Globalized Eviction

[katty]

cont'd:
http://www.guerrillanews.com/articles/2162/Globalized_Eviction

Articles : Human Rights
Globalized Eviction
By Sam Urquhart

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0800 Fighting for a simple roof By Sam Urquhart
Illegal evictions bring global misery, whilst stimulating community resistance
The second U.S. led attack on Iraq has been justly famous for the destruction of the homes of the innocent. This week, the people of Fallujah will mark the third anniversary of the eviction by bombing of the inhabitants of 36,000 homes. Eviction too is a central experience of the Palestinian people. According to the UN, Israeli military operations have demolished 6,395 homes that had housed over 58,000 people over the past five years, in the Gaza strip alone. In the best reported conflicts in the world, the right to housing has been virtually ignored.

Unfortunately, that right to housing has also been abused across the globe as globalization has accelerated. People are fighting back, however and they are contesting the model of development venerated by the globalizing elites and international lending institutions. As bulldozers stream into local communities, resistance deepens. In most cases, the poor and unrepresented are beaten back by pure oppression, but around every crisis organizations have developed to contest the power behind the act of eviction. Communities have reasserted their own views of development against the advocates of gentrification or ‘beautification’ and have begun to fight for that vision. In doing so, they demonstrate to the world that another world is possible.

We all want to be Shanghai

The scale of globalized eviction is immense. The numbers of people involved are not exactly known as the communities affected are often poorly assessed and constantly changing, but the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) state that between 2001 and 2002 alone, over seven million people lost their homes through force. That number has not decreased. In China in 2004 over 300,000 people faced eviction as the government sought space for facilities to help them stage the 2008 Olympic games. In early 2004, in India, over 150,000 people were evicted in New Delhi and 77,000 in Calcutta. In these two giants of globalized eviction, India and China, governments and business trample on the housing rights of the poor. In doing so, they have provided a shining example for elites across the globe who see in their examples a short-cut to attracting investment, and improving the living standards of the wealthy in the cities.

India have been particularly active in seeking to redesign their urban centres under the guise of modernization and development. In March 2005, the Times of India reported that the government had embarked upon a “facelift” worth $30bn (and funded by international credit).

[azurnoir]

1. Here in the US

the government lets "nature" do it for them.

[katty]

2. right!

[cliss]

3. It's going to get worse.

The world just passed the 6 1/2 billion mark in January of 2006. That's far too many.

Too bad the world is still under Thomas Malthus' pessimistic theory of population growth as long as there's food.

[Igel]

4. He left out one more prominent example ...

Mugabe's assault on poor non-Shona non-Mugabe-supporters.

No business-related profit involved. No neo-imperialist opposition. No greed involved, as usually defined. No globalization. No ideology or traditional oppressor to oppose. No mention.

And it was about as big as the yet-future eviction in Nairobi, and dwarfs the other African examples.