HELP US! PLEASE!
HELP US! PLEASE!
Mobile to New Orleans Veterans’ and Survivors’ March
“Walkin’ to New Orleansâ€
March 14-19, 2006
EVERY BOMB RELEASED OVER IRAQ EXPLODES FROM MOBILE TO NEW ORLEANS.
SURVIVORS OF THE ‘WAR AT HOME’ AND VETERANS OF WARS ABROAD ARE GOING TO JOIN HANDS IN MARCH TO WALK THROUGH THE IMPACT AREA.
WE NEED YOUR HELP TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN.
Just because we no longer see the steady stream of images on CNN of the devastation that was neglected in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita doesn’t mean the crisis has disappeared.
And just because neither CNN nor any other major media have ever highlighted the connection between an illegal war that is not projected to cost $2.65 trillion and the failure of an adequate moral, economic, and political response to Katrina, doesn’t mean a clear connection doesn’t exist.
But when veterans of the Iraq war and other foreign military adventures set off with survivors of the hurricanes on an epic trek down Gulf Coast Highway 90 and march into the heart of New Orleans on the third anniversary of the war, the ongoing crisis on the Gulf Coast and the connection that Dr. King made between the “giant triplets of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism†will be impossible to ignore.
Veterans’ for Peace (VFP), Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), and Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), at the call of the Mobile, Alabama Veterans for Peace Chapter, will conduct a 135-mile march between Mobile AL and New Orleans LA from March 14 to March 19, 2005. They will be joined by hundreds of hurricane survivors along the route.
Not only will these veterans and military families build relationships with the surviving members of communities affected by the Katrina-Rita disaster, we will demonstrate through our actions the solidarity of veterans and military families with the survivors of Katrina-Rita not simply as the acute victims of a “natural†disaster, but as predominantly African Americans who continue to suffer structural injustice in the United States. We will spotlight the similarities between the emphasis on population control instead of reconstruction in both the Gulf States and Iraq. We will the cynical social spending priorities that ignore the input and needs of survivors of the Katrina-Rita disaster in the development of plans for its aftermath, and the recruitment of poor and working class youth from these very communities to prosecute the wars of the rich abroad.
Our veterans see this as a political action, but also as a spiritual pilgrimage.
We will demand grassroots power for Gulf Coast hurricane survivors and self-determination for Iraqis. We will demand immediate, unilateral, and unconditional withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq. We will demand proper care and full benefits for all veterans returning from the war, including Depleted Uranium testing and post-traumatic stress disorder treatment. We will demand that the US government provide funds for all Katrina families to be reunited and returned to their rightful homes, and that hurricane survivors must be guaranteed the right to plan their future free from the dictates of the politicians in Washington D.C., Baton Rouge, LA, and at the local level.
But we will also demonstrate over a period of five long days what solidarity, community, and commitment look like. As we walk down that coastal highway, with the eyes of a nation fixed on us, we veterans who were ourselves instruments of the giant triplets, and who have been made witnesses as a matter of conscience, will become the conscience of the nation, in a region of the deep South where the monumental struggle to break legal American Apartheid found its most turbulent force.
The increasingly unpopular war in Iraq is part of a growing credibility gap, as is the continuing, criminally negligent, often hostile, and disastrous response to the survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This march is a reminder to the nation’s leadership, regardless of party affiliation, that the majority of this nation is now opposed to the war, and that equivocating on the war while people continue to die, and while those resources are desperately needed by the Gulf Coast of the United States, is simply not acceptable.
In 1960, the great organizer Ella Baker called together mobilized students at Shaw University in Raleigh NC for a meeting that would found the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which went on to galvanize black and white youth for the audacious and pivotal Freedom Rides through this very same region. This kind of audacity and moral clarity are exactly what is needed for regular people across the country who are alarmed at our political malaise to see that everyday people can and must put themselves back into the arena of the struggle for peace abroad and justice at home.
The march itself will consist exclusively of veterans, military families, and hurricane survivors. It is essential that we not dilute that identity; because it is the special credibility of these groups to speak to these issues and the connection between them that is our strength. Others are invited to attend the rally in New Orleans on March 19th, the third anniversary of the war.
We are asking now for your financial support to conduct this march.
To contribute: Go to IVAW and hit the “donation” button. Note that your contribution is for the “march in March.”
For more information, contact Paul Robinson of the Mobile AL Veterans for Peace… ziontrevor@yahoo.com
or contact Stan Goff… stan@feralscholar.org/blog
To coordinate fundraising events for the march, contact Anita at anita-march@usa.net
To provide media assistance or contacts, contact Virginia at rodino@riseup.net
To register as a veteran, military family member, or hurricane survivor, contact Dave at Daoudc@aol.com
Ray "titus" Sanborn:
I am surprised to find no comments here by Thursday, January
19, 2006. Perhaps the reader is left confused by the obvious error that the march will be in March 2005, according to the announcement, when in fact the march must be in March 2006.
My legs will no longer carry me on another march, nor my back or my heart sustain further, more grief than I have already borne in my life pursueing truth and justice on behalf of New Hampshire, my family and friends, and our beloved United States of America. I am qualified to join you as a Vietnam combat veteran finally in possession of service-connected disability compensation, after battling with the V.A. for 24 years, for Total and Permanent Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Therefore I am limited in direct response to your plea for help to a modest contribution of $100.00.
I have never in my life been so surprised to find such beautifully written words describing so wonderful and noble a cause. Hidden among us all of different nations, cultures and beliefs crouches a beast so vile all holy Creation writhes with pain in it’s presence. This creature’s name is ‘lies’, ‘greed’, ‘murder’, ‘war’ and ‘death’. This March carries with it a torch so bright and everlasting it will surely signal loving response from all boundries of our Universe and all Light Planes of Creation. May we all bathe in the luxury of this great opportunity to bring an end to the Luciferian Rebellion gathered so long in ancient history, cast upon us now with such great horror, and facing finally it’s last hours of existence. May all of us who face the LIGHT forever find our way to the Isle of Paradise and back again to show others the way; and may those that face away from Light quickly find their way into non-existence dissolved in the ‘Lake of Fire’
Prepare the way for a new ‘trail of tears’ for now has come ‘the great day of sorrow’. Stand firm until the end for we shall find eternal life and happiness.
EVIL WATERS a song- a sadness- a sin
____________________________________
In 2005 Katrina hit New Orleans
The FEDs blew the money so the leevees wouldn’t
hold
The waters rose higher up to the rooftops
People in their attics drowning they would die
Katrina was a level 5 and though she missed
New Orleans
Someone bombed the leevees and the people
had to flee
Rescue boats by the mile headed for New
Orleans
FEMA said “NO” and turned them away
The waters kept rising Bush kept resisting
No help would arrive till the FEDs had their
way
The world kept watching people kept drowning
On the Mississippi down in New Orleans
The National Guard in Iraq were fighting
While their families back home were left to
die
Hungry people in the Dome with no toilets or
lighting
No help would arrive till the FEDs had their
way
FEMA held the Red Cross back they started
crying
Bush wanted MARTIAL LAW but the Governor said
“NO”!
Bush called in Mercenaries so they could
run the show
The waters kept rising Bush kept resisting
No help would arrive till the FEDs had their
way
The world kept watching people kept drowning
On the Mississippi down in New Orleans
Four days passed Bush wanted power
Down in New Orleans help would not arrive
Families of New Orleans were broken and
turned sour
Forced from their homes the FEDs would
connive
We can only hope they will be compensated
After Haliburton dozes down their homes
The waters kept rising Bush kept resisting
No help would arrive till the FEDs had their
way
The world kept watching people kept drowning
On the Mississippi down in New Orleans
written by Ray”titus”Sanborn October 15, 2005
19 January 2006, 7:31 am___________
Josh Narins:
Hello Stan,
Please post something on current events in Haiti.
I (jokingly?) suggested that we swap out all the UN blue helmets in country and put you in charge.
Loved Hideous Dream.
I’m one of America’s only war strikers. I had an $4000/week job that I quit the day that this farce began.
I can’t hold out forever, though, and now I need to get a new job.
I was also in the Marine Corps for a bit.
Keep kicking butt.
22 January 2006, 8:50 amJohn:
Ironic, the destruction in new orleans is like a bomb that cryed for the blasts in Iraq… War is one of the most terrible things overall. Please keep writing
27 January 2006, 2:04 pmMatt:
I am knew to this website, and I find this project most exciting - keep up the good work.
However, I am concerned about the link to FARC-EP on this website.
Coming from an autonomist, anti-imperial, pro-indigenous perspective, I can not support the FARC given their at best very poor relations with indigenous groups in Columbia and especially in light of their killing of three North American Indigenous activists - one of whom (Ingrid) was close to several of my friends.
Why include this link?
28 January 2006, 5:02 pmEd:
What are the current membership numbers for IVAW?
30 January 2006, 5:48 pmF.S. Eugene:
This is the most brilliant idea for activisim that I have heard lately. It makes me feel some real hope for this country. I think people should send this announcement out to their lists and get everyone they know to give to help this happen. Who better to make the statement than people that actually are affected. I am some middle class white girl from Oregon without family in Iraq so when I protest it is not taken as seriously.
I just feel that this is the embodyment of what the promise of America was even if the Goverment itself does not deliver and for the most part has never delivered. Perhaps we can actully save ourselves from going the way of Germany in the 30’s. God knows the Dems are not going to do much.
We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
1 February 2006, 2:23 amDick Reilly:
Hey Stan,
Word is that march organizers are seeking contributions and endorsements. Donations to IVAW, but but how do we endorse the march?
Thanks
- Dick R., Chris G.
Dick Reilly - Chris Geovanis
8 February 2006, 1:07 amHammerhard MediaWorks
Chicago
http://www.hammerhard.org
Stan:
Donations can now go through the march web site: http://www.vetgulfmarch.org
You just endorsed it. I’m collecting the names, jobs, and locations ofindividuals… and the names and locaitons of organizations. By tomorrow at the latest, we should figure out how to hook the spreadsheet to the web site and make it so people can endorse from there.
Thanks, y’all.
8 February 2006, 8:52 ammartha moore:
I want to Thank everyone who is particapting in the March walk; my name is Martha Moore the Mother of Douglas Barber who shot and killed hisself in Alabama Jan. 16th 2006. Thank you for continuelous remembering my son and his PTSD. Has hard as this is for me my heart goes out to the thousands of returning Vets who are still dealing with the VA.
14 March 2006, 2:10 pmI have had to use all my monies to bury my son and his legal matters are far from over for me. Another trip to Ala from cincinnati isn’t far off and know that my pocket book is very low. I am very upset also with the government because all he gets is a $2.000.00 burial expense which won’t be paid back for another year. This is so unfair for our returning sons and daughters and their families having to go threw a tragic ending as I have.
Please keep fighting for your rights with the VA and always remember my beloved son.
Martha Moore
Comandante Gringo:
Lay off the FARC, Matt — your middle-class roots are showing, you know? Shit happens. Maybe more than it should AFA the FARC is concerned. But not your business.
Too bad about the U.S. indian activists. But they went into a war zone, and the outcome doesn’t give you the right to do the U.S. regime’s dirty work for them.
5 April 2006, 1:01 pmHonor their memory by not being a political putz.