The second anniversary of the earthquake
that shook the island of Haiti has come and gone. While
the images of destruction dim, the unanswered questions
about recovery and reconstruction must remain loud and
constant. The 7.0-magnitude quake created yet another
set back for a people who seem to be perpetual victims
of natural and man-made disasters.
Some Haitians believe the island is cursed
because of its history of slavery and repression. Others
remember the battle for independence from French domination
led
by Toussaint L�Ouverture and believe they can be free
again. The model of corruption perfected by the brutal
regimes of Jean Claude Duvaliers (Papa Doc and Baby Doc).
who were propped up by the U.S. government,
continues to be fine-tuned by government and business
officials.
Current photos of Haiti don�t
seem to show much progress since the earthquake that rocked
Port-au-Prince, the nation�s capital. Piles of rubble,
teetering buildings and sprawling tent cities are the
visual images that remind us of the challenges the small
island continues to face. The quake affected an estimated
3 million people and displaced about 1.5 million Haitians.
The death toll, like the billions in aid,
is impossible to track or confirm. The death estimates
range from 50,000 to a half million. Financial aid swings
from $3 billion to $12 billion. Haiti has no
system f accounting for births or deaths. And there�s
definitely been no accounting of the millions that poured
in so quickly in the days after the earthquake for recovery
and rebuilding.
Still, only a fraction of the pledged monies
by governments has been received. The international shell
game in the face of such a disaster is outrageous. According
to Robert Fatton, professor of government and foreign
affairs at the University of Virginia,
Haitians received a puny 1 percent of the U.S. dollars
that were pledged.
�If you read the UN Report,� Fatton says,
99 percent of the U.S. dollars went to the �U.S. military,
the State Department, NGOs and contractors�it ended up
returning to the same place it came from.�
Everyone is not exploiting the situation.
OXFAM is questioning why rice is being imported from the U.S. by
the shiploads instead of helping Haitian farmers to grow
their own. At one time, Haiti was producing its own
rice. Now, it imports 60% of it from this country.
Who was mostly responsible for this particular
underminement of Haitian agriculture? None other than
President Bill Clinton whose home state is our country�s
largest rice-producing state. The irony of this is Clinton was
assigned to Haiti as the UN Special Envoy to
oversee the country�s reconstruction efforts. Not surprising,
he has been unresponsive to repeated requests for accountability
by watchdog groups. MINUSTAH (UN Stabilization Mission)
also needs to be held accountable.
When people of the world look at Haiti�s
dismal situation, the tendency is to blame the victim.
But a closer look reveals many blood-suckers that keep
the country from standing on its own two feet and taking
care of its people.
Haiti is bowed but not broken. The
people continue to find dignity in their lives, and hope
in their futures. Let those outside its border and particularly
those of us who are in the belly of the beast continue
to raise the hard questions about aid to Haiti. We
must actively oppose the economic and foreign policies
of those who claim to be nation-partners but who are collaborators
in Haiti�s destabilization.
BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member, Jamala Rogers, is the leader
of the Organization
for Black Struggle in St. Louis and the Black Radical Congress
National Organizer. Additionally, she is an Alston-Bannerman
Fellow. She is the author of The Best of the Way I See It � A Chronicle of Struggle. Click
here to contact Ms. Rogers.
