Haiti Earthquake 1/13

Institute for Public Accuracy

980 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045

(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org

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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

BRIAN CONCANNON, http://www.ijdh.org

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, cell:

http://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, cell: (202) 436-0145, billfletcherjr@gmail.com,

http://www.blackcommentator.com

Fletcher is executive editor of The Black Commentator and former

president of TransAfrica Forum.

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:

David Zupan, (541) 484-9167