NEW YORK CITY, February 3 — “We will have to rebuild Haiti all over again. Maybe this time we should make it communist,” exclaimed a student. “What do you guys think?” she asked. This occurred at our emergency student government forum last week in a local high school about the crisis in Haiti
Thirty students attended to hear a report from a high school student and a staff member who had just returned from Haiti. Representatives from two local student governments and their advisors also came. The students and staff were extremely inspired by the moving account of how working-class people are dealing with the horrors of capitalism and imperialism.
One speaker explained how his family organized food for their neighbors and tried to help everyone in the community. He then related the chaos, disorganization and long lines at the U.S. Embassy. People were exhausted, hungry and thirsty. They were forced to sign promissory loans to repay the U.S. government for their return flight to the U.S. which really angered the audience.
A staff member who went to Haiti to see her family and help out explained how she got there — riding a horse from the Dominican Republic for the last leg of her journey! She brought nutrition bars and water to give out to everyone she saw. She described how so many buildings were destroyed but that the U.S. Embassy remained intact. If the recently rebuilt embassy could withstand the quake, why weren’t workers’ homes, schools and hospitals built with the same care?
Students raised many important issues connected to the earthquake: was U.S. imperialism or Haiti’s history of dictatorships mainly to blame? How the media is using racism to further attack Haiti’s working class; and what we can do to support the people there.
We also reviewed some history, pointing out how U.S. bosses, including Disney, have long reaped profits there. In 1993, Disney chairman Michael Eisner made $203 million while workers sewing Mickey Mouse pajamas made 12 cents an hour. We said students and staff should take matters into our own hands and organize relief and solidarity activities that are not micro-managed by supervisors and principals. One student suggested organizing walkouts and protests against the U.S. military occupation which defends U.S. corporations that pay Haiti’s workers starvation wages.
We understand the desperate situation in Haiti and were very thankful that these two friends could share what they saw and did. But students and teachers did leave with a feeling of optimism, that we must be involved in everything, from fund-raising to solidarity trips, to support our working-class brothers and sisters in Haiti.