CONTACT: Ateqah Khaki, or Shonna Carter, Riptide Communications, 212-260-5000 

POOR PEOPLE’S ECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN ERECTS “BUSHVILLE” TENT CITY AS PART OF ACTIVITIES TO DRAW ATTENTION TO POVERTY IN AMERICA AT REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION

The Campaign Will Hold A Series of Activities Leading Up To “March for Our Lives” Including Impromptu Demonstrations, Food Distributions, Human Rights Monitoring and Documentation and Non-Violent Civil Disobedience Training

August 28, 2008, Minneapolis, MN — Today, The Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) will erected Bushville, an outdoor encampment, in order to accommodate poor and homeless people arriving in Minneapolis to protest and be a visible representation of the face of poverty in the U.S during the Republican National Convention.. The group will provide reporters a tour of Bushville, Thursday, August 28^th  at 2pm from the Dorothy Day Center at 183 Old 6th St W St Paul, MN 55102. Bushville will also be the base for PPEHRC’s “March For Our Lives” organizing with daily teach-ins, panels, workshops, spoken word and hip-hop performances. 

“I'm staying in Bushville because I can't afford to stay in the luxurious St. Paul Hotel, or even a low end motel,” said Bushville Resident Deeq Abdi. “Our money has gone toward caravans bringing poor people from all over the country to stand together in solidarity against the injustices taking place in this country.”

Throughout the month of August, PPEHRC, a leading advocacy group for the poor and disenfranchised, has been on a statewide bus tour exposing the realities of Minnesotans living in poverty, without access to adequate housing or healthcare. Leading up to the RNC, PPEHRC will hold two separate truth commissions, one focusing on the state of economic instability and access to food, housing and health care for people living in Minnesota, and a second to highlight testimonies from around the country. On September 2, the group will lead thousands on a “March For Our Lives” through the streets of St. Paul against the backdrop of the RNC to draw attention to the economic policies that have left them battling homelessness and poverty.

“Poor and homeless families will be staying in our Bushville, similar to the hoovervilles in the 1930s, contrary to what McCain has said we are living in a depression,” said Cheri Honkala, national organizer, Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign.

The PPEHRC will host a range of events leading up to the RNC, including a PPEHRC v. Billionaires for Bush Basketball Game and a collaboration with the Hip Hop Congress, which will bring artists, performers and supporters to a “People’s Fest.”

For a full schedule of RNC activities and more information, please visit: http://www.economichumanrights.org/index.shtml

The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign is committed to uniting the poor across color lines as the leadership base for a broad movement to abolish poverty. Through advancing economic human rights as named in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, such as the rights to food, housing, health, education, communication and a living wage job, the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign is committed to uniting the poor as the leadership base for a broad movement to abolish poverty everywhere and forever.