The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster

I finally read journalist Jonathan M. Katz's heartfelt and enlightening perspective on the international community's response to the diastrous 2010 earthquake that destroyed Port-au-Prince. Although a journalist, Katz clearly wrote a well-researched account of the numerous follies of the West's perception of Haiti, how NGOs, Western states, and the media contributed to the problem, and how Haiti's politically stability and democratization was further weakened as a result.

Katz, narrowly escaping from AP's Petionville house when the earthquake struck, followed developments closely. He notes how the media, NGOs, and Western governments exaggerated the extent to which rioting and social unrest would happen in the earthquake's aftermath, rightly criticized the influence and power of foreigners like Sean Penn who disseminated false information, as well as noting the problematic militarized distribution of aid from the US (which, assuming riots and unrest, likely slowed down the pace of rescue efforts and aid to the hundreds of thousands who lost their lives and homes). Katz also challenges the hypocritical stance of the US and the international community at large regarding corruption in Haiti, which was the rationale used by various agencies to argue against direct aid to the Haitian state.

Agreeing with Katz, I find it hard to see how not directly channeling aid to the Préval government would help, since the anti-corruption government agency in Haiti (as well as numerous other departments, institutions, and jobs) were sorely lacking in cash necessary to operate successfully or rebuild their destroyed offices. Thus, Western hypocrisy regarding widespread corruption in places like the US weakened Préval's and the Haitian state's ability to direct reconstruction and services in the worst humanitarian disaster to ever hit the hemisphere.

In addition, Katz makes it quite clear how most of the billions of aid raised by donor countries and financial institutions never found its way to Haiti, instead staying mostly within donor countries, dispersed through NGOs (which used much of the funds for costs of operation, paying for their own comfort, etc.), spent irresponsibly by US institutions, fed into UN organizations in Haiti, and under control by a foreign-dominated management group. In addition, the Collier report, favored by Clinton, Haiti's business elite, a South Korean garment factory operator, the UN, and other influential people continued an old pattern of failed strategies to challenge poverty in Haiti. Indeed, as Katz reminds us, the garment factory industry (or sweatshops, since most garment factories in Haiti don't comply with workers' right standards or the Haitian minimum wage law) never paid enough to lift workers out of poverty, led to an concentration of people in Port-au-Prince (fueling the creation of large slums), and left when wages rose and the workers became more skilled. Clearly, the Clintons, Sean Penn, the Martelly government, Boulos, some NGOs, and many donor countries saw an opportunity to make money off human suffering, which is exactly what happened.

Although lacking the term used by Naomi Klein, clearly there is an undercurrent of her work in Katz's coverage of the undemocratic, foreign-led transition of power in Haiti (as well as the eventual establishment of a tax-free garment factory in Caracol, far away from Port-au-Prince). In addition, Katz is not afraid to attack imperialistic bullying and coercion by the US and other donors, who used the threat of stalling aid and needed reconstruction efforts to ensure an obedient Préval. Undoubtedly, Haitian sovereignty was not a priority for most of the international community in the aftermath of the earthquake, a persisting problem that reared its ugly head in the farce of an election that led to Martelly's election. However, Katz is quick to note a corrupt land deal that led to hundreds of thousands being pushed in tarps out of Port-au-Prince (in a floodplain!) and other instances of Haitians colluding against their sovereignty and economic well-being.

All in all, Katz's book is an accessible, highly readable account of disaster capitalism and how neoliberal-oriented development in 'the republic of NGOs' has contributed to a catastrophe almost as horrifying as the earthquake itself. From cholera to a quasi-Duvalierist state, the reconstruction efforts to build back better in Haiti will likely take several decades to rectify.