Intervention In New Orleans

In an opinion piece written by Cornel West published the Guardian in September 2005 was written as a response of outrage to inform the general population about the government action that was taken before and after Hurricane Katrina in the hardest hit city – New Orleans. By making the focus on race and poverty West places New Orleans in the category of the third world ‘long before Hurricane Katrina’ – but compares the fact of when the poorest citizens of New Orleans were left in the super dome as the hurricane raged outside – compares it to a contemporary version of social Darwinism. This is a heavy but succinct summing up the fact that colonialism and racism certainly continues in the United States – consolidated by government policies and

Not only does oil development pose a huge threat to the environment, but it also poses a huge threat to human development if it is not managed in a way that enriches the human development indicators of all people in the region. The USA is one of the key interventionist states in International Politics. Yet, when one considers the lack of positive intervention New Orleans in the wake of the storm, the rationale for interventionist role the United States becomes questionable. How can one country expect to help another if they cannot protect the rights and liberties of their own people? It is often argued that fact of interventionism is likely highly linked to oil and oil wealth. Coincidentally, Hurricane Katrina occurred at the peak of the Iraq war. This might suggest that the resources necessary for the correct investment in the preparation for the storm may have been tied up in the United States economic priority in oil extraction. Oil developments in the OCS began in the 20th century. The first offshore drilling on the OCS began in 1966, a period of time which was associated with huge Hurricane damage and serial accidents including blowouts, injuries to workers and helicopter crashes. This illustrates a need for the oversight of a stringent environmental policy. The 1978

Some 100,000 homeowners applied for grants. Less than 700 were approved. At the time Hurricane Katrina struck 53% of the population of were renters. In addition to this they were uninsured. In 2006, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) told congress that 60,000 were living in trailers, often with three or more in a single room. This should have proved to be alarming enough for the government, realizing that nearly two years after much of the population were still without homes, or proper access to power, even running water – likening the state of the poorest in the country to the state of a third world country. After Hurricane Katrina the introduction of Hope VI, a plan designed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development was aimed to improving housing projects into ‘mixed income’ developments. The roots of this ‘new urbanism’ include revitalization, demolition and grant programs. In New Orleans, this was called the Desire Projects, built in the Ninth Ward with the goal of serving the poorer African American population of the New Orleans area. Boarded by railways, the river, and industrial plants, the Desire projects was less of a housing project and more of a dumping ground for toxic waste. Furthermore, Hope VI reversed the populations right to public housing. In addition to this, there were cuts in food stamps, as well as elementary and secondary