Sunday, September 12, 2010

Updates on Haiti and South Africa


Editing and formatting the book have taken up a lot of free time, so tonight we'll resume with posting. Thanks for still visiting, despite the silence on our part the past few days.

In going back over a lot of the posts, it was interesting to read about two stories that were discussed at length: the earthquake in Haiti and the World Cup in South Africa.

Haiti, a nation that was on the verge of a major tourism boost prior to that deadly earthquake, is having a difficult time emerging from the rubble. Despite the billions of dollars in aid sent to Haiti and the billions of tears shed by white people for the sorrowful state of the people in that developing nation, those who we call Haitians have done little to remove the debris:

From the dusty rock mounds lining the streets to a National Palace that looks like it's vomiting concrete from its core, rubble is one of the most visible reminders of Haiti's devastating earthquake.

Rubble is everywhere in this capital city: cracked slabs, busted-up cinder blocks, half-destroyed buildings that still spill bricks and pulverized concrete onto the sidewalks. Some places look as though they have been flipped upside down, or are sinking to the ground, or listing precariously to one side.

By some estimates, the quake left about 33 million cubic yards of debris in Port-au-Prince – more than seven times the amount of concrete used to build the Hoover Dam. So far, only about 2 percent has been cleared, which means the city looks pretty much as it did a month after the Jan. 12 quake.

Government officials and outside aid groups say rubble removal is the priority before Haiti can rebuild. But the reasons why so little has been cleared are complex. And frustrating.

Heavy equipment has to be shipped in by sea. Dump trucks have difficulty navigating narrow and mountainous dirt roads. An abysmal records system makes it hard for the government to determine who owns a dilapidated property. And there are few sites on which to dump the rubble, which often contains human remains.

Also, no single person in the Haitian government has been declared in charge of the rubble, prompting foreign nongovernmental organizations to take on the task themselves. The groups are often forced to fight for a small pool of available money and contracts – which in turn means the work is done piecemeal, with little coordination.

Projects funded by USAID and the U.S. Department of Defense have spent more than $98.5 million to remove 1.2 million cubic yards of rubble.

"There's not a master plan," Eric Overvest, country director for the U.N. Development Program, said with a sigh. "After the earthquake, the first priority was clearing the roads. That was the easiest part."

Overvest said the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission – created after the earthquake to coordinate billions of dollars in aid – has approved a $17 million plan to clear rubble from six neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince. The neighborhoods have not yet been selected, however, and it's unclear when debris will be removed from other areas...

It's not for lack of trying. The nonprofit organization CHF International spent about $5 million of USAID money on heavy machinery and paying Haitians to remove rubble from specific sites.

Dan Strode was the rubble-removal operations manager for CHF for three months; some dubbed him "the rubble guy" because of his enthusiasm for the job.

"Rubble isn't sexy," the Californian said. "And clearing it is not as simple as people think."

Strode's big worry: that debris won't be cleared fast enough and that the piles of rocks and garbage and dirt will be overtaken by tropical growth.

"If we don't clear it, what we will leave behind is something that is worse than before," he said. "If you come back in a year, and the rubble hasn't been cleared, it will be grown over, subject to landslides and unstable.

One has to ask: how much of the debris that hasn't been cleaned up was there BEFORE the earthquake? The nation was one big shanty town before the earthquake and you have to wonder if the debris resting untouched isn't a foreign sight to those Haitians who dwell in its midst.

Maybe the debris remains untouched and unmoved because of the presence of gangs, similar to the ones that kept aid workers from helping many in devastated areas right after the earthquake hit in January.

The Christian Science Monitor has written numerous stories on Haiti's attempt to emerge from the rubble of both the earthquake and its 200-year history of consistent stagnation and reliance on foreign aid and sympathy to endure.

If -- if -- all cameras, outside organizations and foreign influence were to depart from Haiti today and the great experiment of a nation becoming a "time capsule" experiment was instituted, what do you think researchers returning a year from now would find? What would the cameras show the world upon landing in Port-au-Prince?

Would The Christian Science Monitor still write stories about that nation's inability to rise from the debris? Would the debris miraculously be moved or would it still be in the same place?

Worse, without the massive amounts of foreign aid to Haiti to keep that island nation afloat, what would become of the people?

No amount of aid - in terms of dollars, tears, prayers or time - could lift that nation from the state it has been in since the glorious revolution that started in 1791.

The blessing of eradicating the white colonialists from the island to create the first Black Republic in history is Haiti's ultimate curse.

It was assumed that the World Cup in South Africa would turn out to be a disaster, based on the empirical evidence of crime and astronomically high murder rates present there. We were wrong, as for one glorious month South Africa put its best face on for the world to see.

That makeup is now running, showing that the true face of South Africa is still the same it was before the World Cup:

The farewell supper at a church in this city's northern suburbs had just begun when two men burst upon the small gathering of parishioners. They demanded jewelry, cellphones, cash and car keys from the pastor and his dinner guests. After corralling the group into the clergy vestry, the men drove away in a stolen Mercedes Benz.

The Aug. 25 church robbery lasted no more than thirty minutes. It was made public not in newspaper headlines the next day, but in a two-paragraph note at a Sunday church service.

Yet the incident is one of many, small and large, playing out in communities across South Africa, that has re-awakened a sense of national unease following the World Cup.

In the weeks since the soccer tournament ended in mid-July, jubilation has turned to jitters; self-congratulations to self-analysis. Sublime confidence in South Africa's future has, for many here, morphed into blind hope that the country will ride out another turbulent period with minimal damage to the economy and social psyche.

The month-long World Cup brought out the best of South Africa. Heavy police presence on the streets curbed crime. Big unions refrained from debilitating labor strikes. The world heaped praise on South Africans of all stripes for hosting a spirited sporting event.

Consider what's happened since.

Soon after the World Cup ended, the ruling African National Congress touted plans for a media watchdog, empowered to punish transgressing journalists with undefined penalties and overseen by a parliament the party controls. That proposal, along with a controversial "Information Protection bill" before parliament, has ignited an acrimonious national debate and attracted criticism world-wide from free-speech advocates.

The ANC's war of words with the media was still in full swing when public-service workers walked off their jobs. The wage strike emptied teachers from public schools, nurses from state hospitals and workers from government offices. On Tuesday, unions suspended the three-week strike to weigh a government salary increase.

The spotlight has also returned to South Africa's violent streets, now that a well-known white rugby player has been put on trial for killing a black police officer. The rugby player claimed he was a victim of a robbery—by the police. There's an investigation into the alleged use of his credit card at a McDonald's after the incident.

That's not all. The ANC itself appears in disarray as leaders jockey ahead of policy conclave later this month. The party's youth wing has criticized President Jacob Zuma's leadership and promoted its agenda of nationalizing South Africa's mines.

Most South Africans are trying to shrug off the post-Cup gloom and predictions of doom. Many harbor a deep belief that South Africa, like democracies elsewhere, can self-correct, that politicians and unions can be reeled in, that a collective survival instinct will save the nation once again.

"We've walked up to the brink before and looked over," said a Johannesburg-based mining executive. "We always manage to walk back."

That's not an unreasonable assumption, given what South Africa has come through in the past two decades. It's gone from an apartheid state pariah with a broken economy to a well-lauded host of the World's largest sporting event. But if the World cup fueled aspirations of what South Africa can accomplish at its best, the weeks since have shown what can go wrong when it's not.

The shaken churchgoers, robbed during the going-away party of a friend, suggest a sense of perspective will be needed in the days ahead. The church letter expressed gratitude that nobody was hurt; noted the recovery of the abandoned Mercedes; and explained a few new security measures.

"Beyond that," the letter summed up, "we are not going to get paranoid about this."

But hey, at least South Africa has Crusading White Pedagogues intent on uplifting those intellectually crippled by nature and inexcusable neglected by those who could provide nurture.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Though you might not like it, life is about change, progress, innovation and ultimately evolution.

These concepts are foreign and alien to Haiti and South Africa, places that are in a constant state of devolution.

The update on Haiti and South Africa? There is no hope for either nation.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Today, I saw one of the hundreds of commercials that have graced our TV screens for decades that show some fly covered little black kid looking all sad eyed into the camera while a spokesperson asks me for a handout to keep these little piles of trash alive and eating mush for another month or two at best.

This raises the question of why on Earth would we want to invest money on even a single one of them?? "For the price of a cup of coffee......you can keep little Dashiki alive and she can grow up like big Dashiki and have 475 children". WTF are these people smoking to think that I would spend the price of a quality caffeinated beverage on something that is far less useful to me.

Anonymous said...

Of course, we need not look as far as Haiti to understand the link between race and civilization, and what it means for America. Haiti is nothing more than Camden or East St. Louis writ large, and without the surrounding white society to support it. Africans remake Africa wherever they may go.

Don said...

These nations (or any black run nation for that matter!) will never be more than what they now are(it's just NOT in their ability!)

I remember reading a report last year that brought all of this to crystal clarity...In 1960 both Ghana & south Korea had the same percapita income ($300!)...In 2009 it was $1,500 for Ghana & $27,700 for south Korea...Remember South korea is a country with NO natural resources, is grossly overcrowded & suffered a horrific civil war that killed 2.5 million people from 1950/53! (it also has severe winters with a short growing season!)..It has now become one of the worlds economic giants with high end/high value products on the world market!. Names like Samsung, Daewoo, Goldstar, Hyundai, Kia & LG!!.
Lets look at Ghana!.. Ghana ia a tropical & verdant land with superbly rich soil with a year around growing season. It has huge reserves of bauxite, manganese & chromium. It's hourly wage equates to about .35cents per hour!!. It's main product?, cocoa beans!. Rates of aids, malaria & infant mortality are consistant with all of afreaka!..This pattern is repeated EVERYWHERE!!!! (compare say Haiti To Iceland!!)

What is THE constant pattern here?..RACE!. One nation has an intelligent & capable people but is poorly endowed with resourcse or a benign enviorment (South Korea)...The other nation blessed with superb soil, rich mineral reserves & a benign climate (Ghana) & yet it is just another, typical, squalid third world, afreakan shyte-hole!. It's population typical of the low I.Q., low impulse control & sexual deviancy that is typical of ALL negroes!

I have a freind who is from south Africa. She worked as a nurse in a Durban hospital. She told me of absolute horrors that were daily events there..Things like 2 year old toddlers who had bled to death from being gang raped (2 years old!!!). Or poor souls who had been victims of "neclacing", (where one tribesman would bind anothers arms then put a gasoline soaked tire around the neck & light it!..The horror!).

Benjamin Disraeli was correct, "Race is EVERYTHING!".

Anonymous said...

Be sure to advertise your book on The Political Cesspool.

Desiree said...

"It was assumed that the World Cup in South Africa would turn out to be a disaster, based on the empirical evidence of crime and murder rates present there. We were wrong, as for one glorious month South Africa put its best face on for the world to see."

X-D ROTFLMFBAO! 'It' was not assumed, friend; 'you' assumed...

Well, of course you were wrong. You went in to the games with a completely negative, haughty attitude. You were wrong. Bwahahahahahahaha!

Sardonicism aside, you should be relieved you were wrong, Mr. Beck; maybe you could use it as a teaching moment to let you know that your narcissism and arrogance is completely unwarranted. Welcome back to the human race.

"Editing and formatting the book have taken up a lot of free time, so tonight we'll resume with posting."

What is this book about, pray tell? Not even a teaser? Or should I look at your archives?

@Don:

"I have a freind who is from south Africa. She worked as a nurse in a Durban hospital. She told me of absolute horrors that were daily events there..Things like 2 year old toddlers who had bled to death from being gang raped (2 years old!!!)."

Ad hominem, ad hominem, ad hominem. Race has nothing to do with those crimes; whites, Hispanics, and Asians have done similar things. Whitewatch.wordpress.com is not defunct but I could use the stories featured there for a contemporaneous ad hominem attack against whites, as well. But your viewpoint is welcome on this site, I suppose; look at the posts about the boy getting murdered and the girl getting acid thrown at her. Horrible crimes used to inflame the white masses.

When did you start caring about black two-year-olds? Well, small steps, I guess...

Douglas said...

My church pastor's wife came back from Haiti a few weeks ago and showed a video designed to make us feel good that our money is helping. I didn't buy it. We have decided to switch churches.

It's not that I mind helping. It's just that I believe if you are going to help, the money needs to go to people that are going to benefit from the help. These people are determined to remain in the dark ages.

Anonymous said...

I question the term "developing nation" when used to describe Haiti. This descriptor would imply a gradual ascent towards a safe, organized, and productive society. Given that 80% of their GNP is derived from foreign aid, I would be more apt to describe them as a helpless dependantocracy. The only thing developing about Haiti before the earthquake was the giant sucking sound.

Don said...

@ Desireck

:Ad hominem, ad hominem, ad hominem. Race has nothing to do with those crimes;

Yea, you just KEEP telling yourself that!..Nothing & I mean NOTHING is more politically incorrect than the truth!. These facts can EASILY be found on ANY search engine or "you tube". Tell me Desiree, where among ANY white countries are you finding mass rape, mass atrocity, mass diesease, mass squalor, et.al???...My freind from SA had seen these horrors EVERYDAY!!...THAT is why she fled SA!.

Tell me, why is it that a country like Iceland which lies just below the Arctic circle. The land is mostly lava fields & arctic heather (forests will not grow there) it's only abundant resource?, schools of Cod-fish off of it's shores & the ingenuity of it's people!... Iceland enjoys one of the highest standards of living on Earth!.

Explain HOW the continent of afreaka, with riches beyond the dreams of avarice is country for country a squalid, dieseased hell-hole??Hmmm?...Oh & don't EVEN say it is because of the "legacy of slavery & colonialism". Most of the African states were not envolved in the European slave trade & Ethiopia & Liberia were never colonies!...Also, how do you explin former European colonies that have booming economies or reached a high state of development like Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Hong-Kong, Indonesia, india & so on....Hmmm, could it be because they are not black?!!....C'mon Desiree, enquiring minds want to know!.

Anonymous said...

"C'mon Desiree, enquiring minds want to know!."

Someone already said that Desiree and all blacks have no explanation to the "hate facts" presented on this web site. They cry and howl about unfairness and racism, but do nothing to explain the incredible inadequacies of blacks around the planet. So stop trying to reason with her, and maybe she will take another vacation or stop posting altogether. I would love to not have to scroll past her long rants any longer.

Steve said...

Desiree is the token comedian of SBPDL. We all need to have a little comic relief from the harsh realities of BRA.
Desiree has no explanation for anything other than "Gibs me dat" and "YT dun stole ma culta"
Feed the troll at your own peril.

Anonymous said...

We could just airlift and then drop Sally Struthers onto a poor village after she's finished telling us about the poor "unwashed masses" in one of those commercials. She could probably keep a village sustained for several weeks with her mass. Or if they prefer dark meat we could allow substitution with "Desiree", with no one going hungry of course. Her tainted hide, with misguided PC liberal party line/revisionist history pap and unchecked victimhood/full-time racist goggles, shouldn't harm an uninformed palate.

Don said...

@Anon 2:52

You are SO correct!, I should not even let that twit get my goat!

I have always found it interesting that blacks boast about their enourmous abilities (look up "black invention myths", great eye opener!). About they being the "original race"... Hmmm, If you follow the "out of Africa theory", anatomically modern humans arose in Africa approx. 150,000/200,000 years ago. The Cro-Magnons (the 1st anatomically modern Europeans did not appear until 45,000 years ago!...That means "Africans had a 100-150,000 year head start on Europeans!!.

Interesting that in ALL that time, that enormous head start that africans had, they remained in a virtual stone age existance until European contact! (& still do in much of afreaka!)...Interesting that WE, the Caucasian race have been responsible for the vast bulk of human accomplishment!..Interesting indeed!.