SYNDICATED COLUMN: The Haitian Earthquake: Made in U.S.A.
Why the Blood Is On Our Hands
As grim accounts of the earthquake in Haiti came in, the accounts in U.S.-controlled state media all carried the same descriptive sentence: "Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere..."
Gee, I wonder how that happened?
You'd think Haiti would be loaded. After all, it made a lot of people rich.
How did Haiti get so poor? Despite a century of American colonialism, occupation, and propping up corrupt dictators? Even though the CIA staged coups d'état against every democratically elected president they ever had?
It's an important question. An earthquake isn't just an earthquake. The same 7.0 tremor hitting San Francisco wouldn't kill nearly as many people as in Port-au-Prince.
"Looking at the pictures, essentially it looks as if (the buildings are of) breezeblock or cinderblock construction, and what you need in an earthquake zone is metal bars that connect the blocks so that they stay together when they get shaken," notes Sandy Steacey, director of the Environmental Science Research Institute at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. "In a wealthy country with good seismic building codes that are enforced, you would have some damage, but not very much."
When a pile of cinderblocks falls on you, your odds of survival are long. Even if you miraculously survive, a poor country like Haiti doesn't have the equipment, communications infrastructure or emergency service personnel to pull you out of the rubble in time. And if your neighbors get you out, there's no ambulance to take you to the hospital—or doctor to treat you once you get there.
Earthquakes are random events. How many people they kill is predetermined. In Haiti this week, don't blame tectonic plates. Ninety-nine percent of the death toll is attributable to poverty.
So the question is relevant. How'd Haiti become so poor?
The story begins in 1910, when a U.S. State Department-National City Bank of New York (now called Citibank) consortium bought the Banque National d'Haïti—Haiti's only commercial bank and its national treasury—in effect transferring Haiti's debts to the Americans. Five years later, President Woodrow Wilson ordered troops to occupy the country in order to keep tabs on "our" investment.
From 1915 to 1934, the U.S. Marines imposed harsh military occupation, murdered Haitians patriots and diverted 40 percent of Haiti's gross domestic product to U.S. bankers. Haitians were banned from government jobs. Ambitious Haitians were shunted into the puppet military, setting the stage for a half-century of U.S.-backed military dictatorship.
The U.S. kept control of Haiti's finances until 1947.
Still—why should Haitians complain? Sure, we stole 40 percent of Haiti's national wealth for 32 years. But we let them keep 60 percent.
Whiners.
Despite having been bled dry by American bankers and generals, civil disorder prevailed until 1957, when the CIA installed President-for-Life François "Papa Doc" Duvalier. Duvalier's brutal Tonton Macoutes paramilitary goon squads murdered at least 30,000 Haitians and drove educated people to flee into exile. But think of the cup as half-full: fewer people in the population means fewer people competing for the same jobs!
Upon Papa Doc's death in 1971, the torch passed to his even more dissolute 19-year-old son, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. The U.S., cool to Papa Doc in his later years, quickly warmed back up to his kleptomaniacal playboy heir. As the U.S. poured in arms and trained his army as a supposed anti-communist bulwark against Castro's Cuba, Baby Doc stole an estimated $300 to $800 million from the national treasury, according to Transparency International. The money was placed in personal accounts in Switzerland and elsewhere.
Under U.S. influence, Baby Doc virtually eliminated import tariffs for U.S. goods. Soon Haiti was awash predatory agricultural imports dumped by American firms. Domestic rice farmers went bankrupt. A nation that had been agriculturally self-sustaining collapsed. Farms were abandoned. Hundreds of thousands of farmers migrated to the teeming slums of Port-au-Prince.
The Duvalier era, 29 years in all, came to an end in 1986 when President Ronald Reagan ordered U.S. forces to whisk Baby Doc to exile in France, saving him from a popular uprising.
Once again, Haitians should thank Americans. Duvalierism was "tough love." Forcing Haitians to make do without their national treasury was our nice way or encouraging them to work harder, to lift themselves up by their bootstraps. Or, in this case, flipflops.
Anyway.
The U.S. has been all about tough love ever since. We twice deposed the populist and popular democratically-elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The second time, in 2004, we even gave him a free flight to the Central African Republic! (He says the CIA kidnapped him, but whatever.) Hey, he needed a rest. And it was kind of us to support a new government formed by former Tonton Macoutes.
Yet, despite everything we've done for Haiti, they're still a fourth-world failed state on a fault line.
And still, we haven't given up. American companies like Disney generously pay wages to their sweatshop workers of 28 cents an hour.
What more do these ingrates want?
(Ted Rall is the author, with Pablo G. Callejo, of the new graphic memoir "The Year of Loving Dangerously." He is also the author of the Gen X manifesto "Revenge of the Latchkey Kids." His website is tedrall.com.)
COPYRIGHT 2010 TED RALL
As grim accounts of the earthquake in Haiti came in, the accounts in U.S.-controlled state media all carried the same descriptive sentence: "Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere..."
Gee, I wonder how that happened?
You'd think Haiti would be loaded. After all, it made a lot of people rich.
How did Haiti get so poor? Despite a century of American colonialism, occupation, and propping up corrupt dictators? Even though the CIA staged coups d'état against every democratically elected president they ever had?
It's an important question. An earthquake isn't just an earthquake. The same 7.0 tremor hitting San Francisco wouldn't kill nearly as many people as in Port-au-Prince.
"Looking at the pictures, essentially it looks as if (the buildings are of) breezeblock or cinderblock construction, and what you need in an earthquake zone is metal bars that connect the blocks so that they stay together when they get shaken," notes Sandy Steacey, director of the Environmental Science Research Institute at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. "In a wealthy country with good seismic building codes that are enforced, you would have some damage, but not very much."
When a pile of cinderblocks falls on you, your odds of survival are long. Even if you miraculously survive, a poor country like Haiti doesn't have the equipment, communications infrastructure or emergency service personnel to pull you out of the rubble in time. And if your neighbors get you out, there's no ambulance to take you to the hospital—or doctor to treat you once you get there.
Earthquakes are random events. How many people they kill is predetermined. In Haiti this week, don't blame tectonic plates. Ninety-nine percent of the death toll is attributable to poverty.
So the question is relevant. How'd Haiti become so poor?
The story begins in 1910, when a U.S. State Department-National City Bank of New York (now called Citibank) consortium bought the Banque National d'Haïti—Haiti's only commercial bank and its national treasury—in effect transferring Haiti's debts to the Americans. Five years later, President Woodrow Wilson ordered troops to occupy the country in order to keep tabs on "our" investment.
From 1915 to 1934, the U.S. Marines imposed harsh military occupation, murdered Haitians patriots and diverted 40 percent of Haiti's gross domestic product to U.S. bankers. Haitians were banned from government jobs. Ambitious Haitians were shunted into the puppet military, setting the stage for a half-century of U.S.-backed military dictatorship.
The U.S. kept control of Haiti's finances until 1947.
Still—why should Haitians complain? Sure, we stole 40 percent of Haiti's national wealth for 32 years. But we let them keep 60 percent.
Whiners.
Despite having been bled dry by American bankers and generals, civil disorder prevailed until 1957, when the CIA installed President-for-Life François "Papa Doc" Duvalier. Duvalier's brutal Tonton Macoutes paramilitary goon squads murdered at least 30,000 Haitians and drove educated people to flee into exile. But think of the cup as half-full: fewer people in the population means fewer people competing for the same jobs!
Upon Papa Doc's death in 1971, the torch passed to his even more dissolute 19-year-old son, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. The U.S., cool to Papa Doc in his later years, quickly warmed back up to his kleptomaniacal playboy heir. As the U.S. poured in arms and trained his army as a supposed anti-communist bulwark against Castro's Cuba, Baby Doc stole an estimated $300 to $800 million from the national treasury, according to Transparency International. The money was placed in personal accounts in Switzerland and elsewhere.
Under U.S. influence, Baby Doc virtually eliminated import tariffs for U.S. goods. Soon Haiti was awash predatory agricultural imports dumped by American firms. Domestic rice farmers went bankrupt. A nation that had been agriculturally self-sustaining collapsed. Farms were abandoned. Hundreds of thousands of farmers migrated to the teeming slums of Port-au-Prince.
The Duvalier era, 29 years in all, came to an end in 1986 when President Ronald Reagan ordered U.S. forces to whisk Baby Doc to exile in France, saving him from a popular uprising.
Once again, Haitians should thank Americans. Duvalierism was "tough love." Forcing Haitians to make do without their national treasury was our nice way or encouraging them to work harder, to lift themselves up by their bootstraps. Or, in this case, flipflops.
Anyway.
The U.S. has been all about tough love ever since. We twice deposed the populist and popular democratically-elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The second time, in 2004, we even gave him a free flight to the Central African Republic! (He says the CIA kidnapped him, but whatever.) Hey, he needed a rest. And it was kind of us to support a new government formed by former Tonton Macoutes.
Yet, despite everything we've done for Haiti, they're still a fourth-world failed state on a fault line.
And still, we haven't given up. American companies like Disney generously pay wages to their sweatshop workers of 28 cents an hour.
What more do these ingrates want?
(Ted Rall is the author, with Pablo G. Callejo, of the new graphic memoir "The Year of Loving Dangerously." He is also the author of the Gen X manifesto "Revenge of the Latchkey Kids." His website is tedrall.com.)
COPYRIGHT 2010 TED RALL
posted by Ted Rall at
11:46 AM
21 Comments:
The story actually begins in 1825, when Haiti was forced to pay reparations to France-for having the temerity to successful throw off the shackles of slavery. Haiti paid $34 per second, every second, for the first 122 years of independence; the amount was equivalent to 200% of the country's 2007 GDP. The US supported the whole thing. See: http://www.nathanielturner.com/haitimakescaseforreparations.htm
Thank you!
Hi Ted! Thanks for starting a discussion about the colonialist behavior that has left Haiti so impoverished. I just wanted to point out one thing ...
While it’s all well and good to point to the repeated US invasions starting in 1915, it’s important to recognize that Haiti’s poverty was enforced earlier by another colonial power: France. After a crippling 20 year embargo as retaliation for the slaves taking their freedom, in 1825 France demanded 150 million francs (equivalent to $21 billion today) as payment for lost profits. In other words, France made the former slaves pay for their freedom. Haiti was forced to sign the treaty with French and German gun boats sitting in their harbor.
Haiti could not make the first payment and so it was arranged that they would receive loans from French banks, at exorbitant interest rates. Haiti was paying this indemnity for 123 years! The last payment was in 1947. At various points they were spending more money on the interest rate payments than on social services for their own people. It was only after the 1915 invasions that the US became involved, when some of the loans were transferred to American banks. (although I haven’t managed to properly source this last piece of information)
France must be held accountable too! And in fact, in 2003/4 Aristide demanded reparations from France, a repayment of all 21 billion. Not too long after, he was forcefully and anti-democratically removed from power and exiled from his homeland.
Also, worth noting that the US Marines who imposed a harsh military occupation were led by none other than Secretary of the Navy Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Always good to have perspective on American "heroes."
Thank you for the reminder.
I tell all that Haiti is a looted country by us. No couldn't be. Americans are nothing but the best. Jeesh.
Again thanks.
Thank you thank you thank you! I've been waiting for someone with some media prominence to point out how the U.S. has run Haiti's affairs for over 100 years. Pitch perfect column, Ted!
What can we do to help though? I knew little of this and my daughter and I did a mission trip there once. But even knowing it now, what can I do about Citibank or the loss of a democratically elected leader? Is providing donations to the Red Cross good or bad?
It’s always a delight to hear of the mystic journey of Citibank through the ages. In an earlier post, I mentioned their historical ties to a previous worldwide market crash.
One phrase in your article seems misplaced or simply over-utilized: “The Blood Is On Our Hands!” I think this is what the right-wing refers to as Blame America First. What’s wrong with the right-wing brandishing Blame America First is that the “blame” in question is usually falling directly on the shoulders of political ideologues or global corporations or some military misadventure. To protect these precious institutions from scrutiny, the right-wing will simply say, “You’re blaming America First” as if a rapacious multinational corporation is more completely American than you or I.
So, if it is silly and misleading to conflate some parasite in a suit with AMERICA (God bless her), I would say that it is mere shock value to conflate the rapine and carnage of the military-entertainment complex with our individual sense of personal responsibility.
Until I have a vote that counts and a protesting voice that is actually acknowledged and listened to, I will view the actions of our government with anger and horror but no sense of complicity. Go ahead and tell me that my stance is somehow irresponsible.
When American aid comes to Haiti, the sick, injured and dying will think well of the American people, but remain suspicious of our government. It’s a distinction that only Americans don’t seem to be able to see.
How did Haiti get so poor? Despite a century of American colonialism, occupation, and propping up corrupt dictators?
Gee, I guess three centuries of Spanish and French colonialism, a century of self-rule splattered with bloody tyrannies and a monoculture commodity-based economy did not have anything to do with it, right?
Your typically simplistic leftist analysis hits a few points on target, but not most. Haiti is what stupid mainstream journalists call a "basket case" and the many things wrong with the country are not solely to blame on foreign doings. One thing you forgot to mention, though, is how US subsidies to corn farmers hurt Haitian sugar exports (not to mention American's health). Lastly, at least those so-called "sweatshops" at least provide their Haitian employees with a steady cash flow, which is something most Haitians can only dream about.
Much as I dislike standing armies, your beloved Aristide's decision to dissolve it proved to unwise, and not only for the reason it prompted his ousting. Today, some relief could be provided by those forces, like our own armed forces were doing before the earthquake (and are still doing, despite casualties).
Tom Tomorrow, Lenin's Tomb, and you have done kick ass jobs letting us know why Haiti is so poor (and why the US plantation owners are so f-ing rich). Excellent. Sent your link far and wide today.
When Turkey had their earthquake years ago, shoddy construction was also the culprit. There are buildings in Istanbul more than two thousand years old, and withstood earthquakes for that amount of time, yet people's homes went flat.
Stone, brick, and mud are best construction materials over the modern kind any day.
Susan Stark wrote:
"Stone, brick and mud are best construction material over the modern kind any day"
___________________________________
Susan, with all due respect, you are flat out wrong. A building being done in the "modern kind", doesn't mean it is done right without skimping on materials and good design.
Many of the ancient archticural marvels were completely destroyed by earthquakes and many which still exist today are rebuilt more than once, for example Aya Sofia in Istanbul.
There are modern building designs and codes for areas prone to erathquake and it proved very effective in lessening the damage cosiderably.
Most of the buildings in Haiti were not even of the "modern type", they were just multi floor brick buildings without any reinforced concrete whatsoever in them.
Thanks for telling the truth about what the USA has done to Haiti.
What the Mainstream Media Will Not Tell You About Haiti: Part of the Suffering of Haiti is "Made in the USA"
Bill Quigley
Legal Director for the Center for Constitutional Rights
Posted: January 14, 2010 08:45 PM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/what-the-mainstream-media_b_424126.html
coincidence? :)
"Your typically simplistic leftist analysis ..."
That's conservative-speak for "there are political and profit realities you are ignoring, and that's just the way it is."
Conservatives prefer a subjugated Haiti with a forever-impoverished citizenry with massive profits funneled to corporate America. Anything that gets in the way of that is "not realistic" and "simplistic".
How nice of Bank of America and and all the credit card companies to donate to Haiti.
They should continue this strange behavior of theirs and practice this kindness in other areas, say, in loan modifications to its customers or lowering their interest rates.
Stone, brick, and mud are best construction materials over the modern kind any day.
A common trait of the modern leftist activist is hating engineering, for no good rational reason. Of course, most of Cité Soleil wasn't build to "modern" standards. Fat lot of good it did their unfortunate dwellers.
I'd like to remind everyone that some of those scientists, like me, are women.
This is most penetrating review of US exploitation of Haiti that I have seen. Thanks.
I can't believe some of you have managed to find a way to turn ENGINERRING political. What the fuzzy?!?! Look, either mud, brick and stone are more sturdy than modern structures built to code, or they are not. That's IT. That's the END. I'm not an engineer, so I don't know. This is an either/or thing that has nothing to do with politics. My God.
This is even more insane than the fact that people's political beliefs have determined whether they see Michelle Obama as someone with a toned physique versus a fat cow. In a nonpolitical context, no one would disagree with "toned" as a description.
It is depressing the show ignorance and blatant superficial anti-American slant over the real history of what has happened to Haiti. This has NOTHING to do with the US.
What has happened in Haiti is unbelievable sad but the country has a LONG LONG LONG history of problems, spanning back to the time of Christopher Columbus, plus repeated dictator after dictator after dictator that controlled everything their way, not to mention Haiti has been in and out of debt so much through its time.
Please people, why are you even bothering to read this completely biased opinion piece? Go out and actually do EXTENSIVE research instead of buying into this mess and believing it as the gospel truth.
Good grief.
Chanda, the one person that associated Engineering with males was the crazed Anon@1/16/10 9:45 AM.
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