Of Tragedy and Hypocrisy from Haiti to Gaza

By Mazin Qumsiyeh

ccun.org, January 24, 2010

 
Haiti:
 
Journalists struggle to describe the scenes of misery, death, and despair in language befitting of the tragedy in Haiti.  Over 100 countries mobilized for aid. Even Israel mobilized its usual contingent of Israeli doctors and the mass Zionist media to show how “humanitarian” it can be (but tiny Qatar sent far more actual aid and no media spin people).
 
What is little discussed is that the natural disaster would have claimed far fewer lives had Haiti been allowed to develop without Western Interference over the past few decades.  There is a tragic history that stretches from the slave rebellion against the French "owners" to the US direct occupation of Haiti 1915 to 1934, to the US support for puppet dictators, to the latest 2004 coup engineered by elements in the neoconservative movement under the Presidency of George Bush. 
 
The last government installed was and continues to be corrupt, inept, and unaccountable. I was shocked that the "President of Haiti" could not even put sentences together let alone deal with disasters.  It is no surprise that many people in Haiti have come to believe that anarchy is better.

Meanwhile, Western companies, whose motto is always maximum profits/minimum costs, strip billions worth of Haitian natural resources. That has always been why Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
 
Gaza:
 
Gaza has been a calamity of incredible proportion.  1.5 million people in a small strip of largely desert land, most of them refugees or displaced people. Over a period of three weeks, Israeli shelling destroyed over 10,000 homes, schools, hospitals, food warehouses, and shops. Over 400 children and hundreds of other civilians were massacred.  
 
This man-made disaster was accomplished with the blessing of the US and its direct support (military equipment, shielding Israel from International law etc). But our spirit will not be broken just like the spirit of Haiti will not be broken (see video):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU5Wi2jhnW0 
 
Hardly any Western reporters bothered to cover the story of the man-made tragedy in Gaza.  If they did mention it, it was in passing while assigning blame to Hamas for the homemade projectiles the people of Gaza tried to produce in response to the incessant slaughter and starvation. 
 
More importantly, no flotillas of emergency aid were to arrive in Gaza from any governmental sources.  Only a few activists managed to bring food and medicine in spite of official governments positions.  In fact, the siege intensified over Gaza and one year later, there has been no or very little reconstruction.
 
The US foreign policy, hijacked by a group of wealthy and powerful individuals utilizing lobbyists as their tools and brainwashing some individuals to think it is "good for the Jews" have ensured hypocrisy. 
 
It is hypocrisy to name a fund for helping (Bush-Clinton Haiti Fund) run by the two war criminals that engineered and/or supported calamities in places like Iraq (1 million killed under each of those two presidents), Gaza, Afghanistan, Sudan and elsewhere. It is hypocrisy to send Hilary Clinton who supported the slaughter in Gaza for photo opportunities in Haiti. It s hypocrisy to pressure the puppet regime in Egypt to erect a wall to prevent Gaza population from importing foods and medicine while spending our taxpayer money for USAID with strings attached (most to guide countries to create policies of oppression in the guise of humanitarian aid) AND let corporations gain billions from exploitation of those same countries (e.g. Haliburton, Mobil, Motorolla).
 
US interests do not lie in creating more hypocrisy or more suffering. Is it not time to thoroughly reevaluate the calamitous policies that led us to this? These policies, while profiting a few individuals in positions of power (Corporate and Zionist lobbies*), directly harm average citizens in Haiti, the US, Israel/Palestine and elsewhere.
 
It was hoped that the year 2000 would usher in a new era of peace and prosperity on humanity.  Is it not time to investigate why Latin America, Asia and much of Europe is moving in that direction while the US and Israeli policies have created mayhem and destruction? Is it not time for the events of September 11, 2001 to receive full investigation instead of the cover-up in the report issued? Would we see 2010 as a year of change or would we wait for yet another calamity to expose more hypocrisy?
 
* See the book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins  about the corporate elite. I think he downplays what the Zionist lobbies have done which sometimes even won over corporate interests like the military industries but he makes some very cogent observations from someone who was on the inside as an economic hit man (and of course many of these corporations are run by ardent Zionists who like to have a strong Israel as an insurance policy in case they need to run away from Western Countries).  Here are videos of a lecture by Perkins:

Part 1  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oARBdBtGenM 

Part 2  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAqG51uwzMI 

Part 3  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l22O33KyWa4 
 
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

Professor at Bethlehem University

http://qumsiyeh.org