[Marxism] RE: Reporting on the evil of looting amidst the horror

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tom O'Lincoln is right to suggest a note of caution, but there should be
no doubt of the racial character of the hate campaign now being whipped
up against looters.  The pictures on TV that I have seen are of crowd
scenes, and most of them are Black.  Blacks probably are a majority of
the city's population, and a big majority of those Left Behind in the
city's evacuation plan, which depend on people using cars to get out.
What is being portrayed as gangs is primarily crowds of people, all of
whom are portrayed as looters, in the streets, although I have no doubt
that organized groups are also involved in the modest redistribution of
wealth taking place.

The campaign in the United States against the looters is anti-Black
period, although as always there are individuals and groups from other
nationalities taking part.

I also think the tone of coverage on the sending of troops is shifting a
bit from their providing flood relief to restoring order in the city.

I was premature to talk about a Caracazo in the sense of a slaughter of
civilians, but this possibility does hang over the situation.  You
cannot put it past the US government to try to cover up one crime with
another, and to use the troops to victimize the Black population that is
being demonized by the current coverage: the wicked poor who "took
advantage" of being abandoned, unprotected, and unprovided for in the
"disaster planning" of the authorities.

So right now, we should support disaster relief, medical care, housing,
whatever for the people of New Orleans.  But we should also demand:
hands off! No shootings, no arrests, no prosecutions, no search for
"perps," no hunts for "stolen goods," no checking for police records and
outstanding warrants, no stop and frisk, no searching cars, no raids, no
nothing!

The government at all levels should accept the blame for the whole
catastrophe and pay the bill for it.

The rulers should be prevented by trying to cover up the crime against
the dead and dying with a crime against the survivors.  Hands off the
Black and poor people of New Orleans.

I hope Joaquin Bustelo can give us his read on the situation sometime
soon.
Fred Feldman


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