(en) Ireland WSM.ie: Asylum seeker, homeless - We Rebel! We support
decent housing for all! By Tom Murray
Last week, three children under the age of six slept rough in Dublin city centre while
their parents stayed awake to watch over them. As of August 2015, this family is but one
of 620 families in Ireland, including more than 1,300 children, who are homeless. The root
of the current crisis of housing is the current crisis of capitalism. --- Capitalism is
such a bad system that the only way it can keep supporting itself is to keep doing the
same things that produced a crisis in the first place. Since a property bubble was a key
feature of the boom last time, the only solution this time around is to create an even
bigger bubble. This system rewards property developers, bankers and vulture funds as well
as their small standing army of cheerleaders in the form of government politicians, senior
civil servants, mainstream economists, accountants and lawyers. Just before the crash in
2008, Irish banks lavished trips to the 2008 Ryder Cup in Kentucky, hospitality at the
Monaco Grand Prix, and skiing holidays on property developers Gerry Gannon and Peter
Cosgrave[1]. After the crash, the state rescued the banks and the property developers
through the blanket bank guarantee and through NAMA. But what about the rest of us?
Over the last number of years, Capital - aka "the rule of money" - has compelled the state
to stop funding social housing and to promote housing provision through the 'free market'
(supporting profit-making) instead. Since the start of the crisis, the numbers in need of
social housing have increased by over 60 percent. Last year, there were nearly 90,000
households (or some 170,000 people) in need of social housing. 60 percent have been
waiting for two years or longer. Last year, the government spent 7 billion euro paying
down (odious) debt. Just spending half that would build 20,000 social houses and create
35,000 direct jobs[2].
But Capital is never satisfied. It wants more, and more, and more. Rents go up and up and
up. Capital has compelled the state to cut emergency accommodation to the bone. At least
620 families are now housed in private hotels and B&Bs instead of social housing. This
accommodation often lacks basic facilities and prevents families from cooking food,
children from learning, or people enjoying their own company. It reminds us of how the
Irish state treats asylum seekers by housing them in 'direct provision' centres.
There are 34 Direct Provision Centres in Ireland. These are often privately owned
operations too. Families have to live in one room, often for years (sometimes 14 years!)
on end. People are unable to cook for themselves or their children, unable to eat when
they wish, and given food they cannot eat. Asylum seekers are barred from working and from
third-level education. They must live on EUR19.10 a week with only EUR9.60 per child,
using this money to buy 'extras' such as medicine, transport, and even drinkable water.
Capital wants us to discipline us. It wants us to look at homeless people and think 'What
an awful situation; I must work harder to prevent it happening to me' (Working harder, for
us, always means making more money for someone else). Or Capital wants us to think of
asylum seekers and say 'We have our own people to be concerned about' (But we know that
asylum seekers are 'our people' and that, given a decent chance, asylum seekers would work
in and make our communities better places to live). Or Capital wants us not to think about
these people at all. It says 'This is unfortunate, but necessary. We will have growth
tomorrow and then we will fix these problems'. But we know this is untrue. It was untrue
yesterday, untrue today, and will be untrue tomorrow. In all cases, Capital (with the help
of the State and its servants) is preventing people from living in homes with dignity.
But dignity rebels. We see that we have more in common with homeless people and with
families in direct provision than we have with the class of people who profited in the
boom and who are still profiting in the bust - whether big developers or direct provision
operators.
We refuse to bow to the rule of money in our society. We believe that housing is a human
need that we can create for all. We see all the empty buildings in the city. We support
squatting as a form of direct action to provide shelter for homeless families.
We support those housing action groups that are busy forming and talking to one another
across Dublin and across Ireland. We will march with them in Darndale on 6th September and
outside the Dáil on 22nd September. We support the Barricade Inn, a squatted anarchist
social centre, that holds regular information nights about squatting[3]. We support the
Anti-Racism Network and the brave asylum seekers who resist the system at Kinsale Road
Asylum Centre[4].
We expect no change from above. We look to one another and our own initiative to support
decent housing for all.
REFERENCES
[1] Ciarán Hancoc, "Banking inquiry: Banks sent developers skiing ahead of crash", Irish
Times, August 25, 2015.[2] Michael Taft, "By This Time Next Year We Could End
Homelessness". Unite's Notes on the Front; 12 May, 2014.
[3] Barricade Inn. https://barricadeinn.squ.at/
[4] Dublin Anarchist Bookfair. "Migration State Racism and Anti-Racism Organising" at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHLzGOJ5OMA; http://www.wsm.ie/asylum
http://www.wsm.ie/c/asylum-seeker-homeless-decent-housing-all
