Yesterday on her show, Rachel Maddow reported on the IMF’s announcement that its $100 million loan to Haiti does not need to be paid back and that the IMF is working with other donors to cancel all of Haiti’s debt. Though pressure to cancel Haiti’s debt came from various organizations around the world, Maddow cites a piece from The Nation’s Notion blog, published January 15, that called for Haiti’s debt relief.

In the post, “IMF to Haiti: Freeze Public Wages,” Richard Kim outlines how the $100 million loan, like IMF’s previous loans to Haiti, comes with strings attached, “including raising prices for electricity, refusing pay increases to all public employees except those making minimum wage and keeping inflation low,” many of which contributed to the economic problems of Haiti pre-quake. Kim’s criticism that “in the face of this latest tragedy, the IMF is still using crisis and debt as leverage to compel neoliberal reforms,” helped convince the IMF to restructure the loan into a grant.

As Maddow highlights, this goes to show how public pressure can result in change and, as Naomi Klein said, “can seriously subvert shock doctrine tactics.”

—Morgan Ashenfelter

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