Vox Sambou and the Solid’Ayiti initiative for Haiti

Haitian hip-hop artist Vox Sambou offers an inspiring mix of powerful music and social action, pointing to the great possibilities of blending the arts with community activism. A key hip-hop figure in Montreal, Vox is a member of the celebrated ensemble Nomadic Massive and assisted in launching the Solid’Ayiti initiative after the devastating earthquake hit Haiti last winter.

Proposal: Haiti Deserves Post-Colonial Debt Forgiveness

If we really want to help Haiti, the advanced developed countries should start by giving Haiti debt forgiveness on the grounds of historical colonial domination.

Allison Killkenny wrote an interesting post on the recent history of Haiti’s debt bondage and ties it to a history of invasion and colonial machinations.

Too Little, Too Late: Human Solidarity & Haiti’s Disaster

It is so easy to forget in the West how extra vulnerable the impoverished parts of the world are to natural disasters. From the more than 200,000 lives lost in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami to the at least 1800 people who died as a result of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it is clear that systemic inequities produce populations that are especially likely to fall victim to natural disasters.

So now, in the midst of a devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Haiti and upwards of 18 aftershocks, we see this in action. Port-au-Prince is in tatters.

Nature — if it is just that — can strike anywhere, anytime and rarely is there any advance notice. However, poorly constructed buildings, inadequate emergency services and urban planning without sufficient resources are the primary cause of high disaster casualties.