Rubble hasn't moved, but has again become a focal point. Before anything else, please look at these 15 photos and read this reflection from Let Haiti Live [the events come from a schedule I posted a few days ago]. Melinda writes more eloquently than anything I've read or could say below: about the way Haitians are sharing collective memory, and rising today from tarps & tents as they do each day. [So you can stop reading now, having gathered the real point. Or perhaps follow a little more...]
I. "Anba": means 'under', as 230,000 people were crushed by concrete a year ago today, and millions who survived were cruelly shaken from their lives' foundations. How could we imagine? My hands shake as I type right now, feeling again that first night's sleepless vigil, and days of constant watching. We were there for Haiti. We cared, and responded.
Much happened. Groups like Partners in Health and many, many others did deliver lifesaving relief. I was privileged to accompany one of these incredible efforts through medical relief in Leogane. Haitians helped their neighbors from 'anba dekombe' to receive medical care, and start a precarious new day-to-day existence.
Much hasn't happened. One year later and more than 1 million still keep their families under tents or tarps in camps with inhumane lack of sanitation or other basic services. Only 38 percent of money raised by NGOs has been spent. The Huffington Post did some neat work tracking this. Fully half of American households donated, and we deserve accountability on our generosity. Our Haitian neighbors also deserve this accountability.
The International Office of Migration reports a 31 percent decrease since July in the number of people living in displacement camps. A success, notes the report, that victims are finding their own housing solutions and "getting on with their lives"... but IOM fails to mention that 29 percent of camps have been forcibly evicted, despite such eviction violating both Haitian and international humanitarian law. A solution? People who leave camps are NOT going to better places.
Cholera was a threat from the outset. One week post-quake, I remember my churning stomach as I read the first speculations of major infectious disease compounding the crisis. And so it came. Last week, Ban Ki-Moon named an independent commission to investigate the potential source of the epidemic, since a likely candidate is a contingent of UN peacekeepers from Nepal who arrived just before the epidemic began, and whose base was expelling raw sewage into the river upstream of initial case appearances. The New England Journal of Medicine published a study last month showing the Haitian strain to be genetically most like those from South Asia.
The president of the international coordination for Medecins San Frontieres recently analyzed the lackluster response to the epidemic, writing in The Guardian (and this assessment applies in other sectors): "Co-ordination of aid organisations may sound good to government donors seeking political influence. In Haiti, though, the system is legitimizing NGOs that claim responsibility for health, sanitation or other areas in a specific zone, but then do not have the capacity or know-how to carry out the necessary work. As a result, people's needs go unmet."
Which leads to...
II. "Aba": 'down with', frequently found as a first word on protest signs and graffiti. The discontent runs deep. Haiti won freedom 207 years ago in the world's only successful slave rebellion, defeating Napoleon. But they still are not free. Watching the terrible PBS Frontline "Battle for Haiti" tonight (really, quite awful), I realized how easy it would be to think of Haiti as a sick & savage land whose people prey on their own. No. Haitians dig each other out of rubble and carry each other to cholera treatment centers, saving their own. The savagery is orchestrated in international boardrooms, actually.
People talk about "discontent" and "civil unrest" among the population, with a spike of mainstream media coverage last month on the protests. No kidding. Their country is ruled not only by the aforementioned "Republic of NGOs" who are held to no real accountability. But also, all official rebuilding projects (and the $5 billion pledged for these by int'l donors) are administered through the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission, which has met only a handful of times since its March formation. Foreign members include relevant donor entities (IMF, World Bank, etc). Yet, Haitian members of the IHRC recently published a scathing complaint they are pointedly excluded from discussion by the foreigners, and even physically denies a seat at the table.
And the elections? Predictable. Listening to Voice of America Creole radio this summer, I learned of the exclusive and unfair electoral preparation, and talk of boycott. Low turnout plus clear fraud means the process could not be considered democratic on any other planet, much less 21st century self-determining Earth. See CEPR's report here for a few numbers, and here on how the international community is likely to accept the results anyway.
Yep, if it were my country and my entire chance at an optimistic future, I'd be pretty ticked off, too. 'Aba' is not unreasonable. It is not uncivil.
It is also progressive with a hopeful spirit...
III. "Kenbe la": 'hang in there'...see those most important first links above. People in desperate, excruciatingly unending crises still talk. Still share collective memory. Still emerge from tarps and tents each morning. Still work together.
This week, one year ago, I did not sleep. Because I couldn't believe what was happening; and I still sometimes toss & turn, angry at such undeserved cruelty. Friends in Haiti still living in tents must be angry, too, but they are also taking progressive steps of advocacy & action. We can support them. Men anpil, chay pa lou. When hands are many, the burden is light.
Let Haiti Live has posted a compilation of further analyses, FYI.
4:53PM EST on January 12. I've heard that for 35 seconds, bells all over (including at Notre Dame) will toll to mark the shaking.
I believe that action, life, comes from emotion. So I think I will simply allow myself to feel. To honestly, profoundly...hurt. Join me.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
A Misdiagnosis in Haiti
One of the under-covered Haiti stories, choosing from the current smorgasboard, involves removal of a top diplomat apparently because of his simple honesty. Brazilian Ricardo Seitenfus has a 17-year history of work in Haiti, and was serving as Special Representative for the Organization of American States (OAS). On December 20, Swiss newspaper Le Temps published an interview in which Seitenfus offered a pointed, yet logical critique of the international community's post-earthquake response. That same day, he was asked to take a vacation and has since been informed he will not resume his former post.
BBC Brazil and Huffington Post have run stories on this, though absent from other other media, and today Aljazeera published a new interview.
Some readers of this blog might know I'm now working with a group attempting to produce a comprehensive report on the presence and actions of the UN peacekeeping forces (MINUSTAH)--which has operated in Haiti since May 2004, on a budget of $865 million this year. We hope our research/advocacy effort can harmonize with a 10-month grassroots campaign against MINUSTAH's mandate renewal, led by the Haiti civil society organizations mentioned in my previous post.
Thus, I resonated with this comment from Seitenfus. How simple, really. One would think.
Aljazeera: "Your main criticism of the U.N.’s work in Haiti is that they put too much of a focus on security. Explain what you mean."
Seitenfus: "I believe the international system of prevention and solution of conflicts is not prepared to treat specific cases such as Haiti. Haiti is not a threat to international security. It is not a threat to regional security. It’s not a threat to Cuba or the Dominican Republic. Haiti doesn’t even have armed forces…. With relation to the UN, I ask myself if we’re not just fooling ourselves. Wouldn’t it be better if the counsel of social and economic development oversees Haiti and would have priority, instead of the council on security? Haiti is not a threat to international peace and security. Haiti is a threat to itself and its own people…The life of the Haitian people is hard. Especially after the earthquake. After the quake we have 1.5 million people that are still living under tents in the parks and in the streets. I imaged that after January 12, 2010, the world would not only show that extraordinary solidarity to help Haiti, but it would also say, ‘Let’s stop and think if we are not mis-diagnosing Haiti with wrong formulas.’ But no, we didn’t ask that question. What we did was to send more soldiers in. So I think Haiti is much more complicated and much more delicate and multifaceted than simply sending peace keeping forces of the UN to image that Haiti can be rescued from the situation. The presence of the military is contradictory and counter-intuitive with me without talking about the moral questions. With MINUSTAH (U.N. peacekeeping forces in Haiti), we spent $600 million dollars per year this year. $865 million dollars this year alone, I think. That is besides what every member of MINUSTAH spends. So I believe we need to do a balance sheet - an audit almost - to take stock of how we have advanced in this last 6 and half years and to make a new strategy with relation to Haiti. I think we fool ourselves with who the real enemy here. The enemy of Haiti is misery, is lack of hope, the lack of perspective, lack of work, lack of income. Not security.”
BBC Brazil and Huffington Post have run stories on this, though absent from other other media, and today Aljazeera published a new interview.
Some readers of this blog might know I'm now working with a group attempting to produce a comprehensive report on the presence and actions of the UN peacekeeping forces (MINUSTAH)--which has operated in Haiti since May 2004, on a budget of $865 million this year. We hope our research/advocacy effort can harmonize with a 10-month grassroots campaign against MINUSTAH's mandate renewal, led by the Haiti civil society organizations mentioned in my previous post.
Thus, I resonated with this comment from Seitenfus. How simple, really. One would think.
Aljazeera: "Your main criticism of the U.N.’s work in Haiti is that they put too much of a focus on security. Explain what you mean."
Seitenfus: "I believe the international system of prevention and solution of conflicts is not prepared to treat specific cases such as Haiti. Haiti is not a threat to international security. It is not a threat to regional security. It’s not a threat to Cuba or the Dominican Republic. Haiti doesn’t even have armed forces…. With relation to the UN, I ask myself if we’re not just fooling ourselves. Wouldn’t it be better if the counsel of social and economic development oversees Haiti and would have priority, instead of the council on security? Haiti is not a threat to international peace and security. Haiti is a threat to itself and its own people…The life of the Haitian people is hard. Especially after the earthquake. After the quake we have 1.5 million people that are still living under tents in the parks and in the streets. I imaged that after January 12, 2010, the world would not only show that extraordinary solidarity to help Haiti, but it would also say, ‘Let’s stop and think if we are not mis-diagnosing Haiti with wrong formulas.’ But no, we didn’t ask that question. What we did was to send more soldiers in. So I think Haiti is much more complicated and much more delicate and multifaceted than simply sending peace keeping forces of the UN to image that Haiti can be rescued from the situation. The presence of the military is contradictory and counter-intuitive with me without talking about the moral questions. With MINUSTAH (U.N. peacekeeping forces in Haiti), we spent $600 million dollars per year this year. $865 million dollars this year alone, I think. That is besides what every member of MINUSTAH spends. So I believe we need to do a balance sheet - an audit almost - to take stock of how we have advanced in this last 6 and half years and to make a new strategy with relation to Haiti. I think we fool ourselves with who the real enemy here. The enemy of Haiti is misery, is lack of hope, the lack of perspective, lack of work, lack of income. Not security.”
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Nou pa janm bliye: those who annually remember, and those who can never forget
Subscript of post title is "why I love Haiti"...read on to find out.
The deluge has started. As an anniversary approaches, the mainstream media is beginning its 'insightful' look at "Haiti: one year later." My daily newsfeed haunts are spiking from their baseline of independent/alternative press and policy analysis sites to include NYT, WashPo, NPR, BBC at greater concentration.
On this blog, I will offer a manageable digest of what I think are the salient points on the one-year mark...one year since 30-seconds of shaking marked arguably the worst natural disaster in recent history, in a place most vulnerable to such destruction. I promise to give a readable listing, for anyone who wants to turn off Anderson Cooper (nothing personal against the guy) and spend 30-minutes getting the real story. One time, 30 minutes. I hope there are a few of you folks out there...
In coordination with the anniversary, a number of Haitian-rooted advocacy groups are updating their investigative reports across the spectrum of calamities: IDP camp conditions, gender-based violence, ballot fraud, cholera, aid accountability etc... Another deluge, but of the pivotal "bearing witness" kind. I'll attempt to post links for these as well.
Understandably, given our busy lives, we can tune out this crisis and overlook its heightening intensity. Yet, 1 million people have been living in tents for one full year, and they cannot forget. Ever, not for even a second.
So, the most *important* message January 12, 2011 is what comes from these people. Instead of waiting passively for aid that is not coming, they have ORGANIZED. See below agenda (courtesy of original post in Bri Kouri Nouvèl Gaye), English translation not mine.
Haitian camp residents, civil society organizations, and other grassroots efforts have coordinated to produce a WEEK OF ACTIVITIES in the displacement camps themselves. Including a 45-panel photo exhibit, and critically analytical forums and discussions---these people are living their rights. Imagine trying to feed & care for your family, living in a wind-battered tent with no brighter prospects in the foreseeable future...and you still muster the energy to work together, to demand something better?
These people are my heroes. Their courage is why I love Haiti.
-----------------------------------
We Will Not Forget, The Struggle Has Just Begun
A Week of Activities to Mark One Year Since the Catastrophe of January 12, 2010
Initiative to Resist the Eviction of the Internally Displaced*
*Members of the Initiative/Supporters of the program include: Bri Kouri Nouvèl Gaye, Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, FRAKKA, Inivesite Popile, Asosyasyon Vwazen Solino (AVS), Batay Ouvriye, Camp Committees from Camp Imakile, Camp Kanaran, Camp Babankou, Camp Kozbami, International Action Ties, Let Haiti Live (a project of TransAfrica Forum)
January 5, 9am - 2pm
- Press conference to launch week of activities
January 8, 3-5pm
- Conference Debate and Photo Exhibition at Camp Imakile and Kozbami
THEME: The Struggle for Land and Right to Housing in the context of the application of the neoliberal political economy
Panelists: Patrice Florvilus (BAI), Camille Chalmers (PAPDA), Mark Snyder (IAT), Mark Schuller
January 9, 11am - 5:30pm
- Conference Debate and Photo Exhibition at Camp Babankou
THEME: The Right to Housing, The Struggle of Peasants and Workers
Panelists: Mario Joseph (BAI), Patrice Florvilus (BAI), Mark Schuller
January 10, 3-5:30pm
- Conference Debate and Documentary Film at Camp Karade
THEME: Right to Housing at the Crossroads of the NGOs Waste; Passivity of the Haitian State and Demagogy of the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (IHRC)
Panelists: Didier Dominique (Batay Ouvriye), Patrice Florvilus (BAI), Mark Snyder (IAT)
January 11, 10am-4pm
- Conference Debate at Camp Kanaran
THEME: Right to Housing, Gender-Based Violence, Wasteful NGOs, Demagogy of the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (IHRC)
Panelists: Patrice Florvilus (BAI), Carole Pierre Paul, Camille Chalmers (PAPDA), Mario Joseph (BAI), Mark Snyder (IAT), Mark Schuller, Melinda Miles (LHL)
Witnessing: Victims of the earthquake speak of their experiences living 12 months under tents
Witnessing: The peasants' movement
Documentary Film Screening: A Soapbox in Haiti
Final Declaration
January 12
Public Demonstration starting at the Ministry of Health on Rue St. Honore near the General Hospital
Kreyòl version:
INISYATIV REZISTANS KONT EKSPILSYON DEPLASE ENTÈN YO SEMÈN AKTIVITE POU MAKE 1 AN KATASTWÒF 12 JANVYE 2010 LA
12 JAVYE 2010 – 12 JANVYE 2011
NOU PAP MANJE MANJE BLIYE, BATAY LA FENK KOUMANSE.
5 janvye (9è-14è)
• Konferans pou la près / lansman semèn aktivite yo
8 janvye 2010 (3zè -5è)
• Konferans deba ak Ekzpozisyon foto nan Kan Imakile ak Kozbami
Tem: Batay pou tè/Dwa lojman nan konteks aplikasyon politik ekonomik liberal yo
Animaté : Mark Snyder , Mark Schuller , Patrice Florvilus , Camille Charlemers
9 janvye 2011 (11zè -5è 30 )
• Konferans deba ak Ekzpozisyon foto ( Babankou )
Tèm: Dwa lojman /Lit peyizan ak ouvriye
Animatè: Mario Joseph, Mark Shuler, Patrice Florvilus
10 janvye 2011 ( 3è-5è30)
• Konferans deba ak fim dokimantè ( Karade)
Tèm: Dwa lojman nan Kalfou gagotay ONG ,konpòtman manfouben Leta Ayisyen ak demagoji Komisyon Rekonstriksyon Enterimè a (CIRH)
Animaté : Mark Snyder , Didier Dominique, Patrice Florvilus
11 janvye 2011 (10è-4è) - Kan KA NAWAN - Konferans deba
Tèm : Dwa lojman , vyolans sou fanm nan kan yo, gagotay lan ONG yo ,konpòtman manfouben Leta Ayisyen ak demagoji CIRH la Komisyon Rekonstriksyon Enterimè a (CIRH)
Animaté : Mark Snyder ,Melinda , Mark Shuller , Patrice Florvilus, Carole Pierre Paul , Camille Cha
-Temwanyaj viktim tranbleman sou eksperyans yo fè pandan 12 mwa anba tant
-Temwanyaj mouvman peyizan
-Fim Dokimantè
0Deklarasyon Final
12 janvye :Manifestasyon piblik kap soti devan Ministe Sante nan Ri Sentonore bò Lopital Jeneral
The deluge has started. As an anniversary approaches, the mainstream media is beginning its 'insightful' look at "Haiti: one year later." My daily newsfeed haunts are spiking from their baseline of independent/alternative press and policy analysis sites to include NYT, WashPo, NPR, BBC at greater concentration.
On this blog, I will offer a manageable digest of what I think are the salient points on the one-year mark...one year since 30-seconds of shaking marked arguably the worst natural disaster in recent history, in a place most vulnerable to such destruction. I promise to give a readable listing, for anyone who wants to turn off Anderson Cooper (nothing personal against the guy) and spend 30-minutes getting the real story. One time, 30 minutes. I hope there are a few of you folks out there...
In coordination with the anniversary, a number of Haitian-rooted advocacy groups are updating their investigative reports across the spectrum of calamities: IDP camp conditions, gender-based violence, ballot fraud, cholera, aid accountability etc... Another deluge, but of the pivotal "bearing witness" kind. I'll attempt to post links for these as well.
Understandably, given our busy lives, we can tune out this crisis and overlook its heightening intensity. Yet, 1 million people have been living in tents for one full year, and they cannot forget. Ever, not for even a second.
So, the most *important* message January 12, 2011 is what comes from these people. Instead of waiting passively for aid that is not coming, they have ORGANIZED. See below agenda (courtesy of original post in Bri Kouri Nouvèl Gaye), English translation not mine.
Haitian camp residents, civil society organizations, and other grassroots efforts have coordinated to produce a WEEK OF ACTIVITIES in the displacement camps themselves. Including a 45-panel photo exhibit, and critically analytical forums and discussions---these people are living their rights. Imagine trying to feed & care for your family, living in a wind-battered tent with no brighter prospects in the foreseeable future...and you still muster the energy to work together, to demand something better?
These people are my heroes. Their courage is why I love Haiti.
-----------------------------------
We Will Not Forget, The Struggle Has Just Begun
A Week of Activities to Mark One Year Since the Catastrophe of January 12, 2010
Initiative to Resist the Eviction of the Internally Displaced*
*Members of the Initiative/Supporters of the program include: Bri Kouri Nouvèl Gaye, Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, FRAKKA, Inivesite Popile, Asosyasyon Vwazen Solino (AVS), Batay Ouvriye, Camp Committees from Camp Imakile, Camp Kanaran, Camp Babankou, Camp Kozbami, International Action Ties, Let Haiti Live (a project of TransAfrica Forum)
January 5, 9am - 2pm
- Press conference to launch week of activities
January 8, 3-5pm
- Conference Debate and Photo Exhibition at Camp Imakile and Kozbami
THEME: The Struggle for Land and Right to Housing in the context of the application of the neoliberal political economy
Panelists: Patrice Florvilus (BAI), Camille Chalmers (PAPDA), Mark Snyder (IAT), Mark Schuller
January 9, 11am - 5:30pm
- Conference Debate and Photo Exhibition at Camp Babankou
THEME: The Right to Housing, The Struggle of Peasants and Workers
Panelists: Mario Joseph (BAI), Patrice Florvilus (BAI), Mark Schuller
January 10, 3-5:30pm
- Conference Debate and Documentary Film at Camp Karade
THEME: Right to Housing at the Crossroads of the NGOs Waste; Passivity of the Haitian State and Demagogy of the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (IHRC)
Panelists: Didier Dominique (Batay Ouvriye), Patrice Florvilus (BAI), Mark Snyder (IAT)
January 11, 10am-4pm
- Conference Debate at Camp Kanaran
THEME: Right to Housing, Gender-Based Violence, Wasteful NGOs, Demagogy of the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (IHRC)
Panelists: Patrice Florvilus (BAI), Carole Pierre Paul, Camille Chalmers (PAPDA), Mario Joseph (BAI), Mark Snyder (IAT), Mark Schuller, Melinda Miles (LHL)
Witnessing: Victims of the earthquake speak of their experiences living 12 months under tents
Witnessing: The peasants' movement
Documentary Film Screening: A Soapbox in Haiti
Final Declaration
January 12
Public Demonstration starting at the Ministry of Health on Rue St. Honore near the General Hospital
Kreyòl version:
INISYATIV REZISTANS KONT EKSPILSYON DEPLASE ENTÈN YO SEMÈN AKTIVITE POU MAKE 1 AN KATASTWÒF 12 JANVYE 2010 LA
12 JAVYE 2010 – 12 JANVYE 2011
NOU PAP MANJE MANJE BLIYE, BATAY LA FENK KOUMANSE.
5 janvye (9è-14è)
• Konferans pou la près / lansman semèn aktivite yo
8 janvye 2010 (3zè -5è)
• Konferans deba ak Ekzpozisyon foto nan Kan Imakile ak Kozbami
Tem: Batay pou tè/Dwa lojman nan konteks aplikasyon politik ekonomik liberal yo
Animaté : Mark Snyder , Mark Schuller , Patrice Florvilus , Camille Charlemers
9 janvye 2011 (11zè -5è 30 )
• Konferans deba ak Ekzpozisyon foto ( Babankou )
Tèm: Dwa lojman /Lit peyizan ak ouvriye
Animatè: Mario Joseph, Mark Shuler, Patrice Florvilus
10 janvye 2011 ( 3è-5è30)
• Konferans deba ak fim dokimantè ( Karade)
Tèm: Dwa lojman nan Kalfou gagotay ONG ,konpòtman manfouben Leta Ayisyen ak demagoji Komisyon Rekonstriksyon Enterimè a (CIRH)
Animaté : Mark Snyder , Didier Dominique, Patrice Florvilus
11 janvye 2011 (10è-4è) - Kan KA NAWAN - Konferans deba
Tèm : Dwa lojman , vyolans sou fanm nan kan yo, gagotay lan ONG yo ,konpòtman manfouben Leta Ayisyen ak demagoji CIRH la Komisyon Rekonstriksyon Enterimè a (CIRH)
Animaté : Mark Snyder ,Melinda , Mark Shuller , Patrice Florvilus, Carole Pierre Paul , Camille Cha
-Temwanyaj viktim tranbleman sou eksperyans yo fè pandan 12 mwa anba tant
-Temwanyaj mouvman peyizan
-Fim Dokimantè
0Deklarasyon Final
12 janvye :Manifestasyon piblik kap soti devan Ministe Sante nan Ri Sentonore bò Lopital Jeneral
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