[O29] Money for Relief, Not War: Rally THURS!

Wed Sep 7 14:33:52 PDT 2005

Friends
 Northeastern U. Campus Against War and Racism (NUCAWR) has called a 
speakout on campus for Thurs. at 5--anyone and everyone, on campus and off, 
is welcome and encouraged to attend. Perhaps it can get the ball rolling in 
terms of planning a bigger, city-wide action along the lines that Dan is 
proposing.
 Solidarity
Khury
 Speak Out: "MONEY FOR, RELIEF NOT WAR!"
Thursday: Sep 8th Northeastern University
Krentzman Quad (On Huntington Ave., near "Northeastern" T stop on the Green 
Line, E Branch)
5:00 pm - 6:00pm

The backwards priorities of this government have been exposed through 
the unfolding horror we have all witnessed in the states hit by
Hurricane Katrina. As the category 4 storm approached the Gulf coast
last weekend, residents were simply advised to flee. Lacking
transportation and money, the poor of the area - disproportionately 
African-American - were literally left behind to die. As the days
added up and images of pleading stranded victims were released, it has
become even clearer that race and class are at the heart of this
crisis, and not a natural disaster. 

Bush's smirk-filled comment that "I don't think anyone could have
anticipated the breach of the levees" has been proven completely
false. In fact, as recently as this year, he was warned by the Army 
Corp of Engineers that a category 4 hurricane could breach the levees
and kill thousands.

The tragic connection between the crisis in New Orleans and the
occupation of Iraq couldn't be clearer. The hundreds of millions of 
dollars allocated to make sure this sort of disaster never occurred
were instead used to pay for the war in Iraq. Now Iraqis are dying
from American bombs that were paid for with money that should have
gone to protecting the people of the Gulf Coast. The US spends $5.6 
billion in Iraq every month while people are left in New Orleans to
die from dehydration and starvation.

Millions of Americans are rightfully outraged at the government's
direct responsibility for this man-made disaster. 

Demands include: calling on your campus' administration to
accept (and grant free tuition) ALL students from the hurricane-
affected area, not just those from elite schools; calling for your
administration to donate to the NAACP relief fund; give students 
course credit to go assist with relief and rebuilding efforts. Direct
aid is also desperately needed, and we recommend it be sent to the
NAACP Relief Fund, which has been set up to help black communities
that are being systematically overlooked by the Red Cross. Info can be 
found at www.naacp.org <http://www.naacp.org/> <http://www.naacp.org/>, or 
direct donations may be
made online at: http://store.yahoo.com/naacp-donate1/

 On 9/7/05, Peter Cook <pseacook at comcast.net> wrote: 
> 
> This is an excellent idea.
> 
> The Troops Out Now Coalition (http://www.troopsoutnow.org) put out a
> call for a National Day of Outrage To Demand Justice for Hurricane
> Katrina Victims on Monday, Sept. 12. To date several dozen cities
> including: New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, Amherst, New Haven,
> Charleston SC, Jackson MS, Miami FL, Minneapolis-St.Paul, Detroit,
> Jersey City, Los Angeles, Houston, Raleigh, Washington DC, San
> Francisco, Chicago, Cleveland, Baltimore, Philadelphia, San Diego,
> Seattle, St Louis, Kansas City, Memphis, Milwaukee, Atlanta are all
> planning activities on the day.
> 
> We have been planning for a protest at JFK for Monday, Sept. 12 at
> 5:00pm and would like to open it up to the Oct. 29 Coalition for
> participation.
> 
> I have attached a copy of the flyer that we are using.
> 
> Peter Cook
> International Action Center
> -----Original Message-----
> From: O29-bounces at massglobalaction.org
> [mailto:O29-bounces at massglobalaction.org] On Behalf Of Dan DiMaggio
> Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2005 10:28 AM
> To: O29 at massglobalaction.org
> Subject: [O29] Proposal for demonstration: Money for Relief, Not War
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> The disaster of Hurricane Katrina has exposed how backward the
> priorities of our government are - spending hundreds of billions to
> fight an unjust war in Iraq while defunding levee systems and leaving
> tens of thousands of mainly poor, African-American people to suffer
> and die in New Orleans. I think that this is a turning point in
> American society - "the bursting point," as David Brooks called it in
> the New York Times. Socialist Alternative would like to propose that
> the October 29th coalition discuss and organize a demonstration soon
> in solidarity with the victims of Hurricane Katrina to demand "Money
> for Relief, Not for War." Since this coalition includes activists
> from many different anti-war organizations, a demonstration organized
> by this coalition would be capable of mobilizing the largest numbers
> of people, more than just demonstrations called by any of our
> individual organizations (although I'm not trying to discourage that).
> Such a demonstration should try to reach out to African-American
> community organizations and clearly protest the racist (lack
> of) response on the part of the government. It could also help to
> mobilize people for September 24th. I think that it would be best if
> this demonstration was organized soon - sometime next week - both to
> give us time to organize it but also to respond rapidly to these
> events. A demonstration in front of the Federal Building would
> probably be the most effective. I think that people are looking for a
> way to vent their anger at the government on this issue, and that it
> is our task to organize a political response. September 24th will be
> the big one, but a united local action before then would also be good.
> 
> Can this be placed on the agenda for tonight's meeting?
> 
> In solidarity,
> 
> Dan DiMaggio
> Boston Socialist Alternative
> Tufts Coalition Opposed to the War in Iraq
> 
> "If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to
> favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops
> without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and
> lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many
> waters.... Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and
> it never will."
> Frederick Douglass, 1857
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ______________________________________________________
> Click here to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.
> http://store.yahoo.com/redcross-donate3/
> 
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