The “rebuilding” on New Orleans offers a window into what kind of a society Bush has in store.
Homes are being demolished without bothering to contact the owners,
and renters are left with nothing. Whole black neighborhoods are
destroyed. Smacking of ethnic cleansing, Congressman Richard Baker said,
“We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do
it, but God did.” Any hope to stop the demolishing of homes is locked
in legal battles, and often takes residents physical prescense to stop
the bulldozers.
For displaced Katrina survivors, there is a constant legal battle
with FEMA to extend funding for thousands living in hotels. The latest
court ruling in a class action lawsuit extended the funding until Feb.
7.
Bush has taken the opportunity of destruction in New Orleans to push
ahead with his school vouchers program, with its intent to destroy
public schools and send students to private, and preferably
fundamentalist, religious schools. Money pours in to “faith-based”
charities run by fundamentalists like Pat Robertson.
And private contractors are able to profiteer from all the
destruction, with tax breaks given fo “reconstruction”, which is hardly
aimed at aiding the residents of New Orleans.
This is not the kind of world we can live in.
BUSH STEP DOWN!
(sources: “Fight Grows in New Orleans on Demolition and Rebuilding”, NY Times, 1/6; “Hotel Program for Katrina Victims Extended”, NY Times, 1/7; “Katrina Lives”, The Nation, 1/2)