Support radical hurricane relief projects

from Chuck Munson, Infoshop.org
September 13, 2005

This e-mail message contains several stories on radical relief efforts
in New Orleans. Volunteers are needed right now in New Orleans who can
provide medical care, help with clean up, do construction, report on the
situation, and help people organize to save their communities. Radical
doctors and activists are needed who can provide solidarity, not
charity. Activist groups such as Mayday DC, Food Not Bombs Hartford &
Tuscon, Veterans for Peace, and many others are providing mutual aid
right now in New Orleans and neighboring cities. The people of New
Orleans and the Gulf Coast need your help today and in the months to come.

Guides to alternative relief efforts:
www.infoshop.org/hurricanekatrina.html
www.radicalreference.info/
Grassroots/Low-income/People of Color-led Hurricane Katrina Relief
www.sparkplugfoundation.org/katrinarelief.html

Alternative news:
New Orleans Indymedia: neworleans.indymedia.org/
Houston Indymedia: houston.indymedia.org/
Infoshop News: news.infoshop.org

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Mini-update from New Orleans

September 13

Bork says that the caravan from San Francisco is there and are busy
helping the hundreds of people coming by for medical help. The San
Francisco contingent will only be there through Thursday, so after that
the Mayday group will be down to four people. Bork says that they
desperately need more radical medical people who can help out and work
with the spirit of solidarity, not charity. There are lots of people who
need help in New Orleans. The situation is so bad that the military is
still giving supplies to our anarchists because they don't trust the big
relief agencies such as the Red Cross.

Chuck0

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Update on Mayday DC relief effort in New Orleans

Chuck Munson
Infoshop News

September 12 -- Imagine a situation where the military, FEMA, and the
Red Cross are sending people needing help over to a tent set up by
anarchists and you start to get a picture of what is happening in New
Orleans, at least on the Algiers side of the river. Volunteers with
Mayday DC set up a wellness center in front of the Masjib Bilal Mosque
on Friday and since then have treated hundreds of people for ailments
ranging from high blood pressure to dog bites. The latter is caused by
the growing number of feral packs of dogs left behind by the evacuation.

Over a thousand people are left in the Algiers neighborhood--they've
have been doing what they can to survive and rebuild. FEMA and the
military have a presence in the neighborhood, but they aren't exactly
doing much. President Bush spent the night on an amphibious assault
carrier in clear view of the people doing work out of the mosque, but
they don't report signs of any presidential photo-ops in their neighborhood.

The wellness tent, dubbed the “Mayday Mutual Aid Medical Station,” has
helped around 55-60 people a day during the weekend and around 100
today. The station has been busy mostly in the morning and early
afternoon. The station shuts down in the evening when the curfew takes
place.

The Mayday DC relief effort at the Masjib Bilal Mosque has grown to six
people, thanks to the arrival today of the Cafe Manowaj truck from
Washington, DC and another vehicle full of supplies from Asheville,
North Carolina. Jamie "Bork" Loughner--an organizer with Mayday
DC--reports that the military came by with three truckloads filled with
supplies.

I asked Bork how people could help and what kind of volunteers are
needed. She said that they need more medical people. The neighborhood
needs volunteers with construction skills to help with the clean-up and
new construction. One thing they don't need are tourists, especially
people who drop off clothes, pose for photos showing how good they are,
and then run back home. Bork stressed that they are getting too many
clothes and not enough of other important supplies. The Mayday crew also
asked that people NOT donate to the Red Cross, as that organization is
corrupt and has been impeding relief efforts. Volunteers are also needed
to rescue animals.

***

For more breaking news on the situation in New Orleans and the Gulf
Coast, please visit Infoshop News (news.infoshop.org) or New
Orleans Indymedia (neworleans.indymedia.org/).

Information about donating money and resources to various alternative
relief groups can be found at: www.infoshop.org/hurricanekatrina.html

-----------------
From Project South, to Michael Guerrero, coordinator of Grassroots
Global Justice:

"If I were in the situation like our brothers and sisters suffering with
the aftermath of Katrina, I would certainly be in some store to change
my wet, fecal-soaked clothes, getting water and food, and if a cop came
up to me to tell me to halt and throw away, I would tell him to go ahead
and shoot me as I open the bottle of water and begin to drink it!" --
Dr. Gwen Patton, Movement Activist and Project South Board Member

Greetings Michael:

Our hearts and minds are with all of our members and Southerners that
have been affected by the disaster that is both nature-made and
man-made. ?Man??local and national officials?knew that this level of
devastation would result if a hurricane of this magnitude ever hit New
Orleans; even down to the number of people (100,000 low-income New
Orleanians) who would be stranded without resources to evacuate.

It was hard enough to watch the disaster that was Hurricane Katrina, but
it is even more challenging to watch the overwhelming disregard for
those who have been left behind by poverty and racial injustice. The
crisis in the watery soul of the South didn't start when the levees
broke in New Orleans. But it does brutally unmask a system unfit to
lead, organize, or make any decisions about our country's future. Needs
must be met today. Institutions must be bent to serve. The vision of
tomorrow - a place where we know this could have been avoided and no one
left to the elements for days/weeks - becomes not a future hope but an
imminent necessity, up to us to secure.

Project South offers its unending commitment to fight today and secure
tomorrow a world where human needs are met and the future is not empty
with desperation but bright with promise.

"As the South goes . . . So goes the nation." -- WEB DuBois

ACTION STEPS

1) Money Makes a Difference: Individuals are suffering and many agencies
are responding to individual needs. Project South feels that our role is
to support collective action from the grassroots, and we ask you to
consider contributing to Southern Partners Fund ? Relief & Renewal Fund.
This fund and our efforts will concentrate on providing support and
resources to our movement leaders and to organized communities so that
we rebuild the South effectively and with equity.

Go to www.spfund.org (The Relief & Renewal Fund is not listed yet, but
we have confirmed that this fund will serve Southern communities
directly. The full listing will be on site in a few days.) Southern
Partners Fund is a trusted resource with ties to grassroots movements in
the rural and urban South. Their efforts will be tracked, accountable,
and long-term.

2) Supporting our Partners: Project South is contacting our
organizational partners in the region to support their efforts to find
and care for their members.

3) Educating & Activating our Members: Project South Members are invited
to participate in a meeting on September 13
th to discuss and plan a Member Gathering on October 7
th to connect the current disaster with the movement building plans
around the US Social Forum.

MEETING TO PLAN & GET INVOLVED = Tuesday, September 13
th - 6-8pm @ the Project South office, Atlanta

MEMBER GATHERING (Food & Family) = Friday, October 7
th - 7-9pm @ East Lake Co-Housing Center, Decatur

4) Local Action: Project South will work with local coalitions and
organizations to address the emerging issues that face our community. As
thousands of evacuees find refuge in Atlanta, we will work to connect
organizing efforts around the City Ban on Panhandling Ordinance and the
public transportation struggle to ensure that all those affected by
poverty, racism, and injustice are protected and receive adequate
resources to survive and flourish.

Please join us in our efforts to address this massive catastrophe in
strategic ways. The nation is looking to the South and sees the reality
of our people. As we witness this moment, Project South offers these
critical questions:

1 What are the historical root causes of poverty, of land management,
and disaster relief efforts that have led to this moment?

2 How do we remember and hold closer the humanity of folks who have been
left behind while critiquing the broader political system for its racism
and classism?

3 How do we look forward and build the capacity of our communities in
the South so that we are prepared to stand with all that are affected by
systems of oppression in times of crisis?

Thank you for all that you do. Please check our website for more
information. We are committed to providing you and all our members with
movement building analysis that reminds us of our long-term struggle in
the midst of crisis.

www.projectsouth.org

-----------------

*EMERGENCY CALL FOR PROGRESSIVE ACTION (9/12/2005)
PEOPLE, TRUCKS, RELIEF SUPPLIES NEEDED ON GULF COAST
Small Communities Still Under served; Distribution of Aid Urgently Needed
Support Community-Based Relief Efforts, Not Massive Bureaucracies*

_*EMERGENCY CALL FOR AID*_
If you are like many people, the scenes of New Orleans and the Gulf
coast are overwhelming. Though the storm may not be front page news in
your town right now, *emergency relief is needed more than ever*. Many
of you have thought about coming down. *Now is the time for you to take
action and make a direct difference in the lives of those affected by
storm damage and federal mismanagement.* Here is what you can do:

1) *Come to Covington, Louisiana to Camp Casey II*I and volunteer to
distribute aid (see below for address and directions). Those people
with pick-up trucks, vans and cargo vehicles are urgently needed.

2) *Organize within you local community to send trucks of relief
supplies*. Items most in need include bottled water, food, medicines,
toiletries/personal care products, diapers and other baby care products,
mosquito repellent, poison ivy anti-itch lotions, rubber gloves and
breathing filter masks, and anti-biotic cleaners.

3) *Donate financial assistance or raise money in a community
fundraiser* and donate it to those groups listed on
katrina.mayfirst.org/. If you know of individual activists
working on the coast, consider supporting them while they perform relief
work.

4) *Support community-based relief efforts.* Do not send money or
supplies to the Red Cross. While the Red Cross has been serving people,
they are also a huge bureaucracy that is a bottleneck in getting relief
to all the affected communities.


_*RELIEF SITUATION UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 12, 2005*_
The Gulf coast has been devastated by Hurricane Katrina and a negligent
Federal relief effort. While relief supplies are flowing in, many local
communities and neighborhoods across hundreds of square miles of
southern Mississippi (MS) and Louisiana (LA) are under served or not
being served at all. While massive amounts of relief supplies have
flowed into the region, much of it sits idle in giant warehouses with
no/slow means of local distribution. Meanwhile, local residents still
need food, medicines, toiletries, mosquito repellent, soothing lotions
for poison ivy, building materials, and pet assistance. Local
organizations and individuals in conjunction with organizations like
Food Not Bombs, MayDay DC, Veterans for Peace, and other progressive
groups are trying to meet the need in these hard hit neighborhoods but
are badly understaffed. Local community organizations are jostling the
Federal government for control of their neighborhoods.


_*DIRECTIONS TO CAMP CASEY III IN COVINGTON, LA *_
From downtown Covington, travel north on US-190. Road changes name to
SR-25. After approximately 4.7 miles, turn right onto Million Dollar
Road. Several dirt roads branch off from Million Dollar Road. Keep left
and stay on the paved road. After approximately 2.2 miles, Land O' Pines
Campground is on your left. Stop in the front and someone can assist you
in locating your tent. You may be referred to the overflow camping area.
Bring a tent, sleeping bag and food for sharing at the camp. Call
707-536-3001.

_*PERSPECTIVE*_
The situation on the gulf coast is ever-changing. Flexibility and
adaptability are good qualities to consider if you are coming down. This
is a relief effort that will take years, but now is the time when the
most urgent aid is needed.

_*MORE INFORMATION*_
neworleans.indymedia.org/
www.michaelmoore.com/
www.veteransforpeace.org/hurricane_relief.htm
www.realreports.blogspot.com/

-----------------

French Quarter Struggles With Crisis:
residents defy evacuation, begin rebuilding their community

By David Van Deusen


“I've got no time for talking.
I've got to keep on walking.
N. O. is my home”

-Walkin’ To New Orleans

New Orleans, September 9, 2005 - The destruction laid upon New Orleans
and the surrounding region has been devastating. Many sections of the
city continue to be submerged in toxic waters. Countless streets are
impassable due to debris and flooding. The military has begun
house-to-house searches hoping to find survivors, but are mostly finding
otherwise. It is estimated that thousands are dead. Corpses dwell in the
putrid floodwaters, and in the ruined homes in which they once lived.
Electricity is still out.

New Orleans resident Mike Powls, 46, sits and has a drink in Molly’s,
one of the two bars open in the French Quarter. When asked about the
time immediately following the hurricane, Mike says, “the first week
after Katrina, for all practical purposes, capital property relations
disappeared in New Orleans.”

The breakdown in the established order was compounded by a four to six
day lull between Katrina and the arrival of federal aid. For some
communities, especially the low lying ones, this spelled absolute
disaster. For neighborhoods that were fortunate enough to escape
flooding, there was still the desperate need to find drinking water and
food.

In the French Quarter, which had no water damage, people acted fast.
Within 48 hours, residents formed ad hoc community centers and created
new organizations to try and address their acute needs.

Today it is estimated by neighborhood leaders that 200-300 people remain
in the quarter. Like other parts of the region, living conditions are
bad, but they are getting by in part because of the unity demonstrated
by these residents.

Public Houses

Two community centers have risen out of this storm. Both are old wooden
pubs. One is Molly’s at The Market on Decatur Street; the other is
Johnny White’s on Bourbon Street. The former is open every day from
11am-6pm, and serves as a place for people to get together to exchange
knowledge and resources. The latter does this too, but has evolved into
a kind of shelter/supply depot/first aid station.

“We are the community center. It started out as just a bar and then
people started bringing food here. People started bringing clothes and
water. Suddenly, it became a soup kitchen and a homeless center,” said
Johnny White’s bartender Joe Bellamy, a former Para-rescuer in the Air
Force.

Many of the supplies are donated by residents. It is common, when a
person decides to evacuate, for them to drop off their useful belongings
to one of these centers. In the last few days, they have also been
receiving goods from the National Guard and Army. Even so, much of what
comes in has been “looted”. However, few take issue with people
acquiring basic necessities through whatever means available to them.
Ride Hamilton, 29, a network analyst and artist, who himself has
acquired a large assortment of basic necessities, had this to say: “you
go down to places… that [has] already been broken into, I’ve never
broken into a place, but you go in after the people and usually if they
open up… police take supplies they want first, then they guard it as
other people go in and that’s where I get all of my things”.

On a typical day, the tavern provides services for dozens of residents,
and until recently was one of the only places where people could receive
first aid, administered by Bellamy, Hamilton, and other volunteers.
Hamilton’s efforts include stitching up an ear with a sewing needle and
fishing line.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re gay, straight, no matter race, religion, no
matter what your personal beliefs are, you come in and need some food-
you’re getting it. You need some water- you’re getting it,” said Bellamy

People’s Organizations

Beyond these two community centers, new people’s organizations have
coalesced around a grassroots recovery effort. One, commonly known as
The Red Shirts came together as a band of ten people who set out to
clean the streets of the French Quarter and administer first aid to any
in need. This group continues to hit the streets, wearing their
trademark red, and impressing many with their self-imposed twelve-hour
shifts. To date, their most impressive achievements were the cleaning of
the wrecked Jackson Square, and the removal of a fallen brick wall.

Thai Watford, a member of the group, stated, “we found a brick wall that
was completely collapsed into the street. It was impassable except maybe
by a hummer… brick by brick we picked up that wall and stacked them
against this building on the sidewalk.”

The Red Shirts aren’t the only new organization in town. Restore the
French Quarter (RFQ) came together shortly after the levies broke. RFQ,
which includes forty volunteers, has cleared their share of down trees
and rubbage. One of their fist acts was to make Esplanade, a major
street marking the border of the neighborhood, passable by vehicle.

Beyond cleaning, the group has built a public stockpile of necessary
items. These include food, water, tools, clothes, etc. the goods and the
organization are located in a makeshift headquarters on the corner of
Esplanade and Decatur. HQ is a nine thousand square foot three story
building owned by actor Harry Anderson of Night Court fame. It is
equipped with generators, a fully stocked bar, and a large gas grill.
RFQ has gone the extra step of stenciling white “RFQ Volunteer”
t-shirts, printing professional looking ID badges, and writing and
producing a mission statement.

Standing in the HQ courtyard, RFQ member “Steve”, who works in
construction, declared that the groups’ initial action was shortly after
the disaster struck. Their first priority was to help distribute guns
and ammunition to area residents to use in self-defense. Since then they
have turned their attention to fixing roads and keeping people fed.

RFQ was in the process of gathering resources to repair a number of area
roofs that were damaged by Katrina’s winds, when a rumor stopped them in
their tracks. Yesterday, word got around that either the local or
federal government was close to enforcing the mandatory evacuation. This
rumor gained validity earlier in the day, when a number of Louisiana
State Troopers entered Johnny White’s and initially demanded that
patrons leave with them to be evacuated. After some heated words, the
Troopers were convinced to call their superiors for confirmation. As
things went, the Troopers left with no one in tow. Even so, the story
and fear of a looming forced removal spread like wildfire across the
French Quarter.

“All of us are hunkering down and hiding in our residences. Is that
stupid or what? There are hundreds, even thousands, of people right here
that would be active volunteers. We know this city like the back of our
hands. We are not driving around like Mississippi cops that don’t know
this place. We know what we’re doing, where everything is, and how to
get resources. We can get this place back up and running. They [the
government] need to leave the French Quarter alone, and let us do this,”
said Steve of RFQ.

Karen Watt, 61, a small bar owner and RFQ member added, “we are
survivors who live here. We can take care of ourselves”.

Many have expressed fear of the shelters in Houston, as well as a strong
desire to stay put. David Richardson, 56, a carriage driver in the
French Quarter who I met up with at Molly’s said, “this is my home, I
want to stay with it. This is my city. I love this city. I love the
French Quarter. I want to be here to put it all back together.”

Have RFQ been scared into non-action? The answer is no. Tomorrow, RFQ is
planning a show of community solidarity by organizing residents in a
massive cleanup starting near Jackson Square (the middle of the
quarter). It is hoped that this display will convince officials that
residents, far from being a liability, are a clear asset.

While The Red Shirts and RFQ are the most visible organizations, a
number of other groups have also coalesced around the basic needs of
survival. RFQ says that they have become aware of a new formation in the
nearby Marigny neighborhood. This organization, like RFQ, hopes to
start reclaiming their streets from Katrina’s ghost in the coming days.

As dusk approached, David Richardson leaned up against a post on Decatur
street and summed up this Quarters spirit of self-reliance; “This is
what I call the ‘Committee of 75’. Nobody is giving orders. There are
enough people that know what needs to be done and we talk it over.”

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Infoshop News
news.infoshop.org/

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