'More NGOs per square mile than any other country...'
After a series of articles, letters to the editor and reports, the questioning of the post-earthquake relief effort in Haiti hits another peak today (11 January) with a "speakout" the Red Cross at 44 Moorfields in London.
The organisers - Global Women’s Strike, Women of Colour in the GWS/London, Payday men’s network/Refusing to Kill - claim: "Tens of thousands of people have been demonstrating in Haiti for months. Three years after the earthquake, despite billions donated by a generous public, hundreds of thousands of people are still struggling to survive in tent cities, surrounded by rubble. They are still without clean water or food security or income, still fighting the cholera imported by UN troops. And now they face the further devastation of Hurricane Sandy, which destroyed 70% of the crops (but only its impact on the US got publicity)."
They add: "Haiti has more NGOs per square mile than any other country in the world, yet it is the most impoverished in the western hemisphere. The NGOs have stolen millions intended for earthquake survivors. And joining in the stealing, the corrupt Martelly government put there by the US represses the mass protests of a people who refuse to be defeated."
The demo is unlikely to draw many people, but I have a feeling the discussion about aid for Haiti is only just beginning.
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