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So have I. What follows is the result.
You can see the parallels, in a miniature scale almost everywhere here, but you have to be aware enough to notice. After decades of the neoliberal ideological mantra of free-market nonsense, and the years of budget cuts in education, public health, infrastructure maintenance and so on, it takes a crisis of some kind to open the gulf between this neoliberal ideology and its realities and consequences. The most obvious crisis here is the budget shortfall, which proves the ideology is a lie.
The 1989 quake here that collapsed the Nimitz was the example that keeps coming to my mind. It was built with reinforced concrete in the 1950s and not upgraded and retro-fitted because it seemed not cost effective, in the probability calculation. So it came down like a pancake, like the structures in Haiti. In the case of Haiti, earthquakes, I assume are rare. Their buildings are concrete or brick covered plaster because concrete can stand hurricanes and floods (three little piggies tale). Here most of the smaller housing and apartments are lumber which will stand mild earthquakes better. Lumber construction is probably useless or dangerous for heavy storms and prone to deterioration in the tropics from termites and rot. Tropical forest hardwoods are pest and rot resistant, like the northwestern redwoods. Lumber construction didn't do so well in New Orleans either.
All of these technical issues and solutions are part of the public infrastructure within universities that study these issues and state agencies that develop codes, enforce standards, make plans. These amount to the public system that most people never see. But these same agencies are involved in development, planning, and overall community design.
This `cadre' of public sector technocrats are among the completely invisible causalities of what Mike Yates calls neo-classical ideology (BTW I enjoyed his recent posts on economics). Geologists go to work for oil companies, architects work for developers, planners work for international construction companies, and on it goes. Few go into the public agency systems, because there are fewer jobs and pay less.
This technocratic class which is essential to a modern state and its development, are the targets of the neoliberal mantra against `central planning', well because they are the central planners. Slowly over the decades the state projects have become slower and slower to respond to development needs. At the local level you can see this in the sprawl of housing that follows the highway systems that connect urban centers. Smaller cities can not afford to have their own development plans, carry them out, and keep them linked to the local needs, coordinated with larger state plans. A sea of free lance developers of all kinds converge, exploit, and move on, looking for the next big deal: some warehouse district to turn into condos or some truck farm or orchard to turn into a housing track. This has been going on for as long as I can remember. But it really got a boost in 80s.
This privatized model developed in the US under the economic ideology of free markets, has been exported through international development agencies like the IMF, WB, UN, and the US imperial policy apparatus. I know we all know this. I read today that the UN cided priority and control of its efforts in Haiti to the US. It must have done the same thing in Copenhagen.
But The consequences of this neoliberalism come into extraordinary focus when a disaster strikes. Just look at the US financial system where the banks are paying bonuses while the rest of the economy and country are continuing down the road of ruin.
In Haiti the effects are more physically stunning, graphic, and deadly. For example, the Haitian state run telephone exchange was privatized and sold, which goes a long way toward understanding why communication and central coordination is difficult to impossible. A centralised telecommunication system is essential for state operations, as are centralized utilities for water, power, and transportation. Since the Haitian phone system is private, its up to the company to keep it running. They will make a decision as to whether it is worth fixing. Government appeals will probably come with a stiff price tag.
So when the Heritage Foundation, made its statement that the Haitian earthquake was an opportunity to rebuild Haiti `right', of course I thought about how to rebuild Haiti `left'. I thought of the Cuban Revolution. Cubans had to get rid of a government of oppression and a criminal economic system. Haitians are lucky in one respect---all that has momentarily disappeared, and they can rebuild their country for a while without an armed conflict. So far they seem to be doing a lot of local organization in social systems necessary to deal with their pressing needs.
What worries me is that spontaneous Haitian lead systems will soon come in conflict with the US-UN neoliberal system. I can already see it in bits and pieces as heavily armed US and UN `relief' forces are starting to take over.
Yesterday at the biggest hospital in PaP US military arrived to assert `crowd control' and of course they bought no medical supplies. So they were at the gates deciding who came and went from the hospital, med school and public morgue complex. Did the officers meet with the hospital staff and figure what they needed? Did the US forces try to help communication with the UN and US command holding medical supplies? Did they help arrange transport. Did they offer to go with hospital staff to locate supplies at the airport? Not as far as I could see. In other words did they perform any `relief' work at all or even assist in any way? Not as far as I could tell.
The US doctor who was interviewed was well intentioned but a little dim in one respect. In many other countries, when a member of the family goes to hospital, the family or part of the family goes to hospital. They form the support system for the patient for food, sub-acute care, toilet needs, and of course moral support. In other words they do what I used to do as an orderly. The family, friends, neighbors, even the concerned stretcher barers need free access to the `patients'. In turn medical staff can quickly train family members and others in wound care, feeding, toilet, signs to watch for. This relieves medical staff to move to other cases, with a more distant monitoring system. This is a medical support system that is completely contra the US model where the patient arrives and disappears behind closed doors. The US military at the gates was a ridiculous interference of this traditional or organic system that was already in place. What that existing system needed was limited coordination to facilitate what was already going on. Such as helping people find out if their relatives, friends, neighbors were inside, if they needed anything, sending out search parties to locate some needed materials like plastic sheet, buckets, whatever.
All of the above is completely beyond the realm of neoliberal concepts or solutions, completely beyond any concept of privatized medicine and health care delivery, and beyond any nonsense of neo-classical economics, etc, etc. On the other hand, all of the above fits well with Cuban models, which is why they are so good at it.
I think it is sickeningly amusing to watch the neoliberals and neoconservatives stammer about irrelevantly, at a complete lose as to what to do. Meanwhile the Haitians, Cubans, Venezuelans, and Bolivians seem to know `intuitively' what to do and how to deal with problems at least how to start in the work. Meanwhile the neoliberal crusade is still `collating' under the science officers of the Nostromo, Clinton and Bush.
I saw an interesting thing. The US military were marching along the crowded street, keeping rank and file. A woman was walking the other way and had to step to the side to keep from getting knocked over. She continued for a few steps. When she stopped, she stepped back aways from the line marching by, put her hand on her hip and looked the troops over. Her body language said it all to me, `What are you doing here? Come to save us?
There is another issue besides occupation, that I noticed, that for some reason I never noticed before. It is the UN and how the UN deals with emergency `relief' work.
I am beginning to think the UN is something like the UCB administrative system that does no actual work, has few skills to apply directly to the work at hand and has instead become its own administrative `oversight' authority for some ideologically driven set of policies. But which ideology? Would that be the neoliberal economies of `efficiency' or the collectivist central planning model for equitable distribution? I would be interested in links or information about the details of any of this, including of course if I have it wrong.
Just to answer my own question, I looked up a job at UNESCO for a Chief of Section in education programs. Most of the requirements were standard education administrative experience with emphasis on finance and accounting (bean counters)--which hints at the neoliberal mentality of `efficiency' cost benefit analysis, etc. They wanted 10-15yrs experience and professional degree in social science, preferred education planning. I became highly suspicious when the job required US citizenship and no `foreign' language skills. UNESCO HQ is located in Paris.
It was very difficult to tell what the UN `mission' was i.e. what kind of planning? For example is UNESCO interested in assisting development of centrally planned education systems or does it go for the neoliberal efficiency trip? I couldn't tell. Their performance at Copenhagen was profoundly compromised.
(BTW, my interest in this `planning' trip comes from my ex-wife who was in city planning, went to work for the City of Berkeley, which during her years there resisted franchise development and the grosser forms of gentrification. She later moved to the Fire Dept to work in disaster planning for earthquakes and fires.)
CG