID and the U.N. See http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/haitiaid.jpg </span></div>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-67714996450361548422010-06-10T06:09:00.000-07:002010-06-10T06:13:24.997-07:00Micro Lending Helps Haitian Women (video)<p align="center"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/l6hdLuSCfzg&hl=" fs="1&" width="560" height="340" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></p><br /><br />Able to quickly reach a well-developed network of women throughout the country, an alternative banking system performs while the Haitian economy is in shambles.<br />A micro-credit program and banking system for more than 200,000 women in Haiti has come to the rescue of the overall economy in the wake of the devastating earthquake.<br />At a time when Haitian commercial banks remain closed, Fonkoze, the Haitian branch of the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, mobilized over one weekend to get funds to its members in rural towns as well as Port-au-Prince.<br />Between 2 a.m. and 2 p.m., last Saturday, January 23, Fonkoze brought in two million dollars in cash from their U.S. bank and distributed it by helicopters to regional offices in the most remote parts of the country.<br />That got money flowing again. The cash came from Haitians working abroad who had sent funds — called remittances — to their relatives.<br />Also known as Haiti’s, “Alternative Bank for the Organized Poor,” Fonkoze found a way to get money to its members through the 34 of its 41 branch offices still open after the earthquake. It had a lot of help in high places: the U.S. Secretary of State, top Treasury and Defense Department officials, the Federal Reserve, the Agency for International Development, the United Nations, the Inter-American Development Bank and more.<br />The operation read like a cloak-and-dagger saga. Anne Hastings, the CEO of Fonkoze Financial Services, was point person on shaping the unorthodox solution. It involved many conference calls to Washington, New York and Miami, as well as intricate strategies with managers on the ground in Haiti who would get the money to the women.<br />By Friday, January 22, the plan was ready. Remittances from U.S.-based Haitians deposited in Fonkoze’s accounts at City National Bank of New Jersey were sent to JP Morgan Chase in Miami, converted into cash — and packed in office supply boxes. An armored vehicle then transferred the boxes to Homestead Air Force Base.<br />A C-17 plane, diverted from Langley Air Force Base, landed at Homestead at 3 a.m. Saturday, took on the camouflaged cargo of cash, and flew to Haiti, where the major airport at Port-au-Prince has been under U.S. military control since the earthquake.<br />Once there, Hastings and two other Fonkoze executives inspected the cash cargo — and called the Pentagon to say so far, so good. Under a military escort, the Fonkoze vehicle loaded with the boxes of cash awaited the two helicopters that could fly the money to 10 designated drop-off locations.<br />Fonkoze’s Jean-Guy Noel rode with the helicopters as they began deliveries before dawn. Seven hours later, all the cash had been delivered and the helicopters were back in Port-au-Prince. By early afternoon, the cash had been distributed to the 34 Fonkoze branches. Almost immediately, the Fonkoze managers began giving Fonkoze members cash from their relatives, a financial lifeline at a time when the formal banking system is in shambles and remittances sent through it from overseas Haitians remain locked up.<br />Jennifer Harris, a member of the policy staff of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a memo to Pentagon officials released by Fonkoze, spelled out the implications of the combined State-Defense operation.<br />“Fonkoze has by far the deepest reach into the country’s rural poor, a remittance network that would take years to recreate from scratch. As people continue to migrate from Port-au-Prince, Fonkoze’s branch network will become even more essential,” she said. “Perhaps most important, unlike the commercial banks, Fonkoze has re-opened many of its branches and has continued to pay out remittances using its cash on hand.”<br />In essence, she said, the unconventional operation “may well have stabilized the banking system for the country’s most vulnerable population.”<br />Fonkoze has been operating in Haiti for 15 years. Ninety-nine percent of its members are women. By midweek, it expects all but three of its branches to be open. In the heavily damaged capital city, Fonkoze managers set up shop at a makeshift office in the courtyard next to its damaged headquarters—as hundreds of Haitians lined up to get the money due them.<br />In addition to micro-lending programs, Fonkoze sponsors major literacy, health care and micro-insurance programs. Its remittances and savings accounts serve more than 200,000 people, making it a significant part of the country’s financial system. Relatives of Fonkoze members working abroad use its conduits to send back money — “that taxi driver in New York City who wants to send fifty dollars to his mother,” says Leigh Carter, Fonkoze USA fundraiser — amounting to $57.7 million last year.<br />It also serves as a vendor for three other remittance services that still operate after the earthquake: MoneyGram, CAM and Unitransfer. The process is a lifeline for a country where, in 2007, 79 percent of Haitians lived on less than $2 a day and 55 percent lived on half that.<br />Fonkoze’s micro-lending program has four different levels. The first step is for the poorest of the poor and may involve home repairs and health care, as well as building the confidence of the women as they plan to start a micro-enterprise. Next the women may qualify for small loans — perhaps only $25 — with a short repayment period, while they enroll in literacy classes. In Haiti, more than 50 percent of people are illiterate.<br />The third level is the core: a “solidarity” group in which friends take out loans together, then morph into credit centers of 30 to 40 women. These women can start out borrowing $75, but if they prosper they can borrow up to $1,300 for six months.<br />The fourth level focuses on business development. Some women in this group borrow up to $25,000 and are being nurtured to become part of the formal economy, creating jobs in rural areas where there are few employment opportunities.<br />It isn’t the first time that a micro-lending network of mostly women has taken a lead role in helping rebuild a country’s economy after a natural disaster. In Poland, after a devastating flood in the mid-1990s, the U.S.-backed Fundusz Mikro became the conduit for credit to small businesses, ultimately funneling more than $10 million to rebuild when the central government proved inept and also tone-deaf to the challenge.<br />Leigh Carter, who broke several vertebrae in her back getting out of the Fonkoze headquarters building during the earthquake and was airlifted out days later, is back at work in Washington. She says multinational economic and financial leaders already are talking to Fonkoze about ways to use their extensive network of micro-lending programs for programs to rebuild the Haitian economic base.<br />“People are coming to us saying ‘you need to expand your capacity,’” she said.<br />But first things first: the immediate priority had to be getting cash to its members, throughout Haiti, from their friends and relatives abroad, which in itself expands members ability to survive and rebuild.<br /><br />Fonkoze has had strong success working with microfinance programs to improve lives of suffering women and their families. This program, Chemen Lavi Miyo, which means “Pathway to a Better Life” in Haitian creole, is testing a new approach to helping those living in extreme poverty to transition into a sustainable way of life. This highly structured and intensive program combines livelihoods and basic support with training and financial management so that at the end of just 18 months, participants will be equipped with the skills and a business plan to move themselves out of poverty. “What we want to demonstrate,” says Anne Hastings, director of the program, is that there is a “proven, replicable, methodology for accompanying people as they struggle to make their way out of these conditions into a …decent standard of living.” Fonkoze is now leading microfinance programs that will help rebuild Port-au-Prince since the devastating 10 January, 2010 earthquake that hit the capital and outlying areas.<br /><br />----------<br />For more information on this topic:<br />“A graduation pathway for Haiti’s poorest – Lessons learnt from Fonkoze,” Karishma Huda and Anton Simanowitz – The Mastercard Foundation, 29 September, 2009 “The Haiti Earthquake: How microfinance is helping,” – CGAP – Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, World Bank Publications, 27 January, 2010 “Reimagining Microfinance,” Alex Counts, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Stanford Graduate School of Business, 13 May, 2008 “Gender and Microlending – Diveristy of Experience,” – Critical Half / Annual Journal 2004, Women for Women InternationalAlimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-91787507542950692782010-05-27T06:49:00.000-07:002010-05-27T07:00:58.111-07:00Monsanto Attacks Haiti With GMO Seeds!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUpMbgfNSCAxGUdYp8tACJm8r-P52GtLCX-4_NX_6rhRDVIP4hDctgTo3sMvhmrb0sbf_5Gif_cYDJKLp2ypAynfpWMEESidFfwr7EgheO3YbMscJCEZp8AaHSBwKL4FbOeKdurxnFRSQ/s1600/GMO+Rice.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475949157182212578" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 212px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 156px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUpMbgfNSCAxGUdYp8tACJm8r-P52GtLCX-4_NX_6rhRDVIP4hDctgTo3sMvhmrb0sbf_5Gif_cYDJKLp2ypAynfpWMEESidFfwr7EgheO3YbMscJCEZp8AaHSBwKL4FbOeKdurxnFRSQ/s400/GMO+Rice.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#660000;">How shall I oppress thee? Let me count the ways...America, her allies and the corporations who rule her, are forever finding new ways to destroy Haiti and her people. For two hundred years they have frustrated the desire of the Haitian people to be fully independent and free. Now with high tech seeds, a new form of oppression is set loose on Haiti. It means the total subservience of Haiti to Monsanto for the ability to grow crops to feed herself. Monsanto, not Haiti, will determine what will grow and how it will be done, and who will profit from Haiti's agriculture. Read about it here and learn what needs to be done.</span></strong></div><br /><div><span style="color:#003333;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="color:#003333;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Monsanto, Haiti's "New Earthquake"<br /><br /></span></strong>"A new earthquake" is what Haitian peasant farmer leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) called the news that Monsanto will be dumping 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn seeds and vegetable seeds on Haiti, seeds doused with highly toxic fungicides such as thiram, known to be extremely dangerous to farm workers. Hybrid seeds, like GMO seeds (in contrast to Creole heirloom or organic seeds) require lots of water, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides. In addition if a small farmer tries to save hybrid seeds after harvest, hybrid seeds usually do not "breed true" or grow very well in the second season, forcing the now-indentured peasant to buy seeds from Monsanto or one of the other hybrid/GMO seed monopolies in perpetuity. Monsanto wanted initially to dump GMO seeds on Haiti, but even the corrupt Haitian government knew that this would spark a rebellion, so Monsanto cleverly decided to dump hybrid seeds instead. The Haitian small farmers organization has committed to burning Monsanto's seeds, and has called for a march to protest the corporation's presence in Haiti on June 4, for World Environment Day.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=pYOOfuWDwOHwI83D0YZLuBwB4Q0uviNa" target="_blank"><span style="color:#003333;">Read More</span></a><br /><span style="color:#003333;"><br />Learn more on </span><a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=L2sI7OPTsQpLogX5d4%2Fl3xwB4Q0uviNa" target="_blank"><span style="color:#003333;">OCA's Millions Against Monsanto campaign page</span></a><span style="color:#003333;">.<br /><br /></span><a name="128d7bb3a50f6661_SEC2"><br /><span style="color:#003333;">Alert of the Week</span></a><br /><span style="color:#003333;">Monsanto's Poison Pills for Haiti<br />Take Action in Solidarity with Haitian Farmers Who Vow to Burn Monsanto's Toxic Fungicide-Coated Hybrid Seeds<br /><br />Since gaining their independence from France more than 200 years ago in a bloody slave uprising, Haitian farmers have wisely protected their seeds and nurtured native crop varieties. They know that true food security is maintained by farmers who save, trade and breed indigenous seeds using traditional organic methods.<br /><br />As Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, the Executive Director of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP), wrote earlier this year, "We need to establish seed banks and have silos where we can store our Creole seeds. Local, organic seeds are the basis of food sovereignty. It's urgent that Haitians buy local seeds. ... What's the danger we face today? It's that food aid from USAID and others is getting dumped in the country."<br /><br />USAID and Monsanto have a poison pill for Haiti, designed to the make the island nation into a slave colony once again, except this time they won't be slaves for France, but rather for Monsanto and corporate agribusiness. Join the Haitian people and the growing global movement of Millions Against Monsanto.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=OUULr7ktO%2BhbKNIz4Qmk%2BhwB4Q0uviNa" target="_blank"><span style="color:#003333;">Take Action</span></a><br /><span style="color:#003333;"><br />You can </span><a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=v2dLlfE7HV%2Bmo%2F5TjE6NNRwB4Q0uviNa" target="_blank"><span style="color:#003333;">donate to the distribution of local, organic seeds within Haiti here</span></a><span style="color:#003333;">.<br /></span></div>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-14758168206226772202010-05-01T18:59:00.000-07:002010-05-01T19:12:51.038-07:00The Imperial Plunder of Haiti<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJwEeJNpH766c5g1m6di1EedI6uUBuLqWNu9LZvoFQNR5DLsUjI2jpN-E-V2PWt0aGcDweve15I0BTZ8i7F0MiWdFGkd0RgU6wHCiH0p3mCJzbHLKJtBB4yG_iMkU82raVACG1ER92qlU/s1600/Haitian+market+fire.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 189px; height: 115px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJwEeJNpH766c5g1m6di1EedI6uUBuLqWNu9LZvoFQNR5DLsUjI2jpN-E-V2PWt0aGcDweve15I0BTZ8i7F0MiWdFGkd0RgU6wHCiH0p3mCJzbHLKJtBB4yG_iMkU82raVACG1ER92qlU/s400/Haitian+market+fire.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466488623782493714" border="0" /></a><br /><dl style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><dt style="text-align: center; color: rgb(102, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">What is taking place now in Haiti? This article which is a collection of articles seems to paint a dismal picture of the hyenas and jackals moving in to rip apart the carcass of a devastated country which has struggled for 500 years to survive. The international 'aid' community is moving in for the kill as if the quake were not bad enough. According to some reports the major food market in Port au Prince has been burnt down by the government in retaliation for refusing to go along with a scheme to sell aid items on the black market. Thousands are being forcibly removed from tent encampments with no where to go, or moved to UN camps with no facilities.<br /></dt><dt style="text-align: center; color: rgb(102, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">The nightmare continues.<br /><center></center></dt><dt><br /><center></center></dt><dt><br /><center></center></dt><dt style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><center><b><span style="font-size:3px;">Preparing Haiti For Exploitation And Plunder</span></b></center> </dt><dt style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><center><span style="font-size:1px;">By Stephen Lendman<br />5-1-10</span></center> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">Over 15 weeks post-quake, Haiti's imperial takeover is proceeding. It began straightaway after the calamity, Haitians victimized by denied aid, appalling repression, and now dispossession of their land, homes, and communities. More on that below.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">On April 16, The New York Times carried Reuters and AP reports stating Haiti's parliament approved the participation of foreign investors to rebuild the country, meaning, of course, seize, occupy, own, control, and colonize it for profit, using Haitians as exploited serfs.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">AP stated:</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">"Haiti's soon-to-expire parliament has approved the creation of (an Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission - IHRC) co-chaired by former US President Bill Clinton to oversee billions in post-quake reconstruction aid, the Ministry of Communications said Friday (April 16)." </span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">The vote also extended Haiti's state of emergency for 18 months, leaving the Rene Preval-Jean-Max Bellerive government in charge, effectively a dictatorship like Preval instituted in 1999 by not renewing parliament and ruling by decree pending new elections.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">Reuters explained that a March 31 "donors" conference established the IHRC to oversee their investment, Preval to have nominal veto power over commission decisions. In fact, he'll rubber stamp what Washington and corporate interests dictate, supervised by the World Bank, a longstanding imperial tool.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">Preval asked, "Do we lose our sovereignty because of the creation of this commission? I think the answer is no." </span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">Except for the Aristide years (1991, 1994 - 96, and 2001 -2004), early in Preval's first term (1996 - 2001), and its brief 1804 liberation, Haiti lacked sovereignty throughout its history. Post-quake, it has even less, its people more than ever in jeopardy with imperial plans to gravely harm them, perhaps exterminate hundreds of thousands through neglect or other means.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">Laying Imperial Plans</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">On March 10, prior to the March 31 "donors" conference, Preval was received at the White House, held a joint press conference, ignored the plight of his people, yet Obama thanked him for "showing great courage and determination," when, in fact, he's been largely invisible, and to date has done nothing to engage Haitians directly, including in their makeshift camps the way Jean-Bertrand Aristide would have done straightaway, with a hands-on approach for long hours daily. </span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">Preval prefers White House photo-ops in deference to power and privilege, increasing, not alleviating his peoples' suffering.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">The Predators Ball - Nations Gather in New York for Their Share</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">The web site www.haiticonference.org announced the:</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">"International Donors' Conference Toward a New Future for Haiti" explaining:</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">"The United States and the United Nations (UN), in cooperation with the Government of Haiti, and with the support Brazil, Canada, the European Union, France, and Spain co-hosted" the conference and received "over US $5 billion pledged for Haiti's recovery" - around $1 billion promised by Washington, less than the EU's $1.7 billion and Venezuela's $1.3 billion. In total, however, it's a fraction of what Haitians need, and "redevelopment" won't reach them as it's earmarked for profit-making ventures, not poverty-stricken neighborhoods and essential infrastructure to support them. </span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">A recovery and development roadmap outlined short and longer-term priorities, with participating countries lining up for their take, the lion's share, of course for America, then France and Canada, and what they have in mind is more sweatshops, gentrified elite areas, expanded tourism, free trade zones, and the grand prize - exploiting Haiti's resources, including what's believed to be abundant untapped oil reserves, what US oil giants made plans for decades ago. They intend deep water ports, refineries, and other facilities to fully exploit the treasure, not mentioned in major media reports, now largely silent on Haiti and its long-suffering people.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">Ahead of the conference on March 27, a New York Times editorial headlined, "Making Haiti Whole," endorsed it, saying:</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">It marks "the beginning of the long, slow birth of a new Haiti. Representative of the Haitian government, the United States and other nations and aid organizations will be discussing large, ambitious, farsighted plans," far different ones from what The Times suggests.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">On April 28, Reuters headlined, "Lawmakers agree on trade bill to help Haiti," saying:</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">"Top US lawmakers said on Wednesday they have reached a bipartisan deal to help Haiti rebuild its earthquake-shattered economy by opening the US market to more Haitian clothing and textiles" - to be produced in rebuilt sweatshops, where workers are treated like slaves, not human beings. They pay starvation wages, no benefits, and no overtime for up to 70 hours a week in harsh or hazardous environments. They're inhumane workplaces, dimly lit in stifling heat, with no way to organize for redress or avoid being fired if complain.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">Yet according to Congressman Charles Rangel (representing his black Harlem constituents):</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">"The Haitian garment sector, Haiti's flagship industry, was making important strides prior to the earthquake and helping the country's economy establish a stable foothold. With this legislation, we will help to get the garment sector and Haiti's economy back on that critical trajectory," mindless of how it affects exploited workers.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">Mindless also of haitian-truth.org's April 27 report headlined, "Preval Instigated Fire rips through major Haitian market," saying:</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">"A large incendiary fire" destroyed much of Port-au-Prince's main public market, Marche du Port, affecting hundreds of stalls and two surrounding blocks. UN Blue Helmets (MINUSTAH) were notably absent. Firefighters had inadequate resources, and shopkeepers rushed to save what they could.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">One seller, Pierre Elian, said:</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">"The front of the market place is already burned down. We don't know if the area where we kept our merchandise is also burning, because they won't let us go near it."</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">Merchants blamed Preval-controlled instigators, saying "recognized gang members were seen pouring gasoline over material to" ignite the blaze - as "political pressure against the poor" who need the food and merchandise to survive.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">Patrick Servius, who lost his clothing business, said:</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">"Preval is angry with us for our refusal to sell relief supplies in our places. These are (donated goods) for the earthquake victims, not for Preval's profits. Now we pay for our patriotism."</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">They'll soon know what else Preval has in mind. More on that below.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">The Next Shoe to Drop - Forced Relocations</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">On April 7, the Haiti Response Coalition (HRC, a network of urban and rural civil society groups) issued an alert saying:</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">An encampment of 11,000 Haitians on Saint Louis de Gonzague school land face forced displacement. They've "been offered a plot of land that will hold 500 in a different location. No regard has been given to the fact that the majority of the 11,000 will end up in the street," or that mass forced relocations are coming next.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">On April 12, AFP headlined, "Haiti evacuates quake victims camp, faces critics," saying:</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">"....authorities ramped up moves to forcibly evacuate dozens of tent cities across the capital....After evicting some 7,000 people at the weekend (from the national stadium), the government began the forced removal of a further 10,000" from camps around the city, early steps preceding mass numbers to follow, ahead of preparing the area for redevelopment.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">One camp member said he was given a week to leave for Tabarre Issa, a UN camp where there are "No toilets, no showers....there's nothing there."</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">On April 11, Reuters reported that "Haiti starts moving quake victims to safer refuge," saying:</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">"Haiti's government and foreign aid agencies started an operation....to move thousands of earthquake survivors," on the pretext of sending them to safer areas ahead of seasonal rains that cause flooding.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">On April 29, Los Angeles Times writer Ken Ellingwood headlined, "Tensions rise over Haiti tent camps," saying:</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">Tensions are "playing out at stadiums, in churchyards and factory lots, almost anywhere there is enough land to pitch a tent. (Authorities face) the tricky task of balancing the needs of more than a million homeless with the urge of many others to resume a more normal life," ignoring the real "urge" for imperial plunder.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">Haiti's constitution recognizes the rights of all citizens to "decent housing, education, food and social security."</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">The "United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement....reflect and are consistent with international human rights law and international humanitarian law." They:</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">-- assure "full equality, the same rights and freedoms under international and domestic law as do other persons in their country. They shall not be discriminated against in the enjoyment of any rights and freedoms on the ground that they are internally displaced;</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">-- shall be observed by all authorities....;</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">-- (assure) protection and humanitarian assistance from these authorities....without discrimination of any kind....;</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">-- (guarantee) "the right to be protected against forcible return to or resettlement in any place where their life, safety, liberty, and/or health would be at risk," among other provisions, 30 in all recognizing the needs of displaced people when they're most vulnerable.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">TransArica Forum Alert</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">On April 12, Transafricaforum.org issued a memorandum headlined "Forced IDP Relocations," saying:</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">"Throughout our network of contacts (on the ground in Haiti), we received a report of a forceful removal of an IDP camp in Caradeux Delas 75, Port-au-Prince. The exact number affected isn't yet known....all reported a complete lack of latrines....no water sources....and no food distributions.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">The Refugee Camp community members reported that they did not receive warning before the large Conseil Nationale Equipements (CNE) bulldozers and graters came to their community with Haitian National Police escorts late on Sunday evening (April 4)....threaten(ing) the families with violence if they did not leave their home immediately."</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">Batons were used, firearms discharged in the air, and their homes were destroyed, by officers, then bulldozers. The process continued for three days and nights. Where those displaced were sent isn't known. The only answer given was they're "now living on the streets."</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">Around 1.2 million Haitians remain in makeshift tent cities throughout Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas with little aid or concern for their welfare or safety. Now in preparation for redevelopment, hundreds of thousands, perhaps all, will be ordered to move or be forcibly displaced to even grimmer locations, on their own, with little beyond their own ingenuity to survive.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">This is Washington's imperial plan, being implemented for exploitation and plunder. This writer's previous article explained Haiti is no stranger to adversity and anguish, having endured over 500 years of oppression, slavery, despotism, colonization, reparations, embargoes, sanctions, extreme poverty, starvation, unrepayable debt, and calamities like the January 12 quake killing around 300,000, destroying their homes and belongings, and leaving them vulnerable to imperial plunder of their land, resources and lives - again, on their own, out of luck, and out of major media focus that ignores the greater disaster awaiting them, and the trashing of their human rights and freedoms.</span> </dt><dt> </dt><dt><span style="font-size:+1;">Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at <mailto:lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net>lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.</span> </dt><dt style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><center><table width="555" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="TOP" width="100%"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></center><br /></dt></dl>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-88153274249351315282010-04-08T11:26:00.000-07:002010-04-08T11:41:21.886-07:00Food Self-Sufficiency for Haiti<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_UXQDzkEg9IRU_FspBqmk31JwUk0qmlepJaQGWMc4fj41B0PKfbIlHvuJeedUjCeCh93jg1PrLzPpEP9sP2wDPUE2e_RAbsghl6XdKVhM-X5gYOSIhL5DSn7ybtC7p77DsP7g_bWT00/s1600/Haitian+rice+and+beans.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457837858024554450" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 168px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 131px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_UXQDzkEg9IRU_FspBqmk31JwUk0qmlepJaQGWMc4fj41B0PKfbIlHvuJeedUjCeCh93jg1PrLzPpEP9sP2wDPUE2e_RAbsghl6XdKVhM-X5gYOSIhL5DSn7ybtC7p77DsP7g_bWT00/s400/Haitian+rice+and+beans.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center"><span style="color:#003300;"><strong>Haiti is a perfect example of how globalism and free-trade policies wreck whole countries. How could little Haiti - long a producer of enough rice to feed her own people with some left over for export - compete with low-cost subsidized rice from abroad? Developing countries like Haiti have to have protectionism policies that shield them from unfair foreign competition, otherwise all local agriculture and manufacturing will wither on the vine. That's how Alexander Hamilton set up the American System of economy to break free from the economic shackles imposed by Great Britain, the 'Mother Country'. The policy for Haiti has to be ; "No cheap imports!" That will allow for the development of Hatian agricultlure and economy. Globalism and free trade should be exposed for what they truly are - velvet gloved genocide, without the velvet. The best part of this article of Bill Clinton's confession that it was he, as President, who ruined Haiti's agriculture.</strong></span><br /><a class="menu-1-4-2" id="originals" title="Originals" href="http://www.truthout.org/originals"></a><br /><a class="menu-1-5-2" id="issues" title="Issues" href="http://www.truthout.org/issues"></a><br /><a href="http://www.truthout.org/boost-haitis-self-sufficiency-buying-local-rice58382"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#cc0000;">Boost Haiti's Self-Sufficiency by "Buying Local" Rice</span></strong></a><br /><span style="color:#cc0000;">07 April 2010<br /></span><a href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/press-releases/press-releases/international-community-can-boost-haitis-self-sufficiency/" target="_blank"><span style="color:#cc0000;">by: The Center for Economic and Policy Research</span></a><br /><span style="color:#cc0000;">Washington, D.C. - The international community could, in the words of former President Bill Clinton, help Haiti "become more self-sufficient" by purchasing the entire Haitian rice crop over the next two years for just 2.35 percent of total current committed aid funds. A </span><a href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/reports/using-food-aid-to-support-haiti/" target="_blank"><span style="color:#cc0000;">new issue brief</span></a><span style="color:#cc0000;"> from the </span><a href="http://www.cepr.net/" target="_blank"><span style="color:#cc0000;">Center for Economic and Policy Research</span></a><span style="color:#cc0000;"> (CEPR) finds that buying up all of Haiti's rice should be close to the amount of food aid for rice that the international community is likely to provide this year, and would provide a tremendous boost to Haitian farmers, who currently are unable to compete with low-cost rice imports from the U.S.<br />"The international donors have said that they do not want to repeat the mistakes of the past, which have destroyed much of Haiti's agriculture," said </span><a href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/mark-weisbrot/" target="_blank"><span style="color:#cc0000;">Mark Weisbrot</span></a><span style="color:#cc0000;">, economist and CEPR Co-Director, and lead author of the paper. "It would be very easy and inexpensive for them to keep this promise. Now we will see if they mean it."<br />There has been a growing recognition that past food aid to Haiti has had a significant negative impact on local food production and contributed to the sharp decline of Haiti's rice sector. Last month, <span style="color:#333333;">Bill Clinton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that exporting cheap rice to Haiti "was a mistake … I had to live everyday with the consequences of the loss of capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people because of what I did."<br /></span>The </span><a href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/reports/using-food-aid-to-support-haiti/" target="_blank"><span style="color:#cc0000;">paper notes</span></a><span style="color:#cc0000;"> that while there is much that can and should be done to support Haitian agriculture and the rebuilding of the economy, it is most important to immediately reduce the harm caused by imported, subsidized rice. The authors propose that this can be done by having the international community immediately commit to buying Haitian rice for the next two years. Since food aid was 13 percent of the total rice supply last year, and Haitian rice production is about 15 percent of total supply, buying up all of Haiti's rice would be close to the amount of food aid for rice that the international community would be expected to provide this year.<br />The paper also suggests the aid donors buy the rice at a price that is high enough to encourage local production. Even though this would have to be somewhat higher than an average of past years' market prices, the cost would only be between $62.1million and $82.8 million per year. Since international donors have committed $5.3 billion in aid for the next 18 months, or $3.53 billion annually, the cost of buying Haiti's rice crop would be only 1.76 to 2.35 percent of committed international aid funds.<br />Since there are funds allocated to bringing in a similar amount of rice in any case, the additional cost of buying the Haitian rice crop would actually be considerably less than the high estimate of $82.8 million, or 2.35 percent of committed funds.<br />On March 25, former President Clinton and UN special envoy to Haiti told representatives of aid groups: "Every time we spend a dollar in Haiti from now on we have to ask ourselves, 'Does this have a long-term return? Are we helping them become more self-sufficient? ... Are we serious about working ourselves out of a job?"<br />CEPR maintains a blog, "</span><a href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/relief-and-reconstruction-watch/" target="_blank"><span style="color:#cc0000;">Haiti: Relief and Reconstruction Watch</span></a><span style="color:#cc0000;">" that tracks the multinational Haiti relief and reconstruction efforts with an eye towards ensuring that they are oriented toward the most urgent and important needs of the Haitian people, and that aid is not used to undermine Haitians' right to self-</span></div>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-15545902538059889932010-03-31T12:15:00.000-07:002010-03-31T12:29:08.959-07:00How the US Impoverished Haiti<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAA-oqxjR0QVdbOO07-UkE4mCRgfjhtfkYE_CPw197VGDCQNeXWKnb9dTC_sxyR7AawktEMqx3FUIfSYC1IfTjGj63OlA3Y4suT5FIfYp6whpqQ9Z8KJFjmae3FmAOyIa6dRPz9pNIu3o/s1600/Haitian+tents.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454882049651549074" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 215px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 208px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAA-oqxjR0QVdbOO07-UkE4mCRgfjhtfkYE_CPw197VGDCQNeXWKnb9dTC_sxyR7AawktEMqx3FUIfSYC1IfTjGj63OlA3Y4suT5FIfYp6whpqQ9Z8KJFjmae3FmAOyIa6dRPz9pNIu3o/s400/Haitian+tents.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglJB7cxYeSn48K_8pEScSX2aEe00B2gMsrDJncn833VKSSOW0I2iAdcoSxoXuu3gfaLOjs-u_4gTvEQFO8QcEfCpHzU-wx__Ljy1LEqFBW3xGeWumkzuq8yZgoVUl0X714A7gsFuF1BQE/s1600/Haiti+Earthquake.jpg"></a> <span style="color:#660000;">The following article give a brief, ie incomplete, history of the economic crisis in Haiti up til 2003. Things have only worsened since then. The earthquake of January 12 dealt the crushing blow. The article makes clear the culpability and responsibility of not just France, but of the United States in whose sphere of influence Haiti lies.</span><br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="color:#660000;">Enjoy. Learn. Share. </span></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div><span style="color:#003333;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">How the US Impoverished Haiti<br /></span></strong><br /></span><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/9249" target="_blank"><span style="color:#003333;"><em>http://politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/9249</em></span></a><br /><span style="color:#003333;"><em><br />Author’s update: The horrific disaster that has befallen Haiti is perhaps unprecedented in the Western Hemisphere. Estimates now say that perhaps hundreds of thousands have died as a result of the Jan. 12 earthquake. The media have constantly recited, as a mantra, that Haiti’s weak infrastructure and poor quality of construction account for the large number of deaths. The implication is that Haitians are unable to govern and build a reliable, sustainable society. The truth of the matter is that, left to their own efforts, Haitians would have been more than able to build a reliable democracy with adequate infrastructure. But they have never been allowed to do so – not by Europe and certainly not by the United States. The article below was written in 2003. It attempts to describe how Haiti has been by design maintained as the most impoverished nation in our hemisphere. Contact your congressional representatives and urge them to move Congress to increase aid to Haiti. For more on direct aid and action, go to Haitiaction.net.<br /></em><strong>Like this earthquake victim, Haiti has been crushed under U.S. exploitation and debt for most of its existence. Though the demand by Haiti for reparations from France is just, it obscures the role the United States played in the process to impoverish Haiti – a role that continues to this day. Today Haiti is a severely indebted country whose debt-to-export ratio is nearly 300 percent, far above what is considered sustainable even by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Both institutions are dominated by the U.S. In 1980 Haiti’s debt was $302 million. Since then it has more than tripled to $1.1 billion, approximately 40 percent of the nation’s gross national product. Last year Haiti paid more in debt service than it did on medical services for the people. Haitian officials say nearly 80 percent of the current debt was accumulated by the regimes of Francois and Jean-Claude Duvalier, Papa Doc and Baby Doc. Both regimes operated under the benign gaze of the United States that has had a long and sordid history of keeping Haiti well within its sphere of economic and political influence. It is now well known that the primary source of Haiti’s chronic impoverishment is the reparations it was forced to pay to the former plantation owners who left following the 1804 revolution. Some of the white descendants of the former plantation owners, who now live in New Orleans, still have the indemnity coupons issued by France. So in fact, at least part of the reparations paid by Haiti went toward the development of the United States. In 1825 Haiti was forced to borrow 24 million francs from private French banks to begin paying off the crippling indemnity debt. Haiti only acknowledged this debt in exchange for French recognition of her independence, a principle that would continue to characterize Haiti’s international relationships. These indemnity payments caused continual financial emergencies and political upheavals. In a 51-year period, Haiti had 16 different presidents – new presidents often coming to power at the head of a rebel army.<br />Nevertheless, Haiti always made the indemnity payments – and, following those, the bank loan payments – on time. The 1915 intervention by the Marines on behalf of U.S. financial interests changed all of that, however. The prelude to the 1915 U.S. intervention began in 1910 when the National Bank of Haiti, founded in 1881 with French capital and entrusted from the start with the administration of the Haitian treasury, disappeared. It was replaced by the financial institution known as the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti. Part of the capital of the new national bank was subscribed by the National City Bank of New York, signaling, for the first time, U.S. interest in the financial affairs of Haiti. The motivation for the original U.S. financial interest in Haiti was the schemes of several U.S. corporations with ties to National City Bank to build a railroad system there. In order for these corporations – including the W.R. Grace Corp. – to protect their investments, they pressured President Woodrow Wilson and his secretary of state, William Jennings Bryan, to find ways to stabilize the Haitian economy, namely by taking a controlling interest in the Haitian custom houses, the main source of revenue for the government. After Secretary of State Bryan was fully briefed on Haiti by his advisers, he exclaimed, “Dear me, think of it! Niggers speaking French.” Ironically, however, Bryan, a longtime anti-imperialist, was against any exploitative relationship between the U.S. and Haiti or any other nation in the Western Hemisphere. In fact he had long called for canceling the debts of smaller nations as a means by which they could normally grow and develop. Not surprisingly, Bryan’s views were not well received in Washington or on Wall Street. Due to the near total ignorance at the State Department and in Washington generally about Haiti, Bryan was forced to rely on anyone who had first hand information. That person turned out to be Roger L. Farnham, one of the few people thoroughly familiar with Haitian affairs.<br />Farnham was thoroughly familiar with Haitian affairs because he was vice-president of the National City Bank of New York and of the new National Bank of the Republic of Haiti and president of the National Railway of Haiti. In spite of the secretary of state’s hostility to Wall Street and Farnham’s obvious conflict of interest, Bryan leaned heavily on Farnham for information and advice. As vice president of both National City Bank and the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti, Farnham played a cat and mouse game with the Haitian legislature and president. Alternately, he would threaten direct U.S. intervention or to withhold government funds if they did not turn over control of the Haitian custom houses to National City Bank. In defense of Haitian independence, lawmakers refused at every juncture. Finally, in 1914, with the outbreak of World War I, Farnham was able to convince Washington that France and Germany posed direct threats to the U.S. by their presence in Haiti. Each had a small colony of business people there. In December of 1914, Farnham arranged for the U.S. Marines to come ashore at Port Au Prince, march into the new National Bank of Haiti and steal two strongboxes containing $500,000 in Haitian currency and sail to New York, where the money was placed in New York City Bank. This made the Haitian government totally dependent on Farnham for finances with which to operate. The final and immediate decision to intervene in Haiti came in July of 1915 with yet another overthrow of a Haitian president, this time the bloody demise of Vilbrun Guillaume Sam. For the next 19 years, the U.S. Marine Corps wielded supreme authority throughout Haiti, often dispensing medicines and food as mild forms of pacification. Within several years, however, charges of massacres of Haitian peasants were made against the military as Haitians revolted against the road building programs that required forced labor. In one such incident at Fort Reviere, the Marines killed 51 Haitians without sustaining any casualties themselves. Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt awarded Major Smedley D. Butler the Congressional Medal of Honor. That’s not unlike the awarding of Medals of Honor to the “heroes” of the massacre at Wounded Knee, in which hundreds of Sioux Native Americans were slaughtered in 1890.<br />Reports of U.S. military abuses against the Haitians became so widespread that NAACP official James Weldon Johnson headed a delegation to investigate the charges, which they deemed to be true. While the U.S. occupation was not without some successes – the health care system was improved and the currency was stabilized – it was in other economic spheres where the most damage was done. For the entire 19-year duration of the intervention, maximum attention was given to paying off Haiti’s U.S. creditors, with little to no attention given to developing the economy. In 1922 former Marine Brigade Commander John Russell was named High Commissioner of Haiti, a post he held until the final days of the occupation. Under Russell’s influence, all political dissent was stifled and revenue from the custom houses was turned over, often months ahead of schedule, to Haiti’s U.S. bond creditors, who had assumed loans originally extended to Haiti to pay off the French plantation owners’ reparations! By 1929, however, with the Western world’s economic depression and the lowering of living standards throughout Haiti, serious student strikes and worker revolts, combined with Wall Street’s inability to lure serious business investors there, Washington decided it was time to end the military occupation. When then President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Haiti in 1934 to announce the pullout, he was the first head of a foreign nation in Haiti’s history to extend a visit. Despite the American military pullout, U.S. financial administrators continued to dominate the Haitian economy until the final debt on the earlier loans was retired in 1947. Soon after the U.S. withdrew from Haiti, a Black consciousness movement of sorts took hold that was the precursor of the “negritude” movement popularized by Aimee Cesaire and Leopold Senghor. Francois Duvalier, an early believer in “negritude,” came to power in the late 1950s, popularizing ideas that resonated with a population that had withstood a white foreign occupation for many years.<br />By the time Duvalier grabbed the presidency of the world’s first Black republic established by formerly enslaved peoples, Haiti had experienced more than 150 years of chronic impoverishment and discriminatory lending policies by the world’s leading financial institutions and powers. The economic forecast for Haiti has not improved, even with the democratic election of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, since he has been consistently demonized in the U.S. and world pres</strong>s. --Jean Damu is the former western regional representative for N’COBRA, National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, and a former member of the International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, taught Black Studies at the University of New Mexico, has traveled and written extensively in the Caribbean and Africa and currently serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration. Email him at </span><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:jdamu2@yahoo.com" target="_blank"><span style="color:#003333;">jdamu2@yahoo.com</span></a><span style="color:#003333;">. This story first appeared in the San Francisco Bay View in 2003.<br />****************************************************************************************************************************<br />Mahdi Ibn-Ziyad, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor Philosophy/Religion & Graduate Liberal StudiesRutgers University, Camden, NJRutgers @ Atlantic Cape Community College, Mays Landing, NJ</span><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:ziyad@camden.rutgers.edu" target="_blank"><span style="color:#003333;">ziyad@camden.rutgers.edu</span></a><span style="color:#003333;">Honors History Teacher, Camden High School Social Studies, Dept.Chair, PAC/Fundraisers, Camden Education AssociationCEA Rep. District Curriculum and Professional Development Committees</span><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:mibnziyad@camden.k12.nj.us" target="_blank"><span style="color:#003333;">mibnziyad@camden.k12.nj.us</span></a><span style="color:#003333;">Home address:<br />Box 1906 Camden, NJ 08101; cell 856.655.9488; </span><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:ibnziyadd@aol.com" target="_blank"><span style="color:#003333;">ibnziyadd@aol.com</span></a><span style="color:#003333;">------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Frederick Douglass' "Philosophy Born of Struggle", 1857"Let me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of struggle. This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one ... but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without demand. It never did and it never will". </span></div></div>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-89794487752286715902010-03-29T11:48:00.000-07:002010-03-29T11:48:00.129-07:00How 10,000 NGO's Helped Haiti Out - out of everything Haiti had<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig0mJ6liq_6Rl9LZD-xIpjiYD5SJkFmZDyUrmZa3djsJf3LpzAaUw2oBKsb-Cfx2FSPSt_emFbw4OBbedQnta5hVIK_cWI47AtjMpuXQJ_smMlvg76e5oAbIPOsQPHOGfL3k_JyX8Y7_4/s1600/Haiti+dead.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 189px; height: 143px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig0mJ6liq_6Rl9LZD-xIpjiYD5SJkFmZDyUrmZa3djsJf3LpzAaUw2oBKsb-Cfx2FSPSt_emFbw4OBbedQnta5hVIK_cWI47AtjMpuXQJ_smMlvg76e5oAbIPOsQPHOGfL3k_JyX8Y7_4/s400/Haiti+dead.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453762259545538114" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-size:100%;" >The following editorial from the Guardian shows who 'helped' Haiti to become the basket case country she has become. With friends like these, who needs enemies? Given the deaths of over 300,000 Haitians in the recent earthquake, and the tens of thousands more who will die because of inadequate shelter and food and other necessities, perhaps an investigation should be undertaken to see which of the 10,000 NGO's could be held culpable in these unnecessary deaths. Certainly Haiti must be considered a crime scene because somebody has committed high crimes for an awful long time. It is time for justice and rebuilding!</span><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 51, 51);" id="main-article-info"><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><h1>Unthinkable? Curb aid in Haiti</h1><h1><span style="font-size:130%;">l</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">ong before the earthquake hit, much of Haiti was run not by its government but by NGOs</span></span> </h1><h1><span style="font-size:130%;">Editorial </span></h1> </div> <div style="color: rgb(0, 51, 51);" id="content"><ul class="article-attributes no-pic multi-pub"><li class="publication"> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian">The Guardian</a>,<br /></li><li class="publication">Saturday 27 March 2010 </li></ul> <div id="article-wrapper"> <p>The role the United States and France played in the impoverishment of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/haiti" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Haiti">Haiti</a> must count among the less glorious achievements of both countries. Successive US presidents, from Ronald Reagan to George Bush, have contributed to the destruction of Haitian agriculture, with the result that Haiti, a natural rice producer, had to import subsidised US rice. This accelerated the flight into the cities, with the cataclysmic consequences witnessed when the earthquake struck. So that when Bill Clinton, now the UN envoy to Haiti, this week <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/25/us/AP-US-Clinton-Haiti.html" title="">questioned</a> whether the aid effort was helping Haiti to become self-sufficient, one had to remind oneself what happened to Haiti under Mr Clinton's presidency. He was, nevertheless, asking the right question. Long before the earthquake hit, much of Haiti was run not by its government but by NGOs. A World Bank study in 2006 counted 10,000 of them alone, the highest per capita concentration in the world. Of those, 800 alone were employed in agriculture, managing $85m of the $91m budgeted for public investment in 2006-07. Disaster relief has merely accelerated this process, and the UN's role has been to co-ordinate 900 NGO groups registered with it. The excuse for circumventing the Haitian government has been either its corruption or its complete absence, but the cure has become worse than the disease. The aid ought to be going to Haitians and their popular movements should decide how to rebuild the country. Foreign agendas for Haiti have not worked.</p> </div> </div>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-64430084074941898982010-03-28T10:26:00.000-07:002010-03-28T10:37:07.097-07:00Haiti Is A Training Ground for US Military<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBx0I9ZOwn3nFrEbVUSsK_Ntiezi98Q8G6cl3tH5qQrKtb8_KPDXekgaiGazYuHOw1dqUQ_C7yqORScWd4EU8Zzfw5spz0jv9ocgbyE1ro07cxwohxuDkTD9hyphenhyphen5yIfbFgRxpocf0_CvNI/s1600/US+Soldiers.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 186px; height: 194px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBx0I9ZOwn3nFrEbVUSsK_Ntiezi98Q8G6cl3tH5qQrKtb8_KPDXekgaiGazYuHOw1dqUQ_C7yqORScWd4EU8Zzfw5spz0jv9ocgbyE1ro07cxwohxuDkTD9hyphenhyphen5yIfbFgRxpocf0_CvNI/s400/US+Soldiers.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453739092838392050" border="0" /></a><span lang="FR-CA"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >While in Haiti recently, camped out at the UN compound near the airport, I could not help but notice the massive military presence and activity of US forces. They flew planes, helicopters and operated other heavy noisy equipment 24/7. What was strange was the lack of humanitarian effort. I personally did not see US forces engaged in any relief work. They were just on patrol. I saw them protecting banks. They controlled airport traffic and key roads in Haiti. I kept wondering -"What are all these soldiers here for?"</span></span></span></span><p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); text-align: center;"><span lang="FR-CA"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >There was no security problem of major proportions - the Haitian people were very well behaved and peaceful. Remarkable under the circumstances.This article based on information found in 'Stars and Stripes' may provide an answer: Haiti is a training ground for Afghanistan!</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" align="justify"><span lang="FR-CA"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" align="justify"><span lang="FR-CA"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">US Military Uses Haiti As Training Ground for Afghanistan</span></span><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" align="justify"><span lang="FR-CA"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">A recent report in </span><a href="http://www.stripes.com/" target="_new"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Stars and Stripes</span></a><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> reveals the nature of the US military operation in Haiti. Combat units from Iraq and Afghanistan have been deployed in Haiti under the banner of a humanitarian operation. Conversely, Haiti is also being used as a military training ground for forces without in-theater combat experience.<br /><br />According to the </span><a href="http://www.stripes.com/" target="_new"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Stars and Stripes </span></a><span style="font-family:Verdana;">report (March 14, 2010): "Marines deployed to Haiti to render emergency aid following January’s devastating earthquake are already training for the fight in Afghanistan."<br /></span></span><span lang="FR-CA"><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit who were dispatched to Haiti in the immediate wake of the earthquake are now being deployed in Afghanistan. In fact, the decision to send them to Afghanistan was taken prior to their deployment in Haiti: </span></span><span lang="FR-CA"><o:p><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <blockquote dir="ltr" style="margin-right: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;" align="justify"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span lang="FR-CA">"A small group of Marines stormed several small concrete buildings inside the wire at their seashore camp while their comrades played the roles of Afghan insurgents, shouting “bang” as they engaged their opponents in a mock attack. The day before, when Lt Gen Dennis J. Hejlik, commanding general of the II Marine Expeditionary Force visited the Marines on shore, he praised their good work in Haiti and asked them, “What’s next for you when you get home?”<br /><br /></span><span lang="FR-CA"><br />“Afghanistan,” came the reply. </span><span lang="FR-CA">As Huey helicopters buzzed overhead, Hejlik talked about the recent Marjah offensive, adding that there would be 20,000 Marines in Afghanistan by summer. </span><span lang="FR-CA">“You will join them next spring,” he told the Marines at Carrefour. </span><span lang="FR-CA">One of them, Sgt. Timothy Kelly, 23, of Johnston City, Ill., said members of his unit learned about the Afghan mission just before they got orders to head for Haiti."</span></span></p></blockquote> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" align="justify"><span lang="FR-CA"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">The training in Haiti "is geared towards close-quarters battle tactics": </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" align="justify"><span lang="FR-CA"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <blockquote dir="ltr" style="margin-right: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;" align="justify"><span lang="FR-CA"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">“Only a couple [of Marines in Kelly’s squad] have experience in Iraq or Afghanistan,” he said. ...<br /><br />We have a lot of guys that aren’t going to be here for that Afghan deployment. The ones who are, we might as well get them in the mind-set.<br /></span><span lang="FR-CA"><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Another Marine at Carrefour, Lance Cpl. Keith Cobb, 23, of Soso, Miss., said the Afghan deployment will be his first time in a war zone. </span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span lang="FR-CA">“I want to kill the terrorists and get rid of the bad people, but I would rather be here because I know I’m going home after this,” he said</span>”</span></span></p></blockquote> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" align="justify"><span lang="FR-CA"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" align="justify"><span lang="FR-CA"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Close Quarters Battle (CQB) is fighting involving small combat units "which engage the enemy with personal weapons at very short range". The training imparted in Haiti is to be used in both urban warfare and counterinsurgency operations.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">On March 25th, the US military reported that some 2,200 Marines, involved in humanitarian relief in Haiti had been withdrawn from the country</span>. </span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><strong>The Role of The Canadian Military<br /></strong><br />The Canadian military has adopted a similar pattern. Haiti is used as a launchpad for redeploying combat troops to the Middle East war theater.<br /><br />Canadian troops initially dispatched to Haiti under a humanitarian mandate are being sent to Afghanistan: "Soldiers of the Royal 22nd Regiment will have only two weeks before they have to switch their focus from providing emergency relief in Haiti to intensive combat training for a tour in Afghanistan, the commander of all Canadian troops overseas says." ( <em>National Post</em>, Febraury 23, 2010). The training of Canadian forces in Haiti, however, is to be imparted in Canada, prior to their redeployment. </span></span></p> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"> </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=listByAuthor&authorFirst=Michel&authorName=Chossudovsky"><i>Global Research Articles by Michel Chossudovsky</i></a>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-88713616918022159982010-03-25T12:20:00.000-07:002010-03-25T12:26:27.538-07:00Three Presidents in Haiti (video)<div align="center"><strong><em><span style="color:#003300;">So what are they there to do? Are they the solution or the problem? </span></em></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><em><span style="color:#003300;">What exactly is the Obama plan for the rebuilding of Haiti? </span></em></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><em><span style="color:#003300;">The handshake ? </span></em></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><em><span style="color:#003300;">Maybe it's the Haitian people who should be cleaning off their hands</span></em></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><em><span style="color:#003300;"> of the Bush-Clinton slime!</span></em></strong></div><div align="center"><span style="color:#003300;">Enjoy. Learn. Share.</span></div><p align="center"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0DtwkTS9mq8&color1=" color2="0xcfcfcf&hl=" feature="player_embedded&fs=" width="640" height="385" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed></p>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-91361528517121166822010-03-15T12:50:00.000-07:002010-03-15T13:23:19.243-07:00Clintons Rape Haiti<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi882ZhMdBc9DeTEI6K2H2WVYNaUyZVPjzx54kJNAZ7Zqln1TWp2gaQoujHpPUkYC4SdGkvWDF0MMekl7aDssWU1qlA3fmsoNrhjk9hyBa7AuD8w8v-XA2350ZZH9414X5Gopb2DqFQJhU/s1600-h/Bill+Clinton+sax.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448957585219401586" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 82px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 118px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi882ZhMdBc9DeTEI6K2H2WVYNaUyZVPjzx54kJNAZ7Zqln1TWp2gaQoujHpPUkYC4SdGkvWDF0MMekl7aDssWU1qlA3fmsoNrhjk9hyBa7AuD8w8v-XA2350ZZH9414X5Gopb2DqFQJhU/s400/Bill+Clinton+sax.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center"><em><strong><span style="color:#000099;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448957442240867202" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 120px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 80px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQplUZZzabrQcFVbPtUqWJ4TYAZ82SVLLp0EdhoAtaF84utw4rrYVvm3t4UtpQ6lxy9HAiS4oQ3sDpd7tbROwMY0IENeAE2yq8Pir17zhVkG1dJDVnN0NRzRT11KrqfCZ_aeoQrQM6J9w/s400/Obama+guitar.jpg" border="0" />Remember when we were all perplexed over the appointment of the first black President,Bill Clinton, by the second black President, Barrack Obama, (along with George W Bush), to oversee the Haitian relief effort being mounted by the US government? </span></strong></em></div><div align="center"><em><strong><span style="color:#000099;">Why would Mr Obama do such a thing? </span></strong></em></div><div align="center"><em><strong><span style="color:#000099;">Well, according to a Mr Pumphrey, it's all about the hundreds of millions of Haitian dollars that ends up in the pockets of the Clintons from the privatization of the Haitian phone system. </span></strong></em></div><div align="center"><em><strong><span style="color:#000099;">Did Obama know about that? </span></strong></em></div><div align="center"><em><strong><span style="color:#000099;">What else don't we know about related to the continuing rape of Haiti?</span></strong></em></div><div align="center"><em><strong><span style="color:#000099;">Check out the interview below for the details,</span></strong></em></div><div align="center"><em><strong><span style="color:#000099;">Enjoy. Learn. Share.<br /></span></strong></em><br /><strong>Clinton Family Pockets Haiti Assets in Telephone Company Privatization, Says Pumphrey<br /></strong>by Glen FordA Black Agenda Radio interview by Glen Ford<br /></div><a href="http://media.libsyn.com/media/blackagendareport/20100310PumphreyOnHaiti_12-20.mp3"></a><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448954372028464354" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 148px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK7TVtdb36apRK6rcjiowoDV-69uuiGDgH7Hvi3fZMejCbKGPNGwxanJeUUghijT2jiRyOIcL9jsRQqNnnKv1cBLjMpo6UIkxbuicywIHHCLefJC-rEVaIcG8yKnWg10LWND9-tzqWgvE/s400/hillary_navy.jpg" border="0" /><br /><span style="color:#333333;">Backed by the might of the United States military and their own official positions, the Clinton power couple plus brother-in-law have muscled themselves into the Haitian telephone monopoly. This cozy public-private partnership poses huge conflicts of interest, says Paul Pumphrey, of Brothers and Sisters International – and robs the Haitian people of hundreds of millions in revenues a year. But then, that's what empires are for, isn't it?</span><br /><span style="color:#333333;">Interview, click here:<br /></span><div><div><a href="http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/clinton-family-pockets-haiti-assets-telephone-company-privatization-says-pumphrey">http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/clinton-family-pockets-haiti-assets-telephone-company-privatization-says-pumphrey</a></div></div>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-35569820897640708892010-03-06T07:06:00.000-08:002010-03-06T07:24:34.077-08:00Report From Haiti<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghsmmmg6SKxyY04sNg-WpUa5fqRPsqyEmlKBF_9sU7upFwHEGJe6_ZK_mYnm_ssrZ0dYEF_OVGa42IFo-apTBRSxu2bnyeBPLPdo8fS1HCOpDvY4tmdwE4f2twGYa2G5pEchv1In5MX2g/s1600-h/Photos+2009-10+Haiti+390.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 295px; height: 222px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghsmmmg6SKxyY04sNg-WpUa5fqRPsqyEmlKBF_9sU7upFwHEGJe6_ZK_mYnm_ssrZ0dYEF_OVGa42IFo-apTBRSxu2bnyeBPLPdo8fS1HCOpDvY4tmdwE4f2twGYa2G5pEchv1In5MX2g/s400/Photos+2009-10+Haiti+390.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5445541801868692018" border="0" /></a><br /><div class="hide"><div style="border-bottom: thin solid rgb(238, 238, 238); padding: 4px 8px; background: rgb(255, 255, 204) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">4 March 2010</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin: 1ex;"><div><p style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Report from Haiti</span></span><br /></p><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">(</span></span>excerpts from a letter to the Hon Minister Louis Farrakhan)</span> <p style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">What I expected to do was to go to Haiti and be able to come back with some clear ideas about what to do and how to proceed. Actually, going to Haiti and working for 8 days literally <i>blew my mind</i>. I was not prepared for what I saw. The destruction of property in Haiti is nearly total in the Port au Prince area. All but the most modern buildings are destroyed. One third are reduced to rubble heaps, another third are collapsed and another third are still standing but structurally damaged. I believe less than 1/10<sup>th</sup> of the buildings will be salvageable. There is very little heavy machinery available to remove the debris and people are picking through the rubble with bare hands. They are looking for bodies, and personal belongings that have been lost, including money.</span><br /></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">The Haitian people are in shock. They are deeply wounded –physically and in spirit. The whole nation is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, as it is now called. Nobody knows the true death toll. It is probably close to half a million. It will continue to rise with the onset of the rainy season. The worst could be ahead of us. Hundreds of thousands are injured and many are permanently disabled and unable to work to earn a living. Many are now amputees in need of physical therapy and rehabilitation, which is not available. There are hundreds of thousands of orphaned children who have no support, no education, or even a place to live. </span><br /></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">I worked at a makeshift orphanage on the last day I was there. There were 83 orphans there who had been orphans before the quake. They had lived in 3 separate orphanages that collapsed in the quake. Out of 300 – 400 orphans only these 83 survived. The make shift orphanage was in a cleared out junkyard, with one large yellow tent and several smaller ones. A ‘kitchen’ of sorts was set up in an old rusted out truck bed. I did medical exams and set up a tetanus clinic to try and prevent tetanus (lock-jaw), which is epidemic in Haiti. The children were running around barefoot on broken glass and metal.</span><br /></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">Nearly everybody in Port au Prince is homeless. They live in contrived ‘shelters’ made of pieces of plastic and whatever they can find in so-called ‘tent cities’. Only there are hardly any tents. One of biggest needs as the rainy season begins – there are already heavy downpours and flooding- is for tents and other temporary shelters. At least 200,000 tents are needed right away. The Rotary Club has a campaign to get tents into Haiti – they shipped 2000 that I know of.</span><br /></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">Most of the people in Port au Prince need to be relocated. They were tricked into leaving their rural homes in the first place under the Clinton Administration. An <i> ‘interpretation’</i> was made that they could earn more gold for their labor in sweat shops set up in Port au Prince. My understanding is that Haiti was to be made into the new Taiwan – cheap labor for producing export goods. For the most part that never materialized – just like the promises made to Haiti down through history by other American Presidents have never been kept. From Washington, to Lincoln, to FDR, to Obama, they have all been liars when it came to Haiti.</span><br /></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">The most vulnerable Haitians should be evacuated to the United States where they can receive the kind of help they need and deserve. Others need to be relocated to other locations inside Haiti – to higher ground to escape the flooding. </span><br /></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">The rainy season presents mortal danger to tens of thousands of highly vulnerable and weakened people living in intensely over-crowded conditions. There is no sewage treatment in Haiti. There is no clean up in the makeshift camps. The floodwaters will carry disease far and wide – malaria, typhus, cholera, dengue fever, etc. Many will die unless they are evacuated as soon as possible. It will take many years to rebuild the city and the homes for the people to live in.</span><br /></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">There is much Haitian history to learn. And there are all of the political, economic, and cultural issues that are relevant as well. However, I will leave those issues to the scholars who know about such things. We had plenty of scholars on hand at the workshop at Saviour’s Day. While I enjoyed their presentations and learned a lot, to me, in an ongoing crisis emergency like the one in Haiti, everything done has to have a practical survival value. I don’t think the Haitian people need more rhetoric. </span><br /></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">It is crucial to recognize the important things that must be done or lives will be lost needlessly. The fact of it is that the magnitude of the tragedy is not due to the earthquake itself, but to the on-going policies of the United States, France and other nations toward Haiti. Hundreds of thousands are dead due to bad and immoral policy.</span><br /></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">It is true that the Haitian government has been dysfunctional in this crisis. But when I saw the utter destruction of the National Palace, the symbol of Haitian independence, and the other government buildings, it is clear why the Haitian government’s response is lacking. The government has been crushed. How many government workers are dead or mortally wounded, homeless? Certainly, their documents, equipment and work places no longer exist. There is no communication infrastructure. The government has to be re-organized if that is possible. How long will that take? The US military – along with the UN- has taken over, and is the <i>de facto</i> government. Entrée into or out of Haiti is controlled by the US military.</span><br /></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><b>What role do I see for the Nation of Islam in Haiti?</b> Frankly, I don’t really know. What is needed <i>physically</i> is beyond the <i>physical</i> resources that we have. Adoption of orphans would help. What is needed is the rebuilding of the country from the ground up. What is needed for Haiti is covered in point No. 4 of What the Muslims Want. Maybe our role is a political one – to get the US government to do by Haiti what is required by all that is moral and decent to rectify past injustices that have now been amplified by the devastation of the earthquake.</span><br /></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">The government of the United States should:</span></p> <ul style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><b><i>Undertake an immediate evacuation of perhaps as many as 1 million Haitians to safety and security in Haiti and elsewhere</i></b></span><br /></p></ul> <ul style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><b><i>Undertake the establishment of temporary shelter communities out of the flood plain of Port au Prince</i></b></span><br /></p></ul> <ul style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><b><i>Undertake the building of basic infrastructure in Haiti: roads, ports, sewage and water treatment, and electricity</i></b></span><br /></p></ul> <ul style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><b><i>Undertake the reforestation of Haiti and environmental remediation</i></b></span><br /></p></ul> <ul style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><b><i>Undertake the rebuilding of Port au Prince and other areas, and even the construction of new cities</i></b></span><br /></p></ul> <ul style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><b><i>Undertake the redevelopment of agriculture and industry to reestablish a viable Haitian economy</i></b></span><br /></p></ul> <ul style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><b><i>Undertake to support education and training of the Haitian people</i></b></span><br /></p></ul> <ul style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><b><i>Undertake to immediately dismiss the so-called ‘debt’</i></b></span><br /></p></ul> <ul style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><b><i>Undertake to immediately investigate the more than 10,000 NGO’s - some of which are corrupt and have exploited Haiti’s poverty to their own advantage</i></b></span><br /></p></ul> <ul style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><b><i>Undertake an investigation into the literal enslavement of children and others in Haiti</i></b></span><br /></p></ul> <ul style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><b><i>Undertake to work through the thousands of Haitian-American organizations in the diaspora on behalf of Haiti as a whole</i></b></span><br /></p></ul> <ul style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><b><i>And finally,</i></b></span><br /></p></ul> <ul style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><b><i>To disavow any US interest or intention to expropriate Haiti oil, gold, uranium and other natural and human resources and to investigate the possibility that the US military triggered the earthquake from the HAARP facility in Alaska</i></b></span><br /></p></ul> <p style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"> The recent discovery of vast oil reserves under the Port au Prince harbor, if developed for the benefit of Haiti, is more than sufficient to elevate Haiti’s economic status and pay for the rebuilding efforts. But the thieves must be held at bay.</span><br /></p><br /></div> </div>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-89397227292474870222010-03-03T09:19:00.000-08:002010-03-03T09:30:14.582-08:00True Haiti Death Toll Unknown<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxquyAonErWsgajQy82EBOWhHUdWokbMKnDZIwJXPoxQOCvTOUZUDbdKvEBCmt7goO475FibeLep0fa4EGwGwyCDP9AHLNTGgCJ5MoAAuxh9iE0cK8Woc5plq3fd9lzaYD5taDRMSxsP0/s1600-h/Haiti+rainy+season.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444460380000044146" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 175px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 122px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxquyAonErWsgajQy82EBOWhHUdWokbMKnDZIwJXPoxQOCvTOUZUDbdKvEBCmt7goO475FibeLep0fa4EGwGwyCDP9AHLNTGgCJ5MoAAuxh9iE0cK8Woc5plq3fd9lzaYD5taDRMSxsP0/s400/Haiti+rainy+season.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;color:#003300;"><strong><span style="font-size:100%;color:#330000;"><em>The following article makes <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ridicule</span> of the Haitian government's attempts at estimating the number of its citizens who perished in the recent 7.0 earthquake. The numbers go up, the numbers go down. No one knows for sure, and perhaps we never will. But we do know those who are living today as survivors and that if strong efforts are not mounted now many of the would-be survivors will be counted among the dead. With the onset of the rainy season in Haiti, shelter from the elements and basic sanitation are essential to prevent the further break out of epidemic diseases. We don't want to be in a position of counting any unnecessary deaths due to inaction. </em></span></strong></span><br /></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;color:#003300;"><strong>Will We Ever Know the Haitian Death Toll?</strong></span></div><div><span style="color:#003300;">Wednesday 03 March 2010<br /></span><a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/03/1509280/in-haiti-death-toll-remains-a.html" target="_blank"><span style="color:#003300;">by: Alfonso <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Chardy</span> and Jacqueline Charles The Miami Herald</span></a><br /><span style="color:#003300;">The view from the busy two-lane road is spectacular: tall limestone mountains rising to the east and the turquoise Caribbean shimmering to the west.<br />But this is no tourist resort. It's the site of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of mass graves where government crews buried tens of thousands of people killed by January's 7.0-magnitude earthquake.<br />While many of the mass graves are clearly marked with white wooden crosses atop mounds of dirt, the precise number of people buried beneath them may never be known. That's because since the earthquake, the Haitian government has not provided a precise accounting of the number of victims.<br />The disparate figures that government officials have provided over time cannot be verified. However, accounts by truck drivers who transported many of the bodies and workers who helped bury the victims suggest that official figures may not be incorrect.<br />Establishing a more precise death count is important for several reasons. It would help quantify the human loss, add historic context to one of the Western Hemisphere's worst disasters and help clarify initial confusion over varying death figures.<br />Haitian government estimates ranged from 100,000 to 270,000 in the days following the earthquake that crumbled thousands of buildings, including the presidential palace, government ministries, schools, churches, businesses and homes.<br />A government spokesman told The Miami Herald that more than 200,000 people have already been laid to rest in common graves, but that that figure does not include victims still under the rubble and victims buried privately by families or friends.<br />At the same time, workers at the Port-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">au</span>-Prince main cemetery said that dozens of private crypts were reopened for earthquake dead.<br />Keeping Log<br />Though some Haitian officials have talked of logbooks listing victims, two government drivers who carried bodies to mass graves in their dump trucks and one worker who helped bury them in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Titanyen</span> said they did not see anyone keeping tabs.<br />The drivers and the worker said the main mass graves were in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Titanyen</span> area, about 50 miles north of Port-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">au</span>-Prince.<br />Assad <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Volcy</span>, a spokesman for the National Palace, said more than 200,000 Haitians have been buried in common graves. He explained that government experts devised a formula to estimate how many quake victims have been buried.<br />But <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Volcy</span> said he did not know what the formula was. He promised to obtain an explanation of the formula but he has not.<br />Asked about multiple conflicting figures cited by the Haitian government in the days and weeks after the earthquake, including one as high as 270,000, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Volcy</span> said the figures reflected estimates that rose as officials continued to "count" victims.<br />Official Numbers<br />The figure of 270,000, according to the Haitian government, was cited by President <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">René</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Préval</span> during a meeting in Ecuador in mid-February with South American leaders.<br />The number was much higher than the first specific death toll of 111,481 issued on Jan. 23.<br />The next official figure, issued Jan. 24, put the death toll at 150,000. On Feb. 6, the government raised the figure to 212,000. On Feb. 9, the official figure jumped to 230,000.<br />The next day <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Préval</span> was quoted as saying 270,000 dead in a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">communiqué</span> issued in Port-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">au</span>-Prince, which his government withdrew a few hours later, citing a typo. A short time later, also on Feb.10, a second <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">communiqué</span> was issued changing the figure to 170,000.<br />In an interview, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Volcy</span> said that the varying death tolls reflected rising estimates as officials "counted" more and more dead. But <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Volcy</span> also could not account for the 60,000-body discrepancy between the Feb. 9 and Feb.10 estimates.<br />Asked if Haitian officials were confused, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Volcy</span> said no.<br />"There has been no confusion," he said. "Perhaps there was an error, but our estimates have been based on a formula to estimate numbers."<br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Volcy</span> said that according to the formula, which he could not explain, the number of bodies buried in common graves was more than 200,000. The figure excludes bodies still under the rubble or buried in private funerals, he added.<br />In an interview, a senior Haitian transportation official said his agency transported at least 170,000 bodies to mass graves in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Titanyen</span> area in the first three weeks after the earthquake.<br />Jean Gardy <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Ligonde</span>, technical director of the government-run transportation and construction agency known as Centre National <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">des</span> Equipment or <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">CNE</span>, said that between 80 and 100 dump trucks carried the bodies, with each truck making several trips a day.<br />"Some trucks carried as few as five bodies, others as many as 20 or 50 or 130," <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Ligonde</span> said.<br />Asked if <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">CNE</span> kept precise logbooks listing each body picked up on the street, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Ligonde</span> said the agency did not. His statement contradicts that of his boss, Jude <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Celestin</span> who told The Miami Herald in the days following the quake that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">CNE</span> workers carried a log with them to keep track of the bodies as they were being loaded into dump trucks.<br />After the interview, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Ligonde</span> called The Miami Herald and said he had been mistaken and that indeed logbooks were kept, but <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">CNE</span> officials said they didn't have them.<br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">Ligonde</span> said he believes the number of dead is higher than the 170,000 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">CNE</span> trucks carried to the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">Titanyen</span> area because bodies also were picked up by private dump trucks and dump trucks belonging to Haiti's sanitation department, Service <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">Metropolitain</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">de</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">Collecte</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36">de</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37">Residus</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38">Solides</span> or <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_39">SMCRS</span>.<br />Harry <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_40">Toussaint</span>, the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_41">SMCRS</span> coordinator, said in an interview that his agency used 10 of its 14 dump trucks to pick up bodies. He said his trucks also carried the bodies to the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_42">Titanyen</span> area.<br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_43">Toussaint</span> said his trucks made between two and four trips a day carrying at most 50 bodies per truck. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_44">Toussaint</span> said <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_45">SMCRS</span>' involvement in the collection and transportation of bodies lasted only a few days, from about Jan. 14 to about Jan. 19, but added that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_46">SMCRS</span> did not keep a precise count of bodies it transported.<br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_47">Nelis</span> St. Ange, for example, said that in the first two or three weeks after the earthquake, he transported between 100 and 150 bodies on each of the five to six trips he made every day between Port-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_48">au</span>-Prince and the mass grave area in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_49">Titanyen</span>.<br />A second driver, Mario Yancy, relayed a similar account.<br />Yancy and St. Ange said they drove the bodies to open graves dug by other workers in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_50">Titanyen</span>, an area of limestone mountains, farms and small seaside motels and bars along the two-lane National Route One from Port-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_51">au</span>-Prince to Cap <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_52">Haïtien</span> in the north.<br />Maxis <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_53">Maxime</span>, a farmer in the area who says he helped bury victims, said trucks ferrying bodies came to the open mass graves and dumped bodies in them for about two to three weeks after the earthquake.<br />"They came in the morning, in the afternoon and in the early evening, day after day, bringing many, many victims," <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_54">Maxime</span> recalled. "They stopped coming after the third week."<br />All republished content that appears on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_55">Truthout</span> has been obtained by permission or license.<br /></span><a href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.truthout.org/in-haiti-death-toll-remains-a-mystery57330&title=In"></a></div>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-48739423993725015802010-03-03T08:02:00.000-08:002010-03-03T08:11:22.370-08:00Floods Hit Haiti<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie7TVlns9PgfDmpDSCrBwiKqK6611ZJ4jvhkT57ar6By1GU181GsGF35DeUDHSdfbFS2f0gNNaSpcRcbPoMH_pnuI4cNSXttj7Ie_M_yXuPMCgxQODJn9du7rHGuuPeT7hgU4q2WI7klw/s1600-h/Haiti+floods.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444440102464873394" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie7TVlns9PgfDmpDSCrBwiKqK6611ZJ4jvhkT57ar6By1GU181GsGF35DeUDHSdfbFS2f0gNNaSpcRcbPoMH_pnuI4cNSXttj7Ie_M_yXuPMCgxQODJn9du7rHGuuPeT7hgU4q2WI7klw/s400/Haiti+floods.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="color:#660000;">Haiti is now at the beginning of the rainy season when torrential rains produce yearly floods and mud-slides. This year as a result of the 7.0 magnitude quake that struck January 12, the risk of death during this rainy season has risen to incalculable levels. With at least 1.5 million homeless there is no doubt that unless large scale evacuations are mounted right now, the death toll in Haiti will rise dramatically. Already 13 have died since the rains have begun. Without proper sewage treatment and drainage epidemic disease will soon be raging through the refugee shelter camps that are housing the homeless in less than sanitary and healthy conditions.</span></div><span style="color:#663300;">Haiti needs at least 200,000 tents and a massive evacuations of the most vulnerable immediately.</span><br /><span style="color:#003300;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="color:#003300;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Quake-torn Haiti hit by floods<br /></span></strong><em>Heavy rain has caused flooding in Haiti, killing at least 13 and trapping people in their homes and cars</em><br />Heavy rain has caused flooding in </span><a title="More from guardian.co.uk on Haiti" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/haiti"><span style="color:#003300;">Haiti</span></a><span style="color:#003300;">, killing at least 13 people as swollen rivers forced people on to roofs and trapped people in cars and homes.<br />With 1.3 million homeless and many living in makeshift camps with little or no sanitation as a result of </span><a title="" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/13/haiti-death-toll-fears-grow"><span style="color:#003300;">January's earthquake</span></a><span style="color:#003300;">, aid agencies have warned of another humanitarian disaster as the rainy season looms.<br />Several towns and villages in southern Haiti have been flooded since Saturday, a spokesman for the civil emergency unit said. UN troops and Haitian police moved 500 prisoners from a jail in Les Cayes as 1.5 metres of water swamped the coastal city. Witnesses said houses collapsed and people fled for high ground.<br />"At one point, people had to climb on the roofs of their homes," Joseph Yves-Marie Aubourg, the government's representative in the region, told Reuters. Five people died when their car was carried away, and others on foot were swept away in the torrent.<br />Les Cayes largely escaped the 12 January quake which devastated Port-au-Prince and killed more than 220,000, according to government figures. Its population was swollen by families fleeing the capital.<br />The government, the UN, and aid agencies have all raised the alarm about the rainy season, which starts in March or April and continues until autumn.<br />The scale of Haiti's catastrophe means that even a huge relief effort has not provided adequate shelter to hundreds of thousands of people. There are 415 temporary settlements housing roughly 550,000 quake survivors, according to the Organisation of International Migration. Others are living in rubble or with relatives.<br />The UN aims to provide every family with two plastic tarpaulins by 1 May. So far about 40% of the 1.3 million in need have received tents, tarpaulins or shelter toolkits, according to the Red Cross. Even if the UN reaches its target, rains could turn camps into disease-ridden swamps.<br />Already the stench of human waste is overpowering at settlements like Saint-Louis de Gonzague, which has one portable toilet for 10,000 people. Doctors have reported widespread cases of diarrhoea, abdominal pain, fever and infections. The big fears are cholera and typhoid.<br />It took just a few hours of rain one night last month to turn some Port-au-Prince camps into muddy quagmires. The rainy season brings tropical torrents and, from summer, hurricanes.<br />Nature's deadline has prompted the authorities to try to thin the makeshift camps by registering families whose homes can be swiftly repaired and rebuilt. Others will be encouraged to move in with relatives or friends.</span>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-10663357652888565242010-03-01T18:14:00.000-08:002010-03-01T18:20:18.310-08:00Has the US Military Occupied Haiti?<div align="center"><span style="color:#660000;"><em><strong>The following video details exactly what I saw with my own eyes while on the ground in Haiti. US and UN troops in control of the airports and the streets of Haiti, while ignoring the plight of the Haitian people. They are acting like an occupying force that has taken over the government of Haiti without declaring that to be so. They are turning away aid trying to enter the country. I saw them guarding banks - not delivering food or other aid. The aid is piling up at the airport surrounded by military and razor wire. What's going on? We deserve answers and the Haitian people deserve help.<br /></strong></em></span><br /></div><p align="center"><object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FyGAgW2psn0&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FyGAgW2psn0&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object></p>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-54835598351216858852010-02-28T07:12:00.000-08:002010-02-28T07:25:42.705-08:00Was the US Earthquake Weapon Used on Haiti?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8UUmim2OvEJFDsnn719pqnx3SrXJl7Y8hHa1ewiwPkBoBed54go_HjxFjbtNwCwnjLXn2BVu8il27yz8VFG8Y7TVH4VixSWhQ8MddOibNlyiKlx7hUnzrmwB8lL3ZG849dTCBboRWwXg/s1600-h/HAARP.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 136px; height: 88px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8UUmim2OvEJFDsnn719pqnx3SrXJl7Y8hHa1ewiwPkBoBed54go_HjxFjbtNwCwnjLXn2BVu8il27yz8VFG8Y7TVH4VixSWhQ8MddOibNlyiKlx7hUnzrmwB8lL3ZG849dTCBboRWwXg/s400/HAARP.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443315234333871042" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 102); font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;" >The writer of this blog has long contended that the earthquake in Haiti may not have been a natural event. There is substantial evidence that the 7.0 quake that struck Haiti, killing over 300,000 and wounding many, many more, was a military action, some say by the United States. The Japanese, who have a avid interest in</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 102); font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;" > watching out for such acts, having been victimized themselves, detected the signal from the HAARP array in Alaska which may have triggered the Haiti quake 2 days later. What about the Chile quake of 8.8 magnitude? Was it man-made too? Are we now in the era of earthquake warfare? If so, who are the players and what are the stakes? Below is an interview of former Secretary of Defense William Cohen who talks about the reality of such things. </span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 102); font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;" >Enjoy. Learn. Share.</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqi6o_x8nC8WFGTsyJbVtAhYhpUCgRj0hOm-9tSJHqUQpA6K3-chLmB3yrIoBcHxIIOd800uNiy7X-mYg6cUDQiSaHL_98fsLaHDKhonc1RPchyMS9tOcp72Uu6Q0MVk5bqao9vINhn9Y/s1600-h/Haiti+Earthquake+2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 195px; height: 147px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqi6o_x8nC8WFGTsyJbVtAhYhpUCgRj0hOm-9tSJHqUQpA6K3-chLmB3yrIoBcHxIIOd800uNiy7X-mYg6cUDQiSaHL_98fsLaHDKhonc1RPchyMS9tOcp72Uu6Q0MVk5bqao9vINhn9Y/s400/Haiti+Earthquake+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443314603282534274" border="0" /></a><p align="center"><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:180%;">1997 DoD Briefing: 'Others' can set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely using electromagnetic waves --By Lori Price, <a href="http://www.legitgov.org/">www.legitgov.org</a> 28 Feb 2010</span></p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.legitgov.org/graphics/DoD_logo.gif" height="100" width="100" /></p> <p align="left"><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><b><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=674" target="display"><span style="font-size:130%;">DoD News Briefing</span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></span></span></b></span></p> <p align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">Presenter: Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen April 28, 1997 8:45 AM EDT </span><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:130%;"><br /> </span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:130%;"> DoD News Briefing: Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen </span></p> <p align="left"><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">Q: Let me ask you specifically about last week's scare here in Washington, and what we might have learned from how prepared we are to deal with that (inaudible), at B'nai Brith. </span></span></p> <p align="left"><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: Well, it points out the nature of the threat. It turned out to be a false threat under the circumstances. But as we've learned in the intelligence community, we had something called -- <b>and we have James Woolsey here</b> [*puke*] to perhaps even address this question about phantom moles. The mere fear that there is a mole within an agency can set off a chain reaction and a hunt for that particular mole which can paralyze the agency for weeks and months and years even, in a search. The same thing is true about just the false scare of a threat of using some kind of a chemical weapon or a biological one. </span><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">There are some reports, for example, that <span style="color:#ff0000;"><b>some countries</b></span> have been <b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/us/29lab.html" target="display">trying to construct something like an Ebola Virus</a></b> [<b>OMG! Who would <a href="http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/medaspec/Ch-19electrv699.pdf" target="display">do</a> such a thing?</b>], and that would be a very dangerous phenomenon, to say the least. Alvin Toeffler has written about this in terms of <span style="color:#ff0000;"><b>some scientists</b></span> in <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3719990.stm" target="display"><b>their laboratories</b></a> trying to <a href="http://www.legitgov.org/flu_oddities.html"><b>devise certain types</b></a> of <a href="http://www.rense.com/Datapages/fludat.htm" target="display"><b>pathogens</b></a> that would be ethnic specific so that they could just eliminate certain ethnic groups and races; and <span style="color:#ff0000;"><b>others</b></span></span> <span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"> [<b><a href="http://www.legitgov.org/baxter_flu_vaccine_260409.html">LOL</a></b>] are designing some sort of engineering, some sort of insects that can destroy specific crops. <b><span style="color:#ff0000;">Others</span></b> are engaging even in an eco- type of terrorism whereby they can <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_warfare" target="display"><b>alter the climate</b></a>, <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/01/21/chavez_us_weapon_test_caused_haiti_earthquake.html" target="display"><b>set off earthquakes</b></a>, <a href="http://www.rense.com/general61/wwodp.htm" target="display"><b>volcanoes</b></a> remotely through the use of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Frequency_Active_Auroral_Research_Program" target="display"><b>electromagnetic waves</b></a>.' </span></span></p> <p align="left"><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"> <b>Just switch 'yours,' 'others' and 'they' with 'U.S.,' 'U.S.' and 'U.S.' This was in 1997. Imagine, after eight years of George W. Bush turbo-funding these lunatics, with no end to funding in sight... what they can do now. Oh, BTW. See, also, the <a href="http://www.stevequayle.com/dead_scientists/UpdatedDeadScientists.html" target="display">list of dead scientists</a>. </b></span></span></p> <p align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><b>The most fascinating might be the Harvard scientist, <a href="http://www.rense.com/general18/five.htm" target="display">Dr. Don C Wiley</a>, 'one of the foremost infectious disease researchers' in the United States, who 'got dizzy' and his car fell off a bridge in Memphis, TN. </b></span></p> <blockquote> <p><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">The bridge where his car was found is only a five-minute drive away and in the wrong direction from where he was staying, leaving authorities with a four-hour, unexplained gap until his vehicle was found. Now Memphis police are exploring several theories involving suicide, robbery and murder.</span></p> </blockquote> <p align="left"><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><b>That's just a 'we-know-we're-f*cking-with-you-and-there's-not-a-damned-thing-you-can-do-about-it' assassination that any detective on 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent' could wrap up in the first half-hour of the episode. </b></span></span></p> <p align="left"><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Frequency_Active_Auroral_Research_Program" target="display"><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program</span></a></b><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 27 Feb 2010 The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is an ionospheric research program jointly funded by the US Air Force, the US Navy, the University of Alaska and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Its purpose is to analyze the ionosphere and investigate the potential for developing ionospheric enhancement technology for radio communications and surveillance purposes (such as missile detection). The HAARP program operates a major Arctic facility, known as the HAARP Research Station, on an Air Force owned site near Gakona, Alaska. The most outstanding instrument at the HAARP Station is the Ionospheric Research Instrument (IRI), a high power transmitter facility operating in the high frequency range. The IRI is used to temporarily excite a limited area of the ionosphere... <b><span style="color:#ff0000;">As of 2008, HAARP had incurred around $250 million in tax-funded construction and operating costs</span></b>. </span></span></p> <p align="left"><b><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">Click <a href="http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=674" target="display">here</a> for full DoD News Transcript. </span></b><br /> <span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">Credit to Samantha G. on Faceboook for unearthing this briefing.</span></p> <p align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><b>Permanent URL for this article: </b></span> <span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><b><a href="http://legitgov.org/DoD_1997_set_off_earthquakes_280210.html">http://legitgov.org/DoD_1997_set_off_earthquakes_280210.html</a></b><br /> </span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><b><a href="mailto:?subject=1997%20DoD%20Briefing:%20%27Others%27%20can%20set%20off%20earthquakes,%20volcanoes%20remotely%20using%20electromagnetic%20waves&body=I%20think%20you%20will%20like%20this%20webpage:%20http://www.legitgov.org/DoD_1997_set_off_earthquakes_280210.html">Email</a> this page to a friend</b></span></p>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163826958401733427.post-3891361802321044932010-02-28T06:42:00.000-08:002010-02-28T06:50:07.956-08:00Utter and Total Destruction in Haiti<div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(51, 0, 51); font-style: italic;">In this short video is revealed the devastating damage done to the heart of Port au Prince in Haiti. It partially answers why the Haitian government did not respond quickly to the disaster as many expected. It shows the total destruction that can not be overcome through mere relief aid by NGO's. It shows clearly that a massive international effort of rebuilding over a prolonged period of time is required. Otherwise many more people will die. The fate of Haiti hangs now in the balance of what the world community decides to do. We have the power and the means in our hands to save. Or we can choose to add the tragedy of human indifference to the destructive nature of the 7.0 earthquake that struck on January 12, 2010.<br /><br /></div><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/f36u0IE6HS8&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/f36u0IE6HS8&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Alimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845657579874680768noreply@blogger.com0