a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck near the southwest part of haiti. there are hundreds of casualties and the number will probably rise. this is reminiscent of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in 2010 that caused widespread devastation.
those that remember the 2010 earthquake also remember the responses by the un and the red cross, each a callous disregard for the haitian people.
despite the donations of roughly $500 million given to the red cross for rebuilding after the 2010 earthquake, only 7 houses in haiti were built. the red cross never even said where the money went.
additionally, after the earthquake, haiti suffered an outbreak of cholera. this cholera was brought to haiti by the un, something that took them more than 5 years to admit and killed more than 10000 people.
all of this is to say, do not donate to the red cross, the un, the clinton foundation or usaid. there will be those who say that these are reputable organizations with which to trust your money, but don’t fall for it. these imperialist organizations failed and caused suffering in haiti and should be met with suspicion when they ask for your money.
instead, focus your support on the actual haitian people and organizations run on the ground by haitians in haiti, not ngos organized without any connection to the country. support haitians in the diaspora to support their families back in haiti. one example of a trusted organization is the haiti emergency relief fund supported by the haiti information project, they work directly with organizations in okay (les cayes) that were impacted by the earthquake. send $$$ there or to other trusted anti-imperialist orgs before any kind of usaid type of situation.
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Any story which refers to Haiti as an impoverished nation, which is all of them, should also mention that when Haitians won their independence from France, French gunships showed up and demanded they pay something like 22 billion dollars in today’s money to compensate France for the stolen land and enslaved people they could no longer exploit
It took Haiti over a hundred years to pay that ransom and it’s difficult to explain just how badly that fucked up their entire development, especially since France also demanded a 50% discount on everything they bought from Haiti just to make it harder. Like! No wonder they’re impoverished!
Anyway if France would like to assist Haiti in its current difficulties they could always pay back the fucking money they extorted
DO NOT donate Haiti relief to the American Red Cross.
The ARC wasted 500 million dollars in donations after the 2010 quake. Haitians have requested specifically that NO donations be made to the ARC for Hurricane Matthew relief.
Here are alternatives:
Haitian-led orgs you can contribute to directly for relief efforts:
Volontariat pour le Développement d'Haïti (website is in French)
Non-Haitian Orgs with proven track records in Haiti:
Hurricane Matthew has made landfall in defenseless Haiti
The region's strongest storm in almost a decade made landfall on Haiti's Tiburon Peninsula as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 145 mph. Heavy wind and rain from the storm threatens to devastate the Caribbean nation's towns and villages.
Hurricane Matthew barrels into Haiti
Hurricane Matthew made landfall near Les Anglais, Haiti, at 7 a.m. this morning, pelting the small island nation — still recovering from a devastating 7.0 earthquake in 2010 — with rain and wind that could lead to “life-threatening” conditions.
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Haiti has the dubious distinction of being “the poorest country in the Western hemisphere” (Central Intelligence Agency, 2012); yet, it was the richest of France’s colonies until the Haitian Revolution, the only slave revolution to ever found a state. This paradox can be explained by what/who counts as whose property. Under French colonialism, Haiti was a worth a fortune in enslaved human beings. From the French slave owners’ perspectives, Haitian independence abolished not slavery, but their property and a source of common-wealth.
Unfortunately, history provides us with the exact figures on what
their property was worth; in 1825, “France recognized Haitian independence by a treaty requiring Haiti to pay an indemnity of 150 million francs payable in 5 years to compensate absentee slaveowners for their losses”. 150 million Francs was the equivalent of France’s annual budget (and Haiti’s population was less than 1% of France’s), 10 times all annual Haitian exports in 1825, equivalent to $21 billion in 2010 U.S. Dollars. By contrast, France sold the Louisiana Purchase to the United States in 1803 for a net sum of 42 million Francs.
The magnitude of these reparations, not for slavery, but to former slave owners, plunged Haiti into eternal debt.
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