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The death toll has reached 200,000. Rotting corpses line the streets of Port-au Prince, and survivors fight for scraps amid the squalor- But only 100 miles away on Labadee beach thousands of cruise-goers are sunning themselves, drinking martinis, and playing water-polo. The bitter fruits of capitalist enterprise have rarely been portrayed so profoundly.
The chief executive of the Royal Caribbean cruise line Adam Goldstein has justified continuing cruise schedules as planned, despite the devastation left by the earthquake that hit Haiti last week.
He told the Guardian:
“My view is this: it isn’t better to replace a visit to Labadee (or for that matter, to stay on the ship while it’s docked in Labadee) with a visit to another destination for a vacation because being on the island and generating economic activity helps with relief.
“The north is going to bear a good part of the burden of the agony of the south, and the more economic support there is to the north, the better able the north will be to bear this burden.”
Indeed Mr. Goldstein, why bother sending aid at all when the market does such a better job at it? The wealth will simply trickle down to the dying Haitains via coins collected in the Styrofoam donation cup resting by the till of Labadee’s high-end resort bar.
In fact it is a wonder aid agencies are sending out their lot to toil in the hot sun pulling people out of rubble at all, when they could just as easily pull up a sun chair on the beach. According to Goldstein, “people enjoying themselves in Labadee helps with relief”, so why aren’t we all out parasailing?
But as easy as it is to demonize a company promoting holiday packages to a secluded paradise securely fenced off from the hell on earth next door, Royal Caribbean is not the first entrepreneurial business to take advantage of a major natural disaster. As Naomi Klein notes in her book, The Shock Doctrine, only days after the Asian tsunami hit the Sri Lankan government began a policy of clearing the debris-strewn beaches to build hotel resorts. As the Marriot and Hilton moved in, inhabitants from the country’s fishing villages were forced behind buffer zones.
Long before the emergency relief trucks drove in, Haiti was a devastated country. The poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere has zealously followed the prescriptions of the Washington Consensus, and despite Goldstein’s assertions, free market economics has done little to alleviate the destitution of millions. Up to 80 per cent of the population live under the poverty line, with 54 per cent in abject poverty.
Haiti’s owes a whopping US$1.5 billion to foreign creditors. Last year the government paid US$79 million to service its debt, while the country received less than half that amount for schools, health and transport.
Adam Smith and Adam Goldstein share a common philosophy, one that has traditionally failed to serve the world’s poor. The invisible hand of the market will not save Haiti. And it will certainly not replace the hands distributing food, water, and medical supplies directly in the hands of the people.
Posted January 19, 2010 at 6:12 pm. 1 comment
As an international journalist with a stake in the news, it’s hardly surprising that I spend a scary amount of time scouring the world pages of news sites, watching Al Jazeera, and flicking through the international sections of national newspapers.
But what is more surprising (and scarier) is that this places me firmly in a box outside the realm of most Americans. As media owners and analysts are keen to point out, local stories receive much more attention in the US than world news. Even war is “a local story”, says John Maxwell Hamilton, the author of Journalism’s Roving Eye: A History of American Foreign Reporting. Americans care about what happens to their boys abroad, and their ability to locate Iraq on a map has little bearing on viewer numbers.
Of course this trend is not without its exceptions. The earthquake in Haiti received a torrent of media coverage, and most Americans have joined the rest of the world in watching with horror as the tragedy unfolds. But even a disaster on such a mass scale has not shaken some Americans’ insular view of the world.
One Facebook user, Jack Finnegan, had this to say about America’s aid shipments to Haitian earthquake victims:
“Why is it always us? Let China help or Japan we have enough problems. People lose their houses everyday…if we keep giving it all away we will be a lost, broke country talking about when we used to be prosperous. There is a time to help but, there is also a time to get your house in order. Guess what time it is.”
It would be unfair to leave it at that. Finnegan’s comment received an avalanche of criticism, the most noteworthy coming from New Yorker Sarah Pratt:
“So we can’t care about a natural disaster that killed 100,000 people if it not on US soil? We all care about fellow Americans safety and financial stability in these hard times. But we are all people on this earth. Borders created by ourselves shouldn’t change that.”
Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman argues that Americans are interested in foreign news, at least as much as anyone else. But knowledge of world affairs is much more limited than it should be, and the domestic media takes a fair share of the blame.
On Thursday, Al Jazeera’s Riz Khan show hosted a debate on the decline of foreign journalism in America. Speaking on the programme, Goodman pointed out that the media’s failure to report on world news has meant that “we [Americans] don’t even see the effects of our actions in other countries”. Goodman claims that greater emphasis on world affairs would impact the nation’s view on war and racial or religious intolerance. “When people learn about other countries, it’s harder to be belligerent against them,” she explains.
Today the country is facing a black hole where international coverage used to be, and it is not just viewer polls that are leading this scourge either. Publications and broadcasters are struggling to make journalism pay, and costly foreign correspondents are the first cutback. World news is shrinking fast, and the US media is leading the race to the bottom.
Two freelance journalist colleagues of mine have confirmed this dreary turn of events; American newspapers have told them they are no longer accepting freelance work on their foreign desks.
But Hamilition points outs that foreign journalism is not dead, just transformed-through online media. The internet age has seen a blossoming of foreign news reported from all corners of the globe by anyone with a mobile phone or a camera. As evidenced by the ‘twitter revolution’ following the Iranian elections, online citizen journalism is wielding unprecedented power.
This does not solve the problem for journalists per se, as most of still rely on the age old formula of payment for services rendered. But it does mean there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. If we could just start charging a road tax on it, there may be hope yet.
Posted January 17, 2010 at 7:43 am. Add a comment
The Guardian investigation into Iran’s involvement in the kidnapping of five British nationals in May 2007 has opened Pandora’s Box on the Iranian issue. The Guardian revealed over the Christmas holidays-in light of the release of hostage Peter Moore-that evidence suggests the kidnapping was carried out by members of the special Quds force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The British foreign office denies the charge, saying there is no evidence to suggest that the hostages were taken across the Iraq-Iran border. However, head of US forces in Iraq General David Petraeus told the Guardian that Peter Moore, Jason Swindlehurst, Jason Creswell, Alec Maclachlan and Alan McMenemy were held in Iran for some of their captivity.
The revelation is not an easy pill for the British government to swallow. Admittance to Iran’s involvement in the attack would force the UK to act on the information, and possibly sever ties to the Iranian regime. This move would prove disastrous for Britain’s hope to play a key role alongside the US in the stalled nuclear negotiations. And put aptly in a Guardian podcast, it would “take Britain out of the game”, a dreary prospect for a nation set on proving it still has worth in the international arena.
The UK foreign office certainly seems keen to push this skeleton back in the closet; after all, the timing could not be worse. As Britain returns to the Iraq Inquiry following a holiday recession period, the incident hammers another nail in the coffin for the UK’s blundering decision to invade Iraq on America’s coattails. Not only did Britain entangle itself in an illegal war, it also strengthened Iranian Shi’ite influence on its neighbour.
This is not to say that the problem should be resolved by military action against Iran. Another Middle East conflict is the last thing needed for Britain, the US, and its allies. Not only would it be hugely unpopular, but potentially devastating for all nations still mired in the grip of the financial crisis. And there is nothing to suggest that this is where we are heading. But the question remains about whether Britain should cut diplomatic ties with the Iranian government. In light of the growing civil unrest in the country and the suppression of opposition supporters by the Iranian leadership, drawing a line in the sand would at least demonstrate a sign of courage and resolve over the issue.
Although snubbing Tehran may not be the wisest strategy. Ahmadinejad’s administration is bent on exploiting its tensions with the West in a bid to shore up domestic support. A move against the Iranians may just be the clincher needed to cement the government’s position. It is clear that the UK has dug itself into a chasm, and there is little the country can do to pull itself out again. There is no doubt that more causalities will follow from this dangerous game. And there is even less likelihood that the UK will learn from its mistakes. But the Guardian investigation has upped the ante, and this time it may be harder to sweep the truth under the table.
Posted January 8, 2010 at 11:14 am. Add a comment
The holidays are over, even if the weather in London hasn’t quite realized it yet. But as everyone shuffles back to their lives, some with jobs, more facing the realities of recession-fueled unemployment, I find myself becoming more reflective. The last few months of 2009 have been tumultuous in both my personal life and career. And I think it might be time to write something a bit more, well, personal on these pages.
2009 refused to end quietly. Beginning with the end of my relationship with my partner of three years, and ending with the beginning of a new job. The in-between period was racked by two job losses, a stolen bag and wallet, and a police report telling me the case was closed before it was even opened.
31 October 2009-My partner and I are on our way to a Halloween party. The night ends in a police arrest, and I find myself sleeping on a friend’s floor. Work in the morning, or so I thought…
1 November 2009-The usual chaos of putting together our Press TV news bulletin programme Inside Europe, is heightened by an added element of stress. This is due to two factors. One-I have not slept, and I am debating my next move after moving out of my flat. Two-our boss has somewhat forebodingly told us the show needs to be excellent. There is no explanation, but after a month and a half of working at Press TV I am used to the unusual.
The show ends at 5:30pm, without a hitch. Well a few hitches, but nothing earth-shattering. Then the bomb hits. Every day ends with a production post-mortem. The idea is to iron out the kinks for tomorrow, but this time is different. Our boss walks to the table uncomfortably. He sits down and looks up at us. There is an awkward silence for a few seconds before he breaks the news none of us were expecting. The show is cancelled. The shock of the night before makes the moment all the more surreal. We laugh nervously because there is little else to do. The meeting ends with a promise that more news about Inside Europe’s future will come tomorrow.
2 November 2009- And so it does. I am handed a book on the history of Iran. Like a rite of passage at Press TV, every former employee receives one when they are made redundant-to commemorate their time with the network. It is a running joke, and one that despite the pain of losing my partner, job, and flat, does not lose its dark irony as I walk out of my boss’s office. I contemplate selling it on Amazon to pay for my next meal.
3 November 2009-I collect my belongings from my flat and move into my friend’s basement apartment in Camden. The next month is spent on an inflatable mattress tying up loose ends with freelance work, and mindlessly job searching.
15 November 2009-I walk back into Press TV to collect material for my portfolio, and I am offered a job. A freelancing contract with Press TV as a foreign correspondent. But I don’t accept it right away because part of me thinks it’s time to start over. Print journalism has always been my first love, and I am ready to get back to writing.
3 December 2009-I decide that it may be time to arise from the inflatable mattress, pull myself away from the glare of the computer screen, and go out into the wide world of the living. A friend of mine is coming to London for a Future of the Left concert, and he offers me a ticket. On the way out the door, for a second I realize that I should probably not carry so many things in my bag. Do I really plan to use my Dictaphone, IPod, and telephone recorder to capture the thoughts of the screaming fans at the gig? The second passes, just as quickly as the moment my bag is stolen in the World’s End pub.
Chatting away to my friends I was oblivious to the group of guys that sidled up next to us, loitered for awhile, and swiftly evaporated without my noticing until I reached for my wallet to pay for a drink.
The next day I bought a new phone with my old Simcard, and imagine my surprise to find a message on my voicemail for my robber, from the police. Apparently Mr. Robber had been using my phone credit to harass a woman he knew, who called the cops on him. The message I found was left by a sergeant warning Mr. Robber to stay away from the woman or risk a court order. Gleefully I ran to the police station, confident that I had enough evidence to drag this evildoer in. Three hours with wet feet after jetting through the rain later, I am told that despite my indisputable evidence against the thief, they would not be able to prosecute him unless they found my possessions on him, and they could not locate him anyway. I was told if anything came up I would be contacted. I was never contacted by phone, but I did receive a letter through the post telling me the case was closed. And I was asked to fill out a survey about the police service. Lucky for the police they do not work on commission, because I have never had such miserable service in my life. The survey is only the icing on the cake to what is an abominable joke paid for by taxpayers.
Not only do I not have a job now, but I have lost all my journalism equipment, and still no takers on Amazon for the Iran book. Back to Press TV.
8 December 2009- I have completed my first Press TV package on the Iraq Inquiry. The piece to camera is the hardest part, but overall I’m pleased. Broadcast journalism has always eluded me, and I am beginning to understand how to piece together a story using sound, footage, pictures and words. Getting the hang of it is exciting, and I’m looking forward to mastering the art.
19 December 2009-My affair with broadcast journalism proves to be short-lived, as I am suddenly wrenched out of Press TV over an editorial dispute. The end is dramatic. But I will save that story for another day.
22 December 2009-Feeling awfully sorry for myself, I book tickets home to Ireland for Christmas. I was meant to be working over the holidays, but at least I can go home now and drown my sorrows in mince pie. Just then, my phone rings. I’m offered a job as a reporter on an International Law magazine. As Fortuna would have it, finally some happy news. And right in time for Christmas!
The rest is a whirl of emotion flung at me after two weeks spent at home catching up with old friends, and remembering the moments of my life that brought me to this point. As I write this post, the snow over London subsides, and a thin layer of ice hardens on the grey sidewalks. The calm is comforting, the aftermath of a blizzard. Next week I start my new job, and hopefully, a new beginning.
Posted January 7, 2010 at 3:05 pm. Add a comment
