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Jan 14, 2010

Island Divide: Haiti vs. the Dominican Republic

 



Island Divide: Haiti vs. the Dominican Republic
http://tinyurl.com/yjs8fon

The Conflict Between Haiti and the Dominican Republic
http://tinyurl.com/yzk7t56

Why is Haiti so Poor?
http://tinyurl.com/yb6j692




Peace.

Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367

ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com

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__,_._,___

Just what is Haiti?

 

Just what is Haiti?

By Manuel Sotil

January 15, 2010


Words could never explain or convey the magnitude of such catastrophe as has been visited on this poor nation located on the Western third of the island of Hispaniola. Only a Stalin could view this immense human tragedy as if it were a statistic.

However one is tempted to cast aside conventional thinking when contemplating the plight of this much tortured country and ask: just what is Haiti? Much as Dubai is an artificial city, Haiti is an artificial country, created by a rapacious western nation: France.

This is a country that has no natural resources, no minerals, no energy sources (no oil, gas, hydro), little arable land (it is very mountainous), no woods (all trees were cut down).  It lies with its unprotected belly exposed to the ravages of natural disasters.


Perhaps it has the potential for tourism if such service industry could be developed.


The French crammed hundreds of thousands of slaves, imported for such agro-industries as plantations of coffee, sugar cane, cacao and rum. That is, nothing that can be used as a source of food.


Haiti proved to be very successful at the production of these agricultural commodities, and as long as it was in a position to sell them in Europe for great profit, it thrived earning for itself the name of "Pearl of the Antilles" and the envy of other colonial powers. Of course, the slaves did not enjoy the fruits of such success.


Once France had been expelled from the island in 1804 (owing in part for the abominable treatment of the slaves), Haiti lost its markets but was left with hundreds of thousands of mouths to feed and nothing to eat. It should be noted that Haiti, being the second country in this American continent to have gained its independence (only second to the US), such was not recognized by the United States until 1869.


The French left no educated middle class or any class of educated people, except for a few hundred Europeans who stayed behind to continue work on the plantations with the new freemen, citizens of Haiti. This did not help Haiti to diversify or attempt  the development of alternate industries or economy.


During its convoluted history, Haiti has been ruled by an endless succession of operetta characters with generals uniforms, peacock feathers and all; it has suffered the occupation by the US military* (sometimes as brutal as the French had been) and finally the  "Doc" two-whammy dynasty of the Duvaliers, followed by a few more military tin pots with a tiny sprinkling of democracy. Even so, commendable as it may be, democracy alone does not put food on the table.


*As hard as this may be to believe, the US had concerns because there were some 200 German nationals living in Haiti. These Germans were contributing to much of the economic activity in the country and were fully integrated into society. The concern was about a potential German threat to the approaches to the Panama Canal. When some US Banks voiced concern to Wilson about possible Haiti loan defaults, the future Nobel Peace Prize winner ordered the Marines in. They would not leave for some 29 years. Some cynics may say, paraphrasing Colin Powell, "we broke it, we own it", even though it was already broken.


All along the economics did not work. They still do not work.


Haiti still earns its meager subsistence from the exportation of some agricultural products such as mangoes and coffee and some manufactures namely garments, much as the maquiladoras south of the border except that everything must be imported including the energy to run the sweatshops.


Due to deforestation for cooking fuel, the impact of natural disasters is greater than otherwise should be.


Perhaps this is not the best time to say this, but Haiti under the best of circumstances does not seem to be a viable country. Perhaps if the population were a fraction of what it now is, the country would  be able to sustain itself. Perhaps it would be better for the country to join France as a department and receive what it needs from the forgetful motherland. Perhaps it would be best for the whole population of Haiti to migrate to France
(like baby-doc did) , and say to the French: here we are. You forgot us behind!


Manuel Sotil






__._,_.___
.

__,_._,___

Just what is Haiti?

 

Just what is Haiti?

By Manuel Sotil

January 15, 2010


Words could never explain or convey the magnitude of such catastrophe as has been visited on this poor nation located on the Western third of the island of Hispaniola. Only a Stalin could view this immense human tragedy as if it were a statistic.

However one is tempted to cast aside conventional thinking when contemplating the plight of this much tortured country and ask: just what is Haiti? Much as Dubai is an artificial city, Haiti is an artificial country, created by a rapacious western nation: France.

This is a country that has no natural resources, no minerals, no energy sources (no oil, gas, hydro), little arable land (it is very mountainous), no woods (all trees were cut down).  It lies with its unprotected belly exposed to the ravages of natural disasters.

Perhaps it has the potential for tourism if such service industry could be developed.


The French crammed hundreds of thousands of slaves, imported for such agro-industries as plantations of coffee, sugar cane, cacao and rum. That is, nothing that can be used as a source of food.

Haiti proved to be very successful at the production of these agricultural commodities, and as long as it was in a position to sell them in Europe for great profit, it thrived earning for itself the name of "Pearl of the Antilles" and the envy of other colonial powers. Of course, the slaves did not enjoy the fruits of such success.


Once France had been expelled from the island in 1804 (owing in part for the abominable treatment of the slaves), Haiti lost its markets but was left with hundreds of thousands of mouths to feed and nothing to eat. It should be noted that Haiti, being the second country in this American continent to have gained its independence (only second to the US), such was not recognized by the United States until 1869.


The French left no educated middle class or any class of educated people, except for a few hundred Europeans who stayed behind to continue work on the plantations with the new freemen, citizens of Haiti. This did not help Haiti to diversify or attempt  the development of alternate industries or economy.


During its convoluted history, Haiti has been ruled by an endless succession of operetta characters with generals uniforms, peacock feathers and all; it has suffered the occupation by the US military* (sometimes as brutal as the French had been) and finally the  "Doc" two-whammy dynasty of the Duvaliers, followed by a few more military tin pots with a tiny sprinkling of democracy. Even so, commendable as it may be, democracy alone does not put food on the table.

*As hard as this may be to believe, the US had concerns because there were some 200 German nationals living in Haiti. These Germans were contributing to much of the economic activity in the country and were fully integrated into society. The concern was about a potential German threat to the approaches to the Panama Canal. When some US Banks voiced concern to Wilson about possible Haiti loan defaults, the future Nobel Peace Prize winner ordered the Marines in. They would not leave for some 29 years. Some cynics may say, paraphrasing Colin Powell, "we broke it, we own it", even though it was already broken.


All along the economics did not work. They still do not work.


Haiti still earns its meager subsistence from the exportation of some agricultural products such as mangoes and coffee and some manufactures namely garments, much as the maquiladoras south of the border except that everything must be imported including the energy to run the sweatshops.


Due to deforestation for cooking fuel, the impact of natural disasters is greater than otherwise should be.


Perhaps this is not the best time to say this, but Haiti under the best of circumstances does not seem to be a viable country. Perhaps if the population were a fraction of what it now is, the country would  be able to sustain itself. Perhaps it would be better for the country to join France as a department and receive what it needs from the forgetful motherland. Perhaps it would be best for the whole population of Haiti to migrate to France
(like baby-doc did) , and say to the French: here we are. You forgot us behind!


Manuel Sotil




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.

__,_._,___

Yemeni Jews refuse to leave for Israel

 

Yemeni Jews refuse to leave for Israel

Wed, 06 Jan 2010
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=115462&sectionid=351020206


Jews in Yemen prefer to stay in the impoverished Arab nation rather than relocate to Israel amid mounting speculations that the US might launch a new war in the country.

An official at the World's Jewish Congress Foundation, Moshe Nahum, said they have tried in vain in the past three decades to convince Yemeni Jews to move to Israel.

He said the foundation has even dispatched teams from New York and London and promised money and benefit to lure the tiny community to migrate.

"But they are afraid of losing what they have," Nahum said in an interview with the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot, published on Tuesday.

Yemen has a small community of two to three hundred Jews who mostly reside in the capital Sana'a, while dozens of them have chosen to convert to Islam.

Devastating offensives backed by US and Saudi militaries have been plowing through the Arab nation, mostly targeting the north where the Shia Houthi fighters are prey to regular attacks by Yemeni-Saudi warplanes.

In December, the US joined Sana'a in pounding the southern part of the country to weed out what Washington claims is a cell of al-Qaeda operating in the Arabian Peninsula.

Local officials and witnesses maintain that scores of civilians have been killed in operations confirmed by US media as being directly carried out by the American army.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described insecurity in Yemen as a threat to regional and global stability, saying Washington was working closely with its allies on deciding "the best way forward" to address the issue.

Clinton said the Yemeni government had to take measures to restore stability or risk losing Western support.


--
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Debating the Holocaust: A New Look at Both Sides By Thomas Dalton

In this remarkable, balanced book, the author skillfully reviews and compares "traditional" and "revisionist" views on the "The Holocaust."

On one side is the traditional, orthodox view -- six million Jewish casualties, gas chambers, cremation ovens, mass graves, and thousands of witnesses. On the other is the view of a small band of skeptical writers and researchers, often unfairly labeled "deniers," who contend that the public has been gravely misled about this emotion-laden chapter of history.

The author establishes that the arguments and findings of revisionist scholars are substantive, and deserve serious consideration. He points out, for example, that even the eminent Jewish Holocaust scholar Raul Hilberg acknowledged that there was no budget, plan or order by Hitler for a World War II program to exterminate Europe's Jews.

This book is especially relevant right now, as "Holocaust deniers" are routinely and harshly punished for their "blasphemy," and as growing numbers of people regard the standard, Hollywoodized "Holocaust" narrative with mounting suspicion and distrust.

The author of this book, who writes under the pen name of "Thomas Dalton," is an American scholar who holds a doctoral degree from a major US university.

This is no peripheral debate between arcane views of some obscure aspect of twentieth century history. Instead, this is a clash with profound social-political implications regarding freedom of speech and press, the manipulation of public opinion, how our cultural life is shaped, and how power is wielded in our society.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=debating+the+holocaust&sprefix=DEBATING

Peace.

Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com

__._,_.___
.

__,_._,___

ISRAELI CHARITIES ‘CASHING IN’ ON PALESTINIAN SUFFERING « Desertpeace

 

ISRAELI CHARITIES 'CASHING IN' ON PALESTINIAN SUFFERING

January 14, 2010 at 11:36 am (Deceit, DesertPeace Editorial, Israel, zionism)

The above photo (part of an ad campaign) is being circulated throughout the Israeli press. The organisation that sponsored the ad operates (for hungry Jews only) soup kitchens in every major Israeli city. Below is the ad in question….


Feeding the poor is a wonderful deed…..asking for contributions to continue this work is to be expected….. BUT…. the photo used is not one of a poor, hungry Jewish child. It is the photo of a child in Gaza at the funeral of her brother who was killed by the zionists during the blitzkrieg a year ago. The same child can be seen in THIS article that appeared in the Telegraph.

The following montage shows the child in the ad and the (same) Palestinian child.
click on image to enlarge

How could the zionists be so deceptive? Along with their beliefs that Palestinians are not human, do they also believe that they feel no pain or suffering? Do they see nothing morally wrong with using images of suffering Palestinian children to raise funds for 'Jewish only' charities?
I have no problem supporting charitable institutions, especially those that feed the hungry, but I would NEVER support one that would turn away a non Jew, especially one such as Meir Panim.
Just another example of the inhumanity of zionism and those associated with it.

3 Comments

  1. ben said,

    January 14, 2010 at 5:10 pm

    It is certainly the picture of a terrified Palestinian girl and not that of a "hungry Jewish child". See link below:

    http://propheticimagery.com/ANNIE%20FRANK.htm

  2. John said,

    January 14, 2010 at 7:58 pm

    This psychpathic humiliation of the Gazans with the cruel use of this photo was deliberate and it is just kind of like a running joke with the Israeli Jews. It is sport to them to harm non-Jews with the pleasure coming from a creative use of cruelty. About this type of evil behaviour, I haven't heard much protest from "humanitarian" Jews, which is also telling. Israel is truly a ruthless culture of psychos eager to inflict pain upon others. Could a human being possibly sink any lower than doing exactly what's been done here?

  3. January 14, 2010 at 8:37 pm

    John,
    Consider THIS post as a protest from a Humanitarian Jew!
    Don't be so quick to generalise.


Post a Comment

--
NOW AN AMAZON KINDLE BOOK ON YOUR PC, iPHONE OR KINDLE DEVICE

Debating the Holocaust: A New Look at Both Sides By Thomas Dalton

In this remarkable, balanced book, the author skillfully reviews and compares "traditional" and "revisionist" views on the "The Holocaust."

On one side is the traditional, orthodox view -- six million Jewish casualties, gas chambers, cremation ovens, mass graves, and thousands of witnesses. On the other is the view of a small band of skeptical writers and researchers, often unfairly labeled "deniers," who contend that the public has been gravely misled about this emotion-laden chapter of history.

The author establishes that the arguments and findings of revisionist scholars are substantive, and deserve serious consideration. He points out, for example, that even the eminent Jewish Holocaust scholar Raul Hilberg acknowledged that there was no budget, plan or order by Hitler for a World War II program to exterminate Europe's Jews.

This book is especially relevant right now, as "Holocaust deniers" are routinely and harshly punished for their "blasphemy," and as growing numbers of people regard the standard, Hollywoodized "Holocaust" narrative with mounting suspicion and distrust.

The author of this book, who writes under the pen name of "Thomas Dalton," is an American scholar who holds a doctoral degree from a major US university.

This is no peripheral debate between arcane views of some obscure aspect of twentieth century history. Instead, this is a clash with profound social-political implications regarding freedom of speech and press, the manipulation of public opinion, how our cultural life is shaped, and how power is wielded in our society.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=debating+the+holocaust&sprefix=DEBATING

Peace.

Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com

__._,_.___
.

__,_._,___

Sect leader arrested for enslaving and sexually abusing 17 women

 

 

Sect leader arrested for enslaving and sexually abusing 17 women
January 15, 2010 - 8:32AM

Israeli police said on Thursday they have arrested a sect leader suspected of enslaving and sexually abusing 17 women and the 40 children he had with them.

Goel Ratzon, 59, is accused of keeping at least 57 women and children in cramped apartments in several locations in the Tel Aviv area, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

In one case, police raided a three-bedroom apartment where 10 women and 17 children were found in a "terrible state", living in "horrible conditions", he said.

Ratzon has been known for several years to head a sect of women who were said to adulate him, have sex with him and raise his children.

Police suspect that Ratzon also raped and impregnated his own daughters.

The grey-bearded, long-haired man, who was arrested on Monday following a lengthy undercover investigation, held the women under his strict control, enforcing a draconian book of rules that specified behaviour and punishments.

Police said Ratzon had instructed the women and children to commit suicide "if anything happened to him".

Speaking to reporters in court, Ratzon's lawyer Shlomtzion Gabai denied all charges and insisted the women were not held against their will.

AFP


--
NOW AN AMAZON KINDLE BOOK ON YOUR PC, iPHONE OR KINDLE DEVICE

Debating the Holocaust: A New Look at Both Sides By Thomas Dalton

In this remarkable, balanced book, the author skillfully reviews and compares "traditional" and "revisionist" views on the "The Holocaust."

On one side is the traditional, orthodox view -- six million Jewish casualties, gas chambers, cremation ovens, mass graves, and thousands of witnesses. On the other is the view of a small band of skeptical writers and researchers, often unfairly labeled "deniers," who contend that the public has been gravely misled about this emotion-laden chapter of history.

The author establishes that the arguments and findings of revisionist scholars are substantive, and deserve serious consideration. He points out, for example, that even the eminent Jewish Holocaust scholar Raul Hilberg acknowledged that there was no budget, plan or order by Hitler for a World War II program to exterminate Europe's Jews.

This book is especially relevant right now, as "Holocaust deniers" are routinely and harshly punished for their "blasphemy," and as growing numbers of people regard the standard, Hollywoodized "Holocaust" narrative with mounting suspicion and distrust.

The author of this book, who writes under the pen name of "Thomas Dalton," is an American scholar who holds a doctoral degree from a major US university.

This is no peripheral debate between arcane views of some obscure aspect of twentieth century history. Instead, this is a clash with profound social-political implications regarding freedom of speech and press, the manipulation of public opinion, how our cultural life is shaped, and how power is wielded in our society.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=debating+the+holocaust&sprefix=DEBATING

Peace.

Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com

__._,_.___
.

__,_._,___

Help Haiti: The Unforgiven Country Cries Out

 

Help Haiti: The Unforgiven Country Cries Out



<http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/1-latest-news/1900-help-haiti-the-unforgiven-country-cries-out.html>

WRITTEN BY CHRIS FLOYD   
WEDNESDAY, 13 JANUARY 2010 22:36

alt 

Via Mark Crispin Miller, the Center for Constitutional Rights points to some venues for getting help to the people of Haiti: Partners in Health and the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund. You can find several more in this listing from the New York Times. 

I.
The relentlessly maintained, deliberately inflicted political and economic ruin of Haiti has a direct bearing on the amount of death and devastation that the country is suffering today after the earthquake. It will also greatly cripple any recovery from this natural disaster. As detailed below, Washington's rapacious economic policies have destroyed all attempts to build a sustainable economy in Haiti, driving people off the land and from small communities into packed, dangerous, unhealthy shantytowns, to try to eke out a meager existence in the sweatshops owned by Western elites and their local cronies. All attempts at changing a manifestly unjust society have been ruthlessly suppressed by the direct or collateral hand of Western elites.

The result? Millions of people -- weakened by hunger, deprivation, malnutrition, disease -- living jammed together in precarious, substandard housing. A lack of the physical, financial and civic infrastructure needed to support a decent life in ordinary times -- and to provide proper assistance, and a strong framework for rebuilding, when disaster strikes. Even a far lesser earthquake than the one that struck this week would have caused an unconscionable amount of unnecessary suffering in a nation that has been as ruthlessly and deliberately throttled as Haiti.

With Hurricane Katrina, we saw how callously and unjustly America's elites reacted to the destruction of one of their own cities. Politically connected Mississippi millionaires got prompt and copious assistance -- while many New Orleans natives are still refugees, scattered across the country years after the flood. And this in a nation in which the infrastructures -- though rapidly rotting from the corruption of greed and militarism -- are still strong. What hope then for Haiti? 

Yes, there will now be a great outpouring of immediate aid, as there always is after any spectacular disaster. And of course, this is laudable, and I encourage anyone who can to contribute what they can to these efforts. But unless there is a sea-change in American policy, unless there finally comes an end to the curse that has been laid on Haiti -- not by God, or by the Devil, but by the hard hearts of elites following blindly in the cruel traditions of their predecessors -- then this flurry of caring and attention will soon give way again, as it has always done, to callous disregard, brutal repression and inhumane exploitation. 

The tale of these cruel traditions -- and the "continuity" with them that Obama has already displayed -- does not augur well for such a change. But as that wise man, Edsel Floyd, always says, we live in hope and die in despair. And such a hope for Haiti is worth holding onto, and working toward.

At the same time, hope must not be blind; you have to acknowledge the grim realities in order to know just what you're up against. So let's take a long, hard look.

II.
Scant hours after the earthquake hit, televangelist Pat Robertson was on the air, declaiming to his millions of viewers that the reason Haiti was stricken by this disaster -- and has been suffering grievously for 200 years -- is because the Haitians "swore a pact with the devil" in order to win their freedom from their French colonial overlords the early 1800s. 

And while such vomitious expulsions are to be expected from this well-wadded, politically-wired, virulently extremist mullah (once aptly described in these pages as a "dictator-coddler, blood diamond merchant, Jew-hater andmilkshake shiller") this time there is a very tiny grain of truth to be found in the splattered mass of Robertson's upchucking. The Haitians have indeed been cursed for 200 years, and the curse does indeed go back to their liberation. But pace Robertson, the source of this curse is not metaphysical. As I noted in a piece written in 2004:

Exactly two hundred years ago, Haitian slaves overthrew their French masters -- the first successful national slave revolt in history. What Spartacus dreamed of doing, the Haitian slaves actually accomplished. It was a tremendous achievement -- and the white West has never forgiven them for it.

In order to win international recognition for their new country, Haiti was forced to pay "reparations" to the slaveowners -- a crushing burden of debt they were still paying off at the end of the 19th century. The United States, which refused to recognize the country for more than 60 years, invaded Haiti in 1915, primarily to open it up to "foreign ownership of local concerns." After 19 years of occupation, the Americans backed a series of bloodthirsty dictatorships to protect these "foreign owners." And still it goes on.

Indeed it does. The 2004 piece detailed Washington's latest long, bipartisan squeeze play on Haiti, which culminated in a coup engineered by the Bush Administration -- the second time in which a U.S. president named George Bush had ousted the democratically-elected Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from office. It is tale worth telling again:

Although the [2004] Haiti coup was widely portrayed as an irresistible upsurge of popular discontent, it was of course the result of years of hard work by Bush's dedicated corrupters of democracy, as William Bowles of Information Clearinghouse reports. Bushist bagmen funded the political opposition to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, smuggled guns to exiled Haitian warlords, and carried out a relentless strangulation of the county, cutting off long-promised financial and structural aid to one of the poorest nations on earth until food prices were soaring, unemployment spiked to 70 percent, and the broken-backed government lost control of society to armed gangs of criminals, fanatics and the merely desperate. Meanwhile, Haiti was forced to pay $2 million a month on debts run up by the murderous (U.S.-backed) dictatorships that had ruled the island since the American military occupation of 1915-1934. ... 

The ostensible reason for Bush's deadly squeeze play was Haiti's disputed elections in 2000. That vote, only the nation's third free election in 200 years, was indeed marred by reports of irregularities -- although these were not nearly as egregious as the well-documented hijinks which saw a certain runner-up candidate appointed to the White House that same year. There was no question that Aristide and his party received an overwhelming majority of legitimate votes; however, out of the 7,500 offices up for grabs, election observers did find that seven senate results seemed of dodgy provenance.

So what happened? The seven disputed senators resigned. New elections for the seats were called, but the opposition - two elitist factions financed by Washington's favorite engines of subversion, the Orwellian-monikered "National Endowment for Democracy" and "International Republican Institute" -- refused to take part. The government broke down because the legislature couldn't convene. When Bush came in, he tightened the screws of the international blockade of the island, insisting that $500 million in desperately needed aid could not be released unless the opposition participated in new elections - while he was simultaneously paying the opposition not to participate.

The ultimate aim of this brutal pretzel logic was to grind Haiti's destitute people further into the ground and destroy Aristide's ability to govern. His real crime, of course, was not the Florida-style election follies or the reported "tyranny."  ... No, Aristide did something far worse than stuffing ballots or killing people -- he tried to raise the minimum wage, to the princely sum of two dollars a day. This move outraged the American corporations -- and their local lackeys -- who have for generations used Haiti as a pool of dirt-cheap labor and sky-high profits. It was the last straw for the elitist factions, one of which is actually led by an American citizen and former Reagan-Bush appointee, manufacturing tycoon Andy Apaid.

Apaid was the point man for the rapacious Reagan-Bush "market reform" drive in Haiti. Of course, "reform," in the degraded jargon of the privateers, means exposing even the very means of survival and sustenance to the ravages of powerful corporate interests. For example, the Reagan-Bush plan forced Haiti to lift import tariffs on rice, which had long been a locally-grown staple. Then they flooded Haiti with heavily subsidized American rice, destroying the local market and throwing thousands of self-sufficient farmers out of work. With a now-captive market, the American companies jacked up their prices, spreading ruin and hunger throughout Haitian society. The jobless farmers provided new fodder for the factories of Apaid and his cronies. Reagan and Bush chipped in by abolishing taxes for American corporations who set up Haitian sweatshops. The result was a precipitous drop in wages - and life expectancy. Aristide's first election in 1990 threatened these cozy arrangements, so he was duly ejected by a military coup, with Bush I's not-so-tacit connivance.


But as we said, the latest round of punishment for Haiti was a thoroughly bipartisan affair:

Bill Clinton restored Aristide to office in 1994 - but only after forcing him to agree to, yes, "market reforms." In fact, it was Clinton, the privateers' pal, who instigated the post-election aid embargo that Bush II used to such devastating effect. Aristide's chief failing as a leader was his attempt to live up to this bipartisan blackmail. As in every other nation that's come under the IMF whip, Haiti's already-fragile economy collapsed. Bush family retainers like Apaid then shoved the country into total chaos, making it easy prey for the warlords whom Bush operatives - many of them old Iran-Contra hands - supplied with arms through the Dominican Republic, the Boston Globe reports. ...

When Aristide agreed to a deal, brokered by his fellow leaders in the Caribbean, that would have effectively ceded power to the Bush-funded opposition but at least preserved the lineaments of Haitian democracy - Apaid and the boys turned down the offer, with the blessing of their paymasters in Washington, who suddenly claimed they had no influence over their recalcitrant hired hands. ... 

Instead, Aristide was told by armed American gunmen that if he didn't resign, he would be left to die at the hands of the rebels. Then he was bundled onto a waiting plane and dumped in the middle of Africa. Within hours, the Bush-backed terrorists were marching openly through Port-au-Prince, executing Aristide's supporters.

Guess they won't be asking for two dollars a day now, eh? Mission accomplished!


III.
Of course, all of that happened in the bad old days, before Barack Obama ushered us into a new, "post-racial" era. Surely this man of vision and compassion, himself a scion of Africa, would at last put an end to Haiti's punishment for rising up against its white masters. 

But it was not to be. As noted here last year, in "Cry, the Unforgiven Country":

Obama and his "superstar" secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, are loudly championing the latest egregious, brutal farce that Washington and the West have foisted upon the uppity natives of Haiti.

Senatorial elections held this month by the government imposed on Haiti after the U.S.-backed coup of 2004 ... produced a turnout of less than 10 percent of eligible voters: a result that mocks any notion of a popular, legitimate democracy. But this is not because the Haitians are so lazy and disinterested that they couldn't be bothered to vote. Nor that they are so satisfied with the benevolent, paternal care of their American-appointed masters that they saw no need to let silly electoral contests trouble their bucolic life.

No, the 90 percent refusal rate was in fact a massive protest action, driven chiefly by the fact that the American-backed government would not allow the most popular party -- the party of the government ousted by the 2004 coup -- to run a slate of candidates in the election. By clerkly hook and bureaucratic crook, Haiti's election overseers banned the Fanmi Lavalas slate back in February. At that moment, the April elections became a dead letter, a meaningless farce -- yet another cruel joke played on the people of Haiti.

How did the enlightened progressives of the new American administration respond? John Caruso reports:

CLINTON: The U.S. removed a military dictatorship in 1995, clearing the way for democracy. And after several years of political disputes, common in any country making a transition, Haiti began to see progress. And the national and presidential elections in 2006 really moved Haiti's democracy forward. What the president and the prime minister are seeking is to maintain a strong commitment to democratic governance which will take another step forward with elections for the senate on Sunday.

To translate from the vulgar Clintonian dialect: 1) "political disputes" refers to the overwhelmingly popular presidency of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, which was "disputed" (and continually undermined) by the U.S. and its fifth column in Haiti; 2) Haiti "began to see progress" thanks to the U.S.-backed coup of Aristide in 2004; and 3) the 2006 elections that "really moved Haiti's democracy forward" excluded both Aristide and FL's preferred candidate in his stead (Father Gerard Jean-Juste, thrown in prison on invented charges by the U.S.-backed government in order to prevent him from running), resulting in the ascension of Rene Preval—who understands clearly who's the boss, and therefore merits a pat on the head from Clinton.

Which brings us to today's senatorial elections, in which the U.S./Haitian "strong commitment to democratic governance...will take another step forward" via the calculated suppression of the majority party's ability to run a slate of candidates...

So the centuries-long U.S. project of democracy prevention in Haiti is still going swimmingly. And anyone who feared that our first black president might be less sympathetic to the need to smash the democratic aspirations of the first free black nation in the hemisphere can rest assured: Obama will never let race — or anything else — stop him from doing the empire's dirty work. 

 It is certain such dirty work will soon be afoot once more -- and we must fight it, call attention to it, and not let Haiti disappear in the imperial shadow yet again. But at this moment, the most pressing concern is the human suffering in Haiti. So again, do look into the relief efforts noted above, or any others you might prefer.

Comments (6)add comment

Debbie Kimlin said: 

Debbie Kimlin
...
You know the old saying 'practice makes perfect'. I have come to realize that all the goings on in 'developing' countries (Shock Doctrine) are practice for what happens to us(western countries). A litte more subtle perhaps, but with the mind numbing brainwashing and propaganda of 'reality tv and celebrity worship' it works wonders.
My thoughts and donations to the people of Haiti, during this terrible time. 
Thanks Chris
 
January 14, 2010
Votes: +2

NomNomNom said: 

Sonya
...
The only bright spots are the difficulty this will pose for Dyncorp's expansion of the military base and imagining Pat Buchanan's dismay if a million "Zulus" invade Miami Beach. 
That picture is just heart wrenching. What a terrible tragedy.
 
January 14, 2010
Votes: -1

nina said: 

nina
...
Thank you. This is the information I wanted to see and more, wanted to know was available to be seen. Most of it I painstakingly unearthed when Haiti was sponged up occupado and Aristide sent packing, even jerked around on holiday from darkest Africa as our plantation overseers soundly objected, but this time the history is at last all in one place, laid out direct point by direct point like a dagger into the heart, the heart of darkness where everything is designed to fall apart. 
I'm now hearing that Guantanamo prison is being considered as a safe relocation zone. This would be wonderful if Haitians were hamsters. 

 
January 14, 2010 | url 
Votes: +0

Art James, bebop-o, GoodCelery! said: 

Art James, bebop-o, GoodCelery!
Earth shakes. sad. so sad.
Sometimes, my comment doesn't go to your site. 
Mystery. 
I'll try today. I've hundreds if Earthquake images. 
In 1993, when the AP mentioned India's Quack - 
60,000 may have died, It was 28,000. `Walls. 
Stone walls of homes and barns shook like a crib. 
Baby crib cradle? No. The Earth shook. Walls fell. 
The human villagers in rural Killari, were asleep. 
sad, a QUAKE was 6.4 on the 'scale' at 4:?0 AM. 
Animal, elder, babies, cradles (sad) got crushed. 
I was there with Ananda Marga for burial duties. 

It wasn't 60,000 American names or 3.2 million. 
Remember. 
Bombs. Some of these DC creeps B-52 Vietnamese. 
Death. 
Briefly. 
The rumor then in `93 was that underground test? 
War armaments were tested. It shook the firmament? 
I was told`the Quake was not a natural a phenomena. 
Man was `testing. 
Testing for`killing. 
How shallow`cruel. 
Mankind has become.
 
January 14, 2010
Votes: +0

Bill Jones said: 

Bill Jones
I was thinking of exactly this history
As soon as I heard of the earthquake. As always, Chris, You've written of it beautifully, thanks.
 
January 14, 2010
Votes: +0

john kelley said: 

john kelley
...
'i say I remember when a we used to sit 
In a government yard in Trenchtown, 
Oba - obaserving the hypocrites as they would 
Mingle with the good people we meet, meet 
Good friends we have, oh, good friends we have lost 
Along the way,way 
say In this great future called life, you can't forget your past; 
So dry your tears, I seh. Yeah!' 

(Bob Marley)
 
January 14, 2010
Votes: +0

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Michael Santomauro
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