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TwistedSifter

admin — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 08:00:27 +0000

Every Wednesday, the Sifter posts top-line summaries to current events around the globe. all news articles are from Reuters, The new York Times and BBC News.Haiti cholera reaches Dominican Republic [BBC News]

- The Dominican Republic has detected its first case of cholera, following the outbreak of the disease in neighbouring Haiti last month. The patient is a Haitian migrant who had recently returned from his homeland, the health minister said- more than 1,000 Haitians have died of the disease. Dominican health minister Bautista Rojas said the patient, a 32-year-old Haitian construction worker, was being treated in isolation in the eastern town of Higuey. Like Haiti, the Dominican Republic had not had a confirmed case of cholera in more than a century until this year- The epidemic has provoked fear and anger in Haiti. The country was already struggling to recover from a devastating earthquake in January which killed about 230,000 people in and around the capital Port-au-Prince and shattered its already poor infrastructure. on Monday two people died during violent protests against UN peacekeepers, whom some Haitians accuse of bringing cholera into Haiti

Bout extradition: Russia criticises US pressure [BBC News]

- Russia has described as a “blatant injustice” Thailand’s decision to extradite alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to the US to face charges of conspiring to sell weapons. he was arrested in Bangkok in 2008 in a US-led operation. The former Russian air force officer, 43, has been accused of trying to sell arms to Colombian rebels, and supplying weapons that fuelled conflicts in Africa and the Middle East- The 43-year-old is thought to have knowledge of Russia’s military and intelligence operations, and Russian diplomats fear the revelations he might make in open court. Dubbed the Merchant of Death by a British politician, he was alleged to have supplied arms to Angola, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo- he is also suspected of having used his network of air freight companies to supply weapons, in the early 1990s, to Afghanistan and Bosnia. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. But he denies being, or ever having been, an arms dealer – and Moscow also insists he is innocent

Analysis: Image triumphs, economic failures for Obama in Asia [Reuters]

- Obama heads home on Sunday from his trip to India, Indonesia and economic summits in South Korea and Japan after public relations triumphs on his first stops, but disappointments on the economic issues that were the primary focus of the trip- Foreign leaders stood up to Obama at the G20 summit in Seoul, refusing to back Washington’s desire for hard targets to support its push for balanced global growth and pressure on China to move to a market-driven exchange rate. In an embarrassing setback for both Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, U.S. and South Korean negotiators failed to reach an agreement on their stalled free trade pact, after Obama had pledged to have a deal in time for his visit- The Democratic president left for Asia just three days after his party suffered big defeats in mid-term elections at the hands of voters worried over the sputtering U.S. economy and unemployment stuck near 10 percent for more than a year. The trip was intended to counteract that frustration with a stress on opening new markets for American goods and improving the jobs picture, so the timing was especially tough

China’s C919 passenger jet wins first orders [BBC News]

- A breakthrough first order has been made for 100 Chinese-made jetliners. Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (Comac) has taken its first orders for the C919 passenger planes from three domestic airlines and General Electric’s leasing arm. The orders are being seen as a vote of confidence in state-owned Comac- The move may also mark a challenge to the dominance of Boeing and Airbus who have virtual control of the trillion dollar aircraft industry. Comac expects to sell more than 2,000 C919s over the next 20 years. China is the world’s fastest growing major economy and its domestic air travel market is set to expand rapidly over the next decade. A billion Chinese are predicted to be flying for business and leisure in the near future and China is keen to reduce its reliance on foreign planes- The model, which has 166 seats competes with Boeing’s 737 and the Airbus A320. According to estimates by Boeing, this segment of the market could be worth $1.7trillion over the next 20 years. Comac expects to start building the aircraft next year, followed by a maiden flight in 2014 with first delivery in 2016

Myanmar people overjoyed but worry about Suu Kyi [Reuters]

- The release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is still being celebrated in Myanmar but fears about her safety or re-arrest are running high among her adoring supporters. The Nobel laureate and daughter of the country’s independence hero was released on Saturday after seven years in detention but many are concerned her freedom could be short-lived if the country’s oppressive army rulers decide to wield their power- In a country where distrust of the military runs deep, her supporters would have every reason to be concerned. Suu Kyi’s motorcade was attacked in May 2003 by pro-junta thugs in the town of Depayin while on a countryside tour. she was placed back under house arrest, which the regime called “protective custody.”- Suu Kyi spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention because of her fight against military dictatorship in Myanmar. she already appears on a collision course with the generals, using her first major speech on Sunday to call for freedom of speech in a country where all media are strictly monitored by censors and urging supporters to stand up for their rights. In an interview with the BBC that aired on Monday, she called for a “peaceful revolution” in the country of 50 million people

Global spam e-mail drops after hacker arrests [BBC News]

- Levels of spam have fallen by almost 50% since August 2010, suggest figures. Figures compiled by security firm Symantec show that the amount of junk e-mail messages flowing around the net has dropped 47% in three months. Kaspersky Labs noted a similar fall from July to September, when spam levels fell to 81.1% of all e-mails- The decline was put down to the arrests of those behind spam-sending botnets, and intelligence work that saw other spamming systems shut down. In the last few months security firms have scored several notable successes against gangs that own and operate botnets – collections of hijacked home computers. The vast majority of spam or junk mail is routed through these hijacked machines- One of the biggest successes was against the Pushdo or Cutwail botnet, which had been in operation since 2007 and was thought to be sending about 10% of global spam. Bredolab was another big botnet hit in October. At its height Bredolab was thought to involve up to 30 million computers around the world and be capable of sending 3.6 billion e-mails every day

Upsized GM IPO could be biggest deal ever [Reuters]

- General Motors Co GM.UL is boosting the size of its common stock offering by more than 30 percent to $15.5 billion, two people familiar with the matter said, potentially making its landmark IPO the largest U.S. offering ever. The expansion comes in response to surging demand from investors, who had put in orders worth $70 billion for GM’s common shares by late on Tuesday- GM’s initial public offering, which will reduce the U.S. Treasury to a minority shareholder in the top U.S. automaker, could raise nearly $23 billion if underwriters exercise the full overallotment option on both common and preferred shares. The deal could also pay back over $15 billion to the U.S. government, assuming that shares price at the high end of the range and all of the common stock on offer is sold- That would take the Obama administration closer to break-even on a still controversial bailout that some critics had predicted would be a financial quagmire for taxpayers. The largest U.S. IPO to date was Visa Inc’s (V.N) $19.7 billion stock sale in 2008. The increased size of the GM IPO reflects renewed confidence in the outlook for the world’s no. 2 automaker less than a year and a half after dwindling cash and falling sales pushed it into a bankruptcy funded by the U.S. Treasury

BHP kills Potash Corp bid, revives $4.2 billion buyback [Reuters]

- BHP Billiton scrapped its $39 billion bid for Canada’s Potash Corp and bowed to calls from investors to return cash, a move that came days after regulators blocked the year’s biggest takeover deal. BHP, conceding defeat for the third straight time on a major proposed merger or acquisition, signaled with its revived $4.2 billion share buyback that it had limited opportunities for other big buys- Canada blocked BHP’s hostile bid for the world’s largest fertilizer maker on November 3 and gave BHP a month to prove the takeover would benefit Canada. “Unfortunately, despite having received all required antitrust clearances for the offer, we have not been able to obtain clearance under the Investment Canada Act and have accordingly decided to withdraw the offer,” BHP Chief Executive Marius Kloppers said in a statement- It will be tough for the world’s largest miner to chase other major buys, given its size and dominance in most of its markets. Analysts said BHP may look at takeovers in the petroleum sector since it is only a mid-sized player in that industry and would be less likely to run into competition hurdles

Facebook takes on Google and Yahoo in Web messages [Reuters]

- Facebook rolled out an all-in-one messaging service that for the first time allows its half-billion members to communicate with people outside the social network, intensifying a battle with Google Inc and Yahoo Inc for users’ Internet time- The new feature — to be rolled out over coming months — lets users send and receive instant and text messages in addition to standard email and Facebook notes. “This is not an email killer. This is a messaging system that includes email as one part of it,” Zuckerberg told reporters at the St. Regis hotel in San Francisco- Analysts say that email users are particularly valuable to Web portals like Yahoo, which seek to funnel the traffic into their other online services. Facebook and Google’s intensifying rivalry is expected to play a crucial role in shaping the future of the Internet. The industry is closely watching their pitched struggle for Web surfers’ time online, advertising dollars, and increasingly costly Silicon Valley talent

Photograph by REUTERS/Mohammed SalemMuslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba at the center of the Grand mosque in Mecca during the annual Hajj pilgrimage November 11, 2010.via The big Picture: Haji 2010 If you’re on Twitter or Facebook, let’s connect!To receive posts by email, click the envelope!

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OPINION: Haiti Reminds Us Of The Poverty At Home

admin — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 01:00:29 +0000

It is unfortunate that it took an earthquake to put the spotlight back on poverty in Haiti. To be sure, the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that leveled Port-au-Prince would have been devastating under any circumstances. but the people of Haiti have been suffering for years. the difference is that no one cared: people often become weary hearing about black people suffering.

The hopeless level of poverty in Haiti has been longstanding. And as the oldest black republic in the Western hemisphere, this island nation has been suffering for a long time to suffer. Haiti never had a chance to develop a thriving middle class. Exploited and neglected, the country was occupied by the United States. Uncle Sam propped up its corrupt, banana republic dictators, and supported its ruthless death squads. And as recently as 2004, the U.S. apparently participated in a coup that removed Haiti’s then democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, from power. a neglected stepchild, Haiti has not fared well in America’s racist immigration policy, with the separate and unequal treatment of Haitian and Cuban refugees. Haitians fought with the colonists in the American Revolution, but America never repaid the favor.

Natural disasters shed light on the disaster of poverty. such is also the case with new Orleans, another of America’s neglected stepchildren. for years, that city served as America’s playground. but when Hurricane Katrina hit, people around the world were exposed to images of the African-American citizens of new Orleans — poverty-stricken, disenfranchised, disregarded, and left to fend for themselves.

Haiti and new Orleans have a great deal in common, including cultural ties. After all, historically, Haitian immigrants helped to build new Orleans. but they have more in common than that. both are the victims of policies that callously ignored them, and failed to deal with the consequences of intractable poverty. Americans glued to the TV screen are witnessing the horrific images of human suffering amidst the rubble in Port-au-Prince, and the deprivation made only worse by the rubble of the earthquake. And they are touched and they want to help, and rightly so. Without doubt, whether they are moved or not, many Americans believe that they are far removed from the poverty they witnessed in Port-au-prince, or the lower Ninth Ward of new Orleans for that matter. Yet, they are mistaken.

America ranks 30th in the world in infant mortality. the infant mortality rate in some parts of the U.S., and among some groups such as African Americans, is as high as some third World nations. Further, childhood poverty is at 20 percent. One in eight Americans, and one of every four children in America depends on food stamps. about half of American children, and 90 percent of black children, will live in a household that depends on food stamps at some point before they turn 20. And 63 percent of teachers buy food for hungry students with their own money.

The great Recession — combined with years of regressive economic policies that favored the wealthy and corporations — is resulting in the erosion of the middle class, as more people are plunging into poverty and homelessness. the mortgage and foreclosure crisis is responsible for an unprecedented evaporation of wealth, particularly in the black and Latino communities.

According to a new report from United for a Fair Economy, unemployment rates among people of color are the highest in 27 years. bad economic times have widened the racial wealth and income disparities. African-Americans and Latinos are nearly three times as likely to live in poverty as whites. And while blacks earn 62 cents for every dollar of white income, Latinos earn 68 cents for every white dollar.

The report also notes that around 3.4 million families experienced a foreclosure in 2009. Initially driven by costly subprime lending (which comprised over half of the mortgages to black folks in recent years), nearly 60 percent of mortgage defaults last year were due to unemployment. “the Obama Administration missed opportunities in 2009 to stop foreclosures, stabilize the economy, and start rebuilding wealth in the communities that the predatory mortgage industry targeted,” according to the report.

And poverty in America, like poverty in Haiti or anywhere for that matter, will only exacerbate unless decisive action is taken now. when we decry the sorry state of human existence in other nations, we must also acknowledge the deplorable conditions of people in our own midst and within our own so-called “land of plenty.” And we must understand the ways in which poverty in Port-au-Prince is related to poverty in new Orleans, or Detroit, or Philadelphia.

As the effort to rebuild Haiti begins, there is now talk in the international financial community of forgiving Haiti’s $1 billion debt. That is a good thing. but we should not wait for a catastrophe to deal with issues of poverty, economic inequality and justice. we must deal with the silent catastrophe that is occurring right before our very eyes.

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member David a. love, JD is a journalist and human rights advocate based in Philadelphia, and a contributor to the Huffington Post, theGrio, the Progressive Media Project and McClatchy-Tribune News Service, among others. he contributed to the book, States of Confinement: Policing, Detention, and Prisons (St. Martin’s Press, 2000). love is a former Amnesty International UK spokesperson. His blog is davidalove.com.

OPINION: Haiti Reminds Us Of The Poverty At Home

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Rising From the Rubble

admin — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 20:00:20 +0000

Close to nine months after the earthquake that killed more than 200,000 in Haiti, the city of Port-au-Prince is still in ruins. Reconstruction has been slow, and more than a million people remain homeless. Yet the country’s artists—those on the island as well as their counterparts abroad—are using their limited resources to channel the nation’s suffering, hope, and anxiety into new paintings, crafts, and sculptures.

In the process, they have created a market for post-earthquake Haitian art, particularly in the United States. Recently, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., opened an exhibit of post-earthquake paintings and drawings by Haitian children. In September, Macy’s partnered with Haitian artists on a new line of home-décor handcrafts, Smithsonian magazine commissioned a painting by Zephirin for its cover last month, and the Miami International Airport opened an exhibit featuring works created by Haitian artists in the wake of the disaster. The 4,000-square-foot gallery features voodoo flags made with beads and sequins, intricate metal carvings made from flattened oil drums, and carnival masks made from papier-mâché. “This exhibition is a testament to their optimism,” said Yolanda Sanchez, the airport’s fine-arts director.

That optimism—long a cornerstone of Haitian art—has helped the country survive its difficult history. More than 200 years ago, Haiti was created in the aftermath of a massive slave uprising against the French. Since then, the nation has suffered a host of indignities: invasion, isolation, and poor self-governance. Yet out of this misery has grown a rich artistic tradition that draws heavily on African, Taíno, voodoo, and Catholic influences. “Haiti doesn’t have car factories. it doesn’t have steel plants,” says Richard Kurin, the undersecretary for history, art, and culture at the Smithsonian. “Culture is one of the few resources Haitians have. Art has become a way for them to preserve their dignity.”

Art has also provided a way for Haitians to reckon with tragedy. Since the quake, various relief groups and nongovernmental organizations have set up dozens of art-therapy camps for children and adults in Port-au-Prince and other nearby areas. “We use art as a meditation,” says Mazen Aboulhosn, a psychologist for the International Organization for Migration. “It’s easier to talk about difficulties through…art…than talking directly,” says Patricia Landinez, a psychologist for the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Those difficulties are evident in Zephirin’s work. In the piece commissioned by the Smithsonian entitled And Haiti will Bloom again, the artist paints the island as a dark mass filled with crosses. In the clouds, a watchful eye is crying. Yet there is also a sense of hope; in the center of the painting, large, colorful birds deliver flowers, money, and justice to the island in their beaks.

A sense of hope also permeates Eight Days, a children’s book by the Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat and illustrated by Alix Delinois. Danticat wrote the story to explain to her 5-year-old daughter what happened during the earthquake. Published in September, the book follows a young boy named Junior who spends more than a week beneath the rubble. to quell his fears, Junior imagines the good parts of life on the island: singing loudly in church, playing hide-and-seek with his friends, and catching mouthfuls of rain during a storm. then, miraculously, he is rescued. throughout the story, Delinois’s bright, colorful drawings mirror Danticat’s message of hope and resilience. “After a tragedy, we’re always trying to get a sense of who we are,” says Danticat. “Art is proof that we’re alive beyond breathing.”

For André Eugène, an artist known for making macabre sculptures from wood, scrap metal, and skulls, the earthquake has given him new inspiration. “I find myself making sculptures of pregnant women,” he says. “I’ve started to create art about giving life.”

With Nausheen Husain and Tania Barnes in new York

Rising From the Rubble

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Haiti: 'Disaster capitalism on steroids' | San Francisco Bay View

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:00:30 +0000

by Johnny Van Hove

“Two months after the devastating earthquake, the situation in Haiti is downright criminal,” says Robert Roth. according to the spokesperson for the activist network Haiti Action Committee, major Western players such as the U.S. are more interested in defending their own geopolitical interests in Haiti than truly helping the hard hit Caribbean country.

Johnny Van Hove: Haiti has disappeared almost completely from the front pages. Since you are in close contact with a number of Haitian grassroots organizations via the Haiti Action Committee, could you describe how the situation down there is at the moment?

Robert Roth: the situation is a catastrophe. at this point about 230,000 people have died and 3,000,000 people are still left homeless. Hundreds of thousands of people have no shelter whatsoever and are literally sleeping outside. under sheets, not in tents. in many, many areas there is no water, no tents, no healthcare. One to 2 million people are in internal refugee camps that are now dotting Port au Prince. They were set up by international aid agencies, but they are in terrible shape.

The lack of housing is truly astounding. We have been getting numerous requests from the poorest communities in Haiti for funds for tents. With the rainy season coming, there is a very grave danger of the spread of typhoid, measles and dysentery. It could be one of these situations in which the aftermath of a disaster is even worse than the disaster itself. the situation was and is truly criminal.

JVH: considering the hundreds of international aid organizations working in Haiti, how could it have come to this situation?

RR: the total amount of financial support that has gone through aid groups is close to $1 billion. Haiti is truly flooded with aid organizations and yet very few aid goods have been distributed. Most goods have been sitting at the airport or in big warehouses. People who were pulled out from under the rubble by Haitians could not receive medical aid because it was not distributed efficiently.

You have to distinguish among the aid groups, of course. two groups which have been very consistent in distributing aid goods are Partners in Health and Doctors Without Borders. On the other hand, the Red Cross has been mostly invisible in the poorest communities in Haiti.

There have been protests directly at the Red Cross warehouses and offices, demanding that the aid be distributed. the effectiveness of a number of the aid agencies has been astonishingly weak. and when a country has been occupied, when its democratic organizations have been repressed, and when community-based organizations are marginalized, earthquake relief just will not immediately get into the hands of the people.

JVH: What is the role of the U.N. and the U.S. – which have been major players in Haitian history – in the current catastrophe?

RR: the U.N. and the U.S. have looked at their role as a security measure. their concept of aid has been militarized, which means that they have not been diligent in handing out aid to communities. the U.S. military has 11,000 soldiers down there, the U.N. 9,000.

Six thousand U.N. troops have been there since the coup against the democratically elected President Aristide in 2004 and they have been a repressive force, an occupying army in Haiti. in the wake of the earthquake, the U.S. and U.N. armies have been essentially patrolling Haiti.

I am not saying that there has been no help. They have started to distribute food, tents, health supplies. But it has been much more limited than you would expect. There have been many reports from various communities about how armed vehicles just drove by their communities without helping them.

JVH: What were the effects of the “militarization” of the relief aid by the U.S., amongst other countries – Canada and Japan sent hundreds of troops too, for instance? the American-Haitian activist Marguerite Laurent suggested on her blog that humanitarian aid was blocked in favor of military equipment after the U.S. took over the Haitian airports in the first few days after the earthquake.

RR: the militarization of the relief aid really delayed the distribution of food, water and particularly medical aid. One of the effects was that in the first few days after the earthquake, five cargo planes of Doctors Without Borders were turned away and rerouted to the Dominican Republic. Partners in Health estimated that about 20,000 people died each day that aid was delayed.

JVH: Is the lack of security in Haiti an explanation for the heavy emphasis on sending in forces? Numerous media reports after the earthquake suggested that insecurity, rapes and violence erupting during foreign aid handouts were mounting.

RR: the images of insecurity in the media are not accurate at all. There are always security issues in any country. But what is remarkable is the discipline, the non-violence, the resilience, the creativity and the cooperation that Haitians have exhibited in the face of this catastrophe. even days and days and days after not receiving aid, the U.S. and U.N. could not point to any major security issues.

JVH: If Haiti has not been as insecure as hinted at in the media, how can the massive military response of the U.S. be explained?

RR: the primary fear of the U.S. was popular political unrest. Haiti truly has a very politically conscious population which has never gone down easily. after the coup in 2004, thousands of people were killed and thousands more imprisoned and held without charges. Every member of the Lavalas government – from high level ministers to local officials – were removed from office. others were forced into exile.

Still, there has never been an end to grassroots organizing. Labor unions protested the price of gas and the privatizing of the phone company. There were major demonstrations demanding Aristide’s return. just recently, there was a very successful electoral boycott because the Haitian government denied Lavalas the right to participate in the election, even though it is the most popular political party in Haiti.

The U.S. is still not comfortable with the popular movement in Haiti. you can see this in the continued banishment of former President Aristide from Haiti. while the Obama administration has called on former Presidents Clinton and Bush – who was responsible for the 2004 coup – to help coordinate aid, it opposes the return of a former democratically elected president who wants to return as a private citizen to aid in the reconstruction efforts.

JVH: Surely, there must be other reasons to justify the militarization of the aid relief?

RR: There is clearly a major geopolitical and economic interest in Haiti, most prominently by the U.S. There is a long history of U.S. intervention in the area, including a direct U.S. occupation from 1915-1934. This occupation created the Haitian military and led eventually to the Duvalier dictatorships. in 1991, the U.S. overthrew Aristide and then again in 2004. So the U.S. is clearly opposed to the social program of Lavalas and to its example in the Caribbean.

Haiti is also strategically located close to both Cuba and Venezuela. Haiti is rich in minerals, such as marble, uranium, iridium and oil. Big corporations, such as the Royal Caribbean Lines, are creating a tourist center in the north which could have an enormous value for the tourist industry in the Caribbean area.

And Haiti is looked at as a source of cheap labor. There is a long history of garment assembly in Haiti. Cherokee, Wal-Mart, Disney and Major League Baseball all had relationships with Haiti. If the U.S. plan for Haiti is implemented, the numbers of sweatshops in Port au Prince will surely increase.

JVH: Naomi Klein suggested that “disaster capitalism” is striking in Haiti. Would you agree?

RR: Absolutely. This is disaster capitalism on steroids. Number one, you have had an earthquake that ravaged the infrastructure of a country which has been made poor over the centuries. secondly, you have more than 20,000 troops and massive amounts of capital circulating there. plus, the Haitian government has been a very passive partner in the aftermath of the earthquake. that is a perfect recipe.

The reconstruction conferences in Montreal and Miami are indicating that Haiti will be rebuilt along the lines of the organizations attending them: the U.S., Canada, the World Bank, the Clinton Foundation, the IMF, major business corporations such as the Royal Caribbean Lines, the Soros Foundation. Haiti is like a blank board in their minds. It is going be a feeding frenzy soon.

JVH: the Haitian government was attending the reconstruction meetings too, though. What is its role in the current crisis?

RR: What was remarkable throughout the crisis was the invisibility of the government. There are two reasons for that. First of all, the government really seems to have lost its connection to the Haitian people. President Preval has been major disappointment since he was elected in 2006. He has basically been an arm of the occupation forces of the U.N.

Secondly, the government of Haiti has been starved for years and years by the international lending organizations, including USAID. even now, the government does not receive true support. It literally gets only one cent for every dollar spent on Haiti.

That really creates a dependency on international aid agencies. when a crisis such as this happens, the government is underfunded and the aid agencies take over. All in all, the invisibility and compliance of the Haitian government is a token for the fact that the U.S., the U.N. and the NGOs have taken control of the country.

JVH: Since the relief agencies are not performing efficiently, who has been providing aid at the grassroots level in Haiti?

RR: What is happening in Haiti is that local communities are helping themselves. the mainstream image of Haitians is that they cannot help themselves, that they are dysfunctional and violent. the truth could not be more different.

Haiti is a very well organized country at the grassroots level. There are community committees in every one of the poor neighborhoods, which have been organizing protests in order to get the aid goods distributed. They have also been contacting international organizations they know they can trust and started distributing the aid goods to their local communities.

An organization which has been very important is the Aristide Foundation, which has been setting up aid programs, especially in the refugee camps. They have created mobile schools, they have developed local health clinics, and they are also setting up a big health center at the foundation’s site. Partners in Health has continued to provide important support as well. and our organization is funding community projects that are not getting aided by the big relief organizations.

JVH: according to Marguerite Laurent in the current issue of the American magazine the Progressive, the people that could be saved were saved mostly by Haitians “frantically using their bare hands to dig through the rubble and lift pulverized concrete in the immediate 48 hours after the earthquake.” does that give an accurate image of how the digging and rescuing took place?

RR: Laurent is absolutely right. the chair of the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund, for instance, was in Haiti with his family at the time of the quake, and they saw first hand how Haitians were working day and night to save their families and friends. that was basically the story in Haiti: Haitians saving themselves and bandaging and housing each other. They waited for aid that never came and that is why so many people have died unnecessarily.

JVH: Nevertheless, Haiti cannot rebuild itself without external help. the Haitian Diaspora will keep on sending close to a billion dollars to their homeland every year. But what role can international aid agencies play? who should be supported in order to help Haiti?

RR: you can’t talk about disaster capitalism and then donate to the big NGOs. If you donate to the Red Cross, for instance, some help will go to Haiti. at the same time, you are also donating to a system which is not designed to empower Haitians. So if you are progressive, if you want democracy in Haiti, and if you have some faith in the Haitian people, you should be looking for the groups most closely related to, and working with, the grassroots organizations.

This interview by Johnny Van Hove with Robert Roth was first published in DeWereldMorgen and by the Collegium for African American Research on March 9, 2010. Van Hove is website editor for CAAR. Robert Roth is co-founder, with Pierre Labossiere, of the Haiti Action Committee, www.haitiaction.net and www.haitisolidarity.net.

Haiti: 'Disaster capitalism on steroids' | San Francisco Bay View

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Digicel and Leading Mobile Phone Manufacturers Donate 50000 Phones to Support …

Wed, 26 May 2010 22:00:12 +0000

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti – Digicel, the largest mobile operator in the Caribbean and fastest growing operator in Central America and the Pacific, has come together with a number of leading mobile phone manufacturers to distribute over 50,000 handsets and credit worth more than US$2 million to a variety of non-Government and non-profit organisations in Haiti.

Thanks to the generosity of handset manufacturers LG, Alcatel, Nokia, Samsung, RIM, ZTE and SIM card supplier Gemalto, over 30,000 phones have already been distributed to over 150 organisations by Digicel. these include the International Organization for Migration (IOM) which assists in the management of camp sites housing displaced Haitians, WorldVision, Save the Children, Concern, Fonkoze, UNICEF, Partners in Health, Catholic Relief Services and Mdecins Sans Frontires, to name but a few. Earthquake researchers, mobile health clinics and sanitation and shelter specialists have also received handsets and credit — as well as hospital and orphanage staff.

Digicel Group CEO, Colm Delves, said: “Since the magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti four months ago, a massive relief effort has been underway to support the people of Haiti. Thousands of volunteers from around the world have been working around the clock with a number of NGOs, and non-profit organisations. Given the sheer scale of the project to rebuild Haiti, being able to stay in touch with colleagues, as well as friends and family abroad, is vitally important.

“I would like to say thank you to our major handset suppliers for coming out to support us in our efforts to ensure that those who are working tirelessly to rebuild Haiti continue to enjoy the reliable communications which are critical to their work,” he continued.

Director of World Vision in Haiti, Franck Williams, said: “We are very grateful to Digicel and to the mobile phone manufacturers for this fantastic donation. With widespread infrastructure in Haiti still poor, and an influx in the number of aid workers, having reliable and efficient mobile communications is critical to the ongoing relief efforts ensuring that we can keep in contact with each other — and our counterparts — across the country.”

Since the earthquake, Digicel has sent over 90,000lbs of provisions and 21,000lbs of medical supplies and antibiotics to help those whose lives have been devastated by the earthquake.

As the single largest investor in Haiti with a total investment of over US$370 million since its launch in 2006, Digicel has over two million customers in Haiti. The Digicel Haiti Relief Fund has donated US$5 million to NGOs in Haiti to support the relief efforts and to date over US$800,000 has been raised by Digicel customers across the Caribbean and Central America through a text and voice donation line. Digicel also gave each of its two million customers US$5 in free credit — totaling US$10 million.

Digicel and Leading Mobile Phone Manufacturers Donate 50000 Phones to Support …

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Haiti: Aid racket increases suffering | Green Left Weekly

Sat, 08 May 2010 06:00:20 +0000

It is more than a month since the January 12 earthquake that laid waste to Port-au-Prince, killing more than 200,000 people and thrusting millions of people into desperate conditions.

But according to the US government, Haitians have a lot to be thankful for. On February 12, the US Ambassador to Haiti Ken Merten boasted to the press: “In terms of humanitarian aid delivery … frankly, it’s working really well, and I believe that this will be something that people will be able to look back on in the future as a model.”

What are the facts? the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported in a February 12 statement: “Over 1.1 million people are homeless, many of them still living under sheets and cardboard in makeshift camps. the government of Haiti estimates that at least 300,000 people were injured during the quake.”

So far, the relief effort has only managed to provide 270,000 people with basic shelters like tents. More than 1 million people still have little access to food and water and have to scrape by to find sustenance.

Even worse, because the relief operation is so inefficient, Haitians report that some of the food spends so long at the airport it is rotten by the time it gets to the hungry.

On February 7, thousands of Haitians marched in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville to protest their desperate circumstances and the failure of aid delivery.

Medicins sans Frontieres (MSF) summed up the grave situation in a February 11 statement: “It’s hard to believe that four weeks after the quakes, so many people still live under bedsheets in camps and on the street …

“One can only wonder how there could be such a huge gap between the promise of a massive financial influx into the country and the slow pace of distribution.”

Some NGOs, such as Partners in Health, have done and are doing amazing work to provide services for quake victims. But the catastrophe in Haiti has revealed the worst aspects of the US government and the NGO aid industry.

The US has used its “relief” operation to disguise a military occupation of Haiti, intended to prevent a flood of refugees reaching the US, impose even greater sweatshop development and signal to the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean that it aims to reassert its power in the region.

The NGO-centred aspect of the US response is an important part of its strategy. instead of aiding the Haitian state and building up its capacity to handle the crisis, the US is funneling US$379 million in aid through its own agencies and then through NGOs.

Associated Press said on January 27: “Each American dollar roughly breaks down like this: 42 cents for disaster assistance, 33 cents for U.S. military aid, nine cents for food, nine cents to transport the food, five cents for paying Haitian survivors for recovery efforts, just less than one cent to the Haitian government …”

The big NGOs, which are getting the bulk of the money, see the crisis as an opportunity to raise funds and their profile. Thus, instead of a centralised relief effort, something only a sovereign state could provide, the NGOs are competing with one another, literally branding areas they serve with their logos.

On January 22, the British Telegraph quoted British medical journal The Lancet as saying that NGOs are “jostling for position, each claiming that they are doing the most for earthquake survivors … the situation in Haiti is chaotic, devastating and anything but coordinated.

“Polluted by the internal power politics and the unsavory characteristics seen in many big corporations, large aid agencies can be obsessed with raising money through their own appeal efforts.

“Media coverage as an end in itself is too often an aim of their activities. Marketing and branding have too high a profile.

“Perhaps worst of all, relief efforts in the field are sometimes competitive, with little collaboration between agencies, including smaller, grassroots charities that may have better networks in affected counties, and so are well placed to immediately implement emergency relief.”

The NGOs are businesses in their own right. They sport well-paid bureaucrats that raise money from the disastrous impact of neoliberalism around the world.

They are not accountable to the local populations they supposedly serve, but instead to the international donors that fund them — most often, corporate-backed formations like George Soros’s Open Society Institute and capitalist governments.

Moreover, given that NGOs can pay local leaders more than either the government or social movements, they often recruit people who would traditionally lead leftist movements.

They play a role very similar to the one that missionary religious institutions played in the earlier history of empire. They provide moral cover — a civilising mission to help the hapless heathens — for the powers that are plundering the society.

And just as religious institutions justified imperial war, many NGOs, abandoning their traditional standpoint of neutrality in conflicts, have become advocates of military intervention.

Nowhere is this pattern clearer than in Haiti.

In the 1980s, the US convinced the dictator Baby Doc Duvalier to implement a neoliberal development plan that Haitians call “the plan of death”. this dropped tariffs on US agriculture, encouraged sweatshop development and opened tourist resorts for the international elite.

The plan increased absolute poverty by 60%.

But the Haitian poor rose up and overthrew the dictatorship in 1986. They elected Jean-Bertrand Aristide president in 1990 on a platform of anti-neoliberal reform.

Aristide was overthrown in a US-backed coup in 1991, with the coup regime carrying out a reign of terror against his supporters. Aristide was again elected in 2000, and overthrown by another US-backed coup in 2004.

Haiti now has the most neoliberal economy in the region.

The US, other powers and international donors responded to the subsequent collapse of the state by funding NGOs. Soon, the World Bank reported that there were 10,000 NGOs in the country, doing everything from trash collection to health care and food provision in a chaotic patchwork of services that have replaced the incapacitated state.

These NGOs are non-governmental only in name. the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and other similar government-funded agencies from other countries provide 70% of NGO funding.

The NGOs have proliferated in lockstep with the collapse in the Haitian standard of living.

When the “plan of death” was implemented in Haiti, undercutting peasant agriculture, it flooded the market with subsidised US products and caused a food crisis. Peasants became dependent on food aid.

USAID funded CARE International to feed the impoverished peasants. the NGO began to distribute US crops as food aid, during both bad and good harvests, further undermining Haitian peasants’ ability to compete for the market.

Often, the food aid was taken by local elites and sold on the market, with the CARE brand still affixed to the packaging.

The US also manipulated NGOs to build political opposition to any reform movement. In the run-up to its second coup against Aristide in 2004, the US enforced an embargo on Aristide’s government for alleged electoral manipulations and escalated funding for anti-Aristide NGOs.

Many, if not most, of the NGOs that supported the coup were on the US payroll.

In 1935, retired US Major General Smedley Butler famously concluded that his role at the head of the US military had been to serve as a “racketeer for capitalism”. the same could just as easily be said of many NGOs involved in humanitarian aid today — it is a racket for empire.

Haiti: Aid racket increases suffering | Green Left Weekly

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Hope survives even as Haitians struggle to rebuild

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 03:00:20 +0000

People are anxious to work and ready to rebuild their country Join the discussion

Additional insights and behind-the-scenes excerpts are posted on my blog today. Join the discussion about this column series at http://blogs. post-trib.com/davich/

gallery online

To see more photos from Jerry’s trip to Haiti, visit www.post-trib.com.

To help

Living Hope Church in Merrillville is hosting a Haiti relief fund for its sponsored churches and volunteer work in that country. to donate, visit www.lhcweb.org or call 769-3601.

Since the quake, she found a security guard job with the United Nations, and she’s thrilled to have it. but she has a more pressing need.

“Excuse me,” she politely told Christian Rath in her native Creole language, a mixture of French and West African. “Would you happen to know where I could find a tent to live in?”

Rath, a deacon with Living Hope Church in Merrillville, told her he will search for a tent and return later in the day.

“Thank you very much,” she told Rath, who was visiting Haiti for the third time to inspect damaged churches there.

Weekend before last, I traveled with Rath to Port-au-Prince to see the devastation first-hand and up-close in a 28-hour whirlwind tour. my Sunday column set the stage for today’s column, where I promised to explore what prompted Northwest Indiana residents to donate to Haiti relief funds — hope or hopelessness?

In Haiti, I met dozens of residents with different stories to tell, just like here. but the stereotype is someone such as Vincent, a middle-aged Haitian man who approached Rath and me at the airport, begging for money.

“You help me?” he asked in broken English.

All I had left was spare change in my backpack, which I gave him after I tried conversing, to no avail.

He wandered away counting the change. I wondered away how many Vincent-types approached me during my visit. not too many actually, considering the thousands of Haitians I encountered.

Instead, I met more Marie France-types who worked for a living yet also politely asked for help. or Haitians such as Shirley, a hotel desk worker who lost a few relatives in the quake.

Shirley, 27, has dreams of traveling to the United States someday to attend college and get a better-paying job. her mouth said so, in broken English, but her eyes didn’t believe she could pull it off.

During our chat in the middle of the night at the hotel front desk, we determined she should start a college fund of sorts, saving money to someday use for a university in this country. She smiled politely but, again, her eyes didn’t believe the plan would ever become a reality. And I couldn’t blame her.

Before I left for Haiti, I studied media articles on TV and in print regarding that country since the quake.

Most seemed to focus on the hopelessness of Haiti, I thought. And yes, the poverty, despair and desperation were obvious and impossible to ignore.

But what I didn’t expect to find was all the hope, faith and even joy in the Haitians.

David Wagner, founder of Builders International, the charitable builders group Rath works with, summed it up best while we drove through the slums. “Too many people only see the doughnut hole,” he said, pointing out the piles of rubble, the collapsed buildings, and a refugee camp’s handmade sign in bright red lettering: “WE NEED HELP.”

“But too often they don’t see the doughnut,” he said, pointing out the happy smiles, the bustling workers, and faith-based hope in the eyes of many.

This prompted me to wonder which one touches the hearts of outsiders more, or prompts them to help others at all — the victims’ hope or the hopelessness of their situation?

For me, it’s hope. but I didn’t know this until I met Shirley, Marie and dozens of other Haitians struggling to survive in the slum of the world.

Rush to judgment?

Before I left for Haiti, several readers contacted me, asking me to investigate “where all our money is going down there,” as one told me in a huff. they have a point. Billions of dollars and millions of pounds of food and medical supplies have been pumped into that country these past three months. but to where exactly? And to whom?

Plus, it’s no secret Haiti is infamous for rampant graft, bribes and corruption. The country also has been raped, pillaged or plundered for centuries by other countries, including the United States.

Still, is that reason enough not to donate to myriad relief funds since the quake? For me, yes, and I wrote about this a few weeks ago, catching hell from many angry readers.

But I’ve since changed my mind after meeting some of the people who’ve been receiving relief aid. Collectively, they put a face on what was a faceless relief fund.

“Until you visit here, or other countries in similar situations, you really have no right to pass judgment,” said Wade Gayler of Salt Lake City, who visited Haiti on behalf of the Southern Baptist Convention.

I bumped into Gayler at a Home Depot-like warehouse in Port-au-Prince, loaded with (albeit overpriced) rebuilding and construction tools.

“The Haitians I met all craved to work and to begin rebuilding their country,” said a volunteer from Christian Service International Ministries, based in Muncie.

This was a common theme among volunteers, missionaries, and even businessmen I met in Haiti.

“It’s an intellectual ignorance based on nothing,” explained one Northwest Indiana businessman who conducted a $500,000 deal under the shade of a tree, not an office.

Just like that blind man who feels parts of the proverbial elephant, thinking he knows what it is, we too often believe we see the big picture and of course we don’t.

And just as Haiti is a so-called “developing country,” most outsiders (including me) have developing perceptions of that country.

Haitian officials are expected to ask for another $11 billion to rebuild their country. And although relief aid fundraising may have waned, it’s still a possibility.

I’m not blindly endorsing every relief agency. however, I can vouch for the relief aid I witnessed from Assemblies of God World Missions, Builders International and Living Hope Church.

I also watched Rath track down a new tent for Marie France from a Convoy of Hope warehouse, and return to her workplace to surprise her. but she had already left for “home,” whatever that means.

Rath left the tent with her Christian co-workers, reminding them that if she doesn’t get it, “you will have to answer to God,” he said in French, pointing to the sky.

Finally, I may have finally paid my penance for not donating to a relief fund. before I checked out of my hotel, I gave Shirley $25 with a scribbled note: “This is the start of your college scholarship fund.”

Will she ever make it to a college here? I don’t know. but that’s not the point.

Hope survives even as Haitians struggle to rebuild

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Haiti needs everything, earthquake eyewitness tells Rotary members

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:00:29 +0000

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* Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

* about 54 percent of its more than 9 million residents live in abject poverty.

* Haiti is slightly smaller than Maryland and shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.

* The population is 95 percent black and 80 percent Roman Catholic.

* French and Creole are the official languages.

* about half the population practices voodoo.

* The nation has four airports with paved runways and is favored by Columbian drug dealers for routing cocaine shipments, in part because of widespread corruption.

Source: CIA World Factbook

Several local organizations are accepting donations or asking for volunteers to help with the relief effort:

*New Salem Baptist Church in Soddy Daisy, Tenn. is accepting donations of medical supplies through Saturday to be sent to a medical clinic operated by Global Outreach Haiti in the village of TiTanyen, 15 miles north of Port-au-Prince. The list of items needed include: bandages and surgical tape of all types; antibiotic creams; Sulfadene or Silvadene burn cremes; supplies to assist open reduction of broken bones; surgical instruments of any type; slings; ace bandages; IV fluids; IV supplies (needles, tubing, etc); non-absorbent and absorbent sutures 3/0 and 4/0; gloves (sterile and non-sterile); splints; casting materials; portable x-ray machine (digital if possible); surgical lights, headlights, etc.; linens, blankets; disposable sheets, pads, etc. for more information, please contact Rev. Alan Rogers at new Salem Baptist Church, 423-842-3078.

* Signal Mountain Bible Church, 4872 Shackleford Ridge Road, Signal Mountain will hold a 1-mile walk and 5k run at 9 a.m. Saturday to raise money for Haiti. Race materials and late registration will be from 7:30 – 8:30 a.m. at the front of the church. Entry forms are available at www.smbible.com or at the church. Entry must be postmarked no later than Sunday for pre-registration. Entry fee is $15.

*On Feb. 12, there will be a container at the SCORE office on Ringgold rd to collect donations of canned goods, clothing, medicines, and other items to ship to Haiti. it will be sent directly to Haiti by Fed ex. Anyone wishing to collect items to send to Haiti please take them to SCORE international, 5512 Ringgold Road, East Ridge, TN 37412 on Feb. 12. Items needed: Canned food, clothes (summer clothes for children), medicines and medical supplies, water, generators, personal hygiene items and school supplies.

* Haiti Gospel Mission, a faith-based organization that does education and medical missionary work in Haiti, www.haitigospelmission.org.

* The Greater Chattanooga Area Chapter of the American Red Cross is accepting contributions to the organization’s Disaster Relief Fund that will go to Haiti relief efforts. Donate online at www.chattanoogaredcross.org/donate or send them to the local Red Cross chapter office at 801 McCallie Ave., Chattanooga, TN 37403.

* Children’s Nutrition Program of Haiti, call 495-1122 or visit http://cnphaiti.org

* Score International, call 423-894-7111 or visit https://scoreinternational.org/give. Specify Help Haitians Rapid Response.

* American Haitian Foundation, checks can be mailed to: 3602 Anderson Pike, Signal Mountain, TN 37377 or visit www.americanhaitianfoundation.org.

* The Salvation Army is accepting monetary donations via www.salvationarmyusa.org, 1-800-SAL-ARMY and postal mail at: The Salvation Army World Service Office, International Disaster Relief Fund, P.O. Box 630728, Baltimore, MD 21263-0728; or donors can text the word “HAITI” to 52000 to automatically give $10 to the Salvation Army’s relief efforts. Note that the money will go directly to the Salvation Army’s World Service Office.

*The Center for Rural Development of Milot Foundation (CRUDEM) is accepting support for the Hospital Sacre Coeur, a hospital in the north of Haiti. The foundation, based in Ludlow, Maine, was set up in 1968. for more information or to donate, go to www.crudem.org.

* The Samaritan Center will host a matching gift campaign for the disaster relief efforts in Haiti. since Hurricane Katrina, that account has grown to $8,000, and the Samaritan Center is going to use that money to match any gifts that come in for Haitian disaster relief. Visit www.thesamaritancenter.net or call 423-238-7777.

* Habitat for Humanity International is gathering funds for rebuilding efforts. Area residents can give through www.habitat.org or send donations to: HFH of Greater Chattanooga, 1201 E. Main St., Chattanooga, TN 37408. Please note that the donations are for Haiti.

* Bright School students will decorate wooden bells which will be sold for $5, proceeds going to the Children’s Nutrition Program in Haiti.

* Vision Ministries of Chattanooga, a local church with a multicultural congregation, including Haitians, is accepting donations to coordinate with other organizations. To donate, visit www.visionministries.webs.com or call 423-475-5563.

* Bi-Lo Charities launched a donation program where shoppers can donate to the American Red Cross to assist those in Haiti and, in turn, they will match customer donations up to $25,000. The in-store donation program continues through Feb. 9 at stores in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

* AMG International, visit www.amginternational.org

* The Jean Cadet Restavek Foundation provides direct relief and education opportunities for children in restavek (children who work as household servants because their parents can’t afford to support them). it also funds advocates for these children throughout Haiti and raises global awareness of the system, which takes advantage of the poorest of the poor. Donations can be made at www.restavekfreedom.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donate.start&destination=G or individuals can help raise relief funds by forming a group and inviting friends and family to help: www.restavekfreedom.org/event/restavek.

* Rotary International has set up a fund that anyone can donate to. The fund will be directed by Rotarians who will work with local Rotary Clubs and districts, as well as emergency relief agencies, to meet the most pressing needs of people in affected areas. Anyone can make a $5 donation by texting ROTARY to 90999. or visit www.Rotary.org to make larger donations.

* Local artist Larry Swetman will donate all the proceeds from his art sales to the relief effort in Haiti. Visit his Web site at www.larryswetman.com.

Volunteers may travel to Haiti with Score International for $1,200, which includes airfare, meals, lodging, supplies and ground transportation overseas.

Dates include: Jan. 30-Feb. 4 and every Saturday through Thursday for the following six weeks.

For more information, contact Trey Bailey at trey@scoreinternational.org or call 423-894-7111.

TIPS FOR CHARITABLE GIVING:

* Research charities before you contribute. Use sources such as the Better Business Bureau (www.give.org) and GuideStar (www.guidestar.org).

* be wary of telephone solicitors asking for contributions.

* Never give your credit card, debit card or bank account information to a telephone solicitor.

* if a tax deduction is important to you, make sure the organization has a tax deductible 501(c)3 status with the IRS.

* Watch out for organizations that use questionable techniques such as sending unordered merchandise or invoices after you have turned them down for a donation.

* Citizens can file a complaint against a charitable organization at www.sos.ga.gov/securities.

* for more information, call Georgia Secretary of State’s Securities and Business Regulation Division at 404-656-3920.

Source: Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp

* The Department of Homeland Security set up a system to document all offers of aid for Haiti from local and state governments so they can be properly utilized as the disaster response effort progresses.

* Civic groups, businesses and individuals are being asked to submit their offers of donations to the Center for International Disaster Information at www.cidi.org.

Haiti needs everything, earthquake eyewitness tells Rotary members

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Gov.-Gen. tells Haitians they 'are not alone'

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:00:14 +0000

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Gov.-Gen. Michaelle Jean on Monday called the destruction in the town where she was born “unbelievable,” but expressed optimism that the Haitian people can rebuild their quake-shattered country.

“We are here today to tell you that Haitians are not alone,” Jean told reporters at a news conference with Haitian President Rene Preval.

The Governor-General’s remarks came as she kicked off a two-day trip to Haiti to offer her support for Haitians and the Canadians assisting in the relief effort.

After being greeted at the airport by Preval, Jean travelled by helicopter to the National Palace, where she met with the Haitian president and Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.

“It’s as if the city has been bombarded. the magnitude of destruction is unbelievable,” said Jean, adding that she was anxious and impatient ahead of the trip.

“The images that we received in Canada with the disaster were just unbearable, but already what I see is people really trying to overcome that incredible ordeal. I was amazed to see how many people were on the streets.”

The Governor-General said Canada is ready to support the reconstruction plan developed by the Haitian government.

“There was a plan, there was a national strategy ready for sustainable development and to fight poverty in Haiti. and I believe that already, even though the circumstances have changed and the situation is more difficult than it was a year ago, something is there,” she said.

“I believe it is feasible (to rebuild). It takes vision. Haiti’s not alone. We’ve heard Canada say it and we’ve heard the international community say it, and we will support that plan.”

The Jan. 12 quake left more than 200,000 people dead and more than a million homeless. Although there have been small signs of progress in the almost two months since the disaster, many of the capital’s residents continue to take refuge in makeshift tent cities.

The Canadian government has allocated $555 million over five years in aid for Haiti, making it the second largest recipient of Canadian foreign aid, after Afghanistan.

Since the quake, the government has pledged also to match at least $128 million in individual donations to an earthquake relief fund.

Jean was born in Port-au-Prince, but her family fled to Canada to escape the brutal regime of “Papa Doc” Duvalier when she was 11.

All the living members of Jean’s immediate family in Haiti survived the quake, but the godmother of her daughter Marie-Eden died in the disaster.

On Monday, Jean once again walked the streets of her native country — this time surrounded by plainclothes RCMP officers and television cameras.

There were echoes of her childhood as she visited the Cathedrale Episcopale, the church where she was baptized. After leaving a wreath amid the crumbled ruins, the Governor General took a chunk of the church with her as a keepsake.

To commemorate International Women’s Day, Jean addressed a women’s rally at the ministry of the status of women and women’s rights.

“Women of Haiti, the entire world knows that you are the pillars of your society,” said Jean, alternating between English, French and Creole.

“It is women who have to find the food and water, while caring for the children and the survivors . . . and it is the women who are the most subject to violence, including sexual violence. we must demand that women’s dignity be respected.”

Dressed in olive and khaki military-style fatigues, Jean then danced on stage with some of the women at the rally. in the crowd, a number of women wore T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan, “Many women fell, but we will persevere. Haiti will not perish.”

Jean later travelled to the town of Leogane, where she thanked Canadian troops who have been assisting with the relief efforts. the military has begun to draw down its operations in the country, and is expected to have all its troops withdrawn by mid-April.

“You’ve demonstrated not just your courage, but your strength of spirit,” said Jean. You’re a source of pride to the country you represent.”

To cap the day, Jean briefly toured a camp for homeless people in Leogane, making her the first Canadian dignitary to visit such a camp in Haiti since the quake.

On Tuesday, Jean heads to Jacmel, the seaside town where her mother was born, and where the Governor General spent much of her childhood.

Jean was accompanied by her husband, Jean Daniel Lafond. her daughter, who was adopted from Jacmel, did not make the trip.

Gov.-Gen. tells Haitians they 'are not alone'

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Commission starts preparing plans for Haiti’s rebirth

admin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:00:18 +0000

In a loft of architectural offices, a map of greater Port-au-Prince promises a reordering of the country’s historic capital, overtaken long ago by sprawl and slums and struck last month by a cataclysmic earthquake.

“Expressway” is etched along the city’s winding seaboard. “New Housing Area” is written over a swath of undeveloped land far from the detritus of downtown. And “Debris” is written in several spots where it is to be put to constructive use.

Presiding over the map, and over the massive reconstruction effort that will define the country for generations, is a Haitian-born Howard University graduate who serves as Haiti’s tourism minister.

Working out of spare space far from his destroyed downtown offices, Patrick Delatour must sell a future for Haiti to his own people and an audience of international donors, who will help fund an urban rebirth starting from virtually zero.

“This,” he said, looking out the window as his police driver navigated the swells of a ramshackle back alley, “is urban development without urbanism, architecture without architects, engineering without engineers.”

Although the international response to the Jan. 12 earthquake was swift, the international role in reconstruction is still taking shape, slowed by the scale of the humanitarian crisis and freighted by the often prickly relationship between the Western hemisphere’s poorest country and the foreign actors who have loomed so large in its history.

The earthquake has spurred talk of remaking not only the capital and the country, but those complicated ties between Haiti and the rest of the world. Foreign governments, concerned about corruption, have long channeled much of their aid through nongovernmental organizations. That arrangement, some Haitians say, has stunted the Haitian government’s own development and given the NGOs an outsize role that comes with little accountability for the country’s persistent poverty.

Since the earthquake, foreign government and international organizations have been trying to send a different message, noting, at almost every opportunity, the role that the Haitian government has played in the rescue and relief operations and the leading role that it will play in the reconstruction of the country.

Next month in New York, the international community’s commitment to Haiti’s reconstruction will face its first big test. At a meeting of donor nations and international organizations, the Haitian government is to present its preliminary reconstruction plan, which it hopes will set the stage for a large and lasting commitment by the rest of the world.

Even before he knows precisely what sort of help his country will receive, Delatour has been talking to, among others, the French government and a number of American universities about providing technical assistance in planning and other disciplines critical to this early phase of the reconstruction effort.

Still, he said, Haiti’s reconstruction must be shaped by the Haitian government and the Haitian people. “I’m confident in Haiti’s ability to offer the leadership that is necessary.”

Commission starts preparing plans for Haiti's rebirth