Study this model and try to improve on it. Here is further historical information.
What does the domestic U.S. political equilibrium look like when we are funding and running these camps? Will Obama be seen as "doing too much" for "black people"? How will we punish wrongdoers in the camps? Will the residents be treated better than those in Guantanamo? What happens when we, explicitly or implicitly, start using Haitian gangs to keep order in the camps? How many Haitians will the DR shoot crossing the border?
Haitians are extremely nationalistic, sensitive to foreign influence, and they have a clear historical memory of the U.S. occupation of 1915-1934. What if they ask us to leave before the camps are self-sustaining? For how long will we pretend that Haiti still has a real government?
Those are my questions for today.
In other words, once the U.S. is done helping out with the short term emergency, it should leave Haiti alone, right?
Let’s hope they are at least smart enough to hand out money (or something that can be used as money) and sell food and water, rather than trying to distribute the supplies themselves. People are remarkably self-organizing if you don’t actively undermine them.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/7005887/Haiti-response-shows-the-difference-between-the-EU-and-a-superpower.html
Of course, if you believe in the frenchs
Point taken, k (above), r.e. U.S. capacity to do things others are not.
At the same time, I suspect neither the U.S. or EU or the U.N. are well suited for the long term solution. With appropriate world financial support for the venture would Canada be a good candidate? Their hands are clean, intentions good, probably are capable as any and more so than others, and don’t have geopolitical ambitions. Substantial Haitians diaspora in Canada as well.
C’mon Tyler. That model is a bit over the top, applied to Haiti. It would be the equivalent of Tonton Macoutes taking crowds of captive Haitians across the DR border as they retreated. We have a disaster in Haiti, but it’s a natural disaster and not a political disaster.
It’s helpful to remember that the 1915-34 US occupation of Haiti had the strong support of African-Americans. Back in the day when they overwhelmingly voted for the party of Lincoln, Republican administrations used Haitian policy to demonstrate that they could deliver for one of their core constituencies.
KingM, surely there are better things for medics to do in Haiti at the moment than what sounds like a eugenics programme.
Let’s hope they are at least smart enough to hand out money (or something that can be used as money) and sell food and water, rather than trying to distribute the supplies themselves. People are remarkably self-organizing if you don’t actively undermine them.
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