Haiti Takes a Hit

[Drewbacca]

Spanish conquered Dominican Republic and French conquered Haiti. The spanish created a culture and took some of the resources for Spain. The french clear cut the forests and left Haiti poor and in shambles. This is also why that cunt Al Gore is a piece of shit. He shows the DR - Haiti border as a litmus test of climate change (blaming the forest being desolated on the Haitian side on the climate). No Al. It's because the french fucked the island.

[Doc Holliday]

True, but it still supports environmental restrictions, saying if there are none, humans will inevitably rape the land.

[Drewbacca]

The haitian people didn't rape their land. A occupying nation without a vested interest in its prolonged future did. I agree with environmentalism as a philosophy. What I don't agree with is phony propaganda being used to foster a fake market based on bogus C02 science. Incentives will always be the stronger route to go instead of just taxation in a free society. (which just gives unfair advantage to established businesses who can pay to pollute. Carbon credits are essentially morality credits)

Did anybody catch the Haitian telethon Hollywood organized? Raised $57M pretty good I guess. There's a summit being held in Montreal this week with world leaders putting together a rehabilitation plan for the Island. If this works out it could be a complete revival of the poorest nation in the world. That is if they don't just spend it all on weed for the warlords.

[Doc Holliday]

In 1925, Haiti was lush, with 60% of its original forest covering the lands and mountainous regions. Since then, the population has cut down an estimated 98% of its original forest cover for use as fuel for cookstoves, and in the process has destroyed fertile farmland soils, contributing to desertification.

wiki

Beginning in about 1954, concessionaires stepped up their logging operations, in response to Port-au-Prince's intensified demand for charcoal, thus accelerating deforestation, which had already become a problem because of environmentally unsound agricultural practices, rapid population growth, and increased competition over scarce land.

Most of Haiti's governments paid only lip service to the imperative of reforestation. As was the case in other areas of Haitian life, the main impetus to act came from abroad.

wiki

The United States occupied the island in 1915 and units were stationed in the country until 1934. In the following elections in 1915, Philippe Sudré Dartiguenave became president. He was succeeded by Louis Borno in the 1922 elections. Aware that many Haitians did not speak French, Borno was the first president to authorize the use of Creole in the education system. "Cacos" was a small rebellion in the country.

Haiti was in much better shape after the occupation than before. Infrastructure improvements were particularly impressive: 1700 km of roads were made usable; 189 bridges were built; many irrigation canals were rehabilitated hospitals, schools, and public buildings were constructed, and drinking water was brought to the main cities. Sisal was introduced to Haiti, and sugar and cotton became significant exports.

The US occupation forces established a boundary between Haiti and the Dominican Republic by taking disputed land from the latter. When the US left in 1937, Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo – in an event known as the Parsley Massacre – ordered his Army to kill Haitians living on the Dominican side of the border. In a "three-day genocidal spree", he murdered between 10,000 and 20,000 Haitians. He then developed a uniquely Dominican policy of racial discrimination, Antihaitianismo ("anti-Haitianism"), targeting the mostly-black inhabitants of his neighboring country.


President François "Papa Doc" Duvalier advanced interests of Haitian blacks. Sténio Vincent was succeeded as President in 1941 by Élie Lescot. In 1949, Lescot tried to change the constitution to allow for his own reelection, but in 1950 this triggered another coup. General Paul Magloire led the country until December 1956, when he was forced to resign by a general strike. After a period of disorder, elections held in September 1957 saw Dr. François Duvalier elected President.

wiki

So, I was wrong. The US did occupy Haiti at one point. But, I was also right in the Haitians, themselves in their own sovereignty, destroyed their land.

[Drewbacca]

Oh snap. Colour me wrong.

[Melf]

Yeah, they've systematically deforested the island over the last century. They've also been poor from the get-go, when France demanded reparations for their independence. I think it was something like $15 million in 1804, which is equivalent to $23 billion today. Haiti finally paid off the debt in the early 1930s.

[Advocate]

From Michael Bay's Blog.

*Like I reported in the TF 3 thread*

I ended my scout down in Miami this weekend to load my plane with 14 Florida Surgeons, specialists in various fields and flew them down to Haiti. We then returned with a planeload of a team of exhausted Miami Fire rescue. It is proving very difficult for these volunteers to get back home.

They say the news hardly gives the true scope of what really happened. They really feel about 500,000 probably died. One of the worst stories I heard from people down there - because of the huge lack of education in Haiti – when the earthquake struck – everyone ran inside buildings most likely to their graves. The state of Florida is really pulling their weight in this massive effort. Here some pics:

Michael