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Fault Lines: Views across Haiti's Divide
Beverly Bell, an activist and award-winning writer, has dedicated her life to working for democracy, women’s rights, and economic justice in Haiti and elsewhere. Since the 7.0 magnitude earthquake of January 12, 2010, that struck the island nation, killing more than a quarter-million people and leaving another two million Haitians homeless, Bell has spent much of her time in Haiti. Her new book, Fault Lines , is a searing account of the first year after the earthquake. Bell explores how strong communities and an age-old gift culture have helped Haitians survive in the wake of an unimaginable disaster, one that only compounded the preexisting social and economic distress of their society. The book examines the history that caused such astronomical destruction. It also draws in theories of resistance and social movements to scrutinize grassroots organizing for a more just and equitable country. Fault Lines offers rich perspectives rarely seen outside Haiti. Readers accompany the author through displaced persons camps, shantytowns, and rural villages, where they get a view that defies the stereotype of Haiti as a lost nation of victims. Street journals impart the author’s intimate knowledge of the country, which spans thirty-five years. Fault Lines also combines excerpts of more than one hundred interviews with Haitians, historical and political analysis, and investigative journalism. Fault Lines includes twelve photos from the year following the 2010 earthquake. Bell also investigates and critiques U.S. foreign policy, emergency aid, standard development approaches, the role of nongovernmental organizations, and disaster capitalism. Woven through the text are comparisons to the crisis and cultural resistance in Bell’s home city of New Orleans, when the levees broke in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Ultimately a tale of hope, Fault Lines will give readers a new understanding of daily life, structural challenges, and collective dreams in one of the world’s most complex countries.
256 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2013
8 people are currently reading
790 people want to read
About the author
Beverly Bell
8 books7 followersThe founder of Other Worlds and more than a dozen international organizations and networks, Beverly is also an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. Beverly has worked for more than three decades as an organizer, advocate, and writer in collaboration with social movements in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and the U.S. Her focus areas are just economies; democratic participation; and justice for women, indigenous peoples, and other excluded peoples. In addition to hundreds of articles, reports, and book chapters, Beverly has authored Fault Lines: Views Across Haiti's Divide; Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of Survival and Resistance; Birthing Justice: Women Creating Social and Economic Alternatives; and Harvesting Justice: Transforming Food, Land, and Agriculture Systems in the Americas.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 16, 2025
Ahhhh I learned so much from this book, I don’t even know where to start. We are sooooo brainwashed in the states and our government really doesn’t do ANYTHING if it isn’t for profit first. Maybe all governments are self-serving, but the media reinforces a colonial narrative that places like Haiti “need to be saved” from poverty which paints the US as a hero despite its meddling under the guise of aid.
Something I found especially interesting are the harmful effects of foreign NGOs which appeared in Haiti after the earthquake and how Haitians were essentially dismissed from having a say in the reconstruction of their own home. “Non-governmental” is actually a misnomer since many of the agencies, like Save the Children, Catholic Relief Services, and Mercy Corps still receive at least half their funding from our government. On the surface, it seems like these organizations have good intentions — to provide basic needs to locals: food, shelter, healthcare, etc. The author specifically states that while the individuals employed may genuinely want to do good, the power dynamic between the US government and regular citizens is too large in a bureaucratic sense. US tax dollars which were meant to help people on the ground primarily went to an excessive military presence, surveillance (to ensure that US profits from exports were not disrupted), and other government contracts to maintain control. For every dollar the US pledged, only $0.01 reached Haiti.
Another example which seems harmless is how the US sends massive amounts of rice to Haiti which is often cheaper for locals to purchase than rice produced locally. The issue is that doing this hurts the local economy. A more helpful form of assistance could look like providing local farmers with the equipment and resources to grow their own rice, then filling the gap as necessary. She says that a danger of aid is that it infantilizes people and this dependence is terrible for people’s identity — support is helpful only in the framework of respecting people’s dignity.
I loved how the author celebrates how rich Haiti truly is in its community-organizing efforts and solidarity despite the media’s efforts to paint it as one-dimensional and dangerous. It speaks volumes that Haiti is the first Black republic in the world and the only nation ever created from a successful slave uprising. Some small, local models:
- Twok: Informal exchanges between families, ex: One family gives its cow’s milk to another family’s newborn, while the baby’s father repairs shoes for the first family.
- Sòl: A revolving loan fund where people contribute a sum each month and give the total to a different member each round.
- Men ansanm: Similar to a loan fund but each member returns the principal and keeps any interest/profit made.
My biggest takeaway is that grassroots organizing is so important and engaging in our local communities makes a big difference at home and abroad. As the author says, “the power of the people is a secret that is repeatedly forgotten, to be rediscovered every time a new social movement arises.”
Something I found especially interesting are the harmful effects of foreign NGOs which appeared in Haiti after the earthquake and how Haitians were essentially dismissed from having a say in the reconstruction of their own home. “Non-governmental” is actually a misnomer since many of the agencies, like Save the Children, Catholic Relief Services, and Mercy Corps still receive at least half their funding from our government. On the surface, it seems like these organizations have good intentions — to provide basic needs to locals: food, shelter, healthcare, etc. The author specifically states that while the individuals employed may genuinely want to do good, the power dynamic between the US government and regular citizens is too large in a bureaucratic sense. US tax dollars which were meant to help people on the ground primarily went to an excessive military presence, surveillance (to ensure that US profits from exports were not disrupted), and other government contracts to maintain control. For every dollar the US pledged, only $0.01 reached Haiti.
Another example which seems harmless is how the US sends massive amounts of rice to Haiti which is often cheaper for locals to purchase than rice produced locally. The issue is that doing this hurts the local economy. A more helpful form of assistance could look like providing local farmers with the equipment and resources to grow their own rice, then filling the gap as necessary. She says that a danger of aid is that it infantilizes people and this dependence is terrible for people’s identity — support is helpful only in the framework of respecting people’s dignity.
I loved how the author celebrates how rich Haiti truly is in its community-organizing efforts and solidarity despite the media’s efforts to paint it as one-dimensional and dangerous. It speaks volumes that Haiti is the first Black republic in the world and the only nation ever created from a successful slave uprising. Some small, local models:
- Twok: Informal exchanges between families, ex: One family gives its cow’s milk to another family’s newborn, while the baby’s father repairs shoes for the first family.
- Sòl: A revolving loan fund where people contribute a sum each month and give the total to a different member each round.
- Men ansanm: Similar to a loan fund but each member returns the principal and keeps any interest/profit made.
My biggest takeaway is that grassroots organizing is so important and engaging in our local communities makes a big difference at home and abroad. As the author says, “the power of the people is a secret that is repeatedly forgotten, to be rediscovered every time a new social movement arises.”
August 4, 2015
This book should be required reading for anyone considering a trip to Haiti – or any developing nation, for that matter. Actually, Ms. Bell’s book should be required reading for high school or college social studies/global studies/economics/political science or anthropology class. Perhaps it should be required reading for everyone.
Ms. Bell addresses, with clarity, the now well known fact that billions of dollars in donations received after the January 12th, 2010 earthquake in Haiti have never made it into the hands of the Haitian people. She points out the one cent of every dollar pledged by the US government to Haiti’s recovery efforts has actually been given to the Haitian government.
"Fault Lines: Views Across Haiti's Divide", documents in a holistic and understandable way how the people of Haiti have had to struggle to survive – often because of the obstacles put in their way by US Policies, UN occupying forces, NGO’s, and trade agreements that undermine Haiti’s ability to produce it’s own food and which lead to low wages and extremely poor working conditions.
Above all else, Ms. Bell highlights the remarkable solidarity and sense of community that is ever present with the Haitian people. This is a compelling story that is told in a language that people who aren’t familiar with the complexities of Haiti’s history can easily understand. Bravo, Ms Bell!
Ms. Bell addresses, with clarity, the now well known fact that billions of dollars in donations received after the January 12th, 2010 earthquake in Haiti have never made it into the hands of the Haitian people. She points out the one cent of every dollar pledged by the US government to Haiti’s recovery efforts has actually been given to the Haitian government.
"Fault Lines: Views Across Haiti's Divide", documents in a holistic and understandable way how the people of Haiti have had to struggle to survive – often because of the obstacles put in their way by US Policies, UN occupying forces, NGO’s, and trade agreements that undermine Haiti’s ability to produce it’s own food and which lead to low wages and extremely poor working conditions.
Above all else, Ms. Bell highlights the remarkable solidarity and sense of community that is ever present with the Haitian people. This is a compelling story that is told in a language that people who aren’t familiar with the complexities of Haiti’s history can easily understand. Bravo, Ms Bell!
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August 12, 2015http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2013/0...
Review by Augusta Dwyer
The Haiti earthquake of 2010 has inspired rather a lot of books and articles describing personal experiences of its extraordinary destruction -- or maybe it seems like a lot to me because I research on the effects of development aid and philanthropy in a nation that seems to lurch from one disaster to the next without some, if any, signs of progress.
Now, with Fault Lines: Views Across Haiti’s Divide, author and activist Beverly Bell has added her voice to those writers like Dr. Paul Farmer, co-founder of the medical NGO Partners in Health, long-time Haiti observer Amy Wilentz and the Associated Press correspondent, Jonathan Katz, who was working in Haiti at the time.
But it would be a mistake to think that Bell is simply giving us another version of the same horrific scenes and tragic stories of injury and loss. While previous books have offered interesting and valuable accounts of the inefficacy of much post-earthquake aid, Bell’s perspective in Fault Lines is unique -- and hugely important.
It is the only book I have come across which grounds the earthquake and its aftermath in points of view that have been largely missing until now -- those of Haiti’s many, usually ignored, grassroots social movements.
Read more here: http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2013/0...
Review by Augusta Dwyer
The Haiti earthquake of 2010 has inspired rather a lot of books and articles describing personal experiences of its extraordinary destruction -- or maybe it seems like a lot to me because I research on the effects of development aid and philanthropy in a nation that seems to lurch from one disaster to the next without some, if any, signs of progress.
Now, with Fault Lines: Views Across Haiti’s Divide, author and activist Beverly Bell has added her voice to those writers like Dr. Paul Farmer, co-founder of the medical NGO Partners in Health, long-time Haiti observer Amy Wilentz and the Associated Press correspondent, Jonathan Katz, who was working in Haiti at the time.
But it would be a mistake to think that Bell is simply giving us another version of the same horrific scenes and tragic stories of injury and loss. While previous books have offered interesting and valuable accounts of the inefficacy of much post-earthquake aid, Bell’s perspective in Fault Lines is unique -- and hugely important.
It is the only book I have come across which grounds the earthquake and its aftermath in points of view that have been largely missing until now -- those of Haiti’s many, usually ignored, grassroots social movements.
Read more here: http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2013/0...
June 15, 2014
This is a political book, but all of life is political and it's too easy to forget that sometimes. I read The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism just recently, which provided an overview of neoliberalism and disasters and thus set the stage for Fault Lines, which provides a very specific case-study of Haiti post-earthquake. A very personal analysis of the aid economy and the way it failed average and poor Haitians during "reconstruction." I appreciated the framework of hope and suggestions for help that ended many chapters as well.
September 21, 2015
Please read this book before a trip to Haiti, before lending a hand to any individual or group of people that have been marginalized by oppressive systems in any way, or before doing the necessary work of actively listening to anyone whose reality is not something you've experienced. This is an absolutely necessary text for anyone looking to commit to lifelong social justice activism and action-oriented solidarity, whether in Haiti or anywhere else.
January 18, 2022
Reading two books for perspective. I read Bell's book as well as AP journalist Jonathan Katz' "The Big Truck that Went By," both about the disasters of the earthquake and relief efforts in Haiti. Neither are optimistic or salutary. Both point out in painful detail and human stories the troubles of "fixing" after a disaster. Despite the two different perspectives--this one trying to speak for the country's citizens and Katz' attempt to objectively assess the damage, the "after shocks" and attempts to provide aid-- their conclusions were similar. Much failure. Bell appeals to the world to ask and listen to the Haitian people who wanted sustainable agriculture not textile factories. Actually, neither sustainable. Nor is long-term aid. Nor is the violence brought on by the human pains of the quake. The tragedy, in spite of both well-intentioned and more nefarious business-promoting, nationalistic assistance, continues to be unsolved. Can we learn how to do better? We are trying, but we must fight against an overwhelming force: human nature.
August 13, 2015
Haiti comes and goes on the western world’s collective radar. The 2010 earthquake brought Haiti’s struggle to the attention of the world. Beverly Bell’s book, "Fault Lines: Views Across Haiti’s Divide", tells the post earthquake story in Haiti from the perspective of those that suffered most directly from the catastrophic damage and then suffered the added indignity of a totally misdirected disaster response. As Bell points out, “the disaster aid was an aid disaster”.
Anyone who cares about what happened in Haiti after the earthquake or is concerned about changing the injustice that exists there on a daily basis should read this book and take to heart the pleas from the Haitian voices that Bell amplifies in her heartfelt accounting of the post earthquake disaster.
And lest people should think that this book bemoans the brutally misdirected earthquake response without offering critical analysis the list of alternative ways to be involved in Haiti, on pg. 109 – 11, serves as a must read guide for every person who ever considered engaging in humanitarian work.
Paul W. Miller, Director, Haiti Justice Alliance
Anyone who cares about what happened in Haiti after the earthquake or is concerned about changing the injustice that exists there on a daily basis should read this book and take to heart the pleas from the Haitian voices that Bell amplifies in her heartfelt accounting of the post earthquake disaster.
And lest people should think that this book bemoans the brutally misdirected earthquake response without offering critical analysis the list of alternative ways to be involved in Haiti, on pg. 109 – 11, serves as a must read guide for every person who ever considered engaging in humanitarian work.
Paul W. Miller, Director, Haiti Justice Alliance
August 9, 2015
Beverly Bell's "Fault Lines" captures -- like no other book out now -- what the real impacts of the 2010 7.0 magnitude earthquake were on Haiti, a country with an unfortunate history of natural and man-made disasters. But perhaps the best thing about "Fault Lines" is her open challenge to stereotypes about the country, the culture, and its people. Bell's voice and perspective is unique: she has spent much of her life getting to know Haiti, and she has been invested in hearing directly from Haitians; in capturing their stories in their own voice. A definite must-read for anyone willing to accept a different narrative about the country.
August 7, 2015
In many ways it doesn't matter how many books you've read about Haiti. People who really want to know about this country and its people should read this one too. Fault Lines is the only book of the many I've read that brings to the fore the voices of average people, people who are working moreover to make their nation a better one and make their society more equitable. At the same time, Beverly Bell is a great writer. Along with the fascinating stories she tells, her prose style makes this a book that is enjoyable to read.
November 18, 2015
it felt more like a book i would read in school than for fun...but well researched, informative, and thought provoking. she did seem to be on the PIH bandwagon, to the extent i wonder if she worked for them at any point...overall she had some interesting things to say, but some of it felt paired down/overly simplified.
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April 29, 2013I indexed this book so I won't review it here.
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August 20, 2013972.94073 B4332 2013
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews