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Katrina: Cleaning up sexism and racism "This was an attempt to kill us all,” said a survivor of Hurricane Katrina. She was talking about the US government’s criminal and racist neglect of people with little or no income – Black, Indigenous, immigrant and other Brown women and men, many of whom are older and/or disabled – who were left to suffer and die in the toxic, filthy water that filled grassroots neighbourhoods as the whole world watched. Some say the levees were blown up so that land grabbers and casino marketers could take over New Orleans, the birth place of jazz and one of the oldest Black urban populations in the US, reducing it from 70% to 36%. Survivors are shunted from place to place, and face eviction by FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency), and banks that are demanding mortgage payments on destroyed homes whose owners no longer have an income. Survivors are struggling for relief and reconstruction, setting up community centers such as those run by Mama D, and Malik Rahim and his partner Sharon to provide food and other necessities; legal teams to stop evictions; collectives to keep affordable housing; residents blocking bulldozers from razing homes; marches and protests. Survivors invited the Global Women’s Strike to be part of the formation of the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund and Reconstruction Network (PHRF). Strike co-ordinator Margaret Prescod convenes the Women’s Caucus of PHRF and the Women’s Reconstruction Network (WRN). Despite the lowest incomes and least resources, women are doing most of the life-saving survival and justice work: hands-on cleaning under toxic conditions; caring for traumatized children, elders and the sick; fighting insurance companies, FEMA, the Red Cross and other bureaucracies that are sitting on the money that should be going to survivors; trying to find and hold on to housing that is never secure, and to a unique cultural heritage; holding to account all those responsible starting with George Bush. “Unless the real work of reconstruction is made visible, it will be attributed to corporations which will be paid handsomely for what women are doing at the cost of their own lives and without payment.” The Women’s Caucus and WRN have been organizing speak outs; self-help; an international Action Alert; a Clean Up project to get protective suits and clean-up equipment; support for a women’s health clinic. The Strike in San Francisco has helped convene the Hurricane Evacuee Council-Bay Area (HECBA), to stop evictions and press for a central space where evacuees can get what they need. In September Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez offered relief to those hit by the hurricanes. The Strike has been helping to co-ordinate this, bringing together the Venezuelan oil subsidiary CITGO and the Vanguard Foundation. Cuba also offered help – doctors for the worst affected neighbourhoods – but was turned down. Unlike the US which abandoned those who couldn’t afford to get out during hurricanes, Cuba provides transport for people and pets. People’s lives are the priority, not scavenging corporations. |