The storm and its aftermath have generated a wealth of information and commentary, much of which can be found on commondreams.org and Counterpunch.org.
It seems clear that global warming intensified the storm, and that the destruction of wetlands by giving them over to developers left
In mainstream media, the racism and classism of some of the initial reporting later gave way to increasing recognition of the racism and classism that left thousands of survivors to loot stores for luxury items like water and food, and to fire shots in the air in an effort to get the attention of helicopters that seemed to pass them by. Stories of community solidarity and of the working-class heroes of the relief effort have been left to alternative media, which has also reported on prison-like conditions at far-flung shelters and refugee camps.
Those who have remained in the city similarly find themselves faced with the sort of “order” familiar from places like Fallujah: The US Army Times has referred to the citizens of
That recent events display the failure of a whole approach to government—the dangers of unmitigated crony capitalism and the catastrophic consequences of favoring the wealth of the few over the welfare of the many—has of course not changed that government’s priorities. Halliburton has been contracted to clean up navy bases in
But articles on The Black Commentator and on Indymedia New Orleans have been calling for the right of return to
Naomi Klein, writing in The Nation magazine, has dissected some of what they are resisting, as well as reporting and supporting those efforts. She notes,
“Jimmy Reiss, chairman of the New Orleans Business Council, told Newsweek that he has been brainstorming about how "to use this catastrophe as a once-in-an-eon opportunity to change the dynamic." The Business Council's wish list is well-known: low wages, low taxes, more luxury condos and hotels. Before the flood, this highly profitable vision was already displacing thousands of poor African-Americans.” “Jordan Flaherty, a New Orleans-based labor organizer told [Klein,] "Now the developers have their big chance to disperse the obstacle to gentrification--poor people."
But Klein quotes from a statement by Community Labor United, a coalition of low-income groups in
"The people of
The statement ‘went on to demand that a committee made up of evacuees "oversee FEMA, the Red Cross and other organizations collecting resources on behalf of our people.... We are calling for evacuees from our community to actively participate in the rebuilding of
It's a radical concept [continues Klein]: The $10.5 billion released by Congress and the $500 million raised by private charities doesn't actually belong to the relief agencies or the government; it belongs to the victims. The agencies entrusted with the money should be accountable to them.
[….]Rather than handing over the reconstruction to the same corrupt elite that failed the city so spectacularly, the effort could be led by groups like Douglass Community Coalition. Before the hurricane this remarkable assembly of parents, teachers, students and artists was trying to reconstruct the city from the ravages of poverty by transforming
For a people's reconstruction process to become a reality (and to keep more contracts from going to Halliburton), the evacuees must be at the center of all decision-making. According to Curtis Muhammad of Community Labor United, the disaster's starkest lesson is that African-Americans cannot count on any level of government to protect them. […] That means the community groups that do represent African-Americans in
[….]
Klein notes that those wanting to donate to a people's reconstruction can make checks out to the Vanguard Public Foundation,
She concludes,
There is only one thing that can compensate the victims of this most human of natural disasters, and that is what has been denied them throughout: power.
