19 January 2010 Full arms empty belly

19 January 2010 Full arms empty belly


Today, the world is still concerned with the people of Haiti. As time passes and no more “miraculous” survivor stories emerge for the press to broadcast, the public’s concern will diminish with the news coverage. What lies ahead for Haiti is what lies behind Haiti.

Haiti is a pocket of poverty caused by rampant over-population, partially condoned by both Catholic and Protestant churches. Haiti is an opportunity for corruption for any leader who can wrest control of the treasury from his predecessor.

Haiti is a failed state existing because of the guilt and/or good will of non-Haitians. It is a one way funnel exporting its educated and desperate to the United States.

Like other failed or failing states, like other centers of state enforced poverty, Haiti will never grow much beyond what it was at the beginning of this month.

How do we prevent such failed states? Since the United States is a primary source of revenue for Haiti, in grants, foreign aid, or remittances, the U.S. needs to address this problem in a coldly logical manner.

Over population is the root of poverty in most impoverished nations. Over-population because of religious upbringing or religious involvement in national policy is driving poor nations deeper into poverty.

The demand for controlling birth rates must be attached to every penny of aid sent to Haiti and every other poor nation needing outside help to recover from annual floods, fires, landslides, hurricanes, earth quakes, volcanoes, or any other disaster the planet throws in our way. The demand for large families to practice slash and burn agriculture can be eliminated by importing modern farming techniques into poor nations. The practice of having one child after another because of high infant mortality can be discarded if we provide immunizations, clean water, and basic sanitation to poor nations. And those religious leaders demanding uncontrolled reproduction as a gateway to eternity should be invited to join the rest of the world in the 21st century instead of allowing them to keep their congregations in a world defined by medieval or even less advanced superstitions and practices.

This means that the United States must finally confront the belief among its citizens who are Christians that this is a Christian nation.

This is, most emphatically, not a Christian nation. Our Constitution prohibits any state religion being established. There has been far too much effort by the GOP and the fundamentalist and evangelical Christian base they manipulate to steer this nation toward theocracy. In addition to weakening our children’s science education, this has also prevented our aid and relief arms of the federal government from insisting that birth control education and practice be made a central point of all help to poor nations, concurrent with a realistic program to teach reliable and accurate birth control to our own citizens. Preaching “abstinence or damnation” works no better at preventing births among teens and adults than does praying that earthquakes and pestilence will not happen assure a safe place for Haitians to sleep tonight.

Along with the objections to requiring birth control education that will come from our and their religious right, will also come accusations that the U.S. is only prescribing mandatory birth control for “the poor,” “non-Christians,” “people with dark skins.” We’ve got to be realistic enough to accept and ignore those attacks, and respond that we desire population control for all the world’s nations. Then we have to prove we mean it by implementing and enforcing it within our borders.

Haiti is in the news today. This time next week, the lead stories will be about a terrorist bombing, mudslides in California, the political defection of some elected official, the demise of some celebrity, or anything but Haiti. We’ll send off the last of our clothing donations and pretty much forget that Haiti still exists, sitting on the edge of gang warfare and mass starvation. The relief agencies will still try to rebuild a nation that should really never have been built in a place that won’t support its population. The money for relief will diminish each week and the UN will call for help, and then send more peace-keepers that can’t keep the peace.

Things will proceed pretty much unchanged until the next disaster happens in another failed third-world state. We’ll pick up our resources, route them to Mt Elsewhere and try hopelessly to sort out another set of problems that are, at the core, insolvable until we reduce the world’s population. We’ll turn on our televisions and listen to the commentators, reporters unable to distance their selves from the story, tell us about “Poor _____”



Addendum: Yesterday I wrote about the apparent failure of the Arab oil states to become involved in relief operations. To be fair, I found this UN document this morning detailing what a few Middle Eastern states are pledging to provide as relief.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/SHIG-7ZSJCU?OpenDocument&RSS20=03

HAITI: Arab aid making its way

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)

Date: 17 Jan 2010