The battle is on in New Orleans - between conservative social engineers (Republican and Democratic), and refugees who want to go home to their old neighborhoods. The social engineers want "market forces" to determine which neighborhoods will be rebuilt and which ones will never return.
In this case, "market forces" is a euphemism for subsidizing business-friendly consumer zones while letting the underprivileged wither away and disappear.
The city's plan blends homage to the market with a stated willingness to rebuild neighborhoods whose inhabitants "vote with their feet" by returning. The state's commission, which controls the Federal reconstruction money, is deeper in the market-forces camp. "We want to make sure they invest in a smart way that provides a good return on investment," said Andy Kopplin, the Louisiana Recovery Authority's Executive Director. (Although he qualifies his remark by claiming to respect "the aspirations of local communities," this comment is meaningless since some of those communities will cease to exist under his plan.)
It's like putting Milton Friedman in charge of refugee camps. Although Gov. Bianco objected when Denny Hastert suggested not rebuilding certain parts of New Orleans, her commission's saying the same thing - but couched in social Darwinist language that suggests that only 'stronger' neighborhoods will survive and earn their Federal dollars. No surprise: it's a statewide agency, and much of the rest of the state hates inner-city NOLA.
It's a radical new development in the history of aiding the poor, and victims of tragedy. Need is no longer enough. Now, American citizens victimized by a disaster will be ranked for their desirability as aid recipients. Those who aren't attractive enough to conservative and business interests will be ignored, and their communities will be allowed to disappear.
Only one-fifth of the population of New Orleans has returned, as the BBC reports - mostly the better-off white residents. The ones who didn't get away at all live in an eerie, dark ghost town. (See more of Gail Williams' brilliant pictures here - link courtesy of SF guru Bruce Sterling.) Using returnees as a determinant for federal funds will result in a whiter, richer New Orleans - a good thing for Republican prospects in the state.
Social engineering used to be the province of Communism, but using Federal funds to leverage an ultra-right "market economy" is becoming a conservative hallmark. You'd think that 'government-funded social Darwinism' would be a contradiction in terms, but conservatives stand to gain electorally by dispersing Southern black populations in a Pol Pot-like forced relocation to the countryside. Their corporate paymasters also benefit, by creating a rich boom town at government expense. If it also sinks minorities and the poor back into Third World-level poverty, that's just the cost of doing business.
Social engineering: It's not just for Communists anymore.
CREDIT: Photos by Gail Williams.