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Hurricane
Relief and Recovery Efforts
Statement
of People's Hurricane Relief Fund and Reconstruction Project
15 September, 2005
Jackson, Mississippi
In the wake of the worst natural disaster in the history of the
United States, intensified by catastrophic, criminal government
neglect and racist repression, Community Labor United -- a seven
year old New Orleans based coalition dedicated to creating spaces
for grassroots organizations to engage in dialogue, strategic
planning and build collective work -- has been facilitating the
development of a People's Hurricane Relief Fund and Reconstruction
Project.
More than 42 organizations participated in the convening meeting
of the People's Hurricane Fund in Baton Rouge on Saturday September
10, 2005, to develop a People's Oversight Committee with the purpose
of overseeing all aspects of recovery and reconstruction for our
people. The Committee is dedicated to building and maintaining
a coordinated network of community leaders, organizers and community
based organizations with the capacity and organizational infrastructure
to help meet the needs of people most affected by Katrina, and
to facilitate an organizing process that will demand local, grassroots
black and progressive leadership in the relief, return and reconstruction
process in New Orleans.
The evacuees from Hurricane Katrina call on the world community
to support our demands for determining our own future. The population
of New Orleans is 67% black, 40% illiterate, with more than 30
% living below the poverty line. The abandonment, neglect and
militarization by the government have led community leaders and
evacuees to determine that we will take the necessary, comprehensive
steps to redevelop our communities, our homes, our lives, attend
to our wellbeing. The official entities -- federal and local government
agencies -- have criminally failed the black survivors of Katrina,
and are engaged in the militarization of our city, constituting
a form of ethnic cleansing, what we believe to be a gross violation
of civil and international human rights. We believe ourselves
to be operating without a government, and like ravaged and attacked
communities throughout the world, we call upon conscious and compassionate
people throughout this nation and the world to support us in our
claim to determine our destinies.
We are committed to creating space to engage all those who want
to work in support of our recovery and reconstruction, within
the United States and throughout the world community.
We are developing working committees and call for volunteers to
assist in the following areas:
- documentation
of all evacuees, their whereabouts and condition
- meeting
the healthcare needs of evacuees
- legal
advocacy, exploration of human rights and civil rights abuses,
wrongful deaths, and other legal issues
- teachers
and educators to work with our displaced children
- assist
in support for all those still in shelters, monitoring of
the conditions, publicizing the abuses and advocating on behalf
of evacuees
- help
in collecting the stories of displaced New Orleanians, including
our vision of the new New Orleans
- publicize
all aspects of our work
- experts
to test the air, water and soil in preparation for reconstruction
- engineers,
architects and solar experts to advise and participate in
reconstruction.
International
Call
We are presenting a petition on behalf of New Orleans and Gulf
Coast Region Survivors of Hurricane Katrina to the United Nations
Commission on Human Rights to investigate the conditions that
brought about the worst disaster in U.S. history and to help ensure
social justice for the Survivors, their rights to return to their
communities, economic redress for their losses, and a speedy reconstruction
of new communities with affordable housing for all and repaired
levees and other protections against preventable tragedies.
We call on international human rights communities to join in the
demand to keep the spotlight on the actions of the U.S. government,
to hold it accountable for its actions, and to support the self
determination of Katrina survivors.
We call on international human rights monitors to come to New
Orleans to show the world the disgraceful actions perpetrated
against the people in our communities.
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