Haiti's Real Problem

I arrived in San Salvador, El Salvador on Thursday, January 21. But before I write about the beginning of my experience here, there is another topic I want to discuss: the disaster in Haiti.

Across the length and breadth of the mainstream media (which is unfortunately the primary source of “news” for most people), the story of the tragedy is couched in terms of the failure of the Haitian people to govern themselves, with the implication that, for whatever reason, they lack the capacity to do so. Scene after scene is presented showing Haitians failing to take advantage of (or even destroying) their own natural resources or the material aid and technical assistance that is so “generously” provided to them by more (economically) successful nations. Oh yes, we are asked to “pity the poor Haitians,” but we are never told the reasons why their situation was so dire even before the earthquake. And seldom do people ask what is, and has been, going on in the larger scene.

But when we pull the focus to reveal the background forces that have been moving the plot forward, a new picture is revealed: that of systemic racist exploitation. It is a picture that many do not wish to see, perhaps because it reflects their own culpability in the ongoing punishment of a courageous people whose ancestors were the first to successfully rebel against their enslavement and form their own nation. This act of rebellion has never been forgiven by those whose false sense of superiority has been used by colonizers through the ages to justify the exploitation of people seen by them as “different” (and thus inferior to themselves); and, in the case of Haiti, it has been used to render invisible the deliberate undermining of the Haitians’ efforts to create the nation they desire.

The power gained by the early colonizers through the forced extraction of wealth from its rightful owners has been so immense that their descendants (and their minions) have been able to rise to the god-like position of controlling much of the world’s perception of reality itself. This is the primary function of the mainstream media. It is called “propaganda.” It has been used with great success to obscure the unrelenting war against the courageous black people who dared to overthrow their oppressors. It was an example that could not be allowed to stand as an inspiration to others.

At this point, my words are directed only to those who, like me, see themselves, in the words of the reggae group, Third World, as “only someone in an ocean of someones” (from "World of Uncertainty") and who sincerely wish for others those good things we wish for ourselves. For you, perhaps my words are unnecessary (even though we all hunger to see our deepest thoughts expressed by others). Even so, I offer some alternative sources of information about Haiti that may provide you with useful facts to counter the misinformation and disinformation being disseminated about the situation there.

Democracy Now!
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a million. Democracy Now! has been providing excellent coverage of the crisis. Despite the mainstream media’s portrayal of the 11,000 U.S. soldiers in Haiti as “keeping order,” in fact they diverted planes carrying critically needed supplies to the Dominican Republic. The United Nations (which has been proudly heaping shame on itself since 1994, when it failed to stop the slaughter of 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis and moderate Hutus, and again in 1995, when, by its own admission, it "appeased and unwittingly abetted the Bosnian Serb military" in the slaughter of thousands of Bosnian Muslims) refused to enter Léogâne, near the epicentre of the quake, saying that "unless they could ensure security, they would not be providing aid there." And yet, DN! hosts, Amy Goodman and Sharif Abdel Kouddous, with a small crew, unarmed and unafraid, walked the streets of Léogâne and spoke with residents who were asking for water, food and shelter (90% of Léogâne's buildings having been destroyed in the quake). This leaves any human being appalled and wondering: could the chicken-shit U.N. not have delivered water, food and tents from the safety of a helicopter?

Consortium News
An excellent article, "Haiti and America's Historic Debt," provides background for understanding the deliberate hindrance of Haiti's self-determination efforts by the United States and the weak response of the U.S. to the current crisis. This is a must-read.

Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine, offers a concise warning that Haiti is about to be the next recipient of "economic shock therapy" in her blog entry, "Haiti Disaster Capitalism Alert: Stop Them Before They Shock Again." If you are unfamiliar with the "Shock Doctrine," please see this short video.

There is a lot of good journalism out there, but you have to look for it. It's time to get off the fence (if that's where you've been sitting). It may not be too late, but we're getting close. With the likes of Pat Robertson spewing racial hatred in support of the global white-supremacist takeover of the world, and its genocidal plan to reduce the non-white population to just the numbers necessary to operate the sweatshops that produce the "goods" (and I ask, for whom are these sweatshop-produced commodities good?) that we consume. Sweatshops are a large part of the wealthy nations' plan for "economic development" in post-quake Haiti.

Here's some news: There's no such thing as "race." We are all human beings, and we'd better start coming together to overthrow our slavemasters. Yes, we have all been made slaves to consumerism. A better future is still possible, and it's up to all of us to create it. Let us make future history one where the Haitian people will be honoured for having been exemplars of the desire for freedom that is fundamental to the human spirit.

Come on, people, let's evolve!