ecoyear

It has been fascinating and disheartening to read about the history of Haiti.

Some sources I have used include an interview with Randall Robinson on Democracy Now (especially 28:30 minutes in), an article by Tracy Kidder in the New York Times, and a not-so-sympathetic article from The Atlantic (that does nevertheless concur that Aristide was democratically legit).

Basically, Haiti was formed in 1804 when rebel slaves overthrew their French "owners". Napoleon's France exacted unreasonably huge reparations to leave them alone, 150 million dollars, which Haiti had to borrow at enormous cost, leaving the country destitute for almost a century.

This rebellion did not sit well with other nations, least of all Jefferson's United States, for obvious reasons. It seems, however, that Haiti has been viciously persecuted by the world community ever since, for being the first to dare overthrow colonial rule.

In 1915, Woodrow Wilson's USA invaded Haiti and occupied it for 20 years, treating it as a possession of the US, siphoning off fees and taxes, leaving it poorer yet. The US went on to support dictators in Haiti, not democracy. In fact, in 2004, democratically elected Jean-Bertrand Aristide was undermined by Bush policies, and whisked away on a US plane. See this New York Times article for the gory political intrigue details.

Recent USAID involvement has been just as disastrous, instituting an economic program based on gutting the local agriculture and herding people into sweatshops. Once again, this sort of intervention benefits multinational corporations far more than it benefits Haitians.

To top it all off, it turned out that there were not enough jobs, so imported food became unaffordable last year. Then Haiti got hit by 4 hurricanes within 30 days, and we stopped hearing about them.

Curiously and maddeningly, there are an estimated 10,000 NGOs in Haiti, the most of any impoverished country on Earth. Still, half the population is illiterate, has no safe water and only a minority have adequate sanitation.

What are the NGOs all doing? Given that 80% of Haitians live under the poverty line, they would each have to make 800 lives stable in order to rescue the entire country. They all claim to support self-sufficiency, teaching the locals to repair wells, giving micro-loans, training teachers and health workers.

Kidder does note that some American NGOs are required to return an unusual percentage of their money back to the US government. He also points out that NGOs should ideally coordinate their work with each other, and support local public institutions, and that it appears most of Haiti's NGOs are unable and/or unwilling to do this.

This paints the picture of one more type of exploitation - helping do-gooders feel better about themselves, while ultimately undermining the confidence, prosperity and independence of this nation.

Kidder is familiar with, and supports Partners in Health. I also read good things about Oxfam, and about the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund.

Think about this as you donate, now and in the near future when Haiti's "reconstruction" begins. What sort of New Haiti would we support? Our dollars are needed now, but will be needed just as much in months to come.