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Ten Things the US Can and Should Do for Haiti
Two. Do not allow US military in Haiti to point their guns at Haitians. Hungry Haitians are not the enemy. Decisions have already been made which will militarize the humanitarian relief - but do not allow the victims to be cast as criminals. Do not demonize the people.
Three. Give Haiti grants as help, not loans. Haiti does not need any more debt. Make sure that the relief given helps Haiti rebuild its public sector so the country can provide its own citizens with basic public services.
Four. Prioritize humanitarian aid to help women, children and the elderly. They are always moved to the back of the line. If they are moved to the back of the line, start at the back.
Five. President Obama can enact Temporary Protected Status for Haitians with the stroke of a pen. Do it. The US has already done it for El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Sudan and Somalia. President Obama should do it on Martin Luther King Day.
Six. Respect Human Rights from Day One. The UN has enacted Guiding Principles for Internally Displaced People. Make them required reading for every official and non-governmental person and organization. Non governmental organizations like charities and international aid groups are extremely powerful in Haiti - they too must respect the human dignity and human rights of all people.
Seven. Apologize to the Haitian people everywhere for Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh.
Eight. Release all Haitians in US jails who are not accused of any crimes. Thirty thousand people are facing deportations. No one will be deported to Haiti for years to come. Release them on Martin Luther King day.
Nine. Require that all the non-governmental organizations which raise money in the US be transparent about what they raise, where the money goes, and insist that they be legally accountable to the people of Haiti.
Ten. Treat all Haitians as we ourselves would want to be treated.
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42 Comments so far
Show AllThe best analysis of Haiti's sorrows can be found here:
http://www.counterpunch.com/smith01142010.html
Send Limbaugh and Robertson to Haiti. These men have fully exposed themselves as racists.
Otherwise I agree with all of the other ten points.
Leaderless,
Yes, but have them doing something useful like cleaning out latrines.
While looking at the excretions they can ponder the reality that they are looking at themselves.
Haiti has an over abundance of haters and people who take complete and total advantage of them. FACT: Haiti has the most millionaire black men in the world. Haiti is very, very, wealthy in resources. Sadly, their leaders do not care about taking care of their own. Not at all. It's pathetic.
FACT: An example of the wrong doing in Haiti. At night people can hear explosions going off. The sound is the sound of work taking place. Pipelines being constructed to pipe out the wealth of oil. They do it while the people sleep and it’s too dark for them to see. Haiti as gold, all sorts of resources. Again, it's a myth to think Haiti is a poor country.
Dropping off Limbaugh and Robertson. Haitians have no idea who these people are and if they showed up with money, the corrupt leaders would bow to them. They don't care, they only care about money. Haitians are in invested into racism like America, they've got other problems.
I LOVE IT! Absolutely. Points well made. It's almost torture having to go through this, and then "finally" a voice and a real brain that gets it. I'm all for a few doctors and well trained peace core workers, but that's it. Politicizing this and the financial bilking that is going on! Sad, simply sad.
The list above is not practical enough for the immediate relief-- nobody should bother with what Limbaugh says or does not say.
First, send the big military helicopters in with pallets of water and food since the roads are impassible. This was done at the Tsunami and in the Pakistan earthquake.
Allow the local people to eat and drink and pitch in to find the missing under the rubble. The people themselves need to be doing that and cannot do it if they are not fed. This will allow the local people to feel needed and wanted at the same time and not feel resentful of foreigners taking over.
Provide latrines immediately - just put up a curtain and let people poop into a plastic bag like you get at all supermarkets - have a lot of these bags behind the curtain and let people tie up the bag and make a pile of them- eventually they are then set on fire-- good way to avoid dissintary and cholera.Have handiwipes available to clean hands.
Keep it practical- and yes the last word is treat them as you would want to be treated.
PS Great idea to use Guantanamo for the sick!!!
Absolutely,an E Vac to Guantanamo would be very efficient.5 gallon buckets,90% isopropal alcohol,hydrogen peroxide,first aid kits ,bandage rolls and tape,anti-biotics,non-fat dry milk,water purification straws,and tablets,batteries flashlights, all are desparately needed.Charcoal briquettes disposable lighters,toilet paper toothcare products brushes floss paste.Find a good NGO that will give direct aid with your donations. peace
If Bush's reaction to Katrina is any indication ...............
Why stop at Haiti? These 10 points should be used everywhere.
and number seven should be revised to "airdrop Robertson and Limbaugh on Haiti.....preferably from space."
Without a parachute and with leaded boots!
Why not airdrop many packets of food, water, meds, shovels, tools, portable latrines and all other emergency necessities instead of waiting until trucks can get through? The Haitian people have been pitching in to help. We should make it easy for them to help themselves instead of making them wait for help to arrive.
Then if they decide to form a socialist government, butt out.
Also solar ovens are desparatly needed there is no wood left and charcoal is very expensive. peace
This is a very good time to use a portion of our huge stock of MRE's. There couldn't be a better example of when these would be of the utmost benefit.
Comment deleted by author.
Oh, and take the bonuses from Wall Street executives, portfolio managers, and traders and use it to fund the relief efforts.
Actually, we could simplify this to one thing the US should do for Haiti (and the rest of the world): stay out! Let them manage their business as they see fit.
I passed these excellent suggestions on to my "representative", Nancy Pelosi. We'll see whether she acts or whether helping Haiti is another issue that's "off the table."
Of course Pelosi's Congress and Obama will help Haiti. They'll help by doubling down on the WTO and World Bank neopunishment trade policies, allowing corporations to move in and provide for-profit disaster capitalism "aid", and by reinforcing the military rule of the country. Sort of like indiscriminately airdropping aid packets mixed with cluster bombs cleverly-diguised as aid packets, as they were in Afghanistan.
You forgot this one:
All Wall Street Bonus money must be put in a reparations fund to provide food, shelter and education to Haitians in perpetuity as a reparations payment from the USA for 200 years of brutal suppresion of Haitian Liberty.
"reparations payment from the USA for 200 years of brutal suppresion of Haitian Liberty."
You can say that again !!
The best thing that working people in the US can do for Haiti is to advocate and carry out socialist revolution IN THE US. Liberal nonsense like what is found in this 10-point article does not help anyone. The empire, in it's death throes, is not all of a sudden going to do the right thing for people it has brutalized, exploited, impoverished and murdered for a century. I do understand that there are still people who think that Obama is capable of doing what's right. A good first step for Bill Quigley and those of like mind would be to admit that this is not going to happen, indeed it cannot happen.
Thank you, well put. But sadly, it sounds like you know what you're talking about while the vast majority of American's are totally clueless, including the author of this article who “should” do some research and re think his “can” do list. It's good to see your insightful and true words.
My sincerest wishes for the best to those in Haiti. I'm confident that those who are trained and in there will make the immediate difference.
"the vast majority of American's are totally clueless, including the author of this article"
Does Common Dreams let just anyone publish? How does that work?
The internet and all neighborhoods in it (including the progressive hood) is basically one giant, multi-division good old boy network. Most of the sites which get significant traffic are ones that started in the 1990's. Back then, everyone used to link to everyone else. Today the 1990's sites generally do not link to new sites although there are a few exceptions.
Google decided back then (and has never changed) to use number of links to a site as the primary determinant of how high in search results a site will be. Sites started since 2000 and especially since 2005 don't get a competitive number of links to them, so they generally do not appear anywhere in the first few pages of search results. So then they don't get much traffic (unless the author is very well known).
Google’s search engine results have become stale because year after year they primarily preserve the traffic status quo. With the Google system, every year it becomes closer and closer to impossible for a brand new site to gain traffic.
What all this means is that mostly authors connected with sites started in the 1990's are published at Common Dreams (along with famous authors not necessarily connected with any single site). The universe of authors in this category is ultimately limited. Authors connected with newer sites and/or with sites with little traffic are not published by most progressive sites. The most notable exception is opednews.com, which will publish authors who are not published elsewhere.
Thank you for that ! I thought searches were brought up according to the date they were posted, but maybe I am wrong.
Google recently installed options for search results, but they are misleading and don't do what you might think they do. If after you do a search you then click "show options" and then you click "latest," you get only one page of results: just 10 items. It seems virtually inevitable that even in those mimimal listings there is again heavy bias toward the 1990's sites, although technically the bias would be a little less due to the strict time ordering.
But new sites and sites that don't get much traffic most likely don't ever appear even on the latest results search, although I am going to investigate that.
If within the time options you click "last 24 hours" or one of the other short time frames, the results are indeed postings from the last 24 hours and there are multiple pages, but (a) they are not in time order but are in "Google priority order" and (b) there is definitely the same heavy bias toward the 1990's vintage sites that you see in the ordinary results.
There is a separate Google blog search where you can order results by time and where there is far less bias toward older sites. But the Google blog search is limited to true blogs only, and for that reason and because it is not shown on the main Google page it is used by only a very, very small fraction of those who use the regular search.
Someone needs to make a search engine that is biased toward new sites to offer a real alternative to the increasingly stale Google results.
Thank you for explaining how this pollyannish article made it onto Common Dreams.
How is it possible to write an article about "How America can help" when its military is still there fighting against socialism?
Daveschauch Yes i think you have the right idea good post.
I have room in my home for them. I could take in two families, or a Mom and her children, or a few of the children who no longer have a parent left in the world to care for them.
The US government needs to show some compassion, let them into the US, and I will feed, and clothe, and house them in my own home, at my own expense.
We can all do this. It's not such a big deal to give up some space and a little food to save a life or two from hell on earth.
Will
Do not let the Clinton Circus establish any ties to Haiti.
Look what they did to this country that had the best economy
in the world, the best industrial base in the world that has been outsourced to China. Don't forget, the Clintons were getting money from the Red Chinese, how easy we forget.
The American government will doubtlessly give Haiti the Katrina treatment: run in circles and wring hands until all who could have been saved are dead.
What is to be done with any survivors? Blue tarps, tents and toxic trailers forever? Personally I would bulldoze the whole town and start all over like Rome or San Francisco or Seattle or...
Send some of those titanic earth movers like the Israelis use for ethnic clearing. Level the place and dig water and sewer lines. Ship everything in those big shipping and storage contaners that are cluttering up the entire Eastern seaboard. Let the Hatians cut them up into 'shotgun' shacks that will suffice and are both earthquake and hurricane proof. Plant roses on the bare hills to hold the slopes and not be used for firewood.
All this needed rebuilding should keep the Hatians employed for decades. Let the other half of the island show them how to run a proper government. Let the Marines turn their guns on the real outlaws - the bankers.
I would like to add: Do NOT remove the children with the Operation Peter Pan idea Catholic Charities would like to use. This is abusive to the children to take them from their culture, community, and families and give their island away to capitalism!
Maybe the devastation will be so bad that many of the corporations will close up shop and then Haiti will be allowed to reestablish their own industries and agriculture. Unlike countries subject to drought, Haiti is lush and could reestablish very profitable agriculture for export if they could raise import tariffs and slip the noose of the controlling international agricultural corporations and return to small farming. There was one report today that some Hatians were literally walking away from Port-au-Prince and back to the countryside.
I believe Hatian economy existed by subsistance farming and small local business. It was farming for export that depleted thier resources and to a very large extent thier way of life.
Yes, you are right, and that Haiti needs to return to small farms as opposed to corporate mega farms was what I meant.
The export aspect is optional and I mean small scale exporting done by Haitian companies that have taken back control of agriculture from international corporations, which are only interested in large scale exporting. Having international corporations in charge of agriculture in Haiti and deciding how much will be exported (way too much) is what caused and will continue to cause the damage if those corporations stick it out despite the devastation, something which at the moment is in at least a little bit of doubt.
As an example of huge corporations closing up shop when times get tough, consider that after the financial collapse that they themselves caused, the international financial corporations pulled out of Iceland in favor of less devastated environs.
1-Reparations for the African diaspora.
Repeat nine times.
The first 9 are OK, but you must drop number 10.
All Americans want to be treated as privileged, exceptional, deserving of five times more energy per capita than anyone else on the planet, with hands stuck out for all government largesse, wanting nose jobs and boob jobs and unlimited extension of life even at the cost of bankruptcy, toxic drugs, worthless food, nonsensical religious oratory, ownership of guns, dangerous dogs, and unlimited access to drugs, legal and illegal.
All we need is 9 million more people thinking just like Americans. Forget it!
Also...US taxpayers should pay reparations directly to the Haitian people. The reparations are long past due.
Also...Teach the US population the real history of Haiti and how US interference was the cause of much of the poverty.
Also...All US troops should be disarmed and carry NO weapons.
A bit of Haitian history:
http://www.alternet.org/world/145183/haiti
I'm sorry I cannot understand why it takes so long to get the people food and water. As someone pointed out, can't helicopters drop supplies down to organized groups of survivors? Surely there is someone who can organize the people to be in certain areas to receive supplies from the helicopters so there is no fighting over who obtains help. They must have water and food while living in that heat or they will be dying from dehydration. It's hard to believe that supplies and workers are still at the air strip unable to get to the victims. We have had enough of these disasters to know what needs to be done and how to do it. Maybe if we spent as much time studying ways to rescue people instead of killing people we would all be more secure. With climate changes so extreme we are all at risk. Sanitation is also vital as someone pointed out.
Right off the bat, Obama made the wrong move by playing the egocentric John Wayne with total disregard of the wishes of the Haitian people or other concerned nations(not to mention the ones who elected him). More unilateral bullshit to follow. Did he bother to ask them how they want this to proceed? I doubt it. Get the US military the hell out of Haiti! Bring back Aristide !!!! Remember him? You know, the guy who was democratically elected and then run out of the country by US backed thugs.
I am "just" new to Common Dreams
I have not read the entire article - just the first part - had a gut reaction which I'm sure was a personally viseral response. In no way am I NOT feeling the tragic events taking place in Haiti. However,the suggestion by Mr. Quigley to "Allow all Haitians in the US to work. The number one source of money for poor people in Haiti is the money sent from family and workers in the US back home." caused me to cringe. I am a natural born citizen who has been unemployed for quite some time now, struggling to find my way in this economic crisis that our country is in. I do not know how many Haitians are "illegally" here and now will remain here in this country because of the catastrophe that has engulfed their country. I know that illegal aliens from other countries south of us has been a definite concern for the country and an issue that has not yet been resolved. My issue with any of this is mentioned above. "The number one source of money for poor people in Haiti is the money sent from family and workers in the US BACK HOME." People (many illegally here in the USA) earn money and the money leaves the country - leaves our economy - and that leaves a BIG QUESTION mark in my mind. How does that help AMERICA? When money is taken out of this country and sent to other countries, how does that action support our nation economically? Something just doesn't seem "right" about that. It "feels" like a vacuum sucking out our innards. Can anyone explain to me how this helps us as a nation economically? Are we not going through a major economic crisis ourselves? I know I am. I know others who are. In my limited knowledge of our nation's history, I do believe that most other immigrants (legal) came to this country and helped build it. They invested in it with their lives, their sweat. They were proud to be a part of this nation. I don't know for sure, but I don't think they came to take away what they acquired here. I don't think that was their intent or motivation. And there, seems to rest the difference. Those of past generations came to be a part of - to add to - to help build and the current generations - many of them - only seem to want to TAKE away, having no understanding of the Principles upon which this nation was built. I question too - Why, if our nation is suppose to an example to others, do they not follow suit? Why do they not pursue a similar course and pay the price in doing so? They see something they like - they come and benefit from what is here - and send the goods "home." Do they send the money back to help support a cause towards prosperity for their nation? Do they send the money back to help build a government that will change the way things are done in their nation for the betterment of the people. Probably not. They just send the money back to loved ones to help them and maintain the status quo of perhaps an oppresive goverment. What are they learning? How does that support their evolution? Something is so awry. What was once a Vision for our country, it seems, through this narrow scope that I peer, is fast becoming entropic, but like that proverbial frog in the water on it's way to a boil, we don't have a sense that things are getting worse and life as we have known it, will soon be no more.
Should we list the banks and corporations that hoard the cash they get? This amount dwarfs anything the illegal aliens send out to their lower class struggling families. Where does the cash go that is accumulated from the 500 plus Wal-Mart facilities in Mexico, the soon to be oil profits from Iraq, the rubber from Africa, United Fruit Company, weapons manufacturers,? The list goes on and on. You forget that Haiti is a product of US imperialism.
We need to send Haiti large quantities of drinkable water, but first we should lace it with birth control.