Somali Pirates Aim To Donate 'Avast' Sum To Haiti

Here's an idea for a new holiday: Give Like A Pirate Day.

That's right. According to Good, spokesmen for the so-called "Somali pirates" say they want to give part of their loot captured from transnational boats to Haiti relief.

In the article, translated on Metamute.org, leaders of the pirate groups say they can ensure the delivery of aid without being detected by the "enemy governments".

"The humanitarian aid to Haiti can not be controlled by the United States and European countries; they have no moral authority to do so. They are the ones pirating mankind for many years," said the Somali spokesman.

Earnest gesture or just great fodder for the next Disney franchise? We're not sure yet.

Read more at Good and Metamute.org.

Comments

[PeterTheChanter]

06:56 PM on 01/30/2010

I bet they give a greater percentage of their income than the AIG or RBS pirates.

[William Young]

02:27 PM on 01/29/2010

Wow, if pirates can have hearts then that goes to show that anyone with a conscience has eben touched by this disaster.

[MagicalPossibilities]

02:25 PM on 01/29/2010

The pirate movement in Somalia is not motivated by greed, so much as desperation. They are not vicious- rarely do they harm their hostages.
More power to them if they can help.

[am10]

03:34 PM on 01/30/2010

So that makes what they do ok? There are kids in this country who deal with violence, abuse, and poverty every day. Is it ok for them to turn to drug dealing?

[PeterTheChanter]

06:58 PM on 01/30/2010

if someone's hungry or desperate, then, um, yeah, i've got no problem with them taking what they need for themselves or their people. they're less predatory than blackwater or aig.

[Jona4]

11:09 PM on 02/02/2010

Yeah we have kids in this country dealing with poverty and violence, but we also have free education, an excellent police force that protects us as well as welfare and affirmative action, yet innercity kids still turn to crime,
No its not ok that people dealing with harsh times turn to crime but they do thats the truth. Hell if in the worlds richest and most compassionate country we have gangbangers / drugdealers and robbers what the hell hope is there for the only anarchy left in the world?

[climbing panda]

06:10 PM on 02/02/2010

wow. really? your moral relativism is scary.

[zaggy]

02:19 PM on 01/29/2010

Good for them. They are like Robin Hood. I here they give 40% to the poor.

[calakutha]

02:01 PM on 01/29/2010

Johnny Depp loves this franchise!

[TylerSutherland]

02:51 PM on 01/29/2010

To be fair, I love Johnny Depp.

[StansDad]

01:44 PM on 01/29/2010

sweet! This totally makes murdering all those people A-okay now!

[Ergon]

09:38 PM on 01/29/2010

Somali fishermen accidentally kill a hostage-the bastids!
Americans kill two million Iraqis in three wars-defenders of freedom!

[StansDad]

02:06 AM on 01/30/2010

yeah! Somalians only killed one guy ever! they are goddamn heros!

[climbing panda]

06:14 PM on 02/02/2010

where do you get these wildly inaccurate stats? rosie odonnell maybe?

[herecomes]

01:26 PM on 01/29/2010

They will provide security

[WasteNJ]

01:26 PM on 01/29/2010

I support the pirates in any move they want to make to provide relief to Haitians. Why not? Is it not politically correct to allow it?

In NYC for many years, the mob under John Gotti used to throw massive fireworks displays for the communities, kids grew up seeing them every year. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, Taliban groups set up hospitals and schools, etc, for the communities. We may not like what they teach or their belief system, but the people benefiting from that clinic don't have the luxury of that critique, because they may die without that help.

[nilotic]

02:00 PM on 01/29/2010

Agreed.

[am10]

01:12 PM on 01/30/2010

You're defending a man (Gotti) who had his neighbor killed when he accidentally hit his son?

[kedikat]

11:48 AM on 01/29/2010

Now they need to go bio diesel for their attack boats. Doesn't BAE also make green bullets and other weaponry?
The pirates also need to get on board with other great charitable groups like biker gangs and do teddy bear runs and such.

In fact this story is no more ridiculous or perverted than most corporate and government good deed initiatives.

Bio degradable weaponry......green shoots indeed.

[rebel7]

10:21 AM on 01/29/2010

The money would be better spent on spreading birth control to the globe. the Earth's carrying capacity is already far exceeded and the last thing we need is more people supposedly saved by vaccines. In that case, something else will get them since we are so overcrowded, disease can spread like wildfire (totally abnormal situation in worlds' history), and we can pick up new diseases from wildlife because we are crowded too close to the animals. Thanks, Bill but you are just keeping more people alive so they can die a suffering death in other ways, maybe like the people in Haiti or the people in SE Asia from the tsumami. We already have far too many people living in areas uninhabitable because the desirable spots are already taken.

[kentah]

01:05 PM on 01/29/2010

Stop to think. Are we meant to always live on earth or is space the next horizon in evolution like land once was? If the earth truly is overcrowded as you say is population control the answer or is this overcrowding a natural imperative to progress?

[WasteNJ]

01:26 PM on 01/29/2010

This is not the Bill Gates thread!

[ScottontheSpot]

10:17 AM on 01/29/2010

Thay've got a point. Our policies have been robbing Haiti of its vast resources (they have more oil per sq. mile than Venezuela, and gold and other valuable minerals too) for decades. We deposed popularly elected leader Aristide...twice. 1% of the country owns 80% of the wealth and its citizens are camped out on the golf course....which makes you think, how does the poorest nation in the western hemisphere even need a golf course. Who, exactly, is golfing? Somalia was similarly dumped upon, literally, with radioactive waste from Britain, for years. It's prime fishing waters were fished out by others (Somalia has a coastline nearly 4X longer than California's) without payment. It's not so black & white...oh, that reminds me, there's racism in this too.

[marley22]

10:27 AM on 01/29/2010

The oil you're talking about is entirely undeveloped at this point, no? It's all potential reserves as far as I can google. Beyond that, what resources at this point?

[marley22]

10:59 AM on 01/29/2010

The only thing gold-related I've found is KWG Resources, which is a Canadian mining company, but even they haven't begun anything there.

http://www.mongabay.com/reference/country_profiles/2004-2005/Haiti.html has some information on natural resources and land use. Not very extensive or promising from what I can see.

I'm still trying to see where you're coming from with your statement.

[marley22]

09:56 AM on 01/29/2010

What exactly could they give, sacks of 'booty'? They can't exactly cut a check, can they?

[prunebush]

09:42 AM on 01/29/2010

I'm a Pastafarian, so it's part of my religion to appreciate pirate puns. But THAT was BAAAAD!

[TylerSutherland]

02:51 PM on 01/29/2010

As an atheist, it's my duty to kick you in the pants. However, I'll let this slide on the occasion of pirates giving to the poor.

[marley22]

09:23 AM on 01/29/2010

Avast ye maties!

[am10]

08:43 AM on 01/29/2010

That's so nice of them to give what wasn't theirs in the first place to other people.

[marley22]

09:24 AM on 01/29/2010

Does that make them socialist?

[chromodynamics]

09:40 AM on 01/29/2010

Nah...members of the RNC.

[chonus]

10:03 AM on 01/29/2010

Don't go talking about the US like that... Oh.