KILLER SANDY

pakusaff@hotmail.com Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 21:29:07 -0500 Free Kashmir No Indian Army PAKISTAN – USA FREEDOM FORUM 82-44 243 St., Bellerose, NY 11426 Tel (718) 343-1653 or (718) 763-3543 E-mail: pakusaff@hotmail.com Stop Dividing Families End the Raids and Deportations Killer Hurricane Sandy and the 2012 Election Leaves Many Questions. ANSWER ??? The Pakistan-USA Freedom Forum supports the families who lost their lives and homes and suffered great misery in the disastrous hurricane that hit the U.S., Cuba and the Caribbean, as well as the victims of the earthquake in Paraguay and the monsoon in Asia. The superpower was unable to cope with Hurricane Sandy that struck the East Coast’s largest and wealthiest region; it especially ignored the working class people who suffered the greatest devastation. The families in the Rockaways, Queens are still waiting for heat and electricity after 16 days. If the U.S. government can in a few days set up tent cities with generators to provide air conditioning for its troops in illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, they could provide the generators here. People do not have enough gas to get to their jobs or travel outside their community, and had to wait in line up to 12 hours to buy a gallon of gas (petrol). New York billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg (who changed the laws of New York to run for a third term) made sure that Wall Street got everything it needed to open immediately while leaving poor and working people stranded without any assistance. And he showed more concern for the New York marathon, waiting until two days before the event to cancel it. New York City lost electrical power for days; there were no trains or buses, so people who needed to find shelter or get to hospitals had no transportation. The city never had a vision of using the army of 26,000 drivers from 13,000 yellow taxicabs who were ready to do anything to help the people of the city. But most drivers live miles outside of Manhattan and could not get through the closed bridges. The mayor did not open the bridges so they could come in to help people. This behavior is the worst disservice to the people. Hurricane Sandy showed that billions of dollars are needed to improve the city’ communication system, which is not up to the standards of the 21st century. City officials should be more open about the problems with the infrastructure so that people know the real reasons for the disaster. We still do not know why there is no proper gas (petrol) supply or what really caused the explosion at Con Edison’s 14th St. substation that left a large part of the city in the dark for days. The people of the U.S. gave their verdict in the Nov. 6 election that billions of dollars could not buy their vote for Mitt Romney, who openly represented the rich people (the 1%) and their system. When minorities, unions, immigrants, youth teachers, nurses, and artists stand together to struggle for their rights against the multi-trillion dollar companies the people will always win. In early 2012 labor unions in Wisconsin looked defeated when Gov. Scott Walker survived a recall election. But in the November 2012 election, Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin became the first openly gay U.S. Senator. In Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren was elected Senator by campaigning against the war on women, for equal payment and for increased regulations on the Wall St. CEOs, who consider themselves above the law. We wish all these elected women well in their fight. The people voted for Obama because they considered him the “lesser of two evils.” The immigrant new citizens voted overwhelmingly for Obama. This shows that they stand for what they think is the best for the country, even though he deported 1.5 million of their sisters and brothers, more than any other president in history, dividing families and causing immense misery. Pakistan-USA Freedom Forum thanks all those organizations (such as the Islamic Council of North America, churches and synagogues) who have helped the victims. We thank all the individuals, including the foreign marathon runners who chose to stay and help. We thank the government of Venezuela, who sent food to the victims of Sandy in Haiti and Cuba. Finally we thank the brave New York activists, such as People’s Power and Workers World Party, who raised the necessary questions about the haphazard decisions and lack of concern of the city officials. We ask Obama’s new administration that someone has to stand up to become a statesman, to provide work, health care and education. It is estimated that Hurricane Sandy cost the region $50 billion. If this money had been spent to improve the infrastructure and protect the environment the damage would have been much less. We also demand an end to drone attacks and for the withdrawal of all troops from Afghanistan. This would save billions of dollars, and half of that money could be used to provide education and infrastructure for Afghanistan. A new hand of friendship should be extended to Cuba with the ending of the embargo. The UN occupation troops in Haiti that are doing the bidding of the US should be withdrawn. We ask that all political prisoners be released, as well as all prisoners jailed for non-violent offenses. This is an ultimatum to the two parties, which for over 120 years have been alternating in power, creating an electoral circus. The future belongs to the people. Either you change or you will fail. Finally, we ask that Mayor Bloomberg, who refused to cancel the Marathon earlier, should pay the expenses of the athletes out of his own pocket. Even though the taxi drivers could not drive because of the gas shortage, they had to pay hundreds of dollars for their lease fees to the owners and garages. We demand that they be given assistance by the Taxi & Limousine Commission and the Mayor’s Office. Dr. Muhammad Shafique President Mr. Shahid Comrade General Secretary (917) 280-0840