Our Debt to Haiti

The year 2010 saw devastating earthquakes hit both Haiti and Chile. The following was written March 4, 2010, in their immediate aftermath. (Part of a series of articles, “Reflections on 2010”) • The January 2010 earthquake in Haiti pulled that small island country into the news. We need to try and keep Haiti visible – not just in its current suffering and agony, but in its heroic history of struggle and resistance. That history – almost unknown to Haiti’s neighbours in Canada and the United States – is an indispensable part of the struggle for democracy and human rights in the entire Western Hemisphere.

What France Owes Haiti

We have just passed the first anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. The following was written January 28, 2010, and a version of it printed as a letter to The Globe and Mail. (Part of a series of articles, “Reflections on 2010”) • To the editors of The Globe and Mail. You highlighted, on your front page, the call from the World Bank for creditor nations to forgive Haiti's debt. You chose to single out Venezuela as one of those creditor nations. You will be happy to know that Venezuela has complied with your wishes, and cancelled the debt Haiti owes Venezuela for oil purchases (link provided below)[1]. There is now no longer any need to single out Venezuela.

Canada’s Liberals train Britain’s Tories – Look out for ‘days of action’

This was drafted in August, 2009, before the 2010 defeat of Britain’s Labour government and the election of the “ConDems.” Given events since, it has some facts that are still relevant in 2011. (Part of a series of articles, “Reflections on 2010”)” • Two former leading Liberal government figures from Canada – former top bureaucrat Jocelyne Bourgon and former cabinet minister Marcel Massé – earlier this summer met with leading British Tories including Philip Hammond, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury.[1] If Britain’s Tories intend to follow in the footsteps of Canada’s Liberals, then there is trouble ahead for workers and the poor in Britain.

Reflections on 2010

The long nights of winter are always a good moment in which to take stock of the work of the previous few months. Working through the detritus of a tumultuous year, I came across several writing pieces not uploaded to this blog. Some have been published elsewhere (links provided where possible), but given the restrictions of print publications, often in edited form. Others were 90 per cent finished, but never completed and published. All but one were written in the last 12 months. The one exception, dating from the summer of 2009, is included because it deals with something that became quite topical in 2010 – the return to office of Britain’s Tories, and the opening up of another era of cutbacks and resistance in that country. The challenge was, before the nights got too much shorter, to see if a few of these couldn't make the light of day. Eight are done, and that's enough. Comments, as always, welcome.


1. August, 2009: “Canada’s Liberals Train Britain’s Tories – Look out for ‘days of action’”
2. January, 2010: “What France Owes Haiti” (edited version published in The Globe and Mail.)
3. March, 2010: “Our Debt to Haiti”
4. March, 2010: “Cheri DiNovo and the need for ‘Apartheid 101’”
5. April, 2010: “The Question of China” (book review, slightly longer version of the review published in Socialist Studies)
6. May, 2010: “Colombia, not Venezuela, is the problem” (submitted as a brief to the Government of Canada)
7. May, 2010: “Bolivia and the birth of a movement for Climate Justice” (longer version of report published in Rabble.ca)
8.  December, 2010: “Tiger Woods – The Issue is Racism”



(c) 2011 Paul Kellogg