The Profit is in The Pain:
How Puerto Rico has become another victim of disaster repression:
The devastating hurricane in Puerto Rico, named Hurricane Maria was devastating for hundreds of thousands of native people on the land. The death toll continuously increased as the months went on. As technical United States territory, the United States definitely didn’t do what they were supposed to when it came to handling a disaster as big as this. But instead like the United States does, they decided to profit off the misfortunate like they do with everything else. If you’ve never heard of disaster capitalism or the “Shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein, then you may not know where I’m going with this. If you’re familiar, then you exactly what the United States is doing and what they’re up to. Profiting off of pain and disaster is what this country does, and Hurricane Maria and the citizens of Puerto Rico are just the latest victims.
The United States watched Hurricane Maria as if it was taking place in an entirely different country. Hurricane Maria took place this past fall from mid-September to early-August. It was listed as a category 5 hurricane and directly affected Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Automatically you would assume that with a category 5 hurricane, there would be all hands on deck in terms of aid and assistance for the residents. Instead, they decided not to do all that they could which shouldn’t be a surprise at this point. Of course, they found a way to profit from the disaster. Now when I mentioned Naomi Klein’s “Shock Doctrine”, this is what I am talking about. Finding ways to profit off of disaster is what disaster capitalism is all about. In Klein’s “Shock Doctrine” piece, she talks about the “intersection of superprofits and megadisasters” https://focalizalaatencion.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/tsd_nk.pdf. Klein uses different examples of disasters to show the correlations that these situations have. And with my own analysis, Hurricane Maria is also one of the disasters that has been affected. The relationship here is that the government and other companies will wait to help with a disaster if at all. If they do, then it’s at the cost of those that are suffering the most from the disaster. Usually by doing this, they force the country to take out major loans which puts them in an even worse situation because they have to deal debt to other countries on top of their own spending due to the disaster. Here with Hurricane Maria, this is what’s been a big issue. Companies and countries are trying to loan Puerto Rico money so that they have no other option but to pay it back which is ridiculous. Journalist Sheelah Kolhatar also writes about this https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/11/06/profiting-from-puerto-ricos-pain. Large hedge fund companies are trying to loan out money so that Puerto Rico is to pay them back throughout their recovery of the disaster. It’s sad because you’d think that companies would want to lend better services for the victims, but all they can see is a way to make money. Capitalism is a dangerous thing. This goes back to what Klein was saying about disaster capitalism. These companies don’t care. It’s about who can profit the most not who can help the most. The victims of these disasters, especially Hurricane Maria need help not debt.
The people in Puerto Rico are still suffering to this day since the hurricane first began. Why? Because companies would rather act like it’s not U.S. territory so it allows these companies to take and take until the debt is in insurmountable amounts. I think that Naomi Klein hits it right on the mark with the ‘Shock Doctrine”. This is a way of analyzing disasters in a way that people don’t hear often, but they really need to be educated on. It’s things like Klein’s claims that people aren’t aware of when these kinds of things happen. NBC news had a great documentary about the way in which America goes about profiting from this https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/22/first-look-the-profit-in-puerto-rico-an-american-crisis.html fo more of an insight.
This is something that now, even in May the victims are still facing. I’m not saying that I know all the solutions, but I do want to provide the citizens of Puerto Rico the insight they deserve in regards to how people are responding to their misfortune. In addition to my insight, journalist Harriet Agerholm also helps readers understand what’s happening around the country and what Puerto Rico is doing about it https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/puerto-rico-rejects-hedge-fund-loans-profit-hurricanes-irma-maria-crisis-aid-a7973446.html
I don’t believe I have the solutions to how we can stop disaster capitalism and how more victims can be helped instead of being used as a profit. I know that a good place to start, which citizens might agree, would be offering actual assistance like food, water, shelter, and other supplies rather than just handing out loans. From the research that I’ve done and Klein’s claims, I know that we need to do better.
