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Late Night: Desolation Row

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Sun Jan 17, 2010 at 12:26:52 AM EST
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This just seemed appropriate tonight as the reports from Haiti get worse and worse. (I'm not crazy about the photo montage, but the audio is terrific and you can hear the lyrics clearly.)

This is an open thread, all topics welcome, see you all tomorrow.

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    Late Night: Desolation Row | 6 comments (6 topical)

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    Back to the desolation in Haiti (5.00 / 2) (#6)
    by Jeralyn on Sun Jan 17, 2010 at 11:49:31 AM EST
    Some really poignant diaries of rescue workers published by the Guardian.

    Waking up to another busy day (none / 0) (#1)
    by Militarytracy on Sun Jan 17, 2010 at 06:56:18 AM EST
    Really was not able to keep up with what was going on in Haiti.  I know that for the most part we have traveled beyond amazing stories of lives saved.  We are now moving beyond that sweet spot if you can imagine that one actually exists in such an overwhelming tragedy.  Lots and lots of hard work left, cleaning up, burying bodies, feeding the living, tending to wounds doing everything we can to make that number of dying as small as possible.

    food and water and racism (none / 0) (#2)
    by lentinel on Sun Jan 17, 2010 at 07:09:57 AM EST
    I have wondered since the beginning of the attempts to provide aid and relief to victims of the tragedy in Haiti why the US did not just airlift copious amounts of food, water and medicines and drop them using parachutes. Haiti is close enough. Planes wouldn't have needed airfields.

    I have read that the decision NOT to do that was made by Secretary Gates - Obama's holdover from the Bush administration. His "reasoning" is supposed to have been that this would have caused "rioting".

    If true, he made a decision to let many people starve and die rather than have "disorder".

    To me, this decision is as racist as it gets.
    If these were white people who had suffered this kind of disaster, he would never have said such a thing. Airlifts would have been immediate.
    I believe that had we acted in a timely, intelligent and humane fashion, Haitians would have shared the supplies with each other. It's only after extreme desperation sets in that people begin to fight each other for scraps for themselves or their children.

    And now, I am reading the Haitian people described as rioters and looters - much as the victims of Katrina were described when it became evident that they were not receiving the help they needed.

    It is also true that Bush ended democracy in Haiti in 2004, using American troops. Clinton's policies have enabled sweatshops to exploit workers to the extent of paying approximately 35 cents an hour. This continues under Obama. There is an evil history here.

    And Obama chooses Bush and Clinton to head the effort.
    You can't make this sh-t up.

    Yes... There is an evil history here (none / 0) (#3)
    by Edger on Sun Jan 17, 2010 at 07:24:07 AM EST
    Haiti's President warns the scale of suffering is "unimaginable"

    Haiti and her people have not only been treated to catastrophe by nature, but have also suffered unimaginably at the hands of other countries. Reminiscent of the ten year sanctions war that killed over a million people in Iraq, mostly women and children, Haiti's people have for a long time been victims of the global trade system, which has forced Haitians to buy imported food staples, despite the existence of a once-robust agricultural economy.

    In April 2008 Raj Patel of UC-Berkeley's Center for African Studies and author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System, spoke with Paul Jay of The Real News about Haiti's suffering.

    Real News Network - April 17, 2008
    How World Bank policies led to famine in Haiti
    TRNN REPLAY - Raj Patel: International trade rules have ravaged Haiti's domestic food production

    -- Haiti: "The world is coming to an end..."

    Parent

    Profiteering (none / 0) (#4)
    by waldenpond on Sun Jan 17, 2010 at 11:17:11 AM EST
    There are small gangs and even a few going around with machetes.  They will control the food and limit the distribution.  Also, I wonder how long it will take to get the profiteering private mercenaries like Blackwater there.

    Parent
    I think we will be avoiding that (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by Militarytracy on Sun Jan 17, 2010 at 11:36:09 AM EST
    They'll probably even be avoiding us.  We have volunteer organizations showing up from all over the world.  Blackwater and clones don't like that much open and public scrutiny :)  

    Parent
    Late Night: Desolation Row | 6 comments (6 topical)

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