The Pretense of Doing Good (While Raising Millions)<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n
On Tuesday [26 Feb 2013], Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn, whose new role is Haiti\u2019s ambassador to the United Nations,\u00a0extolled the progress<\/a>\u00a0in the island nation of almost 10 million people.<\/p>\n Penn has worked hard to improve the living standards of tens of thousands of people in one of the capital\u2019s largest internally displaced persons (IDP) camp. However this recent statement is best read as an infomercial, selling president Michel Martelly \u2013 a.k.a.\u00a0compas\u00a0musician \u201cSweet\u00a0Micky\u201d \u2013 reading his lines of Haiti being \u201copen for business,\u201d a statement recently\u00a0challenged by the U.N.<\/a><\/p>\n Penn\u2019s performance distracts attention away from other grim realities, particularly for the\u00a0almost 350,000 people<\/a>\u00a0still living under tents in Haiti, but he is far from the only actor playing make believe. Here\u2019s a list of what might be considered Haiti\u2019s Oscar-winning performances.<\/p>\n Best Make-up and Costume<\/b><\/p>\n Goes to the United Nations.\u00a0After over 20 months of vociferously denying powerful scientific epidemiological and genetic evidence arguing that UN troops brought a deadly strain of cholera to the country in October 2010, killing over 8,000, they finally admitted guilt but re-dressed the debate, recently arguing they are\u00a0not responsible for damages<\/a>.<\/p>\n They also receive the nomination for best humanitarian actor in a supporting role for this cover up, and best special effects for technicality claiming diplomatic immunity.<\/p>\n Best Picture<\/b><\/p>\n This show goes to former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, who took hundreds of millions in foreign aid which agencies like the IMF1<\/sup>\u00a0documented went into the secret police \u2013\u00a0tontons\u00a0macoutes\u00a0\u2013 which killed or \u2018disappeared\u2019 tens of thousands of Haitian people. Duvalier brazenly returned to Haiti in January 2011, probably to make a claim on the $5 million in aid frozen by the Swiss government. Since then he has been living large. Today, Thursday, February 28, he was finally on trial<\/a>\u00a0for the numerous abuses of human rights.<\/p>\n Haiti\u2019s justice system is also nominated for best special effects.<\/p>\n Best Supporting Actor<\/b><\/p>\n Tied between the international community, humanitarian agencies, and the Haitian government for supporting the climate of fear and violence for Haiti\u2019s IDPs.<\/p>\n In a December report,\u00a0Oxfam estimates<\/a>\u00a0that 233,000 people in 247 camps face forced eviction, a situation condemned by international human rights groups like Amnesty International<\/a>\u00a0and others. I have written here about residents at\u00a0Hancho\u00a0near the industrial park.<\/p>\n As funds for relocation have all but dried up, many IDPs who remain are in a constant state of fear. Near midnight on Saturday, February 16,\u00a0\u00a0hundreds of people\u2019s makeshift homes were burned<\/a>\u00a0to the ground in camp ACRA 2 in\u00a0Petionville\u2019s\u00a0Juvenat\u00a0near the\u00a0Karibe\u00a0Convention Center.<\/p>\n According to Jackson\u00a0Doliscar\u00a0of FRAKKA, \u201cThis camp was always under threat. The more\u00a0then\u00a04,000 families said they don\u2019t have anywhere to go. They sleep in the streets or the corridors between people\u2019s houses. People fled this act of violence and returned to find that assailants continued to burn other tents.<\/p>\n \u201cMs.\u00a0Dilia\u00a0Mari had 5 children in her tent, including a one month baby named Cadet\u00a0Isma\u00e9lla\u00a0that she luckily saved. But according to witnesses there were three people burned, including a child. It\u2019s important to point out that the camp was burned one and two days in advance of the CARICOM (Caribbean Common Market) assembly.\u201d<\/p>\n Human rights groups confirmed that as of today no formal investigation has yet been made, and like with cholera, the victims haven\u2019t received any word about compensation for damages.<\/p>\n Best Actor in a Lead Role<\/b><\/p>\n A mission group that has raised over three million dollars to build homes for people seeking emergency shelter in their compound.\u00a0That said,\u00a0the 537 families still in Grace Village, in the sprawling suburb of Carrefour, have been living in constant fear of eviction for the past year and a half.<\/p>\n Haiti Reporters<\/a>\u00a0not only documents slow progress of relocation for Grace Village, but questions the fundraising by Grace Village\u2019s U.S. based nonprofit affiliate, Grace International Inc. The Fuller Center for Housing\u2019s website requested donations for their rehousing project, asking for $30,000 per unit for a nearby location to house Grace Village residents. Grace Village\u2019s website at the time cited the figure of $7,000. A local affiliate of Grace Village, who has the same last name as its leader,\u00a0pastor\u00a0Joel\u00a0Jeune, told reporters that the cost for building shelters was $900 per unit.<\/p>\n While it is common practice for nonprofits to charge overhead, typically explained because funds for general operating expenses are scarce, the level of this markup can only be described as \u201cnon-profiteering,\u201d especially in the light of a discrepancy in Grace International\u2019s annual report to the IRS. While in their 2010 tax return they had noted \u201ccurrent year\u201d revenues as $981,183, up from $311,157 the previous year.<\/p>\n Either because of the expos\u00e9, the lack of progress \u2013 or a changing in the political landscape as President Martelly\u00a0unilaterally renamed all but two<\/a>\u00a0of the country\u2019s municipal governments \u2013 Grace Village increasingly responded with threats of violence.<\/p>\n Resident Leader Marcel\u00a0Germain, who was interviewed in the documentary, documented an increase in violent tactics.<\/p>\n The following is a transcript of a testimony offered at an international colloquium on IDPs and aid held at the\u00a0Facult\u00e9\u00a0d\u2019Ethnologie, hosted by the Development Sciences Department, to commemorate international human rights day, December 10-11, 2012. Marcel\u2019s testimony was cut short \u2013 certainly before the q and a period \u2013 because of\u00a0tear gas police fired<\/a>\u00a0in the university building in their attempt to quell an unrelated student protest. (The previous international colloquium held there\u00a0last February<\/a>\u00a0had also been\u00a0teargassed).<\/p>\n Every day is a dilemma where Joel\u00a0Jeune\u00a0beats people up, forces them out, threatens people, everything. What\u2019s worse, three people inside have lost their lives. One person we call \u201cTiFr\u00e8\u201d (little brother). During a Brazil-Ecuador football game, there was a discussion. [Grace Village\u2019s chauffeur] took an electric stick they had inside and he hit\u00a0TiFr\u00e8\u00a0with it in the heart.<\/p>\n The second person who died had bullets in his forearm, the same time. But his brother works as a security guard at Joel\u2019s house. They corrupted him, promising that they\u2019d give him medical care. They have a clinic, here. They said they\u2019d give him a little money, a little rice. This guy didn\u2019t have anything. So they had him stay. He didn\u2019t go to the Justice. He didn\u2019t do anything.<\/p>\n The third person they killed was Jean. They killed him on March 23. Jean had gone out and returned with a bucket full of wood beams and put it in front of his tent. Two children played with the bucket and he told them to stop, that the wood would injure you. He took a coconut leaf and brushed the children\u2019s feet when he saw the kids insisted.<\/p>\n Someone called security and within minutes, three guys showed up. They took Jean outside and got into an argument. Outside the security agents were yelling at him. One said, \u201cWe\u2019ll see if you avenge your child.\u201d Livid, he took a pick out of his backpack and stabbed Jean three times.<\/p>\n Jean fell down right there, in front of the gate. And he died there.<\/p>\n I came inside to investigate. I had them call the Justice of the Peace, who came with police\u00a0backup\u00a0to complete the investigation.<\/p>\n Residents\u2019 hopes were dashed when the pastor\u2019s political influence blocked any legal action. In retaliation Grace Village locked people inside, refusing to let people leave until a legal injunction was filed on behalf of residents.<\/p>\n On Saturday, February 16, camp officials took out the front metal gate which provided a minimum of security. Taking out the gate exposes residents to \u201cthieves, rapists, and anyone that Pastor Joel will send to enact violence against us at night,\u201d according to resident testimony. As if to prove the point, someone threw rocks in the window later that evening.<\/p>\n Keeping up the pretense of doing good \u2013 raising millions \u2013 while promoting violence earns Grace International the Oscar for Best Actor.<\/p>\n Trying to get them to change their act, human rights groups\u00a0BAI<\/a>,\u00a0DOP<\/a>, and\u00a0IJDH<\/a>\u00a0have\u00a0filed a petition<\/a>\u00a0with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of Marcel\u00a0Germain\u00a0and other Grace Village residents requesting the Haitian government to stop this and other cases of forced eviction. Residents want the violence stop and to be relocated to safe and decent housing, which human rights groups say Haiti\u2019s earthquake victims are entitled to under Haitian and international law.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s hope Haiti\u2019s 2013 performances will be better.<\/p>\n Notes:<\/b><\/p>\n 1. See James Ferguson. 1987.\u00a0Papa Doc, Baby Doc: Haiti and the\u00a0Duvaliers.\u00a0<\/i>Oxford, Basil Blackwell, p. 70<\/p>\n ______________________<\/p>\n Mark Schuller<\/i>\u00a0is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and NGO Leadership Development at Northern Illinois University and affiliate at the\u00a0Facult\u00e9\u00a0d\u2019Ethnologie,l\u2019Universit\u00e9\u00a0d\u2019\u00c9tat\u00a0d\u2019Ha\u00efti. Supported by the National Science Foundation and others,\u00a0Schuller\u2019s\u00a0research on globalization, NGOs, gender, and disasters in Haiti has been published in twenty book chapters and peer-reviewed articles as well as public media. He is the author of\u00a0<\/i>Killing with Kindness: Haiti, International Aid, and NGOs<\/a>\u00a0(Rutgers, 2012) and co-editor of three volumes, including\u00a0<\/i>Tectonic Shifts: Haiti\u00a0Since\u00a0the Earthquake<\/a>\u00a0(Kumarian\u00a0Press, 2012). He is co-director \/ co-producer of documentary\u00a0<\/i>Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Economy<\/a>\u00a0(Documentary Educational Resources, 2009). He chairs the Society for Applied Anthropology\u2019s Human Rights and Social Justice Committee, serves on several boards, and is active in many solidarity efforts.<\/i><\/p>\n