[Olpc-Haiti] HOW to REBUILD - an opinion. "Diaspore" No More: Haitian Diaspora kickstarting Haiti--with more than $$

GS Pompilus guysergep at gmail.com
Wed Feb 3 21:42:21 EST 2010


Quand ARRETEREZ VOUS DE RACONTER VOS CONNERIES ????????


On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 9:22 PM, Diane Hendrix <dhendrix at mit.edu> wrote:

> Another opinion from NPR:  please post ideas/links/resources on
> www.krikkrak.media.mit.edu. - see resource page for more...and check back.
>
> Marketplace Money/NPR Feb 3 2010.  HOW TO REBUILD Haiti’s economy.
> http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/02/03/pm-haiti-q/
>
> TYLER COWEN: To me it's one of the places where there is some essential
> soul of
> humanity, stronger than almost any other place I've been.
>
> He's been there a number of times. He collects Haitian art and music.
> And thanks
> to a background in development economics, Cowen has become a student of
> Haiti's
> problems. (He teaches at George Mason University.) Cowen's suggestions..
>
> 1)      Let Haitians immigrate to rich countries to increase remittances.
> Money sent
> home totals 25% of Haiti’s GNP!!
> 2)      Get TENTS to Haiti ASAP.  Send donations to shelter kits project --
> http://www.shelterboxusa.org/InsideAShelterbox.aspx  [The Dailykos
> community
> has contributed 86 shelterboxes to Haiti and is campaigning for 100.]  How
> about a million?!
> 3)      Vaccinate children and deal with sanitation. (US and UN must help
> here, then
> Haitians must take over in longterm.)
> 4)      Get planting season started at once, sending seed and fertilizer,
> farmers to
> help. Some people ate mud cakes to keep from starving BEFORE the
> earthquake.
>
> COWEN: I think Haiti will remain corrupt for the foreseeable future. But
> there
> are two kinds of corruption. One kind of corruption is where you shut out
> the
> outside world because it's a threat to you. Another kind of corruption is
> you
> let the outside world in because you can take a piece of the pie. If Haiti
> moves to that second mode of corruption, which is a lot like how China
> works or
> how South Korea worked in the 70s, that's actually the scenario for
> hope. If our
> vision is to drive all corruption from Haiti that's unrealistic. What
> we need is
> a Haiti that is more commercial, more outward looking, and more open to
> the rest
> of the world.
>
> - Diane (dhendrix at mit.edu)
>
> Quoting Adam Holt <holt at laptop.org>:
>
> > "For years, educated émigrés have tried to play a more vital role
> > in Haiti’s development, with little success. The earthquake has
> > changed that."
> >
> > NYT Excerpts:
> >
> > FOR EMIGRES, HOSTILITIES BECOME RUBBLE
> >
> > “The diaspora must organize to help us,” Prime Minister
> > Jean-Max Bellerive said last week at a conference in Montreal.
> > “I have no alternative. They have to be involved in Haiti; they
> > have to be engaged.” ...He need not have asked...
> >
> > Still, the Haitian government’s new attitude has not erased
> > all skepticism. Some in the diaspora say they have been kept
> > at bay by fears that they would usurp jobs or expose corruption,
> > while others say the negative sentiment has been a political tool,
> > fanned for cynical ends. Whatever the reason, it did not ease the
> > hurt when Haiti welcomed the billions of dollars that émigrés sent
> > home but rebuffed their expertise...
> >
> > The Haitian diaspora is estimated to be at least two million
> > strong, with more than half a million Haitian-born people
> > in the United States alone, heavily concentrated in South
> > Florida and Brooklyn. In 2008, Haitians around the world
> > sent at least $1.3 billion to Haiti, far more than the amount
> > of foreign aid the country received, according to the World Bank.
> >
> > ...On an economic and political level, the diaspora could be
> > threatening, said Harry Casimir, 30, a Haitian-born businessman
> > who opened an information technology business there just
> > before the earthquake.
> >
> > “Once the elites have money and power,” Mr. Casimir said,
> > “they’re scared of people like me, the younger generation and
> > so on. Because we travel around the world and see how other
> > governments function, and obviously most countries are not
> > corrupt like Haiti.”
> >
> > But several expatriates acknowledged that some of the fault
> > might lie in a certain swagger on their own part.
> >
> > “People in the diaspora may be coming with that complex of
> > superiority, where they think, We know better; we can do it
> > better,” said the Rev. Reginald Jean-Mary, pastor of Notre
> > Dame d’Haiti in the Little Haiti section of Miami.
> >
> > Yet Father Jean-Mary provoked murmurs of excitement
> > Sunday at a packed high Mass here, when he proclaimed,
> > “This is the moment to suspend politics, because we have
> > had enough politics in Haiti.”
> >
> > He added, “It’s time to open Haiti to the diaspora.”
> >
> > IN FULL:
> > http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/us/04diaspora.html
> >
>
>
>
> Diane Hendrix
> _______________________________________
> Lecturer, Writing Across the Curriculum
> Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies, Room 12-116,
> Massachusetts Institute of Technology
> email: dhendrix at mit.edu   cell: 617-699-8881
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