Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Haiti Beyond the Cleanup

As long as we're there, it would be nice to help build a more functional country.  We might include a second airport in case of emergency.  Or business as usual.

William Fisher | Haiti Beyond the Cleanup
William Fisher, Truthout: "Haiti experts are warning that unless the international community comes up with new, more imaginative and more inclusive approaches to reconstruction and development in the earthquake-ravaged nation, the Western Hemisphere's poorest country can look forward to more of the same."
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  • 4 comments
fluffyblanket

fluffyblanket

February 10 2010, 09:23:45 UTC 11 years ago

Positive intervention would make a change from kidnapping the democratically elected President and dumping him in Africa , as did Bush , Cheney and their Neo-Conservative friends .
ysabetwordsmith

Well...

ysabetwordsmith

February 10 2010, 18:49:57 UTC 11 years ago

... that's not a high bar to clear.
wcg

wcg

February 10 2010, 17:49:46 UTC 11 years ago

Robert Maguire, mentioned in that article, is my go-to guy for Haiti info. He's been studying the problems there for a long time, and has put a lot of his own time and money into trying to help.

The fundamental barriers to progress in Haiti are poverty and corruption. They intertwine in complicated ways, and anyone wanting to make a serious difference there should educate themselves about Haiti's history. Humanitarian organizations have been trying to help Haiti for decades now, and have all too often demonstrated that the road to hell is paved with their good intentions. (I'm not saying the humanitarian efforts should stop, but that they need to change so that they don't keep making well-intentioned mistakes.)
ysabetwordsmith

Thoughts

ysabetwordsmith

February 10 2010, 18:07:14 UTC 11 years ago

>>The fundamental barriers to progress in Haiti are poverty and corruption. They intertwine in complicated ways, and anyone wanting to make a serious difference there should educate themselves about Haiti's history.<<

You always need to understand your goal, your resources, and the onsite background before beginning a project. Otherwise you are very likely to shoot yourself in the foot.

I am dubious of America's ability to "fix" Haiti because I'm not very impressed with America's condition right now, especially compared to what some other nations are achieving these days. But I also know that one of the best ways to learn something is to teach someone else who's got less than you do.

Besides, one of the things America kind of sucks at right now is family and community structure. Haiti has that, or had it before the earthquake; it's almost the only infrastructure there. Rather an amazing piece of work, it is, that makes not nearly enough go a lot farther than it should. *ponder* I think, if I were going to try improving Haiti, I would look for the parts that function the best and seek ways of expanding them; and I'd look for the parts that are the most broken to see if any could be fixed with outside help. Roads and bridges, for instance, can be built and will stay intact for a while without further attention.