Haiti's current geological catastrophe is really not that different from the geopolitical disasters the Caribbean nation has experienced as a direct result of American meddling. And the Haitian people are responding in much the same way: flying under the radar and relentlessly building community out of the raw materials provided by the human spirit, the soul of a nation that defied colonial nightmares and the scourge of slavery. In a sense, Haitians have never been slaves, although currently the upper echelons of society, their multinational cohorts and the Preval government's legions of 'co-whores' have eagerly taken up the cudgel conveniently left in their path by the French.
Judith Gelin is a Haitian-American Portlander, member of the society for Haitian Arts and cultures and activist. She has been in Haiti for two weeks now and is due back stateside this Friday. Despite losing three family members, despite today's flurry of new quakes amd despite the militarized atmosphere that surrounds much of the relief work, Judith has been working side by side with her fellow countrymen and women, steadily rebuilding Haitian society - something not molded from steel and concrete, something the earthquake rearranged but never truely destroyed, something that no corporation could ever lay claim to.
As the aid pours in and hearts pour out to Haitians, Haiti will never be "resettled" in "camps". The soulless shells of community that best suit the needs of the sweatshop masters will never be inhabited by the real people of Haiti...
- KBOO