or...POLICE DESTROY SHANTYTOWN IN SEATTLE, AMERICA
Latest news, as of two hours ago.
Today I am backflashing to my activist days in the 1960s and 1970s. In just one day, today, I have been protesting an unjust war, writing letters - e-mails, actually - about that Wall Street bail out to rescue greedy capitalists and now, advocating for the homeless. Then Bhenji Shanu Kaur wrote a comment, "Right on!" I am tempted to respond with the typical 1960-70s "Power To The People!" Tempted, but I'll refrain, as most of my readers were born at least a decade after all this excitement.
Today, in the 'richest country in the world' I am watching a tent city that was becoming a shanty town being destroyed by the police. As I write, the first
homeless people here are being arrested and taken to jail I see a cop entering a pink tent. (These pink tens were given to the homeless by the Girls Scouts of America, donated from a breast cancer march, hence the colour pink.)
The residents have named their settlement "Nickelsville," after Greg Nickels, mayor of Seattle. I have even found a website about this called, "
Welcome to Nickelsville."
Earlier today, their port-a-potties, the toilets were removed, much to the dismay, especially, of the women.
Some residents had started constructing semipermanent structures out of donated lumber. All this on city-owned vacant land.
Unlike some of the other sweeps arresting the homeless, the arrests are going peacefully, the police not being violent and the homeless, who have chosen to stay and be arrested, going peacefully as they are arrested. Of course, this is all on live TV. Now the broadcast station is ending its coverage; they are switching to cable coverage, much less visible, but still live on TV. I think I'll stay and watch, skip the courtroom shows that are usually on at this time.
This has been a bit disjointed, I realise; a write-as-it-happens report tends to be. Now the cable news in talking about the presidential debate tonight, so there is no live coverage right now. I assume, though, the reporters are still there taping.
To go to the beginning. It is estimated that there are about 2000 homeless people - I believe that to be a very low estimate, as homeless people are very hard to count - in Seattle. This may seem a small number compared to India, but the United States of America is not India. There are sufficient funds here to provide decent housing, food, health care, all the necesseities of life to all the people. Of course, financing America's foreign adventures is leeching a tremendous amount of resources from the country. This action today is a political protest. The residents of Nickelsville were given warning to move. The cry of "Move where?" led to this protest. There is a nearby parking lot, belonging to the state, not the city, where some have set up their tents, after the governor,
Christine Gregoire, told them they could stay there 5-7 days. Then what?
Now we have the Wall Street meltdown to contend with, as well. According to President Cokehead Warmonger, Congress is supposed to allocate $700,000,000,000 (IR32,525,500,106,820 - I realise the commas are in the wrong places for Indian numbers. Live with it. This is a copy/paste from
the Yahoo currency converter. I include the link because it is a useful converter of many different currencies.) to bail out big companies. As I understand it, this bill will not stop foreclosures on people's homes as much as it will aid the already super-rich. This remains to be seen.
Back to these homeless people in America, hundreds of thousands or even millions? Many, many, maybe most are mentally ill people who are unable to financially support themselves in a capitalist economy. Some are criminals who have served their sentences and now cannot find employment. The remainder are people who just don't have the resources to pay rent. Most of these people are men and women - and their children - who lost their jobs, for one reason or another and then lost their homes, either from in ability to pay rent or through foreclosure when they couldn't pay the mortgage. Some of these people have exhausted their savings, but most are people who survive from one check to the next, like me. "There but for the grace of God go I." OK, I admit I exaggerate a bit; my family would never permit me to live in a tent city or in a cardboard box under a bridge. But I hope the point has been made. Shall we all sing a rousing chorus of
'We Shall Overcome'? No, actually
I think "
We Shall Not Be Moved" fits this one better. (That link contains a lot of great folk and protest songs.)
We shall not, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved
We're young and old together, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved
CHORUS
We're women and men together, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved
CHORUS
We'll live in peace and dignity, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's standing by the water
We shall not be moved
We're black and white together we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's standing by the water
We shall not be moved
yes, everyone together we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved
We'll overcome Greg Nickels, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved .Feel free to write your own verses; as you can see, I have.
Most of the homeless, whether mentally ill or unemployed or underemployed, are just people who have committed the ultimate crime in America - worse than murder, rape, child molestation, worse than the vilest crimes - these are people who have no money.
I feel ill.
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WHY TRY TO FIT IN? YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT!
