It almost looks like a good news/bad news quiz the way the Clintons are coming to take another pass at Haiti.
Continue ReadingIt's curious to see where the public goes in documenting the massive earthquake in Chile
Continue ReadingHow many times must we suffer through this same kind of character assassination by the media in criminalizing behavior that, under catastrophic circumstances, is normal and expectable.
Continue ReadingMy own take is that the display of these photos out-of-the-blue only reinforces America's near-fetishistic obsession with 9/11.
Continue Reading"What happens to poor countries when they embrace free trade? In Haiti in 1986 we imported just 7000 tons of rice, the main staple food of the country. The vast majority was grown in Haiti. In the late 1980s Haiti complied with free trade policies advocated by the international...
Continue Reading...but there's no way this would be circulating if it didn't evoke a lot of other meanings, too -- about U.S. power and also our longstanding local "influence."
Continue ReadingLet the rest of the world worry about Haiti. It's Superbowl Week.
Continue ReadingFrom the pictures and reports of continuing ineptitude distributing food and water, many Haitians -- far from any opportunity to "get in touch" with their despair -- continue to be traumatized.
Continue ReadingHow FUBAR is the process of delivering aide accumulating at the Port au Prince airport? And, why -- after seventeen days -- isn't there more basic coordination taking place between the US Military and the UN? The slideshow at WSJ by Peter van Agtmael is a must see.
Continue ReadingI can't help wondering how many of those scenes in which Haitians were construed to be stealing might have had something to do with the near-miraculous overnight tent cities they've been lauded for constructing.
Continue ReadingGiven America's 20 year occupation of Haiti starting in 1915; it's hand (not so publicized these past two weeks) -- through Bush 1, Clinton and Bush 2 -- in ushering in and out the various dictatorial, military as well as democratically-elected regimes; and the push now to take a...
Continue ReadingYou knew the newswires were bound to publish photos like these soon enough. They involve passengers from a Celebrity Cruise ship docked Friday in Labadee, Haiti, enjoying themselves while, to the south, the country has been devastated by a massive earthquake.
Continue ReadingOf course, what the photo raises, as much as anything, is the uneasy role of aide provision and how much America (captured in the vector of this soldiers gaze) can actually see the Haitian people at all.
Continue ReadingI confess. I lost it yesterday. If you saw my post (Please Stop, Anderson. Just STOP), I appealed for readers to contact CNN and use the Twitterverse to complain about Anderson Cooper's visual exploitation of the Haitian people. Because many of you wrote for more explanation, let me explain what...
Continue ReadingThis is a message to Anderson Cooper and CNN... As American citizens concerned about the humanity of the Haitian people, the sensationalist and self-promoting tendencies of American media and the power of pictures, we urge you to: Please stop using the camera to rob people of their dignity when...
Continue ReadingOn the surface, this doesn't seem to have much to do with Haiti. Nothing is collapsed or broken, and there is no blood, no open wounds or stumps instead of hands or feet, no burning bodies. But then you read the caption: "Alex Alexis collapsed when he learned that...
Continue Reading