January, 13 2010, 03:16pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
Haiti Earthquake
WASHINGTON
BRIAN CONCANNON
Director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy
in Haiti, Concannon lived in Haiti for eight years. He said today: "In
the short term the Haitian people need the international community to
respond to this tragedy with massive amounts of disaster relief. But in
the long term, the Haitian people need the international community to
stop imposing policies that make them more vulnerable to natural
disasters. These policies include trade and aid policies that force
rural Haitians into the cities where there is no safe housing for them,
and political policies that undermine or overthrow
democratically-elected governments that do try to provide safe housing
and services in rural areas."
AMY WILENTZ, https://amywilentz.com
Author of "The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier," Wilentz is now a
professor at the University of California at Irvine. One of the issues
she can address is practices of environmental degradation that are
often pursued in Haiti because of economic conditions, thus leaving the
country more vulnerable to disasters. She can also discuss Haiti's
politics, history, medicine and U.S. aid. She is available for a
limited number of interviews on Wednesday, becoming more available
beginning Thursday.
BILL FLETCHER
Fletcher is executive editor of The Black Commentator and former president of TransAfrica Forum.
A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.
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