From the students at the University of Oregon and UO Students for Global Health
To Whom It May Concern:
The earthquake in Haiti exposes the vulnerability of an already destitute population. Ninety-seven percent of people who die in natural disasters die in poor countries because of inadequate access to basic services and inadequate preparation and response systems. Moreover, we recognize the United States’ historic responsibility in contributing to oppression and poverty in Haiti.
The Haitian revolt was the first slave rebellion turned successful independence movement in 1804. From that time on, the world has denied the Haitian people their potential. In 1825, a French military blockade coerced them to pay 150 million francs in reparations for their own freedom and the United States refused to acknowledge Haiti’s sovereignty until after the U.S. Civil War.
In the following century, the U.S. military invaded and occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934. To the present day, the U.S. has supported countless regimes, the worst, a brutal father-son military dictatorship from the late 1950’s through the 1980’s. When democracy appeared to have finally conquered instability in the early 1990s, the U.S. created and funded military groups to remove, reinstall, and replace popularly-elected President Aristide.
U.S.-backed international economic policies have only added to the quandary. In order to grant Haiti’s request for a loan in 1986, the International Monetary Fund forced Haiti to reduce its protective trade barriers. This flooded the country with cheap, subsidized rice from the United States. Thus, out-of-business local farmers moved to the shantytowns that collapsed on the hillsides of Port-au-Prince.
Today we demand that the U.S. work in the best interests of Haiti:
(adapted from Bill Quigley’s Ten Things the United States Can and Should Do for Haiti)
1. Allow all Haitians in the US to work. The number one source of money for poor people in Haiti is the money sent from family and workers in the US back home. Haitians will continue to help themselves if given a chance. Haitians in the US will continue to help when the world community moves on to other problems.
2. Offer Haiti grants, not loans. Haiti does not need any more debt. Make sure that the relief given helps Haiti rebuild its public sector so the country can provide its own citizens with basic public services.
3. Require the forgiveness of debt from all of Haiti’s international creditors. Haiti has been saddled with debt since France demanded reparations in 1825. The U.S. has incredible voting power on the board of both IMF and the IDB and should argue for immediate cancellation of the $891 million of debt still on Haiti’s books.
4. Apologize to Haitian people everywhere for Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh.
5. Release all Haitians in US jails who are not accused of any crime. Thirty thousand people are facing deportations. No one will be deported to Haiti for years to come.
6. Require that all the non-governmental organizations which raise money in the US be transparent about what they raise, where the money goes, and insist that they be legally accountable to the people of Haiti. Moreover, these organizations must work to strengthen the public sector in Haiti.
7. Treat all Haitians as we ourselves would want to be treated.
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In the words of St. Augustine “Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.”
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Many thanks to Tracy Kidder, Peter Hallward, Bill Quigley, Jubilee USA, Democracy Now! and Paul Farmer for the information in this letter.
