AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Talk Belize Chat Area How Generous Are We to Haiti?

But that is only France's opinion and who cares what France thinks???
'The French turned the colony into a plantation economy, powered by slave labour. "By 1789, the colony supplied three-fourths of the world's sugar," Paul Farmer, now the deputy UN envoy to Haiti, writes in The Uses of Haiti. Around then, 29,000 African slaves were arriving in Haiti every year.

The wealth Haiti generated for France was enormous. Farmer writes that in 1776, it was generating "more revenue than all 13 North American colonies combined."

But that wealth brought unspeakable horror for the slaves that produced it. One third died within three years of their arrival.'

'Paris - The French government will contribute 10 million euros (14.4 million dollars) for Haitian relief and rescue work, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday. The contribution was a response to the appeal for emergency funding launched by the United Nations on Saturday, Kouchner said in a press statement.

France has so far deployed five planes, two ships and 260 rescue workers to the earthquake-ravaged country.

Since France has benefitted and prospered from the slavery they promoted in their colonies maybe it's time France made things right and paid the Haitians back... $14 million doesn't even come close.

"I ran across this article and after a quick scan posted it as something that might be of interest...."

yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah right! When pigs fly!
OH..........am I questioning your intentions?

Remember Papa Doc and Baby Doc? They both fled Haiti with millions. The problem with donations made to a country with a history of such a corrupt government is one never knows where the $$$ go. What really needs to be done is get someone or some entity down there in charge of distribution of donations and enforcement of rebuilding their infrastruture.

Would be a long term commitment that I doubt any country will undertake.(Will be lots of talk for 12 months then all will forget)
Saw two suprises on the news today one was the amount of destruction done to the port - incredible. The other was a poll taken askin US citizens "Will you donate to Haiti"
60% said NO! Very suprising. Ive always donated automatically to a cause such as this never thought twice about it and was very suprised by that poll.

Who knows what the intentions of the US administration are in sending in thousands of troops? Certainly to overcome the problem of corruption interfering with distribution of aid. Maybe a longer term ambition as well? I wouldn't object, regardless of what the French may say. They can hardly defend their record as the colonising power.

The US has 1000 troops on the ground and 2000 on standby, Canada has 2000 in Haiti and 1000 on standby, hardly an American invasion... The UK (pop 62 million) is now tripling it's aid to $32.7 million, Norway (pop 4.8 million) is donating $17.7 million and France (pop 61 million) is donating 14.4 million and forgiving a debt held by a couontry that has nothing.
Perhaps France should look at itself before questioning the intentions of others.

We can sit here and argue all we want, but the problems are enormous. The sea port has been destroyed, hense everything must be flown in. They have no water or way to cook anything, so about the only way to feed all those poeple is something like MRE's. Any troops or people we send down also need food and shelter. It sounds to me like people are dying faster than we can get to them.
They are going to need aid long after the media has moved on and focused on something else and the world forgets about them.

The US currently has 11000 troops either already on the ground or on their way there. Plus whatever's on standby. Plus whatever their share is of 12500 UN workers.

Bill Clinton has reported (he's there at present) that on a widespread scale hospitals are having to perform major operations such as amputating limbs without anaesthetic.