The Katrina Disaster: Two Parties, One Agenda
by Ethel Long-Scott
We all watched in shock as Hurricane Katrinas fury laid bare the poverty and desperate living conditions of so many working and poor people. We were horrified and angry at the abdication by all levels of our government of responsibility to keep safe the poor, the sick, the young, the elderly and the other vulnerable souls. If we could have broken through the fog of mis-information and mis-education we would have seen that the trapping of so many people in such desperate poverty began generations before Katrina arrived. And now that friends, neighbors, strangers, countless ordinary people, found the strength to perform thousands of acts of unsung heroism that saved so many of the people the governments didnt plan to save, we must ask the next unpleasant question saved them for what? The wrath of Hurricane Katrina, followed by the wrath of Hurricane Rita, forced 1.5 million people from New Orleans and elsewhere on the Gulf Coast to join the ranks of the growing millions who have no property, no jobs, and no permanent shelter. Because companies either will not hire them, or will not pay them living wages, they will likely never get out of poverty, no matter where they end up.
They are in that plight because global capitalism is shedding jobs, and replacing workers with computer-controlled machines all over the world. Even in China the number of jobs is shrinking, not expanding. And capitalism has no use for workers whose labor it no longer needs. In their plight we see stark evidence of the economic revolution that is producing a new class of dispossessed workers. The decisions by all levels of government to leave behind the women, the children, the old and infirm was a result of the bipartisan political revolution that is accommodating global capitalism by destroying the old social contract forged in the Franklin D. Roosevelt era. Republicans like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and the current Bush administration agree with Democrats like former President Bill Clinton on this issue. Clintons Welfare Reform and the resulting dismantling of welfare or AFDC destroyed the old safety net because it eliminated & privatized social services. Democrats are joining with Republicans to drive down the price of labor and switch to privatized read for a profit human services. This means both major parties are helping government at all levels to abandon we the people.
The Bush administration is privatizing the recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita as much as possible. The Patriot Act is silencing individual voices right and left. Frantic and uncontrolled government spending on failed policies such as the war in Iraq and President Bushs corporate health plan, coupled with tax cuts for the rich, are moving the Federal government ever deeper into deficit. The consequences are that government is planning to cut even deeper into public services, with the result that the rich will get even richer because they keep taking from the poor.
Here in California a Special November Election is the latest chapter in a steady drumbeat of attempts to shrink and privatize public services. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has put on the ballot an initiative to let him eliminate any items he doesnt like from the state budget passed by the California Legislature, even when they fund agreements reached between unions and their employers. Another of the initiatives he supports would stop California public employee unions from spending members dues on political campaigns unless each member signed a waiver to let his or her dues be used. These are just two of many attempts in California to batter down public employees and remove all impediments to rule by capital and corporations.
The loss of jobs to computerized automation has been cutting into middle class employment for some time, so what the Katrina disaster revealed about the long-term plight of the poor is the future for most of us. Consequently, as the Gulf Coast economic refugees fight to rebuild their lives in some form, our actions over the next days, months, and years become of increased significance. Now is the opportunity to build a broad new solidarity movement that proceeds from our interests as workers, and not from the interests of corporate America. To do that, we need to recognize and talk about the fact that the economic situation within our country is fundamentally different from what it was in the 20th century. Because of automation, there are no longer enough good jobs to give one to everybody who wants to get out of poverty. Corporations recognize that by continually pruning their work forces, continually pressuring workers to do more work with fewer benefits, and lower wages that more and more people will be forced into desperate poverty. We all know people who work a lot harder than Bill Gates, the worlds richest man, and only wish they had something to show for it.
We also need to recognize and talk about how both major political parties support the drive by big business to get leaner and meaner. Huge corporate contributions to political candidates and parties guarantee that neither major party has the welfare of ordinary workers very high on its agenda. They both follow a corporate agenda that worships private property and is out to destroy public welfare, public schools, public parks, public employee unions, and anything that gets in the way of privatizing all services that people need.
The imperative today is to challenge powerful corporations who are already treating the tragedies of Katrina as a giant profit center, steamrolling their privatization goals past sleeping government watchdogs, profiteering from no-bid contracts, suspending hard fought labor laws such as the Davis Bacon Act that keeps wages up, and redirecting precious resources from the public through FEMA and others. Its clear that we cannot trust our political and civic leaders to lead the discussion about what we need universal health care that works for everyone, jobs that provide people with real opportunities, protection from the kind of permanent poverty that Katrina unveiled. Those things need to inform any and all rebuilding of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. The Katrina imperative is to match our indignation, compassion, and generosity with a unified voice and actions based on the common plight we face. Now is the time that these values guide our action to push for justice and security for we the people.
