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Tuesday, 13 February 2007 18:54 |
 | | Tom Plaut |
By JIM GENARO
After discussing the impact of Haitiís poverty on its children at UNC Ashevilleís Humanities Lecture Hall Feb. 6, retired Mars Hill College sociology professor Tom Plaut answered questions from the audience about the challenges facing the country, as well as his activities working with childrenís health there.
The forum was sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Western North Carolina as part of its Great Decisions 2007 lecture series.
ìHow do you account for the big difference between Haiti and the Dominican Republic,î which shares the same island? a woman asked. ìIs it the government or is it the military interventionsî by the U.S.?
ìI think itís a little bit of both,î Plaut replied.
He
noted that in recent years, the U.S. was particularly opposed to the
administration of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haitiís former populist
president, who was elected first in 1991 and later in 2001. Aristide
was removed from power in 2004 by a military coup, in which the U.S.
backed his opponents and flew him out of the country to South Africa ó
by force, according to him.
A Roman Catholic
priest, Aristide campaigned on a platform based in Liberation Theology
ó a school of thought that advocates social justice as a central
Christian value, Plaut noted.
Furthermore, he
had argued that France should repay the $150 million it demanded of
Haiti in exchange for independence in1804 ó the equivalent of $2
billion today.
This position
brought him into conflict with both the Reagan administration and,
later, the current Bush administration, Plaut said.
ìAristide was
targeted because of his liberation theology and his stance on the
debt,î Plaut told the audience. ìUnfortunately, in some remarks in the
late í80s, he sort of sunk his ship in Washington.î
ìWould you comment on family planning?î a woman asked.
Plaut replied
that he worked almost exclusively with children in Haiti, so he was not
really qualified to discuss family planning.
However, he
added, ìthereís a lot of work that needs to be done in family planning
and also with the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases.î
A man asked how
relief workers distribute AK1000, a soup mix comprised of grains and
beans that has been instrumental in combating malnutrition in Haiti.
The supplement
is made locally, Plaut said, from ingredients bought from Haitian
farmers. It is then milled there in 400-pound batches, which is broken
down into family-sized packages.
This has been
remarkably helpful in preventing diseases related to hunger, he said ó
so much so that relief organizations are starting to see it as a
central strategy in their campaign to promote health.
ìInstead of building a fancy clinic, weíre talking about a smaller clinic with a distributing roomî for AK 1000, Plaut noted.
A woman asked about the water situation in Haiti.
All of the 12 water streams that feed Port-au-Prince, the countryís capital, are now polluted, Plaut answered.
ìDigging wells is really important,î he said. ìWhen you drive through towns, you will often see a single water pump.î
Children often
must carry five-gallon buckets of water on their heads from a central
well up steep mountains to the villages where they live, Plaut told the
audience.
ìThatís an amazing sight,î he added.
ìIf itís up to
you, what would be the role of the NGOís (non-governmental
organizations) and the governmentî in fixing Haitiís problems? a man
asked.
The governments
of France and the U.S. should rebuild Haitiís infrastructure, Plaut
answered, because of the damaging impact they have had on the country.
The U.N., he said, is doing well at providing security in Haiti. But the role of NGOís is critical, Plaut added.
ìNGOís can do a whole lot with building hospitals, improving education.î
Furthermore, he
added, if France were to repay the money it extracted from Haiti, many
of the countryís problems could be addressed.
ìI think
Aristide ó though he said it offensively ó has a good point. The U.S.
and France squeezed Haiti to death. We owe it to themî to help rebuild,
he added.
A man asked whether this should be the duty of the U.S. government or of private groups.
Plaut replied
that the U.S. government does have a responsibility to Haiti. However,
this is often obscured by a lack of information about the country.
ìOne of the major crimes is that the press doesnít tell us whatís going on there,î he said.
Particularly
troubling is ìthe dissing of Aristide ó who may not be an angel, but
heís not a crazy drug dealer,î as some U.S. officials have charged,
Plaut said.
Rather, Aristide is ìa Catholic priest who went into the slums and came out very angry about what he saw there,î Plaut added.
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