Katrina: What Went Wrong (An Alternative View)<\/b><\/p>\r\n
Author: Serf X<\/b><\/p>\r\n
Katrina revealed the unwillingness of the American Government to come to the\r\naid of America's African-Americans and poor. While I believe that everyone\r\nfrom the President down to the Director of FEMA should be charged with capital\r\nmurder in their intentional mishandling of the catastrophe, I also believe that\r\nthe people of New Orleans remained far too obedient to authority. Assuming\r\nthat every person has a right to struggle to survive, let us ask the question,\r\n\"What went wrong?\" Let us ask it anew from the perspective of\r\npersonal autonomy.<\/p>\r\n
(1) Not Enough Buses Were Stolen<\/b><\/p>\r\n
One\r\nand only one bus was stolen in New Orleans and used to evacuate citizens from\r\nthe disaster. This\r\nlone bus was stolen by Jabbar Gibson, a young man of 20 years. Jabbar Gibson\r\nshould be considered a national hero. A special day should be put aside\r\neach year, Jabbar Gibson Day, and all school children should be taught to look\r\ntowards Jabbar Gibson as a role model.<\/p>\r\n
The car-less of New Orleans failed to do the ethically correct thing and\r\nsteal each and every bus in the city. The stolen buses should have been\r\nused to collect the stranded and drive them to safety. After having stolen\r\nthe buses, should more residents wishing to leave remain, police cars and every\r\nremaining vehicle should have been stolen and used for escape.<\/p>\r\n
(2) People Waited Too Long To Loot<\/b><\/p>\r\n
It appears that most people who looted waited until they were\r\ndesperate. This does not make sense. The failure to loot early and\r\neffectively deprived many children and older people of needed food, water,\r\nclothes, and medicine. Given that those in New Orleans without sufficient\r\nincome to prepare Hurricane kits had no other option, they should have made\r\nplans in advance to steal everything they needed as soon as the shop owners left\r\ntown. Had families and groups of friends compiled lists of the items that\r\nthey would have needed and then assigned specific individuals with the task of\r\nlooting the required stores efficiently, the looting could have been done before\r\nthe storm actually hit. Food that would have gone bad due to the loss of\r\nelectricity could have been eaten first, thus saving non-perishable items for\r\nlater. The net available useful food would have been increased by\r\nefficient and early looting. Many lives may have been saved.<\/p>\r\n
(3) Not Enough People Were Armed<\/b><\/p>\r\n
If the poor of New Orleans had been armed, they could have taken out the\r\npolice blocking their escape into drier neighborhoods. They also could\r\nhave overcome the interference by FEMA and let in people wishing to bring\r\naid. In the few cases were the poor turned upon one another, a heavily\r\narmed population could have kept order itself, thereby saving some from the\r\nconsequences of storm induced chaos.<\/p>\r\n
(4) No-one Offering AID Used Force To Overcome FEMA<\/b><\/p>\r\n
Americans rushing to the area to provide aid should not have complied with\r\nFEMA's orders. FEMA should have been overcome by Americans, by force if\r\nneed be, in order to ensure that as many people as possible were rescued and\/or\r\nprovided needed aid. We can all blame ourselves for this.<\/p>\r\n
While this is a short and humble piece, I hope it sparks some thought in how\r\nto respond to future interference with our survival by the \"powers that\r\nbe\".<\/p>\r\n
<\/p>\r\n\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"More could have been done.","numcomment":3,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2005\/09\/135318.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":135564,"heading":""by nessie Tuesday, Sep. 13, 2005 at 4:08 PM"","article":"For more about forgeries on Indymedia, see:\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.sfimc.net\/news\/2002\/12\/1555696_comment.php#1692248\r\n\r\n\r\nFor more about the *effects* of forgeries on Indymedia, see:\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.sbindymedia.org\/newswire\/display\/2591\/index.php\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nFor the real nessie, click here:\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.sfbg.com\/nessie\/\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.transbay.net\/~nessie\/\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/makeashorterlink.com\/?C20E2233B\r\n","author":"this is a forgery","parent_id":135318,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-09-20 19:39:45","modified":"2005-09-20 19:39:45","fileurl":""},{"id":135586,"heading":"5 community coordination","article":"What the poor of New Orleans need is the Black Panthers. They need an organization by and for themselves. It need not be only for Black people, because there are some poor white people there too. Had they been organized, even if loosely, they could have self-mobilized to evacuate, to coordinate comandeering of goods from stores, and to seize buses.\r\n\r\nIt's the American condition that the poor are in chaos, not only during these emergencies, but also when things are going "okay". But they're really not "okay." People are atomized and disempowered, and under constant cultural, political, and personal assault by society.","author":"johnk","parent_id":135318,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-09-21 17:31:59","modified":"2005-09-21 17:31:59","fileurl":""}]}