New Yorkers demand justice, not repression
By
Monica Moorehead
New York
Published Sep 3, 2005 12:51 AM
Sept.
2—“Relief for hurricane victims, not war” and “Food and
housing, NOT bullets, for New Orleans” were some of the slogans raised at
an emergency demonstration here tonight. It was called on one day’s notice
by the Troops Out Now Coalition in response to the catastrophic events in New
Orleans and the delta region in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Roseanne Adderley, a faculty member at Tulane U. in New Orleans, speaks at Times Square rally.
Listen to the rally
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Anti-war and community activists, trade unionists and concerned people of
all nationalities participated in the protest in front of the military
recruitment center at Times Square during rush hour. The protest coincided with
the arrival of thousands of National Guard troops in New Orleans, sent to
restore “law and order” after days of death and
suffering.
Times Square, NYC, Sept. 2.
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President George W. Bush arrived today in Biloxi, Miss., to pay
a “visit” to some of the victims of the hurricane there. It was more
than coincidence that as Bush was carrying out his photo-op, food supplies were
finally being delivered to the thousands of victims who had been languishing
outside the leaking Superdome in New Orleans, five days after the hurricane hit.
People have been literally starving and going without water. Thousands are
believed to have died, although the government is not giving out casualty
figures.
Just as the troops arrived, mainly white and armed to the teeth
with automatic rifles, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco made this horrific
statement to the press: “I have one message for these hoodlums. These
troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so if
necessary.”
The “hoodlums” she was referring to are
the thousands of hungry, homeless poor people, overwhelmingly Black, who were
abandoned by government agencies on all levels before and after the devastation
caused by the hurricane.
Speaker after speaker at Times Square
characterized the inhumane treatment of the people left to die in New Orleans as
“criminal,” “genocidal” and “racist.”
Speakers also denounced the oil corporations and the super-rich as the real
looters in society, not the most oppressed, who have been forced to liberate the
necessities of life from locked-up stores in order to survive unimaginable
conditions.
The rally charged that the hundreds of billions of dollars
spent for war and occupation in Iraq should have been spent on strengthening the
deteriorating infrastructure in urban areas like New Orleans, as well as for
other human needs. Mean while, on a giant screen at the military recruiting
center behind them, images were being flashed that glorified warfare and U.S.
military strength.
A national day of solidarity with the hurri cane
victims has been called for Sept. 12. Initiating endorsers include the Million
Worker March Movement; Troops Out Now Coalition; Harlem Tenants Coun cil; Chris
Silvera, president of the Team sters National Black Caucus, and local lead ers
and activists from around the country.
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