The last survivors were not yet out of New Orleans. Hundreds of bodies remain unburied. But the free-market vultures that caused this catastrophe were already fattening on the resulting misery. Halliburton, fresh from gorging in Iraq, had got its first contracts for “reconstruction”. The oil and gas companies haddrained another four billion dollars from US workers at gasoline pumps in just one week. And most grotesquely, Army recruiters had set up stations in the refugee shelters...
Whose City Is It?:
The Struggle for New Orleans Before, During, and After Katrina
“We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did.”
Congressmen Richard Baker, Baton Rouge on the “positive” side of Hurricane Katrina
The struggle to rebuild New Orleans is a continuation of the struggle before Katrina to preserve the city as a home for hundreds of thousands of mainly African-American workers. Just as before Katrina the capitalists were trying to clear public housing out of the city, now they are palling to rebuild a shrunken city without most of those who had lived there. And just as before Katrina activists wer fighting to preserve affordable housing, now they are fighting to rebuild the city for all who lived there, not just for the rich.
Elect Shelter Committees
Says Louisiana NAACP
Elect shelter committees in every refugee shelter, Ernest Johnson, head of the Louisianan NAACP urged on Sepet.12. Johnson’s statement is being spread through radio and internet announcements. He asks that all shelter committees compile lists of refugees in the shelters, so that people can remain organized as temporary shelter is found.
Such shelter committees and delegates from the committees meeting regionally or nation-wide can debate snd decide what demands the people of New Orleans should be making about reconstruction and relief.
If you are working to set up or have set up a shelter committee and want to make contact with othersw debating demands for reconstruction, please contact Workers Democracy Network at 973-736-0522 or jarenano@yahoo.com.
TAX THE OIL COMPANIES
to Repay the $Trillion they’ve Stolen since the War began
$1/gallon tax for every $1 price increase
U.S. OUT OF IRAQ
Money to Rebuild U.S., No Money to Destroy iraq
Use the Money to Pay for a democratically-run
GOVERNMENT JOBS Program to
REBUILD NEW ORLEANS
REBUILD AMERICA
Direct government employment at union pay
no contracts for criminals, no wage slashing
Rebuild Levees, roads, hospital schools and houses in New Orleans and in every US city
Guaranteed affordable housing in New Orleans
for all who lived there
Don’t lock the workers out their city!
Democratic control over reconstruction by New Orleans’ people
What you can do.
If you want to help make the vultures pay you can:
Organize local meetings of community and anti-war organizations, unions and other activists to debate and adopt the five demands above and plan local actions, like rallies at federal buildings, for a national Day of Action November 5
