The horrific scenes in Haiti tend to hit most everyone in their hearts, in a place that is guarded from political squabbles or self-aggrandizement.
But Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, points out one egregious exception on her website. Apparently, the Heritage Foundation sought to strengthen her argument that disaster capitalism is on the rise, by getting all giddy about the opportunities this combined human and natural disaster has created:
In addition to providing immediate humanitarian assistance, the U.S. response to the tragic earthquake in Haiti earthquake offers opportunities to re-shape Haiti’s long-dysfunctional government and economy as well as to improve the public image of the United States in the region.
It’s not just Pat Robertson who is worthy of disdain.
For coverage on Boston-area reactions to the crisis, check out the Boston Haitian Reporter.
Our hearts and prayers are with all the victims of this devastation and their friends and families.
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The Shock Doctrine is a must-read, and having read it, the lessons learned can’t help but spring immediately to mind upon the onset of any disaster, natural or otherwise–which is a pretty sad commentary on the state of the world in the WTO era. That said, when I looked at Klein’s page, I wasn’t really taken aback–the comments ripped from the Heritage bloggers’ page didn’t seem all that incendiary.
But that mis-impression was corrected upon turning to the Heritage page itself. . Have a look–it’s a short piece, but it’s almost hilarious in its pathetic conclusions. The writer isn’t advocating anything so cynical as, say, using the opportunity to turn Port-au-Prince into a playground for American swells(a la the mob’s plans for Havana in ’58)–nope, he’s on a real crusade. The REAL opportunity here is … to go head-to-head with Fidel and Hugo. Yeah, I’m scratching my head as well. Damn but these folks REALLY miss their cold war. The real opportunity here, you see, is to interdict all the coke being delivered by the diabolical Chavez via Haiti. And the most important issue? Blockading the island so that no Haitian refugees are tempted to take to sea and wind up on our shores. All in their best interests, of course, as we don’t want them adrift in “dangerous and rickety watercraft.”
Be sure to read the comments on the writer–John Robert’s–blog, though. This one has everyone doubting his sanity. Me, I’ll take the obviously batshit-crazy Robertson over the clowns at the Heritage any day. He and his medieval demons are actually pretty harmless (unfortunately, his lurid fantasies that get so much press are nothing more than a red herring). The Heritage is another matter–these folks helped the create the “Reagan Doctrine”–and this document is nothing less than a goad for the continuation of the same.
Fortunately, I don’t see too many Americans thinking in terms of “let’s stop Chavez!,” and for once it’s good to see a USN carrier powering into port and the 82nd Airborne deploying. Having wreaked so much damage in the region over the centuries, it’s not a bad thing to see that we as a nation can utilize our military to do some good. (Tricky as Haiti is: remember the Harlan County episode).
The CommonDreams article is correct in its analysis of the effects of a classic neoliberal scheme (they didn’tc all it that back then, of course)on Haiti’s economy and demographic shift–for a more in-depth analysis, see this article on Haitinnovation.org , and scroll down to “Obstacles to Sustainability & Growth.” It’s well worth reading as a classic example of what happens to indigenous economies when they’re lured into export-based agricultural systems. Still, it’s a bit of a stretch to attribute the magnitude of death-by-quake to poor planning by imperialist economists–had, for example, industry really taken off in Port-au-Prince, the economy would have flourished but the same numbers would have died. The argument against the kind of meddling that further wrecked a failed state can stand on its own without hinting that free-market economists are responsible for the deaths of tens–or god knows, hundreds–of thousands.