Activists Help Foreclosed Families Retake Homes

In November 2008, the MWRO blog discussed the federal and local governments approach to the Detroit foreclosure crisis: bailing out banks, evicting families from their homes, and then demolishing good homes to make way for gentrified neighborhoods and more strip malls! In this story, we learn more about how comrades and other housing activists are helping families keep a roof over their head in foreclosed homes, instead of overcrowded shelters or on the street!

Excerpt reposted from the New York Times. Read the full story, "More Squatters Are Calling Foreclosures Home."

...In Minnesota, a group called the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign recently moved families into 13 empty homes; in Philadelphia, the Kensington Welfare Rights Union maintains seven “human rights houses” shared by 13 families. Cheri Honkala, who is the national organizer for the Minnesota group and was homeless herself once, likened the group’s work to “a modern-day underground railroad,” and said squatters could last up to a year in a house before eviction.

Other groups, including Women in Transition in Louisville, Ky., are looking for properties to occupy, especially as they become frustrated with the lack of affordable housing and the oversupply of empty homes.

Anita Beaty, executive director of the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, said her group had been looking into asking banks to give them abandoned buildings to renovate and occupy legally. Ms. Honkala, who was a squatter in the 1980s, said the biggest difference now was that the neighbors were often more supportive. “People who used to say, ‘That’s breaking the law,’ now that they’re living on a block with three or four empty houses, they’re very interested in helping out, bringing over mattresses or food for the families,” she said....

(Image courtesy of the New York Times)

Poor People's Activists Protest Foreclosure Sales

A coalition of activists in Minneapolis, MN, demanded an end to home foreclosure sales last week by attempting to stop the sale of homes owned by low-income people or occupied by similar renters. Hennepin County Sheriff Deputies allowed only three protesters into the courtroom for the procedure. When one of the activists bid 'a penny' for one of the foreclosed homes, she was forcibly thrown out of the courtroom.

Other activists chanted protest slogans and songs, and later instituted a sit-in at the Hennepin County Sheriff's office. After insisting on a meeting with the Sheriff, a group of them was escorted to a private room meeting to meet with a deputy and county commissioner. (The Sheriff was out of town.)

The group announced that following this meeting, all parties would sit down within two weeks in an official meeting to review the foreclosure and eviction process, and determine how to make it better, within the law.

The action was organized by the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, ACORN, Economic Crisis Action group, Homes Not Jails and the IWW. See the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign for more info.

"Explicit Ills" film from PPEHRC Activist and Actor

Mark Webber, Poor People's Economic Economic Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) activist and professional actor, has written and produced a touching film about families in Philadelphia. It's based on personal experiences with family and friends in some of the poorest neighborhoods in the country.

Explicit Ills aims to tell the truth about poverty and homelessness in the USA through four interconnected stories of love, drugs, and poverty.

The film is currently in limited release. Contact PPEHRC to find out how you can get Explicit Ills screened in your city.

See video interview with Mark Webber about the making of Explicit Ills.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights 60th Anniversary

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and it is being celebrated all year long across the world. See the Wall of Events for international postings.

The UN Declaration of Human Rights is a fundamental document that is designed to prevent the oppression and discrimination of people throughout the world. It was a uniquely broad consensus around civil, political, economic, and social rights. The first committee to draft the document was chaired by Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1948, 58 member states of the U.N. voted unanimously for the document, with 8 abstentions (the communist bloc, Saudia Arabia, and South Africa). See the UDHR video that describes each of the 30 articles. They also have a Take the Quiz page where you can test your basic knowledge of human rights.

In this time of great human suffering, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is more necessary than ever. It is a vital set of basic human rights that we can use to protect ourselves and our families while demanding assistance from our governments.

Today, the U.S. does not sit on the United Nations' Human Rights Council. Sign this online letter asking President-elect Obama to recommit to the UDHR and to join the Human Rights Council. Also, download a free human rights poster and display it in your home or office. Check out the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign for information on grassroots work in the U.S., and do your part to support basic human rights in the U.S. and beyond.

Blog Action Day and Poverty

Today is Blog Action Day. Since MWRO has a fairly new weblog, we had no idea what that was until today. Apparently, it's a day when everyone who has a blog writes about the same topic to increase the international awareness and (hopefully) action around the issue. And today's theme is poverty, quite appropriate.

On the matter of blogs, we have found that in this election season our Google Alerts have jumped tremendously on searches for "National Welfare Rights Organization," "NWRO," and "welfare rights." It seems that there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of conservative bloggers in the U.S. who are writing about Senator Obama's community organizing work with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). Alongside that, they are also writing about ACORN's early relationship with the NWRO and George Wiley, a scientist turned poor people's community organizer.

But these weblogs aren't informative or even accurate. They're mostly inflammatory, ignorant, and built upon discrediting Presidential Candidate Obama and ACORN, and assailing welfare recipients. Here are a couple of examples:
Obama the ACORN nut: From little things, Left Liberal Marxist Socialism Grows;

Obama, ACORN, and Connections to Terrorist William Ayers

Now leading in the polls, Senator Obama surely has a lot to worry about and contend with. And once again, some people in this country--this world--in times of economic crisis have chosen to assess it by launching racist and venomous assaults on poor people instead of critiquing the true villain--a failed capitalist system.

The mission of the NWRO then and the National Welfare Rights Union now is to fight for the rights of poor and low-income people, especially those on public assistance. It's well understood that capitalism relies upon a cadre of low-skilled, low-wage workers to move in and out of the workforce, thereby, creating a permanent pool of the unemployed. Welfare recipients are at the bottom of this abyss and know better than anyone that it's not a place you choose to be in!

We invite critics and naysayers to learn more about welfare rights, economic human rights, and the efforts of many other good organizations and people who are trying to fight poverty and build a better world. Check out the links on the MWRO weblog page.

(Image: Courtesy of Kensington Welfare Rights Union)

Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign Discusses Poverty Following RNC on Democracy Now!

Early in the US Presidential elections, a few contenders were discussing the plight of the poor and what we must do as a country to change this. Now, a month before national elections, the talk has changed to what we must do to help the wealthy.

At the Republican National Convention in September, the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign was working to bring back attention and bring forth policies on addressing poverty in this country. They discussed these ideas and tensions in Minneapolis-St Paul on Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman.

See below the Democracy Now! interview with Amy Goodman and Cheri Honkala, National Coordinator, PPEHRC:



Watch the PPEHRC Poor People's March video at the RNC to learn more about the thousands who participated in delivering to the RNC a "citizens arrest for crimes against humanity."