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Saturday, January 16, 2010

Clinton-Bush for Haiti

Could there be a more obscene insult to the people of Haiti than Obama's appointment of Clinton and Bush to head the US relief effort?

Writer-activist Raj Patel nails it:

It’s like sending in the horsemen of the apocalypse to negotiate peace.


Forget the fact that Bush is guilty of horrendous war crimes in Iraq, which the Obama administration has decided not to prosecute. Let's just look at his record in Haiti. Bush supported the brutal, corrupt Duvalier dictatorships. Then, when Haitians finally ended the reign of terror, held democratic elections, and voted in the leader of their choice, Jean-Baptiste Aristide, Bush kidnapped him and replaced his government with a US puppet regime.

Clinton forced Haiti to lower tariffs on rice imports from the US, destroying the livelihoods of millions of Haitian farmers. Twenty years ago, Haiti grew all the rice its people consumed, within the country. Now, Haitians are dependent on imported food, and the majority of them starve. Clinton's solution? Disney sweatshops, paying 38 cents/hour - not enough to cover even daily transport and lunch.

Bush and Clinton do not see Haitians as human beings, entitled to the basic rights of survival, dignity, self-determination, freedom from hunger and terror. Putting them in charge of disaster relief is beyond ridiculous - it's shameful and despicable.

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