Upcoming Event-- On Common Ground: Katrina and the Pacific Northwest

The greatest domestic disaster in US history continues unabated in New Orleans and on the Gulf Coast. Malik Rahim and Jerome Scott will speak on how communities have organized for survival and rebuilding in the face of governmental abandonment.

Malik Rahim is a long time resident of the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans and has a strong history of community activism and political involvement. He was a founder of the New Orleans Chapter of the Black Panther Party, an organizer of public housing tenants in New Orleans and, more recently, a Green Party candidate for New Orleans City Council. Within days of Katrina hitting and the massive flooding due to levees’ breaking, Rahim recruited doctors and medical personnel to establish a free clinic to offset the still closed Charity Hospital. His call for help blossomed into Common Ground that offers assistance, mutual aid and support to damage communities in the greater New Orleans area.

Jerome Scott is the Executive Director of Project South: An Institute for the Elimination of Poverty and Genocide. Scott has a long history as a community and labor organizer and is the southern regional organizer for Up and Out of Poverty. He serves on the Boards of the Georgia Black United Fund and the Healthcare Georgia Foundation. Scott is also at the forefront of organizing a south-wide response to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath and his organization is the host of the first ever US Social Forum.

The Forum begins at 7:00 pm at the Capitol Theater in downtown Olympia at 205 E. 5th Avenue. Doors will open at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $10.00 general admission and $8.00 for OFS members. Tickets can be purchased Traditions Café and at Rainy Day Records in downtown Olympia. All proceeds above costs will go to the Common Ground Collective.