Fwd: [reclaiming-spaces] The right to housing is also the right to shit in peace: We build a latrine in a homeless camp.

[Mark Barrett]

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Follow-up of the article
"The New Joads: Trying to Survive in the Spectacle-Commodity Society. Two US
comrades investigate the tent city in Sacramento, California "
http://www.reclaiming-spaces.org/crisis/archives/339#more-339
posted by Gerry:

On Saturday April 5 four friends and I went to the homeless encampment in
Sacramento, California and built a simple pit latrine. With all the media
attention this camp has received, and all the sympathetic statements by the
mayor and even the governor (who’ve both visited the camp twice in the past
month) it seemed remarkable to us that something as basic as a latrine had
not been built. At one end of the camp is the transmitting tower of KSMH, a
Christian radio station considered to be the flagship of the Immaculate
Heart Radio Network. And the camp is tucked in right next to Blue Diamond
Almonds, a union-busting company that has the largest stake in one of the
biggest cash crops in California. But these landmarks of charity and wealth
only serve to highlight the deep contradictions that exist at the margins of
our land of plenty.

While we were there, we were told by several people that some portable
latrines had been brought in weeks ago but were quickly removed. One
resident told us this was because the utility company, who owns the land,
complained. Another resident told us it was because someone had lit one of
the latrines on fire. In any case, all the 200 or so residents of the camp
had left were one nearly full hole in the ground covered with boards. So, as
a way to support the right of people to live someplace without being
constantly harassed— and to take a stand in a region among the most severely
affected by the fallout of the world economic crisis—we decided to build a
little toilet.

We only decided to carry out the project after first visiting the camp on
March 18 and talking to the residents about their situation and whether they
would be in favor of something like that. We knew people would want a
toilet, but we were concerned about attracting police by building it and we
didn’t want to bring any heat that people didn’t want. We also wanted to
know what people would do if they were asked or forced to leave. Beyond
simple charity, we wanted to support those who might assert their right to
stay. In a freak coincidence, Governor Schwarzenegger and Mayor Kevin
Johnson arrived that day at the same time that we did, and we heard directly
from them (as we forcefully disagreed) that they planned to move the
residents out. The governor’s comments included the familiar repetition of
the state orthodoxy that disclaims any responsibility for homelessness:
“Some of these people want to live outside.” He added the rationale for
moving them from this specific location: “They can’t stay here, this land is
toxic.” I wasn’t able to confirm this last statement, but looking around at
all the lush grass growing around the camp, it certainly didn’t seem any
more toxic than the freeway underpasses and abandoned doorways where these
people would otherwise sleep. And, toxic or not, all the region’s shelters
are full and have been turning away dozens of people per day for many months
now.

There has been much contention in the media about the difference between the
“new homeless” population – who are victims of the latest economic crisis –
and the “chronically homeless” population, who are there because of drug
addiction or mental illness or both. As the argument seems to go, the former
are more deserving of our sympathy and help because it’s not their fault
that the speculative economy crashed, whereas the latter are just an
unavoidable fact of life and we just have to learn to accept that there will
always be a certain minority of people who just can’t make it. Obviously,
this is just another distracting argument over how best to divvy up the
crumbs while capitalists—whose deep corruption is nevertheless obvious to
all—walk away with the whole pie. But the inflation of this issue is also
consistent with the greater American amnesia and social Darwinism, which
together allow millions of people to be dismissed and forgotten as soon as
they lose their job or address. In any case, whether or not our current
government offers a helping hand to those most in need, it seems clear that
the helping hand that has allowed the most reckless (or “innovative”) of the
banking class to loot our future is finally coming under intense and angry
scrutiny. It is in this light too that we chose to go to Sacramento, where
the homeless are surrounded by literally hundreds of empty homes owned by
precisely these bankers. It is an area where the constant, slow-burning
American class war, and particularly its (for now) losing side, has lately
become painfully and embarrassingly obvious. As headlines around the country
continue to alarm the middle classes, whose once-assured stability
increasingly tilts toward precariousness (of the kind that millions have
already been feeling for decades), we wanted to put solidarity into
practice—if even in this minor way—and start building a broad base to
confront the latest capitalist crisis together.

The response to our project on the day we built the latrine was almost
completely positive. A few people thought it was a waste of time since the
camp would be moved anyway, but most people we talked to appreciated the
effort. Some folks offered us supplies to help us build the thing. The most
important meetings for me were with the people who expressed a determination
to stay where they were and not be moved to another temporary shelter. (The
state will soon attempt to move them to the state fairgrounds nearby, until
the actual state fair occupies the space in August). Even some residents
with obvious drug or mental problems who talked to us were up to date on the
deepening world crisis, and everybody knew that there was something
profoundly unjust going on.

It may be that building a latrine in a homeless camp is a mere drop in the
bucket in the context of the deep social alienation that keeps the working
class from concerted action, but as unemployment and homelessness soar in
the United States it seems increasingly important to struggle on this
terrain: to demand the basic human right to shelter and survival as modern
day robber barons crassly attempt to walk away from the “disaster” they
engineered. We expect to see more self-directed efforts among the homeless
and other dispossessed people, and we seek to support these wherever we can.
Hopefully, such efforts will only be the start of a bigger and broader
attempt to re-create our society according to our needs and our boldest
desires.


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