Take A Stand With The People Of New Orleans!
Revolution #016, October 2, 2005, posted at revcom.us
“We’re not angry. We’re way past angry. If someone could look inside us and see how we feel, they’d see that. We’re way past angry.”
– Young man from New Orleans, a few days after Hurricane Katrina hit.
“Now other people will know what kind of horror the Black people go through every day.”
– Woman in a beauty shop in San Francisco
This weekend – Thursday, September 29 through Sunday, October 2 – is a weekend to protest what this system did – AND IS CONTINUING TO DO – to the people of New Orleans. We are calling on people to show their outrage in many different ways:
Everyone reading this should help make this happen. Why? To put it simply – because we can’t let this system get away with murder!
Hurricance Katrina tore the roof off society. It showed the oppression that the powers-that-be try to hide.
People know that you couldn’t prevent the storm. But why didn’t the government help people get out? Why did they let the levees and flood protection systems go bad? Why were people forced to fend for themselves, without food, water, medicine, or shelter? Why were people jammed into that slave-ship stadium and why were many, especially Black people, forcibly prevented – by cops with guns, as well as vigilantes – from leaving New Orleans?
Why were people who did try to rescue and help others prevented from doing so by FEMA, the police, and the National Guard?
How come the government can move thousands of troops overnight, in airplanes and carriers – but could not evacuate a city that faced a storm that had been predicted for days?
And why was the overwhelmingly majority of those left in New Orleans Black – what did that have to do not only with the whole history of this country, but with how it’s set up today? And why were the Black people picked out and slandered in the media, and made the victims of police and vigilante violence?
Who’s responsible? And what can we do about it? These angry questions were voiced by millions, from every walk of life, and resounded all over the world.
These questions all have answers. To begin with, it is the system of capitalism that is responsible and, in particular, its chief representative George W. Bush. And that is why we saw Bush wiggle and squirm and double-talk these past few weeks.
And now Bush and the rest – the rulers of this system – are trying to weasel right out of THEIR RESPONSIBILITY. They are trying to “flip the script.” They want to change the subject. They want to cover up their crimes. They want to put the blame for what happened on the people themselves. And they want to use the chaos they caused through their actions (and inaction) to bring even worse oppression and repression, and even more intense exploitation, right down on the very victims of Katrina.
NO! We can’t let that happen.
The truth must be told. Bush and his mouthpieces talk as if “looting” was the problem. Hell, if people had not taken what was needed, there would have been many more deaths! And anyway, look who’s talking – the chief representative of the biggest looters and thieves this planet has ever seen!
We say NO! And we say that the just demands of the people – to return home (if they desire) to good housing, decent jobs, and all their other needs – must be met, by the government. The repression and dispersion of the people who were evacuated must stop. And those responsible must be held accountable – and must be prevented from reversing right and wrong on this, wiggling out of their responsibility, and turning it to their advantage.
The only way to do that is through struggle. So long as this system exists, there will not be an ounce of justice through any other method except STRUGGLE. Beyond that, we will never get rid of this system – this horror show that grinds people up – without STRUGGLE. As the saying goes, you may not win everything you fight for, but you will surely have to fight for anything you win.
One thing is certain: if we don’t struggle, if we don’t protest, then this system will do even worse. Much worse. The masses from New Orleans will be scattered across the country with no consideration whatsoever as to their needs. Bush’s cronies will gorge themselves further, making money hand over fist through people’s suffering. Whole new powers will be given to the army and police forces, in the name of “fighting disasters” – and these will be used against the people. Maybe worst of all, the spirit of questioning and resistance that rose up after Katrina will be smothered. Bush’s whole agenda will end up advancing, even despite the crimes he committed in New Orleans.
Some people are telling us to pray; some are even saying that the hurricane is punishment for sins, and we should atone and ask for redemption. Well, anyone can pray if they want, but the needless deaths and suffering in Katrina mostly came from the system. None of it was supernatural. And, most of all, the people who were victimized didn’t “bring it on themselves” by any stretch of the imagination, and we can’t allow anything that blames the people for these problems. What we need right now is RESISTANCE, and anything that takes us away from that is dooming the people to more of the same. . . and to worse.
If we don’t resist this, it will say that the rulers can do these things to the masses, and suffer no consequence. It’s like when the police beat up Rodney King on tv, and then were acquitted – if the people had let that stand, it would have made things much much worse for people, in so many ways. The police would have gone on even worse rampages than they did, and people would have felt totally powerless and degraded. But people DID resist, and because of that not only did those cops have to do time, but there was a whole other spirit of struggle and understanding that spread through society, even around the world.
Right now is a special kind of moment. It’s not like normal times, when people on the bottom are demonized and isolated. Now is a chance to break down that isolation, and find allies. Think about it. People all over the world and in this country, from every walk of life, have been jerked awake by the hurricane. They are thinking about what is wrong with society, in a big way. But they badly need to know how the people at the very bedrock of society see this outrage in New Orleans. They need to hear the voices of the people who are usually ignored, or told to shut up, putting out their views on the problem. They need to see just how angry people are, just how intolerable this is, and they need to see people on the bottom acting. At times like this, struggle coming from the people on the bottom can change the thinking of people all through society, and it can compel them to act in a positive way.
But moments like this don’t last forever. The media works on people’s minds, there is repression, there is the daily grind, and pretty soon things don’t just go back – they get worse. Unless. . . unless all that is contested and fought (and ultimately made part of a larger movement). And that is what we are calling for.
So let’s think about this weekend in light of all that. If there are neighborhoods in the major cities of this country where everywhere you look you see the “Wanted” poster, and if this breaks into the media; if the people who were driven out of New Orleans receive banners of solidarity, calling for protest, from people all over the country; if there are black ribbons all over the place; if people gather in groups, big and small, to plan to do more: all that would send a big message, to all of society. And it would also be a big first step forward toward other, more powerful forms of struggle, for even bigger objectives.
The system cannot be allowed to get away with this crime. The righteous demands of the people must be met. The Bush regime must be exposed and held accountable and driven out. The debate over the role of this whole system and what should be done about it – including revolution against it – must rage throughout society. The lid must not be clamped back down.