A lot of people around the world are sending donations to Haiti. Kauffman, which is a philanthropy and employs many charitable souls, has multiple ways for staff to send help on our internal website. Very heartwarming.
But I have felt a bit like Paul Krugman in not saying much here on the blog about Haiti because it all seems so obvious. But maybe saying the obvious, especially the insensitive obvious, needs to be said because it so rarely is said. Haiti was a disaster long before the earthquake. I suspect that absolutely no one believed or believes the people there (or any good people in such a place) would be able to escape the poverty trap that Haiti has long defined.
Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. It did not get that way by accident. Centuries of abuse, neglect, and massive internal corruption have doomed the poor people born there. According to the 2009 INDEX OF ECONOMIC FREEDOM, Haiti's economy is 50.5 percent free, ranked 26 out of 29 in the region, ranked #147 in the word, and about the only thing it ranks well on is "Government Size" which is only because it essentially has no governance. Apparently the new 2010 Index is slated to be released tomorrow, and I suspect the score will not have changed. I made a quip the other day that it is hard for many Americans to fathom a place like Haiti because it simply is not a nation in the conventional sense. It is just a place, understood more in terms of what it lacks institutionally than what it has.
So here is the question: what would you be willing to sacrifice for the people of Haiti? Most of us would send money, but what if that won't help? What else, creatively, would you be willing to give?
There are 9.4 million Haitians. Would you be willing to give them citizenship? Would you be willing to offer them statehood? A new protectorate status, something like Guam or Puerto Rico? Would you allow President Obama to build a U.S. joint forces military base there, adjoining a new city chartered under U.S. law, with all tax revenues from the city to be shared equally with the people of Haiti, but under protection of the U.S.?
Surely, the people of Haiti could turn down these offers. I just wonder what you be willing to extend?
It is worth noting that Paul Romer has already written a powerful comment on this topic at his chartercities.org blog, rather strongly against the notion of a charter city. Read the whole thing, but let me cite some key lines here:
Contrary to what some have suggested, a charter city in Haiti is simply not an option at this time. A charter city can only be created through voluntary agreement. Under the current conditions, the government and people of Haiti do not have the freedom of choice required for any agreement reached now to be voluntary.
In 2004, most knowledgeable observers concluded that the crisis in Haiti met the stringent criteria required for a humanitarian military intervention. A UN dispatched a force of 7000 soldiers and 2000 police officers. It made real progress, particularly after 2006. It reduced kidnappings and established a police presence in areas where criminal gangs had been so strong that Haitian police could not enter. The UN also paid for the expansion and training of the Haitian police force.
On top of its enormous human and economic cost, the earthquake has setback these efforts at strengthening the Haitian government. The case for a foreign military presence is now much stronger. The number of foreign troops is increasing rapidly. They are likely to stay much longer.
In the current circumstances, any attempt at creating a new city in Haiti under foreign control would turn a humanitarian military intervention into a humanitarian military occupation. This approach is fraught with risks that the concept of a charter city is designed to avoid.
Paul is right that this is not the ideal setting for a "Charter City" as he has carefully defined it. However, I think it is more than ideal for something radically different than humanitarian aid. The outline of what I would recommend the U.S. President offer to the government of Haiti is this:
1. With your approval, we will build a new transportation hub and commerical territory on a section of unoccupied land (compensating whatever landowners have title to that land now). The U.S. will have a 49-year lease on the land and be given authority to manage it under U.S. law. At the end of those 30 years, full sovereignty will return to the government of Haiti.
2. The U.S. will commit to constructing an air and sea port on this land. it will be a hub for humanitarian aid over the next year and into the future. Adjoining space will also be parceled out for commerical purposes. Commerical sovereignty will be shared and the government of Haiti will receive 50 percent of all property and sales tax revenues.
3. On the issue of free choice, no Haitian people will be required to work here, but all Haitian people will have the right to work, visit, and live in this new territory if they choose to. All people in the territory will be suject to the U.S. laws governing the territory, as well as the police and courts of the territory.