[Peace-discuss] a friend: Haiti's problem is overpopulation

[C. G. Estabrook]

A more sophisticated version of this argument was offered by the conservative 
NYT op-ed columnist David Brooks - and quite properly answered by Matt Taibbi:

<http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2010/01/18/translating-david-brooks-haiti/>.


Jenifer Cartwright wrote:
> Folks, According to Wikipedia, 80-85% of the population in Haiti is Roman
> Catholic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Haiti
> 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Haiti>Lots of info (and opinion) on
> the issue by googling birth control Haiti, but here's one example from the
> Tacoma Times under the headline: HAITI: Country Badly Needs Birth Control
> 
> "The recent tragedy in Haiti certainly deserves our sympathy. However, in all
> the news coverage and analyses of Haiti, no one has even dared to mention the
> underlying big problem: overpopulation.
> 
> The country is too small and not productive enough to support nine 
> million-plus people and could not survive on its own without all the 
> long-term aid given by well-meaning organizations all over the world.
> 
> The 200,000 killed in the recent earthquake will be replaced in just a few
> years.
> 
> Haiti must get its population under control and overcome its misguided 
> historical influences. There are many others in the world also in this 
> situation. By providing and sustaining aid, there is no incentive to practice
> population control, because the more children there are, the more Haiti will
> benefit.
> 
> A Los Angeles Times story (TNT, 1-25) quotes a 21-year-old woman who has six
> children! Haiti’s problem is that it has an extremely high birth rate,
> fostered by the Catholic Church and the Bush administration’s ban on any
> birth control information in the past decade. Nine million people on 27,000
> square miles of depleted and eroded land, a density of about 1,000 people per
> square mile is too many. Washington’s density is 97, and Oregon’s 39.
> 
> Along with food and water, the thousands of charitable organizations now in
> Haiti should also be educating and encouraging birth control. This would help
> that country immensely."
> 
> The whole article is at 
> www.thenewstribune.com/468/story/1043981.html?storylink=omni_popular 
> <http://www.thenewstribune.com/468/story/1043981.html?storylink=omni_popular>
> 
> 
> And of course you'll also find sneering entries slamming Planned Parenthood
> for trying to help... --Jenifer
> 
> 
> --- On *Sun, 2/7/10, John W. /<jbw292002 at gmail.com>/* wrote:
> 
> 
> From: John W. <jbw292002 at gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] a friend:
> Haiti's problem is overpopulation To: "C. G. Estabrook"
> <galliher at illinois.edu> Cc: "Peace-discuss List"
> <Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>, "Karen Medina" <kmedina67 at gmail.com> 
> Date: Sunday, February 7, 2010, 3:06 PM
> 
> 
> On Sun, Feb 7, 2010 at 1:50 PM, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu
> </mc/compose?to=galliher at illinois.edu>> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> Two centuries of US attention, so to speak, have reduced the richest colony
> in the Americas (more profitable than all thirteen British colonies) to the
> poorest country in the hemisphere.  It's not an accident; in the past century
> liberal Democratic presidents (Wilson, Clinton) have overthrown popular 
> governments and destroyed the economy. If there were any justice in these
> matters, we'd be paying massive reparations, not occupying the country
> militarily.
> 
> Although Aristide was a Catholic priest when he was elected president against
> US wishes, the situation has little to do with Catholicism.
> 
> Across the world, people are not poor because they have too many children:
> they have too many children because they're poor.  An extended family is
> often the only form of social security amidst poverty, especially the poverty
> created by neoliberal "Washington consensus" policies, as in Haiti..
> 
> Your friends' ignorance is all too common among liberal Americans, I'm
> afraid.
> 
> 
> And also among "conservative" Americans.  Let's face it....only a tiny
> handful of us possess anything even approximating The Truth. Which tends to
> make us unpopular among the masses whom we say we want to "organize".  News
> from Neptune, remember?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --CGE
> 
> 
> Karen Medina wrote:
> 
> At a dinner party last week, we were briefly discussing Haiti.
> 
> A friend said that Haiti's poverty problem is due to overpopulation, that
> their Catholicism kept them from using birth control, and that if they used
> birth control it would be the biggest help to solving their poverty problem.
> 
> How terribly uninformed can people be? Even MY FRIENDS are saying things like
> this. I was shocked.
> 
> For starters, as far as I know, Haiti is not a Catholic country. Voodoo and
> Protestantism seem more prevalent than Catholicism. For instance, United
> Methodists have a mission in Haiti and they are just one among hundreds
> probably.
> 
> How do YOU deal with people like this?
> 
> -- karen medina

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