20779: Esser: April 7th Brooklyn College rally to demand restoration of democracy in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com


Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Ossie Davis will speak at April 7th
Brooklyn College rally to demand restoration of democracy in Haiti


Spokespeople for the event include: Johnnie Stevens, Sara Flounders,
and Teresa Gutierrez of the International Action Center; Kim Ives of
the Support Network

Thousands of people are expected to fill Brooklyn College's Whitman
Theatre on Wednesday, April 7 between 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. to
demand the restoration of Haiti's democratically elected President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The truth will be revealed about the Feb.
29th coup staged by the Bush Administration that resulted in
President Aristide's kidnapping and Haiti being occupied by thousands
of foreign troops.

Whitman Theatre, on the Brooklyn College campus, is located at 2900
Bedford Avenue--only a block away from the Flatbush Avenue stop of
the No. 2 subway line.

"We're holding this meeting of outrage on April 7th because it's the
201st anniversary of the death of Haitian liberator Toussaint
L'Ouverture in a French jail after he was kidnapped in a ruse by
Napoleon's agents," said Johnnie Stevens of the International Action
Center. "Just as Napoleon sought to restore slavery in Haiti by
starving to death Toussaint L'Ouverture, so does George Bush want to
re-impose colonial rule in the world's oldest Black republic by
kidnapping and exiling Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide."

Stevens was part of a delegation that visited President Aristide in
the Central African Republic and broke through the curtain of silence
about his abduction. He was recently interviewed about his trip and
the situation in Haiti by Gil Noble on ABC-TV's Like It Is.

"Even the Washington Post now admits that witnesses back up President
Aristide's account of how he was tricked by U.S. embassy officials to
leave Haiti's presidential palace," said Sara Flounders, another
leader of the International Action Center, who accompanied Stevens to
the Central African Republic. Both Stevens and Flounders were
representing former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who will be
speaking at the April 7th rally.

Joining Clark at this rally will Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who
accompanied President Aristide and Haitian First Lady Mildred
Aristide on their flight from the Central African Republic to Haiti,
and Brooklyn Congressman Major Owens. Speakers from the Haitian
Community will include former Ambassador-at-large Ben Dupuy, Ray
Laforest, Paul Laraque and Jean Jean Pierre. Ossie Davis, the
renowned actor who gave the eulogy at Malcolm X's funeral, will speak
as will WBAI's Don Rojas, co-worker and friend of the late Maurice
Bishop, leader of the Grenadian Revolution.

Media personalities on the program include Gil Noble, Amy Goodman and
Bernard White. President Aristide's attorney Ira Kurzban and Larry
Holmes of the International Action Center will speak There will be a
special taped message from Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
about his kidnapping.

This Brooklyn College rally will protest the continuing
assassinations of Aristide supporters. "Death squad leaders like
Jean-Francois Chamblain are now being supported by U.S. Marines and
French Foreign Legionnaires in their bloody business of eliminating
opposition," said Kim Ives, of Haiti Progres newspaper, who was part
of the delegation who visited Aristide. "Residents of
Port-au-Prince's Belair neighborhood told the Reuters news agency
that as many 11 bystanders were slain by trigger-happy Marines in a
one-sided firefight."

Johnnie Stevens emphasized the threat of Bush's overthrow of the
Haitian government to all the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa:
"What Bush did in Haiti, he wants to do in Venezuela, Cuba and
Zimbabwe. These criminals in the White House, State Department and
Pentagon are even threatening Jamaica for simply offering hospitality
to President Aristide and his family. It's outrageous that the
corporate media is virtually silent about the total opposition by
both the 15 Caribbean counties in CARICOM and the entire African
Union to George Bush's overthrow of a democratically elected
government in Haiti."

"The entire world is rallying around Haiti because the world owes so
much to this heroic Black nation," said Stevens. "Without Haiti there
would have been no French Revolution. Haiti opened its arms to Simon
Bolivar, supplying the Liberator with arms, only requesting in return
that slavery be abolished."

"Hundreds of Haitians were greeted enthusiastically when they marched
to demand the restoration of President Aristide in New York City's
100,000 strong anti-war demonstration on March 20th. Brooklyn College
will echo on April 7th with the call that democracy be restored to
Haiti and that foreign occupation troops must leave this Caribbean
nation," concluded Stevens.

This rally is sposored by the Coalition to Resist the February 29
Coup d'Etat in Haiti. For more information contact the International
Action Center at 212-633-6646 or Haiti Support Network at
718-434-8100.

For further information contact: Dustin Langley at the International
Action Center at 212-633-6646 or Haiti Support Network at 718-434-8100
.