January 27, 2010
Dear Members of Congress,
The outpouring of aid from U.S. citizens and their government to Haiti
in the wake of this immense catastrophe has been important and welcome.
However, it is also clear that there have been serious mistakes that
have unnecessarily delayed the delivery of medical supplies, water, and
other life-saving materials.
Currently, there are major shortages reported of food, tents, and water.
The most costly unnecessary delays had until recently been in the area
of medical supplies.
A team of volunteer surgeons including the incoming president of the
New York State Chapter of the American College of Surgeons, whose
deployment was delayed for days by the U.S. military, reported that "untold
numbers are dying of untreated, preventable infections."
Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the world-renowned humanitarian group is
one of the organizations who had tons of medical supplies re-routed
because of decisions made by the U.S. government.
"We
lost three days," Francoise Saulnier, the head of MSF's legal
department told Reuters Television in an interview. "And these three
days have created a massive problem with infection, with gangrene, with
amputations that are needed now, while we could have really spared this
to those people."
Jarry Emmanuel, air logistics officer for the UN's World Food
Programme, noted on January 16 that "most
flights are for the US military."
Perhaps the biggest mistake has been an overemphasis on security, and
the deployment of 20,000 troops, to the detriment of delivery of
life-saving supplies. This was especially true during the first 10-12
days after the earthquake hit.
Although the situation with regard to medical supplies has recently
improved, there are now other shortages, including food, water, and
tents.
To avoid more unnecessary loss of life in the coming weeks, we call
upon the Administration to guarantee the following:
- A daily public accounting of the shipments of materials and
personnel that pass through the Port-au-Prince airport or any other
ports under control of the U.S. military
- A public commitment to prioritize the distribution of vital aid
and supplies and personnel, including water, medical supplies, food,
medical personnel, and shelter. This means that these supplies and
personnel must be given priority over the deployment of any more
military personnel or equipment.
- A public announcement as to what measures our government will
take going forward to make sure that the mistakes of the first two
weeks are not repeated.
- A public commitment to deliver, water, food, and other urgently
needed supplies to rural areas and other population centers that have
seen little, no, or greatly delayed aid
- A public commitment to ensuring that all survivors in Haiti
receive the necessities: clean water, food, shelter, and medical care,
and that all resources received will be immediately deployed for this
purpose
- A public commitment to work with all governments and Civil
Society Organizations that are delivering these needed goods and
services
While security can help to ensure a better distribution of aid, the
actual distribution of aid is most important. While it is true that
there have been some supplies lost to looting, this is not nearly so
terrible as the loss of life and limb that has occurred due to
unnecessary delays. The over-emphasis on security has been costly, and
must not be repeated - from now on the top priority must be the
delivery and distribution of the basic survival needs of the
population. The Administration must publicly reassure the world that
this will indeed be the priority going forward.
Sincere regards,
Harry Belafonte, Board of Directors
Emeritus, TransAfrica Forum
Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.
Founder and President, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition
Danny Glover
Chair of the Board, TransAfrica Forum
Brian Concannon Jr., Esq.
Director, Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti
Mark Weisbrot
Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research
Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach
Director, Mennonite Central Committee, U.S. Washington Office
Melinda Miles
Founder and Director, Konbit pou Ayiti (Haiti)
Fritz Gutwein
Co-Director and Haiti Reborn Coordinator
The Quixote Center
Sasha Kramer
Co-founder, Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (Haiti)
Veerle Opgenhaffen
Sr. Program Director
Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law
Anne McConnell-Wisskirchen
Co-ordinator, Haiti Advocacy Platform-UK
Briggs Bomba, Michael Stulman and Gerald LeMelle
Africa Action
Larry Birns
Director, Council on Hemispheric Affairs
Mark C. Johnson,
Executive Director, Fellowship of Reconciliation
John Feffer
Co-Director, Foreign Policy In Focus
Institute for Policy Studies
Emira Woods
Co-Director, Foreign Policy in Focus
Institute for Policy Studies
Jane Hamsher
Publisher, Firedoglake.com
Kevin Martin
Executive Director, Peace Action
Blase Bonpane
Director, Office of the Americas
Chuck Kaufman
National Co-Coordinator, Alliance for Global Justice
Doug Henwood
Editor, Left Business Observer
James Jordan
National Coordinator, Campaign for Labor Rights
James G. Devine
Professor of Economics
Loyola Marymount University
Greg Grandin
Professor of History
New York University
Hope Lewis
Professor of Law
Northeastern University School of Law
Carl G. Estabrook
Professor Emeritus
University of Illinois
A. Belden Fields
Professor Emeritus, Political Science
University of Illinois
T. M. Scruggs
Professor of Anthropology
University of Iowa
Amy H. Gardner
Professor of Medical Anthropology
University of California, Berkeley
Rosario Aguilar-Pariente
Visiting Fellow, Center for US-Mexican Studies
University of California, San Diego
Hasan Johnson
Assistant Professor
California State University, Fresno
Peter Hallward
Professor of Modern European Philosophy
Middlesex University
Rosaura Sanchez
Professor, Latin American Literature and Chicano Literature
University of California, San Diego
Millie Thayer
Assistant Professor of Sociology
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Kent Norsworthy
Content Director, Latin American Network Information Center
University of Texas, Austin
Sheila R. Tully
California State University, San Francisco
Chris Chiappari
Associate Professor
Saint Olaf College
Susanne Jonas
Lecturer, Latin American and Latino Studies
University of California, Santa Cruz
Laura Enriquez
Professor of Sociology
University of California, Berkeley
Edgar Ivan Gutierrez
History Instructor
Riverside City College
Dana Frank
Professor, Department of History
University of California, Santa Cruz
Vijay Prashad
George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of
International Studies
Trinity College
Martin Luis Cabrera
Assistant Professor, Peninsular and Latin American Literature and
Culture
University of California, San Diego
Steve Ellner
Professor of History
University of Oriente, Venezuela
Miguel Tinker Salas
Professor of Chicano and Latin American Studies
Pomona College
Sidney Lemelle
Professor of History
Pomona College
Victor Silverman
Associate Professor of History
Pomona College
Victor Rodriguez
Professor of sociology of race and ethnicity, Department of Chicano and
Latino Studies
California State University, Long Beach
Susana Chavez Silverman
Professor of Romance Languages and Literature
Pomona College
Forrest Hylton
Universidad de los Andes
Sujatha Fernandes
Assistant Professor of Sociology
City University of New York
Jose Vadi
Professor Eeritus, Political Science
California State University, Pomona
Sonja Wolf
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM)
Tanalis Padilla
Associate Professor of History
Dartmouth College
Gilbert Gonzalez
Professor
University of California, Irvine
Alma Martinez
Associate Professor of Theater Arts
Pomona College
Ronald Chilcote
Professor Emeritus
University of California, Riverside
Thomas W. Walker,
Professor Emeritus, Political Science, Ohio University
Eric Bindler
Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology
Indiana University
Dr. Clifford Andrew Welch
UNIFESP - Universidade Federal do Estado de Sao Paulo
Dr. Daniel Faber
Director, Northeastern Environmental Justice Research Collaborative
Jacob Rekedal
University of California, Riverside
Donald Bray
California State University, Los Angeles
Marjorie Bray
California State University, Los Angeles
Mayo C. Toruno
Professor of Economics
California State University, San Bernardino
Carol Hendrickson
Professor of Anthropology
Marlboro College
Michael Brun
Department of Economics
Illinois State University
Estevan Azcona
UH Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS) Visiting Scholar
University of Houston
William I. Robinson
Professor of Sociology, University of California-Santa Barbara
Sydney Hutchinson, Ph.D.
Humboldt Fellow
Berlin Phonogram Archive
Ethnological Museum, Berlin
Royce Hutson, Ph.D
Associate Professor
School of Social Work
Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Griselda Rodriguez,
Syracuse University
Gilbert Joseph, Ph.D
Farnam Professor of History & International Studies
Yale University
Marc Becker
Associate Professor of History
Truman State University
Linda Carty, Ph.D.
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of African American Studies
Syracuse University
Lynn Stephen
Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies
University of Oregon
Sylvia Tesh, Ph.D
Lecturer
University of Arizona
Alejandra Marchevsky
Associate Professor of Liberal Studies
Department of Liberal Studies
California State University, Los Angeles
Hector Perla
Assistant Professor
University of California, Santa Cruz
Gilberto M.A.Rodrigues, Ph.D,
Brazilian Professor Fulbright Visiting Scholar, Law School
University of Notre Dame
Ester Hernandez
Dept. of Chicano Studies
California State University, Los Angeles
Leisy Abrego, Ph.D
University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellow
University of California, Irvine
Lee Furey
Instructor of General Education
Art Institute of Atlanta
Nicole Weeks
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Pomona College
Lauren Derby
Associate Professor of History
University of California, Los Angeles
Jeanne M. Woods
Henry F. Bonura, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law
Loyola University College of Law
Extinction Rebellion and other climate groups held a funeral for the Paris agreement's 1.5°C temperature target in Cambridge, England on May 10, 2025. (Photo: Derek Langley)
Members of the "Red Rebel Brigade" led a procession around Cambridge, England as part of a funeral for the Paris agreement's 1.5°C temperature target on May 10, 2025. (Photo: Derek Langley)
