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Editorial: Aid, Quakes and Canadian Flags
A recent and probably not coincidental spate of earthquakes around the world has our Oh Dearist hearts aflutter and Translink ready with volunteers holding bibs and shiny tins -- one of which I added a shiny loonie to. While at my parents' house in New Westminster, I listened to CBC Radio play a song not unlike "We are the World" composed by Knaan and a cast of CanCon talent called "Wavin the Flag."
Now, it's not a bad song -- despite the obvious nationalism associated with flag waving -- until some rapper who wants really badly to sound like Lil Wayne comes in and says, "take a look around, what if it happened here?" Listening to it made me think about his question. No sooner did Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine come to mind than I thought, "it wouldn't happen here."
Katrina, New Orleans, Haiti: these places are kept in such a constant economic catch-up game with the World Bank that they couldn't possibly pay back their debt, so they are more susceptible to massive infrastructure failure -- and thus chaos -- than a city like Vancouver. Which then, of course, leads to orchestrated and often privately contracted clean-up jobs. An earthquake here would wreak havoc, but we aren't a third-world country -- although you just know some developer is thinking about all those weakened brick hotels in the DTES. Maybe they'll sit on that property a little longer.
As the self-congratulatory pats on the back and children singing have abated, and as Canadian patriotism would appear at an all time high, I can't help but think of Canada's complicity in the overthrow of a democratically elected leader.
As Noam Chomsky recounts, after a century of Monroe Doctrine decisions decimated the sociopolitical structure of the nation, "the United States and France, the two traditional torturers of Haiti, essentially kidnapped Aristide in 2004 after having blocked any international aid to the country under very dubious pretexts... not credible grounds... which of course extremely harmed this fragile economy. There was chaos, and the US and France and Canada flew in and kidnapped Aristide -- they said they rescued him but they actually kidnapped him -- they flew him off to Central Africa. His party, Fanmi Lavalas, is also banned -- which probably accounts for the very low turnout in the recent elections -- and the United States has been trying to keep Aristide not only from Haiti, but from the entire hemisphere."
Surely the Somali born K'Naan can relate, no? "Oh, but surely he is just an artist -- this isn't about politics," you say. I disagree. As Curtis argues, not only does it make us feel good about ourselves, it might actually end up doing more damage, as in Somalia, Ehtiopia, and Rwanda. Of course, when you are busy propping up military dictatorships like it was the 80s and your name was Ronald, that doesn't enter your mind. As the rapper in the song eerily reflects, "We don't have to wait for things to break apart, if you weren't involved before, it's never too late to start."
Photograph taken by S. Vegas in the Beyond Robson Flickr Poooool.
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That picture is priceless
You're seriously sitting here trying to defend Aristede? Oh man... The guy who advocated placing gasoline-soaked tires around the necks of political opposition and lighting them on fire? This was part of his government policy.
What about the fact that Aristede had racketeering charges levied against him by his own government for taking kickbacks from a telecom company?
What about the fact that his daughters godfather is the biggest cocaine dealer in the country?
As somebody who seems to support the violent overthrow of Gordon Campbell, I'm surprised that you would stick your name on a piece of work basically praising Aristede and trying to pass him off as a victim of American Imperialism. Chomsky is just one side of the issue, a very well-defined side that seems to make you feel good about yourself.
The volunteer work I did with Haitian immigrants back in 2003 gave me a pretty good portrait of how things were under Aristede and if you have complaints about the way British Columbia is run, you would probably have a few about living in a narco-funded kleptocracy.
Trying to tie that into a statement on Canadian patriotism is baffling and I'm genuinely surprised that you would put your real name on this "editorial".
Your hero Che Guevera also executed a few thousand people. What's next- a Morning Brew praising Pol Pot for shaking shit up a little with the Khmer Rouge?
Who is this 'Aristede' fellow? And why is the fact that his daughter's godfather is a cocaine dealer relevant to Aristide's (this is the man I'm assuming you're referring to) political record?
Also, I don't believe that quotation is even 'defending' Aristide: it's condemning his kidnapping. Whoops.
You seem to think that the "disastet capitalism" economic policy opportunism seen in the places you site couldnt happen here due to the dusasters taking place in nonwestern 2nd and 3rd world locations... Except you seem to forget about "Katrina" which in reality was in New Orleans - convenient to forget in your hypothesis. IMF or World Bank debt could just as easily rack up here under any govt if the disaster was costly enough.
Jeannette:
You seem to think that the "disastet capitalism" economic policy opportunism seen in the places you site couldnt happen here due to the dusasters taking place in nonwestern 2nd and 3rd world locations... Except you seem to forget about "Katrina" which in reality was in New Orleans - convenient to forget in your hypothesis. IMF or World Bank debt could just as easily rack up here under any govt if the disaster was costly enough.
Katrina was so visibly upsetting and such a disaster precisely because of the economic conditions in New Orleans. They knew long before the hurricane that the levees needed replacing but who cares if it breaks, its just a bunch of poor blacks. Remember that whole, 'George Bush doesn't care about black people"? You're telling me that would have happened in the richest part of the country?
Sean...
Sadly the point isn't whether the poor parts of New Orleans suffered before or after the event, or if the city itself was poor before or after the event. If you look at New Orleans as a whole, even the "wealthy" areas are suffering the by products of Hurricane Katrina - just weeks after the disaster, motions were already in place to privatize the school system. Out of over 100 schools, there are now less than 10 that are run publicly, the rest are chartered. The opportunity to do this came because of the hurricane, and this isn't an outcome that was only bad for the poor people of Katrina, it was bad for the whole city. This is only one example of the 'economic reforms' brought on shortly after the Hurricane which makes corporations rich and the people poor, a by product of rebuilding.
That being said, this is also exactly my point. EVERYONE in New Orleans suffered from the economic opportunism, rich and poor. You think that if "The BIG ONE" hit Vancouver, that the outcome wouldn't be similar? That DTES would be rebuilt for junkies? We shouldn't pat ourselves on the back and say that this can't happen here - EXACTLY what happened in New Orleans could VERY EASILY happen here.
If the big one hit tomorrow, DTES would be rebuilt as an extension of downtown over night, and developers would be patting themselves on the back for having a solution to an obvious problem solved for them, with little to no lobbying. Surrey could finally get the downtown core they've craved, once Whalley is leveled it can be rebuilt without having to kick all those annoying poor people out - they will have already left. Why not use the opportunity to turn Skytrain into a P3? Afterall - how will Translink afford to repair/rebuild it? A private company like that which built Canada Line - SNC Lavelin, should fit the bill. And hey, while we are at it - the SeaBus stations need to be entirely rebuilt, as does city hall, and by the way what about a company to manage our sewage lines now that the processing centers need to be rebuilt.
All I am saying is that to think that because we are not 2nd or 3rd world that these things could not happen is a weird illusion. It can. In fact, we should prepare ourselves for the reality that it WILL so we are less 'shocked' and more prepared to fight for our rights when the time comes.