The Curmudgeon

YOU'LL COME FOR THE CURSES. YOU'LL STAY FOR THE MUDGEONRY.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

The Observer Shakes Its Head Sadly

"Deep gashes in the steep mountains around Gonaïves," writes the Observer's man in Haiti straight from the Manual of Journalese Poesy, "are the claw marks of the disasters that strike this north-western coastal city with deadly regularity. They are also Haiti's stigmata: the wounds of a nation caused by the near-complete deforestation of a land that was once a rich tropical habitat." The reasons for Haiti's decline are plain for the Observer's man to see: "The loss of Haiti's trees, coupled with a decline in agricultural self-sufficiency and loss of top soil, has made the politically unstable nation even more vulnerable to outside forces", not including US business interests. The trees, of course, are victims of "the insatiable demand for the charcoal used as cooking fuel", since the natives, against all common sense and environmental responsibility, refuse to eat their food raw. "The other component of Haiti's disaster scenario was also evident" in a further indictment of your Haitian's lack of greenliness and cleanliness: "floating islands of plastic bottles that block storm drains". All this irresponsibility, of course, has its roots in ancient history, namely "the black slave uprising against the French in 1804", which led to Haiti's nominal independence and the need for the United States and its business interests to provide a benevolent helping hand. The need, sadly, continues to this day: "Jane Wynne, a US-educated environmentalist ... has spent her life trying to get Haitians to change their lifestyles". Meanwhile, the Observer's man puzzles over the conundrum of saving the natives from themselves: is "reforestation - and a chance of returning to self-sufficiency" a luxury, or is it a necessity?

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