Death of FEMA trailer resident could have been averted if the police had simply left the scene (or visible presence)... An even larger issue looms in the backdrop of this story – mental health crisis. Katrina because of the failure of insurance, road home, etc. More on the July 1 FEMA trailer deadline
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 Over two hundred march from Armstrong park through the Central Business District to New Orleans City Hall to commemorate International Workers Day. Starting from Armstrong Park members of the Congress of Day Laborers, an organized group of Latino day laborers, led the crowd. They were followed by The Hot Eight, a local brass band. Most of those in attendance arrived shortly after the storm to help with the rebuilding efforts. They have suffered severe exploitation as many employers withheld pay from them for weeks at a time. They also were required to work in very unsafe and unsanitary conditions without proper protective equipment.
 On May 1, New Orleans Indymedia launched the inaugural issue of "Arise," a quarterly print project covering a broad net of social justice issues affecting our city. View and read ARISE: New Orleans Indymedia Quarterly hereTo have your writings considered for the quarterly, please contribute to this website! Or become involved in Indymedia by attending our next open meeting, Friday May 23 at 7pm (location TBA on our calendar), or emailing us at imc-neworleans@lists.indymedia.org
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April 21st, 2008, was the first day of the Security and Prosperity Partnership Summit, in which the presidents of Mexico and the United States, and the prime minister of Canada met to discuss security and trade, as well as the neoliberal and militaristic integration of North America. In protest, the local community organizers of New Orleans held the People's Summit, in which visiting activists met with local organizers to discuss the history of racism, oppression and capitalism in North America and how to resist those things now and into the future. CLICK to read another activist take on the People's Summit...Ottawa Indymedia's CoverageOfficial United States Government Website on the Security and Prosperity Partnership: www.spp.gov
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Six of the protestors arrested at the public housing demonstration outside of city council on December 20, 2007 were convicted of disturbing the peace on Wednesday morning in Orleans Parish Criminal Court. Judge Paul Sens sentenced each protestor to community service, though the conviction, if upheld after appeal, will appear as a misdemeanor on their record.
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This is the story of four men who spent time on death row and who, after protesting their innocence and making legal injunctions and appeals to that end, were exonerated. All four discuss the process of being arrested, sentenced by a jury often not of their peers, the psychology of time in jail and on death row and having to adjust back to "the outside" for a crime they never committed.
Government reports confirm that half of the working poor, elderly and disabled who lived in New Orleans before Katrina have not returned. Because of critical shortages in low cost housing, few now expect tens of thousands of poor and working people to ever be able to return home.
A year after the Signal strike, Guest Worker organizing continues in Mississippi and Louisiana.
---------------------------------Shortly after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, hundreds of Indian welders and fitters were trafficked to the Gulf Coast. For a hefty fee of $20,000, the recruiters promised the workers good jobs, permanent residency, and a chance to bring their families to the US. Workers sold their homes, took high-interest loans, and plunged their families into debt to pay for the American Dream. When they arrived they discovered that all of the promises that had been made to them were false. They learned that in fact there were no green cards for them: they would not receive permanent status and they would remain separated from their families. Surely this was better than the way they had lived in India they were told, but many of the workers had worked in several countries and the accommodations here were the worst of all.
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Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter spoke in New Orleans Wednesday night. Ritter called for increased and informed civic responsibility and action to oppose the domination of special interests in government, to prevent Bush from invading Iran, and to create real democracy.
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 New Orleans - February 19, 2008 – During the early afternoon of Saturday, February 16th, 2008 residents of Saint Bernard Parish discovered red “X’s” stuck on the doors of their homes. Posted on hundreds of neighborhood homes that by the Saint Bernard Parish Government, the red “X” or Notice and Order of Involuntary Demolition gives residents little hope of being able to reverse the condemnation status of their property. The Notice and Order of Involuntary Demolition states that tagged properties are not in current compliance with Minimum Housing Standards and gives homeowners 10 days (not business days) to appeal the condemnation status of their homes. The accompanying Notice of Condemnation also posted on some doors February 16th states that filing an appeal does not in itself change the condemnation status, but merely gives the homeowner the right to a hearing prior to demolition of the structure being officially ordered.
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Jamie "Bork" Loughner, a housing activist, and disabled worker, who has relied on public housing for safe and affordable shelter, was arraigned on a politically inspired charge of possessing a false explosive device in Orleans Parish Criminal Court on January 29th, 2008.
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Within eyesight of the juvenile facility that has allowed youth to remain in a flood-damaged building amidst vermin and mold, the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana held a community event to broaden public support of their lawsuit to shut down New Orleans' Youth Study Center.
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Speaking from Habitat for Humanity's "Musician's Village," John Edwards suspended his campaign for the presidency in a ten-minute address to assembled supporters. photo not taken at Musician's Village.
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Walter Kalin, the United Nations representative on Internally Displaced Persons, spoke in front of over 100 people in Gentilly's Tulane Memorial Baptist Church as part of his visit to the Gulf Coast, which New Orleans-based nonprofit Advocates for Environmental Human Rights sponsored.
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Interview with a mom living in a FEMA trailer about her struggle to cope with illness that may have been caused by formaldehyde outgassing from materials used to fabricate her family's trailer. also see related post
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Protesters gathered for a vigil today in front of the Federal Building in conjunction with actions around the United States and around the globe to demand that the Guantánamo detention facility be closed. See protests from around the country
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 Police shoot pepper spray over crowd (photo by fraugg) First locked out of their homes for more than 2 years, and now locked out of the very City Council meeting in which the city’s politicians are set to vote for tearing down their homes, residents and activist today were attacked by police to keep them from entering the City Council chambers. Read More...
 The destruction of buildings at the BW Cooper public housing development ground to a halt today as at least one protester chained herself to a building. Shouting, "no demolitions!" the public housing advocate called from the building for the New Orleans City Council to vote against demolitions tomorrow, Thursday, December 19.
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UPDATE 12:47 Bulldozers reported STOPPED for another day!
 New Orleans—December 15, 2007 Residents and supporters gathered outside the St. Bernard Housing Development today for a potluck and demonstration that was positive and energetic before police arrived in force to clear the street. Three arrests were reported.
At high noon today, as supporters set up tents on the neutral ground outside the St. Bernard Housing Development, more than one hundred residents, housing advocates, and supporters marched jubilantly up St. Bernard avenue with the clear message of “no demolitions” and “right of return for all,” Housing authority and New Orleans police officers stood in front of the fenced off homes, anticipating a push to enter the development.
The protest remained peaceful and positive through the afternoon, until 1:30pm local time, when police motorcycles and squad cars came blazing through the street demanding that people clear the street. Officers were seen shoving and pushing media and protesters until the streets were clear and the protest was confined to the sidewalk and neutral ground. At least three arrests were made on the scene, though it was not immediately clear what the charges were. Former public housing residents and supporters followed the arrestees to Orleans Parish Prison, where demonstrations continued for hours until 4pm. Read more...
Unfortunately, the Times-Picayune today repeated uncritically many of the untruths propagated by HUD and HANO. Here is a list of Myths and Facts to help people understand the reality. By Bill Quigley
The city's Housing Conservation District Committee voted to deny the demolition of Lafitte by HUD and HANO, but approved BW Cooper and CJ Peete. HUD and HANO still have 30 days to appeal to the City Council, which has final say on whether Lafitte will be demolished.
 December 10th is Human Rights Day. Come to New Orleans December 10th and join the Stop the Demolition Coalition as we mount a campaign to stop the demolition of public housing.
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 On November 7, 2007, as another round of hearings went underway this morning in Jena, Louisiana for two of the “Jena Six,” dozens of organizers and activists gathered in front of the New Orleans criminal courthouse to show solidarity.
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Opponents of the US war in Iraq rallied in Washington Square Park and marched through the French Quarter on the afternoon of Saturday, October 27.
(more photos available at New Orleans Voices for Peace)
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 Police arrested Brent Cox, ACLU of Mississippi Public Education Coordinator, for monitoring a police encounter. Police told Cox that he could not observe the encounter, and when Cox asked for their names and badge numbers, the police arrested him.
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Justice in Jena requires justice for all the others as well – for all those who have suffered (and some who have died) silently behind bars and for their families who have fought without benefit of TV cameras and news reporters. It requires understanding that we will not, we can not achieve racial justice in this country if we do not fight against the criminal justice system, not just in individual instances, but in its institutionalized, systemic form. If we do not understand this – and understand it deeply – then this newly discovered energy, this tidal wave of outrage, this beautiful, intergenerational protesting isn't going to mean a damn thing past next week's news.
Pictured: Melissa Bell, Mychal's mother, speaks at a rally at the LaSalle Parish Courthouse in Jena on July 31, 2007. (photo by Mavis Yorks)
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On August 31, 2007 two dozen activists, a majority from across the nation but many New Orleans public housing residents present, entered the Housting Authority of New Orleans and the Federal Housing and Urban Development offices on Touro Street in Gentilly. They conducted a stand-in, shutting down the main offices and outpost offices across the city, claiming they may enter any office at any time.
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On Sunday August 26th, _Tootie's Last Suit_ premiered in New Orleans at the Treme Community Center, honoring the late Big Chief Allison 'Tootie' Montana of the Yellow Pocahontas.
Longtime neighborhood activist and Treme Center director Jerome Smith introduced the film. (audio: 8:17)
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This article is taken from the new report compiled by the Institute for Southern Studies called, "Blueprint for Gulf Renewal," giving a voice to grassroots advocates calling for greater federal accountability in the Gulf Coast rebuilding process. The report is available at: http://www.southernstudies.org/BlueprintShort.pdf.
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Two years after the devastation of New Orleans highlighted racism and inequality in the US, the disaster continues. New Orleans' health care and education systems are still in crisis.
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Naomi Klein, author of the upcoming book "The Shock Doctrine: the rise of disaster capitalism," gave an inspiring talk at the Loyola Law Center as New Orleans heads into the second anniversary of the Federal Flood. Bill Quigley, a law professor at Loyola and human rights activist, gives a short introduction More...
photo courtesy of Mavis Yorks
 audio from the line and outside negotiations
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Demolition and resistance began Wednesday at the B.W. Cooper Public Housing Project in Midcity. 
