Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Letter from Carl Dix: Support Carl Dix and Clyde Young's Trip to Gulf Coast Area




September 14, 2005

Dear friend,

I have embarked on a very important trip, along with Clyde Young – another of the comrades in the "Revolutionary Communist 4 Speaking Tour" currently underway. Clyde and I are going to the Gulf Coast areas of Louisiana and Texas that were devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The situation there continues to be very critical. New Orleans and other areas are under military occupation – nothing can be done without the okay of the military or the police. People are being stopped from providing desperately needed food, water and other forms of relief if they don't have approval from the authorities. And the authorities and their mouthpieces in media continue to
demonize people as "looters" and "thugs" when they take things into their own hands to get what they and others need to survive.

Clyde and I will take the message of the statement: "New Orleans: A Call To Resist!" to the people who were and are in the eye of the storm--that it was the Bush regime's criminal actions (and inaction) that is responsible for the death and suffering people have endured in the wake of Katrina. As the statement says, “New Orleans is an extreme example of what the Bush regime has meant for Black people in this country. This can't be tolerated any longer.”

"New Orleans: A Call to Resist!" calls out the government for its more-repression-less-relief actions. It demands that the government not only meet the needs of all those displaced, but also calls upon the government to cease its criminalization, arrests and roundups of survivors seeking relief and sustenance in New Orleans and other devastated areas. The statement also calls for political action to "drive out the illegitimate Bush regime."

While we're down there, we will link up with the people who bore the brunt of the storm and are still bearing the brunt of the authorities' attacks. We will find out what's really going down on the ground. We aim to help break through the media whitewash of the situation and spread the stories of the heroic efforts people have made to meet their own and others' needs. And we will join with people in building resistance to the many ways the authorities are continuing to put people in harm's way. This kind of resistance will dramatically change the situation.

For this trip to be a success, I need your involvement and assistance. First off, it would be great if any of the signers or supporters of the statement could join us down on the Gulf. (Please contact us by email at atimetoresist@hotmail.com.) If you can't make the trip down there, you can still help. We need people to contribute money to offset the cost of this trip. (Airfare alone will cost $2,000. On top of that, it will cost hundreds more for living expenses, traveling around the area, producing materials, etc.) We also need you to continue and escalate spreading the statement to others and encouraging them to get involved in this effort. The hearts of millions go out to the people who were trapped in New Orleans and other devastated areas. People hate the way many thousands were put in harm's way and then demonized by the Bush regime. Our statement provides an avenue for people to express their concern and join the fight for what the survivors need to survive. Our demands speak to the actual situation people have been forced into, and what’s needed to help ensure their survival. Our call for resistance is right on time. It is turning out that it takes a fight even to get food, water and other necessities to people who desperately need them.

I want to be in touch with as many of you as possible while we're down on the coast. Feel free to give me a call to talk about how things are going, what we're finding out and what kind of mass resistance we're involving in unleashing. Keep me up on what you have been able to do with the statement, what kinds of people you're getting it to, what they think about it, and what media you've been able to get to cover this effort. What are your ideas on how to take this effort to a much higher level?

This battle has just begun, and we need all that everyone can do to make our efforts a success. You can get copies of the statement and the cover letter by writing us via e mail at: atimetoresist@hotmail.com. You can also write to us at P.O. Box 941 Knickerbocker Station, New York, NY 10002.

If you want to support the trip Carl Dix and Clyde Young are making to the Gulf Coast you need to contact us by email at atimetoresist@hotmail.com.