Haiti: WTF?

In 1994, the US made a deal with Aristide. After agreeing to implement neoliberal economic policies, he was allowed to return, backed by 20,000 US troops. The US military showed little enthusiasm for righting past wrongs. According to Human Rights Watch, they impeded investigations into the slaughter of the previous three years by removing vital documents.

Aristide's substantial concessions, including agreement to implement International Monetary Fund structural adjustment programs, certainly cost him much of the loyalty of Haiti’s already impoverished people

Under the austerity programs, Haiti’s economic situation has considerably worsened. Prices increased by 40% in 2001-2002, while the minimum wage halved.

However, Aristide’s “reforms” were not enough to pacify the US imperialist elite, which continued to fund and support many of the leaders of the 1991 coup.

Their first excuse to attack Aristide came after the 2000 elections, in which the parliamentary opposition disputed the results in a number of seats. Although the alleged fraud would not have altered Aristide’s landslide election victory, international condemnation was quick and punitive. An aid embargo was imposed, costing the desperately poor country $500 million in loans.

When, in early February, armed gangs began attacking the police and taking control of cities, the stage was set for a US intervention.

the full article

France, with extensive business interests of its own in Haiti, appears to have played a key role in deciding when to move against Aristide. The March 5 Washington Post reported the French newspaper Le Monde’s claim that French “diplomatic suggestions” that Aristide should resign convinced Washington.

an article written on 15th January about Washington’s involvement in the ‘impending’ coup

Nor were the results of the legislative elections in 2000 in doubt: Aristide's party had also won in a landslide.? It was claimed that Aristide's party had stolen a few seats. If true -- and the allegation remains unproved -- it would be nothing different from what has occurred in dozens of countries around the world receiving support from the IMF, World Bank, and the US itself. By any standard, Haiti's elections had marked a step forward in democracy, compared to the decades of military dictatorships that America had backed, not to mention long periods of direct US military occupation

here

by saying that aid would be frozen until Aristide and the political opposition reached an agreement, the Bush administration provided Haiti's un-elected opposition with an open-ended veto. Aristide's foes merely had to refuse to bargain in order to plunge Haiti into chaos

I've linked this one because I thought it was interesting that just prior to American troops landing in Haiti, an Associated Press writer looked at the situation and concluded that Washington would not want to interfere with a democratically elected leader.

"Fears of huge death toll as earthquake rocks Haiti

Presidential palace and hospital among buildings reported to have collapsed"

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/fears-of-huge-death-toll-as-earthquake-rocks-haiti-1866219.html

Haiti is the most densely populated country in the Western Hemisphere and also the poorest. This is likely to be a bad, bad situation.

I feel awful for these people. They already have to deal with annual hurricanes, widespread poverty, no real hope for a way out. Haiti used to be 60% forest; now it's 2%. Haiti on left, Dominican Republic on right:

http://i49.tinypic.com/2hg4bhs.jpg

This is going to be awful : (

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=haiti&ss=2&s=rec

warning: gruesome and horrifying...

oh man

do what you can

bump

this basically looks pretty horrible all around. it's insane that if a 7.0 struck socal there would be devastation, sure, but nothing like this. it looks like the entire city of port-au-prince is just gone.

just....... horrible. haitians really didn't have it hard enough before this, did they?

For those interesting in helping immediately, simply text "HAITI" to "90999" and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill.

I don't even have a phone.

it seems 100 UN officers in port-au-prince are missing after the headquarters building collapsed

grab someone else's phone, rabies

Yeah I'm gonna point it out to my gf when she gets off work.

for Brits: http://www.redcross.org.uk/donatesection.asp?id=102168

canada: https://www.paypaq.com/redcross/en/corporation/index.php?login=haiti&password=support

i just c/p'ed that from here btw: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34835478/ns/world_news-haiti_earthquake/

true story: i was spacing out on a train into nyc and this haitian guy asks me why I'm staring at him. then he asks me if I've ever seen a black person before. (I had, btw, at least 2.) then he tells me I should come visit haiti because it is warm and beautiful there.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/13/haiti.earthquake/index.html

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- "Port-au-Prince is flattened" after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck the Haitian capital, Haiti's consul general to the United Nations said Wednesday.

"More than 100,000 are dead," Felix Augustin told reporters.

The hospitals are gone, he added, and medical supplies and heavy equipment are desperately needed.

The Haitian prime minister said Wednesday several hundred thousand people may have died in the powerful earthquake.

"I hope that is not true, because I hope the people had the time to get out," Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ4dA6kZsEs

Every time I'm convinced "okay, THAT'S the most ridiculously stupid thing he's ever said," he tops himself.

True story.

he's an amazing troll

wtf why do tragedies bring out the extra crazy in televangelists? see also: Falwell, 9/11

why do tragedies bring out the extra crazy in televangelists?

Anything that happens is 'god's will' = it has to be interpreted accordingly.

i believe it is god's will that someone push that mfer down a tall flight of stairs.

although to be honest, when individuals known to be mental fuckwads say mental, fuckwaddy things, it barely even elicits a yawn anymore.

case in point:

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201001130018

(actually, this^ is pretty detestable)

Anything that happens is 'god's will' = it has to be interpreted accordingly.

god haits haiti

Every time I'm convinced "okay, THAT'S the most ridiculously stupid thing he's ever said," he tops himself.

Ditto for Rush. I refuse to click on that thread.

https://donate.pih.org/page/contribute/haiti_earthquake?source=earthquake&subsource=homepage

think we'll be organizing some kind of fundraiser here soon

fucking awful, literally just found out about this via fellow student who lived in Haiti for years and is worried sick about her friends

btw if you want to donate more than $10 (or just not have it on yr cellphone bill) the red cross' site will pull your saved payment info from amazon.com--pretty neat and donating will take less than a minute.

another good donation point is doctors w/o borders (MSF). they're gonna have their hands full down there.

I swear, as soon as I saw the news about Haiti, I said, "Wonder how long before the fundies start saying they were asking for it."

every day, the people of Haiti pray for more suffering to befall them

Shep Smith tells Robertson to eat a dick: http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201001130030

heard that some MSF docs are missing :(

rush fucking limbaugh now http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201001130018

wtf is wrong with right-wingers. are they *all* sociopaths?

Well, yeah.

I don't think it's really sunk in here just how bad this is, political leanings aside.

so what the hell evil act against god did we perpetrate to be saddled with limbaugh and robertson