[Marxism] Haiti meeting

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

To the "Marxmail" list,

Although I'm not a member of your list--or any list--please post the 
following release item about this rally of 2,000 people, of whom at least 
85% were Black and a good majority were from the Haitian Community.

The New York Times and almost every other daily newspaper deliberately 
ignored this meeting. Having two members of the Black Congressional 
Caucus--Maxine Waters and Major Owens--speak to such a crowd in evidently 
not considered "newsworthy" for the Times. WBAI's Don Rojas and Amy Goodman 
spoke as well.

Please breakthrough the media blockade on this important event.

Thank you,

VMMolotov@xxxxxxx

__________________________________

For Immediate Release:
April 8, 2004

Sold-Out Brooklyn College Rally Slams U.S. Role in Aristide's Ouster

An overflow crowd of over 2,000 people packed the Center for the Performing 
Arts at Brooklyn College on the evening of Wednesday, April 7 to hear a 
broad range of speakers accuse and condemn the Bush administration for 
undermining and eventually kidnapping Haitian President Jean Bertrand 
Aristide on February 29, 2004.

The event, entitled "The Truth Behind the Haiti Coup," highlighted the work 
done by the Haiti Commission of Inquiry, which presented the results of its 
findings from delegations sent during March to the Central African Republic 
and the Dominican Republic. The independent Commission, a project jointly 
initiated by the International Action Center (IAC) and the Haiti Support 
Network (HSN),  is investigating the origins, methods and actors of the coup.

Speakers at the rally included Congressional representatives Maxine Waters 
(D-CA) and Major Owens (D-NY), actor Ossie Davis, former U.S. attorney 
general Ramsey Clark, and Haitian political leader Ben Dupuy. WBAI Radio's 
Don Rojas and Amy Goodman also spoke.

"U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell calls investigations into the latest 
Haitian coup, even that called for by CARICOM, a waste of time," said 
Dupuy, the secretary general of the National Popular Party (PPN), at the 
event. "This shows how much they fear the truth getting out. To add insult 
to injury, the U.S. is promoting diversionary investigations into 
Aristide's alleged drug trafficking, human rights abuses and corruption. 
Meanwhile, to carry out their coup, Washington is collaborating with 
death-squad leaders and soldiers universally recognized as corrupt 
drug-dealing human rights abusers. Even U.S. government officials from 
former President Clinton to Powell have called them criminals and thugs." 
The PPN offered critical support to Aristide's Lavalas Family party in 
recent months and continues to lead resistance to the coup.

Exiled Secretary of State of Communications Mario Dupuy called Aristide's 
Feb. 29th removal a "coup-napping," combination coup and kidnapping.

Sara Flounders of the International Action Center, denounced the U.S. 
occupation of Haiti and Iraq. "We have to march on Washington as soon as we 
can to get U.S. troops out of Iraq and Haiti," said Flounders, who was a 
member of a delegation that visited President Aristide in the Central 
African Republic

Musicians like La Troupe Makandal, Phantoms and Marguerite Laurent 
performed to the packed supercharged auditorium. The audience, a 3 to1 mix 
of Haitians and Americans, drowned performers and speakers alike in 
applause. The evening closed with a videotaped message from Aristide, 
recorded while in Africa, as well as a taped message from well-known U.S. 
political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal about the coup.

"The success of tonight's event shows how deep and broad the opposition to 
the February 29th  coup is," said one of the event's organizers, Kim Ives 
of the Haiti Support Network and a journalist for the newsweekly Haïti 
Progrès. " We are planning another rally for April 17th at the Medgar Evers 
College auditorium and more demonstrations and rallies after that. The huge 
response to the April 7th rally should give both Washington and the Haitian 
putschists pause."

The event, organized by the IAC and HSN, was endorsed by the Coalition to 
Resist the Feb. 29th Coup d'état in Haiti, a broad coalition of Haitian and 
U.S. groups which have held several large marches through Brooklyn to 
protest the coup.

((Media Contact: Kim Ives  718-434-8100, Dustin Langley 212-633-6646.)

- 30 -


Louis Proyect
Marxism list: www.marxmail.org 


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