On May 30, around 1,000 people
from across Louisiana gathered in New Orleans to take part in the BP Oil Flood
Protest.
According to the Web site set up
for the protest, the event was organized by “a handful of pissed-off New
Orleanians,” individuals who had come together “to demand immediate, aggressive
intervention by the government to stop the BP oil flood.”
In addition to the protest
organizers, the rally’s other speakers included the famous New Orleans
musician, Dr. John; George Barisich, president of the United Commercial
Fisherman’s Association; an organizer from the Oily Hair Project (which works
for the restoration of the Gulf); and Phyllis Montana-Leblanc, who was featured
in Spike Lee’s documentary “When the Levees Broke” and is an actress in the
television series “Treme,” about post-Katrina New Orleans.
Representatives of numerous
grassroots organizations, as well as unaffiliated working people who showed up
to demand justice took the microphone during the course of the rally, which
lasted several hours.
Many speakers stressed the
importance of holding BP accountable for damages and transitioning to cleaner
energy sources. Several speakers explained that corporations like BP have
gotten rich by exploiting the workers and natural resources of the Gulf, but
very little of that wealth has made it back to the masses of working people
living in the region. One speaker even suggested that Louisiana is an internal
colony of the United States—a statement met by vigorous applause.
The mood among the crowd was
notably militant, characterized by a deep outrage about the preventable
catastrophe that has befallen the Gulf. For example, the crowd responded
enthusiastically when multiple speakers declared that BP’s assets should be
seized to pay for the clean-up and to alleviate the hardships placed on the
working people of the Gulf States.
The crowd cheered loudly when musician
and poet Chris Chandler, as part of an inspiring spoken-word piece, stated that
if corporations are given the rights of legal persons, they should also be held
accountable as legal persons. His suggestion that BP top executives and the
politicians who enable them should be put on trial for manslaughter elicited
clapping and shouts of approval throughout the crowd.
The demonstration was covered by
Democracy Now!, CNN, MSNBC, local news stations ABC WGNO 26, and Spike Lee, who
had a sizable film crew on-site.
In addition to the Party for
Socialism and Liberation, representatives from the Sierra Club, the Iron Rail
Anarchist Collective, C3/Hands off Iberville (a New Orleans housing rights
group), and the Revolutionary Communist Party were present, distributing
materials related to the spill and other contemporary people’s struggles.
The demonstrators gathered in
New Orleans’ Washington Artillery Park, known locally as the “amphitheatre,” a
performance space that includes a big set of curved steps. The space is
directly across the street from New Orleans’ historic St. Louis Cathedral,
along the Mississippi riverbank. The protesters endured rain for the entirety
of the rally.
The protest came just two days
after a large number of “Critical Mass” bicyclists made their way across the
city to protest BP. That two large demonstrations took place in New Orleans
within such a short time span demonstrates the possibility of building a
powerful movement for justice in the Gulf.
