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While most of the US celebrates the victory of liberalism in the November election, progressives, labor activists and radicals still have a few fights on their agenda. Among the most important is the congressional election in the Second District of Louisiana, where the election cycle was delayed by Hurricane Gustav.The incumbent is the Democrat William Jefferson, who is due to face trial on corruption charges in early December. He is opposed by a former Black Panther, community organizer, hurricane relief activist, and Green Party candidate, Malik Rahim. http://www.votemalik.com/
Brother Rahim is this year's recipient of the Thomas Merton Award for his work in Common Ground Relief http://www.votemalik.com/news/thomas_merton.php ; Common Ground, which he, Scott Crow and Brandon Darby cofounded with $50 of personal funding, has mobilized 13,000 volunteers and gutted over 3,000 homes in the Ninth Ward to prepare them for reconstruction. They founded 6 clinics and still run three of them, providing much-needed health care to the poorer residents of New Orleans.
Brother Rahim has been an outspoken opponent of the blatant corruption and obstructionism of Mayor Ray Nagin's city government, the Louisiana state government, and FEMA. He calls for federally funded Category 5 flood protection; he wants passage of HR 676, the United States National Health Insurance Act; he supports HR4048, the Gulf Coast Civic Works project, and wants a full investigation now on the awarding of contracts for the demolition of public housing developments in New Orleans and their reconstruction.
