NEO•GRIOT

The Problem with Mainstream Media Coverage of Haiti

 

Mainstream media pieces about Haiti are like Swiss cheese, full of holes. This week NPR/Frontline featured a report from Haiti, "The Problem with Giving Free Food to Hungry People," about a rice vendor and the supply chain in reverse from her to the Port-au-Prince port where the rice is delivered from the U.S. The reporter points out that rice is very important in Haiti, as it is a part of every meal. That's an interesting way to put it, but why is it that Haiti is no longer self-sufficient in producing rice? Haiti is the fourth largest importer of American rice. This question is easily answered and was addressed this year in a session of Congress by former President Bill Clinton. Clinton apologized for the "free" trade policies that allowed the dumping of Arkansas and "Miami rice" subsidized by the U.S. government on the market, resulting in the loss of livelihood for over 300,000 small farmers.

"The Haitian peasantry, which not so long ago kept the country self-sufficient in basic foodstuffs, became inconvenient after Washington forced Haiti to accept U.S. government-subsidized rice. Port-au-Prince, a town of about a quarter million in 1960, swelled to at least 2.5 million as small rice farmers were forced off the land and into the shanty-opolis, where they built what they could with the resources at hand. U.S.-imposed “structural adjustment” made Port-au-Prince a high-density death trap.

Somehow, this U.S.-mandated migration – which also contributed to the exodus abroad of many hundreds of thousands – is now numbered among the many “failures” of the Haitian people."

Bill Clinton said that he thinks about this everyday, but Haiti cannot regain food security by cashing in on his remorse.

Speaking of the loss of livelihood for the small farmers in Haiti, the U.S. Census Bureau released estimates about Haiti's population on Monday. The Bureau expects "Haiti's population will continue to grow quickly despite the tremendous loss of life in the January earthquake. According to the report:

"Haiti's current population at 9.6 million, based on an estimated quake death toll of 230,000. It projects the country will recove...r and surpass its pre-quake population level by 2012. By 2050, the bureau says, Haiti will have 13.4 million people. The Dominican Republic, with a nearly identical population, is expected to keep up the same pace."

This might be seen as good news, but the Washington Post story goes on to say that: "By contrast the populations of now-similarly sized European countries like Sweden and Belarus are expected to decline over the same period."

Then the story gets interjected with an element of the aforementioned holes, when it states that: "Overcrowding is already blamed by aid workers and experts for many of Haiti's woes, from environmental degradation and hunger to the deaths of thousands crushed by stacked concrete homes during the earthquake."

Haiti is not over-populated... the city of Port-au-Prince is crowded, no doubt, but these census takers fail to mention that there are huge tracks of land which are uninhabited in Haiti. The reason the "ti paysans" moved from the countryside to the city are two-fold, and both have to do with policies implemented by the U.S. and forced on Haiti.

1) "Free trade" policies forced on Haiti that allowed the dumping of cheap, subsidized food from the U.S. into the Haiti market, destroying Haiti's self-sufficiency at food production.

2) The eradication of the Haitian black pig. Many believe this was done to force the independent, proud farmers (who had resisted being forced off their lands up to that point) to abandon their land and come into the city to work (for slave wages) in sweatshops--something the U.S. had been unable to do prior to the killing of the pigs and loss of the livelihood of the farmers.

USAID/U.S. Embassy and their directors in the democrat and republican parties and their co-conspirators in the rich Haitian oligarchy who run the sweatshops and other slave wage enterprises only have themselves to blame for the conditions that led to so many people crowding into the cities. For most the jobs they were promised never materialized and they ended up in the slums of Sité Soley, Bel Air, Martissant... etc.

The cheap subsidized rice replaced Haitian rice and now Haiti is the fourth largest importer of rice in the world, whereas in the past farmers in Haiti grew sufficient rice to feed the entire country. This loss of food security is traced by the experts directly to U.S. trade policies.

The good news is that an effort is being made to repopulate Haiti with "a new variety of pig with the same beneficial qualities as Haiti’s Creole pig.

As for the Haitian farmers, they are in a new battle for their survival with Monsanto "generous" donation of its pesticide covered hybrid seeds, which Monsanto says are not the Genetically Modified (GMO) seeds banned in Europe and other parts of the world, but are just as insidious in that they require sterile land that require specific expensive pesticides and fertilizer. And by the way, they are not good for replanting, so the farmers will have to go back to Monsanto to repurchase seeds.

 

About

The Writer
The Zen Haitian
Chantal Laurent

This blog is an attempt to document the struggles--past and present of Haitians living in Ayiti and in the Haitian diaspora. Haitians have a proud history that is often misunderstood and discounted. It is my hope to tell that story while shedding light on what is happening now.

Other topics often covered by this blog include politics, news, economics, culture and current events in America and the world.

It is important to have a counterpoint against the propaganda that often prevails in the mainstream media about Ayiti. Very often, what passes for "news" are outright lies and disinformation. In particular, the political coups undertaken by various groups in Ayiti, which are always represented in the mainstream media as "rebellions" and "unrest" are often supported with money, training and political maneuvering- by the West. The US, Canada and France have the power and support of the UN security council at their disposal. Voices that have raised concern about the West's illegal actions in Ayiti in the global south, have been ignored. No accountability. No investigation. No problem.

Why must Haitians continue to struggle for their freedom? Perhaps it is because Ayiti is viewed as an obstacle to hegemony and empire? Ayiti is an enduring symbol of freedom. Haitians were the first to rebel against the shackles of slavery. For their temerity, Haitians have made some very powerful enemies. Ayiti and its people have contributed enormously to world history and continues to be of great relevance to some very powerful interests. Ayiti is a unique and inspiring example of what the unconquerable spirit of a courageous people is capable of accomplishing against great odds. Ayiti's historic deed was to defeat the slave-holding countries of the world in the world's first ever successful slave rebellion.

Haitians have a saying; "Ayiti Cheri." It is a term of deep affection that many can only say from afar because many are now part of a diaspora that is spread worldwide. Those who say it are often exiled from their beloved island. Haitians who live abroad are in constant survival mode also--as evidenced by those who are reviled, murdered, virtually enslaved and discriminated against in the Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos islands, Bahamas and other often hostile environments abroad.

The lives of Haitians on the island and elsewhere are a desperate struggle for dignity, sovereignty/democracy, education, a decent standard of living and a good future. The sad truth is that many Haitians are living a nightmare.

The powerful interests mentioned above have a plan for Ayiti. I have three simple questions for them: Why is a real democracy in Ayiti a threat? What is your plan for Ayiti? Will more Haitians have to die to fulfill it?

NOTE: In order to avoid confusion over who the Haitian Blogger is I've removed biographical info about Ezili Danto, although I will be posting her writing with her permission.

Please visit Ezili Danto at her website ezilidanto.com for her original writings. Thanks!