Relief, Occupations and the Haiti Crisis

Toronto, February 2, 2010.

On January 12, Haiti was hit with an earthquake 7.0 on the Richter scale, leaving possibly 200,000 dead and 3 million affected. Much of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, is now living in makeshift camps with their water, food, and health at risk. While many countries around the world responded with aid, the U.S. and Canada also quickly deployed troops. This presentation explores current events and press coverage in the context of the past decade of Western policy toward Haiti, as well as the prospects for constructive relief and solidarity work.

Part 1: Dan Freeman-Maloy is a Toronto-based activist and writer. He studied Canadian media coverage of the 2004 Haiti coup and has written for ZNet and other publications. (*Early in the video, Dan refers to “hurricanes” when he means “earthquakes” and “earthquakes” when he means “hurricanes”.)

Part 2: Justin Podur visited Haiti in 2005 to study the UN occupation and the government after the 2004 coup. This is a recording of a public event that took place in Toronto on February 2, 2010 at the Centre for Social Justice.

Resources:

• Bullet No. 297: Relief Efforts in the Shadow of Past “Help” by Dan Freeman-Maloy
• Bullet No. 296: Our Role in Haiti’s Plight by Peter Hallward
• Haiti: Damming the Flood – with Peter Hallward (June 2, 2008)