Katrina survivors face evictions in March

As the March 1 deadline approaches for the eviction of thousands of Katrina evacuees from their temporary housing in different parts of the country, activists from Los Angeles to New Orleans to New York are organizing emergency protests against FEMA and other local governmental agencies on Feb. 28.

This is not the first time that the U.S. government has attempted to throw Katrina survivors, who are Black and poor in hugely disproportionate numbers, out into the streets since the hurricane tore through the Gulf Coast region last August. Eviction notices were given out nationwide during November, December and January but grassroots outrage forced the government and hotel owners to retreat from their threats in many instances.

FEMA had promised to set up thousands of decent trailers for the survivors but many of these trailers proved to be uninhabitable for human beings. In addition, in some of Louisiana’s mainly white parishes the racist establishment refused to allow temporary housing to be located on vacant lands, effectively barring Black people from living there.

In early February, over 4,000 Katrina survivors, mainly in New Orleans, were evicted. Many were arrested for either trying to find shelter in abandoned buildings or for being outright homeless. As many as 20,000 more evacuees are facing eviction on March 1 unless mass action is taken.

The mainstream media has paid next to little attention to this crisis compared to the major focus they have given to the annual Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans, which began during the middle of February and will cost millions of dollars. The last official day for Mardi Gras is Feb. 28.

In New York, the Katrina Solidarity Committee and its allies have called for a Feb. 28 demonstration at Federal Plaza from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. The committee points out that FEMA and the Bush admini stration are mandated by the Staf ford Act to provide housing for disaster victims for 18 months; that their attempt to cut off transitional housing and rental assis tance is illegal and criminal; that Katrina/Rita evacuees should be granted an indefinite extension in federal, state and local housing assistance until such time as they obtain affordable and adequate housing; and that priority must be given to immediate funding and implementation of a national public works job program for the residents of the Gulf Coast region, survivors and the unemployed nationwide.

The criminal treatment of the Katrina survivors on the part of various arms of the U.S. government should be viewed as a human rights violation under international law. The March 18-19 worldwide protests marking the third anniversary of the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq have an obligation to raise as a major demand that the billions of dollars being spent for this criminal war go instead to help fulfill the right of return for the Katrina survivors.

Just recently, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced a $75 million covert operation to try to destabilize Iran. Instead of using taxpayers’ dollars to violate a country’s sovereignty, shouldn’t this money be spent to alleviate the mass suffering of poor and working people like the Katrina survivors?