Here in the Twin Cities, activists have been experiencing the suspension of civil and human rights through intolerable pre-emptive raids, and members and friends of the RNC Welcoming Committee have been on the run, seeking sanctuary from police terrorism. Now, residents of the Gulf Coast are will continue to be experiencing the suspension of civil and human rights on an even more massive scale, and seeking sanctuary not only from the weather but from a military invasion of their cities - the same kind which 3 years ago proved an even bigger calamity than Hurricane Katrina itself. read more

UPDATE: Radical Response to Hurricane Gustav and the RNC: From TC Indymedia and the Indymedia network

I am writing on this day of remembrance and tears, struggle and concerns of the disaster from Katrina in the Gulf Coast of three years ago in 2005. Some of you may be aware there is a hurricane named Gustav that is working its way into the Gulf Of Mexico as we speak. It has already left devastation in its wake upon small Caribbean countries whose people have suffered under Power and now natural disaster. It is predicted to become a category 3 by landfall in the u.s. It is also has indications of heading for the New Orleans area--at this point most likely Morgan City west of NOLA. Of course these are only predictions. But with predictions and memory come concerns.

We of Common Ground Relief are asking that you all remain aware. Aware that the potential for history to repeat in response to disaster or really to anything. Also not forget during this time of remembrances. New Orleans has still not been rebuilt, and the progress is slow. The levees are only 20% completed and millions of dollars over budget. The coastal areas which include First Nation and other small towns and Vietnamese and Cajun fishing villages; these people are still in disrepair and vulnerable due to major wetlands loss of human cause. Read full story | Related: Three Years After Katrina: While Republicans and Democrats Gather and Celebrate, A City Still Searches for Recovery | Prisoners of New Orleans need your help now (Hurricane Gustav)!!! | What is East of New Orleans? | Witness to Scrubbing of Oil-Soaked Birds | Gustav Approaches: Politics and consequences of the storm?

Photo: Katrina Remembered in front of FEMA as Gustav threatens New Orleans from DC's WSQT Guerrilla Radio

About two hundred residences in the Braithwaite subdivision along Highway 39 at the St. Bernard/Plaquemines Parish boundary southeast of New Orleans were threatened with flooding during the afternoon of Monday, September 1, 2008 as hurricane Gustav came ashore in southern Louisiana. The towns of Braithwaite and Port Nickel were ordered to evacuate. The status of this threat may have subsided somewhat tonight as the Army Corps of Engineers opened gates on the Caernarvon Mississippi River Diversion, thus lowering stress on the overtopped levee. Water in the Mississippi River is currently lower than the levels in the canals.

This article continues to clarify the Braithwaite situation and history... Read full report by ectopia | | | Related: One Day to Gustav | The New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice gains the assurances for safe passage | As Hurricane Gustav Approaches, Blackwater Seeks Personnel to Deploy to Gulf Coast | | | More info available at gustavsolidarity.org and commongroundrelief.org.

As Gustav bears down on the Gulf Coast Louisiana it appears possible that a repeat of Katrina is in the making. The storm, currently a category 3 hurricane is projected to make landfall dead upon Louisiana. So far its track is looking similar to Katrina's. The biggest difference this time is that New Orleans will be mostly empty if and when the floods come.

Immigrant workers receive safe evacuation assurances from Department of Homeland Security

In the blazing midday sun, hot and thirsty little children walk around bags of diapers and soft suitcases piled outside a locked community center in the Lower Ninth Ward.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to Jeremy Scahill, who covered, of course, Hurricane Katrina in the aftermath, Democracy Now! correspondent, wrote Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. Jeremy, what’s happening today?

JEREMY SCAHILL: Well, last Friday, Blackwater sent out an email. This, of course, is the famous mercenary company that not only has operated in Iraq and Afghanistan, but was actually in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and beyond, in 2005 made $70 million in federal money just off of its Hurricane Katrina contracts. Last Friday, Blackwater sent out an email to its network of independent contractors. The company boasts of having some 20,000-plus individuals that it can call out at a moment’s notice. And the contract was looking for personnel that would be interested in deploying in, what the email said, areas affected by Hurricane Gustav. Full report from Democracy Now!

On August 29th, more than two-hundred Bay Area residents demonstrated outside of developer Lennar Corp.'s Headquarters in San Francisco and then headed to Oakland to rally in front of the Oakland Police Department (OPD). The local chapter of the Right to the City Alliance, a national coalition of more than 35 social justice organizations, along with allies and supporters, aimed to bring attention to rouge developers, gentrification and criminalization of communities of color from the Bay Area to New Orleans.

Your assistance is urgently needed to help the low-income women of color and their families evacuate safely if need be, stay safe for the duration of the evacuation, and return to the city as soon as possible so as not to fall prey to the pushout that has kept so many folks from being able to return to New Orleans since Katrina.

Evacuees in Shreveport area state-run shelters are reporting inhumane conditions and at least one incident of police brutality.

They aren't taking it lying down, but evacuees have more than their hands full with police oppression, brutality, and inhumane conditions.

Here is a video of an evacuee protest today in Shreveport (Thursday, September 4th, 2008), video by the Shreveport Times. Just look to the right of the article and the video is there.

Despite the rosy media reports of light damage from Hurricane Gustav, several of southern Lousiana’s coastal Indigenous communities are reeling from a direct hit by Hurricane Gustav’s 115mph winds and large storm surge. Their communities lie in shambles.

The communities of lower Pointe-au-Chien, home of the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe (PACIT), and the Isle de Jean Charles (“The Island”) Band of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Confederation of Muskogees (BCCM) are still trying to assess the severe damage and what it will take to rebuild after Gustav’s devastating winds and storm-surge flooded homes, knocked buildings off their foundations, and decimated the primary source of income in the early season commercial shrimp harvest. The Island is still inaccessible due to prevailing flood waters. Read More: URGENT HELP NEEDED FOR HURRICANE GUSTAV SURVIVORS (the most recent update from community leaders follows this action alert)

Related: Allegations police brutality and inhumane conditions in state shelters

Hurricane Ike is bearing down on the upper Texas Gulf Coast and looks like it might get dangerous. Stories from the open publishing newswire:
Some photos from the 'trose: getting psyched for Ike: Some photos from my hood while I was running errands. It took me from 4:05pm to 4:40pm to get gas from this Shell station at Richmond and Woodhead.
Photos from Houston as we settle in for the Storm Some photos from Friday morning in Houston Texas on Friday September 12th. The outer bands of Hurricane Ike should be reaching us in an hour or 2.
Ike Evacuations for Gulf Coast Prisoners the weather has become a bigger story than usual for the Texas justice system in 2008. Some private prisons - especially the tent city down in Raymondville created to house immigration detainees - haven't yet gotten over damage from Hurricane Dolly.

UPDATES: Hubris: Galveston Sheriff leaves inmates, deputies, in hurricane's path | From ZNet: Firsthand Account of Haiti's Hurricane Suffering: A Call for Help

The curfew will last from 9 PM to 6 AM till next Saturday throughout the City of Houston. Post your thoughts about it here

Some thoughts from the chat so far: kim pickens said "FEMA not keeping their word? Wow! Never seen that before." Ariel says: "i really wonder what harold hurtt plans on doing to those who decide to walk outside at 9:15." wallis parcell said: "And we are not any safer. Same person who headed the Katrina fiasco." violator said: "I violated the heck out of that curfew last night with no hassles..."

Food Not Bombs was in effect Sunday September 14th, for the first meal after the storm. About 21 people ate beans, tomato sandwiches, watermelon, bagels, and fruit. They are calling for people to come help since fewer people have access to food or stoves, and there could potentially be an upsurge in hungry people arriving to eat. Come bring vegetarian food, help serve, help clean dishes, offer your stove.

Houston Food Not Bombs says on their website: "We share free food with the hungry every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 8:PM and Sunday 7pm on the ledge on the corner of the sidewalk in front of the Library at Smith and McKinney." more photos

Hurricane Ike hit Galveston and Houston dead on. As power is being brought back to the city and people clear the streets of debris, people are starting to upload reports about the impacts of hurricane Ike on the greater Houston area. More than a million people in the greater Houston area are without power, Centerpoint Energy has released a timeline predicting when full power will be restored by zip code. According to this timeline, by Monday, hundreds of thousands will still be without power, mostly in center and eastern Houston. Centerpoint Continues to post updates to their website.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has opened PODs in a number of areas in Houston [list of locations | map], providing ice, water and Meals Ready to Eat to the public. FEMA is also encouraging people to apply for assistance online or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362). If anyone can find a clear list of what benefits are being made available, please post it on the newswire, or email houston@indymedia.org.

Reports from the Open Publishing Newswire:

Articles Amy L. Dalton Ike Impact Notes | hmmmm Curfew Chat | Free Press Houston Fuck a curfew. What do you think? The Free Press chimes in | Dee Hurricane Ike and Texas Prisoners, Did the state prepare for an emergency? | lonestar in gotham Excutions Continue Despite Widespread Power Outages in Huntsville | Texas ACORN ACORN's Plans for Hurricane Ike Recovery | Jesse Muhammad Brother Jesse of Millions More Movement on the ground in Houston after Ike | KPFT Status Report - Still off the air

Photos Nick: Boy and Tree | Food Not Bombs post-Ike Erin: Neighborhood Photos RoB: During and right after the Storm in Bellaire | Day 2: Dawn of the Dead at Galleria, back to Montrose | Post Ike Photos part 3: from Sunday and Monday | Five days in and still a mess Montrose Patriot Photography & Promotions: Third Fiesta Out-takes from MPP&P | Nena Fotos del desastre por el Huracan Ike en el Suroeste de Houston

Audio Rachel Clarke: Pre-Ike Preparations | What Was Houston's Plan for the Homeless During Ike?

Three of six arrested on August 7th protesting plans to build a new nuclear reactor in central Virginia were found guilty yesterday. One received a jail sentence.