Voice of Revolution

No National Guard in New Orleans

Reject the Government's Police-State Measures

The National Guard is once again being sent to New Orleans. An estimated 300 Guards and an additional 60 state troopers have been sent to the city. The Guard will be concentrated in the areas where there is organized resistance among the people, including struggles for housing. These areas include the Lower 9th Ward, Gentilly and eastern New Orleans. The New Orleans Police Department and FBI will be used to provide a "massive physical presence" in areas like Central City, Algiers and parts of Uptown. Algiers, in particular, is another area known for its resistance and organizing. It is home, for example, to the free medical clinic established by the Common Ground collective.

According to the police and FBI, "A special force of 60 to 70 officers will patrol selected neighborhoods in search of patterns of street life that suggest trouble is brewing." Elaborating on the content of "trouble brewing," the FBI's special agent in charge said, "If you go to Central City at night, there are lots of people milling around with nothing to do, and that's a recipe for disaster."

The agent also said that groups of 60-70 officers and agents will be deployed to "set up a perimeter around a large neighborhood," with no one allowed in or out. Inside the perimeter, the officers will look for "patterns" of what "might be suspicious activity," like cars with dark tinted windows or cars cruising an area. A youth curfew is being put in place and "resisting arrest" could become a violent crime. Federal officials, including the FBI, are striving to impose federal charges for anything labeled "violent crime." People convicted in the federal system are not eligible for parole.

The combined actions of the Guard and police agencies reveal a picture of an open police state being tested in New Orleans. The police and military are given full impunity to act on the basis of "patterns" of "suspicious" activity, not actual crimes or even probable cause. People gathering in their communities are branded "trouble."

The government is claiming these "law and order" measures are necessary to stem a "crime wave." The sending of the Guard follows a shooting that killed five youth. But people in New Orleans and across the country have heard this claim of "crime wave" before, such as when President George W. Bush called in the Guard to "restore order" in the wake of so-called looting after Katrina. The lie does not hide the fact that there is an open and organized effort of local, federal and military forces to occupy New Orleans and act with impunity against its people.

For example, plans are already in place for residents to take back their homes in public housing, something that will no doubt be considered a "violent" action. Those organizing in the Lower 9th, Algiers and elsewhere can easily be targeted for "cruising" in these areas.

This police and military occupation of New Orleans is an effort to stop the broad and growing struggle among the people of New Orleans against attacks on their rights - the right to return, to housing, to jobs, to reparations for the government-organized disaster after Katrina. But as the growing resistance shows, the spirit of resistance is New Orleans and it is a spirit that beats with increasing strength across the country.

Reject Police-State Measures! Build the Organized Resistance!

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Growing Resistance to Attacks on Public Housing

Katrina Survivors Demonstrate for Right to Return

Katrina survivors have been organizing to defend their right to return and rebuild in New Orleans. Recent actions include a demonstration in Washington, DC to demand that the Federal Emergency -Management Agency (FEMA) fund housing for those displaced as promised, and required by law.

Following Katrina, FEMA issued 18-month vouchers for housing and utilities to hurricane survivors. With vouchers in hand, survivors signed lease agreements with landlords. Then FEMA came back around and cut the vouchers down to 12 months. Survivors were forced to re-sign leases for the shorter period.

In May 2006, after just 9 months, FEMA announced that it would immediately stop paying rent and utilities for many survivors. FEMA was already behind on the bills, so landlords started evicting folks, and electric companies started shutting off the power. (In contrast, when the U.S. provides aid to disaster survivors in other countries, it plans for 2-3 years of disaster housing.)

FEMA's cuts are taking place at a time when many survivors have already been forced to move five and six times and some a dozen times. Now FEMA is organizing to make people homeless. Survivors are demanding that the government adhere to its own policy - Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons Policy - that establishes the human rights protections of people who are forced to leave their communities as a result of a natural or man-made disaster. They demonstrated in Washington and continue to organize to return to New Orleans and defend their homes and rights to rebuild there.

Katrina survivors who have returned to New Orleans recently established a "Survivor's Village" next to the St. Bernard public housing development. People are protesting the refusal of government at all levels to reopen the public housing so residents can return to their homes. Some of the public housing, like the Lafitte Development, for example, only received about 12 inches of water and could easily be renovated. The government refuses. Instead, with the exception of about 1,000 units, public housing has been fenced off with barbed wire and chainlink fences and doors and windows barred with steel plates. (Prior to Katrina there were about 7400 units.)

The survivors have organized a tent city at St. Bernard, which is now scheduled to be demolished. It was home to about 1,300 families before Katrina. Survivors are determined to block demolition and return and rebuild their homes. On the day the village was established, they organized a rally that brought together many families and supporters from across the city to demand housing now. Participants brought out that many have lived in these apartments all their lives and want to come home. The people being most affected now are the elderly, women and children. An estimated 50 elderly people have already died from the trauma of not being allowed to come home.

Residents are continuing to organize the Survivors' Village and preparing to block any efforts to destroy their homes. They also turned out in large numbers to oppose HUD plans to destroy 5,000 housing units, in the name of creating "mixed income" developments.

The call for "mixed income" housing, where only public housing is demolished, was strongly opposed. Residents gave the example of the St. Thomas development, which was demolished and turned into the River Garden "mixed income" complex. There was a net loss of 900 units of affordable public housing.

"If they want to mix the city, let's mix the city," said one Survivor's Village resident. "But let's not isolate us, let's mix the whole city, let's create mixed income housing across this city." Residents are planning more marches, including one in the French Quarter. They are demanding their right to return and that the government meet its responsibility for their right to housing. Plans are also going forward for clean up St. Bernard and to move to occupy it in July.

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HUD to New Orleans Poor: "Go F(ind Housing) Yourself"

- Bill Quigley -

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced its plans to demolish over 5,000 public housing apartments in New Orleans. In August 2005, HUD reported it had 7,381 public apartments in New Orleans. Now HUD says it has 1,000 apartments open and promises to repair and open another 1,000 in a couple of months. After months of rumors, HUD confirmed its intention to demolish all the remaining apartments.

HUD's demolition plans leave thousands of families with no hope of returning to New Orleans where rental housing is scarce and costly. In New Orleans, most public housing was occupied by working women and their children, as well as the elderly and disabled.

To these mothers and children, HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson said: "Any New Orleans voucher recipient or public housing resident will be welcomed home." Exactly how people will be welcomed home, HUD did not say.

How can thousands of low-income working families come home if HUD has fenced off their apartments, put metal shutters over their windows and doors, and now plans to demolish their homes?

Jackson, who is likely sleeping in his own bed, urged patience for the thousands who have been displaced since August 2005: "Rebuilding and revitalizing public housing isn't something that will be done overnight."

Patience is in short supply in New Orleans as over 200,000 people remain displaced. "I just need somewhere to stay," Patricia Thomas, who has lived in public housing for years, told the Times-Picayune. "We're losing our older people. They're dropping like flies when they hear they can't come home."

Demolition of public housing in New Orleans is not a new idea. When Katrina displaced New Orleans public housing residents, the Wall Street Journal reported U.S. Congressman Richard Baker, a 10-term Republican from Baton Rouge, telling lobbyists: "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did."

This demolition plan continues HUD's efforts to get out of the housing business. In 1996, New Orleans had 13,694 units of conventional public housing. Before Katrina, New Orleans was down to half that - 7,379 units of conventional public housing. If HUD is allowed to accelerate the demolition, public housing in New Orleans will have been reduced by 85 percent in the past decade.

The federal demolition of housing in New Orleans continues a nationwide trend that has led some critics to suggest changing HUD's official name to the Department of Demolition of Public Housing. Much of the public housing demolition nationally comes through of a federal program titled "Hope VI" - a cruelly misnamed program that destroys low-income housing in the name of creating "mixed-income housing."

Who can be against tearing down old public housing and replacing it with mixed income housing? Sounds like everyone should benefit, doesn't it? Unfortunately, that is not the case at all. Almost all the poor people involved are left out of the mix.

New Orleans has already experienced the tragic effects of HOPE VI. The St. Thomas Housing Development in the Irish Channel area of New Orleans was home to 1,600 apartments of public housing. After St. Thomas was demolished under Hope VI, the area was called River Gardens. River Gardens is a mixed-income community, home now to 60 low-income families, some middle-income apartments, a planned high-income tower - and a tax-subsidized Wal-Mart. Our tax dollars at work, destroying not only low-income housing but neighborhood small businesses as well.

Worse yet, after Katrina, the 60 low-income families in River Gardens were not even allowed back into their apartments. They were told their apartments were needed for employees of the housing authority. It took the filing of a federal complaint by the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Center to get the families back into their apartments. James Perry, director of the Center, commenting on the planned demolition of public housing, said: "If the model is River Gardens, it has failed miserably."

Despite HUD's promise to demolish homes, the right of people to return to New Orleans is slowly being recognized as a human rights issue. According to international law, the victims of Katrina are "internally displaced persons" because they were displaced within their own country as a result of natural disaster. Principle 28 of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement requires that the U.S. government recognize the human right of displaced people to return home.

The United States must "allow internally displaced persons to return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, to their homes or places of habitual residence Such authorities shall facilitate the reintegration of returned or resettled internally displaced persons. Special efforts should be made to ensure the full participation of internally displaced persons in the planning and management of their return or resettlement and reintegration."

The U.S. Human Rights Network and other human rights advocates are educating people of the Gulf Coast and the nation about how to advocate for human rights. HUD has effectively told the people of New Orleans to go find housing for themselves. New Orleans already has many, many people, including families, living in abandoned houses - houses without electricity or running water. New Orleans has recently been plagued with an increase in the number of fires. HUD's actions will put more families into these abandoned houses. Families in houses with no electricity or water should be a national disgrace in the richest nation in the history of the world. But for HUD and others with political and economic power, this is apparently not the case. As in the face of any injustice, there is resistance. NAACP civil rights attorney Tracie Washington promised a legal challenge. "You cannot go forward, and we will not allow you to go forward," Washington told HUD.

Most importantly, displaced residents of public housing and their allies have set up a tent city survivors' village outside the 1,300 empty, fenced-off apartments on St. Bernard Avenue in New Orleans.

If the authorities do not open up the apartments by July 4, they pledge to go through the fences and liberate their homes directly. The group, the United Front for Affordable Housing, is committed to resisting HUD's efforts to bulldoze their apartments "by any means necessary."

Bill Quigley is a human rights lawyer and professor at Loyola University, New Orleans School of Law.

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A Day Of Judgment

Organize for an International Tribunal on Katrina

- People's Hurricane Relief Fund -

The People's Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Coalition and the Black Activist Coalition on Katrina are launching a campaign to convene an International Tribunal on Katrina and the human rights abuses of the U.S. government. This tribunal will be held in New Orleans in early 2007. A specific date has not been determined, but the committee is investigating March 30 and 31, 2007.

The tribunal will expose to the world the evidence of the racism and lawlessness of the U.S., state and local governments in the Katrina tragedy.

We call on organizations, individuals and governments throughout the U.S. and internationally to sign on as endorsers of the International Tribunal and to contribute time, resources and funds to help organize this important undertaking.

Why a Tribunal

"They left us here to die" is the clear charge against the United States government by the peoples of New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast region displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Between August 29 and September 5, 2005 the world witnessed the monumental failure of the U.S. government to protect and respect the lives of Blacks and the poor. This failure is the direct result of the institutional dimensions of race, class, and gender oppression inherent in the U.S. government and social structure's treatment of Blacks throughout its 230 year history.

Since Katrina and Rita the government has politically disenfranchised tens of thousands of Blacks, refused to adhere to its own polices and procedures pertaining to the security and wellbeing of the Internally Displaced, mismanaged resources for the reconstruction of the region, including awarding no-bid contracts to big corporations connected to the Bush administration, eliminated environmental and worker protection laws, unjustifiably criminalized thousands of the Displaced people, set up a process for reconstruction that excludes effective input, major decision making and control by the majority Black population, and targeted large portions of New Orleans for ethnic cleansing to prevent the right of return of the Black majority. And this is just a short list of the countless abuses being actively committed against the Internally Displaced of the Gulf Coast by the U.S. government.

The U.S. government must be held responsible for these crimes against humanity and summarily brought to justice. This is why we are calling for an International Tribunal for justice, reconstruction and reparations.

Background

On December 8th and 9th, 2005 hundreds of Internally Displaced People from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita gathered in Jackson, Mississippi in a Survivors Assembly to demand accountability, reconstruction and restitution from all levels and departments of the U.S. government. The Survivors Assembly was convened as a democratic institution to provide the Internally Displaced impacted by Katrina and Rita and the U.S. government's destruction, particularly the Black and working class majority, with a vehicle for self determination that voices, organizes and mobilizes for a just reconstruction. Their demands were in response to the government's deliberate indifference to the fate of Katrina victims and survivors. Katrina was a category 5 hurricane that hit the Gulf Coast of Mississippi on August 29, 2005 and left more than 2,000 dead or missing and more than 800,000 without homes, jobs or help. It is the largest and most inhumane internal displacement of Blacks since the end of the 19th Century following the Civil War.

On December 10, 2005 more than 5,000 survivors and their supporters marched on City Hall in New Orleans demanding the right to return with dignity to their homes and their communities.

The Survivors Assembly was facilitated by the Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Coalition (PHRF-OC), the Mississippi Disaster Relief Coalition (MS-DRC), the Black Activists Coalition on Katrina, and more than 50 coalition partners from a broad range of political, religious, and social sectors in North America.

The tragic scenes of Katrina victims and evacuees facing death, destruction, abandonment and eventual relocation at gunpoint in herds like animals gave rise to outrage across the globe. The events of December 8-10, 2005 signaled the first phase of turning this outrage to action.

Now the voices of the Displaced and their supporters are fighting to reclaim their homes and organizing for self-determination in the reconstruction process.

From these voices came a cry to put the American Government on trial for its Katrina related crimes against humanity.

The Charges

Katrina survivors have serious charges against the federal, state and local governments for violating and negating their -fundamental human rights. The charges can be divided into three categories: (1) pre-Katrina abuse and neglect, (2) Katrina storm, flood, rescue and evacuation related abuses, and (3) post-Katrina related abuses.

A sampling of these charges include:

The government, on all levels:

. Knew for years that the levee system in New Orleans was inadequate to withstand the impact of a storm as powerful as Katrina and yet did little or nothing to fortify or update the levee system. This left thousands at risk particularly in poor and predominantly Black communities where the levee system was in the worst condition.

. Waited four days before coming to the aid of Katrina victims after the storm hit, and made little or no preparation to deal with the storm although it was forecast days before it hit.

. Left Black women, children and men begging for help on rooftops, trudging through filthy and contaminated water, locked in their homes, locked in jails, stranded at the convention center, the Superdome and on bridges without medical treatment, food, clean water, restroom facilities and other necessities for days. Meanwhile helicopters and ambulances rushed passed Black victims in order to attend to whites and upper middle class neighborhoods.

. Ordered the National Guard and police to shoot to kill survivors for taking necessary food items and clothing from abandoned stores. There are reports that some were indeed shot and killed by these forces.

. Treated evacuees with disdain and disrespect when buses were finally sent in to transport survivors out of New Orleans. Most were relocated at gunpoint, and often separated from their children or other love ones.

. Refused to allow critical medical and emergency rescue aide from foreign countries and the international community to help save lives in the Gulf Coast.

. Disenfranchised tens of thousands of Black voters in the New Orleans elections by refusing to establish and implement satellite voting in major centers where displaced survivors were temporarily living (like the system in place for Iraqis living in the U.S.), and made the process of obtaining absentee ballots prohibitively restrictive.

. Have refused to designate the survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita an Internally Displaced People, and failed to comply with its own laws and policies on the provision of emergency relief, international aid, and long-term development assistance as contained in the "USAID Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons Policy."

. Has committed ethnic cleansing of the historic Black majority of New Orleans via threats of imminent domain, denial of vital resources for reconstruction, and the systematic denial of social services in predominantly Black neighborhoods.

The People's Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Coalition and the Black Activist Coalition on Katrina call on organizations, individuals and governments throughout the U.S. and internationally to participate in organizing this important undertaking.

For more information contact the Katrina Tribunal at (601) 353-5566 or write Katrina Tribunal at 440 North Mill Street, Jackson, MS 39202. You may also email Kai Abiodun at kaiabiodun@yahoo.com or Chokwe Lumumba at CLumumba@aol.com.

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Concert for Kanenhstaton a Big Success

The fundraising concert for Kanenhstaton - the protected place - held at Chiefswood Park at the Six Nations on the Grand River on June 16 was a big success. The concert went from noon until close to midnight - two hours longer than originally planned - as some 36 groups of First Nations musicians and singers came to take their stand for the land reclamation initiated by the Six Nations.

Some of the best and most well-known First Nations performers from across the country participated in the concert. They not only volunteered their time but paid their own expenses to travel there to perform. It was emceed by indigenous actor Gary Farmer and indigenous actress and singer Chevei Maracle, among others.

David Maracle, a Six Nations carver and musician, initiated the concert with a call to indigenous performers from across Canada. "Indigenous artists can make a difference. Let's all take a stand together. It's for all our children and their future. We need to remember where we came from. We need to rally behind Six Nations and the people.... We want to show unity among our peoples and our supporters across Canada. Let's turn this into an indigenous 'Woodstock for unity' to stop theft and injustices on our native land," he said.

Thousands of people arrived throughout the day, with more than 5,000 people listening to the evening performances as more people arrived after the workday. Many were local families while others came from the U.S. and various Canadian cities and towns.

The people from the land reclamation site, including large numbers of youth, provided the many volunteers and security to protect the concert and keep everything running. A group of 12 youth traveled from Montreal to help as volunteers.

Exact numbers were hard to estimate as people spread throughout the beautiful Chiefswood Park situated on the banks of the Grand River. There were booths set up at one end of the site exhibiting and selling First Nations art as well as food. Information kiosks were set up, including ones that had material on the land claims of the Six Nations and their constitution, the Great Law. One was set up by youth working in the Caledonia area to educate people on the reclamation and organize support for the struggle of the Six Nations. Others sold t-shirts and CDs as part of the fund-raising for Kanenhstaton. Sales were brisk and the broad support for the land reclamation was seen in the donations collected at the gate and during the afternoon and evening. Proceeds from the gate alone by 9:30pm, with two hours to go, totaled more than $18,000.

The concert was a thank you from the Six Nations people at the land reclamation to the entire Six Nations and all their Canadian allies for their support during the 109 days since the land reclamation took place. It was a "Nya Weh" from the entire Six Nations for the courageous stand of those who reclaimed the land and have protected it since. In the evening the flag of Hamilton area steelworkers, USW Local 1005, which has stood with the Six Nations at the land reclamation, was mounted at the side of the stage.

During the evening Clyde Powless spoke briefly bringing the greetings and thanks of those from the reclamation site to the peoples from "all the territories and nations" who have stood with them saying that they were making progress but that it would be a long fight. Speaking of the stand they have taken, he said: "What we do has to reflect what we are as a nation."

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Peace Has No Borders Actions

Broad Support for Soldiers Refusing to Serve

Buffalo, New York and Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada showed broad support for the "Peace Has No Borders" actions on both sides of the border, June 16 in Buffalo and June 17 in Fort Erie. Iraq and Vietnam veterans and war resisters along with military families organized the event to salute the soldiers refusing to serve and refusing to commit crimes in Iraq.

The spirit of resisting and standing up for humanity against the onslaught of U.S. war and aggression characterized the activities. One after the other, the young men, both veterans returning from duty in Iraq, and those who refused to serve and went to Canada, affirmed their just stand to resist and organize others to do the same. Many said it was the best decision of their lives, as they are now working collectively with others to bring an end to the war and to hold the government accountable for its crimes. They also saluted the numerous groups supporting their resisting, saying they are glad to have an organized force "watching our backs."

In both Buffalo and Fort Erie, hundreds of supporters came out. Young and old, military families and activists, people joined together to oppose the war and oppose the notion of the rich that the lives of the Iraqis have no meaning. Mothers of some of the war resisters in Canada traveled from Kentucky and Virginia to be with their sons and support their courage to resist. As one put it, "I taught my son to stand up for what he believes in and to stand for what is right and just in this world, and that is what he is doing by resisting this illegal war." Another emphasized that "We can't have our youth going over to terrorize the Iraqis. That's not right. We have to fight the government and not allow them to use the youth to terrorize people around the world." A long-time veteran for peace emphasized that the struggle is not just against war in Iraq, but the whole drive of imperialism for world empire. He said a spirit of internationalism is needed to combat the U.S. drive to rule the world and encouraged everyone to support the just struggles of peoples here and worldwide. Others spoke to watching their buddies become beasts in Iraq, and the turmoil of those returning, with many committing suicide in the face of the crimes they were forced to commit. Said a war resister, "I would rather die for peace." Said another, "War is not the way to solve problems and we need to end use of war against the people."

As one, the vets and war resisters said their decision to refuse was just and needed and that every effort should be made to step up support for resistance among the troops and those the military is trying to recruit. They joined participants in saying we all have a responsibility to speak out and strengthen the opposition to war. The funds raised on Friday were turned over to the war resisters in Canada and all stood together at the Buffalo/Ft. Erie Peace Bridge to say, No to War! Courage to Resist!

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June 27 Day of Action

Refuse and Resist Illegal Iraq War

- Courage to Resist -

U.S. Army First Lieutenant Ehren K. Watada reported to duty at 2:00am this morning, June 22, at Fort Lewis, Washington, and refused orders to move to the adjacent McChord Air Force Base to prepare to fly to Iraq. Lt. Watada believes that the war and occupation in Iraq are illegal and thus participation in the war is also illegal.

Lt. Watada's attorney Eric Seitz said, "This morning Lt. Watada has been restricted to base without any actual charges or proper process. By placing a complete gag order on Lt. Watada, the military has again shown that their first concern is silencing Lt. Watada's speech in opposition to the illegal war in Iraq. We will immediately challenge these highly questionable and improper restrictions."

Lt. Watada faces possible court-martial charges for refusing to participate in the Iraq war and occupation and intends to defend himself based on the illegality of the Iraq war and occupation. On June 27, a national day of action in support of Lt. Watada and coordinated through the website www.ThankYouLt.org will take place in dozens of U.S. cities, including: Ft. Lewis, WA; Tacoma, WA; Honolulu, HI; Charlotte, NC; Cleveland, OH; Harrisburg, PA; San Francisco, CA; Oklahoma City, OK; Atlanta, GA; Corvallis, OR; Medford, OR; New York City, NY; and Pittsburgh, PA. (see www.ThankYouLt.org)

Lt. Watada was stationed at Ft. Lewis in January 2006, when he first asked to resign his commission because as he stated, "I am whole-heartedly opposed to the continued war in Iraq, the deception used to wage this war, and the lawlessness that has pervaded every aspect of our civilian leadership."

Lt. Watada's mother, Carolyn Ho, who flew in from Honolulu, Hawaii to support her son, said today, "My son's decision to refrain from deploying to Iraq comes through much soul searching. It is an act of patriotism. It is a statement to all Americans, to men and women in uniform, that they need not remain silent out of fear, that that they have the power to turn the tide of history: to stop the destruction of a country and the killing of untold numbers of innocent men, women, and children. It is a message that states unequivocally that blindly following orders is no longer an option. My son, Lt. Watada's stance is clear. He will stay the course. I urge you to join him in this effort."

Judy Linehan, of Military Families Speak Out said, "As the mother of an officer who deployed to Iraq with Lt Ehren Watada's Stryker Brigade in their first mission, I know the human cost of war intimately. I stand in solidarity with Lt. Watada as he breaks ranks with a Commander-in-Chief who has flaunted international law with impunity in the prosecution of this illegal war and occupation of an unarmed country."

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