Joe Conason: The right is wrong about Haiti

[MrsSmith]

babylonsister  Donating Member  (1000+ posts)  JSat Jan-23-10 10:45 AM
Original message

Joe Conason: The right is wrong about Haiti
   
http://www.salon.com/news/haiti/index.html?story=/opini...

The right is wrong about Haiti
Neoconservatives promote pessimism and even passivity toward Haiti. But an Irish billionaire refuses to give up
By Joe Conason


Debating David Brooks or Jonah Goldberg over whether we should help Haiti recover and grow again – to “build back better” as the slogan says – scarcely seems worthwhile, especially at a moment when millions of people as well as governments around the world are settling the question with their checkbooks. But neoconservatives who insist that development assistance cannot help, whether macro or micro, and that cultural forces will forever doom the Haitians, are purposely undermining the world’s commitment to rebuild the island -- which will require years, not weeks or months.

Their arguments are more insidious than original. The Haitians suffer from “a complex web of progress-resistant cultural influences,” wrote Brooks, including “the influence of the voodoo religion,” a lack of internalized responsibility, and neglect of children. Goldberg advised that when the rubble is cleared, the time will be right for some “tough love” – and warned that additional aid is bound to do more harm than good.

When the neocons confidently spout negative generalizations about the Haitians and Haiti, they sound as if they know what they’re talking about when in fact they probably know very little (as is often the case with them, most notably and expensively in Iraq). Dismissing the history of colonial exploitation and American collusion with the dictators and oligarchs who have ruined Haiti, they blame Haitian culture. That absolves the United States of responsibility and in effect encourages everyone to do little or nothing, because nothing will change no matter what we do.
SNIP

Having heard nothing about the right wanting to end all aid to Haiti, I had to do some research...

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MzdjOGMwNzM0ZGJiZjBlMWEyZDc2ZDE2YjZhMmMxM2U=

Tough Love Needed for Haiti
Emergency relief won’t cure Haiti’s poverty culture.

By Jonah Goldberg

The images from Haiti are, if anything, only getting worse. What was left of an already fragile society is starting to break down, as violence and chaos take over. Despite the heroic efforts of aid workers and the battered Haitian government, it looks as if Haiti’s problems will persist well into the 21st century, long after the debris is cleared and the houses are rebuilt.
 
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Haiti’s poverty stems from its lack of intangible capital. It shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, and yet the Dominicans have six times the GDP (and are far better stewards of their environment).

Collectively, Haiti depends on the kindness of strangers much more than on itself. Before the earthquake, Haiti had 10,000 non-governmental organizations working there, the highest rate per capita in the world. In 2007, notes Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal, it had ten times as much foreign aid as investment. If people are determined to blame Haiti’s problems on someone other than the Haitians, perhaps they could start by looking at the damage done by the foreign-aid industry.

I admit that I have a soft spot for Haiti, in part because the country is such an incredible underdog, and because I’ve always admired the Haitian-Americans I’ve known. I also have Haitians in my family — my brother is married to a Haitian immigrant.

So, this one seems to be totally mischaracterized...I know that's a terrible shock. 

http://www.middletownjournal.com/opinion/columnists/david-brooks-underlying-tragedy-in-haiti-495705.html

David Brooks: Underlying tragedy in Haiti

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The first of those truths is that we don’t know how to use aid to reduce poverty. Over the past few decades, the world has spent trillions of dollars to generate growth in the developing world. The countries that have not received much aid, like China, have seen tremendous growth and tremendous poverty reductions. The countries that have received aid, like Haiti, have not.

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The second hard truth is that micro-aid is vital but insufficient. Given the failures of macrodevelopment, aid organizations often focus on microprojects. More than 10,000 organizations perform missions of this sort in Haiti. By some estimates, Haiti has more nongovernmental organizations per capita than any other place on earth. They are doing the Lord’s work, especially these days, but even a blizzard of these efforts does not seem to add up to comprehensive change.

Third, it is time to put the thorny issue of culture at the center of efforts to tackle global poverty. Why is Haiti so poor? Well, it has a history of oppression, slavery and colonialism. But so does Barbados, and Barbados is doing pretty well. Haiti has endured ruthless dictators, corruption and foreign invasions. But so has the Dominican Republic, and the D.R. is in much better shape. Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the same island and the same basic environment, yet the border between the two societies offers one of the starkest contrasts on earth — with trees and progress on one side, and deforestation and poverty and early death on the other.

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Fourth, it’s time to promote locally led paternalism. In the United States, we first tried to tackle poverty by throwing money at it, just as we did abroad. Then we tried microcommunity efforts, just as we did abroad. But the programs that really work involve intrusive paternalism.

These programs, like the Harlem Children’s Zone and the No Excuses schools, are led by people who figure they don’t understand all the factors that have contributed to poverty, but they don’t care. They are going to replace parts of the local culture with a highly demanding, highly intensive culture of achievement — involving everything from new child-rearing practices to stricter schools to better job performance.

It’s time to take that approach abroad, too. It’s time to find self-confident local leaders who will create No Excuses countercultures in places like Haiti, surrounding people — maybe just in a neighborhood or a school — with middle-class assumptions, an achievement ethos and tough, measurable demands.

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No, it's just not possible!!!  Both columns were totally mischaracterized by the left?  How could this be??? 

           

[Freeper]

The only concerns I have heard raised by conservatives is where the money is going.

[Celtic Rose]

Huge shock there MrsSmith!  

Those articles are absolutely right.  Once Haiti has begun to recover from the immediate crisis, the only thing that will really help them long term is Macro-development projects.

For example, MSF provides a life saving service, but a better long term solutions would be to educate the children, then sponsor the education of the the highest achievers as they attend medical school.  We should have organizations overseeing the construction in Haiti, where they ensure that buildings are built to US, earthquake resistant code while training and employing Haitian workers. 

[USA4ME]

No, it's just not possible!!!  Both columns were totally mischaracterized by the left?  How could this be??? 

           

Good find.  Lying via mischaracterization is their bread and butter.

.

[The Village Idiot]

The only concerns I have heard raised by conservatives is where the money is going.

What a shock that their whole premise is a lie.

[GOBUCKS]

When people talk about rebuilding or recovery in Haiti, they overlook the fact that it was an indescribable hellhole for decades before the quake. The quake killed countless thousands of unfortunates, and rearranged the rubble, but rebuilding, or recovery, in the normal sense those words are understood, is not possible.

[franksolich]

When people talk about rebuilding or recovery in Haiti, they overlook the fact that it was an indescribable hellhole for decades before the quake. The quake killed countless thousands of unfortunates, and rearranged the rubble, but rebuilding, or recovery, in the normal sense those words are understood, is not possible.

I just got done reading Haiti: The Duvaliers and Their Legacy (Elizabeth Abbott, 1988, McGraw-Hill), and you're probably right.

Ever since Christopher Columbus landed there in 1493 or whenever it was, the place has been cursed, if it wasn't already cursed.

Haiti is flooded with blood.

[mamacags]

I just got done reading Haiti: The Duvaliers and Their Legacy (Elizabeth Abbott, 1988, McGraw-Hill), and you're probably right.

Ever since Christopher Columbus landed there in 1493 or whenever it was, the place has been cursed, if it wasn't already cursed.

Haiti is flooded with blood.

It is not a coincidence when that much misfortune falls upon a small area such as Haiti.  This goes way beyond normal.