Solidarity Not Charity

In the wake of botched relief efforts on the state and federal levels, grassroots volunteers from around the country have traveled to New Orleans to provide mutual aid to underserved and ignored parts of the ravaged city. Free from the constraints of excessive regulations and bureaucracy, in many cases these groups are doing far more than government agencies to address the needs of those still in New Orleans.

Much of the grassroots response is concentrated in Algiers, a predominately black neighborhood across the Mississippi River from downtown that was not flooded during Hurricane Katrina. As a result, survivors gravitated towards the area, one of the few not destroyed. Nonetheless, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Red Cross, two of the most visible relief organizations, have been largely absent from the neighborhood and its inhabitants left to fend for themselves.

“Nobody in the state, federal, or local government is interested in helping us,” says Malik Rahim, former Black Panther and long-time resident of Algiers.

To fill the gaps, radical grassroots groups have stepped up to offer support to the neglected people of Algiers. When medics from Mayday DC, a housing activist group, reached the neighborhood nearly two weeks after the hurricane hit, they brought the first medical care its residents had seen. Now Algiers has Food Not Bombs serving regular hot meals, a pirate radio station called “The Battle of Algiers,” and Common Ground, a fully functioning medical clinic and mutual aid collective. In contradiction to the mass media reports of chaos and looting, Algiers has seen an outpouring of solidarity and constructive cooperation as its residents work with volunteers to rebuild their community.

Common Ground is providing many local residents with the first primary care they’ve received in years. The clinic is stocked with both medical and non-medical supplies and has been treating 50 patients or more a day. Medics on bikes patrol the streets and make visits to those unable to leave their homes.

But the clinic is not simply a charity—it’s an exercise in solidarity. “We’re taking every opportunity to incorporate community members into the working of the clinic,” says Dr. Michael Kozart, a member of the Bay Area Radical Health Collective. Volunteers are teaching interested people how to take blood pressures and maintain medical charts so they can help out. Plans are in the works for free health care classes.

In contrast, the government response has been largely militaristic and unproductive—soldiers, police, and contracted private security forces roam the streets, enforcing a dusk-to-dawn curfew and martial law. Though the military reportedly asked for assistance from Common Ground’s doctors and medics, they have since begun working to duplicate the collective’s efforts and open their own clinic.

“Nobody wants to get [medical] care from people dressed up in military gear who drive around in shiny new Humvees,” Kozart says. “They are scaring the shit out of people.”

Common Ground intends to remain open as long as possible and establish satellite clinics in other neighborhoods. “This place is my home now,” says Noah, an EMT volunteer from Rhode Island. “I can come back to Algiers anytime and I’ll be welcomed with open arms.”

More information about Common Ground can be found at:
http://www.commongroundrelief.org