[D66] Disaster facing Bahamians is product of the capitalist system | themilitant.com

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Disaster facing Bahamians is product of the capitalist system
By Seth Galinsky
Vol. 83/No. 34
September 23, 2019

“We are on our own,” Bahamian volunteer fireman Greg Johnson told the
press Sept. 6 in Treasure Cay, explaining the inaction of the government
of the Bahamas in the wake of Hurricane Dorian. “It’s deplorable.”

Working people were left to fend for themselves when the storm, with
sustained winds up to 185 mph, devastated parts of the country after
making landfall Sept. 1.

U.N. officials estimate that 70,000 people are homeless — mostly from
Abaco and Grand Bahamas, the hardest-hit areas — out of a population of
400,000 on the archipelago, some 700 islands and cays, off the eastern
coast of Florida.

More than a week after the storm, aid still had not reached many in
desperate need of it. And crowds of survivors were still waiting at the
airport in Abaco, hoping to catch a flight out. The government continued
to say Sept. 10 that deaths stood at 50, but everyone knows the true
total is far higher. Decomposing bodies were still visible on the streets.

The class bias of the government was evident from the first evacuation
order. Two days before the storm hit, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis told
residents of Abaco and Grand Bahamas that those who “are able to do so
financially should seek shelter among family members.” Flights to more
protected islands were increased — for those who could afford a ticket.

Distrust of the government, especially in areas that are predominantly
Haitian immigrants and those of Haitian descent, kept many from going to
shelters.

In recent years, the Bahamian government has deported hundreds of
Haitians, many of whom have lived in the Bahamas for decades. Even their
Bahamas-born children aren’t granted citizenship. One in 10 Bahamians
are of Haitian descent. Many other Bahamians are descendants of African
slaves brought there by U.S. colonists fleeing the American Revolution
and pro-slavery English settlers.

Working people who got to a shelter had to bring their own food and
personal hygiene supplies. And anyone who showed up with a pet was
turned away.

While the storm was a natural disaster, working people were the victims
of a social catastrophe caused by capitalism.
Working people take action

Facing government inaction, working people and small businessmen took
initiatives. Glen Rolle, a resident of Mayfield Park in Grand Bahamas,
told the Nassau Guardian  how he and others borrowed tractors, Jet Skis
and boats to rescue 200 people.

“One of my personal friends, his mother passed. So we brought her in,”
Rolle told the Guardian. “After that, the police finally reached the
scene. So they told us not to bring any more dead bodies.”

Bahamas Minister of Health Duane Sands said the final toll will be
“significant and unimaginable.”

One group of recovery workers led by Joseph Hillhouse, an assistant fire
chief from Gainesville, Florida, found five bodies in just a few areas
in The Mudd and Pigeon Peas neighborhoods of Marsh Harbour on Great
Abaco Sept. 9. These mostly Haitian areas of makeshift homes — many
without indoor plumbing — were flattened by the storm.

According to Washington Post  reporters accompanying the team, “there
were a few dozen workers, not nearly enough to conduct an effective
search of the comprehensive destruction.”

The storm struck a blow to Bahamas’ tourist industry, the country’s main
source of income, although the main tourist area around Nassau was
largely spared. Before the storm, the government’s foreign debt was
above $8 billion, 64.6% of its gross domestic product.

The former British colony didn’t gain formal independence until 1973.
Though still part of the British Commonwealth, today the Bahamas is
largely a semicolony of U.S. imperialism. Before the storm a majority of
its 5.5 million tourists came from the U.S., as well as nearly all its
food and manufactured goods.

The country is also home to a large number of offshore financial
institutions, many suspected of money laundering. There are great
disparities of wealth on the islands — from some who’ve grown rich to
the large majority of workers and Haitian immigrants on the other end of
the pay scale.

Lack of food, water, and health care, and the possibility of waterborne
diseases are a significant problem for those in the hardest hit areas.
Some 5,000 evacuees are now in shelters around the capital city of Nassau.

Thousands of hurricane survivors fleeing the disaster have sought to go
to the U.S., at least temporarily, taking advantage of cruise companies
that offered to take them to Florida. But Balearia Caribbean ordered
more than 100 Bahamians off of a ship departing Freeport Sept. 8 because
they didn’t have visas. Many Bahamians lost all their papers in the storm.

Meanwhile, some 60 internationalist volunteers from revolutionary Cuba
who had been working in the Bahamas — including teachers, pharmacists
and specialists in medical devices — joined the efforts to rebuild the
country side by side with people in the communities. “Every volunteer is
characterized by being the first to arrive and the last to leave,” José
Reinel García, a Cuban education ministry representative in the Bahamas,
told Prensa Latina. Juventud Rebelde  reported Sept. 4 that volunteer
medical workers were on their way to the Bahamas to provide medical care.

The Cuban people made a deep-going revolution in 1959, transforming
themselves in the process. They’ve stood up to the threats and attacks
by Washington ever since. Unlike the “everyone for themselves” morality
of capitalism, in Cuba everything is based on human solidarity. In the
words of Communist Party leader Raúl Castro, “No one is left on their own.”