From New Orleans to Iraq: Drive out the Bush Regime!
Report by Jamilah Hoffman
We can collectively remember watching the news coverage of the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Residents stranded on their roofs.
Masses of people outside of the Superdome and Convention Center with no
food or water and in sweltering heat. People navigating boats through
flood waters to rescue their neighbors. While these images may be
seared in our collective memory, it is all to easy to forget the pain
and suffering of those displaced residents as the cameras move on to
the next story. It is for this very reason that we should understand
the importance of The World Can’t Wait starting its bus tour in New
Orleans.
On
July 4th, the Survivor’s Village held a day of unity, protest and a
rally that was located right outside of the St. Bernard Housing
Development. Many residents are demanding a Right to Return which
goes directly against the Department of Housing and Urban Development,
which plans to raze not only the St. Bernard development, but the B.W.
Cooper, C.J. Peete and Lafitte developments as well. A tent city has
been set up directly across the street from the St. Bernard
Development. To be more accurate, the tents, set up in the median, have
become the Survivor’s Village. The hope and determination of
these displaced residents of New Orleans is inspiring while at the same
time, the Right to Return struggle remains contentious with the
government set out to destroy the same homes that residents are
determined to take back.
the heat, rain and the national guard making their rounds, residents of
the four housing developments used the time to catch up with each
other, enjoy the holiday and mobilize for the future. Sitting in
the shade I heard one woman note how big one girl had gotten since the
last time she saw her. A normal statement heard at any family
get-together, but in the context of these residents being displaced and
not sure if they’ll be able to come home again, it strikes a new
cord. Walking in the march that circled around the whole St.
Bernard Development, I overheard another woman as she was pointing out
where her friend lived, where her sister had lived,
where another friend lived and where she lived. As she was
pointing this out I was reminded about how important community is to
the people of New Orleans, how in other cities it is normal to not know
who your neighbors are, but how this same sense of community and family
is helping to make the Right to Return struggle not only possible but
helps to sustain displaced residence under these extraordinary
circumstances.
has become apparent that New Orleans is being remade into a city where
its historic cultural value, heavily influenced by African Americans,
will be diminished in favor of a vision set up by those who are in
power. There has been a long class struggle taking place in New
Orleans, especially around public housing, and class, in this
country, often intersects with race. When HUD secretary, Alphonse
Jackson, said that, “New Orleans is not going to be as black as it was
for a long time, if ever again,” we must understand that these
statements are not some Bush regime official flying off the handle, but
an admission that shows the direction this regime is hell-bent on
taking society.
is why it is so important that the bus tour started in New Orleans
where residents and their supporters are joining together, saying no to
demolition, no to racial and class cleansing and demanding that
citizens of New Orleans be allowed to return to their homes.
A lawsuit is being filed based on international law guaranteeing a
right to return for displaced residents, petitions are being signed as
well but unless we confront this regime for all of its crimes, unless
this regime is driven from power, what has happened to the people of
New Orleans will be the norm, and not an exception.
ever there were a time when silence and paralysis were not acceptable,
it is now. We cannot allow people’s homes to be destroyed.
We cannot allow this regime to remake New Orleans, and the rest of
society for that matter into one in which the displacement of
residents, shoot to kill orders and national guards patrolling the
streets are a part of normal, everyday life. The call of the
World Can’t Wait is so relevant when it speaks about that which we will
not resist and mobilize to stop, we will learn – or be forced – to
accept. If we do not resist, it will be too easy to learn, or we
will be forced to accept the unacceptable.
us on this bus tour! Each stop highlights an area where the Bush
regime is setting out to remake society. The call states that,
‘we need more than fighting Bush’s outrages one at a time, constantly
losing ground to the whole onslaught.’ Starting in New Orleans
and going onward, ‘we must, and can, aim to create a political
situation where the Bush regime’s program is repudiated, where Bush
himself is driven from office, and where the whole direction he has
been taking society is reversed. We, in our millions, must and
can take responsibility to change the course of history) ‘
