Strategies for Effective Disaster Relief

21.5 min. ~ Download iPod ~ Bandwidth Challenged
embedding options @ Revver
Tony Sferlazza is a field director working with the graqssroots relief organization, Plenty International. Plenty is a not-for-profit alternative relief and development organization founded in Tennessee in 1974.

Related Links ::: Plenty International

Stumble It!

Dissipating Dissent in the North American Union

11 min. ~ Download iPod ~ Bandwidth Challenged
embedding options here or U2B
report back from "The Peoples Summit"
after the second sunburnt day of the gulf coast's people's summit, we here in new orleans are acting like we have months left before bush comes to town, when in fact he is here enjoying the city, comforted by air conditioning and motorcades. we are already witnessing the effects of his Security & Prosperity Partnership: with the mississippi river bridge's on and off ramps blocked, I-10 was made into an express highway, directing flows of traffic and people, conveniently out of his way, inconveniencing everyone else from having access to the city.

The canal street ferry, shuttling internally displaced traffic across the mississippi river, was circled through the day by coast guard boats fully armed and ready to fire mounted machine guns, in full show of force and what bush intends to mean by 'security,' we on the docks agreed was menacing and intimidating. the imminent, historic, and nation-altering meeting about to take place between the leaders of the "free world'' is being met with little, hardly any, noticeable resistance. Due at least in part to the crippled condition of new orleans, where 3 years after the hurricanes people continue to face daily struggles to survive, with no surplus resources, time, or active community members to lend to what would likely be, in any other city in the hemisphere, an equally historic People's protest to the executive meeting.

Civilian resistance and protest to massive free trade agreements seems to be planned for more by bush than by the american public or the "progressive left", and so new orleans is the perfect backdrop for the announcement of the spp: sweeping decisions adversely affecting millions of people are met with a strangled cry, gone unheard by the rest of the nation.

"Understanding who profits and how: NAFTA + and Katrina Profiteering" was a misnomer, a vague power-analysis turned roundcircle discussion, facilitated by the people's institute for survival and beyond. The session was attended by community organizers, international public service workers union representative, mexican trade unions, activists from chiapas, american and canadian youth, citizen journalists and media activists, farmer union representative, social workers, non-profit organizations, and new orleanians, served more as the critical race theory workshop that the Peoples Institute is known for, and not as any attempt for a coordinated approach or discussion on how to challenge bush, calderon and harper at this critical moment.

ironically, at this international summit, facilitators asked that we divide ourselves into national groups to notice similarities between new orleans and wherever we were visiting from, something that would have been manifold more useful to hear from each other, as it was a rare opportunity to hear voices from across the heavily guarded borders. discussion was derailed and became about how we are gate keepers, moving further and further away from any plan of action. the 6 hours were used as an introduction to social inequality, as if people signed up to take a class on the internalization of inferiority/superiority. in fact people came to act together in the face of big brother government.

for all of our talk on giving voices to disenfranchised people around the world, taking queues from these communities, learning from eachother, creating access to decision-making, none of the mexicans who traveled the long distance were asked what they thought should happen at this summit. there was no mention of their very successful strategies for organizing resistance to destructive neo-colonial economic policies. nobody asked "what can we do now that all of our presidents are in town?" instead was the same old, painfully ineffective naval-gazing

speaking with a gentleman from mexico after the looooong winded sessions were over, he asked what the break-out group of americans discussed, and i said they were just talking and not saying much, like americans do. and he laughed, agreeing said i should have been sitting with the mexican delegation because they were discussing that very
point.

report back is OK

Related Links ::: SPP.gov, Freedom Fighter Radio, People's Summit,
more NAU coverage @ MobileBroadcastNews.org

Stumble It!

Security and Prosperity Partnership in NOLA

Going well beyond the Port of New Orleans, Security and Prosperity Partnership plans for "North American Integration" endanger port, trucking, and railroad jobs, as well as investments, incomes, and State revenues all over the country. The SPP is coming to the Big Easy, why should you care? Let's have a look...

Here's what you can expect.



Go to New Orleans and DO SOMETHING
Monday, 4/21
9am – 12pm Community Tour of New Orleans & Story Circles in Congo Square
12 – 1:30pm Opening Ceremony & Lunch in Congo Square
2pm – 5pm Understanding Who Profits & How: NAFTA+ and Katrina Profiteering
6pm – 9pm Understanding Who Profits & How: NAFTA+ and Katrina Profiteering

Tuesday, 4/22
9am – 12pm Self-organized sessions
1pm – 4pm Self-organized sessions
6pm – 9pm Breaking Inferiority & Superiority to Restore Ourselves & Our Communities

Wednesday, 4/23
10am Press Conference

NEW ORLEANS POLICE SAY THEY WILL TREAT NAU PROTEST AS A RIOT

Stumble It!

North American Union, Cintra

House Representative Marci Kaptur on Cintra's involvement with the North American Union that will give this Spanish corporation control over a massive swatch of US land. They will divide our country, literally, in 2.

Related Links ::: NAU meeting (Bush, Calderon & Harper)
April 21st & 22nd New Orleans

Stumble It!

North American Union: Right Wing Opposition

27 min 44 sec ~ Download Full Screen
When something is bad for us often people from the right AND left can agree that it is bad for us even though we will have different reasons for thinking so. This video is from The Conservative Caucus and explains why right wingers are against the North American Union. BTW the state run web site Snopes.com claims the North American Union is an URBAN LEGEND; maybe someone should tell the leaders of these 3 countries that they don't need to meet to discus it then.

You can express YOUR disagreement with the North American Union on April 21st & 22nd in New Orleans when the "3 Amigos" (Bush, Calderon & Harper) meet to discuss their plans to make our 3 countries ONE country.

Related Links ::: More Opposition Video from the Right & Left, The Conservative Caucus, Protest INFO

Stumble It!

Bio Liberty ReMix/Update

14 min. ~ Download iPod ~ Bandwidth Challenged
embedding options here or U2B
This video premiered at the New Orleans Clean Cities Conference
on Thursday, March 27th 2007. This is a trimmed down yet updated version of the Bio Liberty: Energy is Freedom video. ~ Related Links ::: Bio Liberty

Stumble It!

State of Police

This is all very recent activity.
more of this?


Officer Salvatore Rivieri


more of this?

more of this? Could This be for THIS?

Respect is something that is earned, not taken.
At what point is it acceptable to disallow their authority?

Stumble It!

Anita Roddick Advocacy Center

10.5 min. ~ Download iPod ~ Bandwidth Challenged
embedding options here or U2B
The 1st Common Ground Relief owned facility in New Orleans has been dedicated to Anita Roddick, recently deceased owner of the Body Shop and Champion of Humanitarian and Civil Rights issues world wide.

The dedication ceremony took place Saturday, next to where the barge landed in the lower 9th ward and features Malik Rahim, CoFounder of Common Ground Collective; Kone Shakur, media relations director of Common Ground Collective; The Rebirth Brass Band, The Revolution 2nd Line and Fiyaya.

Related Links ::: Common Ground Relief, Anita Roddick, Angola 3

Stumble It!

Super Fat Tuesday

2.5 min. ~ Download iPod ~ Bandwidth Challenged
embedding options here or U2BMardi Gras 2008. Vermin Supreme campaign spot for the state of Louisiana.

Related Links ::: Vermin Supreme for President '8

Stumble It!

Bio Liberty: Energy is Freedom

19 min. ~ Download iPod ~ Full Screen ~ Bandwidth Challenged ~
embed it from Revver, BlipTV or U2B ~The Bio Liberty relief / redevelopment camp in Slidell Louisiana is pioneering sustainable, off the grid, weather resistant and affordable housing solutions for the hurricane ravaged Gulf Coast region. The property itself was a landing/launching pad for numerous groups of grassroots hurricane relief workers and is now being developed as a model for Solar, Geothermal and BioDiesel powered communities.

Related Links ::: Bio Liberty, Plenty International, Common Ground Collective, Emergency Communities, H.A.W.C., Cultural Warrior, Mr. Dibbs

Stumble It!

Welcome to New Orleans

58 min. ~ Download“Welcome to New Orleans” is a 58 minute documentary about the city of New Orleans during the first year after Katrina. This film depicts ... all » the violence and racism in the impoverished American South. This is a story about the bottom-side of United States--a society that has been left to fend for itself. But more importantly, this film is about hope, in the face of overwhelming adversity. “Welcome to New Orleans” depicts the ravaged city through the eyes of Malik Rahim, a 58-year-old former member of the Black Panthers, who stayed during and after Hurricane Katrina, in order to help residents. He has become a local hero, as he has built up his grassroots organization, Common Ground Collective, over the past two years. Common Ground has served over 170,000 residents with the help of over 12,000 volunteers, who have traveled from all 50 states and 40 different countries. But there is still plenty of work to be done.

To find out more information, or to make a donation, please visit our site, CommonGroundRelief.org. Thank you.
See Also: Fluxview, USA 1st year Hurricane Aftermath Videos

Stumble It!

Fascism in New Orleans

The government is scheduled to demolish thousands of UNDAMAGED units of public housing in New Orleans. The city is in the middle of an affordable housing crisis. Rents have skyrocketed and thousands are homeless. Meanwhile these undamaged apartments have remained unoccupied since the hurricane due to the city boarding them up, fencing them off and arresting trespassers who hold legal leases.

These properties are slated to begin demolition on or after December 15th.
Press Conference 9AM \ MONDAY December 10th \ City Hall
History Lessons and Direct Action Training to follow the press conference.

Related Links ::: Justice for New Orleans, Defend New Orleans Public Housing, People Hurricane, St. Bernard Projects video, NOTV Colective Housing Videos

Stumble It!

NOmadjik Journey: The Other LA

7 min. ~ Download iPod ~ Full Screen ~ Bandwidth Challenged ~
embedding options here or U2B
The NOmadjik Media Bus finally makes it to New Orleans after a grueling cross country adventure. With assistance from our friends @ Bio Liberty and New Orleans BioDiesel Initiative the bus received some much needed upgrades. I learned a lot about Waste Vegetable Oil as Fuel and the empowering process of BioDiesel Production in the Gulf Coast Region.
~~~
The NOmadjik Media Bus is now preparing to start coverage of the Presidential Primary Selections in New Hampshire and beyond. We will be following the primaries south from New Hampshire hitting as many as possible.

We will also be attending BOTH the Democratic and Republican Conventions and Inauguration. If you'd like to visit us or join us on the road, get in touch.

Tax Deductible Donations made now will benefit the project greatly as we still need to gear up a bit and winterize.

Related Links ::: DONATE (Tax Deductible), DONATE a dollar,
New Orleans BioDiesel Initiative, Bio Liberty

Stumble It!

HANO to DEMOLISH New Orleans Public Housing

HAHO and HUD are intent on destroying over 1000 people's homes. These apartments are minimally damaged and could have easily been reinhabitated immediatly after the hurricane. However, the issue of what to do with the financially challenged people of New Orleans is at the center of the Corporate land grab intended for city.
Related Links ::: St. Bernard Projuect Update April '06, NOTV Collective Housing in New Orleans Documentaries

Stumble It!

James Circello: AWOL in NOLA

7 min. ~ Downloads ~ I-pod ~ Full Screen ~ Bandwidth Challenged ~
~ embedding options exist here ~
AWOL James Circello lays blame on BOTH parties for the Continuing Illegal War(s) @ the New Orleans O27 Protest.

Related Links ::: National Fall Out Against War. Soldier Say No, Kill Everybody, A Reasoned AWOL, Courage to Resist, AWOL in Canada

Stumble It!

There are Anarchists in New York

NO Anarchist Action: Direct Solidarity in Post Katrina Hurricane Zones

Download here | Bandwidth challenged hereThis is a compilation of 10 action related videos from the Hurricane Relief Series assembled specifically for screening at the New York Anarchist Film Festival. Other videos you might recognize will also be screening: Get That Camera!, Mandate?, Watch This! and 50 Shots an a Mule.

These films will be screened Friday between approximately 5-7 pm
@ #9 Bleecker Street (The Yippie Museum).

Saturday I will be speaking on a Josh Wolf/Free the Media panel in conjuction with the Anarchist Bookfair. The freshly squeezed Josh Wolf will be joining us via video chat from San Francisco.

BLUESTOCKINGS BOOKSTORE –
Saturday, April 14th @ 7PM -
$5 Suggested towards Josh's legal defense fund (no one will be turned
away for lack of funds)
172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington

Saturday Night GBC & the International DJ Guild will be hosting a large group of aliens planning to invade New York, please join us.

Stumble It!

H.O.P.E.- Housing Opportunities For People Everywhere ~ St Bernard Projects Update

With the support of residents, activists from Mayday NOLA established and occupied the New Day Community Center in the St Bernard Housing Developement. This has been an on going struggle with government authorities to reopen housing in New Orleans that had very little damage from the hurricane. The people who lived in these apartments have been scattered across the country when they could have easily returned within weeks of the hurricane.

People who had leases with HANO and want to join the lawsuit against HANO can sign up online at: http://publichousing.justiceforneworleans.org

Related Links ::: Justice for New Orleans, Survivors Village,
July 2006 St Bernard Housing March on The French Quarter ~ VIDEO,
April 4th 2006 St. Bernard Residents 1st attempt to force themselves back into their apartments ~ VIDEO

Stumble It!

Scavenging Your Own Home ~ Katrina Aftermath

6 minutes ~ other formats exist here
NOTV's M.Black returns to loot her former home. December 2005

Related Links ::: Post-Katrina Populist Funk, NOTV Collective

Stumble It!

50 Shots an a Mule ~ full movie ~ wide screen

50 Shots an a Mule
A documentary on protests for justice for Sean Bell & the fate of protests in general. Part one focuses on the march on December 16, 2006 and gives some context through interviews of people on the street. The second part of the film deals with the march on wall street on december 22, 2006. This part was partially shot with immersive 360 degree camera and focuses on police surveliance of demonstrators at the march.
27 minutes ~ full screen ~ right click & save
part 1 ~ part 2

Glass Bead Collective

Meanwhile Back in NOLA...
MLK Day: St. Bernard Residents Go through Barbed Wire Fence
in order to Clean Out Their Apartments ... AGAIN
New Orleans, LA (January 15, 2007) –With mops and buckets in hand, displaced residents of the St. Bernard Public Housing Project will go through the barbed wire fence surrounding their homes to clean and rehabilitate them.

On Monday, January 15, Martin Luther King Day, the residents will rally at 12:00pm at Bynum Drugs Store, 3838 St. Bernard Ave, and then enter the property to restore their homes at 12:30.

"Our homes are livable, and we are cleaning them out so that we can live in them," says Sharon Seans Jasper, a St. Bernard resident and organizer. "We will not let the city destroy them."

"The residents who will be cleaning their apartments have current leases and therefore have a legal right to enter their homes," says rally organizer Endesha
Juakali of Survivors Village. "However, the police may not honor this right. Therefore public housing residents will be evoking the spirit of Dr. King on this
Martin Luther King Day."

Last Spring these same people did the same thing... They're still trying to get back into their UNDAMAGED APARTMENTS. ... the injustice of this is rediculous.

Related Links ::: New Orleans IMC, April 4th, 2006 St. Bernard Clean Up Action, FIRE RAY KELLY, Sean Bell Vigil, Dark Star News, Todays NOLA Action Updates, Glass Bead Collective, Skeptical Brotha

Stumble It!

Police Involved in Illegal Seizure of Property

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Illegal Seizure of Files, Confidential Information at Common Ground-managed
Woodlands Apartment Complex, Algiers

New Orleans restaurant owner, Darryl Reginelli, illegally seized information
and equipment from the Woodlands Apartment Complex on the West Bank on
Wednesday morning. Complicit in this act were two NOPD officers believed to
be long-term associates of Reginelli. Complaints were made at the Public
Integrity Bureau and the District station.

Without providing a court order or any legal authority, Darryl Reginelli,
co-owner of Reginelli's pizza parlors, entered the Administrative office of
the Woodlands Apartments with the assistance of two uniformed New Orleans
Police Department officers, witnesses said. Reginelli stole multiple files,
including apartment leases, and a computer containing confidential tenant
and workforce information. The violation comes during a deeply contested
sale that pits low-income tenants against wealthy developers seeking
evictions.

"They illegally took our computers and our files and they didn't stop 'til I
came in there. I took what was in one of their hands, threw it on the floor
and the rest of them left. If it had been legal, they would have arrested
me. Again, it shows you, they knew what they were doing was illegal," said
Malik Rahim at a Woodlands Tenants meeting held Wednesday afternoon. Rahim
is a co-founder of Common Ground, the relief organization that acquired
management rights to the Woodlands in May 2006.

Reginelli and his wife, Angela, a prominent employee of Channel 6 WDSU,
previously owned the Woodlands, purchasing it in 2000 and some estimate
making millions off the property while allowing conditions to deteriorate
severely. Since taking over management in May under a gentleman's agreement,
Common Ground has provided approximately one million dollars in labor and
material improvements to the complex. While rents across the city have
skyrocketed, Common Ground management froze the rents at the Woodlands to
pre-Katrina levels, fostered a strong tenants union and ran a workers'
cooperative with paid skills training.

Throughout the past five months Reginelli made recurring promises sign a
purchase agreement with Common Ground but continually rescheduled and
cancelled appointments while seeking another buyer. "We're gonna let the
rest of the nation know what's going on," Rahim said Wednesday, referring to
the breached agreements, backdoor real estate dealings and planned mass
evictions.

Common Ground will mount an appeal to the City Council at Thursdays meeting,
and reach out to local and national organizations for support in favor of
residents' rights while pursuing appropriate legal action. "The tenants have
rights, they know their rights, and they are organized," said Soleil
Rodrigue, Legal Coordinator for Common Ground. "They will not go quietly
into the ranks of the Post-Katrina homeless."

Contact: Soleil Rodrigue, Legal Coordinator, 504-717-7324

Related Links ::: Common Ground Collective, N.O.TV Collective,
New Orleans Housing Rights Videos

Stumble It!