The six-year anniversary of the coup in Haiti (February 29, 2004) passed with nary a mention this week. Understandably, many people are preoccupied with the post-earthquake exigencies, but we would do well to recall the destructive step backward that the four-year destabilization (2000-2004), two-year coup period (2004-2006) and de facto foreign trusteeship had had with respect to the prospects of real democracy, sovereignty, and self-determination for the people. In this spirit, if you haven't yet read Peter Hallward's book, Damming the Flood: Haiti, Aristide and the Politics of Containment, be sure to do so. I was reminded of just how important this book is after reading this exchange between Hallward and a right-wing, pro-oligarchy Haiti scholar in the latest issue of Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism.
- 'Mercenaries Circling Haiti': "This is yet another example of what the world saw after Katrina. Private security forces, including Blackwater, also descended on the U.S. gulf coast after Katrina grabbing millions of dollars in contracts. Contractors like these soak up much needed money which could instead go for job creation or humanitarian and rebuilding assistance. Haiti certainly does not need this kind of U.S. business. In a final bit of irony, the IPOA, according to the Institute for Southern Studies, promises that all profits from the event will be donated to the Clinton-Bush Haiti relief fund." [Bill Quigley, Huffington Post]
- Note that the IPOA's Doug Brooks has been trolling around trying to spin his mercenary association in a positive light, taking jabs at Jeremy Scahill and Naomi Klein (look at the comments section in Quigley's piece, this post at Talking Points Memo, and over at AllGov.com. Apparently, we're in good company; Brooks trolled down to Common Dreams following Scahill's earlier disclosure of mercenary descent into Haiti.
- Also note that two new sponsors of the IPOA/GIS 'Haiti Summit' have emerged in addition to Sabre International and the Reconnaissance Group: Pentagon contractor DMS International and controversial mercenary company Wackenhut Services, Inc.
- Recall that in my interview with Douglas Melvin, he said that he thinks everyone attending the 'Haiti Summit' is doing so "for the right reasons." This sentiment was shared by the co-organizers. Last night, while reading an illuminating history of the Central Intelligence Agency's Cold War exploits, Hugh Wilford's The Mighty Wurlitzer: Hoe the CIA Played America, I was reminded of these Haiti Summit interviews. Describing the exploits of infamous CIA psy-warrior Edward Lansdale, Wilford recalls:
"So convinced was Lansdale about the moral virtue of his anti-communist ends that the methods he used never gave him a moment's pause. "'You can...get away with almost anything,' he later told an interviewer,' so long...as you do it for the right reasons." (p. 171)
- In a similar vein (to Quigley's), 'Private Security Companies Prepare to Consume Haiti': "Haiti is only two months out of one of the worst earthquakes in the history of the world, but that's not stopping scores of private military and security companies from circling the country like vultures. These companies are so excited at the prospect of making money in Haiti, they're preparing to showcase their work at a conference in Miami next week. Yes, the same folks who brought you sexual hazing, drunkenness, sex with prostitutes at the expense of taxpayers, human trafficking, and shoddy work that resulted in people being electrocuted (to name just a few) might soon be bringing their services to Haiti." [War.Change.org]
- 'Divvying Up the Spoils of Disaster': "There's certainly no doubt that the US will continue have a significant sphere of influence in Haiti. The question is whether the Obama administration will learn from its predecessors and change the neoliberal course or continue to ram destructive policy down the throat of the Haitian government." [Truthout]
- '"Rebuilding Haiti" -- the Sweatshop Hoax': "[T]he UN plan isn't really about creating jobs; it's about relocating them. The key, according to Prof. Collier, lies in Haiti's "propitious fundamentals" -- its "poverty and relatively unregulated labor market" and "labor costs that are fully competitive with China." Add Haiti's location near the United States: it's "on the doorstep of its market." Haiti is the "only low-wage economy in the region," Collier writes, meaning that the maquilas in nearby countries just can't compete with Haitian factories paying a minimum wage of around $3.05 a day, approximately half the minimum in the Dominican FTZs. So when the professors and politicians say they will help Haitian workers by giving them jobs, what they really mean is that they plan to take the jobs away from Dominican, Mexican, and Central American workers -- and pay the Haitians even less for doing the same work. It's no wonder that the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA), a U.S. manufactures' organization, hopes to "play a responsible and proactive role in Haiti's overall recovery." [Note: obvious merits aside this piece, which appears in MRZine, like many other post-quake articles, does not qualify its citation of PAPDA economist Camille Chalmers, who signed a letter in supporter of the 2004, U.S., Canada, France, and Hatian-elite led coup.]
- 'Raising up Another Haiti' [Truthout; note: same as above note, adding that other other pro-coup, CIDA-funded NGO's are also cited without disclaimer]
- 'Haiti: A tale of two disasters': "Yes, Haiti … a tale of two disasters, and two opposing examples – one set by a people determined to free themselves from the yolk of slavery, exploitation and oppression and the other example set by the imperialists as a warning of what will happen to those that dare to grasp their own destiny and establish freedom for their descendants by any means necessary." [by Chris Zamani M.D. for SFBayview]
- 'Haiti wants more information on foreign aid': "Haiti's prime minister demanded more information on Wednesday about foreign aid pouring into the earthquake-stricken country and urged that his government not be sidelined in reconstruction efforts..."We don't know who has given money to NGO's (nongovernmental organizations) and how much money have they given. ... At the moment, we can't do any coordination or have any coherent policies for giving to the population," Bellerive told a news conference." [Reuters]
- 'The Labor Movement in Haiti: A Personal Reflection The Statistics of 70 to 80 Percent Unemployment and 54 Percent in Poverty Don’t Tell the Whole Story': "Through organizations such as the NED and its core institutes which receive public funding via the State Department and USAID, we see a new kind of tactic emerging. Often in the past, the NED has focused on funding groups and individuals who clearly supported an economic and political agenda authored in Washington, DC and on Wall Street. However, in Haiti we are seeing funding given to many in labor and political movements who have been strong opponents of Empire and neoliberalism. This funding is aimed quite precisely at obstructing and destroying the unity of the mass movement by supporting the creation of splinter movements naturally interested in their own advancement and survival. This is why the Solidarity Center funded Batay Ouvriye at a time they were dampening, rather than building resistance to the coup. And this is why the Solidarity Center is working now with the CTH, with its history of opposing the coup, but now carrying a weight of hopelessness that turns them toward cooperation with the institutions of electoral repression and neoliberal development." [James Jordan for NarcoNews]