Q&A: The resources are here in the US, but how to get them into Haiti is the major challenge.
As reports of devastation start to come in from Haiti following the Jan. 12 earthquake, we reached out to an expert in relief efforts going to politically unstable countries with poor infrastructure. Jordan Sekulow, human rights attorney and director of international operations for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), offered his impressions of the situation in Haiti and what we can expect from relief efforts.
GlobalPost: What are you hearing out of Haiti?
Sekulow: The bodies are piling up. People are sleeping in the streets because they’re worried about aftershocks. It’s a massive humanitarian crisis.
How helpful will relief money be?
What folks need to understand is that the resources are here [in the U.S.]. The basics are stored up, the medical supplies … but it’s how to get them in. Can you get through the Dominican Republic? Is there port access? Helicopter? We heard that the flights are canceled. Now, that might be because they closed the airports so that humanitarian groups can land their planes.
Give to an organization that you trust, and understand that it doesn’t mean they’re going to be on the ground tomorrow. The U.S. military is going to be playing the first role here.
What do you think is going to come of this?
Haiti’s in a tough place already, massive poverty, AIDS, orphans, no jobs, corrupt governments. We forget sometimes what’s happening a half-hour flight from our homes, in a country where 10 million people live. We focus on the huge humanitarian situations. The only positive I can see coming from this would be more focus on Haiti, more focus on what’s happening in the Caribbean.
Do you think government corruption could stand in the way of aid being effectively used in Haiti?
The government is so crippled [from the quake] that there isn’t anything left to corrupt anything. That’s my understanding. If you’re an aid organization, it’s up to you to deliver your aid. I don’t think there’s anything left. The entire country is being destroyed. So, no, government corruption isn’t something that’s going to get in the way immediately. Two or three months down the road, when we’re talking about rebuilding, that’s something to look at.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.