vivian shaw

Talking about Haiti

In the aftermath of Haiti’s devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake, a lot of talk has (re)surfaced on the role of the country’s massive debt in creating this disaster. This debt was levied illegally onto the newly-independent Haiti by France and other colonial powers in exchange for diplomatic recognition. Arguably, the severity of this debt prevented Haiti from developing the necessary infrastructure to withstand last Tuesday’s earthquake. Haiti currently owes $891 million in debt.

As Mark Danner summarized in the NYTimes:

Along with the great colonial powers, America instead rewarded Haiti’s triumphant slaves with a suffocating trade embargo — and a demand that in exchange for peace the fledgling country pay enormous reparations to its former colonial overseer. Having won their freedom by force of arms, Haiti’s former slaves would be made to purchase it with treasure.

The new nation, its fields burned, its plantation manors pillaged, its towns devastated by apocalyptic war, was crushed by the burden of these astronomical reparations, payments that, in one form or another, strangled its economy for more than a century. It was in this dark aftermath of war, in the shadow of isolation and contempt, that Haiti’s peculiar political system took shape, mirroring in distorted form, like a wax model placed too close to the fire, the slave society of colonial times.

The media had paid relatively little attention to Haiti’s history of debt until the earthquake on January 20th, particularly picking up steam on the topic this past week. Liberal establishment news is now leveraging its influence to urge for creditors—including wealthy nations and institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank—to cancel Haiti’s debt. The World Bank has already indicated it will at least waive Haiti’s payments for the next five years, and that it is already searching for ways to cancel the debt all together. The IMF has taken some steps too—after initially offering $100 million as an additional loan (!), it is now offering these funds as a grant and planning to join the debt relief effort.

If something good can come of this tragedy, let’s hope that a 100% debt relief actually happens and that this would set the stage for the same justice to former colonies the world over, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. The media has every opportunity now to keep the spotlight on this issue, and if it has any integrity it should. And if we can’t rely on mainstream media, perhaps those of us outside of it can take advantage of online technology to keep both the pressure and knowledge on.

Some more articles:

NYTimes: Some Frank Talk About Haiti

The Nation: Nation Pushes IMF to Cancel Haiti’s debt

NYTimes: Rich Nations Call for Haiti Debt Relief

And, I’m considering checking out Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine.