The Heritage Foundation didn’t wait very long after the earthquake in Haiti to issue its recommendations for Shock Doctrine-style “reforms,” and the IMF has already offered a conditional loan to help rebuild. Haiti has seen enough of this type of policy already, and is in need of a different type of thinking: one not imposed from without, but developed from within the country and its communities.
To discuss what would really help the people of Haiti, we ask architect Rodney Leon, working on the Belle Reve sustainable housing development in Haiti and a member of The Haitian Roundtable group, Michele Wucker, Executive Director of the World Policy Institute and author of Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola, and Bill Fletcher Jr., executive editor of Black Commentator, author of Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice.
If you’ve already given money but want to know what else you can do, we suggest joining the growing calls for forgiving Haiti’s foreign debts. Some nations have already said they will do so, but more pressure can only help. The ONE campaign, the Hunger Site, and Jubilee USA have action you can take, and you can also contact your Congressperson.
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