[Peace-discuss] Letter to the Guardian (UK) 22 Jan 2010

[C. G. Estabrook]

We the undersigned are outraged by the scandalous delays in getting essential 
aid to victims of the earthquake in Haiti ('Chaotic and confusing' relief effort 
is costing lives, aid agencies warn, 19 January). As a result of the US decision 
to prioritise the accumulation of foreign soldiers over the distribution of 
emergency supplies, untold numbers of people have died needlessly. We demand 
that US commanders immediately restore executive control of the relief effort to 
Haiti's leaders, and to help rather than replace the local officials they claim 
to support.

Obsessive foreign concerns with "security" and "violence" are refuted by actual 
levels of patience and solidarity on the streets of Port-au-Prince. In keeping 
with a long-standing pattern, US and UN officials continue to treat the Haitian 
people and their representatives with wholly misplaced fear and suspicion. We 
call on the de facto rulers of Haiti to do everything possible to strengthen the 
capacity of the Haitian people to respond to this crisis. We demand, 
consequently, that they allow Haiti's most popular and most inspiring political 
leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide (whose party won 90% of the parliamentary seats 
in the country's last round of democratic elections), to return immediately from 
the unconstitutional exile to which he has been confined since the US, Canada 
and France helped depose him in 2004.

If reconstruction proceeds under the supervision of foreign troops and 
international development agencies it will not serve the interests of the vast 
majority of Haitians. We call on the leaders of the international community to 
respect Haitian sovereignty and to initiate an immediate reorientation of 
international aid, away from neoliberal adjustment, sweatshop exploitation and 
non-governmental charity, and towards systematic investment in Haiti's own 
government and public institutions. We demand that France pays the colossal 
amount of money it owes Haiti in full and at once.

Above all, we demand that the reconstruction of Haiti be pursued under the 
guidance of one overarching objective: the political and economic empowerment of 
the Haitian people.

    Roger Annis, Canada Haiti Action Network
    Noam Chomsky, MIT
    Brian Concannon Jr, Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
    Berthony Dupont, Editor, Haiti Liberté
    Yves Engler, Haiti Action Montreal
    Peter Hallward, Middlesex University
    Pierre Labossiere, Haiti Action Committee, USA
    Kevin Pina, Journalist/film-maker
    Jean Saint Vil, Canada Haiti Action Network

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