24340: Ives: (announce) Feb 27 Film Premiere & Rally in Brooklyn to Mark Coup Anniversary (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: K. M. Ives <kives@toast.net>

For Immediate Release:                         Contact:
February 23, 2005                                 Berthony Dupont,
718-434-8100

INDOOR RALLY IN BROOKLYN TO PREMIERE NEW VIDEO OF HAITI COUP

On the 1st anniversary of Haiti's latest coup d'état and for the first time
in New York, the Haiti Support Network (HSN) and the Lavalas Family party
present a special advance screening of excerpts from Haiti: The Betrayal of
Democracy, a soon-to-be-released documentary by journalist/filmmaker Kevin
Pina.

The film will be shown on Sunday, February 27 at 5 p.m. at Clara Barton High
School, 901 Classon Avenue, in Brooklyn. Mr. Pina, who lives in Haiti, will
speak after the projection.

The film will present graphic footage of events leading up to and following
the February 29, 2004 kidnapping and exile of President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, including the fierce repression which has met mass demonstrations
opposing the coup and the ensuing foreign military occupation of Haiti.

Speakers from the HSN will give an update on what has happened in Haiti
since a commando unit attacked the national penitentiary last week, after
which hundreds of prisoners escaped.

Lawyer Tom Griffin, the author of an explosive new human rights report on
Haiti, will also speak about his investigation and make a media
presentation.

Ben Dupuy, secretary general of the National Popular Party (PPN), and Mario
Dupuy, a member of the Lavalas Family party's Communications Commission,
will offer analyses of the situation in Haiti, along with speakers from the
ANSWER Coalition and the International Action Center.

Performer Marguerite Laurent will bring poetry and dance to the evening,
while Eddy François, lead singer of the rasin group Boukan Ginen, will sing
with the beloved Haitian choir Voix et Tambours d'Haïti (Voices & Drums of
Haiti).

"As we rally in Brooklyn, the repression in Haiti is getting worse daily,"
said Serge Lilavois of the HSN. "Dozens of people are being killed,
disappeared or jailed illegally every day. We are going to hold high the
flame of resistance through rallies like Sunday's until we can turn back the
February 29th coup, just as we defeated the September 30, 1991 coup in
Haiti."

Clara Barton High School is a traditional venue for the Haitian community's
democracy rallies since the days of the Duvalier dictatorship. It can be
reached by the 2 or 3 train to Brooklyn Museum. Tickets are $10 and can be
purchased at the door or in advance in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and New
Jersey. More information is available from the Haiti Support Network at
718-434-8100.

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