C'est quoi la demie-vie de la pilule rouge?

In a world dominated by the wealthy the temptation will always exist for NGOs to acquire funds, and respectability, by saying at least some of what the powerful want to hear.

It's an understandable temptation. Nobody should seek out oblivion - especially those who document human rights abuses. Any attention given to their work by the media may save lives and alleviate suffering, but the price of corporate respectability is high, and it is paid by people that human rights groups are supposed to defend.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) appears to have succumbed to this temptation. The quantity and content of what it has published about Haiti and Venezuela over the past two years provide a good example of how to avoid oblivion: downplay the human rights abuses of US allies, and exaggerate the abuses of official enemies. By doing this HRW has assisted the US in its efforts to crush democracy in Latin America.

Aristide won the presidency twice - in 1990 and again in 2000-. Both times his triumph at the polls was overwhelming and unassailable. Both times he was overthrown in US backed coups led by Haiti's tiny elite. HRW responded quite differently to both coups.

Haiti and Human Rights Watch , Joe Emersberger, 29 mars 2006

J'ai déja blogué sur les ONG, Haïti et Joe Emersberger ici