Not debtors but creditors
Posted on Mar 21, 2010
Many organizations, including PIH, have been advocating for full forgiveness of Haiti's debt to foreign creditors. While a step forward in helping Haiti rebuild after the recent earthquake, journalist Naomi Klein argues that this debt cancellation is not nearly enough. In a recent article in The Nation, she succinctly outlines how it should be Haiti, not "the West," who should be the creditors as opposed to the debtors.
"Our debt to Haiti stems from four main sources: slavery, the U.S. occupation, dictatorship and climate change," writes Klein. "These claims are not fantastical, nor are they merely rhetorical. They rest on multiple violations of legal norms and agreements." Read more.
Klein also stresses that in disasters such as the recent earthquake, the debt repayments Haiti has been forced to pay have become truly devastating. "Each payment to a foreign creditor was money not spent on a road, a school, an electrical line."
