Haiti, mon Pays

As news of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti this week continues to flow across our computer and TV screens and on the front pages of newspapers around the world, many are quick to damn the heavens for making the already dire living situation of Haitians that much more difficult.

Why, oh why, must God inflict such pain on this Caribbean population, 56 percent of whom – four and a half million people – live on less than $1 per day?!

But as we in the “West” prepare to send food, water and aid workers to help deal with the aftermath of the earthquake that hit 7.0 on the Richter scale – and journalists from around the world fly into Port-au-Prince to report back the damage – very few have actually mentioned the fact that Western colonialism and oppression have contributed to the disaster.

Canada itself (yes, that wholesome country that seems to always get a free pass because it’s supposedly better than its big bad red, white and blue neighbor to the South) helped facilitate a coup d’etat in 2004, which overthrew then Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s government (that had earned 75 percent of the popular vote).

This act alone contributed a great deal to the political instability, lack of adequate infrastructure and social services and extreme poverty we see today, not to mention led to the killing of thousands of Haitians.

But hey, let’s forget about all of that because Western governments are now pledging X dollars in aid and feigning compassion. Sure, these donations are important and yes I hope that they will help rebuild Haitian society in the aftermath of this devastation. We must send aid and I especially applaud the everyday people that have opened their hearts to do just that.

But we can’t forget though the role our governments have had in keeping Haiti impoverished for all these years, thereby making it downright impossible for Haitians to try to pull themselves out from these dire circumstances.

And ultimately, as we watch Haitians band together in the aftermath of this devastation (and in the rebuilding phase that is surely to come), I think The Guardian’s Peter Hallward said it best:

“Along with sending emergency relief, we should ask what we can do to facilitate the self-empowerment of Haiti’s people and public institutions. If we are serious about helping we need to stop ­trying to control Haiti’s government, to pacify its citizens, and to exploit its economy. And then we need to start paying for at least some of the damage we’ve already done.”