The demand for housing justice in US

Thu May 24 21:32:57 BST 2012

http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/activists-fight-foreclosures-together

Fighting Foreclosure Together

The demand for housing justice is bringing 
activists from different ideologies together to 
fightand winagainst foreclosures.

by 
<http://www.yesmagazine.org/@@also-by?author=Laura+Gottesdiener>Laura 
Gottesdiener
posted May 21, 2012

monique's story still

Some Occupiers just want the banks to act more 
reasonably; others want to abolish capitalism. 
Most cruise to meetings on two wheels; others 
hate bike lanes. In Minneapolis, as in places 
across the United States, Occupy Our Homes has 
brought union members, anarchists, lawyers, 
grassroots organizers, democrats and veterans all 
under the same roof, united by a common goal of 
saving homeowners from eviction and full 
neighborhoods from displacement. They might not 
all share the same vision of utopia, but housing 
justice work is demonstrating that, for todays 
era of activism, humanity can trump ideology.

Last Saturday, more than 25 community members 
celebrated with Monique White, a resident of 
north Minneapolis, who had recently 
<http://occupyourhomes.org/blog/2012/may/3/monique-white-victory/>won 
a new mortgage from US Bank. They were all packed 
into Whites small kitchen, eating spiced chicken 
legs barbecued by Bobby Hull, a homeowner and 
Marines veteran from south Minneapolis who had 
won back his own home three months earlier.

If anyone needs to use my bathroom, its 
Monique White began to say, then stopped herself. 
The crowd laughed; everyone in the room not only 
knew where her bathroom was, theyd slept on her 
living room floor, marched with her to US Bank, 
sat beside her in court and helped water the 
cabbage in her backyard, which White planted a 
mere two weeks before her scheduled eviction.
If the United Nations says housing is a human 
right, and people are in need and there are a 
plethora of homes, then there is a disconnect here.

The seven-month campaign brought together 
activists and community members across entrenched 
and often irreconcilable political and 
ideological lines, unifying those pushing for a 
complete overhaul of the capitalist system with 
those advocating for reform such as widespread 
principal reduction. The coalition itself is no 
small victory. Nationally, various housing 
campaigns can be divided on strategies and goals, 
with some groups focusing on home takeovers to 
radically redefine land control and ownership, 
while others advocate for mortgage renegotiations 
as a first step to reigning in the banks.

In Minneapolis, the organizing strategy has thus 
far fallen into the latter camp, with both Hull 
and White winning renegotiated mortgages. But the 
campaigns have relied on the work of people with 
a diversity of ideological positions.

Im not a huge advocate of private property, 
said an organizer who asked to be called T.K. He 
missed the barbeque at Monique Whites house, not 
because he didnt support the victory but because 
he was helping coordinate a 24-hour eviction 
defense at Occupy our Homes newest campaign: 
Alejandra and David Cruzs foreclosed house across town.

If the United Nations says housing is a human 
right, and people are in need and there are a 
plethora of homes, then there is a disconnect 
here, he said. At that point, in my mind, 
private property is invalidated by the human need.

The Cruz family is asking for a renegotiation 
with PNC Banka demand that, as T.K. said, 
doesnt challenge capitalism. Yet he and the 
rest of the eviction defense team are still 
willing to put their bodies on the line in what 
many believe to be the first hard-lockdown eviction defense since Occupy began.
Historically, revolutions happen when a series 
of reforms are won, and its not good enough. 
 From that momentum comes total change.

As at Whites house, the Cruz familys home is a 
space of unity and coalition-building. 
Direct-action activists defend the house around 
the clock. Labor groups supply copious brown 
paper bag lunches. Faith groups like the church 
across the street are reaching out to their 
congregations. Neighbors up and down the block 
display signs demanding an end to foreclosure on 
their front lawns. Even the house itself speaks 
of the teams willingness to pursue multiple 
paths to win: Directly above a lockdown barrel on 
the front steps that will physically prevent the 
police from carrying out the Cruzs furniture 
hangs a sign that says, Negotiations, Not Evictions.

Occupy our Homes Minneapolis is now looking to 
spread to tenants and underwater homeowners who 
are not yet in default in order to break down the 
stark class divisions of housing and build a 
unified coalition. Some members, inspired by 
<http://wagingnonviolence.org/2012/05/grabbing-the-bolt-cutters-with-take-back-the-land/>Take 
Back the Land, are also looking at the 
possibility of home takeovers. Even more broadly, 
Occupy Our Homes has partnered with the citys 
large Somali and Latino communities because they 
all share a common enemy: the big banks.

Last Friday, hundreds marched through the streets 
to protest Wells Fargo. Women clad in full burqas 
carried signs declaring that they had closed 
their accounts because 
<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/05/11/social_issue/somali-americans-close-wells-fargo-us-bank-accounts-over-remittances/>Wells 
Fargo blocks money transfers to Somalia. 
Spanish-speakers denounced the bank for investing 
in private prison corporations whose lobbyists 
are behind some of the worst anti-immigration 
laws, such as Arizonas SB 1070. Union members 
wearing orange vests screen-printed with the 
words Labors Back blocked traffic for the 
non-permitted march. Alejandra Cruz and other 
Mexicans led the march after performing a 
traditional Aztec dance. Behind them was a large Occupy Our Homes banner.

For me, coalition building around issues is the 
best way to get shit done, said Rachel E. B. 
Lang, the lawyer who worked on Monique Whites 
case and has been involved in Occupy Minneapolis 
since the beginning. Historically, revolutions 
happen when a series of reforms are won, and its 
not good enough. From that momentum comes total change.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/private/diggers350/attachments/20120524/31bf4f38/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/x-ygp-stripped
Size: 211 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/private/diggers350/attachments/20120524/31bf4f38/attachment.bin>