Low Income Communities Declare War on Bush : Pittsburgh Indymedia

Low Income Communities Declare War on Bush
by Vikram Kambampati Tuesday, Apr. 01, 2003 at 6:30 PM
vik9@pitt.edu

Low income communities are getting angrier with Bush and his corporate allies. They also see the connection between this regime�s war on people abroad and the class war at home. This article is about local people taking (class) action.

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Last Monday, fifteen local members of a national low-income community organization joined hundreds of others from around the country in Washington, DC to protest the Bush administration�s domestic policies and the lobbying efforts of the government�s corporate allies. Presidential candidate Al Sharpton, Senator Edward Kennedy, and AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer Richard Trumka also addressed the participants, who also held direct action against a financial industry lobbying group. One hundred members of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) http://acorn.org/whoisacorn/, including two from the Pittsburgh chapter, attended a four-day legislative and political conference from March 22-26. They held workshops and lobbied politicians in support of public schools and immigrant rights, and against tax cuts and predatory lending. On Monday, March 24, another thirteen members from Pittsburgh and 400 members from ACORN chapters around the country joined the participants for the day of action. That morning, in a church near Capitol Hill, ACORN members listened to Al Sharpton speak about his political agenda. �The only way George Bush will be defeated is with a movement. We need a candidate that will go to the barrios, the neighborhoods, and the housing projects,� he said. In the speech, he stated his opposition to the Bush tax cut plan (�We tried trickle down economics in the 1980�s, and we are still waiting for that money to trickle down.�), advocated a two dollar increase in the minimum wage, more investments in public infrastructure, protecting public schools, women�s choice for abortion (�It�s time for the Christian Right to meet the right Christians�), an end to discrimination against immigrants, and protecting the right to vote. But Sharpton drew the loudest cheers whenever he blasted Bush�s War on the Iraqi and American People. Pittsburgh ACORN member Nettie Pelton was among those on her feet. �I don�t know anybody that wants this war,� she said. She believes that the domestic front of Bush�s war hurts low and moderate income people as he slashes social services, worker rights, and gives tax cuts to the rich, which Sharpton reiterated. �Don't love the troops when they are in uniform overseas and not love them when they are in blue jeans at home,'' he said, taking aim at those who back Bush�s war under the guise of �supporting the troops� while failing to support military workers as a class. After all, Bush plans to cut services veterans, too. According to ACORN organizers, some Democrats who were scheduled to speak, like Senator Tom Daschle, canceled because they thought that it would be inappropriate to criticize Bush while the country is at war. Sharpton also had words for such politicians with higher ambitions, �If you can�t open your mouth now, then you don�t deserve to run for president.� True. News of his speech appeared media as far away as The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-2506818,00.html Senator Edward Kenney, who spoke next, also highlighted the domestic burden of this war: �We should not have war time for most people in this country and peace time for the wealthiest people.� He closed by calling on ACORN members to continue organizing in their neighborhoods and �keep knocking on those doors.� The group then marched from the church a few blocks towards the south lawn of the Capitol, chanting, �This is what democracy looks like� and �George Bush doesn�t care, unless you are a millionaire.� There, ACORN members rallied against Bush�s tax cut for the wealthy. ACORN president Maude Hurd observed, �This president wants to leave no millionaire behind.� AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer Richard Trumka also addressed the crowd. Click here http://acorn.org/campaigns/pc.php?p=2094 for a transcript of some arrogant National Public Radio reporting of the event. Why do they cut to a retired colonel to talk about the economic consequences of war when the experts are ten feet away? Responses from onlookers ranged from approval to mild interest. Dylan Avery, from Oneota, New York, said, �We need to fill up this whole field with people. We need to organize � anything short of storming the White House [to change this administration].� Roger Fillman, who was visiting from Arkansas and videotaping the scene, said, �I�m just absorbing everything now so that I can think about it later.� There were at least 15 Capitol Police guarding the perimeter of the south patio. Several tourists freely passed them towards the building. When I followed to get the tourists� comments, I was stopped by one Capitol Police officer (#1211) because I had �stickers on from the protest.� �Protesters stay on the grass,� he said, �everyone else can come up.� Why? �That was the order from above.� As I was writing down his statements, he took my pen and paper and crossed out his badge number and said, �I don�t appreciate you writing down what I said,� and gave them back to me. His supervisor came over and let me pass. I wrote down the statements again. It was kind of weird. After the rally, ACORN members went to the downtown offices of the American Financial Services Association (AFSA) http://www.afsaonline.org/aboutafsa/index.cfm , lobbyists for many banks and predatory lenders. AFSA opposes anti-predatory lending legislation that ACORN members fought for. A bill by bank bought http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/sector.asp?CID=N00003532&cycle=2002 Congressman Bob Ney (R, Ohio) � who changed the House of Representatives building cafeterias� �French fries� to Freedom Fries http://www.house.gov/ney/freedomfriespr.htm - would eliminate state and local anti-predatory lending laws. ACORN wanted to give AFSA their �Loan Shark of the Year Award,� which was a big inflatable shark that was spray painted gold. Hundreds of ACORN members packed the lobby of the building when elevators and doors to the third floor, entirely occupied by AFSA�s offices, were locked. The security guard agreed to heed ACORN�s demand that she call AFSA�s office, but nobody answered. The members chanted, �A-F-S-A, how many homes did you steal today?� and blew whistles. The noise echoed off the marble walls and penetrated up several floors. ACORN members left the building after 40 minutes of ear-piercing direct action, only to see people looking down from AFSA�s third floor office building. When we left the building, several dozen police officers were outside. They closed the street but did not do much else. The Pittsburgh ACORN members were fired up by the day�s events. Aziz Mustafa said that he felt powerful after the direct action, and the group showed the onlookers that they were not afraid to protest. Given the heightened police presence at political demonstrations and crackdown on dissent these days, such statements are significant. Furthermore, it is important for us to recognize that many working class people are ready to escalate their tactics against the corporate-Bush regime. They see the connections between the regime�s disregard for lives abroad and at home. When I asked Nettie Pelton about what she would like to see addressed at another anti-war rally, she replied, �More jobs.�

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