This list of 100+ links—in reverse chronological order—was created in preparation for the next issue of Press for Conversion! (the magazine of Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade). The theme of that issue (#65) will be the hyper-militarisation of development assistance to Haiti.
I hope this compilation of articles serves as a useful resource for activists, researchers and others concerned about the latest military invasion of Haiti, the pretexts for that invasion and the real reasons behind it.
Four previous issue of COAT’s magazine have dealt with Canada’s odious role in Haiti:
#63 Lies without Borders: How CIDA-funded ‘NGOs’ waged a propaganda war to justify Haiti’s 2004 Coup
#62 Putting the Aid in Aiding and Abetting: CIDA’s [Canadian] Agents of Regime Change in Haiti’s 2004 Coup
#61 CIDA’s Key Role in Haiti’s 2004 Coup: Funding Regime Change, Dictatorship and Human Rights Atrocities, one Haitian ‘NGO’ at a Time
#60 A Very Canadian Coup in Haiti: The Top 10 Ways that Canada’s Government Helped the 2004 Coup and its Reign of Terror
Any corrections, critiques or suggestions for additional articles to be added to this list are welcome. Contact me.
CHAN, “Haiti’s PM on NGOs, troops”
Canada Haiti Action Network (CHAN), February 3, 2010
“Agence Haitienne de Presse reports on comments by Jean Max Bellerive, Haiti’s Prime Minister [about]…the chaos caused by donor countries funneling money through thousands of NGOs who are responsible to no one…. [and] the tens of thousands of troops that have arrived in Haiti since the earthquake, bolstering the nearly 9000-strong UN force. …”
http://canadahaitiaction.ca/?p=1295
Felipe Stuart Cournoyer, “Haiti: AntiBrazil mobilisations grow in quake’s wake”
LINKS, February 1, 2010
“One of the most vexing issues in Latin America’s relations with Haiti is the grievous lack of understanding on the part of anti-imperialist forces about the nature of the repeated imperialist occupations of the former French colony, and of the crushing of the Lavalas movement, including the ouster of the country’s democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. …”
http://links.org.au/node/1494
Scott Weinstein, “Report by Canadian nurse in Haiti”
Canada Haiti Action Network list-serve, February 1, 2010
“Very busy, but safe is what we felt. No fights, no yelling. Very little hustling even – less than a WDC or NYC street. My point is, this was so unlike the fear propaganda that is drummed into our heads about Haiti, which is why we didn’t see any other white people on foot the whole time…. At the hospital, we saw 4 US soldiers armed with M16s guarding a cart of patient’s food being distributed! …”
http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/65/Weinstein_in_Haiti.htm
Anthony Fenton, “Canadian Iraq war vet, former JTF2 Commander reportedly coordinates U.S. ‘military humanism’ effort in Haiti”
Web of Democracy, January 31, 2010
“‘The coordinator of humanitarian assistance with the U.S.-run Joint Task Force-Haiti, [is] Canadian Brig. Gen. Nicolas Matern.'(AP) …. The Army Times ran…, ‘Haiti aid mission uses lessons of war,’ describing how ‘dealing with counterinsurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan…apply here [in Haiti] to the job of distributing food and water and providing medical help.’…”
http://www.webofdemocracy.org/canadian-iraq-war-vet-forme.html
F. William Engdahl, “The Fateful Geological Prize Called Haiti”
Geopolitics – Geoeconomics, January 30, 2010
“A former US President becomes UN Special Envoy to earthquake-stricken Haiti…. Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Bolivian, French and Swiss rescue organizations accuse the US military of refusing landing rights to planes bearing necessary medicines and urgently needed potable water to the millions of Haitians stricken, injured and homeless. …”
http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/
Flavia Cherry, “The Haiti you do not see on TV”
Caribbean Political Economy, January 30, 2010
“I have been here in Haiti for a few days now and what I find most striking, is not only the resilience of the people, but the extent of volunteerism which is evident in every single camp and in every recovery effort at building and rescue…. Whatyou do not see on TV is the thousands of milliary officers heavily armed, standing, milling around doing nothing when there is absolutely no need for this kind of millitary presence. …”
http://www.normangirvan.info/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/the-haiti-you-do-not-see-on-tv.doc
Monica Villamizar, “Logistical delays plague Haiti aid”
Al Jazeera, January 29, 2010
“More than two weeks after a deadly earthquake struck, much of the aid is still not reaching the people who need it. Al Jazeera’s Monica Villamizar spent a day with an aid convoy in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, carrying one million food rations…. Though more than 100 people were involved and armed personnel accompanied the convoy, no food had been distributed by the end of the day.”
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/2010129482740401.html
Tanya Golash-Boza, “Sensationalizing Suffering: Struggling for Dignity and Survival in Haiti”
Blog – Tales from the Field, January 29, 2010
“The mass media’s portrayal of Haiti is sensationalist…. Advertising dollars flow with images of looters, destruction, and social disorder…. The other underlying reason is racism…. The idea that Haiti has people organizing themselves into orderly tent cities and that the major role of the US has been to patrol around with soldiers and guns is not one that fits the image of Haiti or of the US’s role there. …”
http://tanyagolashboza.blogspot.com/2010/01/sensationalizing-suffering-struggling.html
Peter Hallward, “The land that wouldn’t lie: Foreign intervention in Haiti”
Haitianalysis, January 29, 2010
“The Haitian people overthrew slavery, uprooted dictators and foreign military rule, and elected a liberation theologian as president. The west has made them pay for their audacity. …”
http://haitianalysis.com/2010/1/29/the-land-that-wouldn-t-lie-foreign-intervention-in-haiti
“Police resort to violence in bid to help distribute aid in Haiti”
New Zealand Herald, January 28, 2010
“‘They treat us like animals, they beat us but we are hungry people,’ said Muller Bellegarde, 30…. Many…suggested Haitian churches could provide more orderly and respectful venues for distributions, with Haitian communities organizing security. ‘The…way they’re doing it is bad…,’ Thomas Louis, 40… ‘This is not aid. This is a way to put people down.’…”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10622761
Peter Slevin, “Lack of crowd control hampers food and water delivery to Haitian quake victims”
Washington Post, January 29, 2010
“For more than 500 people who have banded together in solace and solidarity in a field here, there is no food. [They are] a 10-minute drive from the U.N. logistics base and the main Port-au-Prince airport, where dozens of cargo-laden flights land each day. The U.N. World Food Program sharply reduced its deliveries this week after failing to obtain enough U.N. peacekeepers or U.S. soldiers to keep anxious crowds in order. …”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/28/AR2010012803618.html
Ansel Herz, “Local Leaders Shut Out of Military Run Relief Efforts”
Internet Press Service, January 28, 2010
“Little food and water has been distributed by the dozens U.S. troops milling about the beach since the earthquake, according to local leaders…. ‘For us, it was very important to do this without military,’ said Dolores Rescheleit, an aid worker with a German NGO called Arche Nova that provided the food. ‘…When you give the responsibility to the people in the camp, they will do it better than we will with the military.’ …”
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50144
Bill Quigley, “On the ground in Port au Prince”
Haiti Action, January 28, 2010
“Though helicopters thunder through the skies, actual relief of food and water and shelter remains mimimal to non-existent in most neighborhoods. Haitians are helping Haitians. Young men have organized into teams to guard communities of homeless families. …”
http://www.haitiaction.net/News/BQ/1_28_10/1_28_10.html
Tim Schwartz, “Heavy handout – Security hysteria feeding the fight for food”
Toronto NOW (weekly), January 28, 2010
“Here in the epicentre of the earthquake area, it’s simply unfathomable that foreign assistance is coming so slowly. …”
http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=173441
Sasha Kramer, “Fear Slows Aid Efforts in Haiti “
CounterPunch, January 27, 2010
“When I first arrived in Port au Prince I spent a day at the UN compound by the airport where NGO’s, doctors and soldiers swarm around talking on satellite phones and running from meeting to meeting. I learned about the massive amounts of food aid that arrived in the first week and was stockpiled at the airport. I learned of the aid trucks filled to the brim with supplies blocked at the border and sitting idle at the ports. …”
http://www.counterpunch.org/kramer01272010.html
John Pilger, “The Kidnapping of Haiti”
New Statesman, January 27, 2010
“The theft of Haiti has been swift and crude. On 22 January, the United States secured “formal approval” from the United Nations to take over all air and sea ports in Haiti, and to “secure” roads. No Haitian signed the agreement, which has no basis in law. …”
http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=564
CCPO, “Haiti: After the Catastrophe, What are the Perspectives?”
Coordinating Cttee of Progressive Organisations (CCPO), Port-au-Prince, January 27, 2010
“We must also declare our anger and indignation at the exploitation of the situation in Haiti to justify a new invasion by 20,000 U.S. Marines…. It is clearly part of a strategy to remilitarise the Caribbean Basin in the context of the imperialist response to the growing rebellion of the peoples of our continent against neo-liberal globalization….”
http://www.normangirvan.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/haiti-statement-prog-orgs.pdf
Norman Girvan, “Solidarity with Haiti”
Caribbean Political Economy, January 26, 2010
“Much of the discourse on Haiti since (and before) the earthquake of January 12 has been ahistorical and decontextualised. I cringe every time I hear that Haiti is ‘the poorest country in the Western hemisphere’ that is ‘plagued with corrupt and tyrannical governments’ and other stereotypes so beloved by the Western media. …”
http://www.normangirvan.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/girvan-solidarity-with-haiti1.pdf
Norman Girvan, “Letter to PJ Patterson Regarding Montreal Conference on Haitian Relief”
Jamaica Observer, January 27, 2010
“I would argue strongly against an apprach that is ‘security-centred’; that militarizes the relief and rehabilitation effort; and that undermines Haitian ownership, intiative, responsibility and sovereignty. Rather, it should be based on the principles of solidarity, respect for their rights and respect for their country’s sovereignty. …”
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Girvan-jan-26_7355109
Robert Jensen, “Great television, bad journalism: Media failures in Haiti coverage”
Know, January 25, 2010
“CNN’s star anchor Anderson Cooper narrates a chaotic street scene in Port-au-Prince…. Cooper point[s] out there is no widespread looting in the city and that the violence in the scene that viewers have just witnessed appears to be idiosyncratic…. Haitians generally have been organizing themselves into neighborhood committees to take care of each other in the absence a functioning central government …”
http://www.utexas.edu/know/2010/01/25/bad_journalism_haiti/
Marguerite A. Suozzi, “HAITI: Military Playing Large Role in Relief Efforts”
InterPress Service, January 25, 2010
“Military forces seem to be a critical part of the international community’s contribution to Haiti, as military and police from the UN, US, Canada and the Dominican Republic establish their presence on the island…. But support for the continuous increase in military personnel deployed to the island has not been unanimous among the international community. …”
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50098
Richard Seymour, “The humanitarian myth”
Socialist Worker, January 25, 2010
“An analysis of propaganda manufactured to justify U.S. actions in Haiti after the earthquake.WITHIN DAYS of Haiti suffering an earthquake…the U.S. government had sent thousands of 82nd Airborne troops and Marines, alongside the super-carrier USS Carl Vinson. …”
http://socialistworker.org/2010/01/25/the-humanitarian-myth
CCIC – “Canadian Civil Society Recommendations to the Foreign Ministers Meeting on Haiti”
Canadian Council for International Co-operation, January 25, 2010
“Aid efforts have been impeded by lack of access to airports and the slow delivery of supplies into the disaster site…. Assistance currently being provided by military personnel should be handed over to civilian agencies as soon as possible, leaving the military to focus on providing logistical and operational support…. The considerable capacity and skills of Haitians themselves must be respected and included in relief efforts. …”
http://www.web.ca/~bthomson/haiti/CCIC_Haiti_Statement_25jan10.html
Justin Podur, “Limited Compassion for Haiti”
The Killing Train, January 25, 2010.
“Everyone agrees that the Haiti earthquake is a serious situation. Serious enough for the US to send thousands of Marines, to take over the airport, to suspend Haiti’s sovereignty and take over the operation. Serious enough to unify the bitter partisan divide and put Bush, Clinton, and Obama together to raise funds. …”
http://www.killingtrain.com/node/723
Richard Swift, “Disaster relief or disaster capitalism?”
New Internationalist, January 25, 2010.
“‘All Hands on Deck for Haiti!’ shouted the headlines in the Trinidad Express. It was ‘Hold on Haiti: We Are Here For You’ from the Barbadian Press. …”
http://www.newint.org/features/web-exclusive/2010/01/26/haiti-disaster/
“Venezuela Cancels Haiti’s Debt”
Bolivarian News Agency / Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the U.S. Press and Communications Office, January 25, 2010
“The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez announced on Monday, January 25, that the Venezuelan government will forgive any Venezuelan debts held by Haiti. …”
http://embavenez-us.org/news.php?nid=5257
Jesse Hagopian, “Occupation in Humanitarian Clothing”
CommonDreams, January 24, 2010
“Everything you need to know about the U.S. aid effort to assist Haiti in the wake of the catastrophic earthquake can be summed up by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s touchdown in Port-Au-Prince on Saturday, January 16: they shut down the airport [1] for three hours surrounding her arrival for “security” reasons, which meant that no aid flights could come in during those critical hours. …”
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/24
David Putt, “Canadian Military refused help to Canadian aid worker in Port-au-Prince”
Emails and phone transcripts with David Putt in Haiti, January 24, 2010
“There are so few of us on the ground that are actually doing anything, you pass umpteen armed UN vehicles. A few UN food program trucks. You just don’t see much aid. You just don’t see much aid on the road. There’s very little significant aid in people’s hands. …”
http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/65/Putt_in_Haiti.htm
Bruce A. Dixon, “Haiti, Katrina, and Why I Won’t Give To Haiti Through the Red Cross”
Black Agenda Report, January 22, 2010
“What’s charitably given isn’t always charitably distributed. In 21st century American and its empire, our corporate and military elite wield immense power. Corporate philanthropy serves corporate interests, not human interests, and corporate control over government, culture and media ensure that even funds donated by ordinary citizens can be directed and harvested for elite purposes too. …”
Andrew Buncombe, “Looting – is it really a matter of black and white?”
UK Independent, January 22, 2010
“Imagine what it must have been like for the people of Haiti, struggling without food and water or medical help for days on end. And…imagined…[being] accused of ‘looting’ if you…helped yourself to some bottles of water or a bag of rice. … Why…this obsession with looting…in so much we’ve read or watched with law and order? …”
http://andrewbuncombe.independentminds.livejournal.com/
Letter to the Guardian, “Haitian empowerment must be the prime goal”
The Guardian, January 22, 2010
“We the undersigned are outraged by the scandalous delays in getting essential aid to victims of the earthquake in Haiti. As a result of the US decision to prioritise the accumulation of foreign soldiers over the distribution of emergency supplies, untold numbers of people have died needlessly. …”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/22/haitian-empowerment-prime-goal
Michel Chossudovsky, “A Haiti Disaster Relief Scenario Was Envisaged by the US Military One Day Before the Earthquake”
Global Research, January 21, 2010
“A Haiti disaster relief scenario had been envisaged at the headquarters of US Southern Command SOUTHCOM in Miami one day prior to the earthquake. The holding of pre-disaster simulations pertained to the impacts of a hurricane in Haiti. They were held on January 10. …”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17122
CHAN Petition, “Haiti needs emergency relief, not military intervention!”
Canada Haiti Action Network, January 21, 2010
“We, the undersigned, are outraged by the scandalous delays in distributing essential aid to victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Since the US Air Force seized unilateral control of the airport in Port-au-Prince, it has privileged military over civilian humanitarian flights. As a result, untold numbers of people have died needlessly in the rubble of Port-au-Prince. …”
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/relief-not-militarization-for-haiti
Radio Havana Cuba (RHC), “Washington Accused of Militarizing Haitian Relief”
RHC, January 21, 2010
“The US is being accused of prioritizing the delivery of troops and military equipment over desperately needed aid in Haiti. …U.S. troops are engaged in ‘crowd control,’ while literally occupying areas of the earthquake-ravaged country. And Washington’s control of the airport in Port-au-Prince gives the U.S. the final word on who does or doesn’t get humanitarian aid… and when. …”
http://www.radiohc.cu/ingles/a_noticiasdelmundo/10/enero/21/mundo1.htm
Peter Hallward, “Securing Disaster in Haiti”
Haitianalysis, January 21, 2010
“Nine days after the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010, it’s now clear that the initial phase of the US-led relief operation has conformed to the three fundamental tendencies that have shaped the more general course of the island’s recent history.[1] It has adopted military priorities and strategies. It has sidelined Haiti’s own leaders and government, and ignored the needs of the majority of its people. And it has proceeded in ways that reinforce the already harrowing gap between rich and poor. …”
http://www.haitianalysis.com/2010/1/22/securing-disaster-in-haiti
Sarah Lazare, “US Policy: More War, Less Relief”
CommonDreams, January 22, 2010
“As Haiti asks the world for help turning around the destruction wrought by the January 12th earthquake, the U.S. is funding destruction in Iraq and Afghanistan. President Obama is expected to ask for another $33 billion for the military budget this year, on top of the $1 trillion that has come out of U.S. taxpayers’ pockets since 2001, to fund the so-called War on Terror. …”
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/22-0
Press TV, “Latin American Leaders: International relief operation in Haiti is a cover-up for a military takeover”
Press TV, January 22, 2010
Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua say the US is using the international relief operation in Haiti as a cover-up for a military takeover.
Bolivian President Evo Morales said that he will request an emergency UN meeting to reject what he calls the US military occupation of Haiti.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116809§ionid=351020706
Nicole Winfield, “Italy’s top disaster official: Haiti relief effort `pathetic,’ US militarization ineffective,”
Associated Press, January 24, 2010.
“Italy’s top disaster official called the Haiti quake-relief effort a “pathetic” failure Sunday, criticizing the militarized approach of the U.S. as ineffective and out of touch for the emergency at hand….”
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9DEAMAO2.htm
Peter Walker, “Italian official condemns Haiti earthquake relief as ‘vanity parade'”
The Guardian, January 25, 2010
“The Italian government official who led the country’s response to the L’Aquila earthquake has condemned relief efforts in Haiti as a disorganised “vanity parade”, ahead of an international conference on rebuilding the devastated country. Guido Bertolaso, the head of Italy’s civil protection service, said there had been a fundamental lack of leadership thus far in foreign aid missions to Haiti, warning also that the large US military mission in the country was not entirely helpful. …”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/25/italy-condemns-haiti-earthquake-relief-effort
Fidel Castro Ruz, “We Send Doctors, Not Soldiers”
Reflections by Comrade Fidel, January 23, 2010
“In the midst of the Haitian tragedy…thousands of US marines, 82nd Airborne Division troops and other military forces have occupied Haiti…. Several governments have complained that their aircraft have not been allowed to land in order to deliver the human and technical resources…. In my view, such events will complicate and create chaos in international cooperation. …”
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2010/ing/f230110i.html
Tony Iltis, “Haiti: US military occupation worsens suffering, blocks aid”
GreenLEFT Online, January 23, 2010
“Most media coverage of Haiti’s latest tragedy is dominated by a racist narrative that is being used as a smokescreen, behind which the US is cynically using the earthquake to increase its military, political and economic control of Haiti. (Actively hampering relief efforts in the process.) …”
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/823/42323
Seumas Miln, “Haiti’s suffering is a result of calculated impoverishment”
The Guardian, January 23, 2010
“There is no relief for the people of Haiti, it seems, even in their hour of promised salvation. More than a week after the earthquake that may have killed 200,000 people, most Haitians have seen nothing of the armada of aid they have been promised by the outside world. …”
Tim Schwartz (PhD), “Comments from Haiti on alleged security problems”
Emails, January 20-23, 2010
“I am white, blan… and I am on foot and motorcycle and am still trying to figure out what the security issue is. … Exactly what is it that the military and aid agencies are supposed to be afraid of? …. It is simply mindboggling how they are portraying the people who live there. …”
http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/65/Schwartz_in_Haiti.htm
“Haiti: the Aftershock Doctrine”
SchNEWS, January 22, 2010
“As the rescue effort winds down and the body count piles up, SchNEWS takes a look at why this earthquake hit so many so hard, and how the international aid effort is being subverted by military and corporate power. …”
http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news7061.php
“CITGO Starts Shipment of 120 tons of Humanitarian Aid to Haití As a complement to the Venezuelan Aid”
CITGO media release, Jan. 22, 2010.
“CITGO Petroleum Corporation, and its charitable organization, the Simón Bolívar Foundation, have started the shipment to Port-Au-Prince of 120 tons of humanitarian aid, in coordination with the Embassies of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Republic of Haiti in the United States. …”
http://embavenez-us.org/news.php?nid=5252
Roslyn Cassells, “Soldiers and police prioritizing ‘security’ over survival in Haiti”
The Straight, January 21, 2010
“US military control of the only airport in Haiti has resulted in prioritization of “security” over life. … A second wave of deaths—this one avoidable—has begun. One of the greatest dangers to the survivors of disasters comes from the very organizations and institutions that are supposed to help them. This is due to the attempt, often unwelcome by the local community, to re-assert state and police control over the people. …”
Tim Schwartz, “Is this anarchy? Outsiders believe this island nation is a land of bandits. Blame the NGOs for the ‘looting.’”
Toronto NOW (weekly), January 21, 2010
“We are at a supermarket inside a sealed-off compound. Over the wall, we can see into neighbourhoods where houses are heaps of rubble but not a single rescue worker’s in sight. …”
http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=173333
Nikolas Kozloff, “Latin Middle Eastern Media: A Thorn in the Side of the U.S. Military in Haiti”
SenorChichero, January 23, 2010
“Watch the U.S. media and its coverage of the crisis in Haiti, and you get the impression that Washington is a benevolent power doing its utmost to help with emergency relief in the Caribbean island nation. But tune into al-Jazeera English or South American news network Telesur and you come away with a very different view. …”
http://senorchichero.blogspot.com/2010/01/latinmiddle-eastern-media-thorn-in-side.html
Marilyn Langlois, “Stand shoulder to shoulder with the People of Haiti”
HaitiAction, January 23, 2010
“When asked ‘How are they surviving?’ Haitian journalist Wadner Pierre responded, ‘Well, they’re all sharing. That’s what we do. That’s the way Haitians are.’ (January 16)
‘The city has seen little violence, despite persistent fears that shortages of food, water and shelter will spark unrest.’ (January 21)
http://www.haitiaction.net/News/HERF/1_23_10/1_23_10.html
Alex Lantier, “US military operations block relief efforts in Haiti”
World Socialist Web Site, January 21, 2010
“The US military intervention in Haiti, after the January 12 earthquake that killed an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 people, continues to block arrival of critical supplies to the devastated country. Quake victims—including hundreds of thousands of wounded and an estimated three million Haitians made homeless—lack access to food, water, and life-saving medical equipment. …”
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/hait-j21.shtml
Andy Kershaw, “Stop treating these people like savages”
UK Independent, January 21, 2010
“The crisis, for more than a week now, has been not about the shortage of donated food, water, fuel and medicines but the distribution of those essentials that are piling up, obscenely, at Port-au-Prince airport. …”
Ben Ehrenreich, “Why Did We Focus on Securing Haiti Rather Than Helping Haitians?”
Slate, January 21, 2010
“By the weekend, it was clear that something perverse was going on in Haiti, something savage and bestial in its lack of concern for human life. I’m not talking about the earthquake, and certainly not about the so-called ‘looting,’ which I prefer to think of as the autonomously organized distribution of unjustly hoarded goods. I’m talking about the U.S. relief effort. …”
http://www.slate.com/id/2242078/
Derrick O’Keefe, “Racism, misinformation and militarization have hurt Haiti relief effort”
Rabble Blog, January 21, 2010
“Yesterday, Democracy Now! reported that ‘Misinformation and Racism Have Frozen Recovery Effort at General Hospital in Port-au-Prince.’ This from an interview with Dr. Evan Lyon from Partners In Health (PIH): ‘This question of security and the rumors of security and the racism behind the idea of security has been our major block to getting aid in.’ …”
Raquel Maria Garcia Alvarez, “Haiti under US Occupation Threat”
Prensa Latina, January 20, 2010.
“Hunger and illnesses have gripped Haiti… but the situation has been compounded by occupation threats by US troops. In the devastated streets of Port au Prince, hundreds of Haitians described as lack of sovereignty the impressive landing of several US choppers in the Presidential Palace. …”
http://www.radiobaragua.cu/english/2010/January/Haiti-under-US-Occupation-Threat-20.htm
Kiraz Janicke, “Venezuela steps up aid effort to Haiti, questions U.S. military deployment”
Venezuelanalysis, January 20, 2010
“A crowd of about 2,000 Haitians, desperate for water, food, shelter and medical care, seem unhappy – or at least unimpressed – with the presence of a U.S. soldier. Speaking for Venezuela, the first country to send aid to Haiti, on the morning after the earthquake, President Hugo Chavez’ policy is “helping Haiti, not occupying Haiti. …”
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/5086
Jordan Flaherty, “New Orleans’ Heart is in Haiti”
The Huffington Post, January 20, 2010
“New Orleans and Haiti are connected by geography, history, architecture, and family, and news of mass devastation and loss of life in the island nation has hit hard in the Crescent City…. We are linked not just by a shared experience of storms, but also by first-hand understanding of the ways in which oppression based on race, class and gender interacts with these disasters. …”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jordan-flaherty/new-orleans-heart-is-in-h_b_427108.html
Mark Weisbrot, “Haiti needs water, not occupation”
The Guardian, January 20, 2010
“The US has never wanted Haitian self-rule, and its focus on ‘security concerns’ has hampered the earthquake aid response …”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jan/20/haiti-water-us-occupation
Sebastian Walker, “US military aid to Haiti questioned”
Al Jazeera, January 19, 2010
“The UN Security Council is expected to approve the deployment of a further 3,500 UN peacekeeping soldiers following a request from Ban Ki-moon, the organisation’s secretary-general. However, some critics say medical equipment, nurses and doctors should be given priority access to the country if aid efforts for those most in need are to succeed. …”
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/201011912434395105.html
Marguerite A. Suozzi, “US Opens Airport to More Humanitarian Flights“
InterPress Service, January 19, 2010
“Amid criticism that the U.S. Defence Department was prioritising military and rescue air traffic to earthquake-stricken Haiti, U.S. officials controlling the country’s main airport have agreed to guarantee landing slots for planes carrying humanitarian aid, U.N. officials say. …”
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50031
Robert Roth, “Haiti’s Shattered Promise: The Politics of an Earthquake”
CounterPunch, January 19, 2010
“Now we watch the U.S. gear up for a massive military operation in Haiti, while people die due to lack of medicine, or starve while food supplies sit on the airport tarmac. We see…families digging their relatives out of the rubble, with no aid in sight. We read the usual racist slurs against Haitians, called “scavengers” or “looters”….”
http://www.counterpunch.org/roth01192010.html
Marguerite A. Suozzi “U.S. Opens Airport to More Humanitarian Flights”
InterPress Service, January 19, 2010
“Amid criticism that the U.S. Defence Department was prioritising military and rescue air traffic to earthquake-stricken Haiti, U.S. officials controlling the country’s main airport have agreed to guarantee landing slots for planes carrying humanitarian aid, U.N. officials say. …”
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50031
CHAN, “Exaggerated Reports of ‘Looting’ Threaten Victims”
Canadian & US Military Should Not Treat Victims of Haiti’s Earthquake like Enemy Combatants
Canada Haiti Action Network (CHAN), January 19, 2010
“CHAN is deeply concerned about the militarization of the relief efforts in Haiti and exaggerated reporting of ‘looting’ and violence. This increases the danger of violent treatment of the victims of the earthquake. …”
http://thac.ca/node/130
Ezili Danto, “Earthquake victims relief not a US priority. US repairing prisons at Krome for potential Haitian earthquake refugees”
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, January 19, 2010
“Haiti needs: Conscious Disaster relief with human rights and dignity. Object to the US occupation and militarization of Haiti on the backs of perhaps up to 200,000 dead Haitians and 3 million suffering Haitians. This is ATROCIOUS. repugnant. odious. This is not emergency relief but opportunistic disaster capitalism. …”
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/law/nochange.html#dignity
Sokari Ekine, “Aid or invade?”
The Majority World Blog, January 19, 2010
“We are now into the sixth day after the devastating earthquake in Haiti…, yet humanitarian aid is only now beginning to reach small numbers of people. Aid – and the aid agencies – continues to sit on the tarmac…, which is now controlled by the US military. Parallels with Hurricane Katrina cannot be ignored – not least the racist attitudes towards Black people… .”.
http://blog.newint.org/majority/2010/01/19/aid-or-invade/
Cynthia McKinney, “Haiti: An Unwelcome Katrina Redux”
January 19, 2010
“President Obama’s response to the tragedy in Haiti has been robust in military deployment and puny in what the Haitians need most: food; first responders and their specialized equipment; doctors and medical facilities and equipment; and engineers, heavy equipment, and heavy movers. Sadly, President Obama is dispatching Presidents Bush and Clinton, and thousands of Marines and U.S. soldiers. …”
Li Onesto, “Why So Many People Died in the Earthquake… And Why the U.S. Can Do No Good in Haiti”
Revolution Online, January 19, 2010
“In the crucial days after the earthquake the U.S. failed to deliver the food, water, medical supplies, and rescue teams and medical personnel so badly needed. And the $100 million of aid Obama has promised is an insult given the wealth of the U.S. and the enormity of this tragedy. This is less than one-tenth of one percent of U.S. yearly military expenses in Iraq and Afghanistan. …”
http://revcom.us/a/189online/Haiti-en.html
Deborah Seward, “French Minister Slams US Role In Haiti”
The Huffington Post, January 19, 2010.
“French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday praised the ‘essential role’ the U.S. is playing in helping Haiti recover – scrambling to overcome comments by one of his ministers who compared Washington’s aid efforts to a new occupation of the impoverished nation. …”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/18/french-minister-rips-us-t_n_427366.html
Bruno Waterfield, “Haiti earthquake: US ships blockade coast to thwart exodus to America”
The Telegraph, January 19, 2010
“A US aircraft carrier is spearheading a blockade of Haiti’s waters as America prepares for a mass sea exodus of Haitians with thousands fleeing the devastated capital of Port-au-Prince. …”
Jeb Sprague, “Haiti’s Classquake”
Znet, January 19, 2010
“Just five days prior to the 7.0 earthquake that shattered Port-au-Prince on January 12th, the Haitian government’s Council of Modernisation of Public Enterprises (CMEP) announced the planned 70% privatization of Teleco, Haiti’s public telephone company. …”
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/23680
Ezili Danto, “Haitians need Emergency Relief, not Military Occupation”
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, January 19, 2010
“As a grief-stricken, shattered Haitian who lost loved ones in the earthquake, I want the U.S. military invasion of Haiti to stop now.
Soldiers are trained to kill, not provide humanitarian relief. And the U.S. military is about domination and conquest, as Haitians know too well. …”
http://www.progressive.org/mp/danto011910.html
Brigid Andersen, “US troop landings delay Haiti aid”0
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, January 19, 2010
“An order giving US military aircraft priority to land in Haiti after last week’s massive earthquake has delayed the arrival of urgently needed medical teams and supplies by up to 48 hours. Doctors have described a ‘dramatic’ situation, where more than five cargo planes carrying surgical equipment have been refused landings at Port-au-Prince airport….”
www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/19/2796074.htm
Al Jazeera, “Frustration Mounts Over Haiti Aid”
Al Jazeera, January 18, 2010
“The bulk of…survivors continue to go without food, medicine or proper shelter… A bottleneck at the capital’s small airport…means little help has reached the many people waiting for help…. Some aid agencies have complained about a lack of co-ordination at the…airport, where the US military has taken over operations. …”
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/18
Al Jazeera,“US denies ‘Haiti occupation'”
Al Jazeera, January 18, 2010
“The US is prepared to “augment” UN and Haitian government forces if they need help with security, but has denied its military has taken charge of the earthquake-devastated Caribbean nation. Speaking to Al Jazeera, PJ Crowley, a spokesman for the US state department, rejected suggestions said that US military needs were taking priority over the needs of quake survivors. …”
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/201011853210304808.html
Tolu Olorunda, “Why Katrina Should be a Sobering Reminder: More Than Aid, Haiti Needs Allies”
Counterpunch – January 18, 2010
“In dark times like this, especially when concerning darker people of the world, the liberal capitalists come out in droves, ready to give as much tax-deductible money their accountants agree to. But Haiti needs more than aid—it needs allies… There are almost always political incentives tied to foreign aid…. The mainstream media has made a circus of the crisis. …”
http://www.counterpunch.org/tolu01182010.html
ABC, “Haiti’s streets ‘safer than before earthquake'”
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, January 19, 2010
“US troops are being used to protect aid handouts in earthquake-devastated Haiti but there is still little sign of meaningful relief from the misery…, where tens of thousands of earthquake survivors are waiting…. The UN is planning to send an extra 3,500 troops and police to Haiti….”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/19/2795419.htm
William Bowles, “And on the Eighth Day…”
Creative-i, January 18, 2010
“The Americans have landed, or as they used to say of the GIs in the UK during WWII, ‘they’re overfed, over sexed and over here’. So now, in spite of protestations that air-dropping supplies would cause a riot, on the eighth day of this catastrophe (one that the BBC still continues to call a “humanitarian catastrophe”) the US has decided to act. …”
http://www.creative-i.info/2010/01/19/and-on-the-eighth-day-by-william-bowles/
Michelle Chen, “‘There’s No War Here’: Haiti’s Crisis, From Disaster Site to Military Zone?”
The Colorlines Blog, January 18, 2010
“In some cases, the U.S. presence may actually be hampering the aid effort… Much needed supplies – water and food – are inside, and Haitians are locked out…. It looks more like the Green Zone in Baghdad than a center of aid distribution. Heavily armed U.S. forces patrol the entrances; even within the airport, these soldiers are never without weapons. …”
Benjamin Dangl, “Profiting From Haiti’s Crisis”
Toward Freedom, January 18, 2010
“US corporations, private mercenaries, Washington and the International Monetary Fund are using the crisis in Haiti to make a profit, promote unpopular neoliberal policies, and extend military and economic control over the Haitian people. In the aftermath of the earthquake, with much of the infrastructure and government services destroyed, Haitians have relied on each other for the relief efforts, working together to pull their neighbors, friends and loved ones from the rubble. …”
http://www.towardfreedom.com/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1827&Itemid=0
IAC Petition – “Food Not Troops: End the U.S. Military Occupation”
International Action Center (IAC), January 18, 2010
“The People of Haiti need food, water, and medical aid, not military occupation…. Under the pretext of stopping alleged looting, the U.S. has now forced the government of President Rene Preval to pass emergency measures that would delegate all security to the Pentagon. …”
http://www.iacenter.org/haitipetition/
Ezili Dantò, “Go home US military: Haiti doesn’t need anymore pain!”
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, January 18, 2010
“We’ve beaten back the elite’s rabid rage before. We know the game and Haitians will do everything to force them to retreat. The US is not hiding its imperialism behind the UN anymore. Its come out into the light. Right now you need State Department clearance to land in Haiti. …”
http://www.uruknet.de/index.php?p=m62314&hd=&size=1&l=e
Nelson P. Valdés, “Class and Race Fear – The Rescue Operation’s Priorities in Haiti”
Counterpunch, January 18, 2010.
“The contempt we have been taught to entertain for blacks, make us fear many things that are founded neither in reason nor experience.” Alexander Hamilton in letter to John Hay, 1799. …
http://www.counterpunch.org/valdes01182010.html
Alex Lantier, “US Military Tightens Grip On Haiti”
World Socialist Web Site, January 18, 2010
“Amid the humanitarian tragedy following the January 12 earthquake in Haiti, Washington has concentrated on establishing indefinite military control of the country. Fearing mass protests and riots by desperate Haitians against inadequate rescue efforts, US logistical efforts are focused on massing tens of thousands of troops for use against the population. …”
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/hait-j18.shtml
Jeremy Scahill, “US Security Company Offers to Perform ‘High Threat Terminations’ and to Confront ‘Worker Unrest’ in Haiti”
Rebel Reports, January 18, 2010
“Here we go: New Orleans 2.0: We saw this type of Iraq-style disaster profiteering in New Orleans and you can expect to see a lot more of this in Haiti over the coming days, weeks and months. Private security companies are seeing big dollar signs in Haiti thanks in no small part to the media hype about ‘looters.’ …”
http://rebelreports.com/post/341673601/us-security-company-offers-to-perform-high-threat
Aislinn Laing, and Tom Leonard, “US accused of occupying Haiti as troops flood in”
The Telegraph, January 18, 2010
“France accused the US of “occupying” Haiti on Monday as thousands of American troops flooded into the country to take charge of aid efforts and security. …”
Danny Schechter, “Why Is The Haiti Disaster Response So Screwed Up”
Mediachannel, January 18, 2010
“Is this another Katrina Relief Effort in the Making? Every disaster plan is built to some degree around the idea of triage-deciding who can and cannot be saved. The worst cases are often separated and allowed to perish so that others who are considered more survivable can be treated. …”
http://mediachannel.org/blog/2010/01/why-is-the-haiti-disaster-response-so-screwed-up/
Rickey Singh Barbados, “CARICOM Heads of Government Mission to Haiti Blocked by US Airport Controllers”
Trinidad Express, January 17, 2010
“The Caribbean Community’s emergency aid mission to Haiti, comprising Heads of Government and leading technical officials, failed to secure permission Friday to land at that devastated country’s airport, now under the control of the United States. …”
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161583443
MSF, “Doctors Without Borders Cargo Plane with Full Hospital and Staff Blocked from Landing in Port-au-Prince”
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Media Release, January 17, 2010
“MSF Demands Deployment of Lifesaving Medical Equipment Given Priority. An MSF cargo plane carrying vital medical supplies to replenish stocks for Choscal hospital, where an MSF team is working on a backlog of patients needing surgery, was not allowed to land in Port-au-Prince on Sunday, January 17, and was forced to re-route to the Dominican Republic, where it landed. …”
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org//press/release.cfm?id=4165&cat=press-release
Al Jazeera, “Aid teams struggle to help Haitians”
Al Jazeera, January 17, 2010
“While 200 tonnes of aid was stacked up at the airport, getting relief supplies to those in desperate need has been extremely problematic. Sebastian Walker, Al Jazeera’s correspondent said ‘This comes down to the complex issue of who is in charge here. The US military has a great deal of control over the number of flights… We heard that a UN flight carrying aid equipment had to be diverted because the US was landing its own aircraft there.’ …”
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/20101179310694953.html
John Maxwell, “No, Mister! You Cannot Share My Pain!”
Jamaican Observer, January 17, 2010
“If you shared my pain you would not continue to make me suffer, to torture me, to deny me my dignity and my rights, especially my rights to self-determination and self-expression. …”
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Maxwell-Jan-17
Ginger Thompson and Damien Cave, “Officials Strain to Distribute Aid to Haiti as Violence Rises”
New York Times, January 17, 2010
“While countries and relief agencies showered aid on Haiti, only a small part of it was reaching increasingly desperate Haitians without food, water or shelter. …”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/world/americas/17haiti.html
Rickey Singh, “Caricom Blocked From Landing In Haiti”
Observer Caribbean, January 17, 2010
“The Caribbean Community’s emergency aid mission to Haiti, comprising heads of government and leading technical officials, failed to secure permission Friday to land at that devastated country’s airport, now under the control of the USA. …”
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Caricom-Haiti-blocked
Manuel Rozental, “Haiti Aid and Strategic Priorities”
Letter from Haiti, January 17, 2010
“The more I analyze and observe the situation, the more aware I become of the need to get people whose skills are needed into Haiti soon, but under certain minimal conditions so that one does not become a hindrance but rather of service, and to avoid contributing to the mistreatment of the Haitian people, despite the best of intentions. …”
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/23664
Ana Isabel Martinez and Frank Jack Daniel, “Chavez Says US Occupying Haiti in Name of Aid”
Reuters, January 17, 2010
‘Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez on Sunday accused the United States of using the earthquake in Haiti as a pretext to occupy the devastated Caribbean country and offered to send fuel from his OPEC nation …”
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60G2DW20100117
Greg Palast, “The Right Testicle of Hell: History of a Haitian Holocaust – Blackwater before drinking water”
The Huffington Post, January 17, 2010.
“Bless the President for having rescue teams in the air almost immediately. That was President Olafur Grimsson of Iceland. On Wednesday, the AP reported that the President of the United States promised, ‘The initial contingent of 2,000 Marines could be deployed to the quake-ravaged country within the next few days.’ …”
http://www.gregpalast.com/the-right-testicle-of-hell-history-of-a-haitian-holocaust/
Ezili Dantò, “Haitians need Emergency Rescue and Relief not Military Invasion, Part 2”
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, January 17, 2010
“Haiti needs humanitarian help, Obama sent a bipartisan military invasion…. The media called. Lamented about how the Haitian government is nowhere to be found in the midst of this earthquake disaster. …”
http://alainet.org/active/35594&lang=es
Kurt Nimmo, “Disgusting War Criminals Peddle “Humanitarian” Aid for Haiti”
Infowars.com, January 17, 2010
“On Sunday, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush mounted the corporate media propaganda platform and complained about the politicization of the Haitian relief effort. …”
http://www.infowars.com/disgusting-war-criminals-peddle-humanitarian-aid-for-haiti/
Michelle Chen, “Please Don’t Superdome Haiti “
The Colorlines Blog, January 16, 2010
“Following an initial wave of sympathy, the corporate media has turned an alarmed eye to the increasingly desperate masses. We see unruly mobs, bodies piled in the streets (we hear of corpses being used as human “barricades”). The insinuations and direct reporting of violence flirt with the popular imagination and evoke memories of America’s most spectacular prime-time tragedy—Katrina. …”
http://www.racewire.org/archives/2010/01/please_dont_superdome_haiti.html
Dan Freeman-Maloy, “Relief Efforts in the Shadow of Past ‘Help’”
Zmag Blog, January 16, 2010
“Can we move from crimes-as-charity to actual support for Haiti? Over the course of the past decade, Canada’s leading officials and most prestigious commentators have learned how to approach Haiti in the spirit of cynical power politics and racist condescension (or worse) while maintaining a posture of national self-flattery. … Established patterns of ‘help’ for Haiti need to be overcome if the destructive impact of this catastrophe is to be somehow limited. …”
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/23642
Dave Lindorff, “Cuba is Missing… From US Reports on the International Response to Haiti’s Earthquake”
CommonDreams, January 15, 2010
“There are only two US media outlets that have reported on Cuba’s response to the deadly 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti. One was Fox News, which claimed, wrongly, that the Cubans were absent from the list of neighboring Caribbean countries providing aid. …”
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/15-6
Anonymous Canadian in Haiti, “Haiti rescue effort targets wealthy, ignores poor: unsettling report from PaP”
Canada Haiti Action Network list-serve, January 15,2010
“Rescue efforts were stalled today in Port-au-Prince…. Thus far, the rescue teams cluster at the high profile and safer walled sites and were literally afraid to enter the barrios…. In the large sites, and in the nice neighbourhoods, and where the press can be found, there would be teams from every country imaginable…., with 90% or more of them just sitting around; meanwhile, in the poor neighbourhoods, awash in rubble, there was not a foreigner is sight. …”
http://www.webofdemocracy.org/haiti_rescue_effort_targets.html
Roger Annis, “Where is the Aid in Haiti?”
Canada Haiti Action Network, January 15, 2010
“Evidence of monstrous neglect of the Haitian people is mounting…. As life-saving medical supplies, food, water purification chemicals and vehicles pile up at the airport…, and as news networks report a massive international effort…, the people in the shattered city are wondering when they will see help. …”
http://canadahaitiaction.ca/?p=1055
Michel Chossudovsky, “The Militarization of Emergency Aid to Haiti: Is it a Humanitarian Operation or an Invasion?”
Global Research, January 15, 2010
“The main actors in America’s “humanitarian operation” are the Department of Defense, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The military component of the US mission, however, tends to overshadow the civilian functions of rescuing a desperate and impoverished population. The overall humanitarian operation is not being led by civilian governmental agencies such as FEMA or USAID, but by the Pentagon. …”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17000
Bob Brewin “Defense launches online system to coordinate Haiti relief efforts”
Govexec.com, January 15, 2010
“The Defense Information Systems Agency [DISA] has launched a Web portal with multiple social networking tools to aid in coordinating [Haiti earthquake] efforts. On Monday [January 11, 2010, a day before the earthquake], Jean Demay, DISA’s technical manager…, happened to be at the headquarters of the U.S. Southern Command in Miami preparing for a test of the system in a scenario that involved providing relief to Haiti in the wake of a hurricane. …”
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=44407&dcn=e_gvetwww
Aljazeera, “Aid bottleneck at Haiti airport”
AljazeeraJanuary 15, 2010
“Disaster relief teams flying into Haiti are facing delays caused by logistical bottlenecks at the country’s main airport and the country’s already poor infrastructure…. Military transport aircraft from Brazil, Canada, the Dominican Republic, France, Peru and the US jostled for space on the tarmac as helicopters from several air forces buzzed overhead. …”
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/201011531716311291.html
Peter Hallward, “Our role in Haiti’s plight”
The Guardian, January 14, 2010
“If we are serious about assisting this devastated land we must stop trying to control and exploit it… It’s no accident that so much of Port-au-Prince now looks like a war zone. Much of the devastation wreaked by this latest and most calamitous disaster to befall Haiti is best understood as another thoroughly manmade outcome of a long and ugly historical sequence. …”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/13/our-role-in-haitis-plight
Kim Ives, “Massive Earthquake Wreaks Devastation in Haiti”
Haïti Liberté, January 13-19, 2010
“Fearing the victims, some aid givers use helicopters and guns. ‘I don’t know what security they need to establish,’ responded…one of the town’s neighborhood leaders. ‘There have been no riots here. The people have been very disciplined. They set up their own security around their outdoor camps.’ …”
