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Another affect of globalization on the economy was the U.S. economic engagement under the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE) Act, passed in December 2006, which helped the automotive parts and garments industry by giving tariff free access to the USA. (Though lax laws abound on the treatment of workers in these factories because of the desire to keep up with demand and to make a clean profit in the rush for economic development). Another big event for Haiti was when the `` population growth outstripped agricultural growth during the 1970s, and a drought in 1985 affected the production of such important staple crops as rice, maize, and beans. Consequently, foodstuffs have had to be imported in increasing quantity. `` This event is what has defined the Haitian economy as one dependent on foreign countries for their supplies and their survival. Haiti and its economy are now even more so dependent on port au prince and other shipping areas. Globalization has allowed Haiti to feed itself. But globalization has also taken away many of Haiti`s former independence.
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Haiti is now dependent on the corporations in the US for their food, as well as the foreign owned shipping companies and the imported gas to fuel them ( Haiti produces 0 bbl/day (2005 est.) of oil, yet consumes 12,000 bbl/day (2005 est.) of oil, all of which is imported). Haiti has now been adopted by international corporate culture, with all the vital businesses coming from foreign countries. One might think that it would be alright for the nation to be so controlled as long as the economy improves, but the fact is it is not. As seen in graph 11, the GDP and GDP per capita has not increased that much at all, and the underlying fact is that the gap between the rich and poor in port au prince and Haiti is still evident, with the top 10% controlling 47.7% of consumption and household income, while the lowest 10% only 0.7%. This is further highlighted with the country’s gini index rating of 59.2, further enforcing the idea of a sharp income gap between the rich and poor with no strong middle class in between to act as a stabilizing buffer. This in a country where 80% live under the poverty line and 60% live on 2 American dollars a day and less. This is an economy in which the rich get richer, and the poor stay the same. The one prime resource that Haiti has to offer is its natural beauty. The money generated by tourism helps to off set the economic imbalance caused by Haiti`s dependence on imports.
Tourism in Haiti is an industry that refuses to die, despite the negative press Haiti received in the 80s and its association with aids, or its general political instability, the tourist just keep on arriving. Cruise ships make their stops off of port au prince, crew men of multinational ships docking with imports take advantage of the cheap living one can have in port au prince, and hotels around sandy beaches pop up around the country promising people a little slice of paradise. Resorts, such as the one in picture 12, may look like it is helping the local economy, as one might hope. One would hope that the jobs created by prime tourist destinations and the income generated and brought in by the wealthy tourist would stimulate the local economy and help Haiti to develop. The problem is that this is not always so. The people that can afford high-maintenance luxury hotels and the proper staff are multinational corporations that can make a profit by doing everything in bulk. By having the big hotel, the
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company is buying in mass quantity what the local businesses cannot do themselves. This not only isolates the market to these select few companies, but since these companies have their main offices outside of Haiti, much of the profit made from the hotel is sent to its headquarters, bypassing the government and community coffers. Not only is this mini colonization, but globalization through tourism is evident in more obvious ways by a merging of cultures. Tourists still buy food or souvenirs at local markets. But for the locals to get the tourist to buy at their store, they have to make their attitude and society more agreeable to the tourist. So instead of tourist arriving to a new exotic land, they are enticed by the familiar disguised as the exotic, with Haitian themes and ideas deformed to meet the tourists’ culture. In essence it is the tourist bringing their culture to Haiti, and not Haiti bringing their culture to the tourist. This merging of cultures’ and some say domination by western culture on other cultures through their financial clout, is a major issue of globalization, and has been cited as westernization.
The changing of cultures is expected to happen naturally in all societies, it is inevitable and is sometimes predictable, but usually it is for the betterment of the masses, and not of a select few that profit from such a change. The changing of culture in port-au-prince and the rural areas are different but are still tied together. Direct culture change in the city has led to a more watered down idea of what is Haitian heritage is, and has led the city to become more uniform with other cities all around the world, and in which core ideas are being spread through forms of media such as the internet, as seen in image 13. The culture change in the rural areas has
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been more dramatic than in the city. Some farms are being bought up and mechanized to increase profit by wealthy land owners, making families homeless or dependent on the jobs the owner gives to them. Another social problem is how the relatively higher paying jobs found in select tourism jobs such as a waiter with its tips, or a worker in an industrial complex, has caused many young workers, mostly men, to go to the city in a process called rural-urban migration. The culture of family farms in Haiti are being changed, and with the lives of thousands of Haitians. This mass immigration has caused havoc on the demand for food and its production in Haiti, and is causing problems directly within port-au-prince as well. But these are not the only problems being faced by the farmers of Haiti; environmental damage has become a critical problem to the nations health and food supply.
The pursuit of globalization has allowed industries that are vital to the economy to do what ever they want with complete disregard for environmental laws, but this policy has just started to back fire.’’ Factories polluting clean river water, combined with mass cutting down of trees for fuel, materials, and goods to sell on the global market, have led to increased salinity in the soil and a lack of water that can kill the plants. -The virgin forests that once covered the entire country have now been reduced to 4% of the total land area. According to United Nations sources, Haiti loses 3% of its forests every year. Deforestation has had a disastrous effect on soil fertility, because the steep hillsides on which so many Haitian farmers work are particularly susceptible to erosion. The nation loses1.35 tons of soil per square kilometre yearly.’’ This is a major problem, as only about 33% of the land area in Haiti is suitable for
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agriculture. ‘’Agricultural chemicals, such as DDT, are widely used in Haiti. These pollutants plus the use of oil with high lead content are a significant source of pollution. Not only has much of the topsoil been washed away, but the eroded slopes retain little rainfall and are vulnerable to flooding.’’ These problems are highlighted by the fact that while rice has become a staple food in Haiti, domestic production only meets 20% of demand, and that flooding and mudslides occur more frequently because of soil erosion, as seen in image 16. ‘’The chief impediment to reforestation is the fact that Haiti is so intensely cultivated that allocation of land for forests means a reduction in the land available for crop growing and grazing. Foreign organizations have attempted to alleviate these problems. In 1981, an $8 million Agro forestry Outreach
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Project, funded primarily by the US, helped farmers plant trees throughout Haiti—over 4.5 million seedlings by 1983. The government also agreed to set up the nation's first two national parks with funding from the US Agency for International Development. However, as of 2001, only 0.3% of Haiti's total land area was protected. Water quality is also a serious environmental problem. Haiti has 12 cu km of renewable water resources with 94% used for farming activity. Only 49% of the nation's city dwellers and 45% of the rural population have pure drinking water.’’ Farms either becomes destroyed, its production severely lowered, or the costs to run the farms become too high because of the increased pressure from the government to upgrade crops for higher yields. But in either case, many members of the family move to the city in hope of a job so they can support their family on the farm, as seen in images 14 and 15 poverty is widespread in rural areas. Ignoring the giant drop in food production, which has resulted in Haiti not being independent for its own food source, and instead relies on world trade and the risks that go along with it, the new influx of people to port-au-prince is causing chaos in the capital. 15
The influx of workers and people into port-au-prince has led to overpopulation, shanty settlements, increased crime, and deteriorating health conditions. Shanty settlements have sprung up on the outskirts of the city, with many hopeful farmers arriving to find no jobs that need their skills or expertise. Both overpopulation and a lack of jobs has led to slums and wide spread crime, Health conditions in these areas are abysmal. These conditions flourish in the slums of La Saline slum, and the horrific cousin of Cite Soleil, and can be seen in image 17.
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these desperate conditions have allowed companies to take full advantage of the unemployed people, paying horrible wages and giving no labour rights. People are just plain desperate for a job. These key points brought up in the last three paragraphs have concluded that their is clear political instability and general dissatisfaction of the people with their current situation.
Haiti is a country now ripe with political instability. The government has been implemented of severe corruption, with a corruption perceptions index ranking of 1.6, showing severe corruption, and more this lack of good government can be seen in image 18. More examples of widespread corruption would be the finding of the US government that 70% of their aid money found itself in private hands in 2000. Drug dealings have also permeated the
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government, as when details of drug trafficking have emerged in a Miami trial of drug baron Jaques Ketant, a godfather of president Aristide’s young daughter. Haiti has been known in recent years to be a favourite place for drug barons to hide out from the international law. The
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gap between the rich and the poor deepens in port-au-prince, as seen in images 19 and 20. racism is even more evident through the power hold of the white-black descendents over the black descendents majority. The government has also lost credibility through its dependence on aid, which is 1 quarter of the GDP, and the presence of UN peacekeeping forces in port-au-prince. Haiti has become a broken country, dependent on international aid and the US as a trading partner. The forces of Globalization have torn this country apart, leaving a corrupt few to profit from it.
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The option of globalization and the rewards it promises to the nations that are successful in implementing it has created a force in which the ends justify the means, and that anything goes to allow a nation to develop. Globalization in Haiti is mostly wanted for the economic benefits that go along with it. But the combined effects of the desire of globalization and globalization itself in Haiti are very different than full development. The world economy’s affect on Haiti’s market has left the country competing with the world with out dated technology. Big business has invaded Haiti. Small, local companies cannot compete with the new international corporations. Local businesses can no longer support the country with fuel and food. The greed and corruption in government has allowed major corporations to walk all over local business. These businesses allow massive tourism that waters down Haitian culture and is changing Haitian culture to fit a more western perspective. The desperation of the government to develop in an increasingly more competitive world market has led to companies getting away with murder. Environmental damage has destroyed farmland and soil quality, leaving many farmers to find work in the cities. This problem is aggravated even more by businesses buying up local farms, and evicting whole families, while hiring cheap labour for the planting and picking. A big population growth has also contributed to this mass immigration to the cities. Here in the cities, slums, shanties, and incredible health risks abound. The global corporations take advantage of peoples’ desperation for income and give them low paying g jobs in horrible, and health compromising situations. The corruption in government, combined with the many dire social problems has caused wide spread political instability, in which it became widely evident when in 2004 an armed revolt successfully overthrew president Aristide, and in which UN troops had to take control of the capital to promote stability, as seen in image 21. The corporations involved in this spectacle have profited by picking up the pieces and licking the bones dry. What will happen when the environment is destroyed beyond repair and the agricultural industry is destroyed? One very likely answer is that the companies, and their home countries, will continue to profit either through the money they made from destroying Haiti or the money and power they will gain through keeping Haiti on life support.
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Haiti and port-au-prince must focus on stability politically, economically, and than socially to allow proper development. Haiti does not have the infrastructure trough human resources or physical materials to allow rapid development. It appears it must be dependent on international aid and the UN to stabilize its situation and to be strong enough to deal with globalization. Racial inequalities and environmental problems must be addressed, but having the strength to handle globalization is vital, or it can get out of control and leave Haiti a mess of broken pieces, in which multinational corporations pick up and use for their maximum profit output, and than be thrown away and considered useless and unfriendly to business. Globalization can help many problems facing Haiti. It can offer the jobs and the incentives for workers to get certain skills that will allow the country to develop. But the country should be able to handle globalization, and not having globalization control the country. Haiti, and more specifically port-au-prince, highlights the problems felt by many countries experiencing globalization, albeit in not such a disastrous outcome, but very similar up to certain points. Many nations can learn from Haiti on how globalization can get out of hand so quickly and so disastrously. But it should be mentioned that at the beginning of this case study that it was globalization at its worst. It wasn`t how Haiti handled globalization that was so bad, but how the greed and indifference of the people involved allowed such a thing to happen.
Geography 12 HL
Globalization Case Study
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
By Casey Larson
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