Old slaves and New Slaves: the branding continues

Some notes from the Gulf Coast plenary session held last night

Myths

Natural disaster

This was a man made disaster – the floods were due to the levees breaking – the levees broke because they were inadequate and not built properly – they were not built properly because the US government did not want to spend the necessary money – the US government is responsible for the Gulf Coast disaster not Katrina

New Orleans is below see level therefore dangerous

It is not dangerous at all. Other places are below sea level – one excellent example is the Netherlands that has built a flood protection system (not a levee) to protect their citizens against a one in a million (maybe more) chance of flooding. If the will is there then New Orleans and other below sea level areas can be protected and safe for people to live.

Rebuilding the levees

The Army Core of Engineers are only working in white neighbourhoods. Only they will see flood reduction. No communities of colour. The poor are having to pay more insurance. Those who are not so poor will soon be poorer.

People dont want to come back

Not true. Barriers to returning are being created – families are split up. Public housing are fenced off using razor wire fences and are locked up preventing people from returning.

A systematic plan is taking place to gentrify New Orleans which is racist and anti-immigrants and is directed at preventing people from returning to their homes. Migrant workers were brought in to work on rebuilding the city. One worker now activist from the centre for Racial Justice explained – he has since lost his job so is an illegal alien. He was recruited from Peru. Once he arrived he saw what was happening. He and other Latino’s were brought in to be exploited and used after African Americans were displaced and prevented from returning. They were given many promises none of which materialised and they realised the lies and the bad situation they were in. The names of each worker’s employers is on their passports – they are owned by their employers. If they do not obey their employers they will be deported. They can be sold for $2000 to another employer. Some workers had their passports taken away so they could not escape.

THIS IS CALLED SLAVERY and the slaves are BRANDED.

But like the old slaves the new slaves are fighting back. The plan to set the Latino’s against the African Americans has failed because they two communities are building links and working together against the common enemy of capital with it’s developers and their allies the local, state and national governments with Bush at the helm.

The women of New Orleans have also taken control of their lives. Coastal women for change (I think that was the name but please if correct me if I have got the organisations names wrong) came together to organise for transportation, women’s rights and affordable housing. They bombarded local government with thousands of emails and send questions to the developers demanding answers. They made notes of all the meetings and when necessary returned to the developers and local politicians with more questions. They empowered themselves to rebuild their communities themselves. They have an elderly project, a single parent project, a child care project – they are self sufficient. All this was against the transitional housing by FEMA, lack of resources, the increase in rents and unaffordable housing.

Vietnamese. I did not know that there was a community of 30,000 Vietnamese living in Biloxi Mississippi for 30 years who were affected by the hurricane and many displaced. They were treated disgracefully. Cultural and language issues were not addressed which added to the trauma experienced by the community. They too are trying to rebuild themselves.

Tags: Katrina;
US Social Forum

This is called

Some notes from the Gulf Coast plenary session held last night Myths Natural disaster This was a man made disaster - the floods were due to the levees breaking - the levees broke because they were inadequate and not built properly - they were not built properly because the US government did not want to spend the necessary money - the US government is responsible for the Gulf Coast disaster not Katrina New Orleans is below see level therefore dangerous It is not dangerous at all. Other places are below sea level - one excellent example is the Netherlands that has built a flood protection system (not a levee) to protect their citizens against a one in a million (maybe more) chance of flooding. If the will is there then New Orleans and other below sea level areas can be protected and safe for people to live. Rebuilding the levees The Army Core of Engineers are only working in white neighbourhoods. Only they will see flood reduction. No communities of colour. The poor are having to pay more insurance. Those who are not so poor will soon be poorer. People dont want to come back Not true. Barriers to returning are being created - families are split up. Public housing are fenced off using razor wire fences and are locked up preventing people from returning. A systematic plan is taking place to gentrify New Orleans which is racist and anti-immigrants and is directed at preventing people from returning to their homes. Migrant workers were brought in to work on rebuilding the city. One worker now activist from the centre for Racial Justice explained - he has since lost his job so is an illegal alien. He was recruited from Peru. Once he arrived he saw what was happening. He and other Latino's were brought in to be exploited and used after African Americans were displaced and prevented from returning. They were given many promises none of which materialised and they realised the lies and the bad situation they were in. The names of each worker's employers is on their passports - they are owned by their employers. If they do not obey their employers they will be deported. They can be sold for $2000 to another employer. Some workers had their passports taken away so they could not escape. THIS IS CALLED SLAVERY and the slaves are BRANDED. But like the old slaves the new slaves are fighting back. The plan to set the Latino's against the African Americans has failed because they two communities are building links and working together against the common enemy of capital with it's developers and their allies the local, state and national governments with Bush at the helm. The women of New Orleans have also taken control of their lives. Coastal women for change (I think that was the name but please if correct me if I have got the organisations names wrong) came together to organise for transportation, women's rights and affordable housing. They bombarded local government with thousands of emails and send questions to the developers demanding answers. They made notes of all the meetings and when necessary returned to the developers and local politicians with more questions. They empowered themselves to rebuild their communities themselves. They have an elderly project, a single parent project, a child care project - they are self sufficient. All this was against the transitional housing by FEMA, lack of resources, the increase in rents and unaffordable housing. Vietnamese. I did not know that there was a community of 30,000 Vietnamese living in Biloxi Mississippi for 30 years who were affected by the hurricane and many displaced. They were treated disgracefully. Cultural and language issues were not addressed which added to the trauma experienced by the community. They too are trying to rebuild themselves. Tags: Katrina; US Social Forum This is called

Tagged as: African Diaspora, Human Rights, Racism, Social Movements, WSF