Published in New Orleans by and for Working & WORKERS VOICE Oppressed People Vol. 3 No. 24 December 2020 25¢ 5-WEEK PLAN TO DEFEAT COVID-19 Guarantee Income, Food, Housing, Healthcare that COVID-19 can be stopped by enacting mea- Put People sures that put people before pro"ts. Why haven’t U.S. politicians come through with relief and a DECLARE WAR ON COVID, Before Profts! real plan to stop the spread? Because without us GIVE EMERGENCY RELIEF NOW Nearly 300,000 people have died unnecessar- being forced back to work, the owners and bosses can’t continue to make money o# us. Politicians ily from COVID-19 in the U.S., including over STEP ONE Get immediate relief to answer to the corporate bosses. It’s time we say, 6,500 in Louisiana. Millions more have been workers in two weeks’ tme: “No more!” sickened by the disease, some of whom have per- Right wing defenders of “the freedom to die manent scarring. !is is nothing less than mass • Insure all people get a guaranteed income. from COVID” who promote reckless and sel"sh Stop withholding relief to force workers murder. !e hands of the rich ruling class are behavior are the puppets for the pro"t masters. back to work while the rich stay home. stained with the blood of Indigenous, Black, and !ey are fools. At the same time, it is unreason- • Halt all evictions, foreclosures, and utility brown folks, of working class people, of elders able to think we can do what is best for our health cuto#s. and people with disabilities. and the health of our communities unless many • Equip medical personnel (including If the rich and their government lackeys get of bold governmental policies are enacted. cleaning, laundry, cafeteria, clerical sta#) their way, hundreds of thousands more of us will We have to put the people "rst to defeat and all essential workers (including truck be sacri"ced so they can keep making pro"ts o# COVID-19. We have a right to life and our drivers, postal workers, store workers, our backs. health. Demand the emergency relief necessary and deliverers) with highest level of PPE. Governments around the world have shown to protect our communities! Manufacturing of medical gear and PPE should be ordered to meet need without regard to private pro"ts. There is Enough Money to Defeat COVID • Expand SNAP and food deliveries. !e "rst bailout amounted to $2.3 tril- STEP TWO Shut it all down for 3 weeks & lion. !is included $300 billion in stimulus enact measures that make it possible for checks, $377 billion to small business (big people to stay home and stop the spread: corps took a lot of that), $389 billion to state and local government, 100 billion to • Make internet accessible and free to all. hospitals and $454 billion went to a slush • Secure free, quality childcare for essential fund administered by Treasury secretary workers. Mnuchin, former Goldman Sachs banker • Set up free video and phone call access to and the “Foreclosure King” in 2008. !is loved ones for incarcerated people, nurs- slush fund is unspent and reserved for ing, and group home residents. corporations.; this fund is projected to • Make PPE, neighborhood testing, and grow to a value of over $4 trillion. health care available at no cost. End racist The Federal Reserve is used as disparity in access and treatment. a slush fund for Wall Street • Ban pro"ts from vaccines, and out"t factories to produce vaccines quickly. !e Federal Reserve bank has trillions Cooperate internationally to distribute of dollars of our money. Instead of work- vaccines. No one will be safe until every- ing for the people, they have approved one is safe. unlimited asset purchases, or “in"nity” • Enact emergency declaration that makes spending, to bail out the banks and Wall defeating COVID-19 the top priority for Street. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome national security. Use military budget for Powell said the Fed is not going to run the people not war pro"teers. out of ammunition to keep stock prices • Forgive debts on student loans, credit high. Every week, they use millions to buy cards, and loans taken out to survive. stocks in private companies. While we sink into debt, the rich are on their yachts, • Release nonviolent prisoners. • Include undocumented in all relief pro- Continued on Page 11 grams. !ey put food on the country’s tables and so much more. Everyone must be included in the plan to stop the spread. • Distribute aid to genuinely small business; U.S. Billionaires Have Gained stop big businesses from stealing those $1 Trillion Since Pandemic Started funds. 2 WORKERS VOICE Letter to the Editor Hands on Nola Distributes Unlabeled Mystery Food with a Letter from Donald Trump From a cash poor senior: recently began delivering one box of unsellable, unhealthy mystery hot dogs, Trump, and we’ll feed them to Despite years of work, I am a senior every week to seniors not eligible for dogs (from one of Trump’s friends?) you in jail where you should be. who is poor like so many others. While FEMA meals because we get SNAP. Sodium, nitrates, food poisoning… Is But the City and Hands on Nola we live in a country that produces Now, I’m not picky at all. But I am the plan to kill even more seniors than more than enough food for everyone, outraged that 3 weeks in a row our box COVID-19 and poverty already does? also have a responsibility to not poison corporate pro"teering leaves much mainly consisted of 3 pounds of hot To add insult to injury, the hot seniors while getting praised for good of this food out of reach. I o$en need dogs with no expiration date or ingre- dogs came with a letter from criminal deeds. We must expand SNAP and raise supplemental food assistance even with dients listed. Hands on Nola excused Donald Trump, a fan of seniors dying. the amount for seniors, and all people SNAP. themselves by saying the mystery dogs He writes, “consider wearing a mask”. TV and papers have praised Hands are coming from the Dept. of Agricul- Consider 280,000 dead, one quarter of who need food. !en we can buy food On New Orleans, a city project which ture which obviously is buying tons them seniors. Keep your friends’ hot with labels and not depend on charity. Cantrell, NOPD Silence Black Musicians, Let Right-Wing Evangelicals Spread COVID-19 New Orleans Mayor Cantrell and the NOPD have shut down young Black musicians trying to survive by playing in the streets of the Quarter. !e city "nes residents $500 for going maskless in the Quarter. But a mainly white, right-wing, illegal concert at Jackson Square is apparently not a problem. Anyone truly re- ligious and caring for others does not encourage mass church or tight, maskless street gatherings which will spread COVID-19 and death. !ese “preachers” and “Christian” bands only want to get their money col- lections and fame. DJ Soul Sister put it best: “HOW in the hell does this happen in New Orleans in the middle of a pandemic, not a mask nor social distanced space in sight? Who allows this kind of thing, and how, and WHY???? Also, last I was told, OUR New Orleans cite the Take 'Em Down protests to remove racist musicians, whose historic culture created the founda- Cantrell's PAC Mimics Trump, monuments which had “huge mobs of angry and tion for American popular music, are still not allowed Equates KKK with Ant-Racist Movement to Remove Monuments volatile crowds on both sides,” equating racists and to perform en masse (or even minimally) in OUR anti-racists. !is is what Trump said a$er KKK’ers, !e Gambit newspaper wrote an article that city…We can’t do our New Orleans things. And we and Nazis invaded Charlottesville to praise slavery, blasted the city for allowing this concert to take place. are following the rules so that we are in compliance In response to the Gambit, Cantrell’s Political Action assault townspeople, and murder Heather Heyer, who in order to keep ourselves and others safe as we move Committee (PAC), Action New Orleans, wrote that was marching against racism. !ere’s a right side and towards ending the pandemic with science.” the city allows other gatherings to happen. !ey a wrong side, Cantrell. Which side are you on? WORKERS VOICE PRISONERS Subscribe to For a free subscription to CONTACT INFO Workers Voice Newspaper WORKERS VOICE [email protected] 1 year for $20 nolaworkers.org (includes postage) DONATIONS Go to: htps://is.gd/workersvoice WRITE TO US or send a check to: Workers Voice PO Box 13881 Workers Voice New Orleans, LA 70185 PO Box 13881 CASH APP: $WORKERSVOICE “TEAR DOWN THE WALLS!” New Orleans, LA 70185 WORKERS VOICE 3 Call to Action: Demand New Orleans DA Drop the False Charges Against Mickey Davis and Caleb Wassell On Saturday, June 11, hundreds of "!e charges are a blatant attempt to people took down a statue of slaveown- intimidate the mass movement that STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH er John McDonogh in Duncan Plaza MICKEY AND CALEB! and threw it in the river, rejecting the arose this summer in response to police terror and racism." racist monument and everything it Contact the district atorney and the mayor and stood for. NOPD singled out and false- demand that ALL charges be dropped! ly accused two people among the hun- dreds. Mickey Davis and Caleb Wassell District Atorney’s ofce: (504) 822-2414 or were assaulted and arrested.