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  1. Michael Anthony

    not only do you have a superficial understanding of homelessness, you havent brought anything to the current dialogue, just repeated the same democratic party line and non profit industrial complexes rebuttles to the conservative attacks. arent greens supposed to be an alternative to the mainstream?

    you also have a superficial understanding of the role of the underclass in capitalism, specifically as as source of surplus cheep labor. which when you get into prison labor, and the revolving door between prisons and homeless population, is most obvious.

    what you dont get into is the source of homelessness, which is just a few decades old. before the 70s you had a diverse population that included nomads, vagabonds, woods/mountain folks or campers, hobos, bums, paupers, etc etc. then in order to monitor and regulate these hard to track populations, as part of efforts to monitor and disrupt the then powerful counter culture, the newly developed non profit industrial complex was formed, and the concept of “homelessness.”

    while there are a great many amazing people, and organizations, the industry as a whole exists today as an outdoor prison, more or less. just as capitalism as a whole maintains oppressive power relations between the owners and the workers, even when it also offers a way to survive for the workers… the non profit industrial complex is the same, but for the underclass. it keeps us alive, while maintianing oppressive power relations, and stripping us of our independence.

    it would be nice if tony published the article i sent him already, youd think a genuine homeless activist voice would be valued in the current dialogue around homelessness… its like everyone in activism understands the contradiction of white people leading anti racist activism, but when it comes to homeless struggles, the homeless people in the community are systemically left out.

    we are not here to justify your politics. our struggle is real, its not some abstract crisis with capitalism, or product of a system. its a life or death thing. so while you write, as though you give a fuck, your lack of involvement in any local homeless activism, not just your personal lack, but the green parties lack, the lack of any meaningful activism in the city, shows all too well, that the homeless exist, for non homeless people, to justify their views… whether you are right or left, we are just a talking point, not real humans with meaningful valuable lives, just a way to add some illusion of emotion and empathy to an otherwise cold and inhuman political paradigm.

    please, everyone, stop talking about/over/for us, and start talking to/with us. stop using us to gain support for your efforts, and start supporting our efforts. thanks!

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