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In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that ravaged Haiti, preparations are being made for the country’s reconstruction. One of the first responses from the international community was a massive outpouring of financial aid.
Canada’s role
However, social activists in Montreal, who were questioning Canada’s role in Haiti’s internal affairs long before the earth shook on Jan. 12, now claim the catastrophe may end up being used for the gain of foreign economic interests, without regard for Haiti’s political autonomy.
Last Monday, foreign ministers and other key players from countries around the world gathered in Montreal for a conference to obtain an international commitment and to set the agenda for a future leaders summit on the reconstruction of Haiti.
Disaster opportunity
Outside the conference held on University Street downtown, a group of protesters from Haiti Action Montreal staged a demonstration. Within 24 hours of the earthquake, they maintain, the Heritage Foundation, which they describe in a statement as an “influential right-wing think tank,” had suggested that the quake offered an opportunity to re-shape Haiti’s dysfunctional economy.
Haiti Action Montreal says it believes the countries that dominate the international community “must respect sovereignty and reorient international aid away from neo-liberal adjustment, sweatshop exploitation and non-governmental charity, and towards systematic investment in Haiti’s own people and government. Haiti is marked by tremendous inequalities. Any serious reconstruction must close those gaps, not place more faith in the power of trickle down economics.”
A military response
In an interview with NPEN, Yves Engler, a Montreal activist who co-authored a book on Canada’s alleged complicity six years ago in overthrowing the Haitian government, noted that one initial response to the earthquake was to quickly militarize the country, rather than to maximize the availability of health services.
Engler was in the news five years ago when he confronted former Papineau Liberal MP Pierre Pettigrew (who was then Foreign Affairs Minister) over Canada’s role in the 2004 coup, which brought Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s term in office to a premature end.
A bad omen?
“I think it’s indicative that Canadian and American interests are being prioritized over Haitian interests,” Engler says of the response. According to Engler, Doctors Without Borders had five flights loaded with medical supplies diverted from Haiti because the U.S. was prioritizing the arrival in the country of its military planes. “I think that’s a bad omen for the future.”
Engler describes the reconstruction meeting which took place on Monday as one between “self-appointed friends of Haiti — the U.S., France and Canada primarily. And that’s the same friends of Haiti that got rid of Haiti’s elected president and government six years ago. On the one hand, we know that recent history. On the other hand, we know that the reaction to the earthquake has been to send tens of thousands of troops, so that now Haiti is going to have way more troops per square kilometre than Afghanistan or Iraq.”
Disaster capitalism
Engler believes this is all part of an agenda to force economic reforms which would lead to the privatization of state enterprises in Haiti. He suggests that the international reaction to the situation in Haiti is an example of the “disaster capitalism” model advanced by Naomi Klein in her 2007 book The Shock Doctrine. “Elite government interests take advantage of shocking tragedies to advance their own interests,” he says.
Reconstruction aid should be used to support and “empower” the impoverished majority in Haiti, Engler insists, while strengthening Haitian sovereignty. But in the meantime, he says free-market economists, including some in the Canadian government, have proposed building a new Haitian economy using an economic model based on the creation of hundreds of manufacturing sweatshops, where jobs typically would pay $3 per day.
What Haitians want
As an example, he cites the Montreal-based Gildan Activewear as a company which had already relocated some of its operations to Haiti before the earthquake based on this model. “Most Haitians don’t want that from I can tell,” says Engler. “Most Haitians want to have some level of control over their economy and they want to have some level of control over their political life. And I think, too often, Washington, with Ottawa alongside, has decided that it’s up to them to decide. Is that development to have 50,000 people in Port-au-Prince being paid $3 a day?”