Capitalism bears bitter fruit in Haiti as holidaymakers distance themselves from the hell on earth next door
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.
Tags: Adam Goldstein, Adam Smith, aid, beach, capitalism, disaster relief, earthquake, free market, Haiti, Haiti earthqake, hotel resorts, invisible hand of the market, Labadee, Naomi Klein, poverty, Royal Caribbean cruise, sun, The Shock Doctrine, tourism, tourist industry
THIS IS A VERY GOOD ARTICAL AND IS SO TRUE…KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AMY..PEACE!!