Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Letter to the Publishers: Amy Martin on Chomsky's Earthquake Commentary

From the pages of the newest edition of ¡Reclama! magazine:

I just read the first edition of ¡Reclama! and had some questions for a statement made by Noam Chomsky and highlighted by the ¡Reclama! staff by being placed on the front page of the magazine. Chomsky states that the earthquake in Haiti was a “class-based catastrophe,” affecting the “the people living in the miserable urban slums” more than the wealthy. During my two stays in Jimaní working at both the public and private hospitals, I had contact with many different relief workers and first responders from numerous organizations that had seen the destruction in both the wealthy areas and the slums. Hearing firsthand accounts from the situation and devastation in and around Port-au-Prince, I was convinced of exactly the opposite.

It seemed to me an interesting twist of fate that in this particular natural disaster, quite uncommonly, the upper and lower classes were affected unequally with the upper classes hit with more severity than the slums. Chomsky states, “It didn’t much harm the wealthy elite up in the hills...” This is where, through first hand accounts, it seems that the population was hit the hardest. I do not take this point of view from media coverage because I tend to have a healthy skepticism for what stories the media concentrates on; and I have read both supporting and opposing accounts published simultaneously from different sources. I take this point of view from those who were there and saw the situation with their own eyes.

How could this specific event immediately affect the wealthy more than the impoverished when 9 out of 10 natural disasters affect the opposite socioeconomic group? Well, let’s think of the infrastructure and lifestyle differences between the two demographics. The wealthy have the luxury to build with cement blocks. They are more worried about their structures withstanding hurricanes than earthquakes. They build structures that can topple and kill and trap in an earthquake. The lower classes, those “living in the miserable urban slums,” do not have this luxury. Their homes are built out of cardboard and palm board which fall with ease and cannot hold up in a hurricane, but in an earthquake is exactly what can fall on your head without crushing you.

Let’s talk about lifestyle. In early evening the wealthy are still in their hurricane-proof, but not earthquake-proof, cement block offices, in commute, in block grocery stores, or in their block houses. After school or work in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas, many more-privileged citizens head straight to internet cafes. At the time that the earthquake hit, internet cafes were full and constituted one of the public locations with the highest rates of mortality. In the slums, there are no internet cafes of block, only cardboard or palm-board structures. There is not the luxury to shop in block supermarkets, only buying food in open-air markets.

What I can say from my first hand experiences at the hospital in Jimani is that the a good portion of the patients there were of the middle-upper class. They were well educated, spoke French, English and Spanish, and hadprofessional careers in Haiti. Initially, I thought that the patients were able to leave Haiti and arrive at the hospital in Jimaní based on wealth or class. After talking with doctors and transportation coordinators, I was informed that patients arrived based on their medical priority and their needs matched the available resources. I took this as being non-biased and a semi-accurate glimpse of the population affected. However, of course, I am not sure how the patients were actually chosen.

My writing this is not to make light of the current situation with the lower classes in Haiti or say that they survived this unscathed, or even that we should see their devastation as anything less. They have suffered incomprehensible tragedy and devastation, and they are the ones without the resources to recover. It is true, as well, that after the initial acute phase of rescue and relief that the people of this demographic are and will be the ones to feel the long-term effect of the earthquake. They are the subset of the population where lack of food, water, and protection from communicable disease are grave threats. Whereas the wealthy have the finances and means to rise out of the rubble, the poor do not.

After I read Chomsky’s statement, I initially assumed that he was referring to these long-term effects that the earthquake will have on the lower class. Indeed, the lower classes face more challenges with basic needs now and into the foreseeable future, without the resources to cope--this IS a “class based-catastrophe,” but it is the same class-based catastrophe that has been present in Haiti before the earthquake, albeit now more intensified.

But Chomsky makes this statement in the past tense--and suggests that the immediate effect of the earthquake on those in the slums (whose living situation may have in fact saved their lives) is what destroyed them, and he dismisses the devastation it had for the upper class in Haiti. He writes: “It didn’t much harm the wealthy elite up in the hills, they were shaken and not destroyed. On the other hand the people living in the miserable urban slums, huge numbers of them have been devastated...” To me, to so easily dismiss the effect that the earthquake had on the wealthy is erroneous. To all of us who had the opportunity to work with patients that were not from the slums in Jimani and elsewhere, we know they too are survivors and that to dismiss their suffering is tragic. The entire country suffered. This should be acknowledged.

I believe deeply in the representation of the underprivileged; giving a voice to those who do not have a voice is necessary. But above this, I believe in searching for the truth and reporting the truth. Automatically siding with one side or another without the necessary research can lead you to lose credibility for the causes you fight for and give the opposition a weakness to attack.

I write this because to me it was an interesting anomaly pertaining to the social effects of natural disasters, and it gave me hope that the lower classes in Haiti might have found some resilience in this earthquake with which to rebuild. I also believe that every victim of the earthquake, regardless of socioeconomic status, deserves equal acknowledgment.

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