\r\nIn Praise of Looting\r\n\r\nBlaming Katrina's victims for not being rich\r\n\r\n<\/p>
By Harry Looter
\r\nFor Infoshop News
\r\n(news.infoshop.org)
\r\nSeptember 1, 2005\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\"The Iberville Housing Projects got pissed off because the police\r\nstarted to \"shop\" after they kicked out looters. Then they started\r\nshooting at cops. When the cops left, the looters looted everything.\r\nThere's probably not a grocery left in this city.\"
\r\nhttp:\/\/www.livejournal.com\/users\/interdictor\/\r\n\r\n<\/p>
The devastation wrought on the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina is\r\nclearly evident three days after the winds started blowing and the\r\njournalists scampered out from their hotels. Most of New Orleans is\r\nunder water. The Mississippi and Alabama coasts are obliterated. The\r\nsituation in New Orleans is dire as thousands of people struggle to\r\nsurvive and get out of the worsening toxic cesspool that the city is\r\nbecoming.\r\n\r\n<\/p>
In the midst of all of this pain and misery, the media and the\r\nauthorities have decided that the central story now is the looting and\r\n\"lawlessness\" that are taking place around the city. The poor, mostly\r\nblack, victims of Hurricane Katrina are being blamed for their response\r\nto the situation. Their logical response to having the homes and\r\nneighborhoods destroyed is understandable given that this disaster has\r\nbeen happening for a long time in their neighborhoods and lives. The\r\nongoing disaster that they are reacting to is the catastrophe known as\r\ncapitalism.\r\n\r\n<\/p>
The media knows that playing up the looting on TV plays well in Peoria.\r\nComfortable middle class white people watch the New Orleans situation on\r\nTV and resort to simplistic Christian judgments about right and wrong.\r\nSome of them understand that the \"looters\" have a moral right to take\r\nfood and medicine, but they seize on news that looters have taken guns\r\nand TVs as evidence that the looters are bad people. The authorities\r\nhelp reinforce these beliefs with their constant pontification about how\r\nlooters will be punished. This morning the authorities are further\r\ndemonizing the poor people of New Orleans by suspending rescue efforts\r\nbecause some person fired at a Coast Guard rescue worker. We all know\r\nthat if some white dude in a rich neighborhood that was under water\r\nfired at rescue workers the rescue effort would continue uninterrupted.\r\n\r\n<\/p>
What exactly is so evil about taking a package of Pampers or some cans\r\nof food from a Winn-Dixie or a Wal-Mart store? These people are trying\r\nto survive in neighborhoods that are under water, with no services of\r\nany kind. Are the rescue workers, the media, or the state dropping\r\npampers and bottled water into the flooded neighborhoods of New Orleans?\r\nAre the on-the-scene Fox News anchors putting down their microphones,\r\nrolling up their sleeves, and helping rescue people?\r\n\r\n<\/p>
The media and authorities' obsession with looting is racist, capitalist\r\nand simply inhumane. What difference does it make what people take from\r\nthe stores near their neighborhoods? They have no access to food, clean\r\nwater, diapers, medicine, shoes, liquor, cigarettes and all the things\r\nthat they need to get through this crisis. It's not like these corporate\r\ngrocery stores are going to go bankrupt because hungry people clear out\r\nan inventory that will have to be destroyed once the waters recede.\r\nPeople are \"dumpster-diving\" from stores who are insured, well\r\ncapitalized, and which will have to throw away all of their stock anyway.\r\n\r\n<\/p>
The Government Can't Help You<\/b>\r\n\r\n<\/p>
The failure of the American state to respond to this tragedy is\r\nabundantly clear at this point. In its typical fashion, the state will\r\nturn the situation into a circus before the capitalist profiteers move\r\nin. On Friday, American president George W. Bush will fly into New\r\nOrleans to perform a photo op while some residents of New Orleans are\r\nstill trapped in their attics. Many poor residents will be dying as Bush\r\nspeaks useless words about the catastrophe. The hungry and wet people\r\nwon't be fed by Bush's visit, but perhaps if he falls out of a\r\nhelicopter while surveying the damage, the residents can make a good\r\njambalaya with the presidential corpse. Meanwhile, there are reports\r\nthat Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice was laughing it up last night at\r\na production in New York City of 'Spamalot'.\r\n\r\n<\/p>
The catastrophe in New Orleans once again demonstrates the inability of\r\nthe state to take care of its subjects, especially its poorest citizens.\r\nFor all of the talk about \"homeland security\" over the past few years,\r\nvery little homeland security was available for the residents of New\r\nOrleans. There are reports now about how the government cut back on\r\nprograms that would have helped New Orleans weather this disaster. The\r\nimmediate response by rescue workers was hampered by the fact that the\r\nLouisiana National Guard is stuck in Iraq, fighting and losing an\r\nimperialist war staged by Bush and his Halliburton cronies. The\r\nevacuation plan worked for middle and upper class people with cars, but\r\napparently there was no effort to bus poor people out of the city as\r\nHurricane Katrina approached.\r\n\r\n<\/p>
If there is a silver lining in this ongoing tragedy, it involves the\r\nsmall acts of mutual aid being done by New Orleans residents for each\r\nother. This includes people rescuing people from flooded houses, people\r\nhelping move sick people to dry ground, people sharing food and\r\nmaterials with each other, and much more. In times of natural or manmade\r\ndisasters, humans have shown time and time again their ability to help\r\neach other out via mutual aid. These responses play out organically and\r\ncan't be organized by the state. In many instances, the state's efforts\r\ninterfere with this mutual aid and make situations worse. It's pretty\r\nclear in New Orleans that the state totally failed the poor residents of\r\nthe city.\r\n\r\n<\/p>
Looting is not a problem in New Orleans right now. People have a right\r\nto take what they need to survive. Even if they take things that aren't\r\nneeded for survival, those of us watching from the comfort of our dry\r\nhomes have no reason to complain about these actions. Finally, let's\r\nremember that looting is a form of wealth redistribution. When rich\r\npeople loot, they call it capitalism, good business practices, third\r\nquarter dividends, the new economy and \"giving people job.\" When your\r\nneighborhood is under water and there are no relief services in sight,\r\ntaking diapers from a Wal-Mart is not a criminal or immoral act.\r\n\r\n<\/p>
Hooray for the looters!\r\n<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"http:\/\/news.infoshop.org","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"In the midst of all of this pain and misery, the media and the authorities have decided that the central story now is the looting and "lawlessness" that are taking place around the city.","numcomment":4,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2005\/09\/134854.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":134861,"heading":"state and people","article":"\r\n
\r\nThese kids were busted, then released, because they took a mail truck to escape the city. They had to walk on foot after being released.\r\n
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\r\n"Jaabbar Gibbson, 20, sits behind the wheel of a bus he commandeered and drove himself and 80 people he picked up along the road to Houston. They were the first evacuees from Hurricane Katrina to arrive by their own vehicles hoping to find shelter at the Astrodome on Wednesday."\r\n
\r\nAllegedly, people who showed up on their own were turned away from the astrodome. What's up with that?!\r\n
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\r\n"Two men signal a rescue boat on the east side. (AP Photo)"\r\n
\r\nGreat image there. Free enterprise and insurance fail, again.\r\n
\r\n\r\nNEW ORLEANS \u2014 With thousands feared dead and the city's remaining residents told to evacuate for weeks, conditions deteriorated further in submerged New Orleans as looting spiraled out of control.\r\n
\r\n\r\nMayor Ray Nagin ordered virtually the entire police force to abandon search-and-rescue efforts and stop thieves who were becoming increasingly hostile.\r\n
\r\n\r\n"They are starting to get closer to heavily populated areas \u2014 hotels, hospitals, and we're going to stop it right now," Nagin said Wednesday.\r\n
\r\n\r\nTempers also were starting to flare. Police said a man in Hattiesburg, Miss., fatally shot his sister in the head over a bag of ice. Dozens of carjackings were reported, including a nursing home bus and a truck carrying medical supplies for a hospital. Some police officers said they had been shot at.\r\n
\r\n\r\nEven as stopping the looting became a top priority, Tenet HealthCare Corp. asked authorities late Wednesday to help evacuate a fully functioning hospital in Gretna after a supply truck carrying food, water and medical supplies was held up at gunpoint.\r\n
\r\n\r\n"There are physical threats to safety from roving bands of armed individuals with weapons who are threatening the safety of the hospital," said spokesman Steven Campanini. He estimated there were about 350 employees in the hospital and between 125 to 150 patients.\r\n
\r\nLooters used garbage cans and inflatable mattresses to float away with food, clothes, TV sets \u2014 even guns. Outside one pharmacy, thieves commandeered a forklift and used it to push up the storm shutters and break through the glass. The driver of a nursing-home bus surrendered the vehicle to thugs after being threatened. \r\n<\/i>\r\n
\r\nBoth these people, both the cops and looters, and the mayor especially, are fools. Looting food makes sense. TV sets? That's foolish. It's even stupider to try and protect the TV sets.\r\n
\r\nThe cops should be coordinating dropoffs of food into the city.","author":"@-ist","parent_id":134854,"mime_type":"text\/html","created":"2005-09-03 18:43:26","modified":"2013-11-11 00:35:20","fileurl":""},{"id":134862,"heading":"perhaps","article":"This is deliberate.\r\nEven the riectards with the badges who have forgotten their humanity as well as courrage. They don't realize this is all deliberate chaos.\r\nThe nation must be ripped to shreds in order to allow the boots on the ground. As well as the armor and firepower.","author":"Sheepdog","parent_id":134854,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-09-03 19:02:27","modified":"2005-09-03 19:02:27","fileurl":""},{"id":134889,"heading":"Ah","article":"More whimsical blathering from sheepdog.\r\n\r\nHe must be having wetdreams over this tragedy. All fantasies of his impending uprising.\r\n\r\nSilly, sad fool.","author":"fresca","parent_id":134854,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-09-04 14:18:22","modified":"2005-09-04 14:18:22","fileurl":""},{"id":135631,"heading":"deliberate","article":"Its obvious this is deliberate.\r\nAll the wars \/ the crack \/ the dieseases didn't kill the people off.\r\n\r\nNow they just send a hurricane in.\r\n\r\nAnd convieniently another is heading towards houston.\r\n\r\nCheck this out<\/a>\r\n","author":"Hire","parent_id":134854,"mime_type":"text\/html","created":"2005-09-23 05:23:31","modified":"2005-09-23 05:23:31","fileurl":""}]}