Haiti

As you are no doubt aware Haiti the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere has been absolutely devastated by a major earthquake whose epicentre was just 25 miles away from the Capital Port-Au-Prince. Exacerbating the problem has been the long term lack of investment, particularly in the areas of housing and construction, and health care. The death toll which shockingly stands at around the 200,000 mark with many more left to desperately cling on to what little aid and support they can get. Among the Dead were the head of the current UN relief mission and his deputy,the Arch Bishop Joseph Serge Miot and many more.

However it appears that the suffering of the Haitian people has only just begun as despite a phenomenal response by both regional and world governments and charities-a list of aid pledged by country by country can be found here and the website of the Umbrella organisation for British Charities and relief efforts can be found here- The relief efforts have run into trouble. Or have they? it seems that wide scale looting and pagan voodoo rituals have been going on preventing effective relief action Apparently. I say apparently as evidence of this (especially the Voodoo connections) is thin on the ground as this report by Real News demonstrates. And when I searched for further evidence the first sites I came across where White Supremacists whose picture evidence was shaky at best (they could easily have been picture of local relief work) and kept cutting away to mantra's like "save whites now".




Lenin's Tomb has also been very adept at debunking these myths here here and here. I should also mention that before this Earthquake and after this mess is finally sorted out , There is group that has worked tirelessly to create a fairer and more prosperous Haiti, The Haiti Action group, which has an excellent history of the events of Haiti and the Politics of the Earthquake.