Haiti – When is an agenda not an agenda?

The day after the earthquake in Haiti struck I posted an excellent article by Peter Hallward on my facebook page. In the article Hallward accurately points out that the disaster is both a natural disaster and a manmade calamity that would not have been anything like as disastrous were it not for Haiti’s treatment by the United States. Quoting Brian Concannon he notes that had Haiti not followed free market prescriptions much of the population of Port-au-Prince would never have been there:

“As Brian Concannon, the director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, points out: “Those people got there because they or their parents were intentionally pushed out of the countryside by aid and trade policies specifically designed to create a large captive and therefore exploitable labour force in the cities; by definition they are people who would not be able to afford to build earthquake resistant houses.” Meanwhile the city’s basic infrastructure – running water, electricity, roads, etc – remains woefully inadequate, often non-existent. The government’s ability to mobilise any sort of disaster relief is next to nil.”

After I posted the article a friend of mine with similar political views rather surprised me by writing:

“Interesting how he decries the exploitation of Haiti. Especially when he is exploiting the worst disaster to befall them in living memory to further his agenda.”

In subsequent conversation my friend suggested that Hallward’s timing was tasteless.

Mainstream reporting has accurately described how the effects of the earthquake were massively accentuated by Haiti’s extreme poverty and the weakness of the Haitian government but for the most part it has not seriously inquired into the history of Haiti – specifically its treatment as an imperial plaything – first by France and then by the United States. Mainstream reporting has also not inquired into how it can be that poor blockaded Cuba can respond relatively well to natural disasters but that Haiti under the tutorship of the “international community” suffers so much more.

So the obvious question arises – is ignoring history and presenting the poverty of Haiti as just one of those things not also an “agenda” and one that by failing to name the traditional torturers of Haiti makes it all the more likely that similar calamaties will befall the country. Eliding historical realities is so normalised in our culture that as in the case of my friend telling the truth about imperial crimes is often mistaken for axe-grinding or agenda pushing.

If we want to honour the dead and help the living victims of this disaster we should tell the truth about why those people had to suffer and die, and that truth is not a truth that should wait for a month or a year later. It’s a truth that should be told right now.

To help victims of the earthquake:

Oxfam donate: http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressrelease/2010-01-13/large-earthquake-haiti