Haiti became the first Black Independent nation in the New World. They gained their freedom by blood, not
a document issued by a colonial power. Whites who remained in Haiti during the war were killed. If they survived
the war, they did not live to enjoy the peace.
The existence of Haiti put fear in the heart of every slave owner, and added to the restrictions put on slaves and
heightened the reaction of whites to every possible rebellion.
Haiti was isolated, which, if it had benevolent leaders, leaders who loved their people, would not have been an
entirely bad thing. Haiti could of grown enough food to more than feed itself, and a wise husbanding of resources
would have allowed it to keep par with its neighbors, be they the Spanish or English islands which surrounded it.
But Haiti has not had benevolent leaders. Haiti has had a serious of corrupt dictators and interventions by Western nations which did nothing to create infra-structure.
Although one rarely considers roads a technological achievement, the fact that there is no way to get from point
A to point B because there is no road, creates the kind of poverty that is endemic in Haiti.
Hospitals, schools, local government services, were never very important. The rich, of which there is a powerful
minority, control everything. The poor of Haiti are in a worse position in 2010 then they were in 1710 when
slavery existed. For as a French colony, the richest of all, there was food and water.
The Earthquake of January 2010 leaves Three Million people without shelter, food or water. Without shelter, as
there are no real building codes in Haiti. Even buildings which appeared solid were constructed without enough
iron, without the proper foundations. Most buildings, however, were simply cinder blocks placed one upon the
others, when they were not rough board capped by zinc.
Water has always been a problem as there were never mains properly dug and maintained. And food is what
usually came from abroad, for Haiti has been so deforested, so badly administrated, that even a heavy rain
causes the kind of catastrophic flooding usually associated with Cat 3 hurricanes.
But there is another problem with Haiti; their people are not liked by other nations. No one wants a Haitian
refugee. He is likely to be illiterate, speak no known language, have little familiarity with proper behaviour,
and is considered untrustworthy.
Aid will be sent by everyone, but the caveat is that Haitians stay in Haiti. Those who might seek to escape
the island will either be turned back or interned somewhere until they can be sent back.
It is expected that due to the earthquake between 500 thousand and 1 Million people will die.
They will die directly through the earthquake, die due to injuries caused by falling debris, die because they
received no medical care, die by dehydration or starvation. Die due to the expected riots and violence that
follows on the heels of the disaster.
We may warm ourselves with the belief that a new city will be created, one with proper buildings and roads and
water, and sewage, containing schools and hospitals and police stations, and the various accountrements of
a modern society.
But this is Haiti, one of the most corrupt places on Earth. An island which has experienced many interventions
in the past, and no progress has been made.