Haiti - A disaster in waiting?

[Maha]

Is Haiti run by black people, just out of interest?

No, the black people are running..........out of Haiti.

[peasea]

Hi All

please read this group i've started and my plan for this weekend

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/g...d=311923079837


Thanks all
Big dan

Well that's doing less than fuck all in my humble opinion.
Why not walk everywhere for a week and donate the money saved?
Or better still, steal something from a rich neighbour and flog it on TradeMe, then donate the cash.

[peasea]

Is Haiti run by black people, just out of interest?

I thought their leader was a little Oriental gentleman.

[Dave Lobster]

I thought their leader was a little Oriental gentleman.

Could well be.. I switch the TV over whenever some more welfare case types come on.

[Hitcher]

Haiti is only a "disaster" because it has only been "discovered" by the western news media and hoardes of celebrities who want to increase their cache.

Arguably this earthquake is only a bit of a bump in the road given that nation's chequered history. All of this aid that's currently pouring in will only do so until the penny drops and aid agencies realise that they're wasting their time. "Rebuilding" a country of this type is pointless. It has no history of "proper" government nor supporting infrastructure such as an effective police force. You can't air drop that in.

Earthquakes aside, between the annual hurricane season, conditions for your average Haitian are dire. It's easy to forget about nations like this rather than lining the pockets of a small but corrupt bourgeoisie with foreign aid and condemning the average citizen to a life of subsistance farming.

Give it a month and there will be no more heard of this tragedy.

[Mully]

Give it a month and there will be no more heard of this tragedy.

Indeed - unlike November the 9th (9/11 (tm) for the slow), which was rammed onto the media for months and continues to be every September, cf the Boxing Day tsunami which is barely mentioned and killed many times more people

Course, that was Merkins - not people from some nasty dirty country.

The average American life is worth 15 Europeans, 100 Africans or South Americans and 350 Asians - well that was at the closing of the markets tonight.

[Kickaha]

. It has no history of "proper" government

Bring back the Duvaliers

On January 16, 2010, Duvalier announced that he would ask a foundation set up in the name of his mother to transfer an estimated US$8 million of its assets to the American Red Cross in light of the 2010 Haiti earthquake

What a nice family to make such a gesture

[Dadpole]

Bring back the Duvaliers
On January 16, 2010, Duvalier announced that he would ask a foundation set up in the name of his mother to transfer an estimated US$8 million of its assets to the American Red Cross in light of the 2010 Haiti earthquake
What a nice family to make such a gesture

.......

[pete376403]

Haiti is one of the places where that fine US corporation Disney gets its merchandise made. Disney needs places like this to be overpopulated so the labour costs can be beaten right down to almost nothing.
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/294.html

[Dave Lobster]

The average American life is worth 15 Europeans, 100 Africans or South Americans and 350 Asians - well that was at the closing of the markets tonight.

Are you just using their weight to make this comparison??

[Big Dan]

Well that's doing less than fuck all in my humble opinion.
Why not walk everywhere for a week and donate the money saved?
Or better still, steal something from a rich neighbour and flog it on TradeMe, then donate the cash.

The following also applies to Cowpoos who commented on the group

Yes sure it not raising money
Poos you say i should get out and walk to raise money. can i ask what your doing to raise the awareness of the plight these poor people are facing. Some people might say that i'm not helping and doing "less than fuck all" then i ask what YOU are doing. I ask you this if i can't afford to help with money who am i to ask others to give there hard earned money when i haven't, kinda sounds hipa-critical don't you think. In the group i've pointed others to the right place should they want to donate.

I WILL NOT steal anything from the neighbour that will only just make me worse than the looters in Haiti

[Mikkel]

Haiti is an island nation with a land area 1/10th that of New Zealand. Within that area live more than 9 million people. In abject poverty.

What the heck are 9 million people doing trying to squeeze out an existence there? Its impossible. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Maybe - just maybe, we need to start talking and doing something about world overpopulation.

Hmmm, Haiti is only the 30th most densely populated country. There are many rich countries above it on that list. So what exactly do you mean when you say it's impossible for 9 million people to squeeze out a living there?

Bring back the Duvaliers

On January 16, 2010, Duvalier announced that he would ask a foundation set up in the name of his mother to transfer an estimated US$8 million of its assets to the American Red Cross in light of the 2010 Haiti earthquake

What a nice family to make such a gesture

The nerve of some people eh. Papa Doc was a true visionary - or is that hallucionist?

[mashman]

What can we do? Individually we can talk about it to other people and spread ideas. Nationally and at the UN level, how about tying aid to a requirement that nations work on population control. Admittedly that's damned hard when people are dying at your feet.

and could potentially end up with the UN placing an embargo on those countries that really need the assistance? Not ideal if that's the case, like you say, people dying at your feet whilst the world watches ain't a vote winner! You need a fundamental shift in global conciousness to "introduce" any form of population control. At the moment, i wouldn't have thought that the Haitians are going to be open to the idea of having their nuts chopped off for a can of spam, 2l of Evian and a the promise of a nice cup of tea!

[Winston001]

Hmmm, Haiti is only the 30th most densely populated country. There are many rich countries above it on that list. So what exactly do you mean when you say it's impossible for 9 million people to squeeze out a living there?

By golly you are right. I'm surprised. Interesting to note that the Dominican Republic, which comprises the other half of the island Haiti occupies, has half the population density.

My point? Most of the worlds poor live in densely populated nations with little chance to advance their living conditions. One of the conundrums of wealth is that rich people have fewer children. One postulated answer to overpopulation is education and increased wealth for the Third World. Unfortunately IMHO, birth rates will continue to outstrip family attempts to join the middle class. It is happening in India and China but not in Africa, Pakistan etc.

For example, 20 years ago Ethiopia experienced a dreadful famine. The population was 40 million. Today Ethiopia has another famine but the population is 80 million. Why do we stand by and watch millions born into misery?

[Mully]

and could potentially end up with the UN placing an embargo on those countries that really need the assistance? !

Oh Noes!! Not teh UN.

Did you see those idiots on the news the other night? Started unpacking a truckload worth of food, got worried about there being "too many" starving people and that causing a riot, so they re-loaded the truck and took the food back to the warehouse. Which left the starving people rioting over the couple of boxes that got left behind.

Useless.