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 Bushville
WHAT IS BUSHVILLE?
Espanol
On opening day of the Republican
National Convention, August 30th, at 4 PM, the Poor People's Economic
Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) will lead the massive, non-violent March
for Our Lives: Stop the War at Home from the United Nations at 45th
and 1st Avenue through midtown Manhattan toward the site of the RNC at
Madison Square Garden. The PPEHRC is
a movement led by poor and homeless families working to unite the poor
across color lines. As more Americans are downsized and impoverished daily,
we share a common interest in uniting against the prevailing conditions
and around our vision of a society where we all have the right to health
care, housing, living wage jobs, and access to quality primary, secondary
and higher education.
We are mothers, fathers, children,
and grandparents; we are the unemployed, the working poor, the downsized,
the homeless, the victims of welfare reform, the cast-asides of the new
economy; we are social workers, religious leaders, labor leaders, students,
artists, lawyers, and other people of conscience; we are young and old;
we live in rural areas and in urban centers.
We do not seek pity. We seek
power to end economic human rights violations that deny us our birthrights
of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The Poor People's Economic
Human Rights Campaign accepts anyone and any organization united with
these principles.
When the Republican National
Convention descends upon New York City, we will be marching to demand
an end to the war at home that has left many of us homeless, hungry, unemployed
and without healthcare. As poor and working people of this country, we
cannot afford to suffer silently as our lives are threatened by political
and economic policies that deny us our basic human rights. Both parties
- Republicans and Democrats - have abandoned the poor and working families
of this nation, and so it is up to us to take our country in a new direction.
 In
order to accommodate marchers and to be a visible presence during the
Republican National Convention, we will be erecting a "Bushville"
Tent City, which will be the base for the March For Our Lives and will
also accommodate daily teach-ins, panels, workshops, spoken word and hip
hop performances. "Bushville" will also serve as the departure
site for PPEHRC Reality Tours. Throughout the week, our organizers will
take members of the national and international media, the human rights
community, religious people and others on Reality Tours of poverty in
New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia, unmasking the hidden face of economic
human rights violations occurring across this country. We will also have
trainings for human rights monitors,
and a meeting where poor people from around the country will gather to
plan their involvement in the 2005 World Social Forum. These events are
open to anyone, and media will have full access to all discussions.
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