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| Greetings,
On last evening I tuned into CNN to catch Nicole Lee, president of TransAfrica Forum who was scheduled to appear on Anderson Cooper 360. As I waited to hear from Nicole I began to get sick to my stomach listening to Anderson Cooper. He echoed what many journalists have been saying all week, "Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere..." or the Haiti is a "failed state". After hearing this what seems to be over 100 times, the subtext is clear. When you do not explain why Haiti is so poor and the role that the U.S. and the international community have played, it is implied that Haitians are not qualified to govern themselves. Pat Robertson took it even further by suggesting that their pain and poverty was caused by a pact they made with the devil. Pat Robertson said that "Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about. [Haitians] were under the heel of the French...and they got together and swore a pact to the Devil. They said, 'we will serve you if you'll get us free from the French.' True story. And the Devil said, 'OK it's a deal.' Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after another."
Some may think this is not the time to do a newsletter about US failed policy toward Haiti or that my time would be better spent working to raise money and harness much needed resources. But I am convinced that there is no time better than the present. Americans have a very short attention span. Haiti will only be important as long as it is getting 24-hour news coverage. Ask the residents of the Lower 9th ward in New Orleans or the families of the six million Congolese who have died since 1996. Out of sight, out of mind. When the media goes away, so will many of us. Charitable contributions are extremely important at this time. But we must be ready to move from charity to justice. And we must be committed for the long haul.
Jamye Wooten
Kinetics
Jubilee USA is calling on the Obama administration to take 3 specific steps as part of its comprehensive response to the Haiti earthquake: (1) Provide massive assistance for relief and reconstruction in the form of grants, not loans; (2) Cancel the rest of Haiti's debt; and(3) Provide Temporary Protective Status to Haitians living in the US. Use your voice for Haiti today. Please call the White House today at 202-456-1111 and ask President Obama to take these steps.
Here's a sample script:
"Hi, My name is XXX, and I live in X town, Y state. I am calling to ask that President Obama do everything in his power to help the Haitian people in this time of crisis. As part of its emergency response, President Obama should ensure the US provides massive assistance for relief and reconstruction as grants not loans; advocate for the cancellation of all of Haiti's remaining debts, and provide Temporary Protective Status for Haitians living in the United States. Thank you."
Here's more information about the three asks:
1. Provide massive assistance for relief and reconstruction in the form of grants, not loans. It is becoming clear that the earthquake has caused unimaginable destruction in Haiti. Already impoverished and struggling, it will be nearly impossible for Haiti to get back on its feet without massive humanitarian and reconstruction assistance. This should come as grants, not loans, so that Haiti does not get again saddled with large debts to no fault of its own. Grant assistance should be provided without harmful economic policy conditionalities like requirements for privatization of services.
2. Cancel the Rest of Haiti's Debt. While $1.2 billion was cancelled in June 2009 thanks to Jubilee supporters' efforts, the country still has $891 million in debt on its books. Why? Because the debt relief agreements from the IMF and other creditors only covered debts acquired up until 2004. So, new loans Haiti has received since then have been adding to its debt. Half of this total of $891 million is owed to the InterAmerican Development Bank and the IMF with the other half owed to Venezuela and Taiwan. In 2010, Haiti is projected to pay more than $10 million to the IMF and IDB - and this is money Haiti simply can't pay now that this tragic earthquake has hit.
The US has strong voting power on the Boards of both the IMF and the IDB and should use its influence to secure immediate cancellation of these debts. If cancellation cannot be agreed immediately, President Obama should call for an immediate moratorium on all debt payments (which means they don't have to pay for a few years) from Haiti with no accured interest until cancellation can be agreed, just as was agreed for countries hit by the Tsunami in 2004. All of Haiti's limited resources should be directed at recovery, not repayment. You can learn more about Haiti's debt in Jubilee USA's August 2009 policy update on Haiti's debt situation here.
3. Provide Temporary Protective Status for Haitians Living in the US. Jubilee USA member organizations TransAfrica Forum and the Institute for Justice and Democracy and Haiti, along with other leading Haiti advocates, are calling on the U.S. to end the deportation of Haitian immigrants, release those currently held in detention centers pending deportation, and grant Temporary Protected Status for the 30,000 Haitians currently under threat of deportation.
As the New York Times wrote in an editorial this morning:
On Wednesday, the Obama administration said it was halting the pending deportation of up to 30,000 Haitians who have run afoul of the immigration agency. The government should now take the next step by granting these immigrants temporary protected status - as it has to survivors of Latin American earthquakes and other disasters - so that the Haitian diaspora in the United States will be allowed to work and send vitally needed money home.
Temporary protected status (TPS) is granted by the United States (Homeland Security Department) to eligible nationals of countries that cannot safely return to their homelands because of armed conflict, environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions. Haiti clearly fits this description. For more information see TransAfrica Forum |
HAITI: THE JEWEL OF THE ANTILLES
Haiti, once called The Jewel of the Antilles, was the richest colony in the entire world. Economists estimate that in the 1750s Haiti provided as much as 50% of the Gross National Product of France. The French imported sugar, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, cotton, the dye indigo and other exotic products. In France they were refined, packaged and sold all over Europe. Incredible fortunes were made from this tiny colony on the island of Hispaniola.
How could Haiti have once been the source of such wealth and today be the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere? How could this land that was once so productive today be semi-barren? How did "The Jewel of the Antilles" become the Caribbean's hell-hole?
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Catastrophe in Haiti
by Ashley Smith / January 14th, 2010
Survivors stand on the roof of a demolished house after a massive eartquake in Port-au-Prince. - Photo by AFP
A devastating earthquake, the worst in 200 years, struck Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, laying waste to the city and killing untold numbers of people. The quake measured 7.0 on the Richter scale, and detonated more than 30 aftershocks, all more than 4.5 in magnitude, through the night and into Wednesday morning.
The earthquake toppled poorly constructed houses, hotels, hospitals and even the capital city's main political buildings, including the presidential palace. The collapse of so many structures sent a giant cloud into the sky, which hovered over the city, raining dust down onto the wasteland below.
According to some estimates, more than 100,000 people may have died, in a metropolis of 2 million people. Those that survived are living in the streets, afraid to return inside any building that remains standing.
Around the world, Haitians struggled to contact their family and friends in the devastated country. But most could not reach their loved ones since phone lines were down throughout the country.
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Haiti Disaster Capitalism Alert: Stop Them Before They Shock Again
By Naomi Klein - January 13th, 2010
 Readers of the The Shock Doctrine know that the Heritage Foundation has been one of the leading advocates of exploiting disasters to push through their unpopular pro-corporate policies. From this document, they're at it again, not even waiting one day to use the devastating earthquake in Haiti to push for their so-called reforms. The following quote was hastily yanked by the Heritage Foundation and replaced with a more diplomatic quote, but their first instinct is revealing: "In addition to providing immediate humanitarian assistance, the U.S. response to the tragic earthquake in Haiti earthquake offers opportunities to re-shape Haiti's long-dysfunctional government and economy as well as to improve the public image of the United States in the region." |
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Haiti: A Slave Revolution 200 years after 1804
TIMELINE
1492 Christopher Columbus lands near today's city of Cap Haďtien and claims the island of Hispaniola for Spain. The western third of the island is now Haiti and the rest of the island is the Dominican Republic.
1625 First French settlements on Tortuga Island, off the northwest coast, are established.
mid-1600s French settlements and plantations are established in coastal areas on the western third of the island.
1697 Under the terms of the Treaty of Ryswick, Spain cedes the western third of Hispaniola to France.
1700s The French colony of Saint Domingue is the most lucrative colony in the world, at this time, more lucrative than the 13 Colonies. Its slave-produced tropical crops -- sugar, rum, cotton, tobacco, and indigo -- generated great wealth. Near the end of the 18th century, 500,000 to 700,000 people, mainly of western African origin, were enslaved by the French.
1791 The Haitian Revolution begins when a group of slaves gather at Bois-Caďman in the northern part of the colony. Jamaican-born Dutty Boukman holds a voodoo ceremony that launches the struggle.
1803 The Haitian blue and red flag is adopted at the Congress of Arcahaie. The Battle of Vertičres is the last victory of the Haitians over the French.
1804 Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared Haiti independent on January 1, after crushing the French army sent to re-enslave Haiti. Over half the people in Haiti die before the struggle has run its course.
1806 Jean-Jacques Dessalines is assassinated at Pont-Rouge.
1815-1816 Simón Bolívar gets asylum in Haiti twice and also receives military assistance to liberate South America from Spain.
1822 Haiti invades the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo (today's Dominican Republic), and ends slavery there.
1838 France fully and unconditionally recognizes Haiti's independence. It had given Haiti "conditional" recognition in 1825 after Haiti promised to pay 150 million gold francs as "compensation" for its "losses."
1844 The Haitian occupation of Santo Domingo ends.
1862 The United States recognizes Haiti.
1889 Frederick Douglass is appointed as U.S. Minister and Consul General to Haiti.
1915 United States Marines invade Haiti and occupy it. A largely peasant guerrilla army, known as the cacos, resists the occupiers under the leadership of Charlemagne Péralte, who is betrayed and assassinated by Marines in 1919.
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The Televangelist and the Archbishop: Contrasting Christian Responses to Haiti's Tragedy
 by César Baldelomar 01-14-2010
Sojo.net
Upon learning of the ruinous earthquake that leveled most of Haiti, my wife and I felt sadness and horror, as well as concern for the affected, their families, and friends. Having taught in a predominately-Haitian high school in Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood, I immediately reached out on Facebook to many of my former students. Most of them, of course, were distraught at the chaos, and were anxious to hear from family in Haiti.
According to the CIA Factbook, Haiti is the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, "with 80% of the population living under the poverty line and 54% in abject poverty." Haiti's economic and social issues make this earthquake truly a tragedy. Thankfully, the international community is showing concern for the victims. The United States and the United Nations have pledged monetary and physical aid.
But what about the religious response? More specifically, since 80% of Haiti's population is Roman Catholic and 16% Protestant, what has been the Christian response to this ordeal? Here I wish to focus only on two responses, one negative and one positive.
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Haiti and Human Rights
Consider the following situation that Haiti is in:
- Haiti is the third hungriest country in the world after Somalia and Afghanistan
- The richest 1% of the population controls nearly half of all of Haiti's wealth
- The poorest country in the western hemisphere
- The world's fourth poorest country in the world
- Ranks 146 out of 173 on the United Nations Human Development Index
- Has a life expectancy of 52 years for women and 48 for men
- Adult literacy is about 50%
- Unemployment is 70%
- 85% of Haitians live on less than $1 U.S. per day.
- Haiti ranks 38 out of 195 for under five mortality rate.
The above statistics hide the fact that Haiti has had problems for decades. Furthermore, since its very beginnings as a modern state some 200 years ago, Haiti has constantly been affected by outside influences and interests, negatively impacting its own destiny.
In addition, coverage of issues in Haiti has often been accompanied by amazing media distortion leading to effects such as minimal or no coverage of problems and massive human rights violations during dictatorial regimes, while demonizing the one democratically elected leader.
Accusations and criticisms of cheap labor, resource exploitation and democracy stifling have been directed at outsiders such as the United States for various reasons, including:
- Support for dictators in recent decades;
- Hostility towards the (former) democratically elected president;
- Various interests of big U.S. companies.
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Randall Robinson on Haiti
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Haiti and America's Historic Debt
By Robert Parry
January 13, 2010
Announcing emergency help for Haiti after a devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake, President Barack Obama noted America's historic ties to the impoverished Caribbean nation, but few Americans understand how important Haiti's contribution to U.S. history was.
In modern times, when Haiti does intrude on U.S. consciousness, it's usually because of some natural disaster or a violent political upheaval, and the U.S. response is often paternalistic, if not tinged with a racist disdain for the country's predominantly black population and its seemingly endless failure to escape cycles of crushing poverty. Read More |
Travesty in Haiti: A true account of Christian missions, orphanages, fraud, food aid and drug trafficking
TRAVESTY is an anthropologist's personal story of working with foreign aid agencies and discovering that fraud, greed, corruption, apathy, and political agendas permeate the industry. It is a story of failed agricultural, health and credit projects; violent struggles for control over foreign aid; corrupt orphanage owners, pastors, and missionaries; the nepotistic manipulation of research funds; economically counterproductive food aid distribution programs that undermine the Haitian agricultural economy; disastrous social engineering by foreign governments, international financial and development organizations--such as the World Bank and USAID-- and the multinational corporate charities that have sprung up in their service, CARE International, Catholic Relief Services, World Vision, and the dozens of other massive charities that have programs spread across the globe, moving in response not only to disasters and need, but political agendas and economic opportunity. TRAVESTY also chronicles the lives of Haitians and describes how political disillusionment sometimes ignites explosive mob rage among peasants frustrated with the foreign aid organizations, governments and international agencies that fund them. TRAVESTY recounts how some Haitians use whatever means possible try to better their living standards, most recently drug trafficking, and in doing so explains why at the service of international narcotraffickers and Haitian money laundering elites, Haiti has become a failed State. TRAVESTY reads like a novel. It takes the reader from the bowels of foreign aid in the field; to the posh and orderly urban headquarters of charities such as CARE International; to the cold, distant heights of Capitol Hill policy planners. The journey is marked by true accounts involving violence, corruption, appalling greed, sexual exploitation, disastrous social engineering, and the inside world of drug traffickers. But TRAVESTY it is not a novel. It is founded on 15 years of academic and field experience, research, and hard data. It entertains the reader with vivid first hand accounts while treating seriously the problems inherent not only in international aid, but the sabotaging effects of the drug war on economic development in remote and impoverished areas of the hemisphere. |
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About Us
... You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell. (Isaiah. 58:12)
Kinetics mission is to disseminate information and develop new ideas that work to strengthen social movements within the African-American community; providing them with the tools and skills to pursue justice and better address the needs of those whom they serve.
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Kinetics Faith & Justice Network mission is to provide the faith community with the tools to advocate and mobilize on local, national, and international issues, to build capacity to solve our own problems, and to use dialogue as a catalyst for social change. Members include clergy, scholars, lawyers, social justice advocates, and nonprofit and business professionals.
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