Obama Humanitarian aid for Haiti — Not troops and occupation!

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After a 7.0 earthquake hit the Haitian capital of Portau-Prince on Jan. 12, U.S. President Barack Obama solemnly told the Haitian people two days later, “In this hour of need you will not be forsaken.” The quake was a catastrophe that may rival the deadly tsunami of 2004. At press time, the death toll is estimated at 200,000, and the number of affected or displaced persons is perhaps as high as 3 million to 3.5 million out of Haiti’s population of nine million.

Yet, for all the media hype, U.S. aid came with big strings: a U.S./United Nations military occupation and the prospect of more U.S.-led World Bank economic misery for the masses. In short, it’s a continuation of a 200-year war by U.S. imperialism against the world’s first successful slave revolution. The intention of Washington’s so-called relief effort is not the long-term welfare of the Haitian masses but their compliance with U.S. policy at the point of a gun. In response, socialists say, “Food In, Troops Out!” “U.S./UN Troops Out of Haiti!”

As Time magazine described it, “Haiti for all intents and purposes, became a 51st state at 4:53 p.m., Tuesday, in the wake of its deadly earthquake. If not a state, then at least a ward of the state.”

Thus far, the Obama administration has pledged $100 million in aid to Haiti. That amounts to slightly over $11 per person. In comparison, the U.S. has spent nearly $1 trillion on wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan; 10,000 times as much as the U.S. pledge to Haiti. U.S. banks alone gave $150 billion to its top executives last year, 1500 times larger than Obama’s pledge.

As stated by U.S. officials, the first priority in Haiti was military “security,” but against whom or what was unclear. On Jan. 17 Navy Rear Admiral Michael Rogers said, “We have seen nothing to suggest to us widespread dis(Photo left) UN soldier from Brazil stops a man near the Port-au-Prince airport, Jan. 18.

(Right) Haitian boy is treated in Cuban hospital tent. order.” Marine Major Gen. Cornell Wilson, in charge of Marine operations in Haiti, refused to outline the “rules of engagement,” as bursts of gunfire were being heard around the capital.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said, “There is no logic that U.S. troops landed in Haiti. Haiti seeks humanitarian aid, not troops. It would be madness [if] we all began to send troops to Haiti.” Former Cuban President Fidel Castro said in his denunciation of the U.S. occupation of Haiti, “We send doctors, not soldiers.”

Most reports on the ground revealed not only relative calm but widespread cooperation, as ordinary Haitians met the incredible challenges of saving lives with their bare hands.

New York City solidarity activist David Wilson, who was in Port-au-Prince during the earthquake, told Socialist Action, “At first everyone seemed to be in shock, but some people got to work quickly, taking care of the injured. The aftershocks kept coming, so the neighborhood residents slept outdoors in the street, and many of the people passed the night singing hymns or listening to what sounded like an evangelical preacher.

“By the morning most people were digging out, covering the dead with sheets, looking for family members. Young men with handtools were out systematically looking for survivors in the ruins of bigger buildings like schools, often at considerable risk to themselves. It was inspiring, actually.”

Wilson reported that in the immediate aftermath of the quake, Haitian police and UN troops were “basically invisible. I left early on Jan. 17, and up until then, the few police and soldiers I saw were mostly just riding around in trucks. I guess they were supposed to be looking for looters, but I never saw anyone looting—and no one else I knew did, either.”

The rhetoric of U.S. officials, reinforced by corporate media, honed in on the so-called threat of riots (continued on page 6, in “New evidence of need for a turnaround in the unions”)

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INSIDE SOCIALIST ACTION: Teamsters meet challenge — 2 Obama offers little “change” — 3

Unions need turnaround — 5 World Bank in Haiti — 7 Mumia hit by Supreme Ct. — 8 New biography of Mandel — 9