Hurricane Sandy: An unnatural disaster

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By now the scientific consensus is clear: the fury of Hurricane Sandy was greatly magnified by humancaused climate change.

Scientists, said a Scientific American article, are now linking climate change “directly to intense storms and other extreme weather events.” In the case of Sandy, this meant the interaction of a hurricane moving un­ usually further north with a southbound jet stream, a rising and warming sea level, and a warmer atmo­ sphere—each on their own magnified by global warm­ ing, and all together ramping up Sandy’s strength.

The hurricane’s destructive force meant that even the mainstream media felt compelled to report on studies linking global warming to the increased frequency and heightened severity of other extreme weather events, including drought, heat waves, and sudden strong rain downpours. Earlier this year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded: “A chang­ ing climate leads to changes in the frequency, intensity, spatial extent, duration, and timing of extreme weath­ er and climate events, and can result in unprecedented extreme weather and climate events.”

The media even dug up studies from a decade or more ago, warning that New York City was in danger of just the kind of severe flooding that proved to be the most catastrophic feature of Sandy. And the consen­ sus of scientists globally is that the factors of climate change that influenced the severity of Sandy’s impact, such as rising sea levels, are still accelerating, and that they are ever more tightly wound up with other re­ sults of global warming.

The storm resulted in over a hundred deaths in the United States (and dozens more, largely ignored by the media, in the Caribbean), as well as leaving millions without power and equal numbers with no way to get to work. Five nuclear power plants lie in Sandy’s path and were forced to shut down to avoid problems with electricity and/or water, both key to stopping plant meltdown.

The storm also exposed, to borrow the phrase of an article by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Rohde, “The Hideous Inequality” of our society. Those most likely to have gone without not only power but even food and water in the days after Sandy were Black, Lat­ in@, and Asian residents in public housing complex­ es, the elderly of all nationalities living in high-rises whose elevators were out, workers in places such as Staten Island and the farther reaches of Brooklyn and Queens, and huge chunks of New Jersey—all far out of sight and mind of the region’s ruling class.

Naturally, the resentment of those ignored was mag­ nified by news of the Stock Exchange’s speedy reopen­ ing, and by the fact that in Lower Manhattan the only lights to be seen for almost a week were those of Gold­ man Sachs. The Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are repeating their postKatrina negligence. A week after the storm hit, reports from many of the most-impacted neighborhoods were that neither agency was anywhere in sight.

While their families and neighbors huddled in the dark, many of the cities’ lowest-paid and least-orga­ nized workers—especially those in the service and re­ tail sectors, who are overwhelmingly workers of color Tony Savino / Socialist Action and/or immigrant workers—slept at their worksites, fearful of losing pay if they couldn’t get back into Manhat­ tan after returning home to the outer boroughs. Without power, the poor can’t even use food stamp cards, which must be swiped through an electronic reader.

Of course, the big-hearted banks pitched right in to help—by offering to drive further into debt devastated homeowners, small businesses, and over-stretched workers in general through new kinds of loans and raised credit card limits.

But cop harassment didn’t stop the massive effort of such volunteers, mobilized primarily by Occupy Wall Street and community groups such as the Com­ mittee Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV), Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), and the Peoples’ Sur­ vival Program. Thousands of activists have turned out in neighborhoods throughout the city, mobilizing in turn local residents. The scale and type of assistance provided has been incredibly impressive, the coordi­ nation within and across sites efficient, the spirit an admirable combination of love and militancy.

Occupiers and other grassroots groups have handed out food and water, clothing, and flashlights. This of­ ten meant climbing many flights of stairs to visit the elderly stuck on higher floors without power or run­ ning water, marooned by nonworking elevators. Sub­ stantial monetary and material donations flowed in to Occupy accounts and relief sites.

Occupiers see this not as a one-time effort, but as part of their ongoing movement to change society. Re­ flecting the dominant ideology of Occupy, several refer to what they’re doing as “mutual aid” (an anarchist concept reflecting a society based on small, autono­ mous collectives). One leading Occupy Activist wrote that “this relief was in itself an act of resistance.” An­ other said they were organizing communities, not do­ ing charity.

Occupiers and activists in the Occupy-initiated Strike Debt campaign are already discussing how the San­ dy relief efforts can fit into their longer-term goal of breaking the 1%’s grip on society. One key factor in determining such a fit will be the residue of organic community and workplace self-organizing that is left in place for the long haul of repair and reconstruction. In that regard, OWS’s own popular assembly model for discussion and decision-making could be used by community members to discuss needs, to formulate demands, and to mobilize to win them.

Occupiers reported seeing people to whom they had delivered food one day showing up the next to join the relief effort. Certainly, such community activists can organize themselves to compare notes on which blocks have power out or homes destroyed, who needs gas or food, what federal and other agencies are doing (or more often failing to do), etc.

Another factor is the question of the social bases of ongoing relief and reconstruction efforts. In addi­ tion to organizing at the community level, workplacebased and industry-based organizing is essential. One opportunity to do so is around the wages lost and transportation costs incurred by huge chunks of the Tony Savino / Socialist Action region’s workers. This means on the one hand organiz­ ing to make sure that benefits from the various special Federal programs announced—disaster unemploy­ ment benefits, FEMA grants or loans to homeowners, etc.—go to all who need them, and that if the criteria for who qualifies are too restrictive, that they be ex­ tended. Not one worker should suffer loss of pay due to storm-imposed workplace closure or the costs of taking car service to get to work. This includes making sure the undocumented are not excluded or afraid to apply.

Instead of being allowed to increase workers’ in­ debtedness through new loans to repair or rebuild de­ stroyed homes, the banks’ assets should be seized to fund special grants to every homeowner in need, every wage-earner with a lost or diminished paycheck.

Every union and workers’ organization in the region should form a special committee, enrolling, and led by, members impacted by the storm. Such committees can tally the various ways members have been impacted, formulate lists of needs and demands, and join with other committees in an ongoing campaign to recoup lost pay and housing. Such workplace-based commit­ tees can also discuss what went wrong, and discuss how the region’s infrastructure should be rebuilt and extended to prepare for coming storms.

No one knows better than the electricity, transpor­ tation, health-care, and other workers who were plunged into the middle of the crisis what’s lacking in the region’s infrastructure—including how budget cuts have damaged maintenance and repair. It is they who know best what is needed to rebuild and extend it, including to minimize loss of life and property in coming extreme weather events.

Most importantly, such committees can begin dis­ cussing how to build a movement to reverse the global warming that gave Sandy its force. A campaign for on­ going reconstruction and against global warming led by workplace and neighborhood committees would also confront the question of resources. As massive as were the donations given to Occupy relief commit­ tees, they don’t come close to the billions that will be needed to fully rebuild lost homes or to compensate for lost wages or jobs, not to mention the billions that will be needed to protect close-to-shore communities against coming storms.

What’s more, if we are to reverse global warming, mutual aid efforts sprouting up alongside huge capital­ ist corporations and banks are inadequate. A climatefriendly economy will not be built until the resources of the energy companies and their financial backers are seized and put under worker/community control.

See http://www.facebook.com/OccupySandyReliefNyc for more information on how to help. n SOCIALIST ACTION NOVEMBER 2012 3

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The need for a labor party, Photo from Chicago Teachers Union flyer