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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><BR><A title=http://www.troopsoutnow.org/
href="http://www.troopsoutnow.org/"><IMG title=http://www.troopsoutnow.org/
height=100 alt="Troops Out Now Coalition"
src="http://www.troopsoutnow.org/onbannertop.jpg" width=500 border=0
moz-do-not-send="true"></A><BR><BR><B><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"
size=3><A title=http://www.troopsoutnow.org/donate.html
href="http://www.troopsoutnow.org/donate.html">Donate</A></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3> to help build a movement to demand justice for
the victims of Hurricane Katrina </FONT></B><BR><BR><BR><FONT size=4><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><B><BIG>In this
email:</BIG></B><BR><BR></FONT></FONT><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><B>1) Report from National Emergency Strategy
Meeting<BR>2) Proposal for National Network of Solidarity with Katrina Survivors
& Their Communities<BR>3) Call for a Nationwide Strike Against Poverty,
Racism, and War - Dec. 1-3</B><BR><BR>
<HR width="100%" SIZE=2>
<BR></FONT><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" color=#660000><BIG>Report
from Emergency Strategy Meeting</BIG></FONT></FONT><BR><BR><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>On September 10, activists from all over the U.S.
assembled at the New School University's Lang Center for an Emergency Strategy
Meeting to discuss the criminal negligence of the Bush Administration before,
during, and after the impact of Hurricane Katrina and to plan a national
campaign in solidarity with the people of the affected region.<BR><BR>Kicking
off the discussion was a report and video footage from Teresa Gutierrez, who had
just returned from a Troops Out Now Coalition fact-finding visit to the
region. Other speakers included Brenda Stokely of the Million
Workers March Movement, Nellie Bailey of the Harlem Tenants Council, Larry
Holmes of the Troops Out Now Coalition, LeiLani Dowell of FIST (Fight
Imperialism - Stand Together), and Sara Flounders of the International Action
Center.<BR><BR>The recurring theme of the presentations and of the discussion
that followed was the importance of demonstrating solidarity with the survivors
of Hurricane Katrina and of exposing the racism and greed that are behind the
loss of life in New Orleans and surrounding regions.<BR><BR>Two concrete
proposals coming out of this meeting were: a proposal for a National
Network of Solidarity with Katrina Survivors & Their Communities and a Call
for a Nationwide Strike Against Poverty, Racism, and War on December
1-3. <B> Details of both proposals are included below:</B><BR><BR>
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</FONT>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><BIG><SMALL><I><BIG>Based on
discussion at a Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC) Strategy Meeting held in NYC on
Sept. 10 of over 100 activists from around the country: - We call upon the
antiwar movement to support and embrace this proposal, and to make it central to
the program at the anti-war march in Washington DC on September 24th.
</BIG></I></SMALL><BR></BIG></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><BIG><B><I>A Proposal to
Establish an</I></B><BR><FONT color=#000099><BIG><FONT
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><B><BR>International Network of Solidarity
with Katrina Survivors & Their
Communities</B></FONT></BIG></FONT><BR>
<BR><BIG><I><B>The network's initial focus will be the following
demands:</B></I><BR><FONT color=#660000><BR></FONT></BIG></BIG></SPAN><FONT
color=#660000><BIG><BIG><BIG><BIG><BIG><FONT
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><B><BIG><BIG><BIG><BIG><BIG><BIG><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN></BIG></BIG></BIG></BIG></BIG></BIG></B></FONT></BIG></BIG></BIG></BIG></BIG></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><BIG><SMALL><FONT
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><B><BIG><FONT color=#660000>Stop the
execution of Frances Newton</FONT> </BIG></B></FONT></SMALL>
<BR></BIG></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><BIG>The scheduled execution of
sister Frances Newton on Sept 14 must be stopped. The systemic racist
injustice in the so-called criminal justice system, that overpopulates death row
with poor Black people, is part of the same racism behind the government’s
criminal behavior regarding Katrina. For the State of Texas to execute Frances
Newton (making her the first Black women to be executed in Texas since 1853) in
the wake of Katrina would be like throwing salt into the fresh wounds suffered
by Black people, and an affront to freedom loving people everywhere. The
execution is an outrage that we must not allow to happen.
<BR></BIG></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT color=#660000><BIG><BIG><BIG><BIG><BIG><FONT
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><B><BIG><BIG><BIG><BIG><BIG><BIG><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><BIG>Stop the Real
Looters</BIG></SPAN></BIG></BIG></BIG></BIG></BIG></BIG></B></FONT></BIG></BIG></BIG></BIG></BIG></FONT></P><BIG><BIG><BIG><BIG><BIG><BIG><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><BIG>Freeze the awarding Of Katrina reconstruction
contracts By FEMA <B>Until the local community organizations, leaders,
activists, and trade unionists have made public their ideas and plans</B>. Local
people must control the<B> $52 billion reconstruction fund for New Orleans &
the Gulf Coast, Not Halliburton and President Bush’s rich friends.</B> Pres.
Bush and Congress has given FEMA a $52 billion check for Katrina reconstruction,
but this check is not being handed to the people who have lost everything - the
Black community, the poor, and the hundreds of thousands of workers that have
lost jobs because of Katrina. Right now, the White House’s rich friends
are sitting around a table dividing up the loot. This money most go to the
people who need it to create living wage jobs and housing. The people of the
Gulf Coast must have the decisive say over the allocation of all government
reconstruction funds.</BIG></SPAN></BIG></BIG></BIG></BIG></BIG></BIG><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><BIG><BR><BR><FONT color=#660000><SMALL><FONT
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><BIG><B>End the military occupation of New
Orleans - No Forced Evacuations</B></BIG></FONT></SMALL></FONT></BIG></SPAN>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><BIG><B>Let human rights
observers into New Orleans.</B> Human rights observers, independent of
military, federal, state or local governments and law enforcement agencies, must
be allowed in to New Orleans and all of the areas in the Gulf Coast affected by
Katrina, and under military occupation, to monitor the conduct of military and
police personal, and document conditions in occupied
areas.<BR> <SMALL><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"
color=#660000><B><BIG><BR>The Right of return</BIG></B></FONT></SMALL>
<BR></BIG></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><BIG>All of the people who have
been forced from their cities and towns must be assured of the right to return
to their communities. Katrina must not be turned into an excuse for ethic
cleansing and gentrification.<BR><BR><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"
color=#660000><B>Accept the 1,100 Medical Doctors that Cuba has offered, and
free resources that Venezuela has offered</B></FONT><BR><BR><FONT
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><B><FONT color=#660000>Pay the prevailing
wage </FONT></B></FONT><BR></BIG></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><BIG>Congress and the president
must rescind the waiver of the Davis-Bacon Act, which bars federal contracts to
businesses that do not pay the prevailing wage to workers. No contractor
should be allowed to proceed with any work until they have publicly stated that
they will pay prevailing wages in their industry. <BR></BIG></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"
color=#660000><B><BIG><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><BIG>Extended unemployment
benefits, back pay, and a guarantyeed job for all workers displaced by
Katrina</BIG></SPAN></BIG></B></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><BIG><FONT
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" color=#660000><B>The Establishment of an
international commission of inquiry into the U.S. Government's response to
Katrina</B></FONT><BR><BR><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"
color=#660000><B>Money for Katrina Recovery & Human Needs - Not
War! Bring the Troops Home Now! </B></FONT> <BR><BR>The Katrina
Solidarity Network will aggressively solicit all activists and progressive
organizations committed to working in a united front, and who understand the
necessity to take direction from the activists in the Gulf Coast. The
network’s goals, demands and activities will be modified and expanded in
conjunction with its consultation with community and labor activist in the Gulf
Coast. The Solidarity Network will be announced at <B>September 12
National Day Of Outrage </B>events across the country.</BIG></SPAN><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><BR><BR><?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O
/><O:P></O:P></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>
<HR width="100%" SIZE=2>
<BR><FONT color=#000066><B><FONT
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><BR><BIG><FONT size=4>We Must Turn Our
Outrage Over Katrina into a Movement
</FONT></BIG></FONT></B></FONT><BR><BR><FONT size=4><BIG>On the 50th Anniversary
of Dec. 1, 1955, the day in Montgomery Alabama that Rosa Parks sparked the
modern Civil Rights Movement -- </BIG><BR><BR><BIG><I>A Call
for</I></BIG><BR><BR></FONT></P>
<DIV align=left><BIG><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" color=#660000
size=5><B><BIG>A Nationwide Strike Against Poverty, Racism, &
War</BIG></B></FONT><FONT color=#660000><BR></FONT><FONT
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" color=#660000 size=5><B><BIG>Thursday,
December 1</BIG></B></FONT></BIG><BR></DIV><BR><FONT size=4><FONT
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><B><BIG>No School * No Shopping * No
Work</BIG></B></FONT><BR></FONT><BIG><B><BR><FONT
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" size=4>Continued Protests and Teach-Ins
throught Dec. 2 and 3<BR>Mass March on Wall St. in NYC</FONT></B></BIG><FONT
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><BR><BR><BIG><FONT
color=#660000><B><BR><SMALL>Justice for the People of New Orleans & the Gulf
States<BR><BR>A Job at a Living Wage is a Human Right<BR><BR>Bring the Troops
Home Now<BR><BR>Healthcare, Housing, and Education -- Not War and
Occupation</SMALL><FONT size=4>
</FONT></B></FONT></BIG></FONT><SMALL></SMALL><BR><BR><B>The Outrage in New
Orleans is a clarion call to the antiwar movement and the grassroots:
<BR><BR>The time has arrived to take our struggle to a higher level.</B> Let us
work together and organize a <B>Nationwide Strike against Poverty, Racism and
War on Dec. 1, 2005,</B> the 50th anniversary of the day that Rosa Parks helped
launch the modern civil rights movement – no work, school, or shopping –
continued protest through Dec.2 and 3 – and a Mass March on Wall Street in New
York City. It is time for the people to demonstrate that they can stop
business as usual coast-to-coast when justice requires the people to do so.
<BR><BR>We owe it to the victims of Katrina, to poor and working people, to the
world and to ourselves to find the way to help turn the outrage over Katrina
into a mass grassroots movement for social justice, the likes of which this
country has not seen for some time. Moreover, it is vitally necessary, and much
more possible now, to forge real unity on a phenomenal scale between the
movement against the war and the movements of African Americans, people of
color, and poor and working people in a struggle for economic, social and
political rights.<BR><B><BR>The war and occupation of Iraq and the Katrina
outrage have demonstrated to the world the urgent necessity for fundamental
change and a movement that is big enough and determined enough to achieve the
goal.</B> Katrina has exposed the ugly truths about class and race, poverty, war
and militarism. Our solidarity with demands of the survivors of Katrina must
evolve from empathy, charity and symbolism to a mighty social force to be
reckoned with. Key to this mighty potential will be the forging of a strong
alliance with activists and leaders within the African American community in the
Gulf States, taking direction from them regarding the kind of solidarity that
they need and the demands they are making. Our demand to end the war in Iraq and
to bring the troops home now must be backed up by the kind of mass tactics that
signal that we mean business. <BR><BR>Fifty years ago, Black people in
Montgomery, Alabama were forced by law to sit in the back of public buses, and
give their seats to any white person who demanded it. When Rosa Parks, a garment
worker and civil rights activist, refused to give up her seat to a white man,
she sparked the Montgomery bus boycott against segregation on public buses, one
of the most successful and truly mass boycotts in history. The Montgomery bus
boycott also introduced to the world a young reverend named Martin Luther King
Jr., who became the boycott’s principal public leader. <BR><BR><B>A Dec. 1
Strike Working Committee was set up at a Sept. 10 Natl. Strategy Meeting of the
Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC) attended by more than 100 activists. The working
committee will develop outreach and building plans for the Dec. 1
strike.</B><BR> <BR><I>Dec. 1 Nationwide strike against poverty, racism and
war -- Initiating Organizations: Troops Out Now Coalition, Million Worker March
Movement, Teamsters National Black Caucus, Michigan Emergency Committee Against
War & Injustice.</I><BR><BR><BR>
<HR width="100%" SIZE=2>
<BR>
<DIV align=center><B><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><A
title=http://www.troopsoutnow.org/donate.html
href="http://www.troopsoutnow.org/donate.html">Donate</A></FONT> to help build a
movement to demand justice for the victims of Hurricane Katrina
</B><BR><B></B><BR><B><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" size=4><BIG><A
title=http://www.troopsoutnow.org/ href="http://www.troopsoutnow.org/">Troops
Out Now Coalition</A></BIG></FONT></B></DIV><PRE class=moz-signature cols="72">--
*******************************************
International Action Center
Boston:
617-522-6626
<A class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated title=mailto:iacboston@iacboston.org href="mailto:iacboston@iacboston.org">iacboston@iacboston.org</A>
<A class=moz-txt-link-freetext title=http://www.iacboston.org/ href="http://www.iacboston.org/">http://www.iacboston.org</A>
National Office:
212-633-6646
<A class=moz-txt-link-freetext title=http://www.iacenter.org/ href="http://www.iacenter.org/">http://www.iacenter.org</A>
Troops Out Now Coalition
<A class=moz-txt-link-freetext title=http://troopsoutnow.org/ href="http://troopsoutnow.org/">http://troopsoutnow.org</A> </PRE></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>