[Haiti-London-Konbit] Fwd: Post-disaster reconstruction: Putting Haitian citizens into the equation

[Haiti-London-Konbit]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Charles Arthur <tttnhm at aol.com>
Date: 15 March 2010 22:34
Subject: Post-disaster reconstruction: Putting Haitian citizens into the
equation
To:

by Beverly Bell

Haitian civil society has been completely bypassed in decision-making
regarding the post-earthquake reconstruction process. They have thus created
their own process.

The Haiti government's Post-Disaster Needs Assessment, launched February 18,
granted one week, March 14-20, for “consultation with civil society and the
private sector,” according to the terms of reference. However, the
government is to approve the draft plan on March 15.  Furthermore, the
government has failed to invoke even the token discussions, not consulting
civil society in any way except informally with some businesspeople and
several non-governmental organizations who do not speak for citizens.

The Haitian business sector has published its own “Strategic Plan for
National Salvation.” The editorial committee for the 173-page document was
led by Rudolph Boulos, a member of one of Haiti’s wealthiest families who
was ejected from the Haitian Senate two years ago after he was revealed to
be a U.S. citizen.

Member-based, representative Haitian organizations have taken it upon
themselves to develop their own process for shaping an alternative plan for
the country’s future. On March 13 in Port-au-Prince, a diverse grouping of
non-governmental and grassroots Haitian organizations – representing
peasants, women, workers, youth, community media, and the alternative
development and progressive human rights sectors – met to present and debate
their priorities in the rebuilding process. That evening and again on March
14, representatives of the five largest grassroots networks in the Dominican
Republic met with their Haitian counterparts to develop joint plans for
advancing the alternative agenda.

Because of citizens’ exclusion from decisions regarding their future, the
non-governmental Haitian coalition, together with their Dominican allies,
will protest the international donors’ meetings in Santo Domingo on March 17
and in New York on March 30. The Haitian-Dominican network will hold a press
conference in both Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo on March 17 to coincide
with the first conference, where up to two dozen donor countries and
multilateral agencies will meet. They will also organize sit-ins in
Port-au-Prince and New York during the March 30 U.N.-hosted donors’ meeting.
In the interim, they intend to hold local actions and do radio spots
throughout Haiti.

One of the groups at the forefront of the grassroots process is the Platform
to Advocate Alternative Development in Haiti (PAPDA). Ricot Jean-Pierre is
director of PAPDA’s program on alternative economic integration. In the yard
where PAPDA and several other non-profit organizations whose offices were
destroyed in the earthquake now share space, Jean-Pierre shared these
thoughts on what a just and participatory reconstruction should look like.

“We have another vision of a development model that mirrors our society. We
want to build a model of cooperation between and among peoples and
countries.

“Today we have militarization under the cover of humanitarian aid.  In 1915,
the U.S. came to occupy Haiti [for twenty years] and create one form of a
state. Is what is happening now what happened in 1915? It’s critical to
refuse the U.S.’s model of global management and global economy.

“We have to fight for a model of state that is closer to the people, instead
of one that has better relationships with the international community than
the Haitian people. When the people take to the streets to say that they are
hungry, for instance, the state is deaf.  When the international community
speaks, the state listens. The international community is giving orders.
 The people need to get the attention of the state, which must respond to
their demands and needs.

“The international community integrates Southern countries into the global
economy on the basis of the market, of trade liberalization. We think it’s
important to adopt another model of integration which respects the
sovereignty and the will of the people for another type of development based
on their culture, history, and fundamental needs.

“The international financial institutions are structured to control and
polarize.  They have nothing to do with the will of countries, especially in
the South. They impoverish the poor countries and prevent us from being able
to develop, especially via the mechanism of debt. Debt payment is a tool
they use to keep poor countries in slavery. For Haiti to use 22% of its
national budget to pay back the debt… that’s unimaginable.

“The [international financial] institutions are supposed to serve countries,
not the other way around. There must be cooperative management of the World
Bank, IMF, and other institutions instead of the current system of just
switching management back and forth between European countries and the U.S.
There must be transparent management which allows participation for all the
countries who are in them, so that everyone’s voice is heard and all
decisions are made with everyone’s input.

“The people need to form another vision of development, bilateral and
multilateral forms of cooperation – what they look like and how solidarity
could be integrated into them.  We need a type of integration that doesn’t
depend on how much voice and money you have, but that takes into account
each country and its reality, which respect the sovereignty of the country.

“How can we as peoples develop ways to support each other when we have
common problems, such as the policies of the InterAmerican Development Bank,
the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank?  How can we get
together to show that the battle is against a common enemy, which it the
source of poverty and marginalization?

“We want to create another world which is based on solidarity and equality
between women and men, rich and poor, North and South – not just one above
and another below being exploited. We need to learn how we each can
complement and learn from the other.

“We need a state that ensures that every Haitian has equal access to social
services. Everyone has to have access to health, food, education, and
housing. We need the Haitian state to bring people services where they are,
instead of their having to leave their homes to go [to Port-au-Prince to]
get services. But for that, the state must be decentralized.

“We have to reinforce the capacity of grassroots organizations so they can
do advocacy. The people need to participate in defining what we want.”



_______________________________________________________

Sent by the Haiti Support Group - A British solidarity organisation
supporting the Haitian people's struggle for participatory democracy, human
rights and equitable development - www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org
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