Washington, DC – On the morning of Saturday, June 18, thousands of people poured into the streets in front of the United States Capitol to participate in the Poor People’s Campaign (PPC) political action. They are demanding justice and redressal for millions of people in the United States facing poverty and deplorable living conditions under U.S. capitalism.

“54 years ago my father launched the Poor People’s Campaign to revolutionize the economic landscape of our nation. Unfortunately, Dr. King did not live long enough to see it come to fruition. However, on June 19, 1968, my mother Coretta Scott King was here in the nation’s capital to deliver a very powerful message on poverty,” said Reverend Dr. Bernice A. King, “She made the appeal that poverty is not only a longstanding evil of this nation, but an actual act of violence against the dignity, livelihood and humanity of its citizens.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of thousands died from curable diseases each year, due to poor access to health care. The pandemic only exacerbated these conditions, especially for African-Americans, Native Americans, Chicanos, Mexicanos and Latinos and other oppressed nationalities. Over a million people have died. It is why so many people from different cross sections of society – those in health care, peace activists, socialist organizations, and labor organizers, joined in coalition with the PPC to denounce the conditions capitalism puts workers and their families in, especially during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Such is the time now for a mass moral meeting in the streets,” said Dr. Reverend Barber of the PPC. “We can’t be silent anymore.” He added, “This is a movement until children are protected, until sick folk are healed, until low-wage workers are paid, until immigrants are treated fairly, until affordable housing is provided, until the atmosphere, the land, and the water are protected.”

The PPC has also announced another mass mobilization in Washington, DC scheduled for September 2022. The PPC plans to join 5000 poor and working class people and religious leaders with 100 economists in a “nonviolent moral direction action.”

The rally took place commemorated the 50-plus years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. founded the PPC in 1967, shortly before his assassination in 1968.

#WashingtonDC #DC #PoorPeoplesMovements #PoorPeoplesCampaign

Tallahassee, FL – On April 30, Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) hosted a panel discussing Tallahassee’s current city budget and the need for a People’s Budget. The panel was put on at The Bark, a local vegan restaurant in the All Saints neighborhood, and was co-sponsored by the Tallahassee chapters of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

“It’s super important that we let the city know that we’re not just going to be silent in the face of rising rent and inflation and unemployment. In general, it’s really important for people to know that they can make a difference,” said Regina Joseph, president of TCAC and district organizer for FRSO.

The panelists highlighted how the current city budget does not allocate enough resources to take care of the everyday needs of Tallahassee residents, but instead funnels more and more money to the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) with each passing year. For the 2022 fiscal year, TPD received just over $64 million, which equates to roughly 37% of the city’s general fund. TCAC demands that the city reallocate the funding for community support and stop using other city and county funding for TPD.

With the high correlation between poverty and increased crime rates, if the city really wanted to address crime, they would redirect money away from TPD and put it towards solutions proven to reduce both poverty and crime, such as reliable access to affordable housing and public healthcare options. Instead, that money is used to further militarize a police force with things like night vision goggles, urban assault vehicles and a new helicopter.

“The city commission would rather let developers build more student housing and more studio apartments instead of actually allocating money towards housing that working people can afford,” said Isabela Casanova, one of the panelists and a member of SDS.

Casanova added, “The truth of the matter is that people need a place to sleep, and people need a place to call home – to not put affordable housing on their agenda or even on the radar is pretty sad. Working-class people need a cap on rent and to be actually able to afford the houses they are living in.”

Tallahassee’s desperate need for a People’s Budget further reinforces the demand from Tallahassee activists for a Civilian Police Accountability Council, which would put the power of police and their spending in the hands of the city’s residents. If each year TPD is rewarded for their inability to keep Tallahassee residents safe with a larger budget, there will never be an incentive for them to change, so it’s time to take that decision away from the city and give it to the people most affected.

Jordan Scott, the organizing chair for Graduates Assistants United, a union for grad students on FSU’s campus, stated, “The people’s budget gives the ability to seize those resources – that we pay anyway, through taxes- and give it back to things we need, like public transportation. We know that working-class people are the people that make this city.”

#TallahasseeFL #PoorPeoplesMovements #InJusticeSystem #HousingStruggles #StudentsForADemocraticSocietySDS #PeoplesBudget #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC

New Orleans, LA – On August 29, at 11:55 a.m., Hurricane Ida made landfall on the Louisiana coast. The storm arrived on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Like then, working class, Black, and indigenous Louisianans are least able to evacuate and suffer the most damages.

Storm surges reached up to 16 feet. Affected parishes include Lake Charles, an industrial city that already suffered from Hurricane Laura last year.

The poorest neighborhoods of the coastline are predominantly Black and indigenous. Many more of their residents had no choice but to stay, compared to wealthier and whiter areas. All suffer from dilapidating infrastructure. Even before landfall, thousands of Louisianans lost power.

Dorothy Williams, a Black evacuee and retired housekeeper, told Fight Back!, “I have a niece and nephew that stayed for financial and transportation reasons. We almost didn’t make it either.” Williams’ niece is a healthcare worker.

For Black workers who could leave, many will likely face unemployment and discrimination when they return. Tulane University sociologists James R. Elliott and Jeremy Pais found that that Black workers were seven times more likely to have lost their job after Katrina than white ones.

Meanwhile, corporations selling basic necessities took advantage to increase their bottom lines.

Williams remembered that a friend of hers “figured that their rooms went for double the price.”

Charlette Becnel, a retired flight attendant and journalist who evacuated from New Orleans, said: “Before I had left, on Wednesday night, gas was $2.48 a gallon. The day everyone evacuated, gas went from $2.62 that morning to $2.98.”

She noticed that prices even went up for food and other basic necessities that stores already had in stock. Becnel pointed out that her motel is “not a five-star place. Prices here are what five stars would’ve been before.”

Louisiana is also among the states that suffered the worst outbreaks of the COVID-19 Delta variant. The state’s ICU units were almost full before the storm, and at least one Thibodeaux city hospital has already lost power. The hurricane will probably trigger another spike in cases. All Baton Rouge city hospitals are in the southern white areas.

Southeast Louisiana’s mutual aid organizations are making preparations for relief efforts. Time will tell if federal, state and parish governments will do the same.

This is a developing story. Fight Back! will provide ongoing reports from the ground.

#NewOrleansLA #CapitalismAndEconomy #PoorPeoplesMovements #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #IndigenousPeoples #hurricane #EnvironmentalJustice #Antiracism #HurricaneIda

En los Estados Unidos, las capitalistas monopólicos y sus políticos han tratado de reemplazar el día de los trabajadores internacional con algo que se llamó “Labor Day” en el mes de Septiembre. Era un a intervención a robar el impulso revolucionario del Primero de Mayo con algo más flojo, más débil del sentimiento original. Pero, en 2006, con las marchas masivas de tantos inmigrantes a celebrar el Primero de Mayo, otra vez inicio el día como su legado alrededor del mundo.

Trabajadores alrededor del mundo han continuado luchando en la cara de una pandemia mundial. La clase élite ha hecho bien claro que valoran sus ganancias más que las vidas de la clase obrera. Específicamente, cuando veamos en las comunidades de los Afro-Americanos, los Latinos y Chicanos, y la gente Indigena quien sufrir los peores efectos de la pandemia. Los Americanos Asiáticos han recibido una ola de violencia racista, como los dos administraciones han levantado las tensiones con la República del Pueblo China. La situación en los Estados Unidos demarca una contrasto bien claro en vez de los otros países socialistas como Cuba donde han ayudado mucho su población durante tiempos duros en la pandemia.

Algunos cheques estímulos durante los 12 meses en pasado no son suficientes para cobrar todas los problemas de finanzas por las familias luchando en los E.E.U.U. Los educadores sigan luchando con sus administradores y los políticos con la salud y seguridad en nuestras escuelas. Los estudiantes en las universidades están luchando contra las administraciones que los han maltratado injustamente. Hay tantas personas deberían haber sido los primeros en recibir la vacuna pero tienen esperar porque el capitalismo es un sistema fracasado y no nos sirve nuestras interesas.

El Primero de Mayo es la hora de planear las batallas que vienen como hacemos el análisis y reflejamos lo que está pasando ahora. Debemos ganar justicia por el George Floyd con cualquier métodos necesarios y para todas las víctimas de los crímenes de la policía. Debemos luchar para parar el maltratamiento de todos los migrantes y refugiados que lleguen a la frontera, y tenemos que cerrar todos los centros de detención donde ocurren tantos abusos. Debemos apoyar los sectores de la clase obrera que están organizándose por condiciones mejores, especialmente los trabajadores de Amazon en Alabama confrontando una represión masiva de los patrones y el estado en su lucha por la elección por su sindicato. Por cada y todas las causas, debemos redoblar nuestros esfuerzos a organizarnos y seguir luchando por una agenda popular que se pone los necesidades de los muchos primero.

El capitalismo está muriendo y luchando contra sus últimas piernas y sus debilidad se muestra más y más con el tiempo. Los atentados de la clase élite se ponen más desesperados como con cada abertura en sus sistema viene más resistencia a sus modos viejos y brutales. En cada parte del mundo podemos ver la evidencia que tantos trabajadores siguen batallando en muchos frentes. Después el asesino de George Floyd hemos visto una gran rebelión de millones en movimiento llevando el país al punto de cambio. La historia está en el lado de la clase obrera y los oprimidos de todo el mundo. Cuando el poder económico y político está en las manos de la clase obrera podemos empezar a proveer por el pueblo. Aprovechar el tiempo – vamos a revitalizar nuestros esfuerzos a ganar un mundo mejor para todos y todas por derrotando el sistema que no nos deja hacerlo.

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #ImmigrantRights #