Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: Opinions

Photo: Joshua Freedman

Ever since the catastrophic earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan 12, killing hundreds of thousands of people and destroying much of the country's vital infrastructure, hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency aid have been flowing into the beleaguered nation. While the generosity of millions of individuals and governments around the world cannot be questioned, we must not congratulate ourselves for our magnanimous behaviour towards what was already one of the most dispossessed nations in the world before the earthquake.

While the earthquake itself was merely a natural disaster with no blame to be laid, the deplorable conditions in Haiti before the earthquake have made recovery efforts extremely difficult, and for this the international community must be held accountable. The world has turned its back on Haiti since the nation's inception, and our charity in the face of recent events does not make up for decades, even centuries, of neglect.

When Haitian slaves rose up against France and won their independence in 1804, the colonial power convinced the rest of the international community to exclude Haiti until they were paid billions of dollars in reparations for the loss of their most valuable slave colony. Desperate for international recognition and the accompanying trade relationships, Haiti conceded, entering an unbreakable cycle of debt and unimaginable poverty that persists to this day.

Fast forward two hundred years: in 2001, the international community, led by the United States, betrayed Haiti once again by blocking the disbursement of millions of dollars of development loans to the nation. These loans had already been approved for social infrastructure projects to improve health, education, and access to potable water in the country. Why was this aid suspended? Because the United States disliked the socialist tendencies of Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

So what must be done to make amends? To begin, the international community should agree to a complete cancellation of Haiti's debt. That debt does not belong to the Haitian people. A cycle of debt that began with an entire nation of people paying to escape slavery is illegitimate. Any debt incurred during the corrupt dictatorships that have dominated Haiti's political history should be viewed as similarly unjust. If we are to be true humanitarians in the face Haiti's recent misfortune, we must allow that nation to emerge from the disaster unshackled by past burdens.

Moreover, we must not back away from our obligation to help Haiti rebuild their society in the aftermath of the earthquake. This does not mean that we should help them return to the same level of development that they occupied before the disaster and then leave. The Haitian people deserve more than crumbling homes, unreliable access to clean drinking water, and a health care system in shambles. We must compensate for past wrongs by building quality infrastructure, providing funds to improve education, health care, and other social needs, and helping to foster a stable democracy.

Most importantly, we must do all these things in partnership with the Haitian people. We must ask them, rather than tell them, what they need from us. Perhaps if we succeed in this task, we can begin to make up for our collective history of transgression and betrayal.

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