Kali Akuno

To this end the revolutionary forces in the Reconstruction Movement are committed to the following a basic program in 2008:

1. Continuing the fighting against the public housing demolitions "by any means necessary." This will entail a local recall initiative and calls for national and international boycotts and direct actions against the developers, financiers and state interests seeking to profit from the ethnic cleansing of New Orleans.

2. Pressing each and every presidential candidate to take a position on the Gulf Coast Reconstruction Platform and Demands and programmatically address the "right of return" for the peoples of the Gulf Coast.

3. Continuing the International Tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita campaign for Internally Displaced Person (IDP) status recognition and reparations via our international petition drive and corresponding legal appeals (visit www.katrinatribunal.org for more details).

4. Continuing to build the Reconstruction Assembly, which will be the second Survivors Assembly, to reflect on the lessons of the past two years of struggle and consolidate the Reconstruction Movement. The first Survivors Assembly was held in Jackson, Mississippi, on Dec. 8 and 9, 2005, and produced the fundamental demands that have driven the Gulf Coast Reconstruction Movement.

Revolutionaries in the Reconstruction Movement are calling on revolutionaries throughout the world to stand with us and help us advance these initiatives. The struggle in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast to reverse the ethnic cleansing of New Afrikan peoples is critical to stopping not only the advance of neo-liberalism globally, but of halting the consolidation of the avaricious neo-conservative faction of the U.S. bourgeoisie and its mission to maintain the hegemonic position of U.S. imperialism at all costs.

New Afrikans in the Gulf Coast, by constituting virtually half of this region's electorate since the demise of U.S. apartheid a mere 40 years ago, have been and are the only determined and consistent opposition to the advance of this ruling class faction via the electoral victories of the Republican Party (which in no way should be viewed as an endorsement of the Democratic Party).

Should the right of return be denied New Afrikans in this region, it is likely that the strategic gains attained by the neo-conservatives via the Bush regime will be consolidated for at least the next 25 to 40 years. If we as revolutionaries intend to stop the ceaseless wars of imperialist aggression that this faction is clearly willing to engage, then we must not allow the right of return to be denied to New Afrikans in the Gulf Coast.

For information on how to get and stay involved, visit www.peopleshurricane.org or www.katrinatribunal.org or www.mxgm.org. You can also email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Kali Akuno is national organizer for the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and the Coalition to Stop the Demolitions. Email him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it The Hurricane Information Relief Network is the Bay View newspaper's nonprofit 501(c)(3) project to provide information and news coverage by, for and about the Katrina survivors who remain stranded across the U.S. and those who want to return home to rebuild their lives and communities. Send news and financial contributions to HRIN, EIN 20-4324012, 4917 Third St., San Francisco CA 94124, (415) 671-0789 or toll free 1 (877) 226-8100, fax (415) 671-0316 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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