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PHRF Condemns Recovery Czar Edward Blakely and Mayor Nagin; Demands
Blakely be fired immediately.<br><br>
The People's Hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF) demands that Mayor Ray Nagin
and the City Council fire Edward Blakely for his demeaning statements and
plans denying the basic rights and dignity of the people of New Orleans
and the Gulf Coast. "Blakely's statements in the New York Times
yesterday, were totally inexcusable", say's Kali Akuno, PHRF
Executive Director. "It is clear that he was brought here
merely to finish the ethnic cleansing of New Orleans by making no
provision in his plans for the Black working class majority that was and
is the heart of New Orleans". <br><br>
PHRF strongly condemns Blakely's gentrification and displacement schemes
for the redevelopment of New Orleans that only favor the developers and
corporate profiteers. We further condemn Mayor Ray Nagin and the City
Council for tolerating and approving his schemes. The privatization of
the very office and position of Edward Blakely must also be condemned.
Mayor Nagin should not have followed the footsteps of Governor Blanco and
set up a private entity to manage and contract out public funds.
These extralegal institutions and initiatives are wholly undemocratic and
nepotistic. <br><br>
Moreover Blakely slanders those of us who advocate the right to return
for all those who want to return. Blakely claims we are "using
people" for political ends. To the contrary it is the
capitalist developers that Blakely represents who are using the people,
by refusing to provide affordable housing; by refusing to open up the
public housing projects and by refusing to grant any direct aid to the
more than 50% of the New Orleans population that were renters.
These actions are in place to facilitate a grand land theft from Black
working class homeowners and to change New Orleans into a white majority
city. <br><br>
The Right of Return is a fundamental human right enshrined in several
international treaties that the United States Government is a party to.
The United States Agency of International Development (USAID) articulates
the clearest statement and support of this human right by the Federal
Government in its "Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons
Policy". Produced in October 2004 the report states, "USAID's
interest in internal displacement is driven by humanitarian and
development concerns as well as political and security
considerations" (Summary, Page V). Further it states, "USAID
advocates that IDP's should be granted the full security and protection
provided for under applicable norms of international human rights law,
international humanitarian law, and national law" (Summary Page VI).
This policy statement can be located online at
<a href="http://www.usaid.gov/">www.usaid.gov</a> (search Internally
Displaced Persons Policy). <br><br>
Edward Blakely, Mayor Ray Nagin, the New Orleans City Council, and all
the branches of Government interfacing with Katrina and Rita related
IDP's must be held accountable to the standards outlined in the
Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons Policy and the Guiding
Principles on Internal Displacement. To hold the US government
accountable to these and many other human rights laws and policies, PHRF
and a broad range of Gulf Coast community, civil, and human rights
organizations will conduct an International Tribunal on Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita August 29th – September 2nd, 2007. <br><br>
In the interests of accountability and restorative justice, we demand
that Blakely be fired immediately for his blatant disregard for the human
rights of the displaced. <br><br>
<a href="http://www.peopleshurricane.org/">www.peopleshurricane.org</a>
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To read Ed Blakely's comments see:<br><br>
</font><font face="Courier New, Courier" size=2>New York
Times</font><font size=3> <br><br>
</font><font face="Courier New, Courier" size=2>April 10,
2007</font><font size=3> <br><br>
</font><font face="Courier New, Courier" size=2>Steering New Orleans's
Recovery With a Clinical Eye <br><br>
By ADAM NOSSITER
<</font><font face="Courier New, Courier" size=2 color="#0000FF"><u>
<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/n/adam_nossiter/index.html?inline=nyt-per" eudora="autourl">
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/n/adam_nossiter/index.html?inline=nyt-per</a>
</u></font><font face="Courier New, Courier" size=2>> <br>
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