We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Martelly-Clinton Seal Deal for Next Wave of Disaster Capitalism in Haiti

Click here to access article by Kanya D’Almeida from UpSide Down World.

Now that Haiti has disappeared from US mainstream media, we see the reconstruction of Haiti proceeding according to the neo-liberal agenda: providing US and other Western corporations with low-cost sweatshop industrial labor and mono-crop agriculture for export while preserving the appearance of "democracy" by managing their elections. This article provides all the details.
Despite months of outrage from scores of human rights, research and advocacy organisations in and around Haiti regarding the legitimacy, mandate and professionalism of Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) - which arbitrarily banned the hugely popular Fanmi Lavalas (FL) party from contesting, causing tens of thousands of urban working class Haitians to boycott the polls - Clinton happily accepted the results and, alluding to Martelly’s election slogan ‘Tet Kale’, assured him that the U.S. was behind him "all the way".

Roger Annis, a journalist with the grassroots weekly Haiti Liberte, wrote this week that Martelly’s 6 million dollar campaign cost was largely financed by what the president-elect refers to as his "friends in the U.S.", marking today’s commitment by the two heads of state to preserve their relationship as the logical next-step in the U.S.’s age-old practice of profiting immensely from "aid and development assistance" to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.