After my recent trip to Haiti, I was on this week’s ABC Triple J’s Sunday Night Safran talking about the reality on the ground there, what disaster capitalism means in the nation and the role of the US:
Showing all posts tagged privatisation
What rampant vulture capitalism looks like in Afghanistan
Private security companies have been causing chaos in the country for years. It’s something I examined during my recent visit to the country and will be appearing in a book and documentary on disaster capitalism in 2013. Here’s just the latest example of of unregulated chaos (via UK Telegraph): The American military is investigating allegations…
Rewarding failure; Australia keen to embrace G4S to “manage” refugees in PNG
What does it take for a corporation to be shunned? Clearly not massive failure, like G4S. The Australian government needs its head read but it shows that firms like G4S sell themselves as invaluable and “efficient” service providers: The Federal Government is looking to have the Manus Island immigration centre run by G4S, the same…
Challenging #firstworldproblems in Haiti
This is an interesting campaign and certainly eye-catching that makes a viewer uncomfortable. Perhaps for a place like Haiti, that I visited recently, we need to be shocked out of our inertia:
Haiti, in need of real support, faces shoddy aid “support” from US star
Most of the world’s media ignores Haiti. Too poor and too complex. The New York Times routinely frames the country as desperate with no interest in true independence. During my recent visit there I examined the reality behind the headlines, how multinationals and well-meaning souls are doing more harm than good. But now and then…
Recovery in Haiti doesn’t mean selling the joint to the highest bidder
During my recent visit to Haiti, working on a book and documentary about disaster capitalism, it was very clear that the US government, many NGOs and multinationals all wanted a piece of the country. And it’s working out badly. There’s a new book about how outside forces, especially Washington, continually attempt to control Haiti by…
That is what global “help” looks like in Afghanistan
America and China talk about assisting the war-torn country but the reality is so very different. The result? A supposed need to bring in private companies to fix the mess:
Shell is a glorious company that takes full responsibility for its actions (or not)
Interesting initiative that I discovered via The Yes Men. This website, murderisbad.com, is an attempt to highlight the reality of a multinational that wants to be beyond the law. Don’t let them: Shell was involved in murders in Nigeria. They would like everyone to forget about it. Shell has… blocked… 71,010 of their own employees from accessing…
Haiti is disaster capitalism ground zero
My following investigation appears in New Matilda: When Antony Loewenstein visited Haiti earlier this month he found a country still struggling to recover from 2010’s devastating earthquake – and foreign NGOs doing little to empower ordinary Haitians The earthquake shook Haiti’s National Palace to its core. The moment tremors hit on 12 January 2010, the…
Afghanistan remains a massively outsourced war
Most of the world media announced last week that America’s “surge” in Afghanistan was over. Not so fast. Here’s some numbers (via Mother Jones) that reveal the depth of Washington’s occupation in the country: Here a few more numbers to keep in mind as we approach the 2014 deadline for withdrawal of US combat forces:…