We reproduce here an article by Michael Hureaux Perez first published in the U.S.
on Thursday, 21 January 2010 on the US Marxist’s view of the Haiti earthquake.This article was first posted on www.marxist.com.
The nation of Haiti was hit with a devastating earthquake, 7.0 in
magnitude on January 12th, 2010 at roughly five o’clock in the
afternoon, Eastern Standard Time. Due to the depths of infrastructural
decay known by the world’s first independent black republic, as many as
a quarter of a million people have lost their lives in the rubble of
sub-standard dwellings. Media reports from numerous international
sources as well as many eyewitnesses have documented that the streets
of Port -Au-Prince, the country’s capital, are overflowing with the
bodies of tens of thousands of people. The governments of Cuba and
Venezuela responded within hours with medical brigades, firefighters,
fuel and supplies, and there has been massive sympathy, generosity and
volunteerism from workers around the world.
What a difference compared to the response from the the United
States. The U.S. government has pledged assistance in the way of one
hundred million dollars – less than is spent on the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan in just two days. In a clear indication of U.S.
imperialism’s true intentions, President Barack Obama has also
dispatched close to 10,000 troops to “aid and assist” the shattered
Haitian government of President René Préval “maintain public order.”
What many observers of this deep tragedy have noted is that the same
set of priorities that upset relief efforts during Hurricane Katrina
are currently holding sway in Haiti. There have been reports that
United States military authorities have taken over the country’s
functioning airport, and have actually forced incoming flights with
needed medical equipment and food support to Santo Domingo, the capital
of the Dominican Republic, which as a neighboring nation shares the
island with Haiti. Pacifica’s Democracy Now and the English language Al
Jazeera have interviewed Haitians on the ground who have expressed
dismay with the current “rescue” effort as overseen by the United
States. According to western sources, there have been some rioting and
looting incidents in isolated areas, but given the severity of the
situation and the delay of needed resource, this is far from a
mysterious development.
At
present, much mainstream media commentary has displayed the usual
indifference to the long historical context of abuse that Haiti has
suffered from her more powerful neighbor to the north. In the last two
decades alone, the United States, under three different presidents, has:
- Supported a classic coup led by creole military officers which
resulted in the elected head of state, the former radical priest and
leader of the peasant organization Lavalas, Jean Bertrand Aristide,
being removed from power; - Ruined the country’s agricultural sector by flooding it with cheap
rice and other staples and imposed a sweatshop economy which has been a
nightmare for the home economy of Haiti, a development which has
benefited corporations such as the massive U.S. athletic supply
corporation Spalding to the tune of several billion dollars; - Conducted an actual second removal of Aristide from power, one in
which Aristide was bodily removed from the country by U.S. forces and
taken to Central Africa.
So, from where those of us who are acquainted with Haitian history
and culture are standing, the current U.S. government concern for the
welfare of Haiti is nothing more than crocodile tears. And (it must be
said), the decision by President Barack Obama to appoint the sweatshop
baron and NAFTA idea man, Former President Bill Clinton, as well as
Former President George W. Bush (accessory to the Aristide kidnapping
and overseer of the Katrina disaster) is nothing more but the same old
swill on a different day.
The United States and other western governments (most notably the
French) have been attempting to reshape the destinies of the Haitian
people since this world’s most successful slave rebellion led by
Toussaint L’Ouverture and Jacques Dessalines defeated the Napoleonic
military machine in 1804. Haiti has been forced to live with
prohibitive international debt payments, embargoes, and numerous
invasions, occupations, and U.S. sponsored military dictatorships –
among which we may include the notorious Duvalier Regime, both father
and son – for the simple crime of displacing one of the planet’s most
intrusive empires over 200 years ago.
Recent reports indicate that the country has suffered a round of
aftershocks that may further impede progress in the recovery effort. It
is now of the first order that Marxists be “up” on this long U.S.
torment of a resourceful and dynamic people. If the current media
blather from U.S. ruling class authorities is any indicator of what is
to come, the United States is getting ready to take this deep human
tragedy, and try again to fix Haiti in spite of itself. Be very sure
that the watchwords for this effort will be the old imperial maxim, “If
it ain’t broke, fix it till it is”. It is very true to say that the
generous donations of U.S. workers are of immense help to the Haitian
people when such donations actually reach them, but that’s a very
different kettle of fish than what the old imperial order of the U.S.
will offer them.
The only real solution to Haiti’s problem is the revolutionary
overthrow of the rotten capitalist system, led by the working class of
Haiti and of the entire region, beginning with the Dominican Republic,
and it will not be long until they are heard from. The International
Marxist Tendency will present an in depth analysis of the current
Haitian crisis and the Haitian question throughout history in the
coming days.
