Haiti

What is there to say? (0.00 / 0)

Not much right now, unless we have more ways to help.

As bad off as anyone may be in the United States, it is hard to believe that it would be much worse than eighty to ninety percent of the people in this beleaguered country.

Please help.

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by: vox humana @ Tue Jan 12, 2010 at 23:48:26 PM CST

What to say? Fix your links! (4.00 / 2)

I've already sent off a donation to these people:

http://www.mercycorps.org/

My next door neighbors for twenty years, "Papa" Horelle drove a cab and poured the Babincourt, "Mama" Furcine always gave me the biggest slice of cake. The sweetest people from the most fucked country in this hemisphere... in their memory.  

"If you'll cry for a nickel, you'll die for a dime..."

-RJ

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by: sid's buddy @ Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 00:12:08 AM CST

Thank you. (0.00 / 0)

And yours added as well... I hope?!?

All the links show correctly on my own computer. Strange....

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by: vox humana @ Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 00:17:28 AM CST

[ Parent ]

You left out the 'http://' (5.00 / 1)

Nothing to add really, but have been in touch with my friend's mom whose church has some charity contacts there(the kooky evangelist types have been all over the Haiti charity angle for years now - funny story about their clothes-collecting mission; they sent several truckloads of WINTER coats there a few years ago).

Problem is all systems are down and no one even knows if the people are ok, let alone how to transmit accessible fundage, etc. The UN building was destroyed too, and many UN people missing. No open roads, no power, etc. etc. However...planes have been seen leaving, probably packed with the several hundred people in Haiti that can actually afford to split.

And unfortunately, I'm poor right now too.  

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by: Laura @ Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 00:28:07 AM CST

[ Parent ]

oops, replied in wrong spot (3.00 / 1)

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by: Laura @ Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 00:28:39 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I like it better that way. (0.00 / 0)

Thanks for the fix again! Usually I get a warning of what I did wrong in my coding; this time I didn't. Oh, well.

I can't imagine now what daylight will bring.

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by: vox humana @ Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 00:36:02 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I heard it was the UN "peacekeeping" building (3.80 / 5)

peacekeeping = US proxy military occupation forces

Haiti has been America's most favourite country to fuck over again and again and again and again and again since the Haitians made history by committing a crime America can never and has never forgiven.

At the end of the double battle for emancipation and independence, former slaves proclaimed the independence of Saint-Domingue on 1 January 1804, declaring the new nation as Haiti, honoring one of the indigenous Taíno names for the island. It is the only nation born of a slave revolt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H...

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it", Helen Keller, communist.

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by: DavidByron @ Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 11:11:53 AM CST

[ Parent ]

You have a definite point, Mr. B. (4.00 / 2)

Now would be a time to try to do something on the other side of the balance.

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by: vox humana @ Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 11:15:29 AM CST

[ Parent ]

America has already "helped" quite enough (0.00 / 0)

This is what is said every time but almost always when America "helps" it is to make things worse and the reason the "help" was needed was because of the last round of "help" America gave.

There's a reason Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere and the one with the eg. greatest amount of AIDS (in the world I think).  There's a reason when you cross the border from the Dominican Republic it looks like you've landed on the surface of the moon.  It's because of all the "help" the masters have been giving to this former slave nation because they dared to say "No".

Right next door to Haiti is Cuba which is the country that actually helps more than any other country in the world in these situations.  Now what do you think?  Do you think America will allow Haiti to receive actual help from Cuba or will they block that help as they did with New Orleans a few years back?

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it", Helen Keller, communist.

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by: DavidByron @ Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 17:41:59 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I have no idea. (4.00 / 1)

I do know that Doctors Without Borders, along with any of the other very worthy organizations listed here, could use my money.

It's American money.

As individuals, we do what we can.

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by: vox humana @ Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 17:51:41 PM CST

[ Parent ]

More "help" for Haiti after earthquake emergency over? (3.00 / 1)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

Earlier today, I wrote about the push by several major foreign policy voices to ensure that America's role in restructuring Haiti extends beyond emergency response to the earthquake.

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it", Helen Keller, communist.

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by: DavidByron @ Thu Jan 14, 2010 at 16:05:14 PM CST

[ Parent ]

and this (4.33 / 3)

http://www.democracynow.org/20...

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it", Helen Keller, communist.

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by: DavidByron @ Thu Jan 14, 2010 at 16:38:44 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Doctors without Borders (4.50 / 2)

and the UN are both safe bets for contributions for the most immediate needs (and also that your charitable funds will go a long way with a reputable organization).  Frankly, with all of the Limbaugh racist rhetoric out there, I have less patience than usual with Byron's dissing people's motivations to help others.  The most immediate humanitarian needs are treating the injured, finding the injured and preventing the spread of disease.  Doctors without Borders, rescue dogs to find the living under the rubble, burying the dead and providing clean water are some of the most crucial needs right now.

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by: Rusty Pipes @ Fri Jan 15, 2010 at 17:36:33 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Here is what looks to be an excellent organization (0.00 / 0)

from the United Kingdom: Plan, which is devoted to the plight of children and involves them in its decision making.

From their site:

Plan is a child-centred community development organisation with no religious and political affiliations, enabling families and communities in the poorest countries to make lasting improvements to the lives of their children.

In the countries where we work, one out of five children die before the age of five, and the ones who survive often go hungry and have no chance of learning to read and write.

Plan works with children, their parents, and their community, to plan practical ways to provide many of the things we take for granted in the UK, so that together we build schools, drill wells, get nurses trained and help families to better support themselves.

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by: vox humana @ Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 12:23:56 PM CST

[ Parent ]

The Tragedy of Haiti by Noam Chomsky (0.00 / 0)

http://books.zcommunications.o...

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by: Miep @ Sun Jan 17, 2010 at 22:27:28 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Fixed your links (4.00 / 1)

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by: Laura @ Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 00:15:10 AM CST

Thanks, Laura! (0.00 / 0)

I'm not sure what happened. It posted okay here.

Sorry, everyone.

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by: vox humana @ Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 00:18:04 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Shergald has a good Haiti diary here: (4.00 / 1)

http://www.eurotrib.com/story/...

Warning that the photos though not offensive are real.

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness, For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people, For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. -- A-Hep

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by: fairleft @ Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 12:25:49 PM CST

Other groups to donate to (4.00 / 2)

Mind-boggling poverty, imho, can rightfully be blamed for most of the earthquake deaths. Popular democracy could repair the horrible mal-distribution of wealth in Haiti, and is needed there now more than ever.

Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti

http://www.ijdh.org/

The above provides a great deal of assistance to the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux

http://www.ijdh.org/bureau.htm

Canada Haiti Action

http://canadahaitiaction.ca/

Canada Haiti Action suggests donating to the following:

SOPUDEP School

http://canadahaitiaction.ca/?p...

Union Solidarity Fund

http://canadahaitiaction.ca/?p...

BTW,

CHAN statement "Haiti: Flawed election in the making"
December 28th, 2009

December 28, 2009- The Canada Haiti Action Network expresses its grave concern at the November 26 decision by Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (Conseil électoral provisoire-CEP) to exclude the Fanmi Lavalas party from planned elections to take place on February 28, 2010. On that date, Haiti will hold elections for 98 of 99 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and ten seats of its 30-seat Senate.

According to varying news reports, some twelve other political parties that had registered to participate in the election were ruled ineligible.

Thousands of Haitians staged a protest in the capital city, Port au Prince, on December 16 against the exclusion of Fanmi Lavalas. Dr. Maryse Narcisse of the party's executive council told the Reuters news network, "There will be no election in February, there will be a selection. What the authorities are planning is really a big farce."

More protests are promised by popular organizations, including the newly formed Assembly of Organizations for Change (Rassemblement des Organisations pour un Changement).

In justifying its decision, the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) claimed that a registration mandate sent by Fanmi Lavalas leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, living in exile in South Africa, is not authentic. . . .

This is the second time this year that the CEP has barred Fanmi Lavalas from an election. The first banning occurred in the election to eleven of the thirty seats in Haiti's Senate that was held in two rounds in April and June of 2009. Following a call by Lavalas for a boycott of that election, voter turnout was less than ten percent, perhaps as little as two or three percent. Despite the low turnout, the 'elected' senators, mostly from President Réné Préval's electoral machine, L'Espwa, took office.

Fanmi Lavalas is by far the largest and most representative political party in Haiti. It was founded in 1997 and won an overwhelming victory in the presidential and legislative election of 2000. The party is "still considered the most popular political force in [Haiti]" (Reuters, 'Aristide party barred from Haiti's February ballot', Nov. 25th, 2009).

A hastily-called Haitian election that excludes Fanmi Lavalas will resemble the "elections" recently held in Honduras and Afghanistan that, in reality, legitimized illegal seizures of power.

An exclusion election will perpetuate the illegal and unconstitutional seizure of power in Haiti dating from February, 2004. At that time, President Aristide, the national government he led, and other elected institutions were overthrown in a paramilitary coup, backed by the armed forces of the United States, Canada and France. U.S. Marines forcibly removed President Aristide from the country. The reason for the overthrow was that Lavalas' policies of social justice threatened the narrow economic interests of Haiti's venal elite and their foreign backers. Haiti remains occupied by a 10,000-member United Nations police and military force, known by its acronym MINUSTAH.

http://canadahaitiaction.ca/?p...

Yup, the UN army supports the coup government and protects it from the population.


For attractive lips, speak words of kindness, For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people, For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. -- A-Hep

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by: fairleft @ Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 12:58:32 PM CST

My impression is (4.00 / 2)

it is because Haiti is democratically minded that they need to be kept down.

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it", Helen Keller, communist.

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by: DavidByron @ Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 17:48:31 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Church World Service (4.00 / 2)

is the charitable arm of the National Council of Churches.  CWS has aid workers and on-going programs in Haiti and is a good source for disaster relief.

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by: Rusty Pipes @ Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 16:36:25 PM CST

my daughters have a close friend (5.00 / 1)

who's extended family has apparently been devastated in Haiti. They went to see him last night and ended up coming home in tears because they feel so helpless to relieve his anguish.

As I understand it, of 9 members there, 3 are confirmed killed with 3 or 4 still missing. They (his father in Haiti) found his sister this morning but her condition is apparently dire.

The girls said that he's fixated on the news channels and waiting for the phone to ring. It's terribly sad.

"May we live long and die out"

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by: supersoling @ Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 17:44:29 PM CST

That is horrible. (4.00 / 1)

And it's a scene I know is occurring all over.

The children here will be putting together small medical packages to send on a relief flight. It's more for us than it is for those in Haiti, I suppose. Still, as a form of respect and mindfulness, it is better than doing nothing.

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by: vox humana @ Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 19:37:10 PM CST

[ Parent ]

a form of respect (5.00 / 2)

as individuals there is little that can be done. Those packages though, may give some sense of relief to those who open them, even if only for a moment, and can also help reinforce or even kindle in those children a desire to reach out in any heartfelt way that they can. It is better than doing nothing at all.

My girls, by just going to be with their friend, were attempting to do the same thing.

"May we live long and die out"

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by: supersoling @ Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 20:55:23 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Cuban Presence in Haiti (0.00 / 0)

http://blog.buzzflash.com/lind...

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by: Miep @ Sun Jan 17, 2010 at 22:28:30 PM CST

Turks and Caicos Islands on Haiti (0.00 / 0)

http://www.tcweeklynews.com/de...

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by: Miep @ Sun Jan 17, 2010 at 22:29:23 PM CST