Massale plunderingen in New-Orleans

Een politieagent houdt de wacht bij een apotheek. Vele winkels in de buurt werden het slachtoffer van massale plunderingen.Honderden mensen hebben misbruik gemaakt van de doortocht van orkaan Katrina om de winkels in de buurt van het historisch stadscentrum van New Orleans te plunderen. Dat meldt de Amerikaanse nieuwszender CNN dinsdag.

De plunderaars stalen jeans, sportschoenen en elektrische apparaten in verscheidene winkels op Canal Street, een van de grootste winkelstraten van de stad, zo stelde een CNN-journalist ter plaatse vast.


Chaos
"We zagen ook hoe iemand een steen in een uitstalraam gooide", klonk het. "Er heerst chaos. De politie treedt op, maar kan weinig doen, gezien het grote aantal plunderaars", aldus nog de journalist.

De politie kondigde de krijgswet af in verscheidene wijken van New Orleans om plunderingen te vermijden. (belga)


Weblog HLN, 30/08/05 21u33

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"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB

"Looting" or "finding"?
Bloggers are outraged over the different captions on photos of blacks and whites in New Orleans.

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By Aaron Kinney

Sept. 1, 2005 | Two photographs of New Orleans residents wading through chest-deep water unleashed a wave of chatter among bloggers Wednesday about whether black people are being treated unfairly in media coverage of post-hurricane looting.

One of the images, shot by photographer Dave Martin for the Associated Press, shows a young black man wading through chest-deep waters after "looting" a grocery store, according to the caption. The young man appears to have a case of Pepsi under one arm and a full garbage bag in tow. In the other, similar shot, taken by photographer Chris Graythen for AFP/Getty Images, a white man and a light-skinned woman are shown wading through chest-deep water after "finding" goods including bread and soda, according to the caption, in a local grocery store.

Link

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'I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.'
-- Mark Twain

'It reminds me of Baghdad in the worst of times'


The sprawling convention centre in New Orleans was no doubt once a source of civic pride, but yesterday the concrete and glass edifice was a symbol of national shame, giving out a stench that could be smelt two blocks away.
A dense mass of people - perhaps 20,000, almost all of them black - packed the cavernous building and filled the surrounding pavement, sitting amid debris left by Hurricane Katrina and the rubbish accumulated in four days of waiting for help.


A knot of police officers, mostly white, watched the throng warily from a small side road, armed with rifles and pump-action shotguns. More police watched from the Greater New Orleans Bridge high above.
They were the only sign that the official world was aware of the plight of the crowd below - and that was as close as they got. The previous day, some military rations and water had been dropped by relief workers from the bridge on to the car park. It was as if being poor and black was a contagious disease.

If so, it was becoming a self-fulfilling dread. Inside the building, the toilets had become blocked after the first day, and by yesterday the air wafting from them was so noxious it felt like a blow to the face.

A policewoman near the centre brandishing a shotgun said she had no news of the promised help from the army and the National Guard. "They've been saying they're going to send in troops since day one. We haven't seen anything yet."

Walking from her informal checkpoint to the crowd across the road was like crossing a boundary between the first and third world. On the other side, many people were clearly too ill to walk and several seemed close to starving.

Inside the centre, no one could understand why they were being treated in this way. "If you can drive in like that, how come they can't come and get us?" Henry Carr, a 38-year-old furniture salesman, said.

Everyone was frantic to know whether the buses would turn up. For days, they had been told to stay in the centre so they could be picked up, but the promised transport had failed to materialise. Buses had arrived for the people trapped at the Louisiana Superdome stadium, a mile to the north, but it seemed the convention centre, a lesser landmark, had been forgotten. The latest rumour was that the buses would come later that afternoon, but that would already be too late for up to a dozen people who had died waiting.

Two of the bodies had been dumped by an employees' entrance. They were both old and frail women. One had died in her wheelchair; a blanket had been thrown over her face. The other woman had been wrapped in a sheet.

A man walked past the bodies dragging a pallet loaded with big bottles of ginger ale, some plates and a frying pan. To the rest of America watching the tragedy unfold on their televisions, he was one of the looters, denounced by President Bush.

But to the people inside the convention centre, he was one of a band of heroes keeping them alive. "The people who were going into the stores would give us water and food, said Edna Harris, Henry Carr's aunt. "There would be ladies with babies and they had no milk, and these guys would break in and bring them milk."

Kyle Turner, a 28-year-old dishwasher, was looking for some clean water. "My son is six months old and we got no milk. I just got two cans of powdered milk, and I need some water for it," he said.

In addition to the constant squalor, the thousands left in the centre had to contend with the fear of gangs of young men. Everybody talked about it. One woman said she held her children's hands tight all night because there were stories circulating of thugs who took young girls and boys to the upper stories of the centre and raped them. It was impossible to confirm the rumours but there was no mistaking the fear they inspired.

By late morning, a possible sign of hope had arrived. A lone soldier stood by the side of a red civilian pick-up holding a rifle and talking to some of the stranded civilians. He would not give his name, but the patch on his shoulder indicated he was from the 101st Airborne, an elite division which has spent much of the past two years in Iraq. "Kind of reminds me of Baghdad in the worst of times," he said shaking his head. Then he got into his pick-up and drove off.

William Schaefer, one of the few white men in the crowd, looked on in disgust. "We're dying one, two a day here. Why don't they come for us?"

Musician Fats Domino, 77, thought to have been missing after refusing to evacuate, was yesterday reported to be safe after being picked up by a boat with his wife and at least one of his daughters near his home in New Orleans.


Julian Borger, The Guardian, 03-09-2005

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"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB

Op CNN deden ze de vergelijkende warentest oftewel: zoek de verschillen. In beeld een man die met wat levensmiddelen in zijn armen door het water van New Orleans waadde.

Waarna een volgend plaatje van een andere man die met wat levensmiddelen in zijn armen door het water van New Orleans waadde. De verschillen: op filmpje nummer één was de wader zwart, op filmpje nummer twee was-ie blank. En ook het commentaar verschilde, in filmpje nummer één heette het dat een plunderaar huiswaarts keerde en in filmpje nummer twee sprak men van iemand die wat gevonden goederen met zich meenam. Racisme? Dat raadt ons de koekoek! Allicht nog sprekender was het beeld in een van die overvolle opvangcentra in de stad, waar ditmaal een aantal zwarte gelovigen, om de moed er in te houden, gospels was gaan zingen. Het hielp heus, verzekerden ze ons, ze waren alles kwijt, maar hun geloof niet.

Tussendoor het beeld van een oude blanke vrouw, die met een misprijzend en chagrijnig gezicht op een stoel zat en zo te zien dacht: waar ben ik nu in vredesnaam terechtgekomen? Ben ik zo white trash dat ik hier tussen de gospelende zwarten moet zitten? Het racisme van Amerika, dat sinds een jaar of veertig officieel is afgeschaft, ligt er nog altijd dik bovenop. Dat heb je nu eenmaal met landen die het ordenen en sorteren van de wereld liefst aan individuen overlaten: daar zijn de dijken te laag en wonen blanken bij blanken en zwarten bij zwarten. Zolang ze goed kunnen honkballen, lekker zingen of als ze minister van buitenlandse zaken zijn, is zwart-zijn prima, maar de gewone zwarte is vaak nog iemand die in duisternis wandelt en geen groot licht ziet. Maar laten we vooral niet doen of het bij ons zoveel beter is.

Ja, ik hoorde in het journaal dat je bij ons niet moet kunnen zien waar de rijken wonen en waar de armen, aldus de boze directeur van een woningcorporatie, maar ik weet wel degelijk dat er in de Bijlmer vooral zwarte broeders en zusteres wonen en bij mij in de straat geen een. En mijn dochters, die opeens aan de mannen zijn, meldden onlangs ongevraagd dat ze Umberto Tan zo’n mooie man vinden en dat-ie ‘zelfs’ een kledinglijn heeft.

Positief racisme is ook racisme: zouden ze het me ook melden als Wilfred Genee een kledinglijn had? En zelf doe ik er ook aan als ik tijdens het jeugdjournaal m’n ogen sluit en uitprobeer of ik de huidskleur van presentatrice Milouska kan horen of niet (niet, heb ik de indruk). Racisme is een venijnig virus dat de mens, zoals nu in New Orleans gedemonstreerd wordt, niet één twee drie onderdrukt. Het is wel eens goed dat zo’n natuurramp dat allemaal boven water brengt, want we dreigen er steeds weer bij in te dutten, terwijl het toch gewoon in ons bloed zit.


Trouw, 05-09-2005

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"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB

Voor de die-hards (maar eigenlijk zou zoiets iedereens interesse moeten wegdragen):

http://www.transparencynow.com/

__________________
"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB