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Indybay Feature
Housing Takeover in San Francisco
On Sunday Homes Not Jails took over a building in San Francisco's Mission District that hads been sitting empty for over two years. The house is the former home of 80-something Jose Morales, who had lived there since 1965 and fought off eviction attempts for 14 years. Morales was finally kicked out of his home of 43 years through the Ellis Act, a state law that caused over 3000 families to lose their homes in San Francisco.
San Francisco, April 4-Housing activists and occupation minded activists gathered in the rain at noon today at 24th and Mission in San Francisco to rally against the crime of residential building left vacant while people are left out on the streets in the cold and rain.
Homes Not Jails, a direct action nonviolent group that regularly opens up such buildings for people to live in, sponsored the rally. Periodically Homes Not Jails organizes a pubic action to highlight this tragic situation and take action to show how easily the problem could be remedied. Such was today's street action.
After rallying in the inclement weather, the assembled marched down Mission Street, chanting "Homes Not Jails" as the Liberation Brass Band added vibrant musical riffs to the mix. The march, accompanied by a large SFPD presence, soon arrived at the former home of Jose Morales at 572 San Jose Avenue in the Mission District. There they were greeted by a group of occupiers who had taken over the building, hanging out banners as the crowd cheered them on. Police fanned out around the area, but took no further action.
A number of speakers, including SF poet laureate Jack Hirschman, articulated many of the reasons the action was necessary, specifically the failure of government on all levels to do a damn thing about houses sitting empty while people suffer and die trying to live outside.
The final speaker was former resident Jose Morales himself. At first overcome with emotion, the Latino octogenarian passionately outlined his struggles to keep his home of 4+ decades, and his decade and a half resistance to eviction attempts by various landlords at his San Jose Avenue home. Morales explained that he was finally forced out illegally through the Ellis Act, a state law that allows property owners to empty buildings if they contend they are going out of the landlord business. Jose Morales was one of thousands in San Francisco booted out of their homes through the Ellis Act by unscrupulous speculators.
The landlord said he was going to turn the property into condos, but when the economy tanked that plan went down the tubes too, and consequently Jose Morales' home has sat empty for over two years, while Morales himself became homeless.
Meanwhile the mood turned festive at the occupation site. Banners waved in the rain and wind, the brass band funkified the street, and East Bay Food Not Bombs served scrumptious free food, as it had at the rally.
The SFPD, for its part, stood idle. In order to legally take action to oust the squatters, the cops need the landlord to declare the occupiers to be trespassers. Evidently the police were having difficulty locating the (in name only) property owner, and as the afternoon went on, the cops withdrew until they had only a token presence.
And so the occupiers prepared to spend a pleasant and peaceful evening at home,as the heavens poured down their approval.
TO BE CONTINUED
Homes Not Jails, a direct action nonviolent group that regularly opens up such buildings for people to live in, sponsored the rally. Periodically Homes Not Jails organizes a pubic action to highlight this tragic situation and take action to show how easily the problem could be remedied. Such was today's street action.
After rallying in the inclement weather, the assembled marched down Mission Street, chanting "Homes Not Jails" as the Liberation Brass Band added vibrant musical riffs to the mix. The march, accompanied by a large SFPD presence, soon arrived at the former home of Jose Morales at 572 San Jose Avenue in the Mission District. There they were greeted by a group of occupiers who had taken over the building, hanging out banners as the crowd cheered them on. Police fanned out around the area, but took no further action.
A number of speakers, including SF poet laureate Jack Hirschman, articulated many of the reasons the action was necessary, specifically the failure of government on all levels to do a damn thing about houses sitting empty while people suffer and die trying to live outside.
The final speaker was former resident Jose Morales himself. At first overcome with emotion, the Latino octogenarian passionately outlined his struggles to keep his home of 4+ decades, and his decade and a half resistance to eviction attempts by various landlords at his San Jose Avenue home. Morales explained that he was finally forced out illegally through the Ellis Act, a state law that allows property owners to empty buildings if they contend they are going out of the landlord business. Jose Morales was one of thousands in San Francisco booted out of their homes through the Ellis Act by unscrupulous speculators.
The landlord said he was going to turn the property into condos, but when the economy tanked that plan went down the tubes too, and consequently Jose Morales' home has sat empty for over two years, while Morales himself became homeless.
Meanwhile the mood turned festive at the occupation site. Banners waved in the rain and wind, the brass band funkified the street, and East Bay Food Not Bombs served scrumptious free food, as it had at the rally.
The SFPD, for its part, stood idle. In order to legally take action to oust the squatters, the cops need the landlord to declare the occupiers to be trespassers. Evidently the police were having difficulty locating the (in name only) property owner, and as the afternoon went on, the cops withdrew until they had only a token presence.
And so the occupiers prepared to spend a pleasant and peaceful evening at home,as the heavens poured down their approval.
TO BE CONTINUED
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As of about 10:30 tonight, eight occupiers were preparing for their second night at the now empty building which once housed Jose Morales and others.
Below is the text of an inspiring speech given this afternoon at the site of the occupation, by a person whose name for the time being shall remain anonymous, on the anniversary of the assassination of MLK:
"My family calls me ______ and even though most of you don't know me, I'd like you to know that I love you all.
"The time has come to reclaim our full humanity. It's time to put our principles before profits. It is time to evict the greed and violence in our communities. It is time to arrest the consumerism and materialism that is destroying the biodiversity of our Planet and the spirit of our society.
"The blindness of some politicians is criminalizing to hang out even on the sidewalks. And it is blindness because before 'cleaning the streets,' as they say, we must clean first our minds, we must clean our consciousness and heal our hearts. How is it possible that they are spending ~10 trillion dollars to bail out the banks and not the people to provide us with homes, jobs, health care and public education? How is it possible that they are spending billions of dollars to develop 'safer nuclear weapons'... they are spending ~1 trillion dollars to kill brothers and sisters on the other side of the Planet and not investing that money to eradicate the physical poverty in our communities at 'home'?
"I've been living without a fix shelter for more than 2 years, and I am one of the 12 million 'illegal human beings' in this part of the Planet, but I rather have no physical shelter than have no spiritual shelter. Because we, brothers and sisters, we can squad an empty building, we can crash in a friend's sofa, we can sleep under the roof of a church, we can take a nap under the shade of a tree but how are they going to survive the unbearable wet cold of killing human beings? How are they going to overcome the excruciating pain of the fierce storm that destroys families and harasses noble souls for greed and profit?
"If you ever cross paths with any of these siblings, please give them some spiritual shelter; please give them a warm blanket and bed of compassion; please offer them a tasty meal of kindness; and an unconditional hot shower and clean clothes of smiles. These people are dying and they don't know it. Please, love them, make eye contact and don't ignore their spiritual poverty.
"And also let's be clear: before arresting people without physical homes for sitting on the sidewalks, or for occupying empty houses, let's arrest our greed and lack of compassion. Before evicting people without physical shelters, let's evict the horrific violence in our emotions and thoughts.
"It is clear to me, that this issue to eradicate the inner violence in our hearts and minds also applies to us. It applies when we are not friendly with our neighbors; when we don't share our abundance; when we are not willing to take the time to understand each other; when we demonize our opponents; when we repeat the patterns of hierarchies and patriarchy; when we talk about enemies; when we are not willing to brake a law that attacks human dignity; when we don't forgive others and more dramatically, when we don't forgive ourselves. That is the true homelessness.
"Even with all the myopia and the legaloid tricks of the system, we cannot blame the politicians, governments and corporations. Because the problem lies not in their tyranny and oppression, but in our cooperation.
"Our victory is not about to put the right kind of people in power but to put the right kind of power in people.
"We can always create a humane alternative and disobey their rule, but always respecting the humanity of our opponents. Love and respect over fear and disrespect.
"And yes brothers and sisters, I know how it feels to have no shelter where to sleep; I know how it feels when a patrol approaches with the intention of a potential harassment in the middle of the night or in the middle of the day because of the way I look; I know how it feels to not have a place where to leave your sleeping bag, if you are lucky enough to have one; I know how it feels to want to shower after a long sweaty week and have no option but to wait, with our smell, for a generous offer; I know how it feels to look for a place where to be in receptive silence in the middle of a public park; I know how it feels to search for a sign which reads 'welcome home' that means it for real; I know how it feels to be rudely awaken in the middle of the night by a fellow human being you've never seen before; I know how it feels to have an empty stomach for days.
"But all that ain't _nothing_ in comparison when I don't have shelter for my own soul. To leave my spirit in the rain, to leave my soul abandoned in a cold night in the middle of the winter, that would be fatal. We cannot allow this to happen ever.
"That's when I realized that we are not homeless, because home is every where we go. We are homefull.
"We are the early adopters of a (r)evolution of values. We are the evidence that this system is broken. The evidence that the totalitarianism of corporate capitalism death machine is devastating the Planet and human beings. The ocular demonstration that this system doesn't work. We are the evidence that we need as new system, we need a new system!
"A system based
not in scarcity but in abundance.
not in transaction but in trust.
not is consumption but in contribution.
not in isolation but in community.
not in perfection but in wholeness.
not in terror but in fearlessness.
not in violence but in courage, in respect, in love.
"Today, 42 years ago, in Memphis, Martin Luther King Jr left his physical form, his human home, when he was killed by a bullet of war and greed. He stood up for what is right; he spoke of the human greatness; he tried to evict the structural and physical violence of the empire; he tried to delegitimize the militarization of our society; and most importantly, he served the physically oppressed people, the physically poor people with the force of nonviolence, with love in action, with courage in action, with the soul force. This force cannot be stopped by bullets and bombs, cannot be stopped by the police, cannot be stopped by prisons, cannot be stopped by any government, cannot be stopped by "free trades", cannot be stopped by walls and borders... this force I'm talking about cannot be stopped not even by the most powerful army that has ever existed in the history of humanity!
"Martin Luther King Jr encouraged us to evolve from a thing oriented society to a person oriented society. He said that injustice anywhere is threat to justice everywhere.
"Let's remind ourselves how beautiful we are, how millionaire we are in our social capital, in our spiritual capital, in our natural capital. Let's acknowledge our real wealth. Let's remember that the Universe of Love bends towards justice and let's never forget that home is everywhere we go. Please accept this noncooperation key, this disobedient key, this love key, this creative key, this fearless key, this unstoppable-brave-master key that opens the door of our eternal, infinite and omnipresent home:
'Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.'
"Beloved brothers and sisters, this is the key to our freedom.
"May all become compassionate, courageous and wise.
"I love you all."
San Francisco, California, Earth. April 4th, 2010.
--
**************************************************
Below is the text of an inspiring speech given this afternoon at the site of the occupation, by a person whose name for the time being shall remain anonymous, on the anniversary of the assassination of MLK:
"My family calls me ______ and even though most of you don't know me, I'd like you to know that I love you all.
"The time has come to reclaim our full humanity. It's time to put our principles before profits. It is time to evict the greed and violence in our communities. It is time to arrest the consumerism and materialism that is destroying the biodiversity of our Planet and the spirit of our society.
"The blindness of some politicians is criminalizing to hang out even on the sidewalks. And it is blindness because before 'cleaning the streets,' as they say, we must clean first our minds, we must clean our consciousness and heal our hearts. How is it possible that they are spending ~10 trillion dollars to bail out the banks and not the people to provide us with homes, jobs, health care and public education? How is it possible that they are spending billions of dollars to develop 'safer nuclear weapons'... they are spending ~1 trillion dollars to kill brothers and sisters on the other side of the Planet and not investing that money to eradicate the physical poverty in our communities at 'home'?
"I've been living without a fix shelter for more than 2 years, and I am one of the 12 million 'illegal human beings' in this part of the Planet, but I rather have no physical shelter than have no spiritual shelter. Because we, brothers and sisters, we can squad an empty building, we can crash in a friend's sofa, we can sleep under the roof of a church, we can take a nap under the shade of a tree but how are they going to survive the unbearable wet cold of killing human beings? How are they going to overcome the excruciating pain of the fierce storm that destroys families and harasses noble souls for greed and profit?
"If you ever cross paths with any of these siblings, please give them some spiritual shelter; please give them a warm blanket and bed of compassion; please offer them a tasty meal of kindness; and an unconditional hot shower and clean clothes of smiles. These people are dying and they don't know it. Please, love them, make eye contact and don't ignore their spiritual poverty.
"And also let's be clear: before arresting people without physical homes for sitting on the sidewalks, or for occupying empty houses, let's arrest our greed and lack of compassion. Before evicting people without physical shelters, let's evict the horrific violence in our emotions and thoughts.
"It is clear to me, that this issue to eradicate the inner violence in our hearts and minds also applies to us. It applies when we are not friendly with our neighbors; when we don't share our abundance; when we are not willing to take the time to understand each other; when we demonize our opponents; when we repeat the patterns of hierarchies and patriarchy; when we talk about enemies; when we are not willing to brake a law that attacks human dignity; when we don't forgive others and more dramatically, when we don't forgive ourselves. That is the true homelessness.
"Even with all the myopia and the legaloid tricks of the system, we cannot blame the politicians, governments and corporations. Because the problem lies not in their tyranny and oppression, but in our cooperation.
"Our victory is not about to put the right kind of people in power but to put the right kind of power in people.
"We can always create a humane alternative and disobey their rule, but always respecting the humanity of our opponents. Love and respect over fear and disrespect.
"And yes brothers and sisters, I know how it feels to have no shelter where to sleep; I know how it feels when a patrol approaches with the intention of a potential harassment in the middle of the night or in the middle of the day because of the way I look; I know how it feels to not have a place where to leave your sleeping bag, if you are lucky enough to have one; I know how it feels to want to shower after a long sweaty week and have no option but to wait, with our smell, for a generous offer; I know how it feels to look for a place where to be in receptive silence in the middle of a public park; I know how it feels to search for a sign which reads 'welcome home' that means it for real; I know how it feels to be rudely awaken in the middle of the night by a fellow human being you've never seen before; I know how it feels to have an empty stomach for days.
"But all that ain't _nothing_ in comparison when I don't have shelter for my own soul. To leave my spirit in the rain, to leave my soul abandoned in a cold night in the middle of the winter, that would be fatal. We cannot allow this to happen ever.
"That's when I realized that we are not homeless, because home is every where we go. We are homefull.
"We are the early adopters of a (r)evolution of values. We are the evidence that this system is broken. The evidence that the totalitarianism of corporate capitalism death machine is devastating the Planet and human beings. The ocular demonstration that this system doesn't work. We are the evidence that we need as new system, we need a new system!
"A system based
not in scarcity but in abundance.
not in transaction but in trust.
not is consumption but in contribution.
not in isolation but in community.
not in perfection but in wholeness.
not in terror but in fearlessness.
not in violence but in courage, in respect, in love.
"Today, 42 years ago, in Memphis, Martin Luther King Jr left his physical form, his human home, when he was killed by a bullet of war and greed. He stood up for what is right; he spoke of the human greatness; he tried to evict the structural and physical violence of the empire; he tried to delegitimize the militarization of our society; and most importantly, he served the physically oppressed people, the physically poor people with the force of nonviolence, with love in action, with courage in action, with the soul force. This force cannot be stopped by bullets and bombs, cannot be stopped by the police, cannot be stopped by prisons, cannot be stopped by any government, cannot be stopped by "free trades", cannot be stopped by walls and borders... this force I'm talking about cannot be stopped not even by the most powerful army that has ever existed in the history of humanity!
"Martin Luther King Jr encouraged us to evolve from a thing oriented society to a person oriented society. He said that injustice anywhere is threat to justice everywhere.
"Let's remind ourselves how beautiful we are, how millionaire we are in our social capital, in our spiritual capital, in our natural capital. Let's acknowledge our real wealth. Let's remember that the Universe of Love bends towards justice and let's never forget that home is everywhere we go. Please accept this noncooperation key, this disobedient key, this love key, this creative key, this fearless key, this unstoppable-brave-master key that opens the door of our eternal, infinite and omnipresent home:
'Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.'
"Beloved brothers and sisters, this is the key to our freedom.
"May all become compassionate, courageous and wise.
"I love you all."
San Francisco, California, Earth. April 4th, 2010.
--
**************************************************
Great job y'all! So many people came out for this despite the freezing cold rain!
Homes Not Jails is the shiznit.
Sweet dreams you heroic squatters!
Homes Not Jails is the shiznit.
Sweet dreams you heroic squatters!
Congratulations Homes not Jails SF!
This is an incredible victory for the cause of housing as a human right and community control over land.
There is a movement afoot which is greater than all of us, and yet, we are the parts of that movement.
forward!
Takebacktheland.org
This is an incredible victory for the cause of housing as a human right and community control over land.
There is a movement afoot which is greater than all of us, and yet, we are the parts of that movement.
forward!
Takebacktheland.org
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