You can donate directly to local charities to give immediate help to those most in need.To those planning to donate money and other resources to the Red Cross and related 'mainstream' charities, I urge your consideration of other, more grassroots organizations. These various grassroots groups may be more appropriate and effective for getting assistance to the victims of Katrina. A list of organizations is below - any suggestions for additions to this list would be appreciated.After the 9/11 tragedy, the Red Cross was the subject of an investigation regarding disaster relief. Apparently, significant funds intended for victims of 9/11 were diverted by the Red Cross to other, sometimes vague, programs - such as lucrative contracts for PR campaigns, etc. Even now, the Red Cross runs media spots soliciting funds for Katrina victims - while simultaneously being totally absent in New Orleans from day one. Rotting corpses continue to decay in the New Orleans heat and humidity while Red Cross bureaucrats open new bank accounts and establish systems flow charts that go from nowhere to nowhere. The Red Cross seems to be standing around, with its hands in its pockets – almost wallowing in silent somnambulism, as FEMA wrecks havoc and bureaucratic disaster upon the relief and recovery effort in the Gulf coast. Michael Kozar is a doctor at San Francisco General Hospital, and a volunteer at the grassroots Common Ground Medical Clinic that has been set up in Algiers, across the river from the French Quarter in New Orleans. He has reported little or no assistance from the Red Cross, FEMA, or the military - other than the Army sending '...military Humvees around the Algiers neighborhood, blasting amplified messages in front of the clinic telling people to go to different places for care <...places that don't exist or don't offer care>. The locations change each day and they never give our New Orleans-based organizer Andrea Garland told Jordon Flaherty of Left Turn Magazine about the callous treatment she's seen in the shelters of the Covington, Louisiana area. "The Red Cross has made at least 800 million dollars from fundraising, but people in this shelter can't get soap and are showering under a hose? Is that right?" In spite of the massive amount of equipment and military personnel now on the scene, neither the Red Cross, FEMA, or the military has made any effort to transport local residents to the grassroots Common Ground medical clinic in Algiers. However, if any residents - or insurgents, as referred to by the government - need to be jailed or killed, the occupation forces are well prepared and equipped. So where are the donated millions of dollars going? Perhaps into the summer bungalows and winter chalets of the Red Cross Big Boys? Certainly not to the grassroots Common Ground medical Clinic in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans. There must total disclosure and transparency from the Red Cross regarding their receipt of - and use of - donations for the relief and reconstruction in the Gulf Coast. If the Red Cross can't offer this, then one must suspect the organization is hiding something - such as close Republican ties to the Bush crime family. Peace and love to y'all, Armand Playwright-Imagery Guide breathe 'at' bway.net 212.420.0184 |
