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PHRF Condemns Recovery Czar Edward Blakely and Mayor Nagin; Demands Blakely be fired immediately.

The People's Hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF) demands that Mayor Ray Nagin and the City Council fire Edward Blakely for his demeaning statements and plans denying the basic rights and dignity of the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. "Blakely's statements in the New York Times yesterday, were totally inexcusable", say's Kali Akuno, PHRF Executive Director. "It is clear that he was brought here merely to finish the ethnic cleansing of New Orleans by making no provision in his plans for the Black working class majority that was and is the heart of New Orleans".

PHRF strongly condemns Blakely's gentrification and displacement schemes for the redevelopment of New Orleans that only favor the developers and corporate profiteers. We further condemn Mayor Ray Nagin and the City Council for tolerating and approving his schemes. The privatization of the very office and position of Edward Blakely must also be condemned. Mayor Nagin should not have followed the footsteps of Governor Blanco and set up a private entity to manage and contract out public funds. These extralegal institutions and initiatives are wholly undemocratic and nepotistic.

Moreover Blakely slanders those of us who advocate the right to return for all those who want to return. Blakely claims we are "using people" for political ends. To the contrary it is the capitalist developers that Blakely represents who are using the people, by refusing to provide affordable housing; by refusing to open up the public housing projects and by refusing to grant any direct aid to the more than 50% of the New Orleans population that were renters. These actions are in place to facilitate a grand land theft from Black working class homeowners and to change New Orleans into a white majority city.

The Right of Return is a fundamental human right enshrined in several international treaties that the United States Government is a party to. The United States Agency of International Development (USAID) articulates the clearest statement and support of this human right by the Federal Government in its "Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons Policy". Produced in October 2004 the report states, "USAID's interest in internal displacement is driven by humanitarian and development concerns as well as political and security considerations" (Summary, Page V). Further it states, "USAID advocates that IDP's should be granted the full security and protection provided for under applicable norms of international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and national law" (Summary Page VI). This policy statement can be located online at www.usaid.gov (search Internally Displaced Persons Policy).

Edward Blakely, Mayor Ray Nagin, the New Orleans City Council, and all the branches of Government interfacing with Katrina and Rita related IDP's must be held accountable to the standards outlined in the Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons Policy and the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. To hold the US government accountable to these and many other human rights laws and policies, PHRF and a broad range of Gulf Coast community, civil, and human rights organizations will conduct an International Tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita August 29th – September 2nd, 2007.

In the interests of accountability and restorative justice, we demand that Blakely be fired immediately for his blatant disregard for the human rights of the displaced.

People's Hurricane Relief Fund
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To read Ed Blakely's comments see:
New York Times
April 10, 2007
Steering New Orleans's Recovery With a Clinical Eye
By ADAM NOSSITER

Labels: Development, Gulf Coast, Katrina, New Orleans, Racism, Survivors

February 15, 2007
Westlake, Louisiana
Contact: Saket Soni, (504) 881-6610

Hurricane Katrina Survivors Join Workers in Confronting Louisiana Slave Holder

Close to 100 Mexican guestworkers have been trapped for months in Westlake, Louisiana after their employer illegally confiscated their passports. Workers were recruited under false pretenses and transported to the U.S. where they have been subjected to humiliating conditions and treatment. Workers and advocates allege that the employer, a prominent business leader, has violated anti-slavery and human trafficking laws while leasing the workers to local businesses for a profit.

Already vulnerable and economically desperate in their home country, the workers were defrauded by the employer who promised steady work and fair pay in the U.S. He charged them for airfare to the U.S., and proceeded to pack them into vans across the border. He seized their passports in Mexico, ostensibly for their own safety. Despite numerous requests by the workers, this business owner has steadfastly refused to return the passports in effect holding them captive in his employ. Workers who have organized to demand their passports have faced retaliation and threats of deportation.

Hurricane Katrina survivors and African-American civil rights leaders will join the guest workers to confront the employer and take a stand against modern day slavery. The group is demanding that the employer return the workers' passports. The groups is also challenging government officials to recognize that the H-2B visa program is being used as an opportunity to subject workers to slave-like conditions across Louisiana.

In advance of the confrontation, Katrina survivors and workers have alerted the US Attorney General, US Department of Justice, US Department of Labor, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other state and local law enforcement agencies of the practices of this prominent Louisiana slaveholder

Who: Alliance of Guestworkers for Dignity

Mexican Guestworkers on H-2B Visas
Hurricane Katrina Survivors
African-American Civil Rights Leaders
New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice

New Orleans Survivor Council

What: Guestworkers & Katrina Survivors Pressure Employer to Return Passports or Face Legal Consequences

Visual: Guestworkers & Katrina Survivors Will Approach Employer Armed With Copies of Federal Anti-Slavery Statute and Handcuffs

When: February 15, 2007 at 12:30 PM

Where: 1508 S. Beglis Parkway, Sulphur, Louisiana 70663.

Labels: Gulf Coast, Immigration, Katrina, New Orleans, Survivors