Poor, Homeless Rally Against Bush in New York

Several thousand protesters staged demonstrations and marches against the Bush administration's economic policies on Monday as the Republican Party opened a four-day convention to nominate the president for a second term in office. An estimated 1,000 people rallied on behalf of the homeless opposite the United Nations headquarters, and several thousand others marched to within two blocks of the Madison Square Garden convention arena in a demonstration accusing Republicans of ignoring the poor and those living with HIV and AIDS.

The protests came as Republicans began their convention to nominate President Bush for a second four-year term. He faces Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts in the Nov. 2 presidential election. At the rally near U.N. headquarters, protesters watched by at least 100 police officers in riot gear carried signs with slogans saying "The Poor Will Be Heard" and "Housing is a Human Right."
"All we have is our voice and a deep commitment to ending poverty in this country. We hope to build a multiracial movement for poor people in America to help raise the standard of living for all of us," said Cheri Honkala, a formerly homeless mother who belongs to the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign.

Honkala's group has been touring New Jersey and New York in recent weeks with a shanty town dubbed "Bushville" made of nylon tarps, wood and mattresses. The group dismantled the structure on Monday after completing their tour, which aimed to draw attention to America's poor, homeless and people without health care. An estimated 850,000 people are homeless in the United States on any given night, according to advocates for the homeless.

About 45 million people were without health care insurance for part of 2003, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report published last week.
The report showed that since Bush took office in 2001, 4.3 million people have fallen below the poverty line. That brought the number of people living in poverty in 2003 to 35.9 million, or 12.5 percent of the population. Several thousand protesters representing groups called Still We Rise and Housing Works marched to within two blocks of Madison Square Garden accusing Republicans of ignoring the plight of the poor and those living with HIV and AIDS. "Today's march is about the reality of the Republicans' compassion agenda," said Michael Kink of Housing Works. "They talk the talk but they do not walk the walk on AIDS, homelessness and poverty. We have more AIDS, more homelessness and more extreme poverty than we did four years ago."

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=6106739

He was absolutely barbaric on NYC's homeless. Absolutely barbaric. :mad:

I assume, so that the GOP could continue to pat itself on the back about how great their economic policies are, without any inconvenient reality intruding on their mutual admiration society.

...but it's entirely, if not entirely likely, that it happened.
The homeless froze to death during the winters thanks to Rudy.

Thousands of protesters are expected to descend on New York City for the Republican National Convention, which is set for Aug. 30 through Sept. 2. Here is a tentative schedule of many of the expected protests:

August 30, 2004

The Hip Hop Action Network, Still We Rise the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign will hold the March For Our Lives: Stop the War at Home. The SWR will begin with a rally at Union Square at noon they will be joined by PPEHRC who will first come together at the United Nations. Both groups will then continue through midtown Manhattan and meet up with the HHAN at a site near Madison Square Garden.

http://www.nynewsday.com/entertainment/localguide/nyc-protest-gop.story

You can keep sweeping the effects of your economic policies under the rug, but they still stink you dirty dirty pigs.

thing closer to MSG. I read that they were rallying near the UN and felt they needed to be closer to the RNC/population so their cause was more IN THE FACE OF THOSE WHO NEED TO SEE IT. Well Done Poverty and/or Homeless Projects!!!! I've been following some these people's stuggle off and on. I LOVED the idea of "Bushvilles"..

There IS a economic depression going on in this country if you are not among the "fortunate" class. When there were only a few in a "certain" sector of the population having a "hard time", no one gave a damn. Now, with the middle class having their jobs going elsewhere and homes being in jeopardy..blah blah..perhaps more folks will see that there really IS A PROBLEM and four more years of a regime like this one is only going to make it WORSE.

I didn't even know these orgs existed until someone in DU put me onto them several months ago.

Thanx for posting this... I've been wondering about it all night long.