No to SPP! Yes to Rights of All!
• All Out to Support New Orleans
• April 9-20: New Orleans Film Festival Defends Rights, Opposes SPP
• April 21 – 23: The People’s Summit
• April 20: Second North American Meeting of Energy Sector Organizations from the U.S., Canada and Mexico
No to SPP! Yes to Rights of All!
All Out to Support New Orleans
President George W. Bush is holding the Summit of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) in New Orleans on April 21-22. In choosing New Orleans, Bush is showcasing it as the model of “security and prosperity” people can expect from the SPP. This is the height of arrogance by the rich and shows the vicious attack on New Orleans today. Voice of Revolution is organizing a delegation to stand with the people in New Orleans in defending rights and saying No to the SPP! Join these efforts — All Out to Support New Orleans!
The SPP Summit brings together the heads of state of the U.S., Canada and Mexico to make decisions at the executive level to integrate the three countries militarily, economically, and politically. It is a weapon of U.S. empire and war and thoroughly undemocratic.
Use of the military against the peoples of all three countries is a main feature of the SPP. In New Orleans the military came at the time of the government-organized disaster during and after Katrina and remains today. At the time of Katrina the military command was responsible for leaving people on their roofs to die and for forcing the large majority of the population out of the city. Troops killed and brutalized civilians, mostly African Americans, and fomented and permitted racist vigilante gangs to do the same. The military continues to patrol the streets of the ninth ward and make their presence felt.
The Summit will no doubt bring more military and policing forces into New Orleans, potentially using Canadian troops as well. A recent SPP agreement now allows both U.S. and Canadian troops to operate against civilians in both countries. Previous Summits have been used as an opportunity for live joint police and military exercises. All out support for New Orleans is needed to defend the right to protest and resist and reject this model of security. Military Out of New Orleans Now and Stay Out!
Elimination of public housing is another example of Bush’s “prosperity.” More than 12,000 people in New Orleans are already homeless and low-rent housing is urgently needed. The people of New Orleans struggled hard to prevent the government from destroying thousands of public housing apartments, home to more than 4,000 people. The government blocked the majority of these families from returning after Katrina and blocked many that did return from living in the buildings. Despite repeated demonstrations, including blocking bulldozers, the government destroyed the buildings. Football-field size lots filled with rubble and people’s crushed possessions remain to remind everyone of the prosperity Bush is showcasing.
Large numbers of Mexican workers have also been brought to the city and subjected to slave-like conditions, often forced to work without pay in dangerous conditions and then be deported. This too is Bush’s "prosperity."
While the federal government continually promises reconstruction, it delivers broad attacks on the people. In addition to elimination of housing, the public hospital, Charity, remains closed. The New Orleans public school teachers were all fired following Katrina, and the large majority of public schools have been privatized or closed. The very conception that the government has responsibility to provide housing, education and healthcare to all is under brutal attack. In holding the Summit in New Orleans, the government is trying to set the example that resistance is futile and will be answered with yet more brute force. We say resistance is the heart of New Orleans and the heart of us all and must be defended!
People are organizing numerous actions in New Orleans to counter the SPP Summit and put forward the people’s alternative. A People’s Summit is organized for April 21-23. The fifth annual New Orleans International Human Rights film festival will also target the SPP and its militarization. A demonstration is planned for Sunday expressing the unity of the workers of all three countries in fighting for the rights of all.
Travel down by plane, bus or train. Contribute funds for others to go. Contact us at office@usmlo.org. Join in to Support the People of New Orleans!
[TOP]
New Orleans Film Festival Defends Rights, Opposes SPP
We reprint here information on the Fifth Annual New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival. The festival highlights films by and about New Orleans as well as those from the international arena. As the organizers state, “Our festival exists to support movements for social justice — not to just show problems, but to show solutions, to celebrate hope and resistance.”
One highlight of this year’s activity is a special workshop on April 20, “NAFTA Gets Militarized: The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America.” As the festival’s webpage brings out, “U.S. President Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Harper, and Mexican President Calderón will gather in New Orleans for the North American Leaders’ Summit to discuss the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America – the military arm of NAFTA. How does this affect you, and what can you do about it? Find out at the workshop.”
The webpage (www.nolahumanrights.org) outlines twelve days of activity, more than fifty films, at least twenty directors presenting their films, five world premieres, plus workshops, performances, parties, and more. We reprint excerpts of their report below.
Festival Highlights
This year, we are proud to welcome Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme, who will be presenting his film Right to Return: New Home Movies From the Lower Ninth Ward on April 9 at John McDonogh High School. The screening begins at 7 pm, and will be preceded by a reception at 6 pm. We are also excited to host an afterparty for the screening at the Mother-In-Law Lounge, featuring Al “Carnival Time” Johnson.
The next night, Thursday, April 10, at 7pm, we present the New Orleans premiere of Taxi to the Dark Side, the 2008 Academy Award-winner for best documentary feature.
Also on Thursday, at 9:30pm, we invite you to Caramel, a new romantic comedy from Lebanon. The film is the most highly acclaimed film in Lebanon’s history, selected for Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival, and Lebanon’s official submission to the 2008 Academy Awards for best foreign language film.
Many people think that human rights means documentaries, but this year we have comedies, action films, science fiction, and more. In addition to Caramel, do not miss Waiting for Zigzigland, a comedy about a Palestinian cab driver in Los Angeles; Eréndira Ikikunari, an action film about indigenous resistance to Spanish colonization; and the world premiere of The Fullness of Time, an experimental science fiction film from the director of Drylongso and the producers who brought Waiting For Godot to the Lower Ninth Ward.
This year’s festival is filled with music and performances. In addition to our opening night performances, we are hosting a concert featuring New Orleans’ best bounce music on Saturday, April 19 at 11:30pm. We also have programmed some incredible musical films. This year we continue to showcase the best films from New Orleans and around the world.
We always prioritize showcasing youth, and especially young people from New Orleans. This year, do not miss new films from the New Orleans program, Students at the Center (SAC). Among the student-directed films this year, be sure to check out A Jazz Journey, and Moving On, both by students from SAC; and the world premiere screening of Wade in the Water, which was made in collaboration with New Orleans students in Central City. For other youth programming, catch Digital Resistance, made in collaboration with Palestinian youth from refugee camps, and In Solidarity, a film about a trip that six Black high school students from Baltimore took to Nicaragua.
In addition to beautiful and inspiring films, incredible performances, and fabulous parties, we have a wide range of other special events, including workshops and discussions with filmmakers, activists, and human rights workers. Katrina Browne, director of the thought-provoking and powerful film about the legacy of racism and slavery, Traces of the Trade, hosts a discussion on the issues raised by her film. New Orleans grassroots and activist filmmakers talk about their films and social justice in New Orleans in Straight Out of New -Orleans, a two-part series, Monday, April 14 at the Craige Cultural Center, and Tuesday, April 15 at Southern University of New Orleans. Each evening features different filmmakers. Come for both!
What do human rights internationally have to do with the issues we face in New Orleans? How can we build links with international struggles? What lessons can we learn from movements in other countries? How can the framework of international human rights support the struggle for justice in New Orleans? Hear discussions of these questions and much more from local and international experts at the festival workshop Our Struggle Is Your Struggle: A Discussion on Human Rights in New Orleans and Around the World on Sunday April 13.
[TOP]
Linking the Gulf Coast struggle to the fight for the survival of communities in Mexico, Canada, & the rest of the United States. See www.summitneworleans.org for the latest information.
Monday, 4/21
9am – 12pm: Community Tour of New Orleans & Story Circles in Congo Square
12 – 1:30pm: Opening Ceremony & Lunch in Congo Square
2pm – 5pm: Understanding Who Profits & How: NAFTA+ and Katrina Profiteering
6pm – 9pm: Understanding Who Profits & How: NAFTA+ and Katrina Profiteering
Tuesday, 4/22
9am – 12pm: Self-organized sessions by various organizations
1pm – 4pm: Self-organized sessions by various organizations
6pm – 9pm: Breaking Inferiority & Superiority to Restore Ourselves & Our Communities
Wednesday, 4/23
10am: Press Conference
To register a self-organized session and to get more information contact James Williams, Organizer with the American Friends Service Committee at 504-307-6588 or peoplessummit@gmail.com
[TOP]
Second North American Meeting of Energy Sector Organizations from the U.S., Canada and Mexico
The Security and Prosperity Partnership for North America (SPP) was launched in March 2005 in Texas at the first Summit of Heads of State from the three countries. The SPP represents a new phase of neo-liberal integration in North America where the issue of security is closely linked to economic and trade relations. The SPP puts CEOs from the region’s transnational companies at the center of decision-making via SPP-sanctioned bodies like the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC) and the North American Energy Working Group (NAEWG). This exclusive access to governments for CEOs is not only undemocratic, it also allows them to promote their corporations’ interests at the expense of the public’s interest.
To challenge the SPP, four social multi-sectoral networks in North America (ART-US, RMALC-Mexico, Common Frontiers-Canada and RQIC-Quebec) in close collaboration with their member unions, held the first tri-national energy sector meeting in Montreal August 18, 2007. This gathering brought together more than 60 energy worker unions and social sector delegates from Mexico, U.S., Canada, and Quebec to share experiences and identify common grounds for action.
A Second North American Meeting on Energy, April 20th in New Orleans
The Second North American Meeting of Organizations from the Energy Sector will be held on April 20 in New Orleans. If your union or organization has an interest in this ‘energy sector’ discussion and is keen to connect with others concerned about the SPP’s secretive ‘energy security’ agenda, please consider participating in this April 20t meeting. It will be an all-day session at the International House Hotel, 221 Camp Street, New Orleans. The United Steel Workers in the U.S. are hosting this meeting.
You are also encouraged to participate in the New Orleans People’s Summit: Our response to NAFTA expansion that will be taking place on April 21-23.
[TOP]