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I feel for you and your homeland. However what would you have the world do? Dump money into Haiti which would have been promptly skimmed by the government? I am afraid that the answer for Haiti lies less with foreign powers and more with its own people. Maybe less ganja and more initiative? (not saying all Haitians are into ganja - just commenting on your status as a ganja lover)
It's a vicious circle. You can actually SEE parts of the Haitian / Dominican border from the air..the Domincan side is dense scrub forest, while much of the Haitian side is barren man-made desert. So desperately poor is Haiti that in large areas, the only possible source of cash is the selling of charcoal for cooking...people fan out over the mountains, stripping every shrub to convert into charcoal; this is sacked and carried to market, where it goes on sale. The price is next to nothing, because most of the OTHER people around are also selling charcoal. It's nearly a hopeless situation.
Haitians are also victimized in large numbers when they migrate across the land border with the D.R.; there, they're 'used and abused', between periodic purges when they're 'routed' and sent packing back across the border, by Dominicans angry about their 'cheap labor'.
at the moment, it is a bit too early to see how the world will react to this. but I'll be watching. already, just from skimming some responses in this forum, other forums, and reader commentary on news site, I'm seeing a ton of stuff I don't like. yes, Haiti is f*cked up: the gov't, the environment, etc. all that aside, I'm SO sick and disheartened by some comments I'm reading, comments like no one should help out and Haiti should help themselves out; people, esp. news site, that, while reporting on this chaos, feel the need to constantly point out past ills (seriously, one site was bringing up Papa Doc! Papa Doc has NOTHING to do w/ this massive earthquake!). yes, everyone knows Hait is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, yes, everyone knows there is a history of gov't corruption, but why is it necessary to relate these facts while covering this tragedy? did news reports go on and on about the past crime rate in New Orleans will reporting in the immediate aftermath of Katrina? how about concentrating on the real issue here instead of rehashing the past issues w/ corruption (yes, I understand that the corruption led to horrible building codes which resulted in shoddy construction, but the causes can be dissected after survivors have been dug out and families notified)
I have this great fear that aid won't be as swift or great as those given to other countries in the past. I hope to god I am wrong, but some comments I've already read from some people, even people here (not that I have much respect for most of the P&OC crowd, too many idiots here) has already shown me some negative viewpoints towards Haiti ("OMG, that's what they get for practicing voodoo!" and other crap like this). when the tsunami hit years ago, the world rallied to provide aid, the US rallied to provide aid to islands half way across the world. I can only hope people here will do the same for an island one hour away from Florida. at this point, it's already looking like the official death toll will be higher than that of the tsunami...
Hmm.....thread comprehension is a must on the P&OC forums, and it might make you feel better to know that on this thread noone has said that Haiti shouldn't be sent any aid for relief efforts. This thread was started by someone who was wondering why another country hasn't 'cleaned up' Haiti long before now. As has been mentioned - no one country can invade Haiti, take it over and make it better. Sadly, reform and/or revolution must come from the Haitians themselves.
Again - this thread has nothing to do with relief efforts in Haiti but on the worlds responsibility to reform Haitian politics.
It's a vicious circle. You can actually SEE parts of the Haitian / Dominican border from the air..the Domincan side is dense scrub forest, while much of the Haitian side is barren man-made desert. So desperately poor is Haiti that in large areas, the only possible source of cash is the selling of charcoal for cooking...people fan out over the mountains, stripping every shrub to convert into charcoal; this is sacked and carried to market, where it goes on sale. The price is next to nothing, because most of the OTHER people around are also selling charcoal. It's nearly a hopeless situation.
Haitians are also victimized in large numbers when they migrate across the land border with the D.R.; there, they're 'used and abused', between periodic purges when they're 'routed' and sent packing back across the border, by Dominicans angry about their 'cheap labor'.
A real 'quagmire' of a situation for sure.
Yes I agree with you. Yet what can be done? It must come from the people or else the US will be in the nation building business and that has yet to work out in any country we tried it in.
I feel terrible for those poor people and the body count will be huge.
That said, if the USA had meddled with it then we would be nation building and that is a no no. Perhaps France could take it over? Obviously they need some structure of some kind.
of course countries are giving aid and support to haiti, its the human thing to do. but almost every country used haiti as a **** in the corner country. they just sent aid. no help politically, economically, agriculture/environmentally, and constructionally. so excuse me for the haiti getting in the way of other countries. maybe next time when they need f*ck over someone it should the poorest country on the map. im not saying Haiti didnt cause its own mess too, its just why spend it on the middle east. yeah they have oil but the sons of B*tches are trying to kill us, whit the amount on spending to rebuilt other countries, it wouldnt be much to help out Haiti. if this didnt happen no one would do anything about them. everyone whill still be living there life f*cking over there own countries or having sex with who ever. 80% poverty, no building codes, lack of government, government coup, military coup, hell you can go live wealthy in Haiti if you sold your house hear in the state. thats how bad it is. im not going to e=rant that the world owes us Haitians something, its you better help out those smaller countries be cause this will happen again.
You are incorrect. Haiti was one of the wealthiest colonies in the world back in the late 1700's. After the French revolution the negro slaves revolted and took over the country. They killed or drove off all of the French and free blacks and burned most of the cane fields. It's been down hill for Haiti ever since.
Three times in the 20th century the United States sent in the military and others to develope a democracy, agriculture and an infrastructure. Each time once the US withdrew Haiti went back into a decline. The citizens of Haiti were unable to maintain the infrastructure or the run the government.
The only way to help these folks would be if some country like the United States went in, rebuilt the infrastructure and government and then stayed to maintain the infrastructure and run the government. The citizens of Haiti are simple not capable of doing this.
You should stop claiming that nobody has ever done anything. The United States did everything it could other than take over the country and run it themselves.
Damned blankety blank Americans just never spend any money on anything worthwhile. You just can't trust them to do anything. Is there any chance that anybody else will be bringing in the heavy equipment needed for rescue and for rebuilding the place? I don't but then I have been one of those blankety blank Americans for over 77 years.
I know that we have the ships to haul that equipment to the island with and that it will be done from water and air and I know that propensity to Haiti isn't the only reason we will be alone.
Does anybody remember the way the US dealt with the big tsunami a couple of years ago?
Last edited by roysoldboy; 01-13-2010 at 02:27 PM..
Damned blankety blank Americans just never spend any money on anything worthwhile. You just can't trust them to do anything. Is there any chance that anybody else will be bringing in the heavy equipment needed for rescue and for rebuilding the place? I don't but then I have been one of those blankety blank Americans for over 77 years.
I know that we have the ships to haul that equipment to the island with and that it will be done from water and air and I know that propensity to Haiti isn't the only reason we will be alone.
Does anybody remember the way the US dealt with the big tsunami a couple of years ago?
If you need help rebuilding, I'm sure the US would have no problem providing several million illegals to assist.
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