Urban Unrest

19 April 2007 | Politics | Ernesto Aguilar

New Orleans Survivors Seek $20 Million From Venezuela

New Orleans Survivor Council turns to Venezuela for aide now with the goal of raising $6 billion from the international community to rebuild our communities and levees.

“The governments of the US have abandoned the poor and working class black people of our city. Now we must fend for ourselves. They have allowed predatory developers to take our land and won’t help us build our houses.”
Robert Richardson, survivor, homeowner, Lower Ninth Ward

“We are requesting $20 million from Venezuela to start immediately but that is just the beginning of a $6 billion international fund-raising campaign for the New Orleans Survivor Council community.”
Julie Andrews, survivor, Public Housing resident

The New Orleans Survivor Council (NOSC) has developed proposals for rebuilding New Orleans so that our city’s poor, mostly black survivors can come home and thrive. NOSC invites all poor and working class dark-skinned people to help review and improve these proposals. Once these proposals are approved, survivors will bring them to the Communal Councils and government of Venezuela for their advice and support.

Representatives of the Venezuelan government will attend the meeting and continue their role as advisors in this process.

“We are going to ask the same 47 nations that helped Pakistan with their earthquake to help us rebuild our communities and levees; every nation that helps us, we will fly their flag on that levee. The eyes of the world will be on us We are going to Venezuela, talk with our friends in the Communal Councils there, and ask the Venezuelan people to help us travel the world to get the funds to take our community back, rebuild our levees, and bring our people home.”
Robert Richardson, survivor, homeowner, Lower Ninth Ward

When: Saturday, April 21, at 11 am
Where: Old Pathway Baptist Church, 1910 Alabao Street in the Lower 9th Ward.
Transportation, Child Care, and Food will be provided

New Orleans Survivor Council
(504) 872-9591
www.peoplesorganizing.org
NewOrleansSurvivorCouncil@gmail.com

Press Release- Background Information

The New Orleans Survivor Council (NOSC) invites all survivors to participate in finalizing a proposal for rebuilding New Orleans that will be brought to the Communal Councils of Venezuela and then to the Venezuelan government for their approval and funding..

We invite all those people who were deserted by the government, those who were left to die in the Superdome and the Convention Center, those who were scattered throughout America in 44 states, those who did not receive Road Home money, who have been kept out of their public housing units, whose homes in the poor communities of New Orleans have not received funding for improvement, who did not receive insurance money, who do not have hospitals and schools for their families, the single parents, renters, the homeless, the elderly, the disabled, to come to this meeting.

We also welcome those who have more resources and professional skills but are committed to the right of the poor to be self organized and directed, those who believe in the right of those people, the poor, the displaced, to determine our own futures, those who believe in the leadership of the poor, the most affected people, to create a plan that will be effective in solving some of our most pressing problems. This meeting will be about poor, black folks coming together to direct our own futures.

We are asking the government of Venezuela for an immediate grant of $20 million to launch a 2-year $6 billion international fund raising campaign to create the conditions and facilities for displaced New Orleanians to return to the city and rebuild our lives and communities. The plan will create the infrastructure and projects that will allow us to move forward together.

The New Orleans Survivor Council has built a relationship with the Communal Councils in Venezuela, formations that function similarly to NOSC and have as their goal the full participation and empowerment of the poor folks in their communities. The proposals to be discussed at the meeting this Saturday will be brought to the Communal Councils in Venezuela for their input and political support, and then brought to the Venezuelan legislature for approval and funding. We have been meeting with representatives of the Venezuelan government over the last two months; these representatives will attend this meeting, offering their continued input and advice.

As part of our plan for rebuilding New Orleans for its poor,mostly black, displaced residents, the New Orleans Survivor Council is proposing the following:

Development Fund to manage and raise financial support for our work
Organizing Institute to train and support organizers
Sister City Project between NOSC and the Venezuelan Communal Councils
Technology Transfer Project to teach skills for running organizations
Reconstruction Project to teach construction skills and rebuild houses & apartments
Emergency Come Home Project to move people back to their public housing
units, apartments, and homes in New Orleans
Demonstration Levee that will set a standard for eventual completion of the entire
Industrial Canal Levee
Rebuilding and Re-opening of Schools
Economic Development Projects including a building supply factory, a gasoline service
station, and a clothing factory

The purpose of this meeting will be to review the proposals, hear comments on the plan, discuss additional ideas, and direct our work for the future. All people committed to bottom-up organizing, to the leadership of the poor, to the full participation and empowerment of our people, survivors who have been deserted by our government and our leaders, are encouraged to attend.

When: Saturday, April 21, 11 am-1 pm
Where: Old Pathway Baptist Church, 1910 Alabao Street in the Lower 9th Ward

Transportation, Child Care, and Transportation will be provided.

New Orleans Survivor Council
(504) 872-9591
www.peoplesorganizing.org
NewOrleansSurvivorCouncil@gmail.com

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