Imperialism And Resistance

partial translation: “Listen to this news, I could not believe this, but then I verified it! The New York Times says, the New York Times says a lot of lies, but I don’t think they lie about the internal politics, or the government of the US. Listen to this: The US forces said they suspended the evacuation of the victims of the earthquake in Haiti to the US, because of a dispute about who would pay for the treatment of… suspended… This is imperialism, this is Capitalism…each ill person who comes, an injured person, how much does this fracture cost? How much does this operation cost? A pregnant woman, how much does the cesarean cost? … This is Capitalism”

via Left Click

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The US military’s spokesperson here says that they are allowing only 50% of “civilian” aircrafts to land, meaning, at least 50% of aid coming by air (which is most of the aid coming to Haiti) is being delayed. The other 50% are military aircrafts that, of-course, are US military aircrafts – what exactly is so important about US military aircrafts that they are resulting in the delay of some 50% of disaster aid? Well, obviously, the answer is that the US is consolidating its invasion of Haiti with even more hardware and personnel.

Following report from Free Speech Radio News:

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Venezuela aid to Haiti

(I may not agree with a few specifics, but the spirit of this poem is right on)

The Disaster Relief Tour! Thousands Murdered! Billions Made!

Now Playing in Haiti! Coming Soon to a Country or Community of Color Near You!” by Paradise

I have been buried alive all my life & climbing out of rubble for centuries!
So pardon my utter disdain, disgust and anger
When I hear the sound of money and salvation flying overhead
Toward the latest, sexiest disaster!

Everybody wants to fight the war abroad
But not at home
Everybody wants to treat the symptom
But not the disease in the bone

Oh ye hypocrites! Think globally! Act locally!
Haiti was once the native land of the Indian!
Taken from the massacred Red Man
It became a plantation of Black slaves for the White EuroPeon!

The Slave revolted and made Haiti a FREE, Prosperous Island Nation
But the Europeon Man couldn’t stand the site of that
And set out to make an example of this new Free Africa for all Africans
By turning all our island & African community paradises into living hells for blacks!

Haiti, Rwanda, Grenada, Nigeria, Brazil, Oakland, Detroit, Harlem, The Filmore
Allensworth, Black Wall Street, Panama, Chad, Palestine, Watts, etc.

Now pray-tell, the Super Powers whose London Bridges,
Eiffel Towers and wealth were built on the blood, sweat & tears of Africans
Want to make a great humanitarian show
But if I were a Haitian I’d spit in your face and tell you where to go!

Ask any Haitian right now! Ask any Haitian Mr. Super Power
If he had a choice between your temporary (band) aid
Or your Permanent Departure which would he choose!
And the stench of your presence would surely lose!

Out of Haiti!
Out of Africa!
Out of Palestine!
Out of Tibet!

I am the Spirit of the Earthquake, the Tsunami, the Hurricane!
The Voice of the Poor! Hear me roar! 100,000 dead and counting!
Natural and manmade disasters becoming more frequent and mounting!
Can you here me now!?!? Need I show you more!?

I am the Spirit of Wall Street Crashing! Diseases spreading!
Can you hear me now!? CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW!?!
Are you still more concerned about getting a degree from Oppressor University
Or having a career with the devil?! Do you still think it’s business as usual?

Do you think I will disappear so you can be a robot cog in the Corporate Machine!
Eating up my Planet Green! Do you think this is a game!?
I am the Spirit of the poor and starving children! Do you think I’m joking?
I am the desperation of the downtrodden howling! Have you no shame!?

Poor people if you want to help poor people
Stop playing the lottery and giving your money to the rich!
Africans if you really want to help other Africans
Stop spending billions on the weaves of the Wicked Witch

What if I told you this new ongoing Disaster Relief Tour
Was another genocidal scam of the filthy rich, with more sophisticated weapons
Where you pay the rich to make nuclear war on Countries of Color and the poor
And in the name of disaster relief the rich get the stipends?

Remember 911? Hiroshima? Don’t support the Disaster Relief Tour!
Let your government show its true colors!
HELP HAITI NOW!!! Says all your Myspace Pages in huge letters!
But where was Myspace before Helping Haiti became so popluar?

If there were no modern day technology telling you where to spend
And send your money, would you then invest at home in your own community?
Where do you think your Haitian Relief Funds are going to wind up
Amongst a people who have no leadership, clout or liberty?

Let Bill Gates & Steve Jobs pay! Let France who put the Haitians in debt pay!
Let the makers of your Ipod/Blackberries pay! Let Hollywood & the Spielbergs pay!
Let all the Tiger Woods’ Pay for what they dId to the psyches of our children!
Tell t/him to give all their money to Haiti and we will forgive t/him!

Let your multi-million dollar Supersteroid Athletes pay! Let Uncle Sam pay!
Let Corporate America Pay! Make all the Super Powers pay!
Make the World Bank pay! But STOP FUNDING the Ethnic Cleansing Mobiles!
Keep your money at bay & spend it on your local Arts and Activist Communities!

But go ahead! Ignore the train wrecks at home for the ones abroad!
Go with your band aids for the symptoms, ignore the spreading diseases!
Race helter-skelter back and forth across the globe like a herd of cattle – sheeple!
Trample over me to get to THEM! I can hear your rumblings from beneath the rubble!

I am the homeless brother and sister up the street
I am the youth for whom crime & gangs are the only way to make ends meet!
I am the teen and preteen prostitute herded from county to county!
I am the disaster that is your community everyday, disaster RELIEF ME!

Or else I will continue to show you where the real Terminator’s at!
Continue to ignore me if you will, AND I’LL BE BACK!!!
The Disaster Relief Tour! Coming to a neighborhood near you!?!

(Not copyrighted! Steal this poem!) by Paradise

Doctors Without Borders is now being blocked by the US military

Press Release

Doctors Without Borders Cargo Plane With Full Hospital and Staff Blocked From Landing in Port-au-Prince

Demands Deployment of Lifesaving Medical Equipment Given Priority

Port-au-Prince/Paris /New York, 17 January 2009—Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) urges that its cargo planes carrying essential medical and surgical material be allowed to land in Port-au-Prince in order to treat thousands of wounded waiting for vital surgical operations. Priority must be given immediately to planes carrying lifesaving equipment and medical personnel.

Despite guarantees, given by the United Nations and the US Defense Department, an MSF cargo plane carrying an inflatable surgical hospital was blocked from landing in Port-au-Prince on Saturday, and was re-routed to Samana, in Dominican Republic. All material from the cargo is now being sent by truck from Samana, but this has added a 24-hour delay for the arrival of the hospital.

A second MSF plane is currently on its way and scheduled to land today in Port- au-Prince at around 10 am local time with additional lifesaving medical material and the rest of the equipment for the hospital. If this plane is also rerouted then the installation of the hospital will be further delayed, in a situation where thousands of wounded are still in need of life saving treatment.

The inflatable hospital includes 2 operating theaters, an intensive care unit, 100-bed hospitalization capacity, an emergency room and all the necessary equipment needed for sterilizing material.

MSF teams are currently working around the clock in 5 different hospitals in Port-au-Prince, but only 2 operating theaters are fully functional, while a third operating theater has been improvised for minor surgery due to the massive influx of wounded and lack of functional referral structures.

The Haitian government, paralysed by the destruction of the presidential palace and ministries, signed a memorandum of understanding formally transferring control of Toussaint L’Ouverture airport to the US. Former president Bill Clinton said he will travel to Haiti today to meet with government officials and deliver much-needed emergency supplies.

Flights seeking permission to land continuously circle the airport, which is damaged and has only a single runway, rankling several governments and aid agencies. “There are 200 flights going in and out every day, which is an incredible amount for a country like Haiti,” Jarry Emmanuel, air logistics officer for the UN’s World Food Programme, told the New York Times. “But most flights are for the US military. Their priorities are to secure the country. Ours are to feed. We have got to get those priorities in sync.”

France, which as the former colonial power expects a prominent role, ­protested when an emergency field hospital was turned back. The foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said the airport was not for the international community but “an annexe of Washington”, according to France’s ambassador to Haiti, Didier Le Bret.

Brazil, which saw its leadership of the UN peacekeeping mission as a calling card of its burgeoning influence, was also indignant when three flights were not allowed to land. The foreign ministry reportedly asked Hillary Clinton to grant Brazil priority over chartered flights. Nelson Jobim, the defence minister, said Brazil would not relinquish command duties and suggested it, not Washington, would continue to lead UN forces. Analysts said it was vital command issues be resolved.

The Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières complained about flights with medical staff and equipment which were redirected to the Dominican Republic. “We are all going crazy,” said Nan Buzard, of the American Red Cross.

Sunday, January 17th 2010

THE CARIBBEAN Community’s emergency aid mission to Haiti, comprising Heads of Government and leading technical officials, failed to secure permission Friday to land at that devasted country’s aiport, now under the control of the United States.

Consequently, the Caricom ’assessment mission’, that was to determine priority humanitarian needs resulting from the mind-boggling earthquake disaster of Haiti last Tuesday, had to travel back from Jamaica to their respective home destinations..

On Friday afternoon the US State Department confirmed signing two ’Memoranda of Understanding’ with the Government of Haiti that made ’official that the United Stateas is in charge of all inbound and outbound flights and aid off-loading…’

See also Shades of Katrina, no help for Haitians who need it most.

Haitians ask, where is the help? !

Presidente Chávez denuncia que EEUU aprovecha situación en Haití para ocupar el territorio