[Marxism] Fw: [DAN-Labor] Notes from inside New Orleans

["rrubinelli" <rrubinelli@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

To: <rrubinelli@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, September 02, 2005 9:47 PM
Subject: Fw: [DAN-Labor] Notes from inside New Orleans


>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "jordan flaherty" <anticapitalist@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <anticapitalists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Friday, September 02, 2005 2:58 PM
> Subject: [DAN-Labor] Notes from inside New Orleans
>
>
>    *please only labor-related posts to dan-labor*
>
>
>
>
> Thanks to all the loved ones and long-lost friends for your sweet
notes
> of  concern, offers of housing and support, etc.  Yes, I stayed
through the
> storm and aftermath.  I'm fine - much better off than most of my
brother
> and  sister hurricane survivors.  Below is my attempt to relay some of
what
> I've  seen these last few days.
>
> Please Forward
>
> Notes From Inside New Orleans
>
> by Jordan Flaherty
>
> Friday, September 2, 2005
>
> I just left New Orleans a couple hours ago.  I traveled from the
> apartment I  was staying in by boat to a helicopter to a refugee camp.
If anyone
> wants  to examine the attitude of federal and state officials towards
the
> victims  of hurricane Katrina, I advise you to visit one of the
refugee camps.
>
> In the refugee camp I just left, on the I-10 freeway near Causeway,
> thousands of people (at least 90% black and poor) stood and squatted
in
> mud and trash behind metal barricades, under an unforgiving sun, with
> heavily armed soldiers standing guard over them.  When a bus would
come through,
> it would stop at a random spot, state police would open a gap in one
of the
> barricades, and people would rush for the bus, with no information
given
> about where the bus was going. Once inside (we were told) evacuees
would
> be  told where the bus was taking them - Baton Rouge, Houston,
Arkansas,
> Dallas, or other locations.  I was told that if you boarded a bus
bound for
> Arkansas (for example), even people with family and a place to stay in
Baton
> Rouge  would not be allowed to get out of the bus as it passed through
Baton
> Rouge.    You had no choice but to go to the shelter in Arkansas.  If
you had
> people willing to come to New Orleans to pick you up, they could not
come
> within 17  miles of the camp.
>
> I traveled throughout the camp and spoke to Red Cross workers,
Salvation
> Army workers, National Guard, and state police, and although they were
> friendly, no one could give me any details on when buses would arrive,
> how  many, where they would go to, or any other information.  I spoke
to the
> several teams of journalists nearby, and asked if any of them had been
> able  to get any information from any federal or state officials on
any of
> these  questions, and all of them, from Australian tv to local Fox
affiliates
> complained of an unorganized, non-communicative, mess.  One cameraman
> told  me "as someone who's been here in this camp for two days, the
only
> information I can give you is this: get out by nightfall.  You don't
want to
> be here at night."
>
> There was also no visible attempt by any of those running the camp to
> set up any sort of transparent and consistent system, for instance a
line to
> get on buses, a way to register contact information or find family
members,
> special  needs services for children and infirm, phone services,
treatment for
> possible disease exposure, nor even a single trash can.
>
> To understand this tragedy, its important to look at New Orleans
itself.
> For those who have not lived in New Orleans, you have missed a
> incredible,  glorious, vital, city.  A place with a culture and energy
unlike
> anywhere  else in the world.  A 70% African-American city where
resistance to
> white  supremecy has supported a generous, subversive and unique
culture of
> vivid  beauty.  From jazz, blues and hiphop, to secondlines, Mardi
Gras
> Indians,  Parades, Beads, Jazz Funerals, and red beans and rice on
Monday nights,
> New  Orleans is a place of art and music and dance and sexuality and
> liberation  unlike anywhere else in the world.
>
> It is a city of kindness and hospitality, where walking down the block
> can  take two hours because you stop and talk to someone on every
porch, and
> where a community pulls together when someone is in need.  It is a
city
> of  extended families and social networks filling the gaps left by
city,
> state  and federal goverments that have abdicated their responsibilty
for the
> public welfare.  It is a city where someone you walk past on the
street
> not  only asks how you are, they wait for an answer.
>
> It is also a city of exploitation and segregation and fear.  The city
of
> New  Orleans has a population of just over 500,000 and was expecting
300
> murders  this year, most of them centered on just a few,
overwhelmingly black,
> neighborhoods.  Police have been quoted as saying that they don't need
> to  search out the perpetrators, because usually a few days after a
> shooting,  the attacker is shot in revenge.
>
> There is an atmosphere of intense hostility and distrust between much
of
> Black New Orleans and the N.O. Police Department.  In recent months,
> officers have been accused of everything from drug running to
corruption
> to  theft.  In seperate incidents, two New Orleans police officers
were
> recently  charged with rape (while in uniform), and there have been
several high
> profile police killings of unarmed youth, including the murder of
Jenard
> Thomas, which has inspired ongoing weekly protests for several months.
>
> The city has a 40% illiteracy rate, and over 50% of black ninth
graders
> will  not graduate in four years.  Louisiana spends on average $4,724
per
> child's education and ranks 48th in the country for lowest teacher
salaries. The
> equivalent of more than two classrooms of young people drop out of
> Louisiana  schools every day and about 50,000 students are absent from
school on
> any  given day.  Far too many young black men from New Orleans end up
> enslaved in  Angola Prison, a former slave plantation where inmates
still do manual
> farm  labor, and over 90% of inmates eventually die in the prison.  It
is a
> city  where industry has left, and most remaining jobs are are
low-paying,
> transient, insecure jobs in the service economy.
>
> Race has always been the undercurrent of Louisiana politics.  This
> disaster  is one that was constructed out of racism, neglect and
incompetence.
> Hurricane Katrina was the inevitable spark igniting the gasoline of
> cruelty  and corruption.  From the neighborhoods left most at risk, to
the
> treatment of the refugees to the the media portayal of the victims,
this disaster
> is  shaped by race.
>
> Louisiana politics is famously corrupt, but with the tragedies of this
> week our political leaders have defined a new level of incompetence.
As
> hurricane Katrina approached, our Governor urged us to "Pray the
> hurricane  down" to a level two.  Trapped in a building two days after
the
> hurricane,  we tuned our battery-operated radio into local radio and
tv stations,
> hoping  for vital news, and were told that our governor had called for
a day of
> prayer.  As rumors and panic began to rule, they was no source of
solid
> dependable information.  Tuesday night, politicians and reporters said
> the  water level would rise another 12 feet - instead it stabilized.
Rumors
> spread like wildfire, and the politicians and media only made it
worse.
>
> While the rich escaped New Orleans, those with nowhere to go and no
way
> to  get there were left behind.  Adding salt to the wound, the local
and
> national media have spent the last week demonizing those left behind.
> As someone that loves New Orleans and the people in it, this is the
part of
> this tragedy that hurts me the most, and it hurts me deeply.
>
> No sane person should classify someone who takes food from
indefinitely
> closed stores in a desperate, starving city as a "looter," but thats
> just  what the media did over and over again.  Sherrifs and
politicians talked
> of  having troops protect stores instead of perform rescue operations.
>
> Images of New Orleans' hurricane-ravaged population were transformed
> into  black, out-of-control, criminals.  As if taking a stereo from a
store
> that  will clearly be insured against loss is a greater crime than the
> governmental neglect and incompetence that did billions of dollars of
> damage  and destroyed a city.  This media focus is a tactic, just as
the
> eighties  focus on "welfare queens" and "super-predators" obscured the
> simultaneous  and much larger crimes of the Savings and Loan scams and
mass layoffs,
> the  hyper-exploited people of New Orleans are being used as a
scapegoat to
> cover up much larger crimes.
>
> City, state and national politicians are the real criminals here.
Since
> at least the mid-1800s, its been widely known the danger faced by
flooding
> to New Orleans.  The flood of 1927, which, like this week's events,
was
> more  about politics and racism than any kind of natural disaster,
illustrated
> exactly the danger faced.  Yet government officials have consistently
> refused to spend the money to protect this poor, overwhelmingly black,
> city.

  While FEMA and others warned of the urgent impending danger to New
> Orleans  and put forward proposals for funding to reinforce and
protect the city,
> the  Bush administration, in every year since 2001, has cut or refused
to
> fund New Orleans flood control, and ignored scientists warnings of
increased
> hurricanes as a result of global warming.  And, as the dangers rose
with
> the  floodlines, the lack of coordinated response dramatized vividly
the
> callous  disregard of our elected leaders.
>
> The aftermath from the 1927 flood helped shape the elections of both a
> US President and a Governor, and ushered in the southern populist
politics
> of  Huey Long.
>
> In the coming months, billions of dollars will likely flood into New
> Orleans.  This money can either be spent to usher in a "New Deal" for
> the  city, with public investment, creation of stable union jobs, new
> schools, cultural programs and housing restoration, or the city can be
"rebuilt
> and  revitalized" to a shell of its former self, with newer hotels,
more
> casinos,  and with chain stores and theme parks replacing the former
> neighborhoods, cultural centers and corner jazz clubs.
>
> Long before Katrina, New Orleans was hit by a hurricane of poverty,
> racism,  disinvestment, de-industrialization and corruption.  Simply
the damage
> from this pre-Katrina hurricane will take billions to repair.
>
> Now that the money is flowing in, and the world's eyes are focused on
> Katrina, its vital that progressive-minded people take this
opportunity
> to fight for a rebuilding with justice.  New Orleans is a special
place,
> and we  need to fight for its rebirth.
>
> -----------------------------------------------
> Jordan Flaherty is an editor of Left Turn Magazine (www.leftturn.org).
>
> -----------------------------------------------
>
> Below are some small, grassroots and New Orleans-based resources,
> organizations and institutions that will need your support in the
coming
> months.
>
> Social Justice:
> www.jjpl.org
> www.iftheycanlearn.org
> www.nolaps.org
> www.thepeoplesinstitute.org/
> www.criticalresistance.org/index.php?name=crno_home
>
> Cultural Resources:
> www.backstreetculturalmuseum.com
> www.ashecac.org/
> http://198.66.50.128/gallery/
> www.nolahumanrights.org
> http://www.freewebs.com/ironrail/
> http://www.girlgangproductions.com/
>
> Current Info and Resources:
> http://neworleans.craigslist.org/about/help/katrina_cl.html
>
> -
>
>
>
>
>
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