NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD 143 Madison Avenue, NY NY 10016 Tel: 212.679.5100 www.nlg.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 14, 2005 Contact: Michael Avery, President, 617-335-5023 Heidi Boghosian, Exec. Dir., 212-679-5100, ext. 11; 917-239-4999 Lynne Williams, 207-288-8485 NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD CONDEMNS APPALLING FAILURE OF BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO PREPARE FOR AND RESPOND TO KATRINA DISASTER The National Lawyers Guild extends its deepest sympathies to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and we unequivocally condemn the criminally negligent lack of preparation for the hurricane, as well as the appalling racist and classist response of the Bush administration to the disaster. We call for immediate and massive coordinated relief efforts to assist those harmed and displaced by Katrina. The Guild calls for an independent, nonpartisan investigation into the government’s lack of preparation and abysmal response. We do not have confidence that an investigation led by the federal government will be conducted with integrity and result in the appropriate officials being held responsible. We call on the public to demand accountability from the elected leadership of this country and we demand an end to the cover-up which has already begun, exemplified by FEMA’s ban on press photographs of the dead. The Guild demands an immediate end to the repressive law enforcement tactics employed by the military and police occupation of New Orleans. It is no secret that most of those left behind in New Orleans were poor and black, and that they lacked the means to evacuate. It is likewise no secret that the Army Corps of Engineers and emergency management officials in the Gulf Coast have been warning of such a disaster for years, while the Bush administration has diverted critical funding to the war on the people of Iraq. The Katrina disaster is the logical outcome of an administration that has diverted funds from emergency preparedness to imperial war. We demand an end to the war on the people of Iraq, which has already cost over $200 billion. The disaster is also the result of decades of economic policies that continue to increase the divide between rich and poor. The Bush administration’s lethal negligence and deliberate indifference toward poor people and people of color cannot be tolerated. Nor can its indifference to the future of our planet. It is no secret that the increase in severity of hurricanes over the last several years is a consequence of global warming, but the Bush administration continues to deny that global warming even exists, to the ongoing dismay of the rest of the world. We call on FEMA to immediately grant presumptive eligibility for benefits to victims of the Katrina/Bush disaster. We call on the federal government to value the lives of all of the people in this country, and to grant aid for food, housing, healthcare and education to the victims of Katrina. We call for a committee consisting of community members and evacuees to oversee all reconstruction efforts to ensure that developers do not use this devastation as an opportunity to permanently displace poor people, immigrants, and those whose first language is not English. Further, we demand that those community members who have lost housing have a guaranteed right to return upon rebuilding. The Guild supports the demand by the National Urban League for a Katrina Victims Bill of Rights, including a victims’ compensation fund, disaster unemployment assistance, voting rights protection and other necessary measures. The majority of the victims of Katrina are the victims of poverty caused by racist economic policies that continually reward the extremely wealthy, while cutting the most basic of necessities from the poor. Property rights have continually been protected over the health and safety of the people. We demand an end to such policies. The response of the Bush administration is nothing short of racism, and we demand the immediate impeachment of all responsible administration officials. In the days immediately following the flooding, the National Guard troops and police in New Orleans kept people from leaving some areas at gunpoint, and are now prohibiting media coverage of the government-caused carnage. We demand that media, whether corporate or independent, have full access to every aspect of the destruction caused by the criminal negligence of the Bush administration. The National Lawyers Guild already has teams of lawyers, law students and legal workers who are assisting those harmed and displaced. We will continue to provide legal support for the victims of Bush’s war on the poor. We are currently organizing a national network of legal professionals who will provide public benefits advocacy to victims. The National Lawyers Guild encourages the public to make complaints against FEMA, the FBI, National Guard, and other appropriate federal agencies to the Office of Inspector General. These complaints should also be copied to the new UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Violations since 9/11; to the UN Human Rights Committee; to the UN Committee Against Torture (and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment); and to the UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Additionally, the National Lawyers Guild endorses the following two charitable relief organizations: The People’s Hurricane Fund c/o Vanguard Public Foundation 383 Rhode Island St. St. 301 San Francisco, CA 94103 www.qecr.org and The Southern Relief Fund c/o The Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights PO Box 1223 Greenville, MS 38702 Phone: (662) 334-1122 The National Lawyers Guild, founded in 1937, comprises over 6,000 members and activists in the service of the people. Its national office is headquartered in New York and it has chapters in nearly every state, as well as over 100 law school chapters. ###