Homelessness Hunger Strike Relay - Day 7

http://www.2010homelessness.ca/

Day 7 was tougher. It definitely caught up with me; I was light headed and very sleepy by the late afternoon. Quite glad it was Saturday, after a meeting during the day I did have a nap.

Interesting information gathered at the meeting though. No matter what your attitude about the Olympics is (and you might guess about mine) there are some sobering and inescapable facts to consider. The $1 billion (and climbing) budget for security is going to provide quite a few new 'toys' to the Vancouver Police Department, RCMP and Canadian Forces that they might never otherwise have been able to acquire. High tech spy gadgets and large scale riot gear. $1 billion. That's our money folks, spent on an event that lasts 2 weeks. It also would pay for a quarter of what is proposed in the One Percent Solution .

This hyper security atmosphere is already making life difficult in my neighbourhood. It is documented that the Olympic games causes involuntary displacement of people wherever it is held. Somehow we understand and accept that this is going to happen. Why? Why do those who are going to profit monetarily from this event, either immediately or possibly in the future from the increased tourism, count more than those struggling to survive in their own neighbourhoods? It is a neighbourhood, despite some of the sensational news coverage of the Downtown Eastside. People here look out for one another, keep tabs on their health and safety. And already they are being criminalized and pushed out because of their poverty status. Groups like the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre have already documented and drawn attention to the sharp increase in ticketing for things like jaywalking, vending on the street and sleeping on the street.

Yesterday we found out it happened to a friend of ours. She doesn't live on the street. She's had a rough road in life and been a junkie in recovery for over 12 years, with the accompanying health issues. She's a writer, a good writer. Due to her health she looks kind of rough and rides her bicycle around town, without a helmet. There are a lot of people who ride without a helmet. She was ticketed once, didn't pay the fine. She was stopped again this week and since she hadn't paid the fine, they took her to jail. What else can I say? Your tax dollars hard at work. And she's not homeless. But she fits the stereotype. We are creating a police state atmosphere and it sounds like that's going to be needed so that we don't notice how oppressive the security measures will be in February 2010. Truly the money currently being spent on this kind of behaviour along with the other expenses of the Olympics has higher collective value being spent on real needs in Canada. An expensive lost opportunity.

Homelessness Hunger Strike Relay - Day 6

http://www.2010homelessness.ca/

Yup, I'm still hungry. But in a kind of zone, cruising along. Human beings are amazingly resilient, if you didn't already know that. That thought comes to me often as we encounter new people and get to know them and they reveal their stories. They come to live with us at our house or just cross our path for a while and are able to share their hope and accomplishments along with their sorrowful past. Homelessness can be linked to so many other struggles in people's lives - physical health, mental health, education, race, and class, to name a few big ones. I think that these aren't really the struggles of the 'homeless' but of those of us who aren't homeless. Our perception of what's normal, reasonable and acceptable in society is really quite narrow. People often end up homeless because they don't 'fit' in society as we've defined it. And their sorrow and pain is related to that sense of displacement and rejection.

I spent time at Children's Hospital tonight visiting with my nephew and his 4 month old son. The wee one is doing better now. His 2 year old room mate was having a bit of a rough night. Now that's a place of hope and anguish. It made me remember again that we are all someone's sons and daughters and that despite our best attempts to love and protect our families, life happens. Is there any greater sense of powerlessness than that of a parent of a sick child? We just want to be able to fix them! Throughout our lives as somebody's child things go awry and we're blessed if we've got family around us who want to support us and fix it for us.

But lots of things can't be fixed just like that and when we are no longer children we need something more than a parent. What we need is a community that cares and looks out for each other as if everyone was their family. What we need is the desire and ability to share our experiences, knowledge and skills so that we can learn from each other and come up with solutions together. We could use less 'doing for' and more 'doing with'. And it would be great if we could honour the survival and resilience in each of our lives with no strings attached and without the expectation to fit into society's mold; to simply be healthy and enjoy one another's company.

Homelessness Hunger Strike Relay - Day 5

http://www.2010homelessness.ca/

Today wasn't too bad. I'm definitely low on energy, but then again my daily activity level sometimes is pretty ambitious. I spoke with another 'relay team member' as she was finishing her week a while back. She reflected on the experience and we shared how multifaceted this hunger strike action is.

The issue of homelessness is certainly big enough to warrant our attention to take action. I believe that any action we take collectively changes all who are involved, and changes us in ways we cannot anticipate. Linking two things that should be our right as human beings - housing and food - with political pressure has brought together a wide variety of people and shown them and others our capacity for caring and solidarity. For this indeed is an action of solidarity. While we may say it's a small token action, it is still important. Those of us who are housed and fed everyday cannot really experience what it means to live so precariously but I believe the effort of making such a sacrifice, even for a week, resonates deeply. It is tangible.

My fellow team member, who I don't know for sure but suspect is not a Christian, was able to make the link also with the tradition of religious fasting. (I know that fasting is not just a Christian practice but that's the example she used.) As I understand it as a religious practice, fasting (usually accompanied by prayer and reflection/meditation) is an attempt to bring us closer to God, to be more receptive to the wisdom of the Creator. Well I think that fits very well with this action. As a Christian my basic belief is that we were all created in the image of God (not the body image, not the gender, but the spiritual image) and that our primary purpose is to honour God as we find God in all our fellow humans. Forcing our physical bodies to feel something other than satisfaction by not eating does provide opportunies to contemplate what this is all about. I don't know that other participants would consider that a religious experience but it fits into my reality exactly like that.

Homelessness Hunger Strike Relay - Day 4

http://www.2010homelessness.ca/

Well today I had to be up and out and at a workshop at 7 am. ugh. And didn't go to sleep any earlier than usual, perhaps even later than usual. So combine that with not eating, my body rebelled a little today. Nothing I can't handle, she says smugly. That's because I was able to have a nap after work.
I have somewhere to nap.
I also have hoodies to keep me warm during the day, because despite the quite reasonable weather we're having, I find that my body temperature isn't matching everyone else's. I'm cold. I wasn't as hungry today and not as bothered by the smell of food. But I was cold and not keen on doing or starting any work that requires sustained concentration. I really would have preferred to start that nap much earlier in the day!

One of the (many) tragedies of homelessness is that (actually it's like a lot of other issues in our society) it's something no one wants to take responsibility for and really it will take everyone's efforts to work on. In particular, the 3 main levels of government in our country - municipal, provincial and federal - verbally pass it around like a hot potato. One group may make a (very public) effort to show it cares, like buying buildings to renovate and use, but did it consult with the other 2 about how best to allocate and maintain resources in the long term? Did they ever plan to work together?

I think this is how politics works now for everything. We do things to be popular, to get re-elected and probably make some money, and have no interest in a social legacy for the collective. Even when hard work goes into careful planning, someone always manages to pull the plug on some aspect of the plan, which causes it to crumble and leaves us struggling with piecemeal solutions to big issues. I'm thinking here specifically of the 4 Pillars Drug Strategy for the City of Vancouver. One of the reasons that InSite has had to struggle so hard to stay operating is because it was part of a collective plan that required the support of all levels of government. They came up with the plan but didn't follow through on it. This creates a culture of 'disaster response' to issues rather than a livable society. This is why the call for a National Housing Plan based on the One Percent Solution.

Homelessness Hunger Strike Relay - Day 3

http://www.2010homelessness.ca/

Hmmm. Got pretty hungry today. Also did a lot of work. And somebody on the bus had some fine smelling food! humph.

Here's some thoughts on food and homelessness.
When Vikki and I were trying to vision what the Vancouver Catholic Worker would look like, we were clear that we didn't need to be a 'soup kitchen' because there's a large amount of services that provide food in our neighbourhood. We felt that shelter, in the form of a real home and not a bed between 10 pm and 6 am, was what was needed most. So we have a house of hospitality where people come to live with us.

But let's think again about the food situation down here. There is a schedule of free meals posted on sandwich boards around the Downtown Eastside so people who aren't in the know will know where to go. Because whether you are the working poor, on welfare or completely outside the system, if you've paid for your shelter for the day, week, month - there ain't much left for anything else, even food. And if you haven't paid for your shelter because you don't have one, even if you've got some cash, you've got no where to store food. Or where you might store it you can't cook it or you have to compete with the rodent's and the insects to keep it.

So there's coffee and muffins, some breakfasts, some soup lines, some sit down meals, and piles and piles of bread. Usually you have to line up, sometimes you have to participate in some sort of religious program or at least listen to someone offer their wisdom. And you have to eat on their schedule. Consider that you might be dealing with some bureaucracy in your life, like welfare, or health care, or the police, or the courts, or some other government agency, or you might be sick or have a disability, or trying to find a job. If you can't organize your life around when food might be available, or no one can go and get some for you, you're going to be hungry. Now you might have been able to stock up on some of that bread that's available, but really people, bread? Don't get me wrong, a lot of great people are trying to provide some solutions to people's needs and often doing it without a lot of monetary or organizational support. But let's be clear. This is not a healthy lifestyle, there are serious nutritional deficiencies and that contributes in an unending cyclical fashion to the 'homelessness problem'.

People are whole - they are multi-faceted, multi-talented and their needs are equally complex. That is true for you and me and it's true for the people who sleep in the alcove of the restaurant behind our house.

Homelessness Hunger Strike Relay - Day 2

http://www.2010homelessness.ca/

It's an odd feeling not thinking about meals, not taking a lunch to work. Even for someone like me who doesn't put a lot of thought into it generally. Definitely have a lower energy level but not too bad yet.

So today I offer you this thought. Homelessness results from AND leads to a whole host of other issues and challenges for individuals and society. People aren't homeless because they think that's a cool way to live. They don't 'fit' into our lives; they've left or been pushed out for a variety of reasons such as health (including mental health and addictions), relationship breakdown, violence and our inability to allow them to function differently than the rest of us. Here is a group that can tell us a lot about that:

While there has been much focus on housing issues in the past few years, many of the systemic issues are intensifying and this is a march organized and led by many women in the DTES to have their realities expressed directly. Thank you for supporting! With respect and solidarity, Harsha

Harsha Walia
DTES Women Centre Project Coordinator
Email: project@dewc.ca
604-681-8480 x 234
302 Columbia Street, Vancouver BC V6C 1B4


- please forward widely -


* Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyNC7fjLhT8


===> 3RD ANNUAL WOMEN'S HOUSING MARCH <===

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sat June 13 @ 1:30 pm
Starts outside Downtown Eastside Women Centre
(302 Columbia- corner Cordova, just west of Main)
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On Saturday June 13 at 1:30 pm, join women in the Downtown Eastside Women Centre Power of Women Group in the 3rd Annual March for Women's Housing and March Against Poverty! Everyone welcome!

We are marching for:
- Social Housing, Childcare, and Healthcare for all!
- No more Evictions and No more Condos in the DTES!
- People Before Olympic Profits!
- Stop Criminalizing the Poor!

Although we are still suffering in shelters and on the streets, we are not yet defeated! We are making our voices heard, we are bringing empowerment into our lives, we are fighting for positive change, and we are expressing the humanity of our neighbourhood. We hope all of you will join us.

For more information contact project at dewc.ca or call 604-681-8480 x 234. We are also seeking endorsements, please contact us if you would are interested in being added to a list of supporters.


On facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=80841139629

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* Power & Perspectives: An Interview with Power to Women group
http://knollpaper.wordpress.com/current-issue/gender/power-perspectives/


* Election won’t change lives of Downtown Eastside women:
http://straight.com/article-216138/harsha-walia-and-andrea-pinochet-election-promises-won%3F%3Ft-change-lives-downtown-eastside-women


* Downtown Eastside Women Ask Politicians for Housing Swap
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/1286


The Power of Women Group is a group at the Downtown Eastside (DTES) Women's Centre, located in the DTES of Vancouver (the poorest off-reserve postal code in Canada). We are a group of women from all walks of life who are either on social assistance, working poor, or homeless; but we are all living in extreme poverty. Our aim is to empower ourselves through our experiences and to raise awareness from our own perspectives about the social issues affecting the neighbourhood.

Many of us are single mothers or have had our children apprehended due to poverty; most of us have chronic physical or mental health issues for example HIV and Hepatitis C; many have drug or alcohol addictions; and a majority have experienced and survived sexual violence and mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional abuse. For indigenous women, we are affected by a legacy of the effects of residential schools and a history of colonization and racism.

Homelessness Hunger Strike Relay - Day 1

http://www.2010homelessness.ca/

The Issue

The 2010 Homelessness Hunger Strike Relay began in Vancouver at the beginning of the new year. It was created as an active symbol to have the federal government really respond to the homeless crises in Canada by having re-established the National Housing Program based on the One Percent Solution.

Every week we have new volunteers take on the Wooden Spoon and fast for 7 days (They can drink juice). We will carry on the relay past the 2010 Winter Olympics straight into June 2010. This will commemorate the On To Ottawa Trek.

At this point people will board the train to Ottawa with petition in hand and show the government that we are seriously demanding the national housing program and the One Percent Solution to be put in place. We intend to let the international community know what's happening and what the solution is.

Why me? Why a hunger strike?

Why a hunger strike? Well if you follow the link above you'll read that a hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. And it needs to be publicized to be effective.

Why me? Many reasons. I live in a neighbourhood deeply affected by homelessness. And by homelessness I don't just mean people living rough outside. Homelessness is simply the fact of not having a stable place to start and end your day from. People 'living' in shelters, single room occupancy hotels, and sharing temporarily with others are homeless in my book. I live in a community house that shares a little bit of space with some of these people when it's available. And I feel strongly about using a variety of techniques and approaches in our activism to educate and politicize people, to make things happen. I'm a fan of non-violent direct action and so a hunger strike is right up my alley. If I didn't have to carry on going to work everyday this next week, I'd consider spending some time in a public place telling people about the Relay and the issue.

Morsels from John Dear SJ

The God of peace is never glorified by human violence.

The false spirituality of war - “war is not the will of God”

The last words of Jesus to the church - “put down your sword”

The message of Jesus from the Cross - the violence stops here in my body.

John Dear is here in Vancouver for the Thomas Merton Society's annual conference on peace. These are some of the powerful bits I came away with tonight.