Hospitality and Haiti
Monday, February 1, 2010 at 11:37PM 
Haitian ImmigrationIt has been suggested, somewhat radically, that what Haiti needs more than aid is to leave Haiti. Not because Haiti is “hell on earth”, rather, because Haiti has been systematically oppressed: first from French colonial rule, then contemporary capitalism (IMF, et. al). As such, Haiti is as much a “man”-made disaster as it is tectonic. Derrida suggested, long ago, that the puzzles of ethics drive us from shear Otherness to hospitality. Haitians are Others, if for no other reason than Canadian and American racist immigration policies. By recognizing an ethics of hospitality we open the possibility of both accepting Haitian immigration as well as violence. Immigrating Haitians would assert a certain kind of dominion over their new land, and hospitality requires succumbing to this violent imposition. Even without the Derridean theory, immigration is, in the words of Corb Lund, “mighty neighbourly”.
economics, ethics, hospitality, oppression in ethics ;)
Quick note: Google changes China policy due to cyberattack
Daily news isn't typical fare for the Textual Metanoia blog, but seeing Google completely reverse their decision to censor search results in China because of a cyberattack was just too relevant for my research to ignore. Evidently, Google was recently attacked in a sophisticated manner for the purpose of reaching Gmail accounts of dissidents. I don't yet have sophisticated thoughts on the matter, but I see it as a kind of motivation occuring from external, invasive prompting. Saying that this kind of sabotage prompts a response isn't in itself stirring revelation, but it does need repeating. Perhaps I'll be able to post a follow-up with deeper analysis.