For Haiti

It’s always hard for me to follow this type of devastating natural disaster without feeling helpless and also a little guilty. The helplessness is easy enough to manage (though not by blogging – that just feels even more bourgie: donations to the Red Cross can be made here and donations to UNICEF can be made here [I, in my usual state of indecision, gave to both]).  It’s the recognition of not being as globally conscious as one imagines herself to be (in fact, borderline globally unconscious) that is harder to tackle.  Our current national hyper-focus on Haiti belies the fact that the United States, and even we, citizens with a particular interest in the region, often ignore the unique challenges of Haitians in the country and here, in the United States.

From Renard Sexton over at FiveThirtyEight.com

The earthquake that struck the Carribbean nation of Haiti last evening has brought rapid and significant attention to the impoverished and conflict-affected country. With more than 10 million people and land area slightly smaller than Belgium (or about the same as Massachusetts), Haiti has long been the poster case of the vicious circle of colonial and foreign intervention, poverty, violence and political instability.

In the case of Haiti, however, natural disasters, along with environmental and agricultural overuse & degradation, have exacerbated the earlier trends to create an even more devastating situation of both political and environmental instability. In addition to relatively rare major earthquakes, each summer about seven to ten tropical storms crop up in the south Atlantic, with a few turning into hurricanes. Invariably, at least a few hit the island of Hispaniola, and batter the Haitian people.

In other words, this country and her people cannot catch a break. The United States has been a good ally, as a trading partner and a provider of international aid.  But still, so many issues go unaddressed.  The question now, as Sexton points out, is how the US responds in the next few years:

As discussed this summer, Obama stated in an April speech that, “while the United States has done much to promote peace and prosperity in the hemisphere, we have at times been disengaged, and at times we sought to dictate our terms. But I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership.”

The key question will be if that partnership for Haiti entails simply a year or two of above-average food-aid and reconstruction assistance, then a drop off the radar screen until the next hurricane, coup or food shortage, or instead something that more fundamentally changes the equation.

For example, what is to be done about the American and European agricultural subsidies that make farming in Haiti (among most of the developing world) economically infeasible for so many? And as well, how will the devastated natural environment, including degraded land and polluted water and air be revitalized to support a sustainable society, economy and government?

The one issue Sexton didn’t raise – and it’s an interesting omission, given that it seems to be the primary concern amongst Haitian activists -  is extending temporary protected status (TPS to the wonks) to undocumented Haitian immigrants.  Andrea Nill has a good re-cap of the issue here.