Katrina, Iraq, SPP Show
Reject the Failed U.S. State & Its Failed Political Parties! We Want and Need an Anti-War Government!
Call for an International Day of Action to Support the International Tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
Defend the Right to Return and Rebuild
“We are not debris to be thrown on the junk pile — we are human beings with rights!”
Where’s the Katrina money?
Red Cross Hides Funds for Katrina Survivors
Reject the Failed U.S. State & Its Failed Political Parties!
We Want and Need an Anti-War Government!
The large majority of Americans are demanding that the -direction of society be changed. The large majority rejects the government’s path of war and militarization, of repression and attacks on rights. This is not the direction people want and not the government people want. Its path is not to guarantee the rights of the people, but to guarantee that this failed system with its failed state survives.
The government-organized disaster before, during and after Katrina brought to the fore the character of the U.S. state as a failed state. It failed to build the levees needed, it failed to evacuate people, it failed to rescue them, it forced them out of New Orleans, separating families, it unleashed police and soldiers with "shoot to kill" orders. It did not, has not and will not provide for the people. Conditions now, two years later, confirm this reality.
The failed U.S. state does not and cannot guarantee the rights of all, even for such basic necessities as housing, education and healthcare. The future it offers the youth is one of joining the military or being sent to prison. It refuses to meet the people’s just demands to end the war now and bring all the troops home. On every front, it has abandoned all social responsibility, which necessarily makes it a failure — not mismanaged, not inept, but failed. In its rejection of the need for political empowerment of the people, the U.S. state is refusing to meet the demands of the people for the new, for a democracy consistent with the times. Refusing this necessity, the U.S. state has no course but that of use of force at home and abroad. It is a failed state, with failed political parties.
The Democrats were elected in 2006 and provided with a majority in the hopes that they would somehow be different from the past. Instead, people’s experience from the past was again confirmed. The Democrats, who took the country to war against Korea and Vietnam, again showed they are a pro-war, anti-people force. They have not served to even slow down the current drive to more wars and repression. On the contrary, they have systematically supported this direction — repeatedly funding the Iraq war; passing laws giving Bush even more executive authority, including use of the military inside the U.S. against civilians; allowing the Military Commissions Act to become law instead of organizing a filibuster; refusing to exercise Congressional authority and close the Guantánamo concentration camp and immigration detention camps; refusing to organize impeachment of Bush and Cheney for war crimes and many other examples. When it comes to Katrina, two years have passed and still the government has left more than 200,000 people stranded and scattered across the country and is organizing to keep the people of New Orleans out of their city. No one has been held accountable for the crimes before, during and after. Indeed, the government does not even think crimes have occurred!
So, what to do? Power is not in our hands, but power must be ours if changing the direction of society is to be won. We want and need an anti-war government that would end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan now and end the massive Pentagon budget. An anti-war government would immediately charge and hold accountable the government officials responsible for the war crimes, for the Katrina crimes, for the many crimes of genocide present and past. Charges are due, reparations are owed and the unity of the peoples demands deeds that defend of the rights of all.
There is no evidence, none what so ever, that the Democrats would take such action. On the contrary, experience has shown that in or out of the White House, with or without a majority in Congress, their crimes are on a par or worse than the Republicans.
The dangerous situation today is not because of George W. Bush. It stems from the failure of the U.S. state and its desperation to save itself. A Democratic President and Democratic Congress will face the same failure and will be required to take even more backward measures. They too will necessarily refuse the progress required by the times — empowering the people to govern and decide.
What we need is our own anti-war candidates and anti-war program. The Democrats naturally respond that independent candidates have no chance of winning. They urge people not to bother running and not to waste your vote. But let us all take a hard look at reality. How is voting for a Democrat going to solve any problem? Which really is the waste — hoping against all experience that the Democrats will be different and voting for them, or refusing to join the organizing now going forward to empower the people? Everyone has a role to play in winning empowerment.
Everyone can sense the growing dangers facing the country and the world. As the saying goes, if not now, when? When will the time be right for the people to select, run and elect their own candidates? And how can it be a waste to get better organized for our rights, to take our stands together, to work collectively, to vote our convictions, not our false hopes?
We say now is the time. Let us all discuss together how we can advance the fight for empowerment today, for 2008 and beyond. Do not let the Democrats decide your conscience, decide for yourself — act on and vote your convictions!
Now is the Time for an Anti-War Government!
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Call for an International Day of Action to Support the International Tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 will mark the second commemoration of Hurricane Katrina and the Great Flood that devastated New Orleans and revealed to the world the ongoing depth of racism and national oppression that exists within the United States. The People’s Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Coalition (PHRF), a U.S.-based coalition of survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and their supporters, is holding its Second Annual Commemorative March on August 29th and the International Tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita from August 29th – September 2nd, 2007.
PHRF is calling on justice seeking people throughout the world to stand in solidarity with us on Wednesday, August 29th in support of these actions and demand that the US government be made accountable for the crimes it perpetrated against the marginalized and oppressed peoples of the Gulf Coast – people African descent, Indigenous Peoples, migrants, and the poor - during and after Hurricane Katrina.
We are demanding the following:
1. The U.S. government declare the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Internally Displace Persons (IDP’s) and that they be provided with the basic rights and securities that come with this designation.
2. The U.S. government provides immediate restitution to all Gulf Coast IDP’s, regardless of race, income, or property holding status.
3. Government officers, institutions, and agencies -responsible for the death of more than 2,000 individuals and the numerous human rights violations and crimes committed during and after Hurricane Katrina be held legally accountable for their actions.
To support this initiative PHRF/OC is asking all of our international supporters and allies to take one or all of the following actions:
1. Hold a demonstration on August 29th at the US Embassy or Consulate in your country and raise the aforementioned demands in support the Gulf Coast IDP’s and the International Tribunal.
2. Deliver a statement addressed to US President George Bush demanding that the US government comply with the just demands of the Gulf Coast IDP’s, including the demands for recognition and restitution.
3. Issue a statement of solidarity to the International Tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, alerting the body of your actions and support.
4. Join the International Tribunal network and support our ongoing campaign work for justice by registering at the www.internationaltribunal.org website
If you plan on conducting any of the above actions or to receive more information please contact us at tribunal@peopleshurricane.org.
Uphold the Right of Return and hold the U.S. government accountable for its crimes against humanity in New Orleans and the Gulf coast. Act Now!
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Defend the Right to Return and Rebuild
“We are not debris to be thrown on the junk pile — we are human beings with rights!”
Voice of Revolution had the opportunity to speak with Malcolm Suber, a main organizer for the International Tribunal on Katrina and Rita and national organizer for the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF). The Tribunal will be held in New Orleans from August 28-September 2. Survivors will be giving testimony on the U.S. government crimes before, during and after Katrina. They will testify on their own experience and represent that of survivors from New Orleans and the hundreds of thousands still displaced. The Tribunal itself is an integral part of the on-going fight of the people of New Orleans to defend their right to return and rebuild and defend their city as a city of resistance and the unity of all. VOR will be participating in the Tribunal and encourage all our readers to follow developments. See www.peopleshurricane.org for more information.
Voice of Revolution: Can you give us a general picture of living conditions in New Orleans now, two years since the government-organized disaster after Katrina? Are housing, water, electricity, hospitals, and grocery stores back to normal or still major problems?
Malcolm Suber: Basically as we approach the second anniversary, August 29, we can see the uneven development typical of capitalism. In the central business district, tourist areas, if you close your eyes to everything else, you can think it is the same as before Katrina. But go across Claiborne Avenue and drive through the working class areas and it looks like Katrina was two months ago. Funds are not getting into the hands of poor and working class people.
In terms of basic necessities, very few grocery stores are open. Only about half the hospitals have re-opened and most take forever to get an appointment and services. Half the schools are still closed and those that have opened are now for-profit charter schools. The government is using New Orleans to eliminate public education so our schools are not being opened.
We are continuing to advance our fight for the right to return home with justice and dignity. We are steadily organizing, working to keep people focused on the government as the enemy. People naturally hope against hope that the government will do its duty and provide for people. And we demand that the government do so. But people’s repeated experience is that this will not happen. So we are organizing for people to rely on themselves and build up their own organizations.
One of the problems we are dealing with is that people see problems as individual problems rather than collective problems and try to deal with them as individuals. Housing, schools, healthcare are problems for all of us. We have all been hurt and we will all be made whole by strengthening our common struggle for rights. As Frederick Douglas said, power concedes nothing without a demand.
VOR: We understand a focal point of the struggle right now is in relation to the Red Cross and its failure to make available millions of dollars it received for Katrina survivors. Can you tell us what actions have taken place and plans for challenging the Red Cross?
MS: In mid July, we heard from some survivors outside New Orleans that they were receiving funds from a Red Cross program called Means to Recovery. They asked if people in New Orleans were getting support. We asked around and no one even knew about the program. The Red Cross said the program did not exist. We knew this was wrong. We had to get the documents and get caseworkers to get copies of the application. Then we had to insist on speaking to Red Cross supervisors. Finally, we forced the Red Cross to admit the program existed. Then the situation just exploded. Our office at the Peoples’ Hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF) had a line around the block to get the application. We had to close down just to make copies. When we opened, we had 10,000 people come through our office. The Red Cross closed down their switchboard because they got so many calls demanding funds. This all shows just how desperate people are for support. It also shows that the Red Cross is holding hundreds of millions that belong to survivors.
People are rightly angry. The Red Cross has steadfastly insisted that they did not deceive anyone. But we keep getting different stories about how much money they have and how much is still available for Katrina survivors. They have publicly stated five different amounts. As anyone knows, if you tell different stories in a court of law, you would be found guilty as charged, of theft and fraud. That’s how we feel about the Red Cross.
Basically, they collected more than $2.1 billion for Katrina relief. They had about $1 billion left over after the initial distribution right after the disaster. In this “Means to Recovery” program, people are eligible for up to $20,000 each. The program was done in a secretive way from the start. It is also operated only through case managers, supposedly to prevent fraud by Katrina survivors! Now we see where the real fraud is, with many tens of thousands of Katrina survivors still desperate, but getting no funds or assistance. There has been a basic violation of trust. The Red Cross, as the fiduciary receiving funds for survivors, betrayed that mission and probably pocketed money as well.
We organized actions at Red Cross offices on August 20 to demand that they open their books and give the money they have for Katrina survivors to Katrina survivors. This struggle has had an exhilarating effect here in city, with people more focused on fighting for their right to these funds. We are encouraging everyone to join in. This campaign has also increased our base of support to strengthen the fight to return and rebuild.
VOR: We understand that PHRF and others have worked to organize survivor councils in those areas where people are still dispersed. Could you tell us about that work?
MS: We still have more than 200,000 people from this area living outside of New Orleans. Most are in Houston, as well as Dallas, Atlanta, Memphis and Jackson. Many others are still scattered across the country since families were ripped apart and people sent to all 50 states. We have Survivor Councils in Houston, Jackson, as well as in North and South Carolina and California and are working to develop more. PHRF and these councils serve as a transmission belt of current information and to let people know what is going on, on the ground, here in the city.
Here in New Orleans we are fighting exorbitant rents, which have doubled and tripled since the hurricane and flooding. We are demanding that the City have rent control. In the fall we are launching a campaign for living wages. We are concerned about all these social issues and working to address them.
We think one important front of work is developing people’s assemblies to discuss all these issues. We are working to strengthen everyone’s ability to decide things together and to see that we together are the only ones who can fight for our demands. We are working now talking with folks about developing a reconstruction platform. We are eventually thinking of running candidates, but we want that to be a decision coming from the people themselves. We think at this point we need to dig deeper and build up broader support. We see developing a reconstruction platform as part of this effort. We are also working on doing broad education on the failures of the capitalist government and their Democratic and Republican parties. We want to contest for power and build enough strength to take over some seats.
We think New Orleans is an important example and the struggle here for progress will impact everyone. Many of the rotten conditions that existed here before Katrina existed everywhere. But what is going on now is that the capitalists and their government are using the reconstruction process to impose answers that are detrimental to the people, like privatization and elimination of public schools and hospitals, sewer and water. We are fighting to have New Orleans be an example of what we working people can do together to change conditions to our benefit. We think progressives across country and ordinary workers should pay attention to what is going on and support this struggle.
VOR: New Orleans is no doubt a very powerful example of the spirit and necessity for resistance and for developing our own instruments of struggle, like the survivor councils and people’s assemblies. We see the International Tribunal as an important part of these efforts to take matters into our own hands. Could you tell us about the role of the International Tribunal in strengthening and broadening the struggle for rights, in New Orleans, the country and internationally?
MS: The Tribunal is helping to focus on the crimes of the government and also on building ties, not only in the Gulf region but nationwide and internationally. For example we will have delegations coming from Algeria, South Africa, Brazil, Colombia and France. Interest has been broadly generated in these and other countries despite efforts by the government to keep people from coming. We will have international representation and they will go back and help spread the story. We have also developed relations with the tsunami survivors in Indonesia and Malaysia. Our solidarity and unity is being built and this contributes to rebuilding the black liberation struggle and the workers struggle for power in this country. So the Tribunal is contributing in that respect as well.
VOR: What has been the response of survivors and people here in New Orleans to the Tribunal? Is the process of gathering testimonials and giving people an opportunity to speak to the crimes committed against them serving to heal peoples’ sense of loss and assisting them in joining the struggle? We participated, for example, in an International Tribunal in 2001, on the U.S. war crimes against the people of Korea. For some of the people testifying, it was the first opportunity to tell their stories and express their anger and demand for reparations and do so before a Tribunal of jurists and respected rights activists. The Tribunal was an important part of healing and recovery, not only for those directly involved but for Koreans as a whole. What is your sense of the impact of this work on survivors and New Orleans as a whole and African Americans more broadly?
MS: Yes, people feel relieved. They have been carrying this burden for a couple of years and really trying to come to grips with what they witnessed. They are trying to deal with actually having seen things and experienced awful things that they could never have imagined. The Tribunal is definitely serving to help lift this burden and free people to focus their anger on the government and the whole system. Katrina has forced many people to question the present capitalist state. It made clear just what the racist ruling class thinks about poor black folk. Katrina showed to all that the ruling class thinks of working class and poor black folks as just so much debris to throw on junk pile. The Tribunal rejects that and says we are human beings, we have rights and we demand the government meet them.
And speaking for myself, as a revolutionary, the conclusion to draw is that we need to overthrow the ruling class and put them on the junk heap of history. They are the refuse that really needs to be gotten rid of so we can build a society that puts peoples’ needs first.
VOR: New Orleans is known as a city of resistance, going back to the days of slavery and before. It is also known for bringing different peoples together in common struggle, such as some of the workers’ strikes. Could you give us some examples from this history and the role it is playing in sustaining the fight today to keep New Orleans’ heart of resistance alive?
MS: The trend of history is the trend of resistance towards liberation — from the first days Africans were brought over here they fought for liberation. One of the most important and largest slave revolts, in 1811, happened in the New Orleans area. And there were many others like 1811. The largest African American contingents in the civil war came from Louisiana and reflected the history of struggle against slavery. In 1892 black and white unionized workers organized a general strike, the largest at that time. It was strategically successful as it showed the power of labor and brought folks together. People through out the city supported the strike.
New Orleans also gave rise to early battles against segregation. The Plessy vs. Ferguson case (1896) was the result of organized resistance to segregated train cars. Plessy was chosen to challenge the segregation law. This was part of the organized resistance of the times, with the legal fight taken to the Supreme Court. [The Supreme Court ruled in favor of segregation. The case involved a state segregation law. The Supreme Court ruling guaranteed that each state could continue to impose segregation. It served as a means to suppress the broad struggle for rights that emerged after the civil war and included the 1982 general strike in New Orleans and the fight for the 8-hour day and May Day struggles nationally — VOR]
The struggles of our ancestors inspire us today to wage our battles and tell us we are capable of winning. We see the government actions before, during and after Katrina as the start of an all out war against the black majority — they tried to drown us, they purposely left people behind to die. This was not an inept effort by the government, but a deliberate policy. The government has always campaigned against the black liberation struggle. Condemning this deliberate policy is one of the central tenants of the International Tribunal. We talk about this deliberate policy as part of bringing forward witnesses for the Tribunal. We now have more than 100 potential witnesses. They will tell their story, one of terror, of outright government murder and mayhem against our people. The whole world needs to have that documented and we will share the proceedings and results with the entire world community. We see the Tribunal as part of the battering ram against U.S. imperialism to defeat this mortal enemy of the progress of the peoples of the world.
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Red Cross Hides Funds for Katrina Survivors
The word is out. From the moment Katrina Home Drive (www.katrinahomedrive.org) posted a copy of the secretive American Red Cross Means to Recovery application on their website on July 18, more than 10,000 survivors in New Orleans responded by taking to the streets and going to their local Red Cross office. Instead of help, they were greeted with a sign that read “CLOSED.” Since then, the American Red Cross has been busy with damage control.
Kay Wilkins, director of the New Orleans Red Cross, told a TV reporter, “There’s misinformation about the assistance a family could get through the program. The money is meant as a last resort for people who are barely getting by.” During the previous weekend, a Katrina Home Drive volunteer had noticed the American Red Cross added information to their many websites finally showing the terms “Hurricane Recovery Program,” also known as “Means to Recovery.” Activists say, “This information was never there before. We looked for it, we googled it; nothing ever came up.” Today, if you call the Red Cross at their toll-free 1-866-438-4636 number, you will get a recording claiming all this talk about Means to Recovery is a “rumor.”
So, what is going on?
One activist managed to speak with Red Cross Director of Communications for Hurricane Recovery Jeanne Ellinport weeks before, on May 17. Ms. Ellinport described this money as a “tool for case managers” and made it clear that the program was not public information. It is not to be found on their website, it was not going to be advertised and there was to be no outreach to survivors. Information about this conversation was posted on Katrina Home Drive’s website on May 17.
A senior associate for communications and marketing for the Red Cross told Katrina Home Drive: “I was hired by the American Red Cross for the Hurricane Recovery Program in April 2006. They didn’t want to promote the program. I had an issue with this. I’m a Katrina survivor, and how were the people going to get help if no one was going to tell them about it?” Another Red Cross explained, “The program was going to sunset in August 2006. It was set up to help survivors of Katrina, Rita and Wilma. There was $71 million for this program, and they were talking about shutting it down even though they hadn’t even given away $1 million.”
IN the face of opposition, on July 19, the Red Cross issued a press release that reads in part: “The $20,000 that continues to be mentioned is the maximum benefit available through the case management process, not an allocation. The amount distributed per eligible client is based upon the specific needs identified and agreed upon in the recovery plan. It is not a source of emergency cash assistance or long-term income to meet basic needs. The Means to Recovery resource distribution is to provide financial assistance for survivors who need help getting into a home, with occupational needs, or for job-related transportation assistance. More than 53,000 families have received recovery planning help from disaster case managers across the country to date as part of the Katrina Aid Today consortium …If you are interested in the case management process, you will have to be put on a waiting list. We suggest you contact your local Katrina Aid Today agency and ask to be put on their waiting list.”
The United Methodist Committee on Relief’s program, Katrina Aid Today, is comprised of nine consortium members, including Boat People SOS, Catholic Charities USA, Society of St. Vincent De Paul, Lutheran Disaster Response, Episcopal Relief & Development, National Disability Rights Network, Odyssey House of Louisiana and Volunteers of America. Many of these agencies have shut down their hurricane relief services. Most stopped accepting new applicants. So why would the Red Cross continue to supply misleading information to Katrina survivors across the country?
One source put it this way: “If they make it difficult enough, like the FEMA program … well, just look at the application process. … They’re counting on people to give up.”
Give up? Lives have been lost. Giving up is not an option. At least not for those of us at Katrina Home Drive. The Red Cross and Katrina Aid Today members have been entrusted with donations meant to help survivors. More than 1.4 million lives were affected. Many people have never heard of either the American Red Cross’ Means to Recovery or Katrina Aid Today case management programs. The Red Cross must be held accountable for what amounts to criminal, inhumane and human rights violations against the people affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Thousands tell Red Cross to ‘Give it up!’
An in-house Red Cross document secured by Katrina Home Drive shows that only one case — one — was scheduled for consideration by the Resources Distribution Roundtable for Means to Recovery assistance at its July 10 meeting in New Orleans. A week later ten thousand Katrina survivors, learning of the program, demanded that the millions of dollars the Red Cross had be used for Katrina families.
The Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund and other local groups held a press conference Monday, July 23. PHRF presented numerous affidavits and eyewitness accounts of survivors who were either denied assistance or told by Red Cross staffers that the program did not exist. PHRF is inviting the local head of the agency to discuss the issue in an open media forum. Survivors are demanding that the Red Cross use Katrina funds for Katrina survivors and that they hand over the funds now!