Atlanta caravan protests broad array of issues

On Jan. 26, the streets of downtown Atlanta were the backdrop for a creative “march on wheels” as decorated flatbed trucks filled with chanting, drum-beating, sign-waving people of all ages and various communities across Georgia brought a message of struggle against poverty, racism, war and injustice. The eight-mile route encompassed sites of ruling-class power and popular opposition.

Led by a horse and buggy and filled out with buses, vans, cars and bicycles, the “people’s resistance” parade traveled by the Atlanta Detention Center, where shouts of “Tear down the walls!” filled the chilly air; passed by Grady Hospital, whose mission to care for the poor and underinsured is being subverted by privatization; and rolled by high-rise, superexpensive condominium buildings, chanting “Money for housing, not for war!” to onlooking construction workers.

As the caravan came to the Atlanta Housing Authority building, public housing tenants, homeless families and their advocates joined in with a decorated bus. The Task Force for the Homeless had held a “reverse eviction,” piling mattresses, furniture and other household goods on the lawn of the building and tacking a notice on the door denouncing the actions of the AHA to destroy public housing projects throughout Atlanta despite the woeful lack of affordable housing for low-income families.

Approaching the Georgia State Capitol, reproductive justice activists welcomed the caravan riders with the sound of pounding drums and exuberant cheers. Giant ballots were brought onto the Capitol Plaza where the hundreds of participants spray painted handprints to signify their support for health care for all, living wages, affordable housing, equality, immigrant rights, peace and environmental justice, among other demands.

This dynamic expression was organized by a broad coalition initiated by Georgia Citizens Coalition on Hunger and the Up and Out of Poverty Now! Coalition, which for 28 years has organized a Poor People’s Day at the Capitol to give voice to the issues impacting poor and working people in Georgia.

In recognition of Atlanta’s role in hosting the first U.S. Social Forum in 2007 and in response to the World Social Forum call for a Global Day of Action Against Injustice on Jan. 26, the Poor People’s Movement Caravan and Assembly was the result of a collective effort months in the planning. The organizers also noted that 2008 is the 40th anniversary of the Poor People’s March for economic justice in Washington, D.C., that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was leading when he was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

The day ended with a People’s Assembly where antiwar activists, public housing tenants, high school and college students, unemployed and low-wage workers, union members, Grady Hospital patients and staff, children, community organizers, religious leaders, advocates for women’s, lesbian, gay, bi, trans and immigrant rights, and many other elements of the progressive movement came together to discuss strategy and plan joint actions.