Sign here If you do not have a US address, just scroll to the bottom of the page to change the country of origin. You can also forward it to others who may wish to sign. You may also hope that Canada is vigilant about personal data and a similar agreement with 'security' databases.
The Washington Post reported that Google is negotiating an information-sharing agreement with the National Security Agency (NSA) to help the company defend its networks. The NSA is part of the military, and its primary mission is spying. It collects the equivalent of the contents of the Library of Congress every six to eight hours, every single day. And in the last decade, it turned its surveillance efforts inward on the American people -- in violation of the law and the US Constitution.
The ramifications of companies like Google working with the NSA are frightening. Google and other private companies must figure out how to protect our sensitive information without giving the government access to it.
Wednesday
Sign: Letter against censoring Gaza photography exhibit in Montreal
Protest Censorship: From Muzzlewatch
CJPME’s Human Drama in Gaza Photo Exposition features 44 photos, taken before, during and after last winter’s 22-day assault on Gaza by professional photographers from Israel, Palestine, and the West. Produced by CJPME, and funded through private donations, the Montreal stop at Cinema du Parc is the first in a series of cross-Canada shows. Canadians for Justice and Peace (CJPME) in the Middle East just sent out this action alert. You can see some of the photos in the video on the above page.
"On Monday, Feb. 15th, Cinema du Parc received an email insisting that CJPME’s Photo Exposition, Human Drama in Gaza, be immediately removed from the Cinema. The email was from a legal representative of Gestion Redbourne PDP Inc., the owners of the building housing Cinema du Parc. The Cinema has hosted dozens of expositions in the past three years, and this is the first time that such action has been taken. This move on the part of Redbourne seems entirely political, to muzzle the message of Human Drama in Gaza"
If you live outside Montreal, click here to protest this action.
If you live in Montreal, click here to protest Redbourne’s action and to support the Cinema and the Exposition.
Cinema du Parc has been great partner in the hosting of the Exposition in Montreal, and is standing its ground in the face of Redbourne’s action.
CJPME’s Human Drama in Gaza Photo Exposition features 44 photos, taken before, during and after last winter’s 22-day assault on Gaza by professional photographers from Israel, Palestine, and the West. Produced by CJPME, and funded through private donations, the Montreal stop at Cinema du Parc is the first in a series of cross-Canada shows. Canadians for Justice and Peace (CJPME) in the Middle East just sent out this action alert. You can see some of the photos in the video on the above page.
"On Monday, Feb. 15th, Cinema du Parc received an email insisting that CJPME’s Photo Exposition, Human Drama in Gaza, be immediately removed from the Cinema. The email was from a legal representative of Gestion Redbourne PDP Inc., the owners of the building housing Cinema du Parc. The Cinema has hosted dozens of expositions in the past three years, and this is the first time that such action has been taken. This move on the part of Redbourne seems entirely political, to muzzle the message of Human Drama in Gaza"
If you live outside Montreal, click here to protest this action.
If you live in Montreal, click here to protest Redbourne’s action and to support the Cinema and the Exposition.
Cinema du Parc has been great partner in the hosting of the Exposition in Montreal, and is standing its ground in the face of Redbourne’s action.
Monday
Sign: Anti-death penalty law for Uganda
If you haven't signed the petition yet, here it is. Avaaz says: Uganda’s parliament is preparing to pass a brutal new law that would punish gay people with prison -- even death.
Initial international criticism drove the President to call for a review. But after a well-funded and vicious lobbying effort by extremists, the bill looks set to be passed -- threatening widespread persecution and bloodshed. Opposition to the bill is rising, including from the Anglican church. Ugandan gay rights advocate Frank Mugisha writes, "This law will put us in serious danger. Please, sign the petition and tell others to stand with us – if there’s a huge global response, our government will see that Uganda will be internationally isolated by the proposed law, and strike it down."
Note, the petition is being supported by activists INSIDE Uganda, and will be delivered to President Museveni and the parliament at the end of this week by top Ugandan civil society and Church leaders.
Initial international criticism drove the President to call for a review. But after a well-funded and vicious lobbying effort by extremists, the bill looks set to be passed -- threatening widespread persecution and bloodshed. Opposition to the bill is rising, including from the Anglican church. Ugandan gay rights advocate Frank Mugisha writes, "This law will put us in serious danger. Please, sign the petition and tell others to stand with us – if there’s a huge global response, our government will see that Uganda will be internationally isolated by the proposed law, and strike it down."
Note, the petition is being supported by activists INSIDE Uganda, and will be delivered to President Museveni and the parliament at the end of this week by top Ugandan civil society and Church leaders.
Friday
GO: 5th annual rally for Missing Women from Turtle Island
Rabble.ca alert..
Start: Feb 14 2010 - 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Location(s) Police HQ 40 College St. at Bay, Toronto, ON
Over 500 Indigenous women have been murdered or gone missing –- most over the last 30 years –- on Turtle Island. We come together in defense of our lives and to demonstrate against the complicity of the state in the ongoing genocide of Indigenous women and the impunity of state institutions and actors (police, RCMP, coroners’ offices and the courts) that prevents justice for all Indigenous Peoples.
By the way, this alert is hosted by riseup.net (Seattle). You may be interested in their statement of principles - looks pretty Humanistic to me!
Principles
The purpose of our organization is the creation of a free society organized along the following principles:
* Democracy: A free society depends on a free media and organizes civic, social, and economic life using the principles of participatory democracy arising from direct action and public accountability. Those affected by a decision have an opportunity to participate in that decision.
* Equality: All people are welcomed as part of a free society. All people are equal and all labour is valued equally.
* Diversity: All people in a free society are different, and space for their difference is paramount to their equality.
* Security: Every human in a free society has secure access to meet their basic needs of food, shelter, health care, information, education, and transportation.
* Creativity: A free society values culture, art, and leisure as fundamental needs. Every person has the right to their own culture and to practice creative expression.
* Self-Determination: A free society is decentralized and all localities are autonomous and self-determined so long as they do not infringe upon the other basic principles of a free society.
* Interdependence: Communities in a free society are dependent on one another through mutual aid and exchange.
* Justice: All people have the right to be free from coercion, threat, and violence. A justice system should reside in the community it affects, seek resolution rather than revenge, and should work towards abolition of authoritarian prisons and jails.
* Peace: A free society uses conflict as an opportunity to learn from divergent views, opinions and experiences, with the goal of crafting agreements and taking actions that affirm the humanity and basic rights of all parties.
* Ecology: Humans live in balance with, and are part of, the natural world. A free society recognizes the right to clean water, clean air and food free of industrial toxins and genetic engineering.
* Economy: In a free society the means of production should be placed in the hands of the people, empowering communities to organize meaningful employment, and provide a responsible and sustainable standard of living which tries to meet the needs of all people.
Start: Feb 14 2010 - 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Location(s) Police HQ 40 College St. at Bay, Toronto, ON
Over 500 Indigenous women have been murdered or gone missing –- most over the last 30 years –- on Turtle Island. We come together in defense of our lives and to demonstrate against the complicity of the state in the ongoing genocide of Indigenous women and the impunity of state institutions and actors (police, RCMP, coroners’ offices and the courts) that prevents justice for all Indigenous Peoples.
By the way, this alert is hosted by riseup.net (Seattle). You may be interested in their statement of principles - looks pretty Humanistic to me!
Principles
The purpose of our organization is the creation of a free society organized along the following principles:
* Democracy: A free society depends on a free media and organizes civic, social, and economic life using the principles of participatory democracy arising from direct action and public accountability. Those affected by a decision have an opportunity to participate in that decision.
* Equality: All people are welcomed as part of a free society. All people are equal and all labour is valued equally.
* Diversity: All people in a free society are different, and space for their difference is paramount to their equality.
* Security: Every human in a free society has secure access to meet their basic needs of food, shelter, health care, information, education, and transportation.
* Creativity: A free society values culture, art, and leisure as fundamental needs. Every person has the right to their own culture and to practice creative expression.
* Self-Determination: A free society is decentralized and all localities are autonomous and self-determined so long as they do not infringe upon the other basic principles of a free society.
* Interdependence: Communities in a free society are dependent on one another through mutual aid and exchange.
* Justice: All people have the right to be free from coercion, threat, and violence. A justice system should reside in the community it affects, seek resolution rather than revenge, and should work towards abolition of authoritarian prisons and jails.
* Peace: A free society uses conflict as an opportunity to learn from divergent views, opinions and experiences, with the goal of crafting agreements and taking actions that affirm the humanity and basic rights of all parties.
* Ecology: Humans live in balance with, and are part of, the natural world. A free society recognizes the right to clean water, clean air and food free of industrial toxins and genetic engineering.
* Economy: In a free society the means of production should be placed in the hands of the people, empowering communities to organize meaningful employment, and provide a responsible and sustainable standard of living which tries to meet the needs of all people.
Tuesday
SIGN: the IRC petition on the UN Convention on Children's Rights
For nearly 20 years, 193 nations have stood up one by one to declare their commitment to protecting children, but only two countries in the world have yet to ratify the UN's convention: Somalia and the United States.
Don't let another year go by without the United States' ratification of the UN Convention. Sign the International Rescue Committee's petition to urge Obama to ratify the CCR convention. You can folow the work of the IRC (including reporting from Haiti) on their blog: blog.theirc.org.
Don't let another year go by without the United States' ratification of the UN Convention. Sign the International Rescue Committee's petition to urge Obama to ratify the CCR convention. You can folow the work of the IRC (including reporting from Haiti) on their blog: blog.theirc.org.
Friday
JOIN: Turkish Girl buried alive for talking to boys
The Guardian: Turkish police have recovered the body of a 16-year-old girl they say was buried alive by relatives in an "honour" killing carried out as punishment for talking to boys
The girl, who has been identified only by the initials MM, was found in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a two-metre hole dug under a chicken pen outside her home in Kahta, in the south-eastern province of Adiyaman.
Police made the discovery in December after a tip-off from an informant, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported on its website. The girl had previously been reported missing.
The informant told the police she had been killed following a family "council" meeting. Her father and grandfather are said to have been arrested and held in custody pending trial. It is unclear whether they have been charged. The girl's mother was arrested but was later released.
Media reports said the father had told relatives he was unhappy that his daughter – one of nine children – had male friends. The grandfather is said to have beaten her for having relations with the opposite sex.
A postmortem examination revealed large amounts of soil in her lungs and stomach, indicating that she had been alive and conscious while being buried. Her body showed no signs of bruising.
The discovery will reopen the emotive debate in Turkey about "honour" killings, which are particularly prevalent in the impoverished south-east. Official figures have indicated that more than 200 such killings take place each year, accounting for around half of all murders in Turkey.
You may wish to joinStopHonourKillings.com, which is an international movement, and posts actions, letters, petitions, etc.
There is a good discussion of "honour killings", anger in immigrant communities about youth adopting western lifestyles, patriarchal and gender bias in various communities HERE.
The girl, who has been identified only by the initials MM, was found in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a two-metre hole dug under a chicken pen outside her home in Kahta, in the south-eastern province of Adiyaman.
Police made the discovery in December after a tip-off from an informant, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported on its website. The girl had previously been reported missing.
The informant told the police she had been killed following a family "council" meeting. Her father and grandfather are said to have been arrested and held in custody pending trial. It is unclear whether they have been charged. The girl's mother was arrested but was later released.
Media reports said the father had told relatives he was unhappy that his daughter – one of nine children – had male friends. The grandfather is said to have beaten her for having relations with the opposite sex.
A postmortem examination revealed large amounts of soil in her lungs and stomach, indicating that she had been alive and conscious while being buried. Her body showed no signs of bruising.
The discovery will reopen the emotive debate in Turkey about "honour" killings, which are particularly prevalent in the impoverished south-east. Official figures have indicated that more than 200 such killings take place each year, accounting for around half of all murders in Turkey.
You may wish to joinStopHonourKillings.com, which is an international movement, and posts actions, letters, petitions, etc.
There is a good discussion of "honour killings", anger in immigrant communities about youth adopting western lifestyles, patriarchal and gender bias in various communities HERE.
Tuesday
News: Haiti Feed
Saturday
Give: Engineers without Borders - Hippo Roller
If you've ever discussed gender roles and water in Africa, you know that the invention of a lightweight, durable water collector would allow more girls to go to school, and alleviate women's labour. Engineers without Borders, with the help of Project H (Humanitarian Design) has created these new 22 gallon water rollers. Brilliant. Enjoy their other projects - look around the website.
Write: Human Rights Watch and UofT Law Faculty demand Repatriation of Omar Khadr
(New York/HRW) - The Canadian government should immediately request the repatriation of Canadian citizen Omar Khadr from Guantanamo even though Canada's Supreme Court did not order it to do so, Human Rights Watch said today. Khadr, who was 15 years old when the US military took him into custody in Afghanistan, has been held at Guantanamo since 2002.
Human Rights Watch, in conjunction with the University of Toronto law faculty's human rights clinic, appeared before the court on Khadr's behalf as one of nine interveners in the case. Arguing that Canada had become complicit in US treatment and abuse of Khadr, Human Rights Watch said the only reasonable remedy would be for Canada to seek his repatriation.
"The Canadian Supreme Court today unequivocally condemned Canada's participation in Khadr's interrogations at Guantanamo as violations of Khadr's human rights, Canada's constitution, and "basic Canadian standards about the treatment of detained youth." The court declined to order the Canadian government to seek Khadr's repatriation because doing so would intrude upon the executive's discretion in foreign affairs. However, the court held that the effects of US and Canadian violations continue into the present and that the Canadian government must, in exercising its foreign affairs powers, take this into account.
"Canada was complicit in some of the abuse Omar Khadr faced at Guantanamo" said Andrea Prasow, senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch. "Canada's Supreme Court today condemned Khadr's treatment in the strongest terms. The Harper government should now work to bring Omar Khadr home to Canada."
Human Rights Watch, in conjunction with the University of Toronto law faculty's human rights clinic, appeared before the court on Khadr's behalf as one of nine interveners in the case. Arguing that Canada had become complicit in US treatment and abuse of Khadr, Human Rights Watch said the only reasonable remedy would be for Canada to seek his repatriation.
"The Canadian Supreme Court today unequivocally condemned Canada's participation in Khadr's interrogations at Guantanamo as violations of Khadr's human rights, Canada's constitution, and "basic Canadian standards about the treatment of detained youth." The court declined to order the Canadian government to seek Khadr's repatriation because doing so would intrude upon the executive's discretion in foreign affairs. However, the court held that the effects of US and Canadian violations continue into the present and that the Canadian government must, in exercising its foreign affairs powers, take this into account.
"Canada was complicit in some of the abuse Omar Khadr faced at Guantanamo" said Andrea Prasow, senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch. "Canada's Supreme Court today condemned Khadr's treatment in the strongest terms. The Harper government should now work to bring Omar Khadr home to Canada."
Monday
News: Telecoms Sans Frontieres (UN) in Haiti
BBC: The collapse of traditional channels of communication in Haiti has again highlighted the role of social media and the internet in disasters.
Twitter is being used as a prime channel for communications, while sites such as Ushahidi are providing maps detailing aid and damage. Both Google and Facebook are producing missing persons lists. Satellite networks are also diverting resources to provide communications to aid agencies and the military.
The very first images to escape from the region after Tuesday's earthquake came from citizens, capturing video with mobile phones. But landlines near the epicentre have been wiped out, and mobile phone service has been at best intermittent - a fact that has already hampered rescue efforts.
The UN body Telecoms Sans Frontieres, which maintains a network of telecom engineers and mobile equipment worldwide, has deployed two teams in the region. The World Food Programme operates a similar service...
Another web-based tool that has recently become crucial in disaster relief and information dissemination is Ushahidi. Initially the service made its name following the disputed Kenyan elections of 2007. It provides an open-source, free service which can overlay maps of affected regions with data gathered from a raft of sources.
Detailed maps can show, for instance, where aid will be delivered, where running water has been cut off or restored, or - as in the case of Haiti - where aftershocks have been reported.
However (open source) may mean not all information can be trusted... The risks of such misinformation in the aftermath of a disaster, in particular for those cases that involve divisive politics or propaganda, have already been identified in a report compiled by the UN Foundation/Vodafone Foundation technology partnership in
The founders of Ushahidi are working on a verification system that can independently assure that information coming in is corroborated and accurate.
Twitter is being used as a prime channel for communications, while sites such as Ushahidi are providing maps detailing aid and damage. Both Google and Facebook are producing missing persons lists. Satellite networks are also diverting resources to provide communications to aid agencies and the military.
The very first images to escape from the region after Tuesday's earthquake came from citizens, capturing video with mobile phones. But landlines near the epicentre have been wiped out, and mobile phone service has been at best intermittent - a fact that has already hampered rescue efforts.
The UN body Telecoms Sans Frontieres, which maintains a network of telecom engineers and mobile equipment worldwide, has deployed two teams in the region. The World Food Programme operates a similar service...
Another web-based tool that has recently become crucial in disaster relief and information dissemination is Ushahidi. Initially the service made its name following the disputed Kenyan elections of 2007. It provides an open-source, free service which can overlay maps of affected regions with data gathered from a raft of sources.
Detailed maps can show, for instance, where aid will be delivered, where running water has been cut off or restored, or - as in the case of Haiti - where aftershocks have been reported.
However (open source) may mean not all information can be trusted... The risks of such misinformation in the aftermath of a disaster, in particular for those cases that involve divisive politics or propaganda, have already been identified in a report compiled by the UN Foundation/Vodafone Foundation technology partnership in
The founders of Ushahidi are working on a verification system that can independently assure that information coming in is corroborated and accurate.
News and Opinion: Ted Rall on Haiti and the US
Haitian Earthquake: Made in the USA
Why the Blood Is on Our Hands, by Ted Rall
As grim accounts of the earthquake in Haiti came in, the accounts in U.S.-controlled state media all carried the same descriptive sentence: "Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere..."
Gee, I wonder how that happened? You'd think Haiti would be loaded. After all, it made a lot of people rich.
How did Haiti get so poor? Despite a century of American colonialism, occupation, and propping up corrupt dictators? Even though the CIA staged coups d'état against every democratically elected president they ever had?
It's an important question. An earthquake isn't just an earthquake. The same 7.0 tremor hitting San Francisco wouldn't kill nearly as many people as in Port-au-Prince.
"Looking at the pictures, essentially it looks as if (the buildings are of) breezeblock or cinderblock construction, and what you need in an earthquake zone is metal bars that connect the blocks so that they stay together when they get shaken," notes Sandy Steacey, director of the Environmental Science Research Institute at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. "In a wealthy country with good seismic building codes that are enforced, you would have some damage, but not very much."
When a pile of cinderblocks falls on you, your odds of survival are long. Even if you miraculously survive, a poor country like Haiti doesn't have the equipment, communications infrastructure or emergency service personnel to pull you out of the rubble in time. And if your neighbors get you out, there's no ambulance to take you to the hospital--or doctor to treat you once you get there.
Earthquakes are random events. How many people they kill is predetermined. In Haiti this week, don't blame tectonic plates. Ninety-nine percent of the death toll is attributable to poverty.
So the question is relevant. How'd Haiti become so poor?
The story begins in 1910, when a U.S. State Department-National City Bank of New York (now called Citibank) consortium bought the Banque National d'Haïti- -Haiti's only commercial bank and its national treasury --in effect transferring Haiti's debts to the Americans. Five years later, President Woodrow Wilson ordered troops to occupy the country in order to keep tabs on "our" investment.
From 1915 to 1934, the U.S. Marines imposed harsh military occupation, murdered Haitians patriots and diverted 40 percent of Haiti's gross domestic product to U.S. bankers. Haitians were banned from government jobs. Ambitious Haitians were shunted into the puppet military, setting the stage for a half-century of U.S.-backed military dictatorship. The U.S. kept control of Haiti's finances until 1947.
Still--why should Haitians complain? Sure, we stole 40 percent of Haiti's national wealth for 32 years. But we let them keep 60 percent. Whiners.
Despite having been bled dry by American bankers and generals, civil disorder prevailed until 1957, when the CIA installed President-for-Life François "Papa Doc" Duvalier. Duvalier's brutal Tonton Macoutes paramilitary goon squads murdered at least 30,000 Haitians and drove educated people to flee into exile. But think of the cup as half-full: fewer people in the population means fewer people competing for the same jobs!
Upon Papa Doc's death in 1971, the torch passed to his even more dissolute 19-year-old son, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. The U.S., cool to Papa Doc in his later years, quickly warmed back up to his kleptomaniacal playboy heir. As the U.S. poured in arms and trained his army as a supposed anti-communist bulwark against Castro's Cuba, Baby Doc stole an estimated $300 to $800 million from the national treasury, according to Transparency International. The money was placed in personal accounts in Switzerland and elsewhere.
Under U.S. influence, Baby Doc virtually eliminated import tariffs for U.S. goods. Soon Haiti was awash predatory agricultural imports dumped by American firms. Domestic rice farmers went bankrupt. A nation that had been agriculturally self-sustaining collapsed. Farms were abandoned. Hundreds of thousands of farmers migrated to the teeming slums of Port-au-Prince.
The Duvalier era, 29 years in all, came to an end in 1986 when President Ronald Reagan ordered U.S. forces to whisk Baby Doc to exile in France, saving him from a popular uprising.
Once again, Haitians should thank Americans. Duvalierism was "tough love." Forcing Haitians to make do without their national treasury was our nice way or encouraging them to work harder, to lift themselves up by their bootstraps. Or, in this case, flipflops. Anyway..
The U.S. has been all about tough love ever since. We twice deposed the populist and popular democratically-elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The second time, in 2004, we even gave him a free flight to the Central African Republic! (He says the CIA kidnapped him, but whatever.) Hey, he needed a rest. And it was kind of us to support a new government formed by former Tonton Macoutes.
Yet, despite everything we've done for Haiti, they're still a fourth-world failed state on a fault line. And still, we haven't given up. American companies like Disney generously pay wages to their sweatshop workers of 28 cents an hour.
What more do these ingrates want?
Ted Rall is the author of the new book "Silk Road to Ruin: Is Central Asia the New Middle East?," an in-depth prose and graphic novel analysis of America's next big foreign policy challenge.
Why the Blood Is on Our Hands, by Ted Rall
As grim accounts of the earthquake in Haiti came in, the accounts in U.S.-controlled state media all carried the same descriptive sentence: "Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere..."
Gee, I wonder how that happened? You'd think Haiti would be loaded. After all, it made a lot of people rich.
How did Haiti get so poor? Despite a century of American colonialism, occupation, and propping up corrupt dictators? Even though the CIA staged coups d'état against every democratically elected president they ever had?
It's an important question. An earthquake isn't just an earthquake. The same 7.0 tremor hitting San Francisco wouldn't kill nearly as many people as in Port-au-Prince.
"Looking at the pictures, essentially it looks as if (the buildings are of) breezeblock or cinderblock construction, and what you need in an earthquake zone is metal bars that connect the blocks so that they stay together when they get shaken," notes Sandy Steacey, director of the Environmental Science Research Institute at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. "In a wealthy country with good seismic building codes that are enforced, you would have some damage, but not very much."
When a pile of cinderblocks falls on you, your odds of survival are long. Even if you miraculously survive, a poor country like Haiti doesn't have the equipment, communications infrastructure or emergency service personnel to pull you out of the rubble in time. And if your neighbors get you out, there's no ambulance to take you to the hospital--or doctor to treat you once you get there.
Earthquakes are random events. How many people they kill is predetermined. In Haiti this week, don't blame tectonic plates. Ninety-nine percent of the death toll is attributable to poverty.
So the question is relevant. How'd Haiti become so poor?
The story begins in 1910, when a U.S. State Department-National City Bank of New York (now called Citibank) consortium bought the Banque National d'Haïti- -Haiti's only commercial bank and its national treasury --in effect transferring Haiti's debts to the Americans. Five years later, President Woodrow Wilson ordered troops to occupy the country in order to keep tabs on "our" investment.
From 1915 to 1934, the U.S. Marines imposed harsh military occupation, murdered Haitians patriots and diverted 40 percent of Haiti's gross domestic product to U.S. bankers. Haitians were banned from government jobs. Ambitious Haitians were shunted into the puppet military, setting the stage for a half-century of U.S.-backed military dictatorship. The U.S. kept control of Haiti's finances until 1947.
Still--why should Haitians complain? Sure, we stole 40 percent of Haiti's national wealth for 32 years. But we let them keep 60 percent. Whiners.
Despite having been bled dry by American bankers and generals, civil disorder prevailed until 1957, when the CIA installed President-for-Life François "Papa Doc" Duvalier. Duvalier's brutal Tonton Macoutes paramilitary goon squads murdered at least 30,000 Haitians and drove educated people to flee into exile. But think of the cup as half-full: fewer people in the population means fewer people competing for the same jobs!
Upon Papa Doc's death in 1971, the torch passed to his even more dissolute 19-year-old son, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. The U.S., cool to Papa Doc in his later years, quickly warmed back up to his kleptomaniacal playboy heir. As the U.S. poured in arms and trained his army as a supposed anti-communist bulwark against Castro's Cuba, Baby Doc stole an estimated $300 to $800 million from the national treasury, according to Transparency International. The money was placed in personal accounts in Switzerland and elsewhere.
Under U.S. influence, Baby Doc virtually eliminated import tariffs for U.S. goods. Soon Haiti was awash predatory agricultural imports dumped by American firms. Domestic rice farmers went bankrupt. A nation that had been agriculturally self-sustaining collapsed. Farms were abandoned. Hundreds of thousands of farmers migrated to the teeming slums of Port-au-Prince.
The Duvalier era, 29 years in all, came to an end in 1986 when President Ronald Reagan ordered U.S. forces to whisk Baby Doc to exile in France, saving him from a popular uprising.
Once again, Haitians should thank Americans. Duvalierism was "tough love." Forcing Haitians to make do without their national treasury was our nice way or encouraging them to work harder, to lift themselves up by their bootstraps. Or, in this case, flipflops. Anyway..
The U.S. has been all about tough love ever since. We twice deposed the populist and popular democratically-elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The second time, in 2004, we even gave him a free flight to the Central African Republic! (He says the CIA kidnapped him, but whatever.) Hey, he needed a rest. And it was kind of us to support a new government formed by former Tonton Macoutes.
Yet, despite everything we've done for Haiti, they're still a fourth-world failed state on a fault line. And still, we haven't given up. American companies like Disney generously pay wages to their sweatshop workers of 28 cents an hour.
What more do these ingrates want?
Ted Rall is the author of the new book "Silk Road to Ruin: Is Central Asia the New Middle East?," an in-depth prose and graphic novel analysis of America's next big foreign policy challenge.
Saturday
SIGN: Petition to Cancel Haiti's Debt Load
Haiti is suffering from disaster, and lacks the resources to recover, in part because of their debt to the IMF.
The work ahead to recover from this tragedy is immense. So here's our goal: $890 million for Haiti. That's how much Haiti owes to the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, and a handful of others. As Haiti begins to rebuild we can help by lifting this debt.
Sign the petition below to ask Haiti's creditors to act quickly and cancel Haiti's debts.
~~~~~~~~~~~
And speaking of debt: Here's a petition to ask US Credit Card companies to absorb the transaction fee for charitable donations for Haiti. When Americans donate to charity with their credit cards, in some cases they keep 3% of the donation as a "transaction fee," even though that's far more than it costs them to process the donation.
Can you sign this petition to the CEOs of the major credit card companies demanding that they waive their processing fees for all charitable donations? Clicking here will add your name.
The credit card companies are trying to get ahead of this story, announcing they will temporarily waive the fees they charge on some Haiti-related charitable contributions for the next 6 weeks. But many emergency donations to Haiti will still get hit with hefty bank fees. (To give a sense of how limited the exemption is, Doctors Without Borders isn't on any of the publicly available lists of charities that won't be charged fees.)
The work ahead to recover from this tragedy is immense. So here's our goal: $890 million for Haiti. That's how much Haiti owes to the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, and a handful of others. As Haiti begins to rebuild we can help by lifting this debt.
Sign the petition below to ask Haiti's creditors to act quickly and cancel Haiti's debts.
~~~~~~~~~~~
And speaking of debt: Here's a petition to ask US Credit Card companies to absorb the transaction fee for charitable donations for Haiti. When Americans donate to charity with their credit cards, in some cases they keep 3% of the donation as a "transaction fee," even though that's far more than it costs them to process the donation.
Can you sign this petition to the CEOs of the major credit card companies demanding that they waive their processing fees for all charitable donations? Clicking here will add your name.
The credit card companies are trying to get ahead of this story, announcing they will temporarily waive the fees they charge on some Haiti-related charitable contributions for the next 6 weeks. But many emergency donations to Haiti will still get hit with hefty bank fees. (To give a sense of how limited the exemption is, Doctors Without Borders isn't on any of the publicly available lists of charities that won't be charged fees.)
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