Jay Arena: The War at Home

[Guest guest]

Of the many producers of poverty in the Land of the Free, none wounds the poor

more than the minimum wage. It is one of the illusions manipulated to fool the

masses that there is a smidgeon of fairness in our economic system. There is no

maximum wage, which is the real problem.

 

Asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton remarked, " Because that's where the

money is. " When the income tax began, only the rich paid taxes. The super rich

and corporations pay a smaller percentage in taxes now, in terms of actual

dollars paid, than since income taxes began, although that is where the money

is.

 

The minimum wage would be a good idea if it provided a living wage. Today more

Americans make the minimum wage than since it began. But the current $5.15 per

hour would equate to an inflation adjusted wage of $9.12, for a drop of 44% in

value since 1968. Members of Congress insist their own bloated pay be increased

to keep up with inflation. They do not, obviously, represent the working class.

They represent the transnational investors who finance their political

campaigns.

 

Many members of Congress scream that jobs would be lost if the minimum wage were

increased, an outright lie. Although a few tightwad employers might let

employees go if they had to pay anything near fair wages, a minimum wage

increase would create millions of jobs, past experience tells us.

 

When the rich get more money they tend, these days, to invest it in China or

other places where slave labor brings the most profit. That does nothing for

our economy, in fact, in the long run it hurts it, owing to the leaking of

dollars due to the resulting trade deficit.

 

But when the poor get a raise, our economy booms. Every penny goes immediately

back into the economy. This creates a need for more workers. This raises the

market value of workers, which can mean they must be hired at fairer wages owing

to their decreased numbers. Ahh, this is the real reason those in power,

serving greed as they do, do not want to raise the minimum wage. The cost of

labor goes up when the minimum wage goes up, not just for the working poor, but

for workers in general.

 

In corporate media you can disparage the poor by blaming them for not saving for

retirement, but you cannot ask why their wages aren't increased to a point where

savings are possible. When your child has a toothache, retirement savings are

not a high priority.

 

Corporate media and their masters prefer the current system, which is to

manipulate the economy in many ways to wrench every crust of bread from the

hands of starving children so that the disparity in wealth explodes into a chasm

beyond those found in third world countries. Misinformation is all Americans are

allowed to see on the subject, for fear of an outbreak of democracy.

 

A part of the plan in recent years is to privatize the schools, so that profit

becomes more important than education. This augurs the same fate for education

as that to which the medical care system has fallen, with its privatized

hospitals, golden pills, and stingy with care HMO's. Books and teacher salaries

will have to be cut in order to dig out more profit.

 

When disasters occur, such as that of New Orleans, the plan of those in power is

always to find ways to exploit it on behalf of those who finance our elections,

the transnational investors and their corporations. First, vultures like

Halliburton are loosed to pick the carcass. We find Katrina, enabled by a

system of greed, is still attacking the poor of New Orleans --Jack

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The War At Home:

 

 

New Orleans, Public Housing, and the " Chilean Option "

 

 

by Jay Arena

 

 

 

The U.S. military, in its' desperate attempt to crush the growing armed Iraqi

resistance, is employing what Pentagon strategists call the " Salvador option " .

To terrorize the Iraqi people into submission the U.S. is funding, training,

directing, and sometimes staffing, death squads--as was done during the brutal

counter-insurgency campaign in Central America in the 1980s. The U.S.

imperialist state is betting that this strategy of terror will effectively beat

the Iraqis into submission, thus guaranteeing control of the oil and allowing

U.S. forces to be unleashed in new wars of pillage from Damascus, to Tehran, to

Caracas.

 

This war abroad, as some sections of the U.S. anti-war movement have argued,

cannot be seen in isolation from the war at home. The brutal colonial war in

Iraq is but the flip slide of the war at home against workers, immigrants, and

other oppressed people. Indeed, New Orleans, and the whole Gulf coast, has

become the latest front in this domestic conflict. Grass Roots activists in the

region argue that the Bush-led regime, with support from the Democrats, are

using hurricane Katrina to deepen and expand the racist and anti-working class

neoliberal offensive of privatization, austerity, and attacks on civil

liberties. In short, the U.S. government is coupling its' Salvador option abroad

with a " Chilean option " at home. Just as the U.S. and Latin American ruling

classes used Pinochet's Chile as a template for the rest of Latin America, the

Bush regime wants to " shock and awe " the U.S. working class by rapidly creating

a neoliberal wonderland in New Orleans to be exported across the

country. This article documents the neoliberal offensive in New Orleans, with a

particular emphasis on public housing, both before Katrina and during its'

post-disaster intensification. I conclude by highlighting how grass roots

movements are challenging this agenda and showing that another anti-racist,

pro-working class world, is possible.

 

 

The Bi-Partisan Neoliberal Assault on Public Housing

 

In the early 1980s New Orleans had over 14,000 public housing apartments that

was home to over 60,000 people, almost all African Americans. The response of

the local and national authorities to tenant demands for improved public housing

and services was to destroy it and displace families. Local Democratic Party

elected officials, such as former Mayors Sidney Barthelemy (now director of

governmental affairs for the New Orleans-based real estate outfit HRI) and Marc

Morial (now head of the National Urban League), helped lead the charge. Working

closely with the Republican and Democratic Bush (I), Clinton, and Bush (II),

administrations, and acceding to the demands of white controlled real estate and

tourist interests, these Black Democrats cut the public housing stock by over

half, from 14,000 to approximately 6,000 apartments during the 1990's and early

00's.

 

 

Ethnic and Class Cleansing: The Case of the St. Thomas Housing Development

 

The location of the pre-hurricane demolished housing developments is important

for understanding the destruction Katrina heaped on poor families. For example,

the now-destroyed St. Thomas development, which at one time had been home to

over 1,500 Black, and some white, working class families, was located along the

riverfront, where flooding did not occur or quickly receded. In the late 1990s,

after a decade long effort, local and federal officials demolished the St.

Thomas development. The political leaders, along with bought-off community

activists, dutifully responded to the demands of real estate and tourist

interests who saw this working class Black community as being " in the way " of

" growing " tourism. Due to the gentrification that followed in the neighborhoods

surrounding the St. Thomas, even more working class families were driven from

the area. Many of the displaced residents were pushed out to New Orleans East

or the Lower 9th ward, where flooding was extensive.

 

In contrast to the misery faced by most of the former Black working class

residents removed from the area, influential white businessmen prospered. For

example, real estate tycoons like Pres Kabacoff and Joe Canizaro--both of whom

Mayor Ray Nagin has appointed to the Rebuild New Orleans Commission--made

millions through the ethnic and class cleansing of the area. In addition,

community activist Barbara Major, a close associate of Joseph Canizaro who

helped facilitate and legitimate St. Thomas's destruction, has been awarded for

her services my being named co-chair of the Commission by Nagin.

 

In contrast to the " winners, " only a handful of residents have been able to

return to the renamed, privatized, " River Gardens " development, which is being

built on the 60-acre site of the old St. Thomas. In fact, the new development,

partly financed through the Clinton administration's so-called HOPE VI grant

designed to " reform " public housing, has now become a subsidized housing

development for, mainly, the upwardly mobile. In addition to the HOPE VI

funding, sales and property tax proceeds from a nearby, newly constructed

Wal-Mart--another beneficiary of the project--are being used to subsidize the

developer and the wealthy residents.

 

The " public-private partnership " that oversaw the St Thomas " redevelopment " was

clearly a disaster for the poorest segments of New Orleans Black working class.

Nonetheless, federal, state and local governments are using the St. Thomas as a

" role model " for " redoing " the remaining public housing developments. In fact

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary Alphonse Jackson, who infamously

stated, in the wake of the hurricane that New Orleans is " not going to be as

black as it was for a long time, if ever again " , unveiled this plan during a

visit in early November to the city. Surrounded by supportive local elected

officials, he exclaimed: " St. Thomas [will] be the model " for further

reconstruction of the remaining development in New Orleans. The result will be,

if Jackson has his way, the further gutting of the remaining 6,000 to 7,000

public housing apartments in the name of " reinventing " public housing and

" de-concentrating poverty " . It seems that Alphonse Jackson shares the

same sentiments expressed by Baton Rouge congressmen Richard Baker, who crowed

following Katrina: " We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We

couldn't do it, but God did. "

 

What will happen to the residents at these former developments, you might ask?

Well, HUD secretary Jackson reassured people that " We will be involved…If they

want to go back home, we will do everything in our power to make sure they are

comfortable. " Yet, he added that most people, after staying away for over six

months, will not want to come back. Adonis Expose, communications director of

the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) concurred, having concluded earlier

" the reality is, if they're doing better where they are, they're probably not

coming back. " HUD and HANO are helping make that " reality " , that is helping

guarantee people will stay away, by refusing to provide alternative housing in

the city in the interim while developments are reconstructed, albeit in vastly

reduced numbers. In fact, in a further attempt to keep Black public housing

residents away, HANO awarded a no-bid contract to Vacant Property Security, Inc.

to place steel doors on apartments so residents cannot

even return to retrieve their belongings. The message being sent by government

officials to public housing tenants, as well as the Lower 9th ward homeowners

not able to even view their homes, is clear: you are not welcome in the city of

New Orleans.

 

 

Iberville Housing Development: Katrina as Pretext for Seizing Prime Real Estate

 

The policy of refusing re-entry to homes is particularly criminal in the case of

the Iberville housing development, where floodwaters did not enter apartments.

HANO is not allowing the over 600 Black working class families that resided at

Iberville, which sits next to the French Quarter, from moving back into their

homes. The official explanation is that soil and other environmental tests must

first be undertaken to guarantee safety--yet this " concern " is only raised with

regard to public housing residents. No timetable is given for when tests will be

completed.

 

Timothy Ryan, a pro-business economist and University of New Orleans chancellor,

in another brief instance of public candidness by local elites, pointed to the

real motives behind blocking re-entry of Black working class families to the

development: " [iberville] has retarded French Quarter development for 30 years " ,

he bemoaned [NB: Housing authority officials began desegregation of the-then all

white development beginning only in 1965]. The good professor proffered " taking

Iberville and mak[ing] it a retirement community " as a " solution " to the (Black

working class) " problem. "

 

 

More Neoliberal Air Strikes Launched Against Education, Health, Civil Liberties

 

The over 60,000 students that attended New Orleans public schools before Katrina

came primarily from Black working class families. As with public housing, public

education had faced a barrage of attacks from business and government officials.

For example, over the last several years the New Orleans school board have

instituted rules--such as not posting important agenda items until just before

meetings start-- to make it much more difficult for parents and other members of

the public to give input at school board meetings. To further stifle debate, the

local press and school board members, such as James Fahrenholz, have vilified

courageous local activists, such as Assata Olugbala, who consistently speak out

at board meetings. In addition, semi-privatized charter schools, often with

pressure from the state department of education, have been imposed. Finally,

this summer the State legislature and Board of Education, along with local

school board " reformers " , hired a private management

" turnaround " firm, Alvarez & Marsal, to manage the district. This outfit was

previously used in St. Louis to carry out draconian cuts and privatize services.

 

Under cover of the disaster, Alvarez and Marsal, with full support from local

and state officials, are systematically dismantling the school system. First to

go were teachers and support staff, who were all laid-off indefinitely, and

their union contracts ripped up. Next, local and state school officials

announced that schools opened on the non-flooded west bank of New Orleans would

re-emerge as semi-privatized charter schools. The federal department of

education helped the effort by providing $20 million to open 13 west bank New

Orleans schools, but only if they were opened as charters. To speed up the

charter conversion, State officials intervened and " waived " democratic

procedures, such as the requirement that parents and staff must approve a school

becoming a charter. Like Geneva conventions rules in another context, democratic

rights get in the way of " reform " and " progress. "

 

On the east bank of New Orleans most of the schools are not even opening for the

school year--a further way to keep working class families away from the city.

The handful of schools to open on the east bank will also be converted to

charters and these disproportionally serve white and middle class students, such

as Lusher, located next to Tulane University, and Ben Franklin, located on the

University of New Orleans campus. In a final coup de grace to public schools and

local (Black) control over them, Governor Kathleen Blanco is pushing a plan,

which the legislature is expected to support, to allow the State to take over

104--out of a total of 117-- city schools designated as " failing. " The State

will then have the power to turn them over to private foundations or businesses,

or, as may be the case for many schools, refuse to reopen them at all.

 

The same pattern of using the hurricane to deepen the neoliberal agenda is

evident in the health care arena. Since taking office two years ago Governor

Blanco has decimated the public Charity hospital system budget, partly by

allowing private nursing homes and hospitals to raid the state's Medicaid

allotment. As a result, the state closed or reduced vital services, such as the

walk-in clinics, over the last several years. Now, State officials plan to

permanently close New Orleans Charity Hospital, built by Huey Long in the 1930s

and the main provider of health care to the uninsured. The pretext is the damage

it received during the hurricane. Just as with schools and public housing,

working class people, with Black workers being the most immediately affected,

are rapidly seeing the neoliberal agenda intensify from simply cutbacks, to

privatization and elimination of vital public services.

 

To manage the discontent these cuts inevitably generate the government is

beefing up its repressive forces. Wherever working class people go for help in

the New Orleans area--from the offices of FEMA, to unemployment insurance, to

food stamps-- they are greeted by intimidating, heavily armed National Guard

troops and the ever-present private, Blackwater security forces. As Mike

Howells, a New Orleans " hold out " and activist explained, " the message to

working class people is clear when you enter these facilities: don't dare

challenge authorities or we will be in your face. " In addition, the Blackwater

forces have also joined National Guard troops in patrolling streets and

intimidating local residents. In sum, like the " reforms " instituted in the

social service sector, the Bush regime, with either open support or acquiescence

from Democrats, is using the hurricane to undermine Posse Comitatus, and other

controls on the use of the military domestically.

 

 

Join the Working Class Fightback!: New Orleans Convergence, MLK Day 2006

 

The racist, anti-working class agenda being pursed by the ruling class is not

going unchallenged. Local social justice activists, some of whom have the spent

decades on the front lines in New Orleans fighting for economic justice and

social equality are currently involved in ongoing struggles in the Greater New

Orleans area to stop unfair evictions, reopen public housing, schools, and

secure alternative housing for storm victims. They recognize that it will take

a national movement to stop the post-Katrina offensive against affordable

housing, public healthcare, public education and police repression now besieging

the community. Yet, they also realize that this struggle must incorporate the

people of New Orleans here and currently in exile.

 

In contrast to the neoliberal agenda, activists in New Orleans-based grassroots

groups, such as the anti-war, pro-public housing group C3/ Hands Off Iberville,

are proposing a pro-working class, anti-racist reconstruction plan that demands:

 

" No to ethnic and class cleansing-a pro-worker and African-American friendly

environment, affordable public and private housing, universal healthcare, a mass

public works rebuilding program that pays a living wage, an end to police

brutality in our community.

" We call for financing this through, one, taxing the oil companies---$1 tax for

every $1 price increase since the run up the Iraq war. Two, immediate withdrawal

from Iraq-money to rebuild the U.S,, no money to destroy Iraq.

 

These activists, argue that " the utter failure of all levels of government to

look after the most basic needs of the working class and the African-Americans

of the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina demonstrates that we must

organize ourselves in a mass movement to defend our interests. " To fight for

this agenda local activists are inviting supporters from across country and

world to converge on New Orleans for the " Martin Luther King Day March To

Rebuild The Gulf Coast And The World! On January 16, 2005. "

 

For more information on how you an support this effort call C3/Hands Off

Iberville representative Mike Howells at 504-587-0080 or the author, Jay Arena

at 504-520-9521 or email him at jarena.

 

Jay Arena is PhD student in the Department of Sociology at Tulane University. He

is also a long time community and labor activist in New Orleans, and an active

member of the anti-war, pro-public housing group C3/Hands Off Iberville.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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