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Add an EventSUPPORT THE PEOPLE OF NEW ORLEANS! NATIONAL DAY OF EMERGENCY ACTION Wednesday, September 7
Wednesday, September 7 Jobs/Income & Housing for All Displaced Families
Real Relief - Yes! Racism - No! San Francisco Protest 5 PM at Powell & Market St.
Call to Action from the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
National Day of Emergency Action
Support the People of New Orleans!
Jobs/Income & Housing for All Displaced Families
Real Relief - Yes! Racism - No!
Wednesday, September 7
San Francisco Protest 5 PM at Powell & Market St
Join a protest on September 7 see below for details of protests in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle - or organize one in your community or on your campus. List your event on the A.N.S.W.E.R. website!(www.pephost.org/Sept7localaction)
What is taking place today in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama is a crisis rarely seen in this country. It has provoked an outpouring of concern for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Millions of people across the United States and around the world are watching in horror at both the scale of suffering and the lack of response by President Bush and the U.S. government. Thousands are dead or missing; millions have been displaced or lost their jobs and homes.
The African American community in New Orleans has been especially hard hit, and on top of massive death and suffering has been the victim of vicious racist scapegoating at the hands of government officials and the corporate media. The real "looters" in this crisis are the big oil companies that are making super-profits by jacking up the price of gas and oil all over the country.
It is becoming clearer every day that this crisis goes far beyond a "natural disaster." The massive death and destruction did not have to happen as a result of the hurricane; rather it is caused by a government that prioritizes profits, war and conquest over human needs. The danger that a hurricane posed for New Orleans and the region had been known and discussed for years—with no significant preparations taken. Funds were diverted from securing the levees to pay for the war in Iraq and the protective wetlands were sold off to the developers.
Global warming is a major factor in the big increase in tropical storms, particularly Hurricane Katrina, which developed from a minimal hurricane to one of the largest and most powerful ever recorded because of the extremely high water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico. Still, the Bush Administration continues to contemptuously turn its back on evidence of climate change and stands by its position to cancel the Kyoto Accord.
Before the hurricane struck, the government issued a mandatory evacuation order with a "free-market approach." In other words, people were ordered to leave, but the means for evacuation were not provided. It was the poorest sectors of the working class and predominantly the African American community that did not have the means to leave and endured the greatest personal suffering. Even days after the hurricane the U.S. government has refused to commandeer all available buses and send them to transport people out. With the city awash in a sea of sewage and chemicals, the contemptible director of FEMA, Michael Brown, had the gall to then accuse those who have suffered the most: "I think the death toll may go into the thousands and, unfortunately, that's going to be attributable a lot to people who did not heed the advance warnings." (September 1, CNN)
The Bush administration has spared no resource in waging its war against Iraq, taking more than $200 billion from the people of the United States to do so. It spared no resource in destroying the entire city of Fallujah last November. But when it comes to confronting this "natural" catastrophe, the Bush administration has been criminally derelict. Bush’s relief package of $10.5 billion which equals just 7 weeks of the cost of the occupation of Iraq is completely inadequate. As people, including babies and the elderly, go without food and water, and corpses lie in the street and float in the water, Bush has presented a meager and dilatory response.
The government is preparing to bail out the oil companies, insurance companies, other big corporations and casinos. Big Oil is also using this catastrophe as an opportunity to line their pockets. Working people in the United States need to stand with the victims of this crisis and demand that the government provide both short and long-term assistance to those who have lost everything.
Stop Racist Scapegoating of the Victims
Jail the Real "Looters" the Big Oil executives
Money for People's Needs, Not for War
Stop Bush’s War Against the Poor at Home and Abroad
- Washington DC: 5 pm at the White House. Call 202-544-3389 or email dc@internationalanswer.org for more information.
- San Francisco: 5 pm at Powell & Market Sts. Call 415-821-6545 for email sf@internationalanswer.org for more information.
- Los Angeles: 6 pm at the Westwood Federal Building (Veterans & Wilshire). Call 323-464-1636 or email la@internationalanswer.org for more information.
- Seattle: 5 pm at Westlake (Pine near 4th). Call 206-568-1661 or email seattle@internationalanswer.org for more information.
Join a protest on September 7 or organize one in your community or on your campus. Let us know if you are planning a protest in your area. Fill out the Event Listing Form (www.pephost.org/Sept7localaction) as soon as you make your plans and your event will be listed on the A.N.S.W.E.R. website.
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A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
http://www.ANSWERcoalition.org
info@internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-533-0417
Los Angeles: 323-464-1636
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
Subscribe to the email alert list!
www.pephost.org/ANSWERemail
Really! I wish these idiots would stop making this a racial issue. it's a natural disaster.
Maybe if you protest enough, you can make the next huirricane wipe out a white neighborhood, if that'll make you feel better.
Its now been 4 days since the flooding and many peopel have been stranded in the city without food or water with the media and officals calling for the shooting of people who break into stores to get food and bottled water.
If this were India, Iran, China or Brazil and disaster like this would have been responded to faster and everyone would already be out. You can look at the recent flooding in India and or the earthquakes that killed many in Iran and see how quickly the governments responded. When peopel who want to help becasue the government says they will get in the way are stopped from bringing in boats or helicopters while no food is dropped to peopel on bridges or at shelters for days you have to wonder why.
Could the answer be the at the US is more inept and less able to respond to a natural distaster than most poorer countries in the world? OR could teh answer be that the US could have responded but didnt for days since the lives of the poorer people in New Orleans were just not seen as being worth the cost of saving. With a single shot at a helicopter (which some say didnt happen and hasnt been confirmed) stopped the National Guard from bringing in helicopters for a day while the same soldiers land to save US officials in Iraq while being constantly shot at you have to wonder...
Also I would like to know—what about the Louisiana State Governor Kathleen Blanco.
Isn’t the governors office suppose to be the first line of defense in natural disasters. Isn’t she the one who is supposed to call out the National Guard first, and then the feds come in and do the aid. I mean we seem to fight huge interstate forest fires with better coordination than the way they handled this situation
Give me a break. I understand why people don't like Bush, but get real.
If you seriously want to attack someone for devastation caused by the hurricane, start with and in this order: Mother Nature, then Gov. Blanco, then Mayor Ray Nagin, then Michael Brown.
Common sense people, use it.
as if it's not already self-apparent
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