| Eric Holt-Gimenez gave one of the most mind-blowing, powerful, inspiring speeches I've ever heard a few years ago on the subject of global food security and hunger. Haiti obviously plays into that in a major way. In an entire world of hungry people, Haiti was the country that made headlines for food riots and starving people eating mud in 2008. Therefore, I've been waiting for Holt-Gimenez to weigh in on Haiti ever since the earthquake. His organization, Food First, first wrote about the importance of donating to organizations like Partners in Health or Doctors Without Borders. This is, of course, appropriate. But today, over a week after the earthquake, Holt-Gimenez published a piece called Haiti: Roots of Liberty, Roots of Disaster. |
He says:
The mounting death toll in Haiti--due to the exceptionally high level of vulnerability of its people--is a tragic testament to the historic bleeding of Haiti's economy and the systematic undermining of its political institutions. These factors--just as much as the tectonics that leveled Port-au-Prince--are the roots of the disaster.
Gimenez reviews the history of Haiti back to the slave rebellion, but then continues further into modern history than most of the media reports. Remember the food crisis that hit in 2008? Holt-Gimenez reports that Haiti wasn't without food. They had food. The people could not afford it and therefore starved or ate mud. Holt-Gimenez says:
This food rebellion was a direct result of the IMF's programs--implemented under U.S. tutelage--that slashed tariffs, closed state-owned industries, opened the agricultural market to U.S. producers and cut spending on agriculture by 30% in Haiti's fertile, rice-producing Artibonite Valley. Rice and other imports, particularly highly subsidized U.S. agricultural products, immediately flooded the Haitian market. In 1987, Haiti met 75% of its rice needs through domestic production. Today, of the 400,000 tons of rice consumed in Haiti each year, three-quarters consists of "Miami Rice"--the Haitian nickname for the cheap U.S. taxper subsidized rice sold at half the price of local grain.
He continues:
In 1991 Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was removed in a military coup. As a condition for supporting his return, the U.S., IMF and World Bank required that he further open up the Haitian economy to foreign trade. Haitian tariffs on rice were reduced from 35% to 3%, the lowest in the Caribbean region, and government funding was diverted away from agricultural development to servicing the nation's foreign debt. Without government support or protection, Haitian farmers were in no position to compete with their highly subsidized U.S. counterparts. Subsidies for rice producers in the U.S. totaled approximately $1.3 billion in 2003 alone, amounting to more than double Haiti's entire budget for that year.
His article goes on, noting that Haitian farmers could and should be able to feed and provide employment to displaced people. For that to happen, the U.S. and international organizations like the IMF and World Bank would have to change their policy towards Haiti. If you haven't already heard, as soon as the earthquake struck, the IMF offered a loan of $100 million -- with strings attached. Nasty strings attached. They've since backed off since they were criticized for doing this.
If you like what Eric Holt-Gimenez has to say, I urge you to read his recent book Food Rebellions!, which was co-authored with Raj Patel. |
