On 12 January, Haiti was hit by a catastrophic earthquake, over 200,000 died and up to 1,000,000 people were left homeless.
The total devastation the disaster has wrought has shocked many -- media footage making visible the social crisis that bears a terrible similarity to 'war zones' the world over, from Gaza to Chechnya, and comes after the tragic case of Hurricane Katrina that exposed the level of poverty and inequality in the US: all examples of what Naomi Klein calls the 'shock doctrine' so characteristic of the world 'system' today.
The earthquake has compounded an already dire situation in Haiti: often considered the 'poorest nation' in the Western Hemisphere, this natural disaster has led to all-too-human consequences only because of a forgotten and often ignored history of colonialism and oppression.
The three speakers, Peter Hallward, Jess Hurd and Sebastian Walker recount this history, with their own eyewitness experience of popular struggle amidst catastrophe.
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