This is What A Real and Caring Response Looks Like

WPA workers respond to 1938 hurricane (watch "Shock Troops of Disaster")

The Hope and Spirit of the New Deal Embodied in the Occupy Movement

[Update: 11/9/12 – for those looking to help out, see this for good contact info:  Support Hurricane Sandy Relief Efforts in NYC, NJ – end]

Yesterday, I came across a wonderful documentary on the New Deal agency the Work Projects Administration’s (WPA) response to a massive 1938 hurricane that devastated the New England coast.

It is an inspiring piece of propaganda.

The parallels and contrasts to Sandy are erie and disturbing – watch “Shock Troops of Disaster”

After that inspiration, later, I was astounded and disgusted by the contrast between the 1938 WPA effort and the current response in NY City.

Compare that WPA effort to the “response” in NY City – watch this superb report from Democracy Now! on the Far Rockaways.

Watch at time 15 minutes, where they show the National Guard food distribution center – compare the hard working WPA workers with those National Guard troops and cops standing around doing nothing.

Compare how the well organized, compassionate and energetic WPA response treated people with dignity and respect, while the chaotic National Guard and NY City cops treat people worse than animals in a cage, spending hours in line for a bottle of water.

But don’t despair – the spirit and human decency so evident in the WPA response is alive!

Watch another superb segment on the Occupy Wall Street Movement’s active relief effort Occupy Sandy Relief at a hub called “Veggie Island”.

Watch how the Occupy people care, how they organize, and how they work.

How they treat people with dignity and respect.

Occupy is basically our only hope.

WPA worker combs young boy's hair - National Guard and Cops could give a shit.