Crime and violence in New Orleans is a systemic problem and we strongly believe that safeguarding our cultural heritage helps to address the roots of violence. We are a cross-generational organization, ages 5 - 70. Our young people grow up in this culture, are fed by it, and feel loved, supported and connected in ways that build real security. That’s crime prevention.
Today’s violence is an outrage to what the Original Big 7 and all of New Orleans secondlining culture represents. Secondlining is about community and celebration, not trauma and violence. Today’s shooting was in no way a product of secondline culture or somehow set in motion by the parade or its route, as some critics may suggest. Our parade brings together different folks from across the city—black, white, latino, the young and the old, and lots of families--to celebrate the best of New Orleans. We feel embarrassed that the world is now viewing our city and our community through a lens of violence. We support a thorough investigation of the shooting and pray the perpetrators will be brought to justice.
In the seventeen years that the Big 7 has been organizing parades and since the first Original Big 7 Mother’s Day Parade in 2001, this is the first act of shooting violence that has occurred, and we pray that it is the last.
We host our parade on Mother’s Day to give something back to the women of the world. We are a family, a secondlining family, and we will not let this foolish act disrupt the positive work we are doing in our community.
Tulane University is sponsoring an event featuring notorious racist David Horowitz this Wednesday. Horowitz is a nationally-known right wing extremist who denies that racism exists, calling institutional racism a "fantasy of the left." He has also said that the fact that Oprah Winfrey–whom he called "a fat black woman"–has made it to the top of society proves that racism is no longer a barrier to success for most Black Americans.
Horowitz sponsored a national ad campaign against reparations for slavery called, “Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Slavery Is a Bad Idea—and Racist Too.” In the campaign, Horowitz said, “Reparations to African-Americans have already been paid” in the form of “trillions of dollars of welfare benefits and racial preferences” for Black people. In addition, Horowitz claims that African-Americans “owe a debt” to white people for "giving them freedom."
"If not for the sacrifices of white soldiers and a white American president," Horowitz has said, "blacks in America would still be slaves.”
Horowitz is the publisher of FrontpageMag, a right wing journal that frequently publishes white supremacists. For example, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, FrontpageMag published a piece called "Africa in our Midst: Lessons from Katrina," by Jared Taylor, a white supremacist who is close to Louisiana klansman David Duke and argues that blacks and Latinos are genetically inferior to whites. Following this line of attack, Horowitz himself complained that "in the national discussion of Katrina, Bush was accused of racism for failing to be on site immediately in New Orleans but actual racial crimes committed by blacks were rendered invisible." Horowitz has also published James Lublinskus, a former editor of the white nationalist movement's flagship publication, American Renaissance.
Horowitz is most famous for his self-declared war on Islam - the Southern Poverty Law Center lists him among the most prominent anti-Muslim racists in the US, and he is publisher of Jihad Watch, an online magazine dedicated to anti-Muslim and anti-Arab rhetoric. He is known for statements such as “what has the Arab world contributed except terror?…The theocratic, repressive Arabic states do no significant science, no significant arts and culture.” He has also called Hillary Clinton's top aide Huma Abedin a "Muslim Brotherhood plant." Following this theme, the topic of his event this week is “From Boston to Jerusalem: How Islamic Jihadism Affects Us All.”
It is especially ironic that a local university would host Horowitz, as he has made a reputation for his work to stifle free expression on campuses. For example, in 2003, Horowitz started Students for Academic Freedom, which encouraged students to sneak into classes to take notes and report on "suspicious" professors as part of an attempt to launch campaigns to fire (or deny tenure to) professors who are insufficiently "pro-American."
Despite his history of attacks on African Americans, Muslims, and even academic freedom, Tulane Administration is helping to bring this hate speech to New Orleans. This is not the first time that Tulane has embraced Horowitz. In 2007, Tulane University hosted "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week," part of a national anti-Muslim campaign launched by Horowitz. A primary sponsor of this event is a Tulane student group, Tulane Students United for Israel, as well as a UNO student group called Allies for Israel. In selecting Horowitz as a speaker, they appear to be making a statement that white supremacy and Israel advocacy go hand-in-hand.
Tulane students are asking allies to wear Black and meet at 6:15pm on Wednesday at Jones Hall on the Tulane campus. For more information, including contact info for student organizers, see this link, or you can directly contact Hillary Donnell at hdonnell@tulane.edu or Tulane Students for Justice in Palestine at tupalestine@gmail.com.
This profile is republished from our friends at VOTE-NOLA:
How did you get involve with VOTE? In June of 2012 I was listening to the WBOK morning show and Norris Henderson was on the radio talking about how to get prisoners released, and it was interesting to me. I remembered Norris’ name and so I called in to the station and he remembered me and said that he would call me right back off the air and when he did we spoke about helping my son, who is currently in prison. He spoke about VOTE over the air and so I asked about the organization and that is how I first heard about VOTE, started being a member and attending meetings.
Why did you get involved with VOTE? I have a son that has been in prison almost 25 years now. He is in Angie Louisiana (Raven 66). The conversation that the men on the radio were having was very interesting to me. That is how I got to the meetings and when I got there I enjoyed the meetings and listening to what I heard.
What is your favorite aspect of VOTE? There are quite a few things that I like that VOTE does, helping to try to get prisoners released, keeping up with the prisoners and helping them get work. I like the fact that VOTE is involved with many other organizations that do different things.
What do you think is the most important thing that VOTE does? I think one of the most important things is that VOTE is trying to get certain laws that affect formerly incarcerated people changed to help them better their lives. Has VOTE changed the way you see the criminal justice system or civic engagement? VOTE has changed the way I see the criminal justice system a lot. First of all I never knew anything about the justice system until my son who was sentenced wrong, went to prison. I never really knew much before then. VOTE has changed my mind about the way the criminal justice system work, because it doesn’t really work for Black people or poor people. I’ve never been in an organization like this before, so this is all fairly new and it feels good to know that we have someone else that is trying to do something to help you as well as other people. What is something that you would like to see VOTE tackle in the future? What I would like to see VOTE tackle is something to put Norris into some type of office that will push him in a higher position to help people that are incarcerated. He is a smart man that gets your attention when he speaks, and knows what he is talking about. What is something that you like to do in your time outside of VOTE? There is not a lot that I’m doing besides focusing on my son. I’ve been sick for some time now, so I don’t have a lot of energy, I do have more good days than bad days. Before I was sick, I liked going to the casinos, it was one of my pleasures. I liked playing the machines. I haven’t gone in a while though. Now I would love to help out VOTE any way that I can. I do love my garden and I go out there almost every day and find that it is very relaxing for me.
The case highlights Israel's system of military detention for Palestinian minors, which has been frequently criticized, most recently by the UN which said in March that an in-depth study showed it systematically and gravely violated their rights. The boy's father, Abdelwahab Khalek, said his 14-year-old son Mohammad was taken into custody early last Friday morning by eight assault-rifle wielding soldiers. They shackled and blindfolded his son as his five siblings watched, he said.
The boy's father, Abdelwahab Khalek, is a car dealer who splits his time between Palestine and New Orleans, according to the report.
"He appears okay, he's a strong kid," said his 46-year-old father. "But there is no law in the world that justifies the way (Israeli forces) acted." American consular officials declined comment. "Unfortunately this case is symptomatic of the Israeli military's abusive treatment of Palestinian children in detention," said Bill Van Esveld of the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch. Rights group Defense of Children International says there were 236 minors in Israel military detention in February, 39 of them between the ages of 12 to 15. The group said it receives its numbers from Israel's prison authority.
Human Rights Watch told the press that "there's no justification for shackling him for 12 hours and interrogating him while refusing to let him see his father or a lawyer." Defense of Children International and Addameer are asking the Israeli authorities to have a parent present at all times during interrogation, as well as grant Mohammaed access to a lawyer of their choice prior to interrogation, and preferably throughout the interrogation process.
Despite outrage by human rights organizations, our government has not said a word. When asked to comment, the US consulate in Jerusalem declined. The US State Department, when asked, was not even aware of the case! Mohammad's father criticized the US government’s response to his son’s arrest in an interview with Reuters. “The U.S. government is obligated to do something for us, but it doesn’t even care." Let Mohammed know that we care! Contact the State Department and ask them to fullfil their obligations in protecting US Citizens. You can either call the State Department at 202-647-4000 or click on the link below to send them a message:
When composing your message, be sure to use the email topic: U.S. Foreign Policy Middle East
Suggested language to include in your message:
I am writing you regarding the case of Mohammed Khalek. Mohammed is a 14-year-old US citizen from New Orleans who is currently under arrest in Israel. I demand that the State Department fulfill its constitutional and professional obligations and protect US citizens. We want the State Department to immediately contact Mohammed and his family to ensure his rights are being protected. In addition, we urge the State Department to open an investigation into allegations of abuse while detained.
Thank you for taking action!
Activists are also encouraging New Orleans residents to contact their representatives and ask them to tell the state department to get involved:
An earlier version of this article appeared at truthout.org:
An estimated 50,000 people from 5,000 organizations in 127 countries spanning five continents participated in the World Social Forum in Tunisia over the past week. By choosing to come together in Tunis, this year’s Forum evoked the sprit of the 2011 revolt that inspired uprisings around the world. The WSF also focused attention on the complicated status of that revolt, which in Tunisia has not brought the political or economic changes many hoped for. Conversations with local activists often focused on the recent assassination of opposition leader Chokri Belaïd, and government dealings with the International Monetary Fund.
Many in the region reject the term “Arab Spring,” saying that implies a season that ends quickly, and this revolutionary wave has just begun. Samir Amin, a Marxist economist based in Senegal, calls the overthrow of dictators in Tunisia and Egypt the first step in a continuing process, but sees the new governments as scarcely an improvement. “This gigantic popular movement got rid of the dictators Ben Ali and Mubarak, but not of the system,” said Amin. “The Muslim Brotherhood who are in power in both countries are just continuing the same system…The same so-called liberal policy, the same submission to imperialism, the same social disaster.” Amin says the biggest change represented by this period is a new awareness that change is possible. “The people now, who have proved to themselves their capacity to overthrow any dictatorship, will also get rid of the Muslim Brotherhood,” he says.
Many North African participants were celebratory of the region’s revolutions, but expressed fears of the electoral rise of right wing forces, and the economic neoliberalism being pushed by their current governments. Hamouda Soubhi, an activist from Morocco and one of the members of the WSF Tunisia organizing committee, sees a moment of danger and possibility. “For us its like the beginning of the struggle,” said Soubhi. “Tunisia wants to say to the world, no more fear, we are going to change the region.”
Tunisians condemned secret deals the outgoing government was recently found to have made with the International Monetary Fund, and several I spoke to mentioned Naomi Klein's book Shock Doctrine in their description of the current crisis facing their country. “When I read about shock doctrine, I said, ‘oh my god, it’s happening to Tunisia,’” said Mabrouka Mbarek, an elected member of the Tunisian constituent assembly who has been attempting to fight these back-room deals. “They are going to stop subsidies after two years, they will increase the price of gas, they will increase the price of wheat, they will completely restructure the banking system. All of this happened without discussion without debate in the parliament.”
The hope of the 2011 uprisings has run up against the intransient forces of global capital. Mbarek pointed to similar tactics by the IMF in Cyprus. “In Cyprus the IMF was really happy to find a solution that didn't require parliamentary debate,” she said. “The fate of the Tunisian people should not be discussed between this international institution and a resigning government.”
Invoking the legacy of former Burkina Faso president Thomas Sankara, Mbarek also spoke of joining with other nations in a global movement against debt. “In Tunisia, after a revolution that was expressed upon economic and social issues, but also a will to have people’s aspirations represented, this is all falling down because we have economic policies that are not even discussed by a representative and are pushed in post-shock mode.”
Divisions Highlighted The annual convergence also raised questions about the trajectory of these movements, as well as the continued relevance of the World Social Forum process.
The WSF, which was first held in Brazil and has featured appearances by Hugo Chavez and Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in past years, has been credited with helping to build and consolidate a broad left in South America and establish connections and shared strategy between movements around the world. However, the WSF has always been divided. There are frequent protests against the Forum from within – notably in 2007 in Nairobi, when protestors took over a food stand that they said symbolized a corporate sell-out by the Forum and a lack of accessibility to locals without means – as well as struggles by leadership over its direction.
The contradictions and conflicts of the Arab Spring were on full display. While one group held a session on strategies for overthrowing the Syrian government, there was a rally nearby in support of President al-Assad. Elsewhere in the Forum, arguments broke out over whether Libya was better off without Muammar Gaddafi. While many spoke of Islamic political movements such as Muslim Brotherhood as regressive forces, others saw political Islam as part of an anti-imperialist front. Reflecting the importance of these debates, hundreds lined up to hear remarks by Tariq Ramadan, a Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies and major figure in the debate on the role of Islam in the West.
An area of the forum called the “Global Square” was organized by members of anarchist or horizontalist movements such as Occupy and 15-M in Spain, many of whom were critical of the politics of the WSF and its organizing bodies. While Occupy has vanished from US headlines, it was clear that around the world the name still resonates. When Occupy was mentioned in the opening ceremony, it brought one of the largest cheers of the night. “I really find a close connection between the Occupy movement and Tunisia,” said Mabrouka Mbarek. “It’s like Tunisia catalyzed a global movement. Suddenly everyone is courageous to occupy.”
Gender and the role of women was an underlying theme. Forum organizers made a statement by having all the speakers at the opening ceremony be women – including a rousing speech by Besma Khalfaoui, widow of assassinated opposition leader Chokri Belaid. Organizations such as the World March on Women, an international feminist action movement, played a major role in the forum and kept these issues central. However, many panels and spaces at the Forum were male dominated – a problem that seemed to be even more true of sessions organized by Europeans as those organized by activists from other regions.
The dominant focus in the 1,000+ sessions were critiques of capitalism and imperialism, and the lens through which these struggles were viewed was a contrast with the framing at US activist convergences. For example, LGBT issues were the subject of only a handful of the estimated 1,000 sessions here, while sex worker rights, white anti-racist organizing, prison abolition, and abortion were among the subjects that could not be found here – not because of any official policy, but apparently because no organization proposed sessions on these issues.
The movement for a free Palestine was well represented, and the Forum closed with more than ten thousand people marching in commemoration of Palestinian Land Day. While Palestine liberation was the consensus position at the Forum, there was strife between grassroots activists and those representing the political leadership in Ramallah.
While in the US Al Jazeera is often seen as a voice of the Arab Spring, North African activists also criticized the Qatar-based channel as supporting repressive regimes in the region. Shams Abdi, a young and fierce woman's rights and labor activist with the General Union Tunisian Students, refused an interview with a reporter from Al Jazeera, calling the news channel a “zionist project.”
The most public explosion of internecine conflict came during the closing social movement assembly, when members of the Morroccan delegation rushed the stage in opposition after a statement was read in support of independence for the people of Western Sahara.
The Future of The Forum At a cost of millions of dollars and a huge amount of resources, there is an ongoing debate over whether the WSF needs to continue to exist, and if it has become compromised by the funding that organizations receive to make the gathering possible. At several sessions debating the future of the Forum, participants spoke of a need to continue working to build alliances based around shared struggles. “It is the same banks that are kicking us out of our homes that are restructuring Tunisia’s economy,” said Maria Poblet of Causa Justa/Just Cause, one of two dozen activists and organizers who participated as part of a US Grassroots Global Justice delegation, during one discussion.
At its best, the Forum represents hope for a just society. In the tens of thousands of people present – representing millions more who want to come but cannot – there is a palpable feeling of a new world being born. Hiba Laameri, a 15-year-old Tunisian girl, was among those who inspired hope through her words and presence. Laameri echoed the concerns of many Tunisians at the Forum, saying that Tunisia’s current government is pursuing a neoliberal economic agenda. “We have our freedom, we can speak. An event like this would not have been possible in Ben Ali’s time,” she said. “But capitalism is still there, imperialism is still there. Nothing’s changed socially, economically, culturally.”
Laameri was thrilled by what she experienced at the Forum and throught it would help give energy to local activists. “I’ve always been a person to see what’s wrong and I’ve always thought to myself, ‘why won’t somebody do something about that?” said Laameri. “And these days at the forum I realized I was that somebody.”
The New Orleans Police Department recently released a statement on "women and safety," that has outrage across the city and furthered the perception that this police department does not get it. They are more interested in blaming the victim than preventing assault. With absurd advice like "don't get into an elevator with a stranger," or "dress comfortably so you can move quickly if you have to," the statement is pure victim-blaming. We have pasted the entire release below.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 23, 2013
New Orleans Police Department Crime Prevention Unit
Women and Safety
Violent crime can happen to any woman, anywhere, in any situation. Victims and attackers come from all economic classes and cultural backgrounds. Often, victims know their attackers. Violent crimes can happen any time of the day. You can help protect yourself by understanding the risk and learning how to reduce them.
Stay out of isolated areas:
Avoid little-used stairwells, parking lots and roads.
Don’t get into an empty elevator with a stranger.
Trust your instincts.
If you sense trouble, get away as soon as possible.
Show confidence.
Walk at a steady pace. Keep your head up.
Avoid carry lots of packages. It can make you look defenseless.
Practice street smarts.
Plan the safest route before you leave.
Dress comfortably, so you can move quickly if you have to.
Don’t wear headphones. It’s important to stay alert.
Vary your biking and jogging route, and bring a friend.
If someone follows you, change course and head toward other people.
Stand back from the car when giving motorist directions.
Take self defense classes.
When using public transportation:
Wait at busy, well-lit stops.
Sit close to the driver.
Speak loudly or yell if you feel threatened.
Use caution on dates and in relationships.
Beware of alcohol and other drugs. They affect judgment. Watch how much your date uses them, too.
Don’t leave your drink alone. And don’t drink anything you didn’t get, open or pour yourself. “Date rape drugs” mixed in drinks can leave you at risk.
Make your sexual limits firm and clear.
Be independent. Don’t let your date make all the decisions.
Provide your own transportation.
Avoid secluded places.
Know the warning signs of abuse.
Watch for behavior and attitudes in your date, partner or friend that signals trouble. For example, he or she may:
Show a lack of respect for your feelings or ideas.
Want to make all of the decisions.
Frequently display anger, mistrust or jealously.
Misuse alcohol or use of other drugs.
Responding to an attack
Only you can decide how to respond, and no one strategy will work every time. But in general:
Size up the situation. You have several options. Many women will:
Scream for help or yell “Fire!”
Run away
Fight back
If you think resisting would put you in more danger, cooperate. Remember that your survival is most important. Do whatever you think is best.
If you have been attacked or sexual assaulted:
Act quickly.
Get to a safe place. Get in contact with a friend, relative or rape crisis center.
Go to the hospital. Don’t shower, brush your teeth, douche, comb or clean any part of your body, or change your clothes. This might destroy medical evidence.
Tell the police.
Remember, an attack is never your fault. Don’t blame yourself.
Many thanks to all of you who have aided our cause and added your voices to our quest to free Albert from an obviously unjust imprisonment of more than 40 years. Please continue to make your voices heard and your dissent known, especially in light of the recent email response by Louisiana's Attorney General, James Caldwell. One wonders: Why in the face of so many mitigating facts and circumstances would the Attorney General persist in his unethical efforts to pursue the persecution of Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace? Is it really justice he seeks, or is there something else he wants? The following may add some light to the subject.
When Woodfox was first granted a new trial in 1993, the Attorney General's Office elected to retry the case, which is a rare occurrence. Twenty-three years earlier, John Sinquefield, a young and ambitious local assistant district attorney, prosecuted Albert and made repeated references/inferences to Albert's political beliefs and militancy. Having had prior involvement in this case, Sinquefield could not (or chose not to) prosecute in his second hearing. However, this recusion (or self restraint) did not apply to his assistants. Enter Julie Cullen, an attorney working with Sinquefield. It was Cullen who declared to the press, that she would retry Albert as "a 'Black Panther." During that trial in 1999,when I appeared as a character witness for Albert, Julie Cullen made repeated references to Woodfox's militancy as Sinquefield had done before her and Woodfox was again convicted.
Sinquefield, Cullen and Caldwell were all previously connected to this case by the thread of time and they have all used this case to further their careers. Sinquefield and Caldwell are well-documented boyhood friends, who went to school together, graduated together and became lawyers together. In Sinquefield's own words, "We've been friends, allies ever since." Julie Cullen has worked with and been very close to both men. As you can see, their careers have been protected at all costs, even accusing innocent men of murder or rape, as Caldwell in his recent email has done once again.
Buddy Caldwell has long done a great disservice to people of intelligence, especially lawyers...and jurists, in his attempt to sell this malicious and unsubstantiated rape lie. If, in 1969 there had been actual evidence of Albert committing rape, why would the system instead choose to try Woodfox on only the lesser charge of robbery? According to Caldwell, Albert was considered "a career criminal." The logical question therefore remains...If Albert had committed all of these other alleged crimes and was in fact a career criminal, why was he not prosecuted? Just for the record - any young black man that was arrested became a suspect for unsolved crimes. This was a process so widespread that across the country the practice is known as "clearing the books."
It is in this same context that Caldwell has wrongfully accused Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace of committing the murder of prison guard Brent Miller. The evidence linking Herman and Albert to the crime is nonexistent. The bloody fingerprint at the scene of the crime did not match Herman or Albert's. A knife found at the scene of the crime had no fingerprints on it at all. Other DNA evidence that allegedly had Albert's specks of blood on it was lost by the prison. Furthermore, multiple alibi witnesses testified that Albert and Herman were in other parts of the prison at the time of the murder. In contrast, it has been proven that state witnesses were bribed to lie under oath. Albert's conviction has now been overturned three times, and Herman's conviction is similarly under Federal Court scrutiny for evidence exposing prosecutorial misconduct and constitutional violations.
Finally, by claiming that the Angola 3 have never been in solitary, Caldwell is redefining the nature of solitary confinement and minimizing its inhumane conditions. Courts here in the US have already ruled that confining prisoners in cells 23 hours a day constitutes solitary confinement regardless of any small privileges that may or may not be incrementally given and taken away at random. Over a decade ago, we filed a civil lawsuit challenging the State of Louisiana for their unconstitutionally cruel and unusual treatment that is solitary confinement. Magistrate Judge Dalby describes our almost four decades of solitary as "durations so far beyond the pale" she could not find "anything even remotely comparable in the annals of American jurisprudence." It is for the courts and not for Attorney General Caldwell to define whether or not being held in close cell restriction constitutes solitary confinement.
Attorney General Caldwell would do well to consider that I was prosecuted for being a "co-conspirator" by proxy for only knowing Albert and Herman and for my affiliation with the Black Panther Party. I had never met prison guard Brent Miller but I was put in solitary confinement and placed under investigation for this crime for 29 years. More to the point, had I not been 150 miles away at the time in another prison but at Angola prison, I would probably have been charged and convicted for a murder I did not commit. As I am free, speaking out now is what I must do.
Again, thanks to the many individual supporters and organizations who stand by the Angola 3 and ask you to continue to take action.
Power to the People/As Ever
Robert H. King International Coalition to Free the Angola 3
Tens of thousands of
people marched through downtown Tunis on Tuesday in a spirited march
celebrating the beginning the 13th World Social Forum – the first to be
held in an Arab country. The majority of marchers were from Tunisia and
neighboring nations, but there was substantial representation from
Europe, as well as from across South America, Asia, and Southern Africa.
An enormous annual gathering that bills itself as a “process” rather
than a conference, the WSF brings together by far the largest assembly
of international social movement organizations, aimed towards developing
a more just and egalitarian world.
The WSF was first held in
Brazil in 2001, and is billed as an alternative to the wealth and power
wielded at the World Economic Forum, an elite annual gathering in Davos,
Switzerland. Tuesday marked the official opening of the WSF, but
official sessions start today and continue through March 30 at the El
Manar University Campus. The theme of this year’s Forum is “dignity,”
inspired by the movements collectively known as the Arab Spring,
launched here just over two years ago.
As of last night, the WSF
had reported registration by more than 30,000 participants from nearly
5,000 organizations in 127 countries spanning five continents. Since
that estimate, thousands more have registered on-site. The officially
announced activities include 70 musical performances, 100 films, and
1000 workshops.
Tuesday’s march traveled three miles from
downtown Tunis to Menzah stadium, with chanting in multiple languages
and representation from a wide variety of movements from the Tunisian
Popular Front to Catholic NGOs to ATTAC, a movement challenging global
finance. At Menzah stadium, an opening ceremony began at 7:30pm with
female social movement leaders from Palestine, South Africa, Tunisia,
and the US taking the stage, including Besma Khalfaoui, widow of
Tunisian opposition leader Chokri Belaid, who was assassinated last
month. According to Forum organizers, only women were chosen for the
opening as a response to the rise of conservative religious governments
in the region as well as patriarchal systems around the world. “We
decided this because women are the struggle in the region,” said Hamouda
Soubhi from Morocco, one of the organizing committee members. “They are
struggling for parity, they are struggling for their rights. The new
regimes want the constitutions to be more religious, and we want to take
our stand against this.”
In short speeches – each about 5
minutes in length – the women projected a vision of a global movement
that was inexorably rising, as the audience roared in approval. “We are
trying to hold our government accountable for what it has done and
continues to do around the world,” said one of the speakers, Cindy
Wiesner of Grassroots Global Justice, a US-based coalition of social movement organizations. “Some of the most inspiring
movements and people are gathered here in Tunis. Together, we can change
the course of history.” Among the loudest cheers came when speakers
mentioned left political leaders and movements, including the jailed
Palestinian leaders Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Sa’adat, as well as
sustained applause for Hugo Chavez and the Occupy movement.
After
the opening speeches, legendary musician Gilberto Gil took the stage.
Known for his politics and musical innovation, Gil was a leader of
Brazil’s tropicália musical movement of the 1960s and more recently
served as Minister of Culture in the administration of President Luiz
Inácio Lula da Silva. As a sea of people from around the world danced
ecstatically, Gil played a set that ranged from his own songs to pieces
by Bob Marley and by John Lennon.
Among the opening sessions this
morning was a press conference led by members of La Via Campesina, an
organization representing more than 200 million poor farmers from 150
local and national organizations in 70 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe
and the Americas. “The false solutions of the government have been
affecting us worse and worse,” said Nandini Jayara, a leader of women
farmers in India. “I feel the WSF is a stage for us to share our
problems and work together for solutions.”
Over the past decade,
the WSF has been credited with a number of important international
collaborations. For example, the global antiwar demonstrations in
February 15, 2003, which have been called the largest protests in
history, came out of a call from European Social Forum participants. In
the US, labor activists who received international attention for a
successful factory take-over in 2008 at Chicago’s Republic Windows and
Doors factory said inspiration came from workers in Brazil and Venezuela
that they met at the World Social Forum.
Among the many
movements seeking to launch new campaigns and coalitions are indigenous
activists who are seeking to educate activists from around the world
about the problems in the climate change solutions, such as the “cap and
trade” strategy put forward by the United Nations and mainstream
environmental organizations. “We have to look at the economic construct
that has been created in this world by rich industrialized countries and
the profiteers that have created this scenario,” said Tom Goldtooth,
director of Indigenous Environmental Network, an international alliance
of native peoples organizing against environmental destruction. “We have
ecological disaster, and that is capitalism’s doing.” Goldtooth’s
organization is also seeking to raise awareness about REDD (Reducing
Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), a United Nations
program promoted as an environmental protection strategy that Goldtooth
calls “genocidal” because it promotes solutions like carbon trading that
he says will lead to mass deaths of poor people due to environmental
catastrophe brought about by climate change. “We’ve come to a time where
there has to be a transition to something different, Goldtooth added.
“Our communities are saying we need some action now.”
Every year,
some Forum attendees must overcome travel restrictions from various
countries, and the WSF is also plagued by infighting from a sometimes
fractured left. Among the incidents reported this year, Human Rights
Watch reported that Algerian border authorities illegally barred 96
Algerian civil society activists from traveling to Tunisia. Meanwhile,
in Tunis, a group identifying themselves as Tunisian anarchists said
that they were boycotting the Forum, and appeared at the opening march,
parading in the opposite direction of the rest of the crowd.
“For
us the forum is already done. We have succeeded,” declared Hamouda
Soubhi in an interview at the close of the opening ceremony. “Tomorrow
will be problems, as there always are.”
Pictured above: 1) Maria Poblet of Grassroots Global Justice, 2) Crowd at opening ceremony, 3) Besma Khalfaoui, 4) Gilberto Gil.
Please understand, out of town guests, I want you to have a good time! But we also constantly hear local and state officials telling the nation, “Your party is real important to us! New Orleans is a place to come and have a good time!” The unspoken end to that sentence is, “no matter how much pain and suffering is still happening.”
The movers and shakers of our city seem hell-bent to attain the desired 13 million annual visitors at any cost. Do you ever get a sinking feeling that those coveted 13 million non-residents seem to matter more than the ~370,000 New Orleanians who, to date, have dug their heels in to rebuild this city? I do… and with ever increasing frequency, as the Landrieu Administration continues to march relentlessly to the beat of its own drummer.
After several years of community meetings designed to document NOPD
misconduct, several years of investigation by the U.S. Department of
Justice and more than a year of negotiations and debate about the
proposed NOPD consent decree and efforts on the part of the Landrieu
Administration to prevent the inclusion of a civilian oversight panel in
the decree, the mayor has decided that the NOPD consent decree is “not
necessary.”
You have got to be kidding me.
Mind you, this
is also after decades of murder, terrorism, robberies, corruption and
unconstitutional policing by New Orleans’ finest, including the murders
of Kim Groves, Ronald Madison, James Brissette, Henry Glover, Raymond
Robair, Adolph Grimes III, Steven Hawkins, Justin Sipp, Wendell Allen
and all the other men, women and children gunned down by the NOPD,
tangible evidence of continuing racial profiling in the Mid-City Retail
District and French Quarter and the recent attack on two Black teenagers
in the French Quarter.
This is the mayor of White Chocolate City
who has publicly described his Black critics as dysfunctional and
called the cops involved in the shooting of Earl Sipp and the killing of
Justin Sipp “heroes.”... I don’t think this mayor gets how tired people of this city are of him.
Even those who detested the mayor’s predecessor and once believed that
anyone would be better than what we had after the Great Flood of 2005
are now questioning the wisdom of making such a declaration.
Cab drivers are tired of the mayor and the way he has undermined their ability to earn a decent living.
Minority
contractors who continue to be locked out of opportunities to do
business with the City of New Orleans are not happy with the mayor.
Civil-service
workers who are being undermined by their boss at City Hall while
watching him give his inner circle six-figure salaries are certainly
tired of the mayor.
NORD referees who the city takes its time to pay are fed up with the mayor.
Residents
who pay exorbitant property taxes but see no improvement in the
infrastructure, no reduction in neighborhood blight or adequate police
protection are sick and tired of this mayor and his shenanigans.
Civil
rights groups and leaders who the mayor excluded from taking part in
annual events commemorating the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and
Juneteenth have certainly had their fill.
Elderly residents on
fixed incomes who have been forced to pay more in Sewerage & Water
Board bills and will likely be similarly fleeced by Entergy are sick of
him.
Mothers whose sons have been racially profiled by the NOPD have had enough of this mayor.
For decades, New Orleans has had one of the most corrupt and violent police forces in the world. Mayor Landrieu promised to change that, but he and his police chief have fought against change, and every step they have taken seems to have made things worse. New Orleans deserves better.
Bayou Maharajah has also been profiled on NPR’s Weekend Edition, NOLA Defender, The Vinyl District, Larry Blumenfeld’s Blu Notes, Sal Nunziato’s Burning Wood blog, Alex Rawl’s My Spilt Milk. Roger Ebert has tweeted about Bayou Maharajah twice.
When I started Coastal Women for Change, it wasn't my vision to run a nonprofit. If it had been, I would have done my research and learned how to manage one. I was thrown into this work after a devastation. I was a cosmetologist before Hurricane Katrina. I started speaking up for my community and reaching out to my neighbors when I saw how my community of East Biloxi was being left out of the recovery process (like so many predominantly Black and poor communities and neighborhoods across the Gulf Coast).
I would not change my direction or my position. I feel God has a plan for each of us. Our legacy must begin with the change we do for our community, and the whole Gulf Coast region.
Nearly eight years later, it's a struggle to keep our community work going. People are being laid off big time around here. Still, staff are being hired at other nonprofit organizations, but not in many grassroots groups with connections to the community. Funders give grants to nonprofits in Biloxi to collaborate on community work, and the collaboration sounds good on paper. But when you reach out, it stops there. People say "collaboration," but act like, "This is money for us. Let's not collaborate with them."
These collaborations are not supporting people like we need. It's about how the funders see grassroots organizations. It's about what skills are valued – community organizing is taken for granted. Organizations that have the expertise to write grants are the ones that secure the funding. These people come into the community to work. I live in the community. It's assumed grassroots organizations will do the outreach to the community without support or funding. A university gets money, and we're supposed to do all the outreach for free. That's not true collaboration.
Instead of giving more money, support, and skills to organizations that already have these resources, funding decisions and collaborations should be about sharing money, support, and skills with grassroots and community-based groups. And it takes more than a two-hour workshop on grant writing to get those technical skills. It takes relationships and partnerships based on trust and mutual respect, that develop over time.
Here are just two examples of Coastal Women for Change's work that is not supported through collaboration or big funders. We do a backpack giveaway every fall. We serve 1000 people in our community, giving away book bags and school supplies. The giveaway is also a way to assess how great the need is. We collect the names of everyone, and ask people, "What do you need to be sustainable?" We survey, call and follow-up. We build off of the giveaway – It is a way to support our community and engage people further in making changes locally.
This year for the giveaway, I reached out to other nonprofits to say, "Can we do this together? Can you help me with the fundraising effort? You can be on this committee, help me write this letter, contribute volunteers, donate some paper for the event, for example." But I just got no response. It's a dead-end. Emails don't get responded to.
Another part of CWC's day-to-day work is just doing what we can to help people in our community survive. For example, I recently wrote a reference letter to recommend a woman for a job – she was having trouble finding employment because she had been incarcerated. She told me, "I got out jail and am trying to get a job, but no one will hire me." She found employment, with the help of my letter. Those kind of those things – helping the people – are often overlooked by funders and nonprofit collaborations.
The people who live in Ward 2 in East Biloxi should know all these nonprofits and the people who work there by name. They know who I am – I live here, I walk the street here. My people are gone, displaced after Katrina, but I am visiting with new people here. I'm trying to help the ex-offenders, homeless people. People match my face with the organization, because I come to the door. I don't see the grassroots people and the faith-based people who are walking the streets getting the respect needed so the people they're seeing get served. Those people are not at the table, and need to be at the table.
I recently heard Willie Baptist, author of Pedagogy of the Poor, speak about letting poor people be their own advocates. It really spoke to me and the kind of work we strive to do at Coastal Women for Change. We are trying to sustain the people that exist here, that are making under a living wage. How do you be sustainable in a world designed to keep you down? And how are nonprofit programs supposed to help if they replicate the same problems? We're at the meetings, we're the heads of the nonprofits, but where are the people we are talking about? They should be at these meeting. I recommend you read Pedagogy of the Poor.
If one of these nonprofits with technical skills, staff, and resources, asked "Sharon, what do you need?," here's what I would say: Lend me staff for a few hours a week. I could use a couple hours a week from one of your secretaries to help with my paperwork.
Also, sit and look at what's been done, at our reports and photos. The proof is in the pictures of our work, the newspaper clippings. We had a childcare program, it ran out of funding.
Finally, reassess yourself. Revisit yourself. Ask yourself: Am I really for the people? Without the pay, would I still do it? What are my feelings towards fellow human beings? Are they my sisters and brothers? Is it genuine? How am I collaborating? Do I reach out to somebody who is doing the same thing, working in the same community? I'm not going to build houses when I know my colleagues are building housing. I am going to focus on the youth and the seniors in the houses, or on a community garden – find the piece I can do, connect the dots. It takes all of us collectively to make a whole, and preserve our future.
You have to walk the talk, not just talk the talk.
Like Rosa Parks being recognized by Congress nearly 60 years after the Montgomery Bus Boycott began, how long do we have to wait to recognize something that should have been automatic? We are not respected in a way that suggests we have overcome. It's a challenge, teaching our kids, "you have to fight, you have to fight, you have to fight." But they that see our local municipalities don't even respect us, and think, "how are we going to make a difference?" They see racism all the time in school.
If our nonprofit organizations and funders cannot manage respectful and authentic collaboration, what kind of communities and movements are we building?
The change must begin with action, not talk. Show the community you care through action.
Sharon Hanshaw is Executive Director of Coastal Women for Change, in Biloxi, Mississippi. A native of Biloxi, Sharon worked as a cosmetologist for 21 years. She got involved in community organizing and activism after Hurricane Katrina, working to make sure that community members are decision makers in the recovery process. Coastal Women for Change (CWC) focuses on women's empowerment and community development through programs for the elderly and children.
On Thursday afternoon, an Israeli soldier headlines at an event at University of New Orleans, speaking in support of Israeli military occupation and apartheid. The event was part of a tour sponsored by Stand With Us, a notorious right-wing propaganda organization. The soldier was not just racist against Arabs and a former participant in the illegal armed occupation of Palestinian land - she had previously blogged that as a student she led a campaign to "shut down" the African Studies Department at the University of Arizona and take away the tenure of the head of the department.
According to reports from the event, the room was initially full. Many wore red shirts with names of children killed by IDF soldiers taped to the front. The soldier started telling a story about a "terrorist" she caught and said "I hope none of you are wearing his name." As the video below shows, as soon as the soldier started speaking the room almost completely emptied out.
Amnesty International called on Louisiana Attorney General James Caldwell today not to appeal a federal court ruling overturning the conviction of Albert Woodfox of the ‘Angola 3’ for the second-degree murder of a prison guard in 1972. Amnesty International has raised serious human rights concerns over the case for many years.
In a ruling on Tuesday, Judge James Brady of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana found that racial discrimination lay behind the under-representation of African-Americans selected to serve as grand jury forepersons in the jurisdiction in which Woodfox, 66, who is African-American, was retried after his original conviction was overturned in 1992.
Judge Brady found that the state had failed to meet its burden “to dispel the inference of intentional discrimination” indicated by the statistical evidence covering a 13-year period from 1980 to 1993 presented by Albert Woodfox’s lawyers. The state, Judge Brady found, had failed to show “racially neutral” reasons to explain the under-representation of African-Americans selected as grand jury foreperson during this period.
Woodfox was convicted in 1973 along with a second prisoner, Herman Wallace, of the murder of Brent Miller. This conviction was overturned in 1992, but Woodfox was re-indicted by grand jury in 1993 and convicted again at a 1998 trial, and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1999. In 2008, a U.S. District Court ruled that Woodfox had been denied his right to adequate assistance of counsel during the 1998 trial and should either be retried or set free. The court also found that evidence presented by Woodfox’s lawyers of discrimination in the selection of the grand jury foreperson warranted a federal evidentiary hearing. While the State appealed the District court for a retrial – and won – yesterday’s ruling from the evidentiary hearing, once again sees the conviction overturned.
Amnesty International has repeatedly expressed concern that many legal aspects of this case are troubling: no physical evidence links Woodfox and Wallace to the murder, potentially exculpatory DNA evidence was lost by the state, and their conviction was based on questionable testimony – much of which subsequently retracted by witnesses. In recent years, evidence has emerged that the main eyewitness was bribed by prison officials into giving statements against the men. Both men have robustly denied over the years any involvement in the murder.
Woodfox has been held since his conviction over 40 years ago in solitary confinement. The extremely harsh conditions he has endured, including being confined for 23 hours a day, inadequate access to exercise, social interaction and no access to work, education, or rehabilitation have had physical and psychological consequences. Throughout his incarceration, Woodfox has been denied any meaningful review of the reasons for being kept in isolation; and records indicate that he hasn’t committed any disciplinary infractions for decades, nor, according to prison mental health records, is he a threat to himself or others. Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the authorities that both he and Wallace be removed from such conditions which the organization believes can only be described as cruel, inhuman and degrading.
"The fact that Woodfox’s conviction has been overturned again gives weight to Amnesty International's longstanding concerns that the original legal process was flawed," said Tessa Murphy, an Amnesty researcher.
