Tag Archives: humanitarian imperialism
Haitian Lessons to Warn Nepalese: Beware Disaster Capitalists in Humanitarian Clothes
[As the horrifying death toll continues to fise to many thousands, amid the collapse of much of the home, business, and cultural structures in Nepal — the result of milleniums of colonial domination, oppression, and plunder — the enormous need for international rescue and reconstruction is a plaintive appeal to the good intentions of people everywhere. But the aid will come with many conditions by the powers who bear gifts. It is instructive to study the experience of the “aid” and “recovery” of Haiti from the devastating earthquake of 2010. The US turned Haitian earthquake aid into neo-colonial, militarized occupation. The struggles of people to control their own recovery has been an ongoing fight in Haiti, and now in Nepal. The following except from a chapter in the important new book Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Humanitarian Imperialism makes this Haitian experience hauntingly present in the streets of Kathmandu today. — Frontlines ed.]
US Imperialism and Disaster Capitalism in Haiti
Keir Forgie, from Maximilian Forte’s new book: Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Humanitarian Imperialism
At 4:53 PM, on Monday, January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake shocked Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It was the most devastating earthquake the country had experienced in over 200 years, with estimated infrastructure damage between $8 and $14 billion (Donlon, 2012, p. vii; Farmer, 2011, p. 54). This is particularly astounding considering that Haiti is recognized as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with 70% of individuals surviving on less than $2 US per day (Farmer, 2011, p. 60). The quake’s epicentre was located 15 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, which is the most heavily populated area in all of Haiti (Donlon, 2012, p. vii). Approximately three million Haitians, one third of the country’s population, live in Port-au-Prince and every single individual was affected by the disaster: the Haitian government reported 230,000 deaths, 300,600 injured persons, and between 1.2 to 2 million displaced people (Donlon, 2012, p. vii). The country presented a “blank slate,” with all manner of political, economic, and social services in absolute ruin—an ideal circumstance to exercise the arms of the new (US) imperialism: notably, NGOs, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), the militarization of humanitarian aid, and disaster capitalism.
Pakistan: US-CIA Intelligence and Special Ops in “medical-humanitarian” disguise
[Once again, the results of a deceptive “humanitarian” cover for a military operation. After finding the wolf in sheep’s clothing, all sheep become suspect, and are avoided. — Frontlines ed.]
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CIA’s vaccine ruse in Pakistan carries fallout
The phony campaign was aimed at helping find and kill Osama bin Laden, but the doctor involved now faces treason charges, and real immunization workers say Pakistanis don’t trust them.
Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan — A phony vaccination campaign orchestrated by the CIA to help find and kill Osama bin Laden is undercutting Western-backed immunization drives against polio and other diseases, and now has the Pakistani doctor involved in the program possibly facing treason charges.
A Pakistani government commission investigating the U.S. raid that killed Bin Laden in May recommended late Thursday that treason charges be filed against Dr. Shakeel Afridi, who helped carry out the fake vaccination effort designed to obtain DNA evidence from the Al Qaeda leader’s sprawling compound in Abbottabad.

If Afridi is charged and convicted, he could face the death penalty. U.S. officials have been seeking the doctor’s release since his arrest in May by Pakistani intelligence agents and have defended the ruse, arguing that extraordinary measures were needed to track down the world’s most wanted terrorist. Continue reading
Mercenaries, AFRICOM, and the “Dogs of War”
Africa’s new breed of ‘dogs of war’
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, May 17 (UPI) — A new generation of soldiers of fortune, successors to the “Dogs of War” who fought in the Congo, Angola and other post-colonial wars, is operating across Africa, except today they’re known as Private Military and Security Companies.
Peter Singer of the Brookings Institution said some of the PMSCs are operating at the “tip of the spear” in Africa and are directly descended from their mercenary forebears.
One catalyst for the mercenaries’ re-emergence in their latest incarnation appears to be the U.S. Africa Command. Continue reading
US aid to Central Asian regimes: Behind the Mask of “Humanitarian Imperialism”
Inter Press Service, October 19, 2010
US Military Aid Far Outpaces Democracy Assistance
Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON – Desperate to secure supply routes to Afghanistan, the United States has been spending at least six times more on military aid for the mostly authoritarian states of Central Asia than on efforts to promote political liberalization and human rights in the region, according to a new report released here by the Open Society Foundations (OSF).
The 45-page report found that the full extent of military aid controlled by the Pentagon and the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and channeled through a bewildering variety of programs is uncertain, but that it is at least three times greater than the State Department’s military aid programs which are subject to human rights and other conditions.
“Nobody really knows how much military aid the U.S. government is giving the Central Asian states,” according to Lora Lumpe, the author of the report, ‘U.S. Military Aid to Central Asia 1999-2009: Security Priorities Trump Human Rights and Diplomacy‘. Continue reading
Rebranding Neo-Colonialism in Africa: “We’re only here to help Africa”
[This article from the German press traces many of the historic features of the imperialist relationship with Africa. It also claims that neo-colonialism, like its colonial prequel, is on the way out. But readers may see that while the packaging of imperialism is again changing, its interests have not. “A luta continua!” – “the struggle continues!” – “amandla awetu!” – “power to the people!” –ed.]
DW-WORLD.DE, 26.09.2010
Africa’s neocolonial era ending as US and France seek new partnerships
For generations, Africa’s fate lay in the hands of self-interested foreign powers. Today, the US and France promise a fresh approach to the continent that puts Africans in charge of their own security and development.
During the post-World War II period, the world’s major powers championed African independence in word, but undermined it in deed. As the Cold War broadened, the two superpowers manipulated the continent’s liberation movements for their own political ends.
Meanwhile, former imperial powers such as France pushed a hidden agenda that turned newly independent colonies into de-facto protectorates. Although African independence existed on paper, in reality the continent’s fate was still decided in foreign capitals.
The consequences of this neocolonialism are far reaching. In a continent politically engineered by foreigners, national borders often are not worth the map they are drawn on. Many African states, designed in the mind of a European, cannot maintain legitimacy before competing indigenous interests. Some have become failed states in which government authority often does not reach beyond the capital city.
This instability has bred transnational crime and terrorism that jeopardize global security. The US and France have responded by initiating a strategy that seeks to stabilize the continent by strengthening African institutions instead of undermining them. In the 21st century, African unity – not division – serves the interests of world powers.
Drift into chaos
As the Soviet Union careened toward collapse, the governing principle of US policy in Africa became obsolete. Washington no longer needed to cultivate African allies to contain Moscow’s influence on the continent. As a result, the US began to refocus its involvement on humanitarian assistance.
But a policy driven by humanitarianism proved unsustainable after the botched Somalia intervention in 1993, in which 18 US soldiers died. Washington pulled back and remained aloof from African affairs even as genocide gripped Rwanda.
“After the Cold War you could say Africa was basically very low and this was strongly reflected by the management by the Clinton Administration,” Roland Marchal, an expert on Sub-Saharan Africa with the Center for International Studies and Research at SciencesPo Paris, told Deutsche Welle. “For the European Union the situation was never like that because of the colonial past.” Continue reading