[Haiti-London-Konbit] Fwd: The people of Haiti may not need our food...they need us to listen as they tell us how we can really help

[Haiti-London-Konbit]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Charles Arthur <tttnhm at aol.com>
> Date: 30 March 2010 14:56:55 PDT (CA)
> To: undisclosed-recipients:;
> Subject: The people of Haiti may not need our food...they need us to  
> listen as they tell us how we can really help
>
>
> Ruth Messinger.
> President and Executive Director, American Jewish World Service
> Posted: March 29, 2010
>
> What Bill Clinton's Mea Culpa Should Mean
>
> As many of us have been paying close attention to the long-awaited  
> passage of health care reform last week, it was easy to miss  
> something else that was absolutely extraordinary. Former President  
> Bill Clinton said at a recent Senate hearing that he regrets the  
> impact in Haiti of the free trade policies that became a hallmark of  
> his presidency.
>
> "It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it  
> has not worked. It was a mistake," Clinton said this month. "I had  
> to live everyday with the consequences of the loss of capacity to  
> produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people because of what I  
> did; nobody else."
>
> Sadly, he's right. The rapid lowering of agricultural trade barriers  
> in Haiti combined with misguided U.S. food aid policy allowed  
> American agribusinesses to flood the country with cheap surplus rice  
> and force tens of thousands of local farmers out of business.  
> According to the Associated Press, six pounds of imported rice now  
> costs at least a dollar less than a similar quantity of locally- 
> grown rice. So how can a Haitian farmer compete? The past 15 years  
> have shown they simply can't.
>
> Prior to the era of so-called "free trade", Haiti could feed itself,  
> importing only 19 percent of its food and actually exporting rice.  
> Today, Haiti imports more than half of its food, including 80  
> percent of the rice eaten in the country. The result is that  
> Haitians are particularly vulnerable to price spikes arising from  
> global weather, political instability, rising fuel costs and natural  
> disasters, such as earthquakes that register 7.0 on the Richter  
> scale. In fact, since the January earthquake, imported rice prices  
> are up 25 percent.
>
> It is especially fitting that President Clinton's mea culpa comes as  
> the Jewish community worldwide prepares to observe Passover. The  
> story of Passover is a stark reminder that communities cannot rely  
> solely on others to provide for their needs. Until people are  
> empowered to help themselves, in-kind assistance from the outside is  
> useful only in the immediate aftermath of acute emergencies. Long- 
> term needs must be met principally through a community-led approach.  
> The lesson we take from Passover is that once the Israelites spoke  
> out against slavery their prayers for freedom were finally answered.
>
> Today, the people of Haiti are speaking as loud as they can. They  
> desperately want a voice and central role in the reconstruction of  
> their country, including the ability to meet the country's  
> nutritional needs with food produced by Haitians in Haiti. In fact,  
> President Rene Preval, himself a rice grower, has asked for  
> international food aid to be replaced by financial support for  
> farmers and the re-development of the agricultural sector. Preval  
> knows that sustained success in rebuilding depends on food  
> sovereignty, or the ability for Haitian farmers to grow their own  
> crops and feed their own communities.
>
> Is the international community getting the message? It's hard to  
> say. The AP also reported that the U.S. Agency for International  
> Development (USAID) has provided nearly four times as much in-kind  
> food aid since January as it invests each year in Haitian  
> agriculture. There is of course a need in grave circumstances for  
> actual shipments of food - but for decades we've used in-kind food  
> as a tool for destroying local agricultural markets on an ongoing  
> basis, not as a last resort measure to be used in emergencies after  
> all possibilities for local purchase have been exhausted. Until our  
> government abandons a system that dumps surplus from American  
> agribusiness on the developing world, its efforts at ending hunger  
> will remain counterproductive. Then again, if you are the D.C.  
> lobbyist for Big Ag, maybe that's the point. Maintaining the  
> developing world's cycle of dependence is profitable business.
>
> The time has come for us to pay attention, to heed the wishes of the  
> Haitian people to be empowered. We must demand that the purpose of  
> our work in Haiti is not to merely rebuild an export market for our  
> surpluses, but rather to support a Haitian-led effort to create a  
> country that can stand on its own, build a sustainable economy and  
> feed its people. Over the next couple of months, Congress will be  
> discussing how to allocate more than $1.6 billion in supplemental  
> funding for Haiti. I urge you to contact your elected  
> representatives and let them know that this money must be used to  
> empower communities, not corporations.
>
> Each year, during Passover, we say "let all who are hungry, come and  
> eat." Then, ironically, we proceed to enjoy a wonderful meal with  
> our families and friends while our front doors remain closed. If you  
> will be celebrating Passover this year, I ask that you open your  
> doors -- at least metaphorically -- and hear those calls from a  
> country just a few hundred miles off our shore. Recognize that the  
> people of Haiti may not need our food. Rather, they need us to  
> listen as they tell us how we can really help.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________________
>
> 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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